Literal translation doesn't work.
English term 'Good morning' is literally means 'yoi -good, asa -morning'
But nobody here understand if someone say 'yoi asa', which literally means 'good morning'
Instead we use the term 'Ohayo' which literally means 'It's early'
But nobody in America would understand if one of them said 'It's early' instead of saying 'Good morning'
Translation requires meaning to meaning, not word to word.
I feel it's derisive when someone insist some translation is accurate because it's word to word.
But mer... some (rarely) time it work well.
ReplyDeleteHere is an Example....
Down here -- in Indonesia -- "Honey Moon" is known as "Bulan Madu"
Honey <-> Madu
Moon <-> Bulan
But mer... some (rarely) time it work well.True. I don't know the case you raise, but some cases are literal translation of the word or expression or others are sheer coincidence. In Japanese 'Miz Gez' means 'Honey Moon' . Miz -honey, Gez -moon' is a literal translation directly from English expression and widely used.
ReplyDelete"calque" - that's what we call such a literal translation. I can't think of any that are coincidences, but there are some, probably.
ReplyDeleteWe don't use honey-moon in Denmark, we say "the days of white bread" because during that time the couple used to be given fine and expensive food. Those who got the concept from the British (or Americans) translated their phrase.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeneutics
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic
It must have been called so because during honey moon both newly weds can be dyed by whatever the colour their spouse hope.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I lost such illusion already.
Hermeneutics...the word was new to me.
ReplyDeleteHe he - no. White bread is made of very refined wheat flour which was expensive and only baked/served on special occasions. The Danish staple is rye bread.
ReplyDeleteMarriage is a great illusion killer, Mer. Lol!