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ÉTIENNE DOLET� “THE WAY TO TRANSLATE WELL FROM ONE LANGUAGE INTO ANOTHER” 

Inês Todi nº158639

Marta Carvalho nº158006

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Étienne Dolet

  • Born on August 3rd 1509
  • Died on August 3rd 1546
  • Was a humanist printer, translator, and scholar
  • Burned by the Inquisition

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The dangers of Translation and the Inquisition

  • Socrates: “And if you died, [death] wouldn’t be anything more to you, since you wouldn’t exist.” Dolet added, “as anything at all”

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THE PYRE

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“The way to translate well from one language into another”

  • 1st rule:
  • “(…) the translator must understand perfectly the sense and matter of the author he is translating”;
  • “(…) it is important and necessary for every translator to fathom perfectly the sense of the author he is turning from one language into another. And without that he cannot translate reliably and faithfully.”

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“The way to translate well from one language into another”

  • 2nd rule:

“(…) the translator have perfect knowledge of the language of the author he is translating, and be likewise excellent in the language into which he is going to translate”

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“The way to translate well from one language into another”

  • 3rd rule:

“(…) in translating one must not be servile to the point of rendering word for word.”

“[the translator] will give thought to meanings without regarding the order of words”

“(…) express the intention of [the author]”

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“The way to translate well from one language into another”

  • 4th rule:

“(…) avoid adopting words too close to Latin and little used in the past, but be content with the common tongue without introducing any new terms foolishly or out of reprehensible curiousness.”

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“The way to translate well from one language into another”

  • 5th rule:

“(…) observation of rhetorical numbers.”

“(…) a joining and arranging of terms with such sweetness that not alone the soul is pleased, but also the ear is delighted and never hurt by such harmony of language.”

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To summarise...

Understand what the author is talking about;

Have perfect knowledge of the language that is being translated;

Always prioritize expressing the intentions of the author;

Refrain from using outdated expressions;

Know how to make a translation sound natural and not awkward.

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Sources