Introduction
When I chose this theme for my term paper, my intent was to read and analyse the book I had read in my childhood. In addition, I would be able to get acquainted with the original text in English, which I had no doubts about, it had to be written in even more interesting language than the text in Latvian. Still, I was a bit afraid of the must to analyse the translation in Russian as well, because it is not my native language, not to mention that I had no idea where to look for the book in Russian. Of course, the easiest was to get the Latvian translation – I still had it on my bookshelf at home. Neither the original was a big problem –soon I found comprehensive Internet resources of free online books. Only when I compared the original with its translation in Latvian, I noticed that the Latvian version is shorter – it lacked three stories (How The Leopard Got His Spots, The Sing-Song Of Old Man Kangaroo, and How The Alphabet Was Made). However, when I finally succeeded to find the Russian translation, I discovered that it had only three stories. After a moment of thoughts, I agreed with myself that it would be enough. I knew that my typing skills were satisfying only with the original (American) layout, but far from satisfaction with the Russian one, which I knew to be completely different as I had tried it before. So, in this term paper there is only comparison of three stories.
The form of my paper is based on a similar work done on peculiar vocabulary in the novel “Kuršu vikingi” by V. Rūmnieks and A. Migla. The author of that work, Sanita Kārkliņa, had written out words alphabetically. When I started comparing, I understood that there is no use in writing out single words, as the stories are full of beautiful phrases. I did not arrange them at all, I wrote the phrases in the order as they appear in the text. Some repetitive phrases I wrote out only once; if there was disagreement in translations throughout the text, I wrote them again. Some phrases are written out only because the translation is nice, or the comparison of translations reveals the richness of one or the other of the target languages.
How The Whale Got His Throat
Kāpēc valim šaura rīkle
Откуда у кита такая глотка
O my Best Beloved – mans prieks un acuraugs; мой милый мальчик.
Once upon a time – sensenos laikos; это было давно.
There was a Whale – reiz dzīvoja Valis; жил-был Кит.
In the sea – tāltālu jūrā, плавал по морю.
He ate the starfish and the garfish, and the crab and the dab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the mackereel and pickereel, and the really truly twirly-whirly eel [11 synonyms] – Jūras sauli un jūras mēnesi, jūras zaķi un jūras kaķi, taimiņu un viņa kaimiņu, tunci un kunci, buti un zuti [10]; Он ел и лещей; и ершей; и белугу; и севрюгу; и селёдку; и селёдкину тетку; и плотичку; и её сестричку; и шустрого; быстрого вьюна-вертуна угря [10].
So! – ams! ам – и готово!
‘Stute Fish – Viltīga zivtiņa; хитрая Рыбка (Малютка-Колюшка).
To be out of harm’s way – nostāk no nelaimes; чтобы он не мог ее глотнуть. Только тем и спасалась.
Then the Whale stood on his tail and said, ‘I’m hungry.’ – Tad valis saslējās uz astes un bļāva: - Man gribas ēst! Но вот он встал на свой хвост и сказал: - Есть хочу!
Noble and generous Cetacean – cēlais un dižciltīgais Valis; благородное и великодушное Млекопитающее.
Nice (…) Nice but nubbly – gluži labi (…) garšīgs, bet sīksts; очень вкусный (…) вкусный; но немного колючий.
Then fetch me some – Dod šurp kādu pārīti! Ну, так принеси ьне их сюда с полдесядка.
Made the sea froth up with his tail. – kūla putas tā, ka putas vien griezās; так ударил хвостом по воде, что всё море покрылось пеной.
Breeches – bikses; штаны.
That is magic – tā māca burvju vārdi; эти слова волшебные.
Jack-knife – kabatā nazis; охотничий нож.
Ship-wrecked Mariner – no grimstoša kuģa paglābies Jūrnieks; Моряк. Его корабль пошел ко дну.
Is a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity – tas vīrs ļoti attapīgs, un viņa prāts ir neizmērojams; этот человек очень находчивый, умнйи и храбрый.
One single, solitary – viens vienīgs; и больше никого.
Trailing his toes in the water – plunčāja kājas ūdenī; ноги свесил в воду.
Mummy – māmiņa; Мама.
…
