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The Untranslatable Re-Translated: Piórem i piórkiem versus Letterlijk en figuurlijk
Abstract
Jos Wilmots is the author of Letterlijk en figuurlijk, a work based on word games and linguistic associations. Although seemingly totally inaccessible to non-native speakers and amusing only to native speakers, the booklet is a kind of puzzle book. It is easier for Dutch speakers than for others, but most puzzles within have a concrete solution. Understanding this book means looking for paronomasia, for ambiguities, for particular contexts, as well as sometimes digging into Biblical quotations or the history of Belgium. In short, although it was not intended for non-native Dutch speakers, at least not initially, overall it is a very enriching gem for those who are learning Dutch. The author of this article translated it into Polish (Piórem i piórkiem), sometimes requiring a different word game or evoking a different association. The main aim at the time was merely to see if it would be possible to translate it despite the many categories presented above. In some cases, it just involved looking for an appropriate paronomastic equivalent, and sometimes analogies that would be understandable to a Polish reader. This occasionally leads to different imagery in the Polish version (not all idioms translate word for word), or to slight diversions in order to preserve the original line of thought. This article aims to tell the Jubilarian (and anyone else interested) what the Polish version actually says in relation to the Dutch original.
Keywords:
Letterlijk en figuurlijk, Piórem i piórkiem, word game, translation, translation of idiomsDetails
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
