Poprawne tłumaczenia z błędami. O tłumaczeniu błędów językowych użytych jako zabieg literacki

Abstract

The paper presents the results of the analysis of some theoretical and practical issues related to errors in translations, especially those used as a literary device. The first part shows two classifications of errors in translations, by Hejwowski and Nord. The author of the paper adds another, more general classification, that focuses on the difference between the errors introduced in texts by the authors or translators intentionally or unintentionally. The second part presents 10 types of errors used by Daniel Keyes in his novel Flowers for Algernon . The story is written as a diary of a mentally retarded man who makes a lot of mistakes: spelling, punctuation, grammatical, lexical, syntactic and stylistic. The types and the frequency of errors in the original are compared to the types and the frequency of errors in the French and Polish translation. It shows that in different language systems the translators could not or decided not to copy the model of the hero’s faulty writing. Only one type of errors is impossible to introduce in the Polish version, i.e., the omission of the apostrophe. All the remaining errors are present in both versions but their frequency may be different. The French translation intensifies spelling mistakes, uses fewer lexical errors and its grammatical errors are due to the spelling of unpronounced flexions. The Polish text contains more lexical, grammatical, especially fexional, and syntactic errors. It also introduces one type of error, inexistent in the original, which is typical of the Polish language system, namely, the transcription of denasalisation and devoicing. The translators had to adapt the types of errors and their frequency to create a model of faulty writing that would be seen as natural by the French and Polish readers.