Language correction as a challenge and technique in translation

Abstract

The subject of this article is broadly understood ‘language correction’. The very term has been borrowed from Wojciech Ligęza and it covers here, amongst other concepts, linguistic innovation, metaphor (conceptual and experimental), ‘terminus technicus’, word play, and intertextuality which takes various forms and is evident, first of all, in poems by W. Szymborska, but also by J. Twardowski and J. Tuwim. Invention of the author of a poetic text poses a considerable challenge for the translator. The introduction of intermittent word formation adjustments and manipulations of grammar categories are also visible in everyday speech. However, they seem to be the programme manifesto (or a determinant of the world outlook) in the literature. They occupy a special place in the hierarchy of values as “the features to be saved during the process of translation”. This concept, however, may also be referred to as the creativity of the translator, possibly seen as reaching the innovative denouements and the process of creating new versions of translation. The deliberations concern translations from Polish into German. The description of selected text fragments, sometimes single lexical items, illustrates the selection and operation of translation techniques. The analysis is a pretext for deeper metalinguistic reflection. Although it seems to be a truism, the non-assimilability of the language systems makes us realize better the understanding of language features which are euphemistically described in a surface concept of language flexibility.