A DESCRIPTIVE AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TWO TURKISH TRANSLATIONS OF JANE AUSTEN’S "PRIDE AND PREJUDICE"

Abstract

Translation norms have an important place in descriptive translation theory and these norms concern not only the translated texts but also the society and culture to which the texts belong. Norms are related to the behaviour and choices of translators in the translation process and therefore determine translation decisions. The decisions taken in translation process as lexical choices and preferred translation strategies determine which of the translators will be closer to the source or target languages and cultures. Thus, it becomes clear which of the poles of adequacy or acceptability is closer to translated text. The concepts of 'adequacy and acceptability' have recently been associated with the concepts of ‘overt translation' and 'covert translation'. In overt translation, the translator’s choices are in accordance with the values of the source text and its culture and therefore the translation text is conveyed without changing the foreign-the cultural elements- given in the source text. In this context it can be claimed that the reader can obtain information about the source text culture. On the other hand, in covert translation, the cultural elements given in the source text are domesticated and presented to the reader with expressions familiar to the reader. In this context, the translator’s choices prioritize the reader and the values of target culture.
 This study aims to provide a descriptive analysis of the two translation versions of Jane Austen’s "Pride and Prejudice", in the light of Gideon Toury’s descriptive approach to the translation studies. Through making a comparative analysis between the source text and the two translation versions (target texts) via selecting sentences randomly from the source text and comparing them with the target texts in terms of lexical choice, revealing a comparative and objective analysis in terms of their equivalences is the main focus of this study without searching for translation errors in comparison to the source text. In order to present a descriptive analysis, Gideon Toury’s norms will be used as a guide and on a macro level, Toury’s equivalence theory; “adequacy or acceptability” and the terms overt and covert translation will be used for the comparison of the target texts in terms of word level.