Like-Blog
Presenting you the most interesting translation solutions
Why Like-Blog? Now, first of all, this blog is a blog that you should like (and read regularly) – at least, if you are interested in translation. Then, the topic discussed here is one in which the meaningful likeness between a text and its translation in the language pair English-German plays a key role. On this page, I will take a close look at some interesting translation solutions that I have come across in the course of my work as a translator and translation scholar.
A translation solution is only as good as the arguments that support it. This means that any translation criticism, whether positive or negative, needs to be justified. The quality of a translation solution shows only when we compare it to other possible translation solutions in a given translation situation. Therefore, a translation critic should not only say why a translation solution is bad, but also demonstrate what a better solution might look like. I will try to stick to these principles of translation criticism. So if you have any questions regarding my line of argument or if you disagree, please, let me know your opinion by phone at +49 4171 6086525 or by e-mail to bittner@businessenglish-hamburg.de. So much for the introduction. I hope you’ll enjoy reading this blog!
Names of cities used metonymically (September 2019)
Metonymy is a stylistic device in which one expression is replaced by another that refers to the same thing or concept and is closely associated with it. How to deal with this device in translation: that is the subject of this blog post.
The article “The Great Fall” by Michael Elliot and Peter Gumbel in TIME Magazine of 29 January 2009 provides an interesting example: “Merkel and others – not all of them with large domestic automobile industries to protect, as she has – also poured scorn on the U.S. plan to bail out Detroit.” In German: “Merkel und andere – die nicht alle eine große Automobilindustrie zu beschützen haben wie sie – äußerten sich zudem verächtlich über die US-Pläne zur Rettung Detroits.”
The question is whether “to bail out Detroit” is used metonymically. “Detroit” would then stand for the automotive industry located there. The following points can be put forward here: At the beginning of the 2008/2009 financial crisis, the American automobile manufacturers, in particular General Motors and Chrysler in Detroit, were in trouble. The government had plans to bail out the companies. In summer 2013, the city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy. This time, the term “bail-out” was used in connection with financial aid for Detroit. Since the article by Michael Elliot and Peter Gumbel was published in early 2009, their use of the phrase “to bail out Detroit” is clearly metonymic.
Whether the expression “zur Rettung Detroits” is supposed to be understood literally or metonymically is not clear. In the first case, it is semantically wrong; in the second, it is stylistically inappropriate. But why shouldn’t this kind of metonymy also work in German? After all, the names of capitals can be used to denote the corresponding governments. Beyond that, however, I can hardly think of any examples of metonymically used town names in German. A sentence such as “Die Bundesregierung hat keine Pläne zur Rettung Wolfsburgs” would be about the city of Wolfsburg rather than about Volkswagen despite the close association of the city with the car manufacturer. Against this backdrop, the German translation could be: Merkel und andere – die nicht alle eine große Automobilindustrie zu beschützen haben wie sie – äußerten sich zudem verächtlich über die US-Pläne zur Rettung amerikanischer Autokonzerne.