Grammars, Who Needs them?
Numberup at worldnet.att.net
Numberup at worldnet.att.net
Sun May 20 18:07:15 EDT 2001
But the English word "should," which derives from an Old English term that meant "was
obliged to; ought to," also expresses obligation.
And I thought that an expression like Jakobson's "traddutore traditore" ("the
translator is a traitor [to the original]") applied generally, not just to literal
translations.
Solomon Landers
Randall Buth wrote:
> Harry W. Jones
> >I think a good example of the use of
> grammatical analysis is my post of Phil.2:10. KAMYH is in the
> subjunctive mood and therefore should be translated as, "should bow"
> and not "will bow".<
>
> Actually, 'subjunctive' is a feature of Greek, not English.
> Translation is according to the dictates and style of the receptor
> language.
>
> In Greek INA properly demands the subjunctive verb even when the purpose or
>
> result is viewed as certain or virtually certain.
> In English, "should" explicitly refrains from expressing certainty,
> while "will" explicitly expresses certainty.
> Thus, there is a mismatch in corrollaries/inferences to the two languages
> and a translator must
> take that into account. Which is why you find proverbs like
> "To translate literally is to lie".
> Or the common advice that people who love a literature
> need to read it in the original.
>
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