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The Responsibility of Translation Studies Scholar, or Reflections on Normativity and Freedom of Interpretation (the Case of John le Carré) The translatologist – as an academic researcher – rarely faces the necessity to take legal responsibility for the results of his or her scholarly analysis. Especially today, in the western culture of the second decade of the 21st century, the freedom of theoretical reflection is regarded as an essential element of intellectual development of an individual and as a sine-qua-non condition for the change of discursive, and perceptive, paradigms sensu largo. However, when the translator assumes the role of an expert in the course of legal proceedings related to cases of possible translation plagiarism – the results of his or her intellectual exploration can no longer be construed merely as “theoretical proposals”. In the case presented in this article, such awareness resulted in the fact that the authors, considering themselves poststructural scholars, chose to return to structuralist methodological approaches (variantivity), norms in translation, and to the concept of the tertium comparationis, which, in the context of a comparative analysis of two translations, is the source text.

In contrast to many other countries, in Italy there is no federal or state licencing or certification for translators. Some credentials are available to translators working in some language pairs in this country, but they do not carry the same weight – on the market or in the translation community – as federal licencing or certification in other countries, such as Poland. The aim of this paper is to describe the bureaucratic process a translator must accomplish to become a sworn translator in Italy. The article will also illustrate the course which an Italian sworn translator should undertake to have their qualifications legalised in Poland, a country where the state examination for sworn translators is obligatory.

Basado en la certeza de ejemplos tomados de proverbios, modismos, realia, títulos de películas, lenguaje corporal y el argot traducidos del Inglés al polaco, el presente trabajo tiene como objetivo mostrar cómo la traducción y la cultura se entrelazan indisolublemente y para examinar y enfatizar el importante papel que desempeña el traductor para facilitar la interacción y la comprensión intercultural. La discusión ilustra claramente las trampas de traducción y enfatiza la importancia de obtener un poco de conocimiento acerca de la cultura con la que se intenta comunicar. El estudio analizará cómo el traductor, como mediador intercultural, sistematiza y generaliza el proceso de traducción. El trabajo del traductor no consiste únicamente en encontrar palabras equivalentes en el idioma de destino. De hecho, las traducciones más precisas tendrán en cuenta muchos factores: las diferencias interculturales, sutilezas lingüísticas, la evolución del lenguaje y sus origenes, demostradas tanto por frases como por refranes, expresiones idiomáticas, nombres propios, etc. Diversas influencias culturales permanecerán intraducibles por lo que suponen un serio desafío para cualquier traductor, a veces sin darse cuenta que conducen a la incomprensión o al malentendido en el mejor de los casos, o a un insulto no intencionado en el peor. El propósito de este trabajo es demostrar que la interacción intercultural representa un aspecto importante de la traducción, un proceso que va más allá de la transferencia del enorme significado de las palabras de un idioma a otro. El estudio de la complejidad tanto de la traducción y la comunicación intercultural requiere un enfoque interdisciplinario. De este modo, y basándose en elementos comunes compartidos y en las diferencias en el enfoque, métodos y conceptos, tanto Los Estudios de Traducción y La Comunicación Intercultural pueden desarrollarse con éxito como disciplinas independientes. Based on certain selected examples of proverbs, idiomatic expressions, realia, movie titles, body language, and slang translated from English into Polish, this paper aims to show how translation and culture are inextricably intertwined and to examine and highlight the significant role the translator plays in facilitating intercultural interaction and understanding. The discussion will clearly illustrate translation pitfalls and emphasize the importance of gaining some knowledge about the culture one attempts to communicate with. The study will analyse how the translator, as an intercultural mediator, systematizes and generalizes the process of translation. The translator‟s job does not consist solely in finding equivalent words in the target language. In fact, the most accurate translations will take into account many factors: intercultural differences, linguistic subtleties, language evolution and origin, as demonstrated by phrases such as proverbs, idiomatic expressions, proper nouns, etc. Various cultural influences will remain untranslatable and pose a serious challenge to any translator, sometimes inadvertently leading to incomprehension or misunderstanding at best or unintentional insult at worst. Therefore, the need to acquire knowledge about other cultures, their history and heritage remains crucial. The purpose of this paper is to prove that intercultural interaction represents an important aspect of translation, a process that goes beyond transferring the sheer meaning of words from one language into another. The study of the complexity of both the translation and intercultural communication requires an interdisciplinary approach. Thus, and by building on shared commonalities and differences in the focus, methods, and concepts, both Translation Studies and Intercultural Communication Studies can successfully develop as independent disciplines.

This study sets out to highlight the problems encountered when translating culturally- specific English proper nouns. In everyday practice, theorists often deal with serious translation errors concerning proper nouns. As a rule, proper nouns should not be translated, however, opinions are divided: some argue that there are proper nouns that should be translated literally, yet others insist on transliteration, and yet another view claims transcription to be the best option. However, only further understanding and skilful use of translation techniques can provide the best quality and clarity of the target language. The study aims to show what happens to proper nouns (specifically the names of fictitious characters) in the process of translation with particular focus on translation from English into Polish. The study has been enhanced with some examples of translated names, together with their originals, in order to make the results more applicable.

Style as a Specific Problem of Literary Translation. An overview of the English and Italian Translations of Witold Gombrowicz’s Works This research study deals with an area which has largely escaped the attention of researchers so far, i.e. linguistic equivalence and the limits to the translatability of Gombrowicz’s convoluted style, an effective deterrent for other translators. This article investigates the English and Italian translations of various works of Gombrowicz. Particular attention must be paid to the way in which translators have rendered the Polish original, and above all to the vocabulary, phrasing and structure of the language used by Gombrowicz in the Italian and English languages.

SUMMARY. This article examines some aspects of the Italian translation of the novel L’Amour, la fantasia, written by the Algerian francophone author Assia Djebar. The linguistic, cultural, semiotic codes of this complex source are compared with, and sometimes impact on, the codes of the target language. Notwithstanding, the translation’s difficulties, or even its distortions, often foster a more attentive understanding of the translated work.