«I pensieri del sogno e il contenuto del sogno si presentano come due descrizioni dello stesso contenuto in due linguaggi diversi»1.
Nell’unità precedente ho preso in esame un problema traduttivo che riguardava non il senso di singole parole, ma il senso di una combinazione particolare, di una collocazione di parole nel suo insieme. E ho mostrato come possa essere utile, in casi del genere, la consultazione di un corpus. Ma quando i problemi traduttivi sono di tipo diverso, resta sempre valida l’opzione del corpus?
Nell’unità proverò ad affrontare due problemi traduttivi realmente presentatisi nello stesso testo a cui ho fatto riferimento nelle due unità precedenti. Ecco le frasi incriminate:
I know I bang on about the English being strange, but clearly a little part of me isn't quite convinced, since I've sort of married two of them.
Bang on cue, Frank appears, wearing my rose-patterned Cath Kidston apron.
In entrambi i casi ricorre, come si nota dall’evidenziazione mia, la combinazione «bang on», il cui significato è a me estraneo. La prima ipotesi che faccio è che si tratti di un phrasal verb, uno di quei verbi che assumono un significato particolare se si accosta a loro una determinata preposizione, e che sono prediletti in particolare dai britannici (gli statunitensi ne fanno un uso più moderato, preferendo a volte la parola di significato simile di etimologia latina).
Incomincio dal Webster’s New World Dictionary della Macmillan, 1997, che mi dà come risultato che la combinazione «bang on» non esiste. Ne desumo che probabilmente è una locuzione britannica. Mi sposto sul dizionario Collins della lingua inglese britannica, ma analogamente non trovo nulla.
Cercando infine sul Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary trovo (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=5831&dict=CALD):
bang on phrasal verb INFORMAL DISAPPROVING to talk about something for a long time, especially in a way that is boring to other people: My parents are always banging on about how much better life was 20 years ago.
In questo modo apparentemente risolvo il primo dei miei due problemi, poiché l’esempio che mi viene dato contiene «bang on» seguìto proprio dal complemento di argomento introdotto da «about» come nel caso del mio problema. Quindi una traduzione possibile di quella prima occorrenza può essere:
So che continuo a rimenarla sul fatto che gli inglesi sono strani...
Faccio una verifica nel British National Corpus, inserendo «bang on»: ecco il risultato che ottengo:
Here is a random selection of 50 solutions from the 93 found...
A0M 1365 As well as being painful, a further bang on a broken nose can greatly increase disfigurement.
A35 46 So, we bang on about the play and the staging and the big themes, and, if there's any space left, then, as the chairman of Critics' Forum wearily intones, `;I suppose we ought to say something about the performances.';
A74 3114 I bang on the glass with my fist.
ABS 142 First-Rate Bang On
B0U 1039 `;I'll bang on the wall.';
BM5 1896 `;Rover-engined and JPE versions of the Seven show, again, the Caterham's honing of the concept is bang on target';
BMW 2089 There was a loud bang on the door and Grace's angry voice called: `;And you can stop that quarrelling, the pair of you.
BP7 972 `;Just don't go about saying you had a bang on the head.
CA0 2199 He said the English were fine ones to bang on about cruelty when they sent little boys off to boarding school when they were eight.
CAB 3218 But if he becomes a nuisance, William,'; he added, `;you bang on the floor and I'll pick him up.';
CBC 1459 Crackers bang on target
CBE 680 He went so far as to bang on the door of Evert's home in an effort to see Steffi.
CEP 4324 England's 34-;32 half-time lead left them bang on target for the four-point margin required to overturn last year's narrow 77-;74 reverse in Moscow.
CJ4 193 Breasting the summit with ease and bang on time, the train was `;chased'; by a host of car bound photographers and enthusiasts, with even the pre-occupied massive throng in the on-train real ale bar pausing to admire the feat!
CM0 453 The impact of Big Bang on GKR was especially profitable for the firm because it was well prepared.
CMC 775 If you roll a HIT then you have hit, and the Goblin lands bang on target.
E9U 364 THREE East Anglian players are bang on course for reaching the matchplay stage of the English Ladies Championship at St Enodoc Golf Club on the north coast of Cornwall (writes Lee Dinmore ).
ECX 731 A loud and unnerving bang on climb-out came as a reminder that the time was looming for the statutory annual check of wing and attached machinery.
FET 1111 A gramophone began with a bang on" Away in a Manger".
FPH 1784 A bang on the door.
FU6 232 ROS: That's it --; pale sky before dawn, a man standing on his saddle to bang on the shutters --; shouts --; What's all the row about?!
FU6 261 An awakening, a man standing on his saddle to bang on the shutters, our names shouted in a certain dawn, a message, a summons…
FU6 1591 In a minute someone's going to bang on the lid and tell me to come out.
G02 292 It has leaped the last few leagues in one bound (great stuff), and lands smack BANG on the Cathedral roof (or thereabouts).
G1S 446 In the end, though, it would all be bang on and tickety boo (or was that the wrong war?) because Rupert, the sexiest of the pilots, managed to win through.
G2B 296 Brisk afternoon wind arrived bang on time for an exciting sail.
G2E 2163 Pamella got the bang on her door on Saturday 11 March.
G33 2549 After just a few hours sleep, I half awoke to a bang on the window.
H4C 568 Er and you'd er they'd er just bang on the door and, and call you and you had to be downstairs in five minutes.
H8J 1027 A bang on the door galvanised her into action; she gathered the matching gown round her and opened the door.
H9U 1772 Your arm was broken, and you had had a terrible bang on the head.
H9U 1784 I told the doctor; but he said that the whole adventure was just a dream, the result of cold, tiredness and a violent bang on the head.
HAE 40 IAN RUSH is bang on target for another historic hat-trick --; of records!
HAE 706 BANG ON!
HEE 43 But er it wasn't long after that there was another big bang on the platform and they all sort of turned tail and went away for their own safety.
HGD 2918 `;Hide under the table, mademoiselle , and when I am in my room I will bang on the floor and the coast will be clear.';
HJ3 4007 The 16 goal striker, who starts a two match ban on Monday, was bang on the spot to head Crusaders second from a beautifully served cross by Sid Burrows.
HPC 8 It has been completed bang on time and within budget thanks to a special task force which was set up to lead the complex engineering job.
J1F 1648 No matter how it started over the summer, there has been no shortage of things to bang on about.
JJS 151 He's had a terrific bang on the back of his head and
JXY 2770 `;Even so, you've had a severe shock and you've had a bang on your head.';
JY5 3731 Bang on cue, she strode out on to the stage, feeling none of the terror that had crippled her last performance, the excited cheers of the children bringing a beaming smile to her face.
K3A 757 Rob Andrew went off with a bang on the nose which needed an X-ray, although it was later revealed that there was no fracture, while his replacement Stuart Barnes had 12 stitches in a head wound caused by a stray boot.
K3X 60 Newton waters expected to be bang on form with loads of small fish, good tench on pole and caster.
K4V 1858 Mr Murphy, of Grange Road, Middlesbrough, said his son had a bang on the head which needed an X-ray.
K9C 358 SMART work by Thatcher Tubes, racing against the clock, helped a special toothpaste promotion hit stores in the United States bang on time.
KBP 3633 It's the one right bang on the main road?
KD3 2329 No, I don't know what it, he didn't bang on the doors, I was hoovering at the time Is that nice?
KE1 3639 bash it five minutes down the road, bang bang on Sunday, Sunday morning I was up
KE3 7062 Come and bang on our door for six weeks.
Come si vede, nella maggior parte delle occorrenze si tratta del verbo «bang», che significa «colpire», seguìto dalla preposizione «on» con il semplice valore di «su», per esempio «bang on our door» sta per semplicemente «un colpo sulla porta». Se io "depuro" il risultato da queste occorrenze per me irrilevanti, mi resta:
A35 46 So, we bang on about the play and the staging and the big themes, and, if there's any space left, then, as the chairman of Critics' Forum wearily intones, `;I suppose we ought to say something about the performances.';
CA0 2199 He said the English were fine ones to bang on about cruelty when they sent little boys off to boarding school when they were eight.
J1F 1648 No matter how it started over the summer, there has been no shortage of things to bang on about.
BM5 1896 `;Rover-engined and JPE versions of the Seven show, again, the Caterham's honing of the concept is bang on target';
CBC 1459 Crackers bang on target
CEP 4324 England's 34-;32 half-time lead left them bang on target for the four-point margin required to overturn last year's narrow 77-;74 reverse in Moscow.
CJ4 193 Breasting the summit with ease and bang on time, the train was `;chased'; by a host of car bound photographers and enthusiasts, with even the pre-occupied massive throng in the on-train real ale bar pausing to admire the feat!
CMC 775 If you roll a HIT then you have hit, and the Goblin lands bang on target.
E9U 364 THREE East Anglian players are bang on course for reaching the matchplay stage of the English Ladies Championship at St Enodoc Golf Club on the north coast of Cornwall (writes Lee Dinmore).
G2B 296 Brisk afternoon wind arrived bang on time for an exciting sail.
HAE 40 IAN RUSH is bang on target for another historic hat-trick --; of records!
HJ3 4007 The 16 goal striker, who starts a two match ban on Monday, was bang on the spot to head Crusaders second from a beautifully served cross by Sid Burrows.
HPC 8 It has been completed bang on time and within budget thanks to a special task force which was set up to lead the complex engineering job.
JY5 3731 Bang on cue, she strode out on to the stage, feeling none of the terror that had crippled her last performance, the excited cheers of the children bringing a beaming smile to her face.
K3X 60 Newton waters expected to be bang on form with loads of small fish, good tench on pole and caster
Ho evidenziato in colore verde chiaro le occorrenze che mi sembrano affini al mio primo caso. Ma nel mio secondo problema tale soluzione è praticabile? Non direi proprio. Allora ho colorato di viola le occorrenze che mi sembrano imparentate con il caso del mio secondo problema. Mi accorgo di una cosa: in un solo caso (penultima occorrenza) c’è la sequenza precisa «bang on cue», anche in questo caso a inizio frase, non di facile decifrazione a prima vista. In ben cinque casi su dodici trovo «bang on target», il che mi fa suonare qualche campanello d’allarme: che «bang on cue» sia una variante, o un rimando intertestuale a «bang on target»?
Inoltre noto che vi sono occorrenze di «bang on time» dal significato trasparente, molto espressivo, che è all’incirca «con una puntualità da spaccare il secondo». In effetti «bang on time» si può intuire che prenda spunto dal suono delle campane, per cui la puntualità è tale che è associata al battere dell’ora in un campanile.
Provo a inserire le stringhe in un motore di ricerca. Ottengo 3440 occorrenze per «bang on target», che quindi può essere considerata una collocazione standard, e soltanto 166 per «bang on cue». Mi accorgo, da un esame delle varie occorrenze, che il significato di «bang on target», probabilmente originato dal gergo militare, è all’incirca «obbiettivo colpito in pieno», perciò, in senso traslato, l’espressione significa «estremamente a proposito», «proprio al momento giusto», «proprio nel modo più opportuno». «Bang on cue» probabilmente è una variante con un significato lievemente diverso, perché alla metafora spaziale del «target» si sostituisce la metafora dell’evidenza, della traccia semantica.
La traduzione della mia seconda frase, quindi, non ha nulla a che vedere con il phrasal verb della prima (cosa di cui ho potuto rendermi conto non grazie al dizionario, ma grazie ai corpora), e può essere resa all’incirca così:
A conferma dei miei sospetti, compare Frank, con addosso il mio grembiule Cath Kidston a disegni rosa.
Credo che a questo punto sia chiaro quanto può essere utile la consultazione dei corpora anche per risolvere problemi di senso diversi da quelli riguardanti le collocazioni standard.
Riferimenti Bibliografici
FREUD SIGMUND, L’interpretazione dei sogni, in Opere, vol. 3, Torino, Boringhieri, a cura di C. L. Musatti, 1966.
FREUD SIGMUND, The Interpretation Of Dreams, translated by A. A. Brill, London, G. Allen & company, 1913.
GURALNIK, ed., Webster’s New World Dictionary, Macmillan-Accent, 1997.
HANKS PATRICK, ed., Collins Dictionary of the English Language, Collins, London-Glasgow 1979.
1 Freud 1900: 254.
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