SOME ISSUES REGARDING THE TRANSLATION OF ADJECTIVES IN LITERARY TEXTS FROM ENGLISH TO ALBANIAN

Abstract

Translation of literary texts has always been a huge challenge for translators. To translate a Shakespearean sonnet seems almost impossible when having in consideration the artistic value as well as textual complexity. Some critics even discuss the percentages as to what is more possible to translate in terms of literary genres. Undoubtedly, poetry is harder to translate from one language to another. Drama is easier to translate as it does not have the lengthy description of images that novels have. Translation of novels is somewhere in the middle. The last one is going to be object of discussion in this paper. However, having in mind that a wider research on translation of novels may take a lengthy work, this paper will limit its discussion on the translation of adjectives only. This work will be based on the novel The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald and its translation in Albanian Getsbi i Madh by Stavri Pone. Starting from the point that English language is far richer than Albanian language in terms of vocabulary, one can predict that this issue may be quite interesting to discuss. Another dimension of this topic is the fact that in English language adjectives are usually placed before the nouns while in Albanian language they go after the nouns. It is also worth mentioning that English language has different types of adjective from Albanian language. Similar issues will be added to this paper to fulfill this paper and to enlighten the difficulties in this discourse and to raise questions such as: Are the adjectives properly translated? Do they carry the same meaning? What are the most frequent adjectives in English that need to be adapted? Do the adjectives in English stay adjectives in Albanian?