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UNIVERZA V MARIBORU
FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA
Oddelek za prevodoslovje
DIPLOMSKO DELO
Ana Furlan
Maribor, 2013
UNIVERZA V MARIBORU
FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA
Oddelek za prevodoslovje
GRADUATION THESIS
TRANSLATION OF SELF-HELP BOOKS: TRANSLATION PROBLEMS
IN RHONDA BYRNE'S "THE SECRET"
DIPLOMSKO DELO
PREVAJANJE KNJIG ZA SAMOPOMOČ: PREVAJALSKI PROBLEMI V
KNJIGI RHONDE BYRNE "SKRIVNOST"
Mentor: Candidate:
doc. dr. Katja Plemenitaš Ana Furlan
Maribor, 2013
Proofreading:
Mojca Furlan, teacher of English language
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my very great appreciation to my mentor, doc. dr.
Katja Plemenitaš for her valuable advice and guidance and her professional
assistance with my graduation thesis.
I am also grateful to all my professors, who taught me a lot and brought me where
I am today, and to my classmates and friends, who made my study years special
and unforgettable.
A special thanks goes to my parents, who have supported me – emotionally,
morally and financially, and have believed in me through my entire education.
I also wish to thank my sisters for their constant help and encouragement.
Finally, I wish to thank my boyfriend for his understanding and comfort.
IZJAVA
Podpisana ANA FURLAN rojena 7.4. 1986 študentka Filozofske fakultete
Univerze v Mariboru, smer prevajalstvo in tolmačenje angleščina, izjavljam, da je
diplomsko delo z naslovom TRANSLATION OF SELF-HELP BOOKS:
TRANSLATION PROBLEMS IN RHONDA BYRNE'S "THE SECRET" pri
mentorici doc. dr. Katji Plemenitaš, avtorsko delo.
V diplomskem delu so navedeni viri in literatura korektno navedeni; teksti niso
prepisani brez navedbe avtorjev.
________________________
(podpis študentke)
Kraj, Maribor
Datum, 15.1.2013
ABSTRACT
Self-help books are becoming very popular nowadays and have to be translated in
other languages in order to be accessible to a wider audience from other countries.
All self-help books share the same goal: to help the readers find solutions to their
problems. They are written with a specific purpose and have special
characteristics, which have to be considered when translating them.
This graduation thesis focuses on the translation of self-help books in general and
gives an analysis of some aspects of the translation of a specific self-help book -
The Secret. This is a self-help book about happiness and getting and achieving
everything the readers want in their life, written by Rhonda Byrne in 2006. The
thesis looks into some specific problems the translator faced while translating the
book from English into the Slovene language and examines the inconsistencies
with the original that occurred in the Slovene translation. The first problem
addressed is the decision about the use of formal or informal addressing of
readers. The translator decided to use a T/V distinction and addresses the readers
with a polite second plural V-form of a verb (“vi”) – “vikanje”. The second
problem discussed is the problem of non-equivalence of word-meanings. The
most common and important verb that is repeated throughout the whole book is
verb “want”. Nevertheless, the verb is not translated consistently and is sometimes
replaced with other verbs and words. The third problem is the problem of
repetition of the lexical items or phrases, which have a cohesive and a rhetoric
function. However, the translator did not preserve all the repetitions. The fourth
problem the thesis focuses on is the problem of capitalization of words. Some
concepts are capitalized in the original, because they are allegorical
personification or because of their importance, yet the capitalization is not
preserved in all cases in the translation.
The main focus of the graduation thesis is to determine how the translator solved
the problem of pragmatic adjustment of the book to the Slovene audience and
their culture.
Key words: self-help books, The Secret, translation problems, T/V distinction,
non-equivalence in word meaning, translation of verb “want”, repetition of
lexical items and phrases, capitalization.
POVZETEK
Knjige za samopomoč postajajo zelo priljubljene v današnjem času, zato morajo
biti prevedene v druge jezike, da so lahko dostopne širšemu številu bralcev iz
drugih drţav. Vse knjige za samopomoč imajo enak cilj: pomagati bralcem najti
rešitve njihovih problemov. Napisane so z določenim namenom in imajo posebne
značilnosti, ki jih je pri prevajanju potrebno upoštevati.
Diplomska naloga se osredotoča na prevajanje knjig za samopomoč na splošno in
na nekatere probleme ki so se pojavili pri prevajanju določene knjige za
samopomoč – Skrivnost. To je knjiga za samopomoč na temo sreče in tega, kako
dobiti in doseči vse, kar si bralci ţelijo v svojem ţivljenju, ki jo je napisala
Rhonda Byrne leta 2006. Naloga se posveča določenim problemom, na katere je
naletela prevajalka, ko je prevajala knjigo iz angleškega v slovenski jezik in
analizira neskladnosti z originalom, ki so se pojavile slovenskem prevodu. Prvi
problem, je odločitev o uporabi formalnega ali neformalnega naslavljanja bralcev.
Prevajalka se je odločila uporabiti vikanje in naslavlja bralce z drugo osebo
mnoţine (»vi«), ki je spoštljiva oblika naslavljanja. Drugi obravnavan problem je
problem neenakovrednega pomena besed. Najbolj pogost in pomemben glagol, ki
se ponavlja skozi celotno knjigo je glagol »want«. Vendar le-ta ni preveden
dosledno in je včasih zamenjan z drugimi glagoli in besedami. Tretji problem je
problem ponavljanja besed in besednih zvez, ki imajo kohezivno in retorično
funkcijo, kjer prevajalka ni ohranila vseh ponovitev. Četrti problem, ki se mu
naloga posveča, je problem pisanja z veliko začetnico. Nekateri pojmi so v
originalu zapisani z veliko začetnico, ker so alegorične poosebitve ali zaradi
njihove pomembnosti, vendar prevajalka ni ohranila zapisa vseh teh pojmov z
veliko začetnico v prevodu.
Glavni namen diplomske naloge je ugotoviti, kako je prevajalka rešila problem
pragmatične prilagoditve knjige slovenskim bralcem in njihovi kulturi.
Ključne besede: knjige za samopomoč, Skrivnost, prevajalski problemi,
vikanje in tikanje, neenakovrednost pomenov besed, prevajanje glagola
“want”, ponavljanje besed in besednih zvez, pisanje z veliko začetnico.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1
2. THEORETICAL PART .................................................................................. 4
2.1. SELF-HELP BOOKS ............................................................................... 4
2.1.1. CHARACTERISTICS OF SELF-HELP BOOKS ............................ 5
2.1.2. HOW SELF-HELP BOOKS ARE WRITTEN ................................. 6
2.2. TRANSLATION OF SELF-HELP BOOKS ............................................ 7
3. EMPIRICAL PART ...................................................................................... 10
3.1. RHONDA BYRNE‟S THE SECRET (2006) ........................................ 10
3.2. TRANSLATION PROBLEMS IN RHONDA BYRNE‟S THE SECRET
................................................................................................................ 12
3.2.1. ADDRESS SYSTEM ...................................................................... 15
3.2.1.1. T/V distinction – formal addressing ........................................ 15
3.2.1.2. Use of V-form or “vikanje” in the Slovene translation of The
Secret ................................................................................................. 16
3.2.2. PROBLEM OF NON-EQUIVALENCE OF WORD MEANING . 24
3.2.2.1. Differences in expressive meaning .......................................... 24
3.2.2.2. Translation of the verb “want” in The Secret .......................... 25
3.2.2.3. Verb “want” in dictionaries ..................................................... 28
3.2.2.4. Back-translation ....................................................................... 31
3.2.2.5. Inconsistencies in the translation ............................................. 35
3.2.3. REPETITION OF LEXICAL ITEMS ............................................ 39
3.2.3.1. Repetition of lexical items/phrases in The Secret .................... 41
3.2.4. CAPITALIZED WORDS ............................................................... 50
3.2.4.1. Capital letters in Slovene language .......................................... 50
3.2.4.2. Capital letters in English language .......................................... 51
3.2.4.3. Capitalized words in The Secret .............................................. 54
3.2.4.4. Capitalized pronoun “You” in The Secret ............................... 66
4. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 74
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 77
6. ENCLOSURE ............................................................................................... 81
1
1. INTRODUCTION
Self-help and self-help books are becoming more and more popular nowadays,
because people prefer to search for advice and solutions to their problems by
themselves, instead of turning for help to professionals. Probable reason for this
might be the fact that this is an anonymous way of finding help and it is also more
intimate, because they can do this in their home or anywhere else they feel safe
and relaxed. They do not need to expose themselves and their innermost thoughts
to a stranger, and moreover it is also cheaper. There are many self-help books
published on different topics, but with the same goal: to help the readers find
solutions to their problems. Since most of the self-help books are published in
English language, they have to be translated in other languages, including
Slovene, in order to be available to a wider audience. Self-help books are written
with a specific purpose and have special characteristics, they are full of advice and
examples from real life, they are written subjectively, not formally and their
readership is in most cases very general. All this has to be considered before
translating books of such genre.
In this graduation thesis, I will focus on translation of self-help books in general
and later on, on a specific book, Rhonda Byrne‟s The Secret (2006), and the
translation problems the translator had to deal with while translating the book
from English in the Slovene language. The diploma seminar paper will be divided
into two parts: theoretical and empirical.
Theoretical part will consist of specifics and characteristics of self-help books in
general and on Newmark‟s theory on translation in connection to self-help books.
Later on, in the empirical part, I will focus on the book The Secret (2006), which
is a self-help book about happiness and getting and achieving everything the
readers want in their life. It is a best-selling 2006 self-help book, written by
Rhonda Byrne, based on the previously filmed movie of the same name and it was
translated into 44 languages. I will look into some specific problems the translator
2
faced while translating the book into the Slovene language and examine the
inconsistencies with the original that occurred in the Slovene translation. The
whole chapter is divided into subchapters which consist of the theory underlying
the specific problem and then the examples from the original and translation,
followed by discussion on whether the decision of the translator was adequate or
not.
The first problem addressed is the decision about the use of formal or informal
addressing of readers. The Slovene translation of the book is written in a formal
way, the translator decided to use a T/V distinction and addresses the readers with
a polite second plural V-form of a verb (“vi”) – “vikanje”. I will discuss her
decision, since the author of The Secret wrote the original in a more informal way.
The second problem discussed is the problem of non-equivalence of word-
meanings. The most common verb that appears in the book is verb “want”, which
is connected with the topic of the book itself and is therefore important for
understanding the book. However, the translator did not translate the verb
consistently, she sometimes replaced it with other verbs or even left it out. In this
chapter, I will first provide some statistics about the verb as it appears in the
original and the verbs that appear in the translation, I will list the translations of
the verb “want” from dictionaries, a back-translations of the Slovene verbs that
are used in the book as translations of the verb “want” and definitions of these
verbs. Later on, I will provide some examples from the original and the translation
and discuss the inconsistencies of the translation.
The third problem is the problem of repetition of the lexical items or phrases,
which falls under the field of lexical cohesion. Halliday and Hasan (in Baker,
2011: 211) divide lexical cohesion into two main categories: reiteration and
collocation. Reiteration involves repetition of lexical items. A reiterated item may
be a repetition of an earlier item (literal repetition), a synonym or near-synonym, a
superordinate, or a general word. There are many literal repetitions in the original,
which have a rhetoric function. The purpose of these repetitions is in most cases
to cause a special effect and to attract reader‟s attention to a specific word or a
phrase that is being repeated. However, the translator did not translate them
consistently, in some cases she substituted them with pronouns, synonyms, and
3
paraphrase or even eliminated them (ellipsis). I will show this on several
examples from the book and evaluate the translator‟s decision.
The fourth problem I will focus on is the problem of capitalization of words.
Some nouns are capitalized in the original, because they are allegorical
personification or because of their importance. The author wanted to draw the
reader‟s attention to these nouns in order to emphasize their meaning. Yet the
translator preserved the capitalization just in some cases. Furthermore, the author
also capitalized second-person personal pronoun “You” where she is directly
addressing the reader and wants to make personal contact with him/her. She wants
the reader to feel close connection to her and the book. Nevertheless, the translator
did not preserve the capitalization in all cases, moreover she also translated the
pronoun “You” with different pronouns.
The core task of my graduation thesis is to determine how the translator solved the
problem of pragmatic adjustment of the book to the Slovene audience and their
culture, and whether she focused more on specific individuals as the target readers
of the Slovene translation or whether her translation is culturally universal and the
target readers are a wider, more general audience.
4
2. THEORETICAL PART
2.1. SELF-HELP BOOKS
When talking about self-help books, we first need to define what self-help is.
According to Longman’s Dictionary of Contemporary English (Longman Group,
2000: 1293), self-help is defined as:
“The use of your own efforts to deal with your problems instead of depending on
other people.”
Or according to online Dictionary.com, self-help is:
“The acquiring of information or the solving of one‟s problems, especially those
of a psychological nature, without the direct supervision of professionals or
experts, as by independent reading or by joining or forming lay groups that are
devoted to one‟s interests or goals.”
Self-help or in other words self-improvement is helping oneself without assistance
from others, which refers mostly to intellectual, emotional or physical help but
can also be applied to education, business, psychology and psychotherapy and is
often distributed through self-help books.
According to McGee (2005: 11) self-help books are books written with intention
to help readers with their personal problems and to give them advice and
instructions on how to deal with these problems and solve them. They became
popular in the late twentieth century, especially in its final decade. Now they are
one of the most common ways of finding solutions to people‟s personal problems
besides turning to professional help.
Reasons why people buy self-help books are different. Some of them use the
books to achieve positive thinking; when seeking a way to a better life; when
looking for explanations of the way they feel; when they want to take control of
their life; to acquire self-belief, self-esteem and confidence; when they have a lack
of personal power and self-direction; when they have personal problems of
different kind and they do not know how to deal with them or solve them; etc.
There are many kinds of self-help books, one of the most popular ones are: self-
help books for success; self-help books for happiness; self-help books for self-
esteem; self-help books for anger management; self-help books on stress; self-
5
help books for health and wellness; self-help books for relationships; self-help
books on body image and diets; self-help books on sexuality; self-help books for
meditation and spirituality, self-help books on different topics of “how to?”; etc.
2.1.1. CHARACTERISTICS OF SELF-HELP BOOKS
According to Kojić (2012: 39), what is typical for self-help books is that they
include a lot of practical advice and exercises for turning the negative way of
looking at life to a more positive one, for example with affirmations (repeating
positive statements by reader); visualizations (readers visualize the things they
want, or post pictures of desired things on the visible places); disputations
(readers dispel potential negative thoughts).1
According to Rihar and Urbanija (1999: 19) readers identify themselves with the
narrator or the character from the book and his or her experiences. By doing so
they feel better, more relaxed and calm, relieved by knowing that they are not the
only ones with such problems. They do not feel alone and they gain hope and faith
as they read stories on how others solved their problems. Furthermore, if readers
compare their ideas, values and the way of looking at life with the author‟s view,
they become encouraged to change their beliefs and standpoints.2
Alice L. Bryan (1939: 19)3 has listed six goals of bibliotherapy, which can also be
applied to self-help books. She says that the readers should realize and get to
know:
1. Their problems are not unique.
2. There is a solution for every problem.
3. Reasons for their behaviour and behaviour of other people in certain
situations.
4. Values of certain experiences.
5. Possible solutions for their problems.
1 Translation by the author of the graduation thesis
2 Translation by the author of the graduation thesis
3 Translation by the author of the graduation thesis
2 Translation by the author of the graduation thesis
3 Translation by the author of the graduation thesis
6
6. Encouragements for objective perceiving of their situation (ibid.).
People often find new guidelines for their life in self-help books. They face their
problems easily because they know that many other people have already
successfully saved similar or even bigger problems than theirs.
The books offer them a way to release tension in them and a possibility for
emotional and intellectual development, identification, compensation,
development of positive self-image and self-valuation, for realistic attitude
towards world and environment, for expanding interests, overcoming loneliness,
etc. (ibid: 20).
William C. Menninger (ibid: 39) has suggested that the books should encourage
reader‟s sublimation, reduce their feeling of being different, encourage the sense
of belonging, development of positive values and points of view, encourage
identification and prevent stereotypical perceptions about life, encourage right
expressing of emotions, excepting differences and tolerance.
2.1.2. HOW SELF-HELP BOOKS ARE WRITTEN
1. They are written with an inspirational tone. Self-help books are meant to
help the readers. Writer motivates them to take control of their lives and
encourages them to follow writer‟s advice by using a positive tone.
2. Writers describe real events. In self-help books, there are many true success
stories, life achievements and anecdotes, which make writer‟s statements and
advice more personal. These stories help the readers to visualize success, give
them hope and help them believe in their own ability to succeed.
3. They are written in a clear manner that is light and easy to read. This
ensures that readers do not get confused with too many ideas. Self-help book
should be an easy to read book with enough information and the right advice
for readers to get over their issues.
4. They include step-by-step instructions. What readers need to do or
accomplish is written in steps, in that way writers help them become more
organized and approach one issue at a time. They will feel less overwhelmed
and more in-charge of their destiny (Internet source 1).
7
2.2. TRANSLATION OF SELF-HELP BOOKS
According to Newmark (2003: 13), before translating a text or a book the
translator should first focus on some things and get to know the intention of the
text; the intention of the translation; text style; the readership; stylistic scales;
attitude; setting; the quality of writing and connotations and denotations.
THE INTENTION OF SELF-HELP BOOKS:
The writer wants to help the readers to find a solution to their problems,
encourage and inspire them, provide them emotional support, etc. therefore the
writer‟s attitude is very positive and comforting, his/her point of view is
subjective.
THE INTENTION OF TRANSLATION OF SELF-HELP BOOKS:
The same as the intention the author of the book wants to achieve and to enable
access to the book to a wider audience of readers from other countries.
TEXT STYLE:
Following Nida (Newmark, 2003: 13), we distinguish four types of texts:
narration, description, discussion and dialogue. Style of self-help books is mostly
narrative (a dynamic sequence of events, where the emphasis is on the verbs, or
verb plus verb-nouns or phrasal verbs) and description (which is static, with
emphasis on linking verbs, adjectives, adjectival nouns).
THE READERSHIP
When translating, the translator has to characterise the readership of the original
and then of the translation and consequently decide how much attention he/she
has to pay to the target language readers. The translator should evaluate level of
education, the class, age and sex of the readership. All this characteristics then
help him/her to decide on the degree of formality, generality or specificity and
emotional tone (Newmark, 2003: 13).
The readership of self-help books depends on the actual topic of the book, but is
in most cases very general, that have one thing in common: they have the same
8
goal and wish; to make their life better in a certain area with the help of advice
from the self-help book. Therefore the readers can be educated or not, they can
belong to different social class, different age groups and can be male or female.
Therefore, the translator must consider all that when translating.
STYLISTIC SCALES
Newmark (2003: 14) suggests the following scale of formality: officialese,
official, formal, neutral, informal, colloquial, slang and taboo. In most cases of
self-help books, the scale of formality is neutral or informal.
Newmark (ibid.) suggests the following scale of generality or difficulty: simple,
popular, neutral, educated, technical and opaquely technical. In most cases of self-
help books, the scale of generality or difficulty is simple, popular or neutral.
Newmark (ibid.) suggests the following scale of emotional tone: intense (“hot”),
warm, factual (“cool”) and understatement (“cold”). In most cases of self-help
books, the scale of emotional tone is warm or sometimes also intense.
SETTING
From the setting of the source language book and also book itself, translator
should evaluate whether the readership will be motivated to read it, familiar with
the topic and the culture and familiar with the variety with the used language. The
three typical reader types are the “expert”, the “educated layman” and the
“uninformed”. The translator should also consider whether he/she is translating
for the same or different type of target language readership, maybe with less
knowledge of the topic or the culture, or a lower standard of linguistic education
(Newmark, 2003: 15).
Translator must consider all the characteristics of self-help books and the way
they are written, and preserve them. Translator has to be faithful to the original,
but since the translation has to be reader-oriented, he/she can apply some changes
so the target readers feel the connection to the book and the author‟s advice. The
translation can be adjusted to the target culture and linguistic system, but just if
the target readers find it unnatural to read or if the translation does not have the
9
same impact on them. The translation should be smooth, it should sound naturally
and be readable with an easy flow. Because of such wide variety of readership, it
should be written in ordinary language, with common grammar, simple, everyday
vocabulary, idioms and metaphors.
Self-help books are usually full of personal components, they are written in a
subjective way. The author wants the readership to act, think or feel the way
he/she suggests. The relationship between the writer and the readership is
important and it is in most cases symmetrical: the author wants the readership to
feel that they are on the same level, that they are equal in the sense – “I was there
with the same problems you are now, and I managed to solve the problems,
therefore so will you”. Since writer wants to make close personal contact with the
readership, he/she uses a lot of personal pronouns, readers are in most cases
directly addressed (“you”). He/she shows sympathy with the reader. Writer is
usually visible (“I, me, we ...”), he/she expresses his/her opinion on things and is
subjective. Self-help books are normally written in informal language, short forms
are used and there are also some colloquial expressions and signs of a spoken
discourse.
Therefore, the translation of self-help books should also be written in such way,
so the readers feel close to the author, they become motivated and encouraged to
find solutions for the problems they have and they get hope that they can solve
everything by themselves.
10
3. EMPIRICAL PART
In empirical part, I will look into some specific problems the translator faced
while translating self-help book The Secret (2006) to Slovene language and
examine the inconsistencies with the original that occurred in the Slovene
translation.
The purpose of the graduation thesis is to determine how the translator solved the
problem of pragmatic adjustment of the book to the Slovene audience and their
culture, and whether she focused more on specific individuals as the target readers
of the Slovene translation or whether her translation is culturally universal and the
target readers are a wider, more general audience.
The whole chapter is divided into subchapters which consist of the theory
underlying the specific problem and then the examples from the original and the
translation, followed by discussion on whether the decision of the translator was
adequate or not.
3.1. RHONDA BYRNE’S THE SECRET (2006)
The Secret is a best-selling 2006 self-help book written by Rhonda Byrne. It is
based on the previously filmed movie of the same name.
Rhonda Byrne has discovered The Secret - the secret law of how the Universe
works called the law of attraction, in 2004 and immediately wanted to share her
knowledge with the world, which became her mission. She gathered the
knowledge of many spiritual teachers, personal coaches and specialists and also
true stories of people who lived in accordance with the knowledge of The Secret
and put them in a documentary, which includes interviews with these people. The
movie was released in 2006. In the same year she also published the book, which
reached the top of the New York bestseller list. It has been translated into 44
languages and has more than 21 million copies in print (Internet source 2).
The book begins by describing what The Secret is and explaining how the law of
attraction works. It suggests that according to the law of attraction, positive
11
thinking and feelings are like a magnet that attracts events, feelings and also
material things in your life. The book gives readers guidelines on how to change
their thinking and by doing so attracting wealth, health and happiness in their life.
The principle of the law of attraction is “like attracts like”, which means that what
you are thinking about, you will also bring in existence. The book continues by
revealing some stories of the great teachers who knew The Great Secret and lived
in accordance with it, and how their wisdom was handed down the centuries.
Then the book speaks about three important steps of Creative Process of how to
attract things in your life: by 1. Asking, 2. Believing and 3. Receiving. Next, two
Powerful Processes are introduced: the power of Gratitude (being grateful for
what you already have and for what you are about to get) and the power of
Visualization (seeing things as already yours or as if they already happened). The
final chapters of the book talk about The Secret in connection with different
things readers want to attract in their life: The Secret to Money; The Secret to
Relationships; The Secret to Health; The Secret to the World; The Secret to You;
and The Secret to Life.
12
3.2. TRANSLATION PROBLEMS IN RHONDA BYRNE’S
THE SECRET
The transfer of source-text into another cultural environment is a complex
procedure, where certain translation shifts unavoidably occur. Answers to the
question of how to handle these translation shifts have been given by several
theoreticians. In my thesis, I followed the theories of Newmark (2003), Baker
(2011), and some others.
According to Newmark (2003: 13), as already mentioned in chapter 3, before
translating a book, the translator should first discover: the intention of the text; the
intention of the translation; text style; the readership; stylistic scales; attitude;
setting; the quality of writing and connotations and denotations. Before focusing
on specific problems the translator faced when translating The Secret, I will first
determine the above-mentioned characteristics of the book:
THE INTENTION OF THE BOOK:
The Secret is a self-help book with the main topic on how to find happiness. The
writer wants to help the readers to find their own happiness and teach them how to
live, think and act in order to achieve and get everything they want in their life.
The book is full of advice and examples on how to achieve this, there are also
specific steps readers have to follow in order to change their life and become
happy.
THE INTENTION OF TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK:
The intention of Slovene translation of the book is to enable access to the book to
Slovene readership. Moreover, the translation should preserve the intention of the
author of the original.
TEXT STYLE:
The style of the book is mostly narrative, the book is written in a dynamic style,
with advice and examples given by different spiritual teachers. The writer‟s
attitude is very positive and comforting, her point of view is subjective. She tries
13
to be on the same level as readers, by directly addressing them (capitalized
personal pronoun “You”, questions) and being personally involved with advice
and examples from her own life. There is emphasis on the verb “want”, which is
repeated many times. The book is full of repetitions of words and phrases, which
are there with the intention to emphasise the parts writer wants the readers to
focus on. There is also special choice of vocabulary: neologisms (“Secret
Shifters”, “Vision Board”), slang expressions (“beefed up”), many allegorical
personifications, etc. Style of the book is informal and sometimes colloquial,
atmosphere is light and positive, and emotions prevail. The author‟s attitude and
message are directly expressed already in the foreword and continue throughout
the whole book.
THE READERSHIP
The readership of the book, the original and the Slovene translation, is general,
but specific in the sense, that the readers of the book are people who want to
become happy and change their way of living and thinking into a more positive
one. They reach for the book, because they search for help and guidance in their
life and they want to achieve all that by themselves, with advice and steps from
the book, without the help of the professionals. Therefore, the readership is very
general, because the level of education, social class, age, ethnicity, etc. is not
important. They have just one thing in common, they share the same wish and
goal: to become happy and get, become and do everything they want in their life.
The main goal of The Secret is to help the readers, therefore the book is reader-
oriented. Because the readership is not specific, it has to be written in a way every
reader is able to understand it. It is written in informal style, there are not many
specific or technical terms, the vocabulary and grammar are simple, the emotional
tone is warm, readers are directly addressed, and the author wants to make
personal contact with them.
The translation is written in a more formal style, the translator used the V-form of
addressing the readers and by doing so lost the personal contact the author wanted
to make. The Slovene readership does not feel so close to the author and advice
given as the readers of the original. The translator sometimes tends to be neutral
14
but is from time to time also formal. I will discuss this decision of the translator
later on. Nevertheless the grammar and vocabulary of the translation are also
simple, and the emotional tone is warm, the same as in the original.
STYLISTIC SCALES
Following Newmark (2003:13), the stylistic scale of formality of The Secret is
informal and from time to time also colloquial. On the contrary, the Slovene
translation is neutral or formal from time to time.
Following Newmark (ibid.) the scale of generality or difficulty in The Secret is:
simple, popular, and neutral. The same applies also for the Slovene translation.
Following Newmark (ibid.), the scale of emotional tone in The Secret and its
Slovene translation is warm.
SETTING
Most readers are uninformed about the topic of the book, they just have an interest
and motivation to change something in their life in order to be happier, which is
probably the main reason for their decision about reading the book. Since the
language used is very simple and is not culturally specified, and the knowledge of
the topic of source language readership is the same as the knowledge of the target
language readership, the translation can be faithful to the original and does not
need an adaptation to the source language culture.
However, a careful reading of the book shows several translator‟s inconsistencies
with the original. In the following chapters, I will focus on some specific
problems the translator had to deal with while translating The Secret.
15
3.2.1. ADDRESS SYSTEM
According to Braun (1988), importance of age, gender or other extralinguistic
factors in a given society is visible through its address system. The address system
of a given culture usually reflects its social structure and values. If there are
several expressions for seniority or juniority, we may assume that age is an
important factor in the society. The same also holds for other factors, such as
gender or status.
According to Wardhaugh (2010), when there is T/V distinction of pronominal
forms possible and we have to decide on which one to use, we have to be aware of
the feelings toward the interacting speaker – solidarity, power, familiarity, respect,
intimacy and the awareness of social customs. Therefore, we have to keep this
thing in mind when addressing a certain person. An important factor in addressing
is also politeness, which is socially prescribed. This means that a society has
established a set of rules, standards and norms which define what is polite and
what impolite.
3.2.1.1. T/V distinction – formal addressing
According to Brown and Gilman (in Sebeok, 1960) in sociolinguistics, a T/V
distinction is a contrast, within one language, between second-
person pronouns that are specialized for varying levels of politeness, social,
distance, courtesy, familiarity, or insult toward the addressee.
When it comes to addressing someone, Fasold (2003) explains that in order to
address someone formally or not formally English speakers have to make only the
decision on what name to use to address the collocutor, whereas the Slovene
speakers have to make an additional decision on the use of appropriate pronoun
form. According to Brown and Gilman (in Sebeok, 1960) English does not have
a syntactic T/V distinction and therefore has semantic analogues to convey the
mentioned attitudes towards the addressee, such as whether to address someone
by first or last name, or whether to use “Sir”/”Madam” in US English. However,
the Slovene language has a T/V distinction and differs between formal and
informal addressing with the use of different personal pronouns. Fasold (2003)
also explains that Slovene speakers have to choose between “deferential” and a
16
“familiar” pronoun. The “deferential” pronoun or the V-form is used in formal
situations and to address someone you meet for the first time. It is also applied
when speaking to a person with a higher social rank than your own or when there
are no close personal bonds involved. „The “familiar” pronoun or the T-form is
reserved for speech partners within one‟s family or beneath one‟s social rank. The
address forms are a part of complete semantic systems and are closely related to
social relationships.
In Slovene, although informal address using the second person singular T-form
(“ti”) is officially limited to friends, family, and talk among children, it is
nowadays increasingly used instead of its polite or formal counterpart using the
second person plural V-form (“vi”).
Golob (2009: 38) explains that the Slovene word for addressing someone with a
deferential V-form is “vikanje”
Vi ste povabljeni na sestanek.
and with a familiar T-form is “tikanje”
Ti si povabljen na sestanek.
The T- or V-form in Slovene language are expressed not only by the pronoun
itself, but also by means of corresponding verb ending. The respectful V-form is
expressed by means of pronoun “vi”, which is the second person plural masculine
pronoun, used in interaction with a single person. Therefore, for formally
addressing the second person singular “ti” we use “vi”. In Slovene, it is also
common to leave the pronoun out and form the sentence by means of the correct
verb form alone
“Mi lahko prinesete jedilnik?”
When comparing English and Slovene language there is a difference in terms of
politeness/formality, because the English pronoun “you” fails to express the
higher level of politeness, respect or deference that are conveyed in the Slovene
language through the implicit formal address or “vikanje”.
3.2.1.2. Use of V-form or “vikanje” in the Slovene translation of The Secret
One of the translation problems the Slovene translator had to deal with when
translating the book was a decision about the use of V- or T-form. She decided to
17
use the V-form (“vikanje”), so I will look into it, try to find reasons for her choice,
and discuss if this was the right choice and whether the translation would sound
better if she had used the T-form. I chose a segment of the text from the book and
its Slovene translation and then provide my own translation using the T-form
instead of V-form. Here are the examples:
Original: You will notice throughout the book that in certain places I have capitalized the
word »You«. The reason I did this is because I want you, the reader, to feel and
know that I created this book for you. I am speaking to you personally when I
say You. My intention is for you to feel a personal connection with these pages,
because The Secret has been created for You.
As you travel through its pages and you learn The Secret, you will come to know
how you can have, be, or do anything you want. You will come to know who you
really are. You will come to know the true magnificence that awaits you (Byrne,
2006: xii).
Slovene translation with the use of V-form (“vikanje”):
Skozi vso knjigo boste na nekaterih mestih opazili, da sem besedo »Vi« napisala
z veliko začetnico. To sem storila zato, ker si ţelim, da bi vsak bralec začutil in
se zavedal, da sem knjigo napisala zanj. Kadar rečem Vi, se pogovarjam z vami
osebno. Ţelim si namreč, da bi se čutili osebno povezani s temi stranmi, kajti
Skrivnost je bila ustvarjena za Vas.
Ko boste potovali po straneh te knjige in spoznavali Skrivnost, boste odkrili,
kako lahko imate, ste ali počnete vse, kar si želite. Spoznali boste, kdo ste v
resnici. Spoznali boste resnično veličastnost, ki vas ţe pričakuje (Byrne, 2008:
xii).
My translation with the use of T-form (“tikanje”):
Skozi vso knjigo boš na nekaterih mestih opazil/a, da sem besedo »Ti« napisala
z veliko začetnico. To sem storila zato, ker si ţelim, da bi ti, kot bralec/ka
začutil/a in se zavedal/a, da sem knjigo napisala zate. Kadar rečem Ti, se
pogovarjam s tabo osebno. Ţelim si namreč, da bi se počutil/a osebno
povezan/a s temi stranmi, kajti Skrivnost je bila ustvarjena za Tebe.
Ko boš potoval/a po straneh te knjige in spoznaval/a Skrivnost, boš odkril/a,
kako lahko imaš, si ali počneš vse, kar si želiš. Spoznal/a boš, kdo si v resnici.
Spoznal/a boš resnično veličastnost, ki te ţe pričakuje (Furlan).
18
I decided to use this passage because it also shows the author‟s intention of how
she wants to be close to the reader. She is making a personal contact with the
reader and is showing her equal relationship with him/her. In my opinion, this is
very important, because it shows her personal involvement and wish to really help
the reader. Therefore, the question that appears is why the translator decided to
use the V-form in her translation. According to the author‟s intention of making a
close contact with the reader, the T-form would probably have been more
appropriate. I wanted to see if that was just my opinion, since I belong to a
younger generation, which is not so familiar with the use of V-form. In order to
see if the age factor matters, I conducted an informal survey in which I asked
several people who have read the Slovene translation of the book for their opinion
about the use of V-form in the translation. People older than 40 years agree with
the translator‟s choice of V-form, because for them the use of V-form is
something normal and ordinary also in their everyday life. They were raised in a
different time when they were taught to use a deferential V-form with everyone
(for example my parents still use V-form when talking with their parents). They
are more familiar with the V-form than with T-form, which they use just with
people who they feel very close to and are at the same time the same age or
younger than them. Therefore, for them the translator‟s use of V-form in the book
is correct and sounds natural to them.
On the contrary, people younger than 30, agree with my opinion and would rather
see if the translator used the T-form. For us the use of V-form is awkward,
unusual and obsolete, we are more familiar with the use of T-form. We mostly use
it when addressing older people we do not know or when we have to use it in
order to show our respect to someone. In general, younger people use less formal
language and accordingly less formal pronouns of address. For that reason the use
of V-form in the book sounds unnatural to us, we feel like the close connection
between author and us, the readers, is lost.
At least that was my opinion until I actually translated the text with the use of T-
form. Then another problem appeared. When using a V-form, the gender does not
make any problems, because “vi” and the corresponding verb ending apply to a
man and a woman:
19
Neutral form:
Vi boste prišli na vrsto kmalu.
(2nd
person plural masculine pronoun used for “vikanje” of men and women)
Whether when using a T-form, after “ti” there has to be masculine or a feminine
ending of the verb:
Masculine:
Ti boš kmalu prišel na vrsto.
(2nd
person singular masculine pronoun used for “tikanje” for men)
Feminine:
Ti boš kmalu prišla na vrsto.
(2nd
person singular feminine pronoun used for “tikanje” for women)
“Vikanje” is a polite, formal use, in which the pronoun (if used) and the verbal
forms are gender-neutral.
Kam greste, gospod/gospodična? ~ Where are you going Sir/Miss?
Kdaj ste prišli, gospod/gospodična? ~ When did you arrive Sir/Miss?
Therefore, if the translator decided to use the T-form in her translation she would
have to decide whether to always use the masculine T-form, which is
discriminatory to women and politically incorrect, or to always use both forms,
masculine and feminine, which would in fact be stylistically awkward, would not
look and sound so natural and would most likely disturb the reader. I believe this
was the main reason why she decided to use the V-form. She probably also
wanted for the translation to be neutral for all ages, genres and social statuses and
maybe she also wanted to sound more deferential and show respect to the readers.
In order to see if the use of „vikanje‟ is commonly used in Slovene translations of
self-help books, I went to the library and checked some books on the topic of self-
help. I mostly found translations with the use of V-form, but also some with the
use of T-form. Some examples:
20
*Dutch self-help book Psihosocialna družinska terapija (De Vries and
Bouwkamp, 2002) (Psychosocial Family Therapy4) is translated in Slovene with
the use of T-form. The translator uses the masculine form of addressing the
reader.
Example:
Kaj doživljaš sam? Kakšen učinek imajo ti posegi nate in kako učinkujejo nate klientove
reakcije? Kakšne občutke, hotenja to vzbuja pri tebi, kakšna reakcija ali potreba ti pride na misel?
(De Vries, 2002: 114).
*French teenage book about eating healthy: Jem zdravo! (Pons, 2009) (I eat
healthy5), is translated with the use of masculine T-form. The use of T-form is
correct since the audience are teens, but girls could found the use of the masculine
form disturbing.
Example:
Doma te obedi pogosto spravljajo v slabo voljo. Tvoji starši ne upoštevajo tvojega okusa in ti ne
pustijo, da bi jedel, kar imaš zares rad (Pons, 2009: 7).
*Book for teenage girls: Naj zdravstveni priročnika za dekleta (The ultimate
health book for girls) (Naik, 2002), is translated with the use of feminine T-form.
Example:
H komu greš, ko potrebuješ pomoč? Je to prijateljica, eden od staršev, sestra? Ali pa morda tičiš
v svoji sobi in jočeš, ker si prestrašena in zaskrbljena zaradi tega, kar se ti dogaja, in ne veš, ne
kod, ne kam? (Naik, 2002: 9).
*However, English book for teenagers: Ko nič več ni važno, priročnik za
mladostnike z depresijo (Cobain, 2008) (When Nothing Matters Anymore: A
Survival Guide for Depressed Teens), is translated in Slovene with the use of V-
form. That surprised me, since the audience of the book are teens, who would feel
closer contact to the author of the book and advices given, if the T-form was used.
4 Translation of the author of graduation thesis
5 Translation of the author of graduation thesis
21
Example:
Če sumite, da ste depresivni, se o tem z nekom pogovorite. Lahko se zaupate staršem, učitelju,
šolskemu psihologu ali drugi odrasli osebi, ki ji zaupate. Če bi radi nekomu povedali, da ste
depresivni, a ne veste, kako, vam bodo morda pomagali predlogi na straneh 46-47 (Cobain, 2008:
23).
*English teenage book about kissing: Popolni vodnik v svet poljubljanja (Fisher,
2002) (A Complete Guide to Kissing), is translated to Slovene with the use of both
forms of “tikanje”, masculine and feminine.
Example:
So stvari, ki jih lahko poveš s poljubom in jih ne bi mogel/-la povedati z milijonom elektronskih
ali kratkih sms sporočil. Z enostavnim dotikom ustnic lahko človeku, ki ga imaš rad/-a, sporočiš
stvari, za katere besede ne obstajajo (Fisher, 2002: 3).
*I found very surprising that a Croatian book about good manners: Bonton 2 ali
kako ne postaneš teleban v novih 100 lekcijah (Balog, 2005) (Good Mannors 2 or
how not to become a dummy in new 100 lessons6), is translated with the use of
masculine T-form. Since the book talks about good manners, I presumed it would
be translated with a polite V-form.
Example:
Si se ţe vprašal, kdo si? Gotovo boš rekel, da veš vsaj to. V resnici pa prav o tem veš še najmanj
(Balog, 2005: 11).
I also checked some original Slovene self-books and how they are written. Most
of the books are written with the use of V-form, but some of them also appear in
the first person plural form (author + readers =“we”).
*Book Moči življenja: za spodbudo in samopomoč (Mehle, 2000) (The Strengths
of Life: for Encouragement and Self-help7) is mostly written in the first person
plural form, so the author includes himself in the book. In cases where this form is
not possible, the author uses the V-form.
6 Translation of the author of graduation thesis
7 Translation of the author of graduation thesis
22
Example:
Druga stvar je naša ţelja. Za naše najgloblje, najvztrajnejše ţelje, ki niso v nasprotju z vseobčim
dobrim, lahko rečemo, da so Boţja volja. Torej, kaj si želimo? Kaj želimo izboljšati in s čim
želimo prekiniti? To nam mora biti popolnoma jasno (Mehle, 2000: 22).
*Another book of the same author: Ti si trojni človek (Mehle, 2002) (You are a
triple man8), is written in the combination of first person plural form and
masculine T-form. Already the address of the book is written in the T-form.
Example:
To je zakon, ki nas uči, kako ne postati suţenj svojega pohlepa in strasti. Gre pa takole:
Pusti ti tisto, pa bo tudi tisto pustilo tebe (Mehle, 2002: 34).
*Slovene book Človek imej se rad! (Košiček, 2005) (Man, love yourself!9), is also
written in the first person plural form.
Example:
Namesto, da bi iskali “srečno zvezdo” kjer koli drugje, jo iščimo le v sebi. Moramo se truditi, da
bi jo našli, kajti sama se ne bo pokazala. Vse ţivljenje se moramo bojevati zanjo, si prizadevati,
da nam ostane naklonjena (Košiček, 2005: 222).
Examples from other books show that the use of T-form is mostly used in books
for teens and younger audience, whereas the use of V-form is more generally used
in translations and also in original Slovene self-help books for a wider audience.
Books, which are written in T-form, are all using the masculine form, except in
the case where their audience are only girls/women. The book about kissing,
where both, masculine and feminine T-forms are used is one possible solution to
the problem of sexism, but here the stylistic problem appears. Some authors
decided to avoid the decision about the use of T-/V-form and instead used the first
person plural form, however this form is not possible when the author is
addressing the reader directly, as in the case of The Secret.
8 Translation by the author of this graduation thesis
9 Translation by the author of this graduation thesis
23
I have to admit that when I was first reading the Slovene translation of the book,
the use of the V-form bothered me, because it felt distant to me and quite
impersonal in comparison to the original. However, after considering all the
above-mentioned and comparing the translation with solutions of other
authors/translators of self-help books, I agree with the translator‟s decision about
the use of the V-form. The use of masculine T-form would in my opinion be
inappropriate and politically incorrect, and the use of both forms would be
stylistically awkward and unnatural. Therefore, in my opinion the translator
successfully solved the problem about addressing formally or the use of T-/V-
form in her translation of the book The Secret.
24
3.2.2. PROBLEM OF NON-EQUIVALENCE OF WORD
MEANING
Baker (2011:15) explains that the choice of translator when he/she has to decide
about suitable equivalent for a translation depends on a wide variety of factors.
Some of them may be linguistic, others extralingusitic. The choice of suitable
equivalent will always depend on the linguistic system of the translator, and also
on the way both, the author of the source text and the translator as the producer of
the target text, choose to manipulate the linguistic systems. It also depends on the
expectations, background knowledge and prejudices of readers; on translators‟
own understanding of their task and their judgment of what is appropriate in a
given situation; and on a range of restrictions that may operate in a specific
temporal and spatial environment.
According to Cruse (in Baker, 2011), we can distinguish four main types of
meaning in words and utterances: propositional meaning, expressive meaning,
presupposed meaning and evoked meaning.
3.2.2.1. Differences in expressive meaning
Expressive meaning of words cannot be judged as true or false, because
expressive meaning relates to the writer‟s feelings or attitude rather than to what
words refer to. Two or more words can have the same propositional meaning (the
relation between the word and what it refers to or describes, as conceived by the
speakers of the particular language) but differ in their expressive meanings. This
applies to words within the same language (synonyms), and also to words from
different languages. Words can be neutral or not, they can have evaluative
meaning or connotations or not (Baker, 2011: 11-12).
There may be a target language word, which has the same propositional meaning
as the source language word, but it may have a different expressive meaning. The
difference may be considerable or it may be subtle but important enough to pose a
translation problem in a given context. Differences between words in the area of
expressive meaning can occur if an expression of a certain attitude or evaluation is
inherently present or absent in specific words. Moreover, the same attitude or
25
evaluation may be expressed in two words in different degree of power. For
example both unkind and cruel are expressive and they show the writer‟s
disapproval of someone‟s attitude, but the element of disapproval in cruel is
stronger than it is in unkind (ibid.).
Baker suggests that it is usually easier to add expressive meaning than to subtract
it. In other words, if the target language equivalent is neutral compared to the
source language item, the translator can sometimes add the evaluative element by
means of a modifier or adverb if necessary, or by building it in somewhere else in
the text. Differences in expressive meaning are usually more difficult to handle
when the target language equivalent is more emotionally loaded than the source
language item (ibid: 20-21.)
3.2.2.2. Translation of the verb “want” in The Secret
The verb “want” is the most common verb that appears in the book, because the
major topic of The Secret is to help you get what you want in your life. The verb
is present throughout the whole book and is used 230 times. It is repeated so many
times with a purpose - the author and other spiritual teachers and experts in the
book want the readers to imprint it in their mind, so that they will clarify what
they really want (what are their wishes and desires) in order to get it. Therefore,
the verb is very important and relevant to the topic and understanding of the book
itself and should therefore be preserved also in the translation and used
consistently. When I compared the original and the Slovene translation, I noticed
that the translator did not translate the verb consistently, but used different verbs
for it, translated it with a noun or sometimes even left it out. For example:
Original: What kind of house do you want to live in? Do you want to be a millionaire?
What kind of a business do you want to have? Do you want more success? What
do you really want? (Byrne, 2006: 2).
Translation: V kakšni hiši bi radi ţiveli? Bi radi postali milijonar? Kakšen posel želite imeti?
Želite biti uspešnejši? Kaj resnično hočete? (Byrne, 2008: 2).
26
For more specific view on the original and translated verbs, there is a table of all
verbs translated in Slovene included in the enclosure. Here I will provide only the
statistics of the translated verbs.
As mentioned above, the verb “want” appears in the book 230 times (in different
tenses and conjugations) and negated form of a verb - “do not want” (in different
tenses and conjugations) appears 41 times. In Slovene translation of the book, it is
translated as follows in the tables:
Table 1: Slovene translations of the verb “want”
SLOVENE
TRANSLATION
APPEARS
IN THE
BOOK
Examples
“Ţeleti (si)” 129 x The Secret gives you anything you want: happiness,
health, and wealth (Byrne, 2006: 1)
Skrivnost vam podari vse, kar si želite: srečo, zdravje in
bogastvo (Byrne, 2008: 1).
“Hoteti” 41 x For the first time in your life perhaps, work out what it is
you really want (Byrne, 2006: 47).
Morda sploh prvič v ţivljenju se jasno opredelite, kaj v
resnici hočete (Byrne, 2008: 47).
“Rad” 30 x Whether it is jealousy, resentment, dissatisfaction, or
feelings of “not enough”, those feelings cannot bring
you what you want (Byrne, 2006: 77).
Naj se v vas porajajo ljubosumje, zamerljivost,
nezadovoljstvo ali občutki nečesa “ni dovolj”, vsa ta
čustva in občutki vam ne morejo prinesti tistega, kar bi
radi (Byrne, 2008: 77).
Left out 10 x They want the great home, they want their businesses to
work, they all want these outer things (Byrne, 2006:
109).
Hočejo čudovit dom, uspešen posel in sploh vse te
zunanje, materialne stvari (Byrne, 2008: 110).
“Ţeleno” 7 x When you are on that frequency, then what you want
will appear (Byrne, 2006: 63).
Šele takrat boste želeno tudi dobili (Byrne, 2008: 63).
27
“Ţelja” 4 x You get to choose what you want, but you must get clear
about what you want (Byrne, 2006: 47).
Sami lahko izberete, kaj je tisto, kar ţelite, vendar
morate biti jasni glede svoje želje (Byrne, 2008: 47).
“Imeti rad” 3 x
People have a tendency to look at the things that they
want and say: “Yes, I like that, I want that” (Byrne,
2006: 141).
Ljudje so nagnjeni k temu, da pogledajo stvar, ki jo
želijo imeti, in rečejo : “Da, to mi je všeč, to bi rad
imel” (Byrne, 2008: 141).
“Ţeleti imeti” 3 x
“Biti všeč” 2 x As you recreate those events in your mind exactly as
you want /…/ (Byrne, 2006: 73).
Ko namreč tiste dogodke v mislih preoblikujete tako, kot
vam je všeč /…/ (Byrne, 2008: 73).
“Biti raje” 1 x Or do you want to believe and know that your life
experience is in your hands /…/ (Byrne, 2006: 28).
Ali pa bi raje verjeli in vedeli, da so vase ţivljenjske
izkušnje v vaših rokah /…/ (Byrne, 2008: 28).
TOTAL 230
Table 2: Slovene translations of negated form of the verb “want” – “don’t want”
SLOVENE
TRANSLATION
APPEARS IN
THE BOOK
Examples
“Nočem”
(ne-hoteti)
32 x The law of attraction doesn‟t care whether you
perceive something to be good or bad, or
whether you don’t want it or whether you do
want it (Byrne, 2006: 13).
Zakon privlačnosti se ne meni za to, ali se vam
nekaj zdi dobro ali slabo in ali si nekaj ţelite ali
pa tega nočete (Byrne, 2008: 13).
“Ne marati” 5 x His whole life changed because he changed
from focusing on what he did not want, what he
was afraid of, what he wanted to avoid, to
focusing on what he did want (Byrne, 2006: 18).
Njegovo celotno ţivljenje se je spremenilo, ker
se ni več osredotočal na tisto, česar ni maral,
28
česar se je bal in čemur se je hotel izogniti,
temveč se je osredotočal samo na tisto, kar si je
ţelel (Byrne, 2008: 18).
“Ne ţeleti (si)” 4 x Most people are thinking about what they don’t
want, and they are wondering why it shows up
over and over again (Byrne, 2006: 12).
Večina ljudi razmišlja o tistem, česar si ne
želijo, in potem se sprašujejo, zakaj se prav ta
vedno znova pojavlja v njihovem ţivljenju
(Byrne, 2008:12).
TOTAL 41
As seen above in the Table 1, the verb “want” is translated as “ţeleti (si)” in most
cases (129 times or 56 % of the time), the second most frequent translation is
“hoteti” (41 times or 18 % of time), and the third most frequent translation is
“rad” (30 times or 13 % of the time). In 10 cases (4 %) the translator left out the
verb in Slovene translation of the book. On the other hand, as seen in the Table 2,
the negated form of the verb is translated as “nočem” (“ne-hoteti”) in most cases
(32 times or 78 % of the time), which is a negated form of the verb “hoteti”. The
negated form of the verb “ţeleti (si)” – “ne ţeleti (si)” is used only 4 times (10 %
of the time).
3.2.2.3. Verb “want” in dictionaries
DEFINITION OF THE VERB “WANT” IN THE DICTIONARY
According to English online dictionary Dictionary.com the verb “want” is defined
as:
Want
Verb (used with object)
1.
to feel a need or a desire for; wish for: to want one's dinner;always wanting
29
something new.
2.
to wish, need, crave, demand, or desire (often followed by an infinitive): I want to
see you. She wants to be notified.
3.
to be without or be deficient in: to want judgment; to want knowledge.
4.
to fall short by (a specified amount): The sum collected wants but a few dollars of
the desired amount.
5.
to require or need: The house wants painting.
Verb (used without object)
6.
to feel inclined; wish; like (often followed by to ): We can stay home if you want.
7.
to be deficient by the absence of some part or thing, or to feel or have a need
(sometimes followed by for): He did not want for abilities.
8.
to have need (usually followed by for ): If you want for anything, let him know
(Internet source 3).
TRANSLATION OF VERB “WANT” IN ENGLISH-SLOVENE
DICTIONARIES
According to Mali angleško-slovenski slovar / The pocket English-Slovenian
dictionary
the verb “want” is translated as:
Want: 1. n ţelja, potreba
2. v hoteti, ţeleti (si)
(Krek,,2004: 307)
30
According to online dictionary Pons:
Want:
II. want [wɒnt] GLAG preh.
1. want (wish):
Want hoteti
Want želeti [perf zaželeti]
to want sb to do sth hoteti, da kdo naredi kaj
to want sth done hoteti, da se kaj naredi
to want to do sth hoteti narediti kaj
what do you want to eat? kaj bi rad jedel?
2. want (need):
Want potrebovati
you'll want a coat on potreboval boš plašč
3. want fam (should):
Want morati
you want to turn left here tukaj moraš zaviti levo
31
3. want fam (should):
(Internet source 4)
3.2.2.4. Back-translation
According to Scott (2004) a "back-translation" is a translation of a translated text
back into the language of the original text, made without reference to the original
text. Comparison of a back-translation with the original text is sometimes used as
a check on the accuracy of the original translation.
The most common translation of the verb “want” in Slovene language is “hoteti”
and the second most common is “ţeleti (si)”. I am going to look at a back-
translation of both verbs and discuss the result.
VERB “HOTETI”
According to online dictionary Pons the verb “hoteti” is translated into English as:
ho|téti <hóčem; hôtel> GLAG impf preh.
1. hoteti (trdilno):
Hoteti to want
hočem ti pomagati I want to help you
hotel je, da ga poslušam he wanted me to listen to him
hočem boljšo plačo I want a better salary
32
(Internet source 5)
VERB “ŢELETI”
According to online dictionary Pons the verb “ţeleti” is translated into English as:
I. žel|éti <želím; žêlel> GLAG impf preh.
1. želeti (hoteti):
Želeti to wish
Želeti to want
želim govoriti z direktorjem I wish to speak to the manager
2. želeti (voščiti):
Želeti to wish
želim ti lep vikend have a nice weekend
II. ţel|éti GLAG impf povr
želeti želeti si:
želeti si to wish for sth
želeti si to long for sth
želim si kolo I wish for a bicycle
33
želeti želeti si:
(Internet source 6)
As seen above, the verb “hoteti” is back-translated into English as “want” and
verb “ţeleti (si)” as “wish”. Therefore, the back-translation showed the
inconsistencies in the translation. Translating the verb “want” as “ţeleti (si)” is
not as accurate as “hoteti”, because the expressive meaning of the verb “ţeleti” is
different from of the verb “hoteti”. The definitions of the two verbs will enable to
see their difference in meaning. The verb is translated into Slovene also with the
verb “rad”, so here follows also the definition of the verb “rad”.
SLOVENE DEFINITION OF THE VERB “HOTETI”
According to SSKJ (Slovar Slovenskega knjižnega jezika) the verb is defined as:
hotéti 1. izraža voljo, željo osebka a) z nedoločnikom da sam uresniči
dejanje: dokler ţivim, hočem biti gospodar v hiši; z njim noče imeti nobenega
opravka; ni me hotel spoznati; b) z odvisnim stavkom da kdo drug uresniči
dejanje: hočejo, da bi bil jaz gospodar; tako bo, kot jaz hočem 2. imeti voljo, željo,
zahtevo po čem: hoče več prostega časa; hoče novo obleko; 3. nav. ekspr., navadno v
nikalni obliki, z nedoločnikom izraža, da dejanje kljub zaželenosti (razmeroma dolgo
časa) ne nastopi: te noči noče in noče biti konec; otroci se niso in niso hoteli
prebuditi; 4. ekspr., z nedoločnikom izraža nastopanje dejanja: prestregel sem ga, ko
se je hotel zrušiti s konja; 5. pog., v vprašalnem stavku, z nedoločnikom izraža možnost,
negotovost, nujnost: ali č(e)mo iti; kako ti čem pomagati 6. pog., ekspr., z
dajalnikom, v zvezi s kaj pomagati, koristiti: kaj mi če zdaj denar, prej bi ga
potreboval; 7. v zvezi z reči uvaja a) povzetek bistvene vsebine povedanega: ti torej
hočeš reči, da nič ne delamo b) natančnejšo določitev, dopolnitev
34
povedanega: ljudje, hočem reči, nekaj znancev, mi pravi Anton 8. v medmetni rabi,
v zvezi s kaj izraža sprijaznjenje z danim dejstvom: ukaz je, kaj hočemo; kaj se
hoče, star sem ţe 9. v prislovni rabi, v tretji osebi, z oziralnim zaimkom ali prislovom izraža
nedoločnost, poljubnost, posplošenost: naj stori, kakor hoče kakorkoli;
● ekspr. usoda je hotela, da je tisto noč umrl moralo se je zgoditi;
(Internet source 7)
SLOVENE DEFINITION OF THE VERB “ŢELETI”
According to SSKJ (Slovar Slovenskega knjižnega jezika) the verb is defined as:
želéti 1. čutiti v sebi željo, da je kdo deležen česa: vsem ljudem ţeli dobro, srečo;
nikomur ne ţeli nič hudega; // izražati komu kako željo ob kaki priložnosti: pri
slovesu jim je ţelel srečno pot; ţeleli so si lahko noč in šli spat 2. izražati
hotenje a)da osebek kaj dobi: v tej zadevi ţelijo dodatno pojasnilo; v vljudnostnem
vprašanju: dober dan, ţelite prosim b) da kdo kaj naredi: ţeli, da ga ne
motite; c) da je kaj omogočeno: drţavljani ţelijo spremembo razmer // z
nedoločnikom izraža hotenje osebka, da uresniči kako dejanje: sporočite tajnici, da
šef ţeli govoriti z njo 3. imeti, izražati pripravljenost za a) sprejem koga: podjetje
ne ţeli novih delavcev; b) uresničitev česa: nasprotniki ne ţelijo pogajanj // z
nedoločnikom izraža voljo, pripravljenost za kako dejanje: ne ţeli jim pomagati
/ želéti si tudi ţeléti 1. čutiti željo po čem: ţeli si miru, počitka, rešitve // z
nedoločnikom izraža željo po uresničitvi kakega dejanja: ţeli si plesati,
potovati 2. čutiti željo po zadovoljevanju spolne potrebe s kom: opazila je, da si jo
ţeli / želèč -éča -e: dal mu je roko, ţeleč mu srečno pot / želèn tudi ţeljèn -êna -o:
priti do ţelenega počitka; dobiti ţeleno knjigo.
(Internet source 8)
35
SLOVENE DEFINITION OF THE VERB “RAD”
According to SSKJ (Slovar Slovenskega knjižnega jezika) the verb is defined as:
ràd 1. izraža pripravljenost koga opravljati kako dejanje z veseljem,
zadovoljstvom: on rad dela; zelo rada pleše 2. navadno v zvezi z bi izraža voljo,
željo osebka, kot jo določa sobesedilo: rad bi bil zdrav; zelo rada bi se poročila
3. v zvezi imeti rad ljubiti: rada se imata // imeti nagnjenje, veselje do
česa: rad ima glasbo, knjige 4. izraža a) nagnjenost k določenemu ravnanju,
dogajanju: fant rad laţe b) pogostnost dejanja: suha koţa rada razpoka 5. izraža,
da se dejanje opravlja z lahkoto, brez težav: mandarine se rade lupijo 6. ekspr., v
zvezi rad ali nerad izraža nujnost česa: to moraš narediti rad ali nerad ● rade volje
narediti z veseljem, prostovoljno; pog. rada se gledata, vidita zaljubljena sta drug v
drugega; ekspr. pojdi ţe, bog te nima rad izraža nejevoljo, nestrpnost; ekspr. polente pa
res ne bom jedel. Še rad jo boš prišel boš v tak položaj, da jo boš moral
jesti; ekspr. preveč rad se ima pretirano skrbi zase.
(Internet source 9)
3.2.2.5. Inconsistencies in the translation
Here comes the question why the translator decided to translate the verb “want”
with Slovene verb “ţeleti (si)” in most cases and not with “hoteti”, which is more
accurate translation of the verb? Moreover, why the translator did not use the
translated verb consistently but translated it also with other verbs or even left it
out?
If you compare the meaning of verbs “hoteti” and “ţeleti (si)” and “rad” you see
that they have the same propositional meaning but differ in expressive meaning.
Definition of the verb “hoteti” as seen above is: “imeti željo, zahtevo po čem” (to
wish, to demand something) in comparison to “ţeleti (si)”, which is defined as:
“čutiti željo po čem” (to feel a desire for something) and “rad”, which is defined
as: “izraža voljo, željo osebka” (to express will or desire of the subject). All verbs
mean to long for something, but differ in strength and have different degree of
power. Verb “hoteti” refers more to the need to have/do something, demanding it
36
and craving for it, whereas verbs “ţeleti” and “rad” refer more to the desire. Since
the verb “rad” does not appear as often as the verbs “hoteti” and “ţeleti” I will
focus more specifically just on the latter two.
Verb “hoteti” suggests a feeling of lack or need that imperatively demands
fulfilment, while “ţeleti” means to feel an impulse toward attainment or
possession of something. Moreover “hoteti” is more informal and functional, it is
also more emotionally loaded, whereas “ţeleti” is more formal and polite, it also
has a connotation of fantasy. Synonyms for “hoteti” could be: “stremeti”,
“prizadevati si”; and for “ţeleti”: “hrepeneti”, “pričakovati”. The English
equivalence for the two verbs could be “want” for “hoteti” and “wish” for
“ţeleti”. Synonyms for “want” could be: “crave”, “demand”, “longing”,
“necessity”, “need”, “have an urge for”, “lust”, “request”. Synonyms for “wish”
could be: “desire”, “hope”, “have intention”, “longing”, “preference”.
Since the author of The Secret intentionally used the verb “want” so often and
repeated it so many times, the translator should respect her intention and retain the
same verb throughout the whole book. Even though she decided to translate the
verb with Slovene verb “ţeleti” in most cases, which has different expressive
meaning and therefore does not have the same effect on the reader, she should
have at least use it consistently all the time and not change it and use other verbs
and words for it. Here is the example of a paragraph in which the author used the
verb “want” 5 times, whereas the translator translated it with different words:
Original: You get to choose what you want, but you must get clear about what you want.
This is your work. If you‟re not clear, then the law of attraction cannot bring you
what you want. You will be sending out mixed frequency and you can only
attract mixed results. For the first time in your life perhaps, work out what it is
you really want. Now that you can have, be, or do anything, and there are no
limits, what do you want? (Byrne, 2006, 47).
Translation: Sami lahko izberete, kaj je tisto, kar ţelite, vendar morate biti jasni glede svoje
ţelje. To je vaša naloga. Če pri tem niste jasni, vam zakon privlačnosti ne more
prinesti tistega, kar ţelite. Oddajali boste namreč različne frekvence, zato boste
pritegnili mešane rezultate. Morda sploh prvič v ţivljenju se jasno opredelite, kaj
37
v resnici hočete. Zdaj, ko veste, da lahko imate, ste ali počnete kar koli in da pri
tem ni omejitev – kaj si ţelite? (Byrne, 2008, 47).
Translation in which the verb “want” is translated with “hočete” and is used
consistently:
Sami lahko izberete, kaj je tisto, kar hočete, vendar morate biti jasni glede tega
kar hočete. To je vaša naloga. Če pri tem niste jasni, vam zakon privlačnosti ne
more prinesti tistega, kar hočete. Oddajali boste namreč različne frekvence, zato
boste pritegnili mešane rezultate. Morda sploh prvič v ţivljenju se jasno
opredelite, kaj v resnici hočete. Zdaj, ko veste, da lahko imate, ste ali počnete kar
koli in da pri tem ni omejitev – kaj hočete? (Furlan)10
Translation in which the verb “want” is translated with “ţelite” and is used
consistently:
Sami lahko izberete, kaj je tisto, kar ţelite, vendar morate biti jasni glede tega
kar si ţelite. To je vaša naloga. Če pri tem niste jasni, vam zakon privlačnosti ne
more prinesti tistega, kar ţelite. Oddajali boste namreč različne frekvence, zato
boste pritegnili mešane rezultate. Morda sploh prvič v ţivljenju se jasno
opredelite, kaj si v resnici ţelite. Zdaj, ko veste, da lahko imate, ste ali počnete
kar koli in da pri tem ni omejitev – kaj si ţelite? (Furlan)11
The translator probably decided to translate the verb with different words because
in Slovene language, the repetition of words too close is stylistically marked, and
she maybe wanted to avoid the repetitions because she felt that the translation
does not sound so natural. However, by doing so, she did not comply with the
purpose of the author, she did not follow her intention of repeating the verb in
order for the readers to remember it. Furthermore, the effect of the two verbs is
not the same. The degree of power of the verb “ţeleti” is also not as strong as of
the verb “hoteti”, so she also did not achieve the same result. Use of the verb
“want” instead of “wish” by the author was deliberate, because the longing for
something in “want” or in “hoteti” is stronger than in “wish” or “ţeleti”.
However, translator probably decided for the more frequent use of “ţeleti”
10 Example of the author of the graduation thesis
11 Example of the author of the graduation thesis
38
because the verb is more formal than a verb “hoteti”, since the whole translation is
written more formally than the original (we have already seen that the level of
formality is higher in a translation in a previous chapter when talking about
formal addressing). Moreover, the verb “want” in English is more neutral than the
verb “hoteti” in Slovene, which has a slightly negative connotation and does not
sound as polite as the verb “ţeleti”. Considering this, regardless the differences in
expressive meaning, I believe her decision about translating the verb “want” with
“ţeleti” in order to adjusting it to Slovene linguistic system is suitable. However, I
do not agree with the translator‟s use of different verbs and words instead of
consistent use of one as in the original. By doing that, she did not preserve the
author‟s intentions. Repetitions of verb “want” through the whole book achieve
the intention of the author of remembering the verb and focusing on it, whereas
the use of synonyms for the verb in translation accomplish lexical cohesion and
dynamic style and diversity, but do not have same impact on Slovene readers. In
my opinion, she should consistently translate the verb “want” with the verb
“ţeleti” so that the readers would keep it in their head and remember its
importance in order to become happy and change their lives.
More about repetition of words follows in the next chapter
39
3.2.3. REPETITION OF LEXICAL ITEMS
Repetition is the action of repeating something that has already been said or
written. There are two functions of repetition in literature. The first one is that it
serves as a cohesive device. Words are repeated in order to achieve lexical
cohesion. According to Baker (2011: 210), lexical cohesion refers to the role
played by the selection of vocabulary in organizing relations within a text.
Halliday and Hasan (ibid: 211) divide lexical cohesion into two main categories:
reiteration and collocation. Reiteration involves repetition of lexical items. A
reiterated item may be a repetition of an earlier item (literal repetition), a synonym
or near-synonym, a superordinate, or a general word.
The second function of repetition is that it serves as rhetoric device. Its intention
is to strengthen and emphasize author‟s ideas and to invoke emotions in emotive
language (Jawad, 2009). However, cohesive and rhetoric function of lexical
repetitions sometimes coincide.
According to Baker (2011), we know lexical-item repetition, which refers to the
recurrence of one word in a text, sentence or paragraph or phrase repetition, where
lexical cohesion is achieved by repeating the same phrase or even a clause in a
text or paragraph. There are different translation strategies for translation of
repetitions:
Literal translation: the repeated lexical item or phrase is translated literally
with its exact equivalent. This strategy is meant to be as close to the
original as possible, but is still grammatical.
Translation by synonymy: this strategy does not select the exact equivalent
but synonym or near-synonym for it.
Translation by hyponymy: translator replaces a source text lexical
repetitive item with another item based on a hyponymic association.
Translation by elliptical element: use of ellipsis to create cohesion in the
target text. The second occurrence of lexical item becomes elliptical.
When translating a literary text, translator has to decide whether to translate
repetitions of words/phrases or not. He/she can preserve them and use literal
translation, use variation (synonyms, hyponyms) or reduce them (ellipsis).
40
According to Jawad (2009: 3), this decision depends on translator‟s sensitiveness
toward source text message and the necessity to relay textual features and
structures into the target text.
Languages also differ in the level of tolerance toward lexical repetition. English
tolerates a higher degree of lexical repetition than Slovene, which prefers
pronominalization or the use of synonyms instead of literal repetitions.
Toporišič (1997: 220)12
set some rules about repetition of words in Slovene
language: “When we want to repeat a lexical item in the vicinity, we usually do
not repeat it with the same word, because literal repetition of a word is
stylistically marked. It does not sound naturally if we repeat a word, which is not
important or unstressed too fast, so we rather leave it out or we change it with a
pronoun. However, if the word is stressed or important for understanding, we can
repeat it without the repetition being stylistically marked. Though, what counts as
stylistically marked or stylistically neutral depends on the register that is
appropriate for a specific context. The purpose of repetition in most cases is to
cause a special effect and to attract reader‟s attention to a specific word or a
repeated phrase”.
In a textbook of Slovene language for high schools, Bačar explains (2005: 113)
that we must be careful not to repeat lexical items to fast with the same word
when forming sentences of a text. There are different ways of achieving lexical
cohesion by repeating the same word in Slovene language: with literal repetition
(which is stylistically marked), repetition with a synonym, repetition with a
hyponym, repetition with a paraphrase, repetition with a personal or possessive
pronoun for a third person, repetition with a demonstrative pronoun or repetition
with a personal verb form for a third person.
According to Bešter (1999: 53), repetition of the same lexical items or phrases is
very common in literature. Repeated items can contribute to special meaning and
add emphasis on what is said or sometimes just create a special rhythm.
12 Translation of the author of the graduation thesis
41
In general, translation theorists consider repetition as a motivated feature that
should be retained in the target text. According to Hatim and Mason (1990: 124)
reiteration of lexical items is always motivated. This form of passive
intertextuality has to be considered by the translator in terms of its overall
function within the text. Opting for a synonym or a paraphrase, when verbatim
reiteration is required can ruin the communicative effect intended. Abdulla (2001)
also adds that in non-literary contexts, and unless reiteration is markedly
motivated, it is safe to translate it as variation. In literary works, however,
translation or repetition should be approached with greater caution because it is
always foregrounded, and therefore its translation as repetition is recommended.
Variation or omission of repetition in translating literature could result in gross
misjudgement and distortion of the author's intention.
In self-help books there are many literal repetitions, which serve more as a
rhetorical device than cohesive. Authors use them to emphasize something, to
draw the reader‟s attention to a repeated word or a phrase and to show their
importance. Therefore, the use of repetitions is intentional and should for this
reason be preserved.
3.2.3.1. Repetition of lexical items/phrases in The Secret
Many repetitions of lexical items or phrases within a sentence or a paragraph
appear in the book. Some of them have a purpose of achieving lexical cohesion,
but most of them have a rhetoric function and add emphasis to what author is
saying. Those words and phrases are important for understanding the book and are
connected with the topic, so those repetitions are there for a reason. The author
wanted to underline something by repeating them and show that they are
significant and the reader should remember them. She was trying to make readers
believe in what she believes in order to help them to achieve what they want. With
repetitions, she wanted to convey meaning in a more vivid and impressive manner
and inspire the audience. However, the translator did not preserve all these
repetitions.
Here are some examples where she preserved the repetitions.
42
Example 1:
Original: I don‟t want to be late, I don‟t want to be late (Byrne, 2006: 14).
Translation: Nočem zamuditi, nočem zamuditi (Byrne, 2008: 13).
Example 2:
Original: Right now, with the knowledge of The Secret, you are waking up from a deep
sleep and becoming aware! Aware of the knowledge, aware of the law, aware of
the power you have through your thoughts (Byrne, 2006: 19).
Translation: Prav zdaj, s spoznavanjem Skrivnosti, se prebujate iz globokega spanca in se
začenjate zavedati! Zavedate se tega novega znanja, zavedate se zakona,
zavedate se moči, ki vam jo dajejo vaše misli (Byrne, 2008 : 19).
In example 1, the author repeated the whole clause, in the second example there is
a repetition of lexical item “aware”. In both cases, she wanted to emphasize the
importance of the repeated lexical item/clause. The translator preserved the
repetition, so the effect stays the same also in the translation.
Here are some examples of repetitions, which are not preserved in Slovene
translation:
Example 3:
Original: You may know of people who acquired massive wealth, lost it all, and within a
short time acquired massive wealth again (Byrne, 2006: 6).
Translation: Morda poznate ljudi, ki so si pridobili velikansko bogastvo, ga izgubili in nato v
kratkem času spet neznansko obogateli (Byrne, 2008: 6).
The translator did not preserve the repetition but instead used a synonym the
second time. Lexical cohesion is still achieved, but a rhetoric function is somehow
lost, because the effect on the reader is not the same as in the original.
43
Example 4:
Original: Thoughts are magnetic, and thoughts have a frequency. As you think, those
thoughts are sent out into the Universe, and they magnetically attract all like
things that are on the same frequency (Byrne, 2006: 10).
Translation: Misli so magnetne in imajo svojo frekvenco. Medtem ko o nečem premišljujete,
vaše misli poletijo v Vesolje in z magnetno močjo pritegnejo k sebi vse podobne
stvari, ki so na isti frekvenci (Byrne, 2008: 10).
In Slovene, the translation of the repeated word „thoughts‟ is eliminated once. The
translator referred to the noun “thoughts” with the third form of a verb “imeti” –
“imajo”, which is one way of avoiding a literal repetition and preserving lexical
cohesion in Slovene language.
Example 5:
Original: It really does take many negative thoughts and persistent negative thinking to
bring something negative in your life. However, if you persist in thinking
negative thoughts over a period of time, they will appear in your life. If you
worry about having negative thoughts, you will attract more worrying about your
negative thoughts, and multiply them at the same time. Decide right now that you
are going to think only good thoughts. At the same time, proclaim to the
Universe that all your good thoughts are powerful, and that any negative
thoughts are weak (Byrne, 2006: 22).
Translation: Resnično je potrebno veliko negativnih misli in nenehno negativno razmišljanje,
da bi v svoje ţivljenje pritegnili nekaj negativnega. Toda če nekaj časa vztrajno
razmišljate negativno, se te stvari bodo pojavile v vašem ţivljenju. Če ste
zaskrbljeni zaradi svojih negativnih misli, boste sčasoma postali še bolj
zaskrbljeni, obenem pa se bodo mnoţile tudi negativne misli. Takoj zdaj se
odločite, da bodo vse vaše misli dobre. Hkrati sporočite Vesolju, da so vse vaše
dobre misli močne, vse negativne, ki se vam utegnejo poroditi, pa šibke
(Byrne, 2008: 22).
The phrase“negative thoughts” is repeated 5 times in the original. In Slovene the
phrase is translated literally (“negativne misli”) and repeated 3 times in other two
44
cases the phrase is translated once with a verb + adjective (“razmišljate
negativno”) and once as a paraphrase (“negativne, ki se vam utegnejo poroditi”).
Example 6:
Original: The one bad thought attracted more bad thoughts, the frequency locked in, and
then eventually something went wrong. Then as you reacted to that one thing
going wrong, you attracted more things going wrong (Byrne, 2006: 34, 35).
Translation: Ena slaba misel je pritegnila več slabih misli, frekvenca se je zasidrala v vas, in
na koncu je šlo nekaj narobe. In ko ste se odzvali na to stvar, ki je šla narobe, ste
pritegnili še več takih stvari (Byrne, 2008: 34, 35).
In two cases, there is a literal repetition of a word, in one case the word is
substituted with a paraphrase.
Example 7:
Original: It‟s really important that you feel good, because this feeling good is what goes
out as a signal into the Universe and starts to attract more of itself to you. So the
more you can feel good, the more you will attract the thing that help you feel
good, and are able to keep bringing you up higher and higher (Byrne, 2006: 37).
Translation: Res je pomembno, da se počutite dobro, kajti to dobro počutje gre v Vesolje kot
signal in začne pritegovati k vam še več dobrega počutja. Bolje ko se torej
počutite, bolj boste k sebi pritegovali stvari, ki vam bodo pomagale ohraniti in
krepiti dobro počutje, obenem pa vas lahko dvigujejo više in više (Byrne, 2008:
37).
The translator did not use the literal repetition of the phrase “feel good” (verb +
adjective) as the author, but she changed it and translated it as “dobro počutje”
(adjective + noun) in three cases and two times repeated it with a different phrase;
once with phrase of verb + adjective (“počutite dobro”) and once with a phrase of
comparative of good + verb (“bolje počutite”). What is interesting here is, that she
decided to use the literal repetition of the phrase on the place where it does not
appear in the original (she translated “itself” as “dobrega počutja”). She probably
45
did this because she wanted to preserve the literal repetition so she added it
somewhere else in the sentence.
Example 8:
Original: That is the feeling of believing it is yours. That is the feeling of believing you
have it already. That is the feeling of believing you have received (Byrne, 2006:
50).
Translation: To je občutek ko verjamete, da je nekaj vaše. To je občutek, ko verjamete, da ţe
imate, da ste ţe prejeli (Byrne, 2008: 50).
Here the translator preserved the literal repetition two times, but eliminated it one
time and united two sentences in one.
Example 9:
Original: I really “beefed up”, and the more I noticed how I had “beefed up”, the more
“beefing up” I attracted (Byrne, 2006: 59).
Translation: Resnično sem se “napihnila kot ţoga”, in bolj kot sem opaţala, kako sem se
zredila, hitreje sem pritegovala nove kilograme (Byrne, 2008: 59).
The translator did not preserve the literal repetition, instead she used different
synonyms for it.
Example 10:
Original: Your picture in your mind is seeing it as done. Your feelings are seeing it as
done. Your mind and your entire state of being are seeing it as already happened
(Byrne, 2006: 85).
Translation: Na sliki, ki jo imate v mislih, je ţe vse opravljeno. Vaš um in vaše bitje vidita
zadevo, kot da se je ţe zgodila (Byrne, 2008: 85).
Here is the example where the translator again decided to unite two sentences in
one and therefore did not preserve the literal repetition.
46
Example 11:
Original: Understandably, when people do not have enough money they do not feel good
about money, because they don‟t have enough. But those negative feelings about
money are stopping more money coming to you! (Byrne, 2006: 107).
Translation: Razumljivo, kadar ljudje nimajo dovolj denarja, tudi nimajo dobrih občutkov o
njem, saj ga nimajo dovolj. Toda tisti negativni občutki o denarju preprečujejo,
da bi ga k vam prišlo več! (Byrne, 2008: 107, 108).
In original the word “money” is repeated 4 times in the paragraph, whereas the
translator used a literal repetition of the word “denar” just 2 times, in other two
cases she substituted it with pronouns.
Example 12:
Original: Attend to your joy first. People are responsible for their own joy. When you tend
to your own joy and do what makes you feel good, you are a joy to be around,
and you are a shining example to every child and every person in your life. When
you are feeling joy you don‟t even have to think about giving (Byrne, 2006:
119).
Translation: Najprej poskrbite da boste vi veseli. Vsakdo je namreč odgovoren za svojo
srečo. Kadar poskrbite, da ste veseli, in počnete stvari, ob katerih se počutite
prijetno, je pravo veselje biti v vaši bliţini; takrat ste svetel zgled vsem otrokom
in drugim ljudem v vašem ţivljenju. Kadar občutite radost, vam ni treba niti
pomisliti, da bi dajali (Byrne, 2008: 119, 120).
The word “joy” is repeated literally 5 times in original. The literal repetition is
preserved 3 times in the translation and two times substituted with different
synonyms.
Example 13:
Original: Oftentimes you give others the opportunity to create your happiness, and many
times they fail to create it the way you want it. Why? Because only one person
can be in charge of your joy, of your bliss, and that‟s you. So even your parent,
your child, your spouse – they do not have control to create your happiness. They
47
simply have the opportunity to share in your happiness. Your joy lies within you
(Byrne, 2006: 122).
Translation: Pogosto dajete drugim priloţnost, da ustvarjajo vašo srečo, in velikokrat se
zgodi, da jim to ne uspe, kot bi si vi ţeleli. Zakaj? Zato ker lahko za vašo radost
in srečo poskrbi samo en človek, in to ste vi. Torej celo vaši starši, vaš otrok ali
vaš partner nimajo nadzora nad vašo srečo. Imajo le priloţnost, da se veselijo
skupaj z vami. Sreča je v vas (Byrne, 2008: 122).
In this paragraph, there are more repetitions of words. The word “happiness” is
repeated 3 times, and there are also two synonyms of the word, “joy” which is
repeated 2 times and “bliss” which appears one time. However, in translation we
come across some inconsistencies. The word “happiness” is translated as “sreča”
in two cases and once with a verb “veseliti se” (“se veselijo”). The word “joy” is
translated with a word “radost” one time and the other time as “sreča”. The word
“bliss” is translated as “sreča”. There is a reason why the author used different
words and not one in all cases, so it is strange why the translator made such a
decision of words. She probably thought that her translation sounds better and
more natural.
Example 14:
Original: Dr. Demartini is telling us that love and gratitude will dissolve all negativity in
our lives, no matter what form it has taken. Love and gratitude can part seas,
move mountains, and create miracles. And love and gratitude can dissolve any
disease (Byrne, 2006: 128).
Translation: Dr. Demartini nam pojasnjuje, da ljubezen in hvaleţnost raztopita vso
negativnost v našem ţivljenju, ne glede na to, v kakšni obliki se je pojavila.
Ljubezen in hvaleţnost lahko razdelita morje, premikata gore in delata čudeţe. In
z njuno pomočjo lahko izgine katerakoli bolezen (Byrne, 2008: 128).
Here the translator substituted the third literal repetition with paraphrase.
48
In the previous chapter, I was talking about the inconsistent translation of the verb
“want”. The verb is the most common word used in the book. Positive form of a
verb is repeated 230 times throughout the whole book and its negative form “do
not want” is repeated 41 times. The translator did not preserve the repetitions in
all cases, most times, she substituted it with synonyms, and sometimes she also
used ellipsis. The author repeated the verb so many times with a reason, because
the verb is important for understanding the book and the author wanted to
emphasize its meaning. Here is a paragraph where verb is translated with different
synonyms.
Example 15:
Original: What kind of house do you want to live in? Do you want to be a millionaire?
What kind of business do you want to have? Do you want more success? What
do you really want? (Byrne, 2006: 2).
Translation: V kakšni hiši bi radi ţiveli? Bi radi postali milijonar? Kakšen posel želite imeti?
Želite biti uspešnejši? Kaj resnično hočete? (Byrne, 2008: 2).
Verb is repeated 5 times in English, but translated in Slovene with three different
synonyms. Therefore the effect the author wanted to achieve is not preserved.
In all the examples above, the translator avoided literal repetitions and substituted
them with some other way of reiteration: synonyms, paraphrase, pronouns and
conjugation (third form of a verb). In some cases, she also eliminated the
repetition (ellipsis), because she united two sentences in one. The meaning in
these cases stays more or less the same and the lexical cohesion is still achieved,
but the rhetoric function is lost and effect on the reader is not the same. However,
literal repetitions of lexical items or phrases in English sound better than in
Slovene, because when declining lexical items in Slovene language we need to
add different grammatical morphemes or affixes and therefore the literal
repetitions can sound disturbing and unnatural. Furthermore, it is not so common
to use literal repetitions in Slovene language, because it sounds redundant and
unnecessary to repeat the same information in the same paragraph. Nevertheless,
since this is a self-help book where the purpose is to inspire the readers to change
49
their thinking, believing and their every-day way of living, the naturalness and
aesthetic function is not as important as function of influence the reader. The
author wants the reader to think, believe, act and live in accordance to The Great
Secret and its laws, which are passed to the reader through these repeated words
and phrases. Therefore, the translator should have preserved the literal repetitions
to achieve the same effects as the author had planned.
50
3.2.4. CAPITALIZED WORDS
3.2.4.1. Capital letters in Slovene language
According to Slovenski pravopis (Toporišič, 2001) we use the capital letter (upper
case letter) in Slovene language:
a) For the first word at the beginning of every sentence.
b) For proper names: names of the living beings (personal names, names of
animals, names of inhabitants of a certain area, names of religious or
fairytale beings, allegorical personifications); geographical names (places,
streets, squares, roads; countries, landscapes; all waters; hills, mountains,
valleys, caves, forests, deserts; islands, peninsulas, capes, continents;
celestial bodies, constellations; buildings and other facilities); names of
material things (“stvarna imena”): names and titles of creations (books;
newspapers and magazines and columns published in them; artistic and
other texts; movies; songs; statues and paintings; events and festivals);
names of social organizations and bodies (social and political
organizations, parties, associations, groups; military organizations and
their units; funds; societies, companies; art, sport and similar groups);
names of working groups (working organizations, companies and stock
companies; institutes and institutions); names of departments of
institutions and working organizations; names of administrative units;
names of transnational alliances; names of individual vehicles (trains,
ships, spacecrafts and aircrafts).
c) For expressions of special relationship or respect (word as a symbol or
emphasis of some important meaning of the word: “Človek”, “Umetnik”;
personal or possessive pronouns for interacting person in formal letters:
“Ti”, “Vi/Ve”, “Vaš”, etc; when addressing people of high position:
“Ekselenca”, “Visokost”.)
d) Possessive adjectives from proper names or expressions of special
relationship or respect or other words written with capital letter.
51
(Toporišič, 2001: 9-17)13
.
Multi-word proper names can also be shortened: “Ljubljansko Barje – Barje”,
“Osvobodilna fronta – Fronta”. The shortened name is then capitalized (ibid: 10).
Common nouns can also be listed as proper names, when they are used
unambiguously instead of proper names: “Otok” in the meaning “Velika
Britanija”, “Prerok” in the meaning “Mohamed” (ibid.).
Spelling rules – idiosyncrasy according to Bačar (in Bačar and others,
2005: 121):14
In multi-word proper names, the first word is written with an upper case
letter and all others with lower case letters, unless they are proper names
by themselves.
In multi-word proper names of things (“stvarna lastna imena”) the first
word is written with an upper case letter and all others with lower case
letters, unless they are proper names by themselves.
Possessive adjectives from proper names which are compounds with
affixes –ov/-ev or –in are written with an upper case letter. When
adjectives with –ov/-ev or –in mark a specific type (»vrstni pridevniki«)
they are written with a lower case letter.
Expressions of respect can be written with an upper or with a lower case
letter.
3.2.4.2. Capital letters in English language
Capital letters are used to show the importance of particular or special things. We
know proper nouns, which are capitalized and common nouns, which are not.
Glencoe‟s Grammar and Language Workbook (Glencoe, 1976: 61) explains:
When a word names a specific, individual person, place, thing, or idea, it is a
proper noun. The first word and all other important words in proper nouns are
capitalized. When a word names any person, place, thing, or idea, it is a common
13 Translation of the author of graduation thesis
14 Translation of the author of graduation thesis
52
noun and is not capitalized. If a proper noun consists of two words or more, all
important words are capitalized, and the phrase is still considered to be one proper
noun even though it is composed of more than one word.
Rules about capitalization of letters in English according to Longmann Grammar
of Spoken and Written English (Douglas, 2007: 245, 246):
The use of initial capitals of words is more widespread in English than in many
other languages and extends beyond proper nouns. Uses for which capitalization
is conventional:
* personal names (e.g. Sam);
* geographical names (e.g. Canada);
* objects and commercial products (e.g. Chevrolet);
* holidays, months, and days of the week (e.g. Christmas, January, Tuesday);
* religions, followers of particular religions, and some religious concepts (e.g.
Buddhism, a Buddhist, Heaven);
* family member address terms (e.g. Father, Uncle; capitalization is optional in
such examples);
* persons or bodies with a unique public function (e.g. the Queen, Parliament, the
Commonwealth);
* public buildings, institutions, laws, etc. (e.g. the Library of Congress, the
University of Essex, the Fire Precautions Act);
* political parties and members of political parties (e.g. the Labour Party, the
Democrats);
* languages and nationalities (e.g. English, an American);
* adjectives and common nouns, themselves derived from proper nouns (e.g. a
Marxist, Marxism, a New Yorker, Londoners).
Capitalized nouns range from clear proper nouns to clear common nouns.
According to Glencoe‟s Grammar and Language Workbook (Glencoe, 1976: 243-
250) capitalization should be used:
* Capitalize the first word of every sentence and the first word of a direct
quotation that is a complete sentence.
53
* A proper noun names a particular person, place, or thing and is capitalized.
* Capitalize the names of people and the initials that stand for their names.
* Capitalize a title or an abbreviation of a title when it comes before a person‟s
name or when it is a substitute for a person‟s name. Do not capitalize a title in
other situations.
* Capitalize the names and abbreviations of academic degrees that follow a
person‟s name. Capitalize Jr. and Sr.
* Capitalize words that show family relationships when used as titles or as
substitutes for a person‟s name. Do not capitalize words that show family
relationships when they follow an article or a possessive noun or pronoun.
* Capitalize the names of cities, counties, states, countries, and continents.
* Capitalize the names of bodies of water and geographical features.
* Capitalize the names of sections of the country.
* Do not capitalize compass points that indicate direction. Do not capitalize
adjectives formed from words indicating direction.
* Capitalize the names of streets and highways, buildings, bridges, and
monuments.
* Capitalize the names of clubs, organizations, institutions, and political parties.
* Capitalize brand names but not the nouns following them.
* Capitalize the names of historical events, periods of time, and documents.
* Capitalize the names of the days of the week, months of the year, and holidays.
* Do not capitalize the names of the seasons.
* Capitalize the first word, the last word, and all important words in the title of a
book, play, short story, poem, essay, article, film, television series, song,
magazine, newspaper, and chapter of a book.
* Capitalize the names of ethnic groups, nationalities, and languages.
* Capitalize proper adjectives that are formed from proper nouns.
54
3.2.4.3. Capitalized words in The Secret15
Table 3: Capitalized nouns in The Secret and their Slovene translation
ENGLISH
CAPITALIZED
PROPER
NOUNS (pages)
SLOVENE
TRANSLATION
(pages)
CAPITALIZATION COMMENT
Great Secret (ix,
22)
Velika Skrivnost
(ix, 22)
Capitalization is
preserved.
The author
wanted to
emphasize the
importance of
the phrase.
Great Secret of
Life (2, 25)
Velika Skrivnost
ţivljenja (2, 25)
First two words
capitalized, last not.
Author wanted to
emphasize the
meaning, so she
capitalized all
words, but the
word “ţivljenje”
is not a proper
name in Slovene
so therefore is
not capitalized.
Secret Shifters
(37, 43)
Skrivnostni
premiki (37, 43)
The first word
capitalized, the
second not.
In multi-word
proper names for
things in Slovene
language only
the first word is
capitalized,
unless other
words are proper
15The chapter refers to capitalization of concepts connected to the topic of the book and not the
initial words in a sentence or proper names.
55
names by
themselves.
Truth (41, 168) Resnica (41, 168) Capitalization is
preserved.
Allegorical
personification.
Creative Process
(45, 47, 48, 51,
53, 58, 59, 68,
80)
ustvarjalni proces
(45)
proces ustvarjanja
(47, 48, 51, 53,
58, 59, 68, 80)
Not capitalized.
Not capitalized.
The translator
did not preserve
the
capitalization,
even though the
author
capitalized it
because of its
importance.
Master of the
Universe (46)
whereas
master of the
Universe (183)
gospodar Vesolja
(46)
Gospodar Vesolja
(183)
Not capitalized.
Beginning of the
sentence.
See example 1
below.
Creative Force
(50, 51)
whereas
creative force
(158)
ustvarjalna sila
(50, 51)
ustvarjalna sila
(158)
Not capitalized.
Not capitalized.
See example 2
below.
Vision Board
(89,90, 91, 92 )
tablica vizij (90,
91, 92)
Not capitalized. The translator
did not preserve
the
capitalization,
even though the
author
capitalized it
because of its
importance.
56
Bank of the
Universe (98)
Banka Vesolja
(99)
Capitalization is
preserved.
The author
wanted to
emphasize the
importance of
the phrase.
Number One
(119)
Številka ena (119) The first word
capitalized, the
second not.
In multi-word
proper names for
things in Slovene
language only
the first word is
capitalized,
unless other
words are proper
names by
themselves.
Infinite (119) Neskončno (119) Capitalization is
preserved.
Allegorical
personification.
Number Two
(119)
Številka dve (119) The first word
capitalized, the
second not.
In multi-word
proper names for
things in Slovene
language only
the first word is
capitalized,
unless other
words are proper
names by
themselves.
Miracle Man
(137)
čudeţni človek
(137)
Not capitalized. The phrase is not
capitalized in
Slovene, which
is strange,
because it is a
57
proper name
(nickname) and
should therefore
be capitalized.
Universal Mind
(157,158, 161,
175)
Vesoljni um (158)
univerzalni Um
(161, 175)
The first word
capitalized, the
second not.
The second word
capitalized, the first
not.
See example 3
below.
One Universal
Mind (160, 161)
en sam
univerzalni Um
(160)
Noun capitalized,
adjective and numeral
not.
See example 3
below.
One Mind (160) Um (160) Translated with one
word which is
capitalized.
See example 3
below.
Supreme Mind
(161, 163, 169)
najvišji Um (161,
163, 169)
Noun capitalized,
adjective not.
See example 3
below.
One Supreme
Mind (162, 169)
en najvišji Um
(162, 169)
Noun capitalized,
adjective and numeral
not.
See example 3
below.
Divine Mind
(161)
Boţanski um
(161)
Beginning of the
sentence.
See example 3
below.
One (162, 163,
175)
Eno (162, 163,
175)
Capitalization is
preserved.
See example 4
below.
one energy field
(162)
whereas
One Energy
Field (162)
Eno samo
energijsko polje
(162)
eno energijsko
polje (162)
Not capitalized.
Not capitalized.
See example 4
below.
One
Consciousness
ena zavest (162) Not capitalized. See example 4
below.
58
(162)
One Creative
Source (162)
en ustvarjalni vir
(162)
Not capitalized. See example 4
below.
All Good (162)
whereas
all good (28)
vse Dobro (162)
samo dobro (28)
Noun capitalized,
adjective not.
Not capitalized.
See example 6
below.
Infinite
Intelligence
(163)
brezmejna
Inteligenca (163)
Noun capitalized,
adjective not.
See example 5
below.
Universal Supply
(163)
univerzalno
skladišče (163)
Not capitalized. See example 5
below.
Universal
Intelligence
(163)
Univerzalna
inteligenca (163)
Beginning of the
sentence.
See example 5
below.
Spirit (164)
whereas
spirit (164)
Duh (164)
duh (164)
Capitalization is
preserved.
Not capitalized.
See example 7
below.
Eternal Life
(164)
whereas
eternal life (164)
večno Ţivljenje
(164)
večno ţivljenje
(164)
Noun capitalized,
adjective not.
Not capitalized.
See example 7
below.
Truth of Who
You Really Are
(183)
Resnica o tem,
kdo ste (183)
The first word
capitalized, others
not.
The noun is
allegorical
personification
and is therefore
capitalized. In
multi-word
proper names in
Slovene
language only
the first word is
capitalized.
59
Other words are
not capitalized,
since they are not
proper names by
themselves.
In most cases, the words that are capitalized in English language are allegorical
personifications. Allegorical personification is a figure of speech that gives
inanimate object or abstract idea human traits and qualities: emotions, desires,
sensations, speech, etc. As mentioned above, according to Toporišič, in Slovene
language allegorical personifications are written with a capital initial letter. In
many cases, the nouns are capitalized also because of their importance. The author
wanted to draw reader‟s attention to them, so she capitalized them, however the
translator did not preserve the capitalization in all cases, even though in order to
achieve the intention of the author she should have. Here are some examples:
Example 1:
Original: The Genie assumes that everything you think about, you want! That everything
you speak about, you want! That everything you act upon is what you want! You
are the Master of the Universe, and the Genie is there to serve you (Byrne,
2006: 46).
No matter who you thought you were, now you know the Truth of Who You
Really Are. You are the master of the Universe. You are the heir to the kingdom.
You are the perfection of Life. And now you know The Secret” (Byrne, 2006:
183).
Translation: Duh domneva, da si vse na kar pomislite, tudi ţelite! Domneva, da si ţelite vse, o
čemer govorite! In da si ţelite tudi vse, po čemer se ravnate in kar počnete! Vi
ste gospodar Vesolja, in Duh je tu zato, da vam sluţi (Byrne, 2008: 46).
Ne glede na to, kaj ste do zdaj mislili, da ste, zdaj poznate Resnico o tem, kdo
ste. Gospodar Vesolja ste. Podedovali ste kraljestvo. Vi ste popolnost Ţivljenja.
In zdaj poznate tudi Skrivnost (Byrne, 2008: 183).
60
In the first case the phrase “Master of the Universe” is written with capital letter
and in the second case not. In the second case, the phrase is just one of the things
on the list of what the reader becomes after knowing the truth about him/her and
its meaning is not so important. In the first case the word “Master” is a
personification and a metaphor, the author is saying that the reader is the one who
controls everything and can also get everything, and that the Genie will make
his/her every wish come true. Therefore, comparison of the reader with the
“Master” is there to show the great importance and for this reason, the “Master” is
written with a capital letter. For that reason, also the translator should preserve the
capitalization. Nevertheless, in Slovene translation there is no difference made
between the two phrases.
Example 2
Original: The Universal Mind is not only intelligence, but it is substance, and this
substance is the attractive force which brings electrons together by the law of
attraction so they form atoms; the atoms in turn are brought together by the same
law and form molecules; molecules take objective forms and so we find that the
law is the creative force behind every manifestation, not only of atoms, but of
worlds, of the Universe, of everything of which the imagination can form any
conception (Byrne, 2006: 157, 158).
There is no dream that may not come true, if you but learn to use the Creative
Force working through you. The methods that work for one will work for all
(Byrne, 2006: 50).
Translation: Vesoljni um ni samo inteligenca, temveč je substanca, snov, in ta snov je
privlačna sila, ki po zakonu privlačnosti povezuje elektorne, da tvorijo atome;
atomi se nato po istem zakonu zdruţujejo v molekule; molekule nato prevzamejo
obliko predmetov. Tako spoznamo, da je zakon privlačnosti tista ustvarjalna sila,
ki stoji za vsako manifestacijo, ne le atomov, temveč svetov, Vesolja in sploh
vsega, kar si lahko zamislimo v domišljiji (Byrne, 2008: 157, 158).
Če se naučite uporabljati ustvarjalno silo, ki deluje skozi vas, potem ne morete
imeti sanj, ki ne bi bile uresničljive. Postopki, ki delujejo za ene sanje, delujejo
za vse (Byrne, 2008: 50).
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Here the phrase “Creative Force” is one time written with capital letters and the
other time with lower-case letters. Where the phrase is capitalized it is meant as an
allegorical personification in the contrast to the phrase written with lower-case
letter where it is meant just as a normal force which works around us. However, in
Slovene translation the difference between the phrases is not made, they are both
written with lower-case letters.
Example 3
Original: Some of the greatest teachers and avatars described the Universe in the same
way as Dr. Hagelin, by saying that all exists in the One Universal Mind, and
that there is nowhere that the One Mind is not (Byrne, 2006: 160).
This is an example of shortening of the proper name One Universal Mind as One
Mind. According to above-mentioned paragraph about shortening of the proper
names, the shortening and capitalization should be preserved.
Translation: Nekateri veliki učitelji in avatarji so Vesolje opisali kot Dr. Hagelin, ko so rekli,
da je vse, kar obstaja pravzaprav en sam univerzalni Um in da ni mesta, koder
ta Um ne bi bil prisoten (Byrne, 2008: 160).
We see that the shortening is preserved, but the translator actually did not translate
the phrase “One Universal Mind” as a multi –word proper noun but wrote “One
Universal” – “en sam univerzalni” as adjectives which define the proper noun
“Mind” – “Um”. However, that is a mistake made by the translator, because these
adjectives are the proper nouns by themselves. So the proper capitalization
should therefore be “En sam Univerzalni Um”. In this example, differences
between English and Slovene language system are shown. In Slovene,
capitalization is not as widely used as in English. In multi-word nouns in Slovene,
most commonly, only the initial letter of the word that is a proper name is
capitalized, whereas grammatical identifiers in multi-word proper name are not
capitalized. The translator probably decided to capitalize just the noun “Um” and
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left the numeral and adjective in their primary role and not capitalize them,
because this is more appropriate in Slovene.
However, there is a difference between “Universal Mind”,“Supreme Mind” and
“Divine Mind”. So “Universal”, “Supreme” and “Divine” are not just adjectives
describing a proper noun, but part of a multi-word proper noun. Moreover, for the
same reason, the “Supreme Mind” should be capitalized as “Najvišji um” instead
of “najvišji Um” and “Divine Mind” as “Boţanski um”. “Divine Mind” actually is
capitalized correctly, but since it is placed at the beginning of the sentence, we
cannot know how it would be capitalized if it was placed somewhere else in the
sentence. However, it is still strange that the translator translated “Mind” in all
other cases with an upper-case letter and in the latter case not.
Example 4
Original: We're all connected. We just don't see it. There isn't an „out there‟ and an „in
here‟. Everything in the Universe is connected. It is just one energy field (Byrne,
2006: 162).
So whichever way you look at it, the result is still the same. We are One. We are
all connected, and we are all part of the One Energy Field, or the One Supreme
Mind, or the One Consciousness, or the One Creative Source. Call it whatever
you want, but we are all One (Byrne, 2006: 162).
Translation: Vsi smo povezani med seboj, le da tega ne vidimo. Ne obstaja nekaj, kar bi bilo
„zunaj‟, in nekaj, kar bi bilo „znotraj‟. Prav vse v Vesolju je med seboj povezano.
Vse je eno samo energijsko polje (Byrne, 2008: 161,162).
Ne glede na to, iz katerega zornega kota gledamo, je posledica enaka. Vsi smo
Eno. Vsi smo med seboj povezani in vsi smo del enega energijskega polja ali
enega najvišjega Uma ali ene zavesti ali enega ustvarjalnega vira. Imenujte to,
kakor koli vam je ljubše, toda vsi smo Eno (Byrne, 2008: 162).
Here the phrase “one energy field” is first time written with lower-case letters
because it means energy field in general, however when it is written with upper
case letters it is meant as allegorical personification, and the author capitalized it
because of its importance. All the phrases in the paragraph are capitalized because
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the author wanted to emphasize their meaning and this important connection
between us, readers, and the energy in the Universe. “One Energy Field”, “One
Supreme Mind”, “One Consciousness” and “One Creative Source” are just
synonyms for something that we believe is above us and created us. The author
claims that we are all “One”. So the capitalization should be preserved in all
cases. Nevertheless, the translator decided to preserve the capitalization just in the
case of “One” – “Eno” and in the case of “One Supreme Mind” – “en najvišji
Um”, other phrases are all written with lower-case letters. Since the words are
synonyms and names for this “One” that created us, they should all be written
with upper case letters. The capitalization is therefore used inconsistently.
Example 5
Original: The true supply is the invisible field, whether you call that the Universe, the
Supreme Mind, God, Infinite Intelligence, or whatever else. Whenever you
receive anything, remember that you attracted it to you by the law of attraction,
and by being on the frequency and in harmony with the Universal Supply. The
Universal Intelligence which pervades everything moved people, circumstances,
and events to give that thing to you, because that is the law (Byrne, 2006: 163).
Translation: Toda resnični izvor vsega, resnično skladišče, je nevidno polje, naj ga
imenujemo Vesolje, najvišji Um, Bog, brezmejna Inteligenca ali kakorkoli ţe.
Vedno, kadar nekaj prejmete, se spomnite, da ste to pritegnili k sebi z zakonom
privlačnosti in zato, ker ste bili naravnani na določeno frekvenco in usklajeni z
univerzalnim skladiščem. Univerzalna inteligenca, ki vse preveva, je zganila
ljudi, okoliščine in dogodke, da bi vam dala to, kar ste prejeli. To je zakon
(Byrne, 2008: 163).
In this paragraph author again lists different synonyms for the source above us
that supplies us with everything we want. She names it “Universe”, “the Supreme
Mind”, “God”, “Infinite Intelligence”, “Universal Supply”, and “Universal
Intelligence”. These are all allegorical personifications and should therefore be
capitalized also in Slovene language. The translator preserved capitalization in
few cases: “the Supreme Mind” – “najvišji Um”, “”Infinite Intelligence” –
“brezmejna Inteligenca”, whereas “Universal Supply” – “univerzalno skladišče” is
64
not capitalized. “The Universal Intelligence” – “Univerzalna inteligenca” appears
in the beginning of the sentence so we cannot know whether it is capitalized
because it is the first word of the sentence or for other reasons. However, it is
strange that the translator capitalized the noun “inteligenca” in “brezmejna
Inteligenca” and not in the case of “Univerzalna inteligenca”. She decided to
translate “Vesolje”, “Bog”, “najvišji Um”, and “brezmejna Inteligenca”, which are
synonyms, as proper names and therefore she capitalized them, whereas in the
case of “univerzalno skladišče” and “univerzalna inteligenca” she probably
understood them as common nouns, because she did not think that they name
some specific concept.
Here again we can see the inconsistent use of capitalization in one paragraph
among multi-word proper nouns which are synonyms.
Example 6
Original: Or do you want to believe and know that your life experience is in your hands
and that only all good can come into your life because that is the way you think?
(Byrne, 2006: 28).
You have been given free will to choose, but when you think negative thoughts
and have negative feelings, you are separating yourself from the One and All
Good (Byrne, 2006: 162).
Translation: Ali pa bi raje verjeli in vedeli, da so vase ţivljenjske izkušnje v vaših rokah in da
lahko v vaše ţivljenje priteka samo dobro, saj je takšen vaš način razmišljanja?
(Byrne, 2008: 28).
Imate svobodno voljo in sami lahko izbirate, toda kadar so vaši občutki
negativni, se oddaljujete od Enega in vsega Dobrega (Byrne, 2008: 162).
In the first case, where the phrase “all good” is written with lower-case letters, the
“good” is meant as adjective in general, good as the opposite of bad. In the second
case the phrase “All Good” is capitalized, because it is allegorical personification.
The distinction is preserved in the translation.
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Example 7
Original: We often get distracted with this thing called our body and our physical being.
That just holds your spirit. And your spirit is so big it fills a room. You are
eternal life. You are God manifested in human form, made to perfection (Byrne,
2006: 164).
You are God in a physical body. You are Spirit in the flesh. You are Eternal
Life expressing itself as You (Byrne, 2006: 164).
Translation: Pogosto nas zavede to, čemur pravimo naše telo ali naše telesno bivanje. Telo je
samo opora za vašega duha. In vaš duh je tako velik, da napolni vso sobo. Vi ste
namreč večno življenje. Vi ste Bog, ki se je utelesil v človeški obliki, ki je
izdelana do popolnosti (Byrne, 2008: 163, 164).
Vi ste Bog v snovnem telesu. Vi ste utelešen Duh. Skozi Vas se izraţa večno
Življenje (Byrne, 2008: 164).
In these two paragraphs the author again made a distinction between a noun in
general and noun as an allegorical personification.
Example 8
Translation: Vesolje je nabito z električnim tokom. V njem je toliko energije, da lahko zadosti
vsaki situaciji v ţivljenju prav vsakega posameznika. Ko se človek dotakne
Vesoljnega uma, prejme vso to energijo (Byrne, 2008: 158).
Vse znanje, vsa odkritja in vsi izumi prihodnosti so v univerzalnem Umu kot
moţnosti, ki čakajo na človeški um, da jih prikliče in pritegne k sebi” (Byrne,
2008: 161).
Original: The Universe is the live wire. It carries power sufficient to meet every situation
in the life of every individual. When the individual mind touches the Universal
Mind, it receives all its power (Byrne, 2006: 158).
All knowledge, all discoveries, and all inventions of the future, are in the
Universal Mind as possibilities, waiting for the human to draw them forth
(Byrne, 2006: 161).
66
Two paragraphs from Slovene translation of the book show the inconsistencies in
the translation and also in the capitalization. The phrase “Universal Mind” is one
time translated as “Vesoljni um”, where the first word (adjective) is capitalized
and the second (noun) is not. In the second case the phrase is translated as
“univerzalni Um”, where the capitalization is reversed, the adjective is not
capitalized and the noun is. The second translation is more accurate, whereas the
capitalization of the first case is more appropriate. We come across the question
why did the translator made such a decision, because the phrases have different
meaning. “Vesoljni um” relates to the Universe, mind of the Universe, whereas
“univerzalni Um” means the mind that affects, concerns or involves all.
As seen in the examples from above, the translator was not consistent with the
capitalization of nouns, even in cases where the author made a difference between
the nouns in general and specific nouns, which are proper names. Maybe she did
not preserve the capitalization in all cases, because it is not so common to
capitalize nouns in Slovene language. Capitalization in Slovene is mostly reserved
for proper names and allegorical personification, and is not used for emphasis of
words or drawing attention to them as often as in English. Nevertheless, in my
opinion this was a mistake, since some nouns are capitalized in the original,
because the author wanted the reader to focus on them or because these nouns
name something specific and are therefore proper names, which should be
capitalized also in the translation.
3.2.4.4. Capitalized pronoun “You” in The Secret
The author decided to capitalize second-person personal pronoun “You” in some
cases in the book, where she wanted the reader to feel closer to her and to the
book. She speaks about this in the Foreword:
You will notice throughout the book that in certain places I have capitalized the
word »You«. The reason I did this is because I want you, the reader, to feel and
know that I created this book for you. I am speaking to you personally when I
67
say You. My intention is for you to feel a personal connection with these pages,
because The Secret has been created for You (Byrne, 2006: xii).
Therefore when the pronoun “You” is capitalized in the book, it is done with a
purpose of direct addressing of the reader. The translator did not use the
capitalization of personal pronoun consistently. Here is the table of translations:
Table 4: Second-person personal pronoun “You” and its Slovene translations
SECOND-PERSON
PERSONAL
PRONOUN (page)
TRANSLATION IN
SLOVENE (page)
CAPITALIZATION
You (xii) Vi (xii) Capitalized
You (xii) Vi (xii) Capitalized
You (xii) Vas (xii) Capitalized
You (10) Vi (10) Capitalized
You (23) sebe (23) Not capitalized
You (23) sebe (23) Not capitalized
You (39) sebi (39) Not capitalized
You (41) svoje (41) Not capitalized
You (46) Vi (46) Capitalized
You (57) Vi (57) Capitalized
You (61) o sebi (61) Not capitalized
You (61) s seboj (61) Not capitalized
You (61) o sebi (61) Not capitalized
You (118) Vi (118) Capitalized
You (119) Vi (119) Capitalized
You (120) se (120) Not capitalized
You (120) se (120) Not capitalized
You (120) o sebi (120) Not capitalized
You (120) o sebi (120) Not capitalized
You (120) Vas (121) Capitalized
You (120) svoje (121) Not capitalized
68
You (120) vaših (121) Not capitalized
You (121) Vas (121) Capitalized
You (121) Vam (121) Capitalized
You (121) svoje (121) Not capitalized
You (150) zase (150) Not capitalized
You (150) k sebi (150) Not capitalized
You (151) Vi (151) Capitalized
You (157) k sebi (157) Not capitalized
You (157) Vaši (157) Capitalized
You (159) Vi (159) Capitalized
You (159) Vaši (159) Capitalized
You (159) Vas (159) Capitalized
You (161) Vas (160) Capitalized
You (162) Vam (162) Capitalized
You (163) Vam (163) Capitalized
You (163) s seboj (163) Not capitalized
You (164) Vas (164) Capitalized
You (164) sebe (164) Not capitalized
You (166) k sebi (166) Not capitalized
You (166) sebi (166) Not capitalized
You (173) sebe (173) Not capitalized
You (173) Vas (173) Capitalized
You (173) vam (173) Not capitalized
You (173) Vas (173 Capitalized
You (173) vaš (173) Not capitalized
You (173) Vam (173) Capitalized
“You” is the second-person personal pronoun, both singular and plural, and both
nominative and oblique case in Modern English. However, Slovene language has
different pronouns for it: second-person personal pronoun of singular is „ti‟, and
second-person personal pronoun of plural is „vi‟. Moreover Slovene language
knows different cases when declining the pronoun „ti‟: „ti‟, „tebe/te‟, „tebi/ti‟,
69
„tebe/te‟, „pri tebi‟, „s tabo‟, and for pronoun „vi‟: „vi‟, „vas‟, „vam‟, „vas‟, „pri
vas‟, „z vami‟, whereas English lacks this distinction.
In English original capitalized second-person personal pronoun “You” is used 47
times. In Slovene translation the capitalized version appears just 23 times and 24
times the word is written with lower-case initial letters. Furthermore, the pronoun
“You” in the original appears in its singular meaning in all cases, however in
Slovene the translator decided to use a T-V distinction and therefore used plural
instead of singular when addressing the reader, which is a more polite way of
addressing in the Slovene language. Moreover, she also translated the pronoun
“You” with different pronouns according to the possibility of declension of
pronouns in Slovene as seen in the example:
Original: And that means You! The true essence of You, the pure energy of You, has
always been and always will be (Byrne, 2006: 159).
Translation: To ste Vi! Vaše resnično bistvo, prava, čista energija Vas samih je vedno bila in
vedno bo (Byrne, 2008: 159).
She translated it with:
PERSONAL PRONOUNS (“OSEBNI ZAIMKI”)
Table 5: Personal pronouns in the plural in Slovene translation (second-person
plural pronouns – V-pronouns)
ENGLISH CASE SLOVENE CASE
(“SKLON”)
SLOVENE
TRANSLATION
IN THE
BOOK
Nominative “Imenovalnik” VI 9 times
Genitive “Rodilnik” VAS 8 times
Dative “Dajalnik” VAM 5 times
70
PERSONAL POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS (“OSEBNI SVOJILNI
ZAIMKI”)
Table 6: Second-person plural possessive pronouns in Slovene translation
ENGLISH CASE SLOVENE CASE
(“SKLON”)
SLOVENE
TRANSLATION
IN THE
BOOK
Nominative for
singular object
“Imenovalnik” VAŠ 1 time
Genitive “Rodilnik” VAŠIH 1 time
Nominative for
plural object
“Imenovalnik” VAŠI 2 times
REFLEXIVE PERSONAL PRONOUNS (“POVRATNO OSEBNI
ZAIMKI”)
Table 7: Reflexive personal pronouns in Slovene translation
ENGLISH CASE SLOVENE CASE
(“SKLON”)
SLOVENE
TRANSLATION
IN THE
BOOK
Genitive “Rodilnik” SEBE 3 times
Dative “Dajalnik” SEBI 2 times
Accusative “Toţilnik” SEBE
SE
ZASE
1 time
2 times
1 time
Locative “Mestnik” K SEBI
O SEBI
3 times
4 times
Instrumental “Orodnik” S SEBOJ 2 times
71
REFLEXIVE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER (“POVRATNO SVOJILNI
ZAIMEK”)
Table 8: Reflexive possessive determiners in Slovene translation
SLOVENE
TRANSLATION
IN THE BOOK
SVOJE 3 times
We see that the translator translated the second-person personal pronoun “you” in
English with different grammatical forms of pronouns in Slovene. She did this
because it is required by the grammar of the Slovene language. What is strange is
her inconsistent capitalization of pronouns. She did not capitalize reflexive
personal pronouns and possessive determiners. She capitalized only personal
pronouns and possessive pronouns and even those not in all cases, which is seen
in the following examples.
Example 1:
Original: To love yourself fully, you must focus on a new dimension of You. You must
focus on the presence inside of You. Take a moment and sit still. Focus on
feeling the life presence inside you. As you focus on the presence within, it will
begin to reveal itself to You. It is a feeling of pure love and bliss, and it is
perfection. That presence is the perfection of You. That presence is the real You.
As you focus on that presence, as you feel, love, and praise that presence, you
will love yourself fully, quite possibly for the first time in your life (Byrne, 2006:
173).
The pronoun “you” appears 11 times in this paragraph. It is capitalized 5 times,
whereas 6 times it is not. Here the difference between the capitalized pronoun
(“You”) and not capitalized one (“you”) is evident. Where pronoun is capitalized
the author refers to something more important and wants the reader to focus on it
and to feel closer connection to the book, author and advice given.
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Translation: Da bi se povsem vzljubili, se morate osredotočiti novo razseţnost samega sebe.
Osredotočiti se morate na prisotnost v Vas. Vzemite si trenutek in se umirite.
Osredotočite se na občutek ţivljenjske prisotnosti v vaši notranjosti. Ko se
osredotočate na prisotnost v sebi, se vam bo ta začela razkrivati. To je občutek
čiste blaţenosti, to je popolnost. Ta prisotnost je popolnost Vas samih. Ta
prisotnost je vaš pravi jaz. Ko se osredotočate na prisotnost, ko jo občutite, ji
naklanjate ljubezen in jo slavite, se boste verjetno prvič v ţivljenju resnično
vzljubili (Byrne, 2008: 173).
In the translation only the second-person plural pronoun in genitive case “Vas” is
capitalized, whereas second-person plural pronoun in dative case „vam‟ and
second-person plural possessive pronoun in nominative case „vaš‟ are not
capitalized, although they are capitalized when they appear somewhere else,
which can be seen from the following examples.
Example 2:
Original: As you focus on those things, the law of attraction will show you more great
things about You (Byrne, 2006: 120)
Translation: Ko se boste osredotočali nanje, vam bo zakon privlačnosti pokazal še več vaših
čudovitih lastnosti (Byrne, 2008: 121).
Here the translator wrote second-person plural possessive prounoun “vaših” with
lower-case letter, whereas in the following example she capitalized it:
Example 3:
Original: As you focus on what you want, you are changing the vibration of the atoms of
that thing, and you are creating it to vibrate to You (Byrne, 2006: 157).
Translation: Ko se osredotočate na ţeleno, spreminjate vibracijo atomov v tisti stvari, in
povzročite, da začne vibrirati v Vaši smeri (Byrne, 2008: 157).
In the example 1, she did not capitalize the second-person plural pronoun in dative
case „vam‟, whereas in the following example she capitalized it:
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Example 4:
Translation: Zdaj tudi razumete, zakaj se bodo vaše negativne misli o nekom drugem vrnile k
vam in škodovale samo Vam (Byrne, 2008: 162).
Original: You will understand why your negative thoughts about someone else will return
to harm only You (Byrne, 2006: 162).
I understand the translator‟s decision about capitalizing only personal pronouns
and possessive pronouns, because the capitalization of reflexive possesive
pronouns and determiner (e.g. “sebe”, “o sebi”, “svoje”) would be unusual and
unnatural in Slovene language, and would probably disturb the reader. However, I
do not understand why the translator did not capitalize personal pronouns and
possessive pronouns consistently. I do not think of any possible explanation for
her decision and in my opinion, this is a mistake made by a translator. By not
capitalizing all the second-person pronouns „You‟ as the author did, she lost the
effect of emphasis that the author wanted to achieve. In my opinion, the translator
could solve this problem in another way. Instead of capitalizing the second-person
pronouns, she could put them in italics or in bold type of writing. By doing so,
she would emphasise the pronouns, draw reader‟s attention to them, and achieve
the author‟s intention of creating personal contact between the author and the
reader. By that, the reader would know when she is talking directly to him/her and
when she is talking in general to everyone, as she explained in the Foreword.
Unfortunately, in this case, the translator did not solve the problem of
capitalization successfully and she did not achieve the same effect on the target
language readers as the author did on the source language readers.
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4. CONCLUSION
The aim of my diploma seminar paper was to discover how the translator solved
the problem of pragmatic adjustment of the self-help book The Secret to the
Slovene audience and their culture. The goal was also to see whether she focused
more on specific individuals as the target readers of the Slovene translation or if
her translation is culturally universal and the target readers are a wider, more
general audience. I tried to ascertain this by focusing on some specific problems
the translator came across while translating the book.
Firstly, the translator had to deal with the problem of formal or informal
addressing. The Slovene translation of the book is written in a formal way, the
translator decided to use a T/V distinction and to address the Slovene readers with
a polite second plural V-form of a verb (“vi”) – “vikanje”. However, the author of
The Secret wrote the original in informal way. By doing that, the translator did not
preserve the personal contact the author wanted to make between her and the
readers. By the use of V-form, she automatically created a distance between the
author and Slovene target readers, so that they will not feel such close connection
to the book and advice given by the author as English readers. However, after
evaluating some facts I realized that the translator‟s decision about the use of V-
form was more appropriate, because in Slovene language the endings of the verbs
must correspond to the person they apply to. They have a feminine or masculine
ending. However, if the V-form is used, it applies to both men and women at the
same time, so with the use of V-form the translator avoided the stylistic
awkwardness. She probably also wanted the translation to be neutral for all ages,
genders and social statuses, and maybe also to sound more polite and show
respect to the readers.
The second problem was the problem of non-equivalent word meanings. The most
common verb that appears in the book is verb “want”, which is connected to the
topic of the book itself and is therefore important for understanding the book.
However, the translator did not translate the verb consistently, she sometimes
substituted it with other verbs or even left it out. Moreover, she translated it with
the verb “ţeleti” in most cases, instead of with verb “hoteti”, which would be a
75
more accurate translation. Here the difference in expressive meaning of the word
and also inconsistent use of the repetition of the verb appears. The translator
probably decided to translate the verb with different words because in Slovene
language the repetition of words too close is stylistically marked, so she maybe
wanted to avoid the repetitions to make the translation sound more natural.
Furthermore, translator probably decided for the more frequent use of “ţeleti”
because the verb is more formal and polite than a verb “hoteti”, which also has a
slight negative connotation, since the whole translation is more formally written
than the original. In this case, I do not agree with translator‟s decision of
substituting the repetitions with synonyms and other words, because the effect on
the Slovene readers is not the same as the author wanted to achieve. I believe
more appropriate solution would be to translate the verb “want” with more neutral
verb “ţeleti”, but to consistently use its repetitions through the whole book.
The third problem was the problem of repetition of words or phrases. There are
many literal repetitions in the original. Yet, the translator did not translate them
consistently, in some cases she substituted them with pronouns, synonyms,
conjugations, paraphrased them or even left them out. Like this, she achieved
lexical cohesion, but lost the rhetoric function of repetitions, which is more
important in this book. By doing that, again the translator did not achieve the
same effect on the Slovene audience as she should. In my opinion, her decision
was not correct, she should preserve the repetitions in order to comply with the
author‟s purpose.
The fourth problem that appeared was the problem of capitalization of words. In
the original some nouns are capitalized, because they are allegorical
personification or because of their importance. Nonetheless, the translator
preserved the capitalization just in some cases. Furthermore, the author also
capitalized second-person personal pronoun “You” where she was directly
addressing the reader and wanted to make personal contact with him/her.
However, the translator did not preserve the capitalization in all cases. She
translated the pronoun “You” with different pronouns according to Slovene
grammar and decided to capitalize just personal pronouns and possessive
pronouns “Vi”, “Vas” “Vam” and “Vaš”. In my opinion the capitalization of
76
nouns is not as important as capitalization of the personal pronoun “You” because
the capitalization of nouns in Slovene language just for their importance is not so
common and the effect on readers is still achieved by repetitions of these
important nouns. However, the author capitalized the pronoun “You” with a
specific reason and therefore the capitalization should be preserved also in the
Slovene translation. Translator could also solve this problem differently, by
putting the pronouns in italics or bold type of writing and like this preserve the
author‟s intention.
Considering how the translator solved the problems she came across while
translating The Secret, I can conclude that the Slovene translation is adjusted to
the Slovene culture and its linguistic system in all the observed categories: the use
of V-form, other meanings of repetitions instead of literal repetitions, the use of
more common use of the verb “ţeleti” instead of “hoteti”, the capitalization of
nouns, pronouns and also substitution of the second-personal pronoun “you” with
many other pronouns. The translator‟s decisions about these show that the target
audience of the Slovene translation are not specific individuals, but a wider,
general audience of all ages, social classes, regardless of education or gender.
Therefore, the translation had to be written in a more formal register, but with
simple vocabulary and grammar, not too stylistically marked, so that it still sounds
natural and is easy to read. Regarding all these facts, even though she could solve
some translation problems differently, I believe that the translation is still good
and that the purpose and effect are still more or less similar to that on the readers
of the original.
77
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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nalog za slovenščino – jezik v 4. Letniku gimnazijskih programov.
Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga.
Baker, M. (2011). In other words: A coursebook on translation. New
York: Routledge.
Balog, Z. (2005): Bonton 2 ali kako ne postaneš teleban v novih 100
lekcijah. Ljubljana: DZS.
Biber, D. (2007): Longman grammar of spoken and written English.
Harlow (Essex): Longman
Braun, F. (1988). Terms of address. Problems of patterns and usage in
various languages and cultures. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Byrne, R. (2006). The Secret. New York: Atria Books. Beyond Words
Publishing.
Byrne, R. (2008). Skrivnost. Ljubljana: Vale Novak.
De Vries, S. and Bouwkamp, R. (2002): Psihosocialna družinska terapija.
Logatec: Firis.
.Fasold, R. (2003). The sociolinguistics of language. Oxford: Blackwell.
Fisher, N. (2002): Popolni vodnik v svet poljubljanja. Ljubljana: Educy.
Golob, A. (2009). The T/V dichotomy in English and Slovene. Diplomsko
delo. Maribor.
Hatim, B. and Mason, I. (1990): Discourse and the Translator. London:
Longman.
Herrity, P (2000): Slovene: a comprehensive grammar. London and New
York: Routledge
Kojić, T. (februar 2012). Kaj je narobe s pozitivnim mišljenjem?
Zapovedani optimizem – zgrešena pot do sreče. Viva, revija za zdravo
ţivljenje. 219, (year XX). Page 39
Krek, S. (2004). Mali angleško-slovenski slovar. The pocket English-
Slovenian dictionary. Ljubljana: DZS.
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Kriţaj-Ortar, M., Bešter, M. and others (1999): Na pragu besedila 1,
učbenik za slovenski jezik v 1.letniku gimnazij, strokovnih in tehniških
šol. Ljubljana: Zaloţba Rokus.
Kriţaj-Ortar, M., Bešter, M. and others (2001): Na pragu besedila 3,
učbenik za slovenski jezik v 3.letniku gimnazij, strokovnih in tehniških
šol. Ljubljana: Zaloţba Rokus.
Longman dictionary of contemporary English (1989). Soulfolk: Longman.
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Harlow, Longman: Pearson Education. Third edition.
Mehle, J. (2000): Moči Življenja. Novo mesto: samozaloţba.
McGee, M. (2005): Makeover Culture in American Life. Oxford. p. 11
Naik, A. (2002): Naj zdravstveni priročnik za dekleta. Ljubljana: Educy.
Newmark, P. (2003). A textbook of translation. Harlow, Longman:
Pearson Education.
Pons, M. (2009): Jem zdravo! Ljubljana: Tehniška zaloţba Slovenije.
Rešič-Rihar, T. and Urbanja, J. (1999). Biblioterapija. Ljubljana:
Filozofska fakulteta, Oddelek za bibliotekarstvo, BiblioThecaria.
Sebeok, T. A. (ed.) (1960): Style in Language. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Toporišič, J. (1997). Slovenski jezik in sporočanje 1. Maribor: Zaloţba
Obzorja.
Toporišič, J. (1997). Slovenski jezik in sporočanje 2. Maribor: Zaloţba
Obzorja.
Toporišič, J. (1997). Slovenski pravopis. Pravila 1. Ljubljana: DZS.
Toporišič, J. (2001). Slovenski pravopis. Ljubljana: Zaloţba ZRC SAZU.
Wardhaugh, R. (1999). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Blackwell
Publishers. 3rd
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INTERNET SOURCES
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(10.12.2012).
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Glencoe Language Arts (1976): Grammar and Language Workbook. USA:
Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. Available at:
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rammar_gr7/la_0078205409_01.pdf (8.12.2012)
How to Write a Self-help Book. eHow. Available at:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2124205_write-selfhelp-book.html
(10.5.2012)
Jawad, A.H. (2009): Repetition in Literary Arabic: Foregrounding,
Backgrounding, and Translation Strategies. Meta: Translators' Journal,
Volume 54, number 4, December 2009, p. 753-769. Available at
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continent. Communicate. London: Association of Translation Companies.
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Internet source 2: Coming soon: Sequel of The Secret (16.6.2010).
Hindustan Times. Available at: http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-
Feed/Books/Coming-soon-Sequel-of-The-Secret/Article1-573262.aspx
(16.5.2012)
Internet source 3: Available at :
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/want?s=t (10.5.2012)
Internet source 4: Available at:
http://sl.pons.eu/dict/search/results/?q=want&in=&l=ensl (10.5.2012)
80
Internet source 5: Available at:
http://sl.pons.eu/dict/search/results/?q=hoteti&l=ensl&in=&lf=en
(10.5.2012)
Internet source 6: Available at:
http://sl.pons.eu/dict/search/results/?q=%C5%BDELETI&l=ensl&in=&lf=
en (10.5.2012)
Internet source 7: Available at:
http://bos.zrc-
sazu.si/cgi/a03.exe?name=sskj_testa&expression=hoteti&hs=1
(10.5.2012)
Internet source 8: Available at:
http://bos.zrc-
sazu.si/cgi/a03.exe?name=sskj_testa&expression=%C5%BEeleti&hs=1
(11.5.2012)
Internet source 9: Available at:
http://bos.zrc-sazu.si/cgi/a03.exe?name=sskj_testa&expression=rad&hs=1
(11.5.2012)
81
6. ENCLOSURE
TABLE OF THE VERB WANT AND ITS SLOVENE TRANSLATIONS
THE SECRET
(page)
ENGLISH
ORIGINAL
SKRIVNOST
(page)
SLOVENE
TRANSLATION
XI want XI so si ţeleli
XI want XII si ţelite
XII want XII si ţelim
XII want XII si ţelite
1 want 1 si ţelite
1 want 1 si ţelite
2 want 2 bi radi
2 want 2 bi radi
2 want 2 ţelite
2 want 2 ţelite
2 want 2 hočete
2 wanted 2 so hoteli
8 want 8 si ţelimo
8 want 8 hočemo
9 want 9 si ţelite
11 want 11 bi radi
11 want 11 bi radi
12 don't want 12 si ne ţelijo
12 want 12 si ţelijo
12 don't want 12 nočejo
12 do want 12 si ţelijo
12 don't want 12 nočem
13 don't want 12 nočejo
13 want 12 si ţelite
82
13 don't want 13 nočete
13 do want 13 si ţelite
13 want 13 si ţelite
14 want 14 ţelite
14 don't want 14 nočete
14 don't want 14 nočem
14 don't want 14 nočem
14 don't want 14 nočete
14 wants 14 hočem
14 don't wants 14 nočem
14 want 14 si ţelite
14 want 14 si ţelite
14 don't want 14 si ne ţelim
14 want 14 bi rada
14 want 14 bi rada
14 don't want 14 nočem x4
14 want 14 hočem x 4
15 don't want 15 nočem x 3
15 want 15 hočem x6
18 wanted 17 so ga hoteli
18 wanted 17 ţelel si je
18 did not want 18 si ne ţeli
18 do not want 18 ne maraš
18 want 18 si ţelimo
18 did not want 18 ni maral
18 wanted 18 je hotel
18 want 18 si je ţelel
22 want 22 ţelite
23 want 23 radi bi
23 want 23 bi se radi
23 want 23 ţelite
83
25 want 25 bi radi
28 want 28 bi radi
28 want 28 bi radi
28 want 28 bi raje
29 unwanted 29 kar mu ni všeč
29 unwanted 29 ki jih niste hoteli
30 want 30 dobro je
32 want 32 ţelite
32 want 32 ţeleli
35 want 35 si ţelite
35 want 35 si ţelite
35 wanting 35 si ţelite
41 want 41 si ţelite
46 wants 46 ţeli
46 want 46 ţelite
46 want 46 si ţelite x2
47 want 47 si ţelite
47 want 47 hočete
47 want 47 si ţelite
47 want 47 ţelite
47 want 47 ţelite
47 want 47 ţelje
47 want 47 ţelite
47 want 47 hočete
47 want 47 si ţelite
48 want 48 hočete
49 want 49 ţelite
49 want 49 si ţelite
50 want 50 si ţelite
50 want 50 si ţelite
51 want 51 bi si ţeleli
84
51 want 51 si ţelimo
52 want 52 si ţelite
53 want 53 si ţelite
55 wanted 55 ste si ţeleli
55 wanted 55 ţeleno
56 want 56 ţelite
56 want 56 hočete
56 want 56 /
57 want 57 si ţelite
57 want 57 si ţelite
58 want 58 bi radi
59 want 59 se mi zahoče
60 want 60 bi radi
62 want 62 si zaţelim
62 want 62 si ţelite
62 want 63 si ţelite
63 want 63 si ţelite
63 want 63 si ţelite
63 want 63 ţeleno
65 wanted 65 hočem
67 don't want 67 ne ţelite
67 want 67 si ţelite
67 want 67 ţeljami
68 want 68 ţelite
68 want 68 si ţelite
68 want 68 hočete
68 want 68 si ţelite
68 want 68 si ţelite
69 want 69 ţeljami
72 want 72 ţelite
72 don't want 72 nočete
85
72 want 72 bi si ţeleli
73 wanted 73 ste si ţeleli
73 want 73 vam je všeč
75 want 74 ţeli
75 wants 74 ţeli
76 want 76 hočem
77 want 77 si ţelim
77 want 77 bi rad imel
77 want 77 si ţelim
77 want 77 bi rada bila
77 don't want 77 nočete
77 want 77 bi radi
78 do not want 78 nočete
78 want 78 si ţelite
80 want 80 ţelimo
80 want 80 hočete
80 want 80 ţelite
81 want 81 si ţelite
83 want 83 /
84 want 84 si ţelim
85 want 85 zaţeleno je
85 want 85 se morate
85 want 85 biti morate
89 wanted 90 sem ga hotel
90 want 90 sem hotel
90 want 90 sem ţelel
90 want 90 sem si ţelel
90 want 90 ţelim
91 want 91 si jih ţelite
91 want 91 bi radi
92 want 92 ţelite
86
92 want 92 ţeleno
93 want 93 si jih ţelite
93 don't want 93 nočete
93 want 93 si ţelite
93 want 93 bi radi imeli
93 want 93 si jih ţelite
93 wanted 93 ste si jih ţeleli
93 wanted 93 si ţelite
96 want 96 hočem
96 want 96 hočem
97 want 97 rada bi
97 want 97 bi rad
98 wanted 98 /
98 want 98 bi radi
98 want 98 si ga ţelite
100 wanted 100 sem ga hotela
100 want 100 rada bi
100 want 100 si ţelite
100 want 100 si ţelite
100 wanting 101 si ţelite
100 want 101 jih ţelite
103 want 104 si ţelite
103 want 104 ţelite
104 wanted 105 hočem
109 want 110 si jo ţelite
109 want 110 /
109 want 110 hočejo
109 want 110 / x2
109 want 110 si ţelijo
110 want 110 si ţelite
111 want 111 si ga ţelite
87
113 want 113 si ţelimo
114 want 114 si ţelite
114 want 114 hočem
114 want 114 si ţelijo
114 want 114 bi se rad
114 want 114 rad bi
114 want 114 rad bi
115 wanted 115 si ţeli
115 wanted 115 je ţelel
115 want 115 bi radi
115 wanted 115 hotela
115 wanted 115 bi rada
115 wanted 116 ţeljami
116 wanted 116 hotela
116 wanted 116 si je ţelela
117 want 117 ţelite
117 want 118 ţelite
122 want 122 bi si ţeleli
123 want 123 bi radi
126 don't want 126 ne gre
131 want 131 ţelite
132 want 132 bi radi
132 want 132 si ţelite
132 want 132 bi radi
137 wanted 137 /
139 want 139 bi radi
141 want 141 ţelijo
141 want 141 bi rad imel
141 don't want 141 nočejo
141 don't want 141 ne maramo
142 don't want 142 nočem
88
142 don't want 142 nočemo
143 want 143 bi radi
144 don't want 144 nočete
144 do want 144 hočem
144 don't want 144 nočete
144 do not want 144 ne marate
144 wanted 144 zaţeleno
145 want 145 ţelimo
145 want 145 si ţelimo
145 don't want 145 ne marate
146 want 147 si ţelite
146 want 147 si ţelite
149 want 149 si ţelijo
149 don't want 149 nočemo x5
150 want 150 hočejo
150 want 150 ţelite
150 want 150 si ţelite
151 want 151 si ţelite
151 want 151 /
151 wanting 151 si ţelite
151 want 151 si ţelite x2
156 wanted 156 hotela
156 wanted 156 hotela
156 want 156 si ţelite
156 want 156 si ţelite
157 want 157 ţelite imeti
157 want 157 ţeleno
157 want 157 ţelite imeti
157 want 157 ţelite imeti
162 want 162 je ljubše
163 want 163 si ţelite
89
165 want 165 si ţelite
166 want 165 si ţelite
166 want 165 si ţelijo
166 don't want 166 nočejo
166 want 166 je všeč
166 want 166 si ţelite
167 want 167 ţelimo
168 want 168 si ţeli
168 want 168 si ţelite x2
169 want 168 si ţelite
169 want 169 hočete
169 want 169 si ţelite
170 want 169 hočete
172 want 172 si ţelimo
172 want 172 si ţelimo
173 want 173 si ţelite
175 want 175 ţelite
175 want 175 ţeleno
178 want 178 ţelite
178 want 178 /
178 want 178 si ţelim x2
179 want 179 /
184 want 184 ţelite
