"Ich habe z.B. von einem Brief geträumt, aber auch von einem Leichenbegängnis u. dgl.; ich sehe nun in einem ‘Traumbuch’ nach und finde, daß ‘Brief’ mit ‘Verdruß’, ‘Leichenbegängnis’ mit ‘Verlobung’ zu übersetzen ist."1
Ik heb bijvoorbeeld van een brief gedroomd, maar ook over een begrafenis of iets dergelijks; nu zoek ik het op in een ‘dromenboek’ en vind dat ‘brief’ vertaald moet worden als ‘ergernis’ en ‘begrafenis’ als ‘verloving’.
In de vorige les heb ik het verschil in theoretische benadering geïllustreerd bij het zoeken naar de betekenis van een woord door enerzijds een woordenboek te raadplegen en anderzijds in een corpus te zoeken. In deze les wil ik laten zien hoe de praktische kant ervan er uit ziet. Daartoe zal ik concrete voorbeelden geven en die naast beide technieken plaatsen om te kunnen begrijpen welke verschillen, voor- en nadelen zij met zich meebrengen.
Het vertaalprobleem waarvan ik uitga is de volgende zin:
I have a mental picture of my father [...] settling down to explain the finer points of Truffaut to her [gebruik van vet van mijn hand].
Om deze zin naar behoren te kunnen vertalen, moet de vertaler weten:
- of "finer points" een andere betekenis heeft dan die welke uit de ‘banale’ combinatie van de betekenis van «fine» met die van "point" voortvloeit;
- of het gaat om een staande uitdrukking, en dus de collocatie van "finer" naast "points" regelmatig voorkomt, zodat het gebruik van een synoniem in plaats van een van beide woorden in het Engels een belachelijke indruk zou maken.
De vertaler begint met het raadplegen van een verklarend handwoordenboek en laat een zoekopdracht los op de hele tekst voor de beide woorden in deze combinatie. Het woordenboek waarmee ik mijn experiment heb verricht is de American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000. Als ik de reeks tekens in kwestie invoer, krijg ik het volgende resultaat:
SYLLABICATION: |
mus·cu·lar |
PRONUNCIATION: |
msky-lr |
ADJECTIVE: |
1. Of, relating to, or consisting of muscle: muscular contraction. 2. Having well-developed muscles: a muscular build. 3. Having or suggesting great forcefulness, especially at the expense of subtlety: muscular reasoning that does not bother with the finer points; muscular advocacy groups. |
ETYMOLOGY: |
From Latin msculus, muscle. See muscle. |
OTHER FORMS: |
muscu·lari·ty (-lr-t) —NOUN
muscu·lar·ly —ADVERB |
SYNONYMS: |
muscular, athletic, brawny, burly, sinewy These adjectives mean strong and powerfully built: a muscular build; an athletic swimmer; brawny arms; a burly stevedore; a lean and sinewy frame. |
Men ziet direct dat het zoeken door de hele tekst een welomlijnd nut heeft gehad: als ik gezocht had onder het lemma «fine» of onder het lemma "point", had ik die combinatie van woorden nooit gevonden, terwijl ik door te zoeken op beide woorden samen ik één resultaat verkrijg, namelijk het lemma "muscular", waaraan je werkelijk niet gauw zou denken.
Als je de definitie, waarin sprake is van "subtlety", nader bekijkt, kan de veronderstelling bij je opkomen dat de "finer points" iets te maken hebben met de subtiliteit van een redenering. Ik heb echter nog geen antwoord gekregen op de twee vragen waarop ik een antwoord wil vinden om de zin te kunnen vertalen, en wel vooral op de tweede.
Daar het gaat om een in Brits Engels geschreven tekst, krijg ik enige twijfel of het door mij geraadpleegde woordenboek wel het juiste is geweest, doordat dit een specifiek op het Engels van Noord-Amerika gericht woordenboek is. Ik probeer daarom hetzelfde onderzoek te verrichten met behulp van een ander woordenboek, de Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/). De resultaten die ik nu verkrijg zijn de volgende:
fine (EXCELLENT)
fine (THIN)
fine (EXACT)
Deze drie links sturen me door naar de drie lemmata, twee waarvan geen ter zake doende informatie bevatten, terwijl een ervan het volgende materiaal bevat:
fine (EXACT) [Show phonetics]
adjective [usually before noun]
very exact and delicate, or needing to be done, treated or considered very carefully:
I understood in general what she was talking about, but some of the finer details/points were beyond me.
There's a fine line between love and hate.
Zoals men ziet vermeldt dit voorbeeld "some of the finer details/points", iets dat doet denken aan een onderlinge verwisselbaarheid van de twee zelfstandige naamwoorden, en dat ons doet neigen tot de veronderstelling dat het antwoord op de tweede vraag die ik me gesteld heb, namelijk of het om een staande uitdrukking ging, ontkennend luidt.
Op dit punt probeer ik het grootste corpus dat op het internet staat te raadplegen, het British National Corpus (BNC), dat honderd miljoen woorden telt, veel meer dan wat een cd kan bevatten. Het adres van deze kostbare bron is:
http://thetis.bl.uk/
Ik voer in het zoekvenster mijn tekst in. Het antwoord dat ik krijg is:
Here is a random selection of 50 solutions from the 79 found...
Dit ligt eraan dat ik niet geabonneerd ben op de diensten van het British National Corpus. Het BNC bestaat in twee versies. De versie waarvan de abonnees gebruik mogen maken is de volledige, terwijl degene die sporadisch gebruik maakt van het corpus zich moet behelpen met een onvolledige versie, die onder meer de beperking heeft van het aantal voorkomende gevallen dat wordt getoond: als een rij tekens in meer dan vijftig gevallen voorkomt, dan toont het programma er slechts vijftig willekeurig gekozen voorbeelden van.
Dit is het volledige scherm dat in dit geval in beeld komt:
Results of your search
Your query was
finer points
Here is a random selection of 50 solutions from the 79 found...
A0U 1711 And we are discovering that we are not interested in exploring the finer points of alienation with tea cuppery, but that the theatre can be a bridge of bone between sickness and health --; that our language will somehow always be on the edge of poetry and that image and metaphor are our natural tools --; they best express whole worlds and histories in collision with each other.
A6L 34 This varied experience served to convince Sir Adrian that no top executive can really be successful without an in-depth understanding of the finer points of a company's operations.
A77 526 Having established the finer points, the course moves out to the Barossa training area of gorse, bracken and small pine woods adjacent to the Academy.
A77 1655 Captain Watkins discusses the finer points of farming with a local
A7N 579 (Well, you try explaining the finer points of haircutting to a Russian whose grasp of English, while good, is far from perfect.)
AB5 646 Angie Bowie: `;With the Arts Lab in full swing, Ken Pitt was ironing out the finer points of a new record deal with Mercury Records and in his own way was very lucid about David because he never actually saw him rooted in England or rooted only in rock and roll.
ANK 183 They had learned the finer points from a freebooter at Dover, later buying their own streamlined cutter and running it from Folkestone to the French coast, dealing in brandy and fine lace.
B24 1754 You had to be sure that she had convictions as a prostitute --; first loitering and then prostitution and then finer points came up over suspected persons.
B25 1186 Once the topics are agreed, questions will be asked which will fill in the finer points of the hypotheses.
B2P 249 All this makes it evident and indisputable that the compiler of PS did not understand the finer points of trust wordings: for he announces that the wordings he quotes are ones in which the settlor addresses the beneficiary.
B71 1959 Scattered around in 10 cities, including Stockholm, the medical specialists will spend four hours discussing the finer points of herpes, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), hepatitis, meningitis, candida vaginitis and Reye's syndrome.
BLY 1080 The staff available in teachers' colleges consisted in the main of dignified old gentlemen, veritable repositories of folklore and tradition, ever eager to discuss finer points of language with other scholars, but totally unequipped to teach reading methods.
BMF 1032 Usually they are a group from an outdoor centre who are being given a taste of what canoeing can offer them and they have yet to appreciate the finer points of our sport or recreation.
BN3 1604 They may have lacked a proper use of the King's English, and a knowledge of the finer points of etiquette and accepted behaviour in conforming to certain standards.
C8P 1198 This is a good game for teaching budding soccer players some of the finer points of how to head a ball without them being frightened of hurting themselves.
C95 2793 Rather than start by discussing the finer points of the various varieties (covered in an earlier article), let's approach the subject literally: a good starting point is the size of Koi to aim for.
C9E 301 He went on to discuss the finer points of his work: Americans take the deepest divots, he said, the Japanese no divots at all.
CA1 597 We don't really need to know these finer points.
CDN 515 She walked all round his precious beauty and admired its finer points.
CDX 686 The finer points of the differences between being a Christian and a Muslim were rarely discussed between us.
CDX 1463 Though the Youngest Son had an essentially scientific mind and was impatient with the finer points of literature, his pleasure in puzzling over poetry was never ending.
CFT 3480 The finer points of performance and specification (finer being the operative word) should be left to our dealers.
CHU 612 Working on a quality paper, where journalists have more room for the finer points and a more informed audience, is considered to be much less demanding.
CHU 872 Though Pilger was a committed left-winger, he was lacking the finer points of the new feminist-influenced Right-On etiquette.
CJE 251 It should not pause to sniff at the scents of other dogs, at the same time remaining very responsive to its owner's instructions, adjusting its stance slightly, perhaps, to show off its finer points.
CLL 36 Once you are familiar with the basic workings, don't forget to go back to the manual to learn about the program's finer points.
EA7 831 It was within this kind of environment that chivalry flourished, that young men learned to identify, their vassalage towards their lord as a symbol of their honour, that they debated the relative merits of Roland's and Oliver's way of displaying loyalty; and that they learned the finer points of jousting.
ECX 303 It may be unreasonable to expect a civilian to understand the finer points of aerodynamics to degree level, but in the RAF it is something that pilots must learn.
EDP 298 Hodge was frequently criticised by contemporaries for his inability to grasp the finer points of the problems confronting him and for reacting in too blunt a manner.
EE2 55 Defined by early translators as the equivalent of the Japanese term hó0ken used to describe the Tokugawa system, the finer points of distinction between `;feudal system'; and hó0ken seido soon became obscured.
EEM 1517 The moderate Anglicanism for which Wilkins stood is sometimes described as `;latitudinarian,'; to indicate a breadth of mind and an attitude of religious toleration, at variance with the demands of puritan enthusiasts, whose overbearing self-assurance on the finer points of doctrine could be distasteful.
EFG 684 Doctors and nurses are sometimes too busy to worry about the finer points and a woman in labour is in no position to argue.';
EFW 514 Mature Christians were dragged to the more distant of the two wells in the Residency yard and, without discrimination between the finer points of their creeds, thrown in.
FET 1579 The place suddenly had its history of bloodletting to be sniffed, and yet even that was not exciting, maybe because the Nîmois did not roar for blood as the Romans had, but sunned themselves and discussed finer points of capework.
FT8 2388 The documentation provides plenty of general advice about writing letters --; both the general construction and some of the finer points, such as how many lines to leave for a signature.
G00 3429 This is a world where document management and revision tracking are probably more important than the finer points of typography, the ability to pull information out of the corporate data base more vital than a range of typefaces and sizes.
G10 1234 I do not understand the finer points of sorcery,'; said the Wolfqueen, and a brief, suddenly youthful grin lifted her lips, `;but I know a little.
G2E 147 To begin the evening Laurent Perrier will conduct a champagne tasting, educating us all on the finer points in choosing champagne.
H90 3337 Henry VIII cared little about evidence or the finer points of law.
H9C 307 `;I'd pay for a cup of wine and I have dice, though I would love to know the finer points of the game!';
H9C 2656 `;And, who knows, you may teach Ranulf the finer points of dicing!';
HAE 1138 CUED UP Joe Johnson gives Fred some tips on the finer points of snooker and (inset) a beaming Joe and wife Terryll share the moment of triumph when he won the world title in 1986
HJ4 2901 Suki --; `;I hate being called Susannah'; --; will also host a question and answer session and outline the finer points of good stroke discipline.
HR9 689 We could be here all night rapping about the finer points of mediumship.
J56 570 He was a highly educated gentleman, a very well known Varsity athlete, but he came to me with a bad report that he was completely and utterly clueless about some of the finer points of simple take-off and landing procedures.
K21 1484 They were expecting the finer points of drama and theatre management… instead they were introduced to the skills of the big top.
K3A 1026 BRITAIN'S No.2 tennis player of 1992, Andrew Castle, is making a post-Wimbledon trip to Liverpool to coach the finer points of the game to novices who may never have seen a racket.
K97 16887 Sometimes they were right, news crews rarely had the time or the inclination to pursue the finer points.
KE1 2361 the finer points!
KE2 3751 to Coronation Street do not know all the facts of course, we are ignorant of the finer points of the time gone by, but why is Deirdre so lasted to Ken I've yet to catch up with Wednesday night's proceedings on my video contraption , but the last thing that I heard Deirdre say to Ken as he was recovering on a put-u-up in her front room was, I'm stuck with you till you back on your feet and as far as I'm concerned it can't come soon enough for me, Ken lay there immobile, stunned, a cruel carry on, what's the poor chap done, but then I've missed too much
In de volgende les zullen we dit onderzoek voortzetten, en zien welke gegevens aan dit resultaat kunnen worden ontleend. Ik adviseer de lezer allereerst het door de zoekopdracht gegenereerde materiaal door te lezen, om zijn hypotheses vervolgens te vergelijken met de veronderstelling die ik in de volgende les zal formuleren.
Bibliografische verwijzingen
FREUD SIGMUND, Die Traumdeutung (1902),
Frankfurt am Main, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1991 (Zwölfte, unveränderte Auflage 2005) ISBN 3-596-10436-X
FREUD SIGMUND, The Interpretation Of Dreams, translated by A. A. Brill, London, G. Allen & company, 1913.
1 Freud 1991: 112.
|