Maria Todorova

Task 2
Analysis of Mazhki vremena and its translation When Men Where Men
The language in Haitovs Mazhki vremena sets several distinctive issues that the
translator has to deal with, the most distinctive of which are the stylistic devices used to render a
more natural expression to the temporal and cultural frame of the story and the cultural specific
items, which saturate the text. From the former, the most discernible example is the disorderly
syntax and this poses a great challenge to the translator since Bulgarian syntax is far more fluid
than that of English. The latter, on the other hand, are issues which should be dealt with
individually, applying whatever technique serves best according to the case at hand and the
translator has managed to achieve relative equivalence in some places, but in other has not.
When it comes to syntax, the translator has decided to straighten the sentences out
(especially in the first half of the page) and at places even divide the more confusing ones. An
example of such flattening out of syntax are the sentences Everyone knew me and when I took
anything on, there was no messing about. (SVO + SVO>SVO) for ,
, . (SOV
>V+SVO>VO). Every clause in the translation has textbook syntax while in the original, the word
order is disrupted, which is obviously a characteristic feature of the speaker, yet, the effect is lost
in the translation. Moreover, the translators choice of and as a conjunction between the two main
closes is another step towards normalization of the otherwise marked original sentence. An even
better instance of this case is the very opening of the story: , ,
.; and its translation: I was a right daredevil in my young days. Bold
as brass and blood on the boil. Although the translator has aptly used English phraseology to
make the text close to the original in its idiomaticity, I dont see reason for the separation of the
first sentence into two, the first of which is again with regular syntax (SVCA, when the original is
AVC and both the adverb and the subject complement incorporate some kind of apposition -
; ). Whats more, since this is the very opening of the story, I
believe it should be as close to the original as possible in its effect. An acceptable alternative, in
my opinion, would have been A right daredevil I was back then, in those young days bold as
brass and blood on the boil. There are various similar examples in the excerpt; however, I should
also take into account the translators effort to compensate for some of those losses. For instance,
in the sentences He agreed to it and a few days later off we went to Nastan and
we can see that the original has regular syntax, while in
English, the translator has adequately used the more colloquial and marked off we went, thus
rendering the overall colloquial impression of the original.
As far as cultural specific items are concerned, two instances captured my attention. The
first one was and the second was . I believe that the translator has done
a great job in the first example, because he has compensated for the lack of the word in English
vocabulary with the colloquial rhyming cooing and wooing. Examples of such rhyming are
frequent in colloquial English, especially in rhyming compounds (lovey-dovey or higgledy-
piggledy, for example), therefore using this translation, Holman has made the text closer in effect
to the vernacular register of the original. Unfortunately, in the second instance, the case does not
offer such an opportunity and the translator has settled for the regular NP an old friend of mine,
which, although frequently used is not close to the original .
There is one more example, which I believe can go with the cultural specific ones, yet I will
discuss it separately since its nature is phonological rather than semantic. This is the common for
the Rhodopean vernacular , which is rendered as the regular revolver in the
translation. Obviously the translation lacks the phonetic modification of the original, however, I
 Maria Todorova
Task 2
dont believe the British reader would have been able to relate to a word such as verolver and if
such a modification wouldnt have presented an obstacle in the smooth flow of the text.
In conclusion, I believe that the basic meaning of the original text is rendered adequately;
yet, its effect is lost at times because of the normalization of syntax and the loss of several cultural
specific items.