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Compensation in Translation

Article · January 2008

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Kinga Klaudy
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Klaudy K. 2008. Compensation in Translation. In: Szatmári P., Takács D. (Hrsg.) 2008.
"... mit den beiden Lungenflügeln atmen" Zu Ehren von János Kohn. München:
LINCOM. 163–175.

Kinga Klaudy
Compensation in Translation1

1. Introduction
Compensation in translation is a standard lexical transfer operation whereby those
meanings of the SL text, which are lost in the process of translation, are rendered in the TL
text in some other place or by some other means. Compensation is one of the best-
described lexical operations its first definition was given by Vinay and Darbelnet in 1958.
In English translation it goes like this: “The stylistic translation technique by which a
nuance that cannot be put in the same place as in the original is put at another point of the
phrase, thereby keeping the overall tone”(1995:341). Hervey and Higgins define
compensation in the following way: “techniques of making up for the loss of important ST
features through replicating ST effects approximately in the TT by means other than those
used in the ST” (Hervey and Higgins 1992:35).
The main difference between our and Vinay and Darbelnet’s approach is that we
regard compensation as a lexical operation, while they  unlike us  include into it
grammatical operations as well (cf. compensation for gender differences). The concept of
compensation was further developed by Hervey and Higgins (Hervey 1992: 248), and it
has been given an independent entry in the Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (Harvey
1998: 37).
A classical case of compensation involves the rendering of individual, vernacular or
class speech patterns with means available in the target language, e.g., regional
expressions, slang words or distorted grammar (local compensation). It is also a form of
compensation if the translator takes advantage of the opportunities offered by the target
language and uses striking and idiomatic expressions thus compensating the reader for
having had to use less than ideal solutions in other areas (global compensation).

1
The topic was selected to remind of János Kohn's work (1983), devoted to the problem of compensation in
translation.

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2. Serial (multiple) losses in translation

Losses are inevitable in translation. When translators omit honorific addresses
(méltóztassék, (lit: be pleased to deign to) alázatosan kérem (lit: I humbly request),
esedezem (lit: I beseech) in translating 19th century Hungarian classics, they act correctly,
since these terms do not have natural and obvious equivalent in Indo-European languages,
but by doing so they lose one means of indicating social differences between the characters
in the original. This must somehow be compensated for.
We speak about losses when elements of SL meaning cannot be conveyed in the
TL. Loss (entropy) (1995) or perte (entropie) (1958) are discussed in Vinay and
Darbelnet’s book slightly differently. They define as:

“The relation between the source language and the target language which indicates
the absence of message constituents in the target language; there is loss (or
entropy) when a part of the message cannot be conveyed because of a lack of
structural, stylistic or metalinguistic means in the target language”. (Vinay and
Darbelnet 1995:345)

As we can see, they speak about “the lack of structural, stylistic or metalinguistic
means in the target language” while we concentrate first of all on the meaning of lexical
elements, which have no equivalents in the TL.
Most translations are characterised by a series of losses and not by just one or two.
A good example for inevitable serial loss is the translation of Kálmán Mikszáth's novel,
Beszterce ostroma into different Indo-European languages (The Siege of Beszterce, Der
Graf und die Zirkusreiterin, Osada Bestertse). The playfully proverbial, lovingly teasing
Mikszáth style has linguistic characteristics which are either untranslatable or become
ineffective when translated.
Like Mikszáth's other novels, Beszterce ostroma (The Siege of Beszterce) is full of
lexical devices which create the unmistakable atmosphere of Felvidék (lit: Highland)
which was the name of the northern part of Hungary before 1921 (today this territory
belongs to Slovakia).
These lexical devices include:
(1) geographic names pertaining to the Felvidék (‘Highland’): gömöri akcentus
(‘gömör accent’), besztercei szilva (‘Beszterce plums’), lapusnyai szelid-gesztenyeerdő
(‘chestnut forest of Lapuchna’), gbelai molnár (‘gbela miller’), etc.

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(2) Hungarian historical realia: Árpád vezér (‘chieftain Árpád’), Mátyás korabeli
fekete sereg (‘King Mathias’ Black Brigade’), török spáhi (‘turkish spahi’), Rákóczi-féle
brigadéros (‘Rákóczi’s brigadiers’), etc.
(3) characteristic officials from the Hungarian county system: főispán (‘prefect’),
alispán (‘sub-prefect’), vice-jegyző (‘assistant town clerk’), pandúr (‘pandour’),
csendbiztos (‘gendarm’), etc.
(4) characteristic forms of 19th century Hungarian addresses: kend (‘you’), vitéz
bátyámuram (‘valiant sir’), instállom (‘saving your presence’), alázatos szolgája (‘your
humble servant’), amice (‘my friend’), domine (‘my lord’), etc.
(5) latinisms used by the above officials: skandalum (‘scandal’) direktor
(‘manager’), jus gladii (‘power of life and death’), punktum (‘I have told you’), apelláta
(‘appeal’), spektákulum (‘spectacle’), elokvencia (‘eloquence’), violencia (‘violence’),
konfidens (‘confidential’), elementum (‘element’), etc.
(6) archaic and regional names of dresses, dishes, beverages and furnishings of the
Felvidék: kócsagos kalpak (‘kalpak with an egret’s plum’) atilla (‘hussar jacket’), veres
dolmány (‘scarlet dolman’), csibuk (‘chibouk’), susztertallér (‘silver coin’), bugyelláris
(‘wallet’), ibrik (‘mug’), rokolya (‘skirt’), kulacs (‘flask’), etc.
(7) foreign language insertions in the Hungarian text: mixture of Hungarian,
German, Polish and Slovakian, spoken by the characters: vojna (‘war’), cserveni
(‘scarlet’), pod szmrty (‘come on death’), etc.
And we have not even mentioned yet the pleasantly witty use of the diminutive of
tót, tótocska (‘Slovak’, ‘little Slovak’), etc.
These characteristic features are almost inevitably lost or become ineffective in
English, German and Russian translations. Geographical names and historical realia, as
well as the characteristic officials of the Hungarian county system mean nothing to a
foreign audience. The traditional address forms and courtesy forms are omitted from
translation. The archaic, obsolete names of food, clothes and furnishings which generate
the atmosphere of the 19th century rokolya (‘skirt’), bugyelláris (‘purse’), csibuk (‘pipe’),
ibrik (‘mug’) are rendered with neutralising translations.

(1) Ebéd után csibukra gyújtott a várúr ... (Mikszáth 15)

(1a) After lunch the count lit up his pipe ... (Sturgess 17)
(1b) Nach dem Essen steckte sich der Burgherr seine Pfeife ... (Schüching-Engl
280)

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(1c) Posle obeda hozyain zakurival trubku, ... (Leybutin 18)

The connotative meaning of the Hungarian word csibuk (‘chibouk’, ‘chibouque’, ‘Turkish
pipe’), was neutralised (pipe, Pfeife, trubka) in all the three translations (1a, 1b, 1c).
The speech of the characters in Mikszáth’s novels is a strange mixture of Hungarian,
German, Polish and Slovak. The Slovak words and expressions: vojna, (‘war’), cserveni
(‘black’), szmrty (‘death’) are generally retained and explained in the English translation,
but simply translated into German and Russian. As for the Russian translation, there are
two interesting aspects which may influence the translator’s decision: (1) preserving the
foreign language words requires insertion of Roman letters into the Cyrillic text, and (2)
being cognate languages, Slovak words are very similar to Russian ones: Slovak: vojna 
Russian: voyna Slovak: smrt’  Russian: smert’, which means that they do not contribute
much to the representation of the local colour.

(2) A"Rákóczi vojna" óta nem volt még ilyen felfordulás errefelé.
(Mikszáth 29)
(2a) Since the “Rákóczi vojna” – Rákóczi’s wars – there had not been such
an upheaval in these parts. (Sturgess 34)
(2b) Seit Rákóczis Krieg hatte es hier kein solches Durcheinander gegeben.
(Schüching-Engl 299)
(2c) So vremeni voyn Rakotsi eti kraya ne vidali takovo stolpotvoreniya.
(Leybutin 25)

The Slovak words in the Hungarian text Rákóczi vojna are retained and explained in the
English translation (2a), but are dropped in the German and Russian translations (2b, 2c).
Kálmán Mikszáth’s loving attitude to the Slovak inhabitants of the region is
reflected in his use of diminutives of their Hungarian ethnic name tót - tótocska. This
attitude is also lost in Indo-European translations. In the English translation, tótocska
became little Slovak, in the German translation became simply Slowaken or guten
Slowaken, and in the Russian: slovaki, and malenkie slovaki.
The preference for diminutive suffixes, characteristic of the regional Hungarian
dialect spoken by the Slovak population is reflected in the word istenke (‘little god’); this
nuance is also lost in the English and German translations, where istenke became: good
Lord, liebe Gott (3a,3b). The Russian translator was able to preserve the diminutive form

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of God: bozhenka (from the Russian word bog ‘God’), and he was also able to insert an
additional diminutive, kartohska, from Russian kartofel (‘ potato’) (3c).

(3) A gondviselő a tótokkal a krumpli útján beszél. Ha sok krumpli van az

annyit jelent: "szeretlek tócskák, szaporodjatok!" Ha nincs krumplitermés,
akkor az istenke haragszik: "Minek vagytok ti a világon,
tótocskák?"(Mikszáth 21)

(3a) Providence speaks to the Slovaks only through the potato crop. If this is
abundant, it means: "I love you, little Slovaks. Go forth and multiply." If the
crop fails, the good Lord is angry. "What are you doing here on earth little
Slovaks?" (Sturgess 25)

(3b) Die Vorsehung spricht nur durch die Kartoffel zu den Slowaken. Gibt es viele
Kartoffeln, so bedeutet das: Ich liebe euch, meine guten Slowaken, mehret
euch! Ist die Kartoffelernte schlecht, dann zürnt der liebe Gott: Wozu seid ihr
auf der Welt, ihr Slowaken? (Schüching-Engl 289)

(3c) Providenie obyasnyaetsya so slovakami tol’ko cherez posredstvo kartoski.

Bogat urozhay kartofelya – znachit bog blagovolit k nim i kak bi govorit: Ya
lyublyu vas milen’kie slovaki, plodites’ sebe na zdorov’e. Ne urodilos’
kartoske  znachit bozhenka gnevaetsya: i zachem, mol, vi tol’ko
sushchestvuete na belom svete slovaki. (Leybutin 27)

Contemporary Hungarian language has a large number of Latin loanwords in the field
of science, culture and administration. As in the previous centuries of Hungarian history Latin
had a dominant role in Hungarian state, economic and cultural life, in the novels of the 19th
century Hungarian writers (Kálmán Mikszáth, Mór Jókai) there are many Latinisms, which
can be unfamiliar even for contemporary Hungarian readers (Balázs 1997). Latinisms in the
above-mentioned novel of Kálmán Mikszáth The Siege of Beszterce are connected with the
language of county administration, student life, medical science, law, etc. In translation from
Hungarian into IE, Latinisms are generally omitted, which is one of the characteristic losses in
translating from Hungarian into IE: In all the three translations of Beszterece ostroma
Latinisms are omitted or neutralised (translated by neutral TL words).

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(4) A vitalicumot félévenként kapták ... (Mikszáth 20).

(4a) This income was paid every six months ... (Sturgess 23)
(4b) Die Rente bekamen sie halbjärlich, ... (Schüching-Engl 286)
(4c) Dengi viplachivalis’ baronam dvazhdi v god. (Leybutin 24)

(5) A Te Deum után magnum áldomás következett... (Mikszáth 13)

(5a) After Te Deum came the traditional thanksgiving ... (Sturgess 14)
(5b) Auf das Tedeum folgte ein grosses Gelage: (Schüching-Engl 277)
(5c) Za molebnom sledovlao velikoye prazdnestvo. (Leybutin 14)

In example (4) the Latin word vitalicum (‘life annuity’) was neutralised in all the
three translations (income, Rente, dengi). In example (5) the Latin word magnum (‘great’)
was totally transformed by the English translator (traditional) and neutralised by the
German and Russian translators: grosses (‘big’), velikoe (‘big’).
A good example for serial losses can be found in the Russian translation of
Mikszáth’s novel, where three of the above-mentioned losses occur in the translation of one
single sentence: the ethnic name tot has a neutralising translation and appears as slovak, the
Latinism disputál has also been neutralised and has become sporit’ (‘discuss’), and finally the
foreign language (Slovak) insertion pod smrt’ has simply been translated into Russian idi
smert’ (‘come death’). The foreign language insertion is preserved in the English translation
with an additional explanatory translation.

(6) S azonfelül is jó, szelíd nép a tót, ha jön a halál, nem kötekedik az vele, nem
disputál, ... hanem megadja magát: "pod szmrty"! (gyere, halál!) és behunyja a
szemeit az örökkévaló álomra. (Mikszáth 54)
(6a) Besides, the Slovaks are nice peaceful folk, and when death comes they don’t
pick a quarrel with him ... They give themselves up, saying “pod smrti!”
(come on death!) and close their eyes forever. (Sturgess 68).
(6b) I krome tovo slovaki narod dobrodusniy, smirniy, esli uzh prishla smert’, ne
sporyat s ney ... i skazav “Idi smert” naveki zakrivayut glaza. (Leybutin 65)

3. Local compensation
The above-mentioned inevitable losses in certain places in literary texts works

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makes it necessary to compensate the TL readers. We make a distinction between local and
global compensation. Local compensation is a subtype of compensation which involves
the rendering of individual, vernacular or class speech patterns by the means available in
the target language,
A classic example of local compensation is the case when the translator has to
render the individual speech habits of a character. If somebody speaks with a German
accent, this will be treated differently in a French novel from a Hungarian one. The fact
that somebody speaks a Prussian dialect, that is, has difficulties with the pronunciation of
the sound “r” can be illustrated only by TL words containing the sound “r”.

(7) "Es ist alles bereit", sagte Mamsell Jungmann und schnurrte das r in der
Kehle, denn sie hatte es ursprünglich überhaupt nicht aussprechen können.
(Mann 11)
(7a)  Minden rendben van  szólt Jungmann kisasszony, az "r"-et görgetve a
torkában, mert eredetileg egyáltalán nem tudta kiejteni. (Lányi 10)

In example (7) the German expression "Es ist alles bereit" (lit: Everything is ready) is
translated into Hungarian like Minden rendben van (lit: It is all right) because the Hungarian
literal translation Minden készen van (lit: Everything is ready) does not the contain sound “r”.
If the characters speak a regional dialect, it makes no difference where in the
original work they use dialectal forms. The translator can indicate a dialect only in words
which have a regional dialectal variant.
When the Hungarian translator of Mikhail Solohov’s novel Silent Don decided to
replace the Don Cossack dialect of Russian with the a Hajdúság (county in Eastern
Hungary) dialect of Hungarian, he prepared three different translations of some short
passages: one fully dialectal, another in the standard literary language, and a third in which
he used the dialect with moderation, to create only a general impression and illusion of
reality. In the latter he completely omitted the best-known characteristics of the Hajdúság
dialect, which would have moved the action from the banks of the Don to the banks of the
Tisza. He omitted vernacular words which would have been understood by only a small
number of readers, and vernacular word endings which could have caused
misunderstanding. He finally decided in favour of the last one of the three options. He used
Hajdúság words only sparingly, to create a general impression and an illusion, and did not
use a vernacular word in every case when such a word appeared in the Solohov original

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(Makai 1981: 575-576).

The situation is the same when rendering social dialects. Translators can
practically never render uneducated language or fancy language with words of the same
stylistic value as those used by the author of the original work.

(8) ’ Well, she  don`t have to worry about that,’ said Kramer. In a room with
three people who said She don't, he couldn't get a doesn't out of his mouth.
(Wolfe 199)
(8a) Hungarian TT:  Nos... nem kell aggódnia, eztet elintézzük  mondta Kramer.
Egy szobában, ahol hárman is eztet mondanak ezt helyett, úgy érezte engednie
illik. (Fencsik 157)

In example (8) the English uneducated speech is represented by the incorrect use of
the English auxiliary verb do. As there are no auxiliary verbs in Hungarian, the translator
decided to render uneducated usage with the accusative of the Hungarian demonstrative
pronoun ezt, which has a lower prestige variant eztet.
Regional and social dialects frequently appear together in certain characters. The
language of the gamekeeper in D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover is a good
example. It is not possible to avoid the rendering of dialectal forms in his speech, since
there are times when the gamekeeper speaks correct English and times when he does not.
These times have a significant dramatic meaning in the novel, and are also reflected by the
comments of the author.
When Mellors, the gamekeeper first speaks to Lady Chatterley, he uses a
vernacular which draws a comment from the author.

(9) ‘Nay, yo' mun ax 'er,’ he replied callously, in broad vernacular. (Lawrence
65)
(9a)  Őtet tessen kérdeni  mondta nyersen tájszólásban. (Falvay 65)

Further down, the man chooses the vernacular or uses correct English depending
on how much he wishes to show his independence vis à vis Connie. When he fights her, he
uses the vernacular. The author of the original work accomplishes this by dropping certain
vowels, while the translator uses a different technique. He makes the gamekeeper use

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vernacular words (katróc) and folksy expletives (oszt).

(10) "Ah'm gettin' th' coops ready for th' young bods", he said in broad
vernacular. (Lawrence 99)
(10a)  Katrócot eszkábálok a fácáncsibéknek  mondta erős tájszólással. (Falvay
126)

It is generally true that when dialect must be suggested in translation translators

rarely attempt to use a TL dialect consistently. They usually just hint at it occasionally.
Thus not only the method varies, but also the frequency of dialectal hints. In the English
translation of Géza Gárdonyi's Egri csillagok (Eclipse of the Crescent Moon), the low-
class vernacular of the Gypsy, Sárközi, is reflected by the translator not only in other
places but also less frequently. In the German translation the frequency even increases,
because all the -ch and -s are pronounced by -sch in Sárközy’s German speech. ich isch,
nicht  nischt, sollen schollen, sein  schein, etc.

(11)  Hát besegődök hadnagy uram, ingyen is besegődnék, de ha egypár

sarkantyús sárga csizmát is tetszik adni, bizsony megkesenem. Nem baj ha
likas a talpa, hadnagy uram, csak sarkantyús legyen. (Gárdonyi 20)

(11a) ‘Well then I'll enlist, sir. I'd do it for nothing; if you'd throw in a pair o’
yellow boots and spurs as well, I'd be grateful. It don't matter if there are
'oles in them, sir, so long as they've got spurs.’ (Cushing 298)

(11b) "Alscho, isch verding misch, Herr Leutnant, verding misch auch umschonscht.
Aber wenn isch auch noch ein Paar gelbe Schtiefel mit Schporen bekomm,
schlag isch rescht schönen Dank. Tut nischt, wenn Schohle durch ischt, nur
Schporen schollen dran schein, Herr Leutnant." (Schüching 279)

It is even more difficult to translate a text where the characters speak with different
dialects or have various degrees of foreign accent, In the play Kitchen by Arnold Wesker,
the cooks, bakers and waiters of the Tivoli Restaurant in London all speak a different sort
of broken English, depending upon whether they come from Germany, Italy or Cyprus, and

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how recently they came. The translator can easily render the German accent because there
is a received German accent in Hungarian which mainly consists of devoicing and de-
palatalisation of consonants pl. Hogy vagy (‘How are you’) pronounced as (Hoty faty), but,
of course, not the same consonants are devoiced and de-palatalised as in the English
original.
In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn we frequently encounter both
regional and societal dialects. The Southern dialect, generally used by the characters is
completely ignored by the translator and it is only in the words of Jim that an attempt is
made to indicate that he belongs to a lower social class.

(12) ‘Well, 'twarn't no use to 'sturb you, Huck, till we could do sumfn - but we's
all right now. I ben a-buyin' pots and pans en wittles, as I got a chanst, en
apatchin' up de raf' nights when’. (Twain 99)
(12a)  Hát nem vót, mér zavarjalak, Huck, amíg valamit ki nem tanálunk. De
most már minden rendbe gyütt. Vásároltam már fazekakat meg tepsit meg
ennivalót, és főszereltem a tutajt is. (Koroknay-Karinthy 122)

In example (12) we can find two methods in the TL to indicate lower class speech:
(1) dropping of certain sounds: volt (‘was’)  vó(l)t, miért (‘why’)  m(i)ér(t),
fölszereltem (‘equipped’)  fő(l) szereltem, and changing certain sounds: jött (‘came’) 
gyütt, talál (‘find’)  tanál.

4. Global compensation
Global compensation is a subtype of compensation whereby translators do not
compensate for a specific item, but they compensate for compromises imposed upon them
by the fact of translation itself as an indirect, mediated type of communication.
The above-indicated losses (and omission and total transformation mentioned in the
previous chapters) are only a minute portion of the losses which are inevitable during
translation, when the translator is forced to put up with less idiomatic TL solutions.
Yet there are also cases, when the TL permits the use of a more striking and more
idiomatic construction. We may call this phenomenon enrichment, although the term may
be misleading, since we are not trying to improve the original text, but are dealing with a
special case of compensation where translators compensate for the compromises imposed

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upon them.
Our concept of enrichment is not identical with the concept of gain as defined by
Vinay and Darbelnet, because they define gain as follows: a phenomenon which occurs
when there is explicitation” (1995: 343), or: “we speak of gain when translation expresses
a situational element which is unexpressed in the source language (1995 170). On the basis
of their example, English: Walk in and French: Entrez sans frapper their concept of gains
is close to our concept of specification.
Enrichment or gains in our understanding means that translators, where possible,
utilise and set in move the whole inventory of the target language, and they dare to use
more idiomatic solutions when the TL offers them.

(13) She was a harsh girl. (Greene 140)

(13a) Cynthiát kemény fából faragták. (Ungvári 197)

(14) Absolutely no deception. (Christie 140)

(14a) Nem csalás, nem ámítás. (Szíjgyártó 141)

(15) Then he stood there for five, ten, fifteen seconds at least, staring like an
idiot ... (Dahl 144)
(15a) Azután csak ott állt, állt öt, tíz, tizenöt másodpercig, ha nem tovább, és
bámult mint a borjú az újkapura ... (Borbás 145)

In example (13a) the Hungarian translational equivalent kemény fából faragták has
the following meaning: 'she is a woman of strong character’ (lit: she is made of hard
wood). In example (14a) the meaning of the Hungarian translational equivalent Nem
csalás, nem ámítás is ‘everything is open and above board’, ‘there is no hocus-pocus
about it’ (lit: no cheating, no deception). In example (15a) the meaning of the Hungarian
translational equivalent bámult mint a borjú az újkapura is ‘look doumbfounded’, ‘be
flabbergasted’, ‘look like a stuck pig’ (lit: gaze like a calf on a new gate).
In such a situation, translators do not compensate for a specific item, but
compensate for the fact that the text of the translation is a secondary text produced at the
price of numerous compromises and contains many less-than-perfect renditions. Such less-
than-perfect renditions are due not only to the reasons given above (cf. differences between
languages) but are also inevitable because authors of original texts use a different strategy

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to move from an idea to a linguistic form. Translators are always aware of how many
compromises they have to make, and how often they must be satisfied with a substantially
less idiomatic rendering than the original. It is for this reason that whenever the text
permits translators to take advantage of the resources of the TL, they will certainly do so.
If they did not do so, if they never probed into their target language resources than
absolutely necessary, required by the translation, Hungarian translations would never
contain expressions like száz szónak is egy a vége (‘to cut the long story short’), aki sokat
markol, keveset fog (‘grasp all, lose all’), kerülgeti mint macska a forró kását (‘he is
beating about the bush’) and the Hungarian used in translations would be poorer than the
Hungarian used in original works. This latter form of compensation may be termed
general or global compensation, as compared to local or limited compensation, which
may render linguistic peculiarities.
Global compensation is an attempt to maintain a delicate balance between gains
and losses manifested in the whole text. This strange "add and subtract" game is part of
the ongoing weighing and choosing process which makes translating a creative activity.
The attempt to keep the balance between gains and losses can be illustrated by the
Hungarian translation of Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye (Ortutay 1993). The task
of the translator was to render the speech characteristics of Holden Caulfield, a teenage
American boy without making him seem arrogant to the Hungarian audience. She had to
limit the use of slang words (goddam, damned, damn) but somehow compensate for them
with words and expressions used by Hungarian young men of the same age. The English
slang words (goddam, damned, damn) can be translated into Hungarian, but their
dictionary equivalents (istenverte, átkozott) are not typical among Hungarian teenagers. So
the translator tried to compensate for the omission of certain slang words by using some
more specific Hungarian verbs and idiomatic expressions, trying to create the same effect
as in the original.

Gain:
(16) The week before that, somebody's stolen my camel's hair coat ... (Salinger 8)
(16a) Az előző héten valaki megléptette a teveszőr kabátomat ... (Gyepes 7)
Loss:
(17) I was the goddam manager of the fencing team. (Salinger 7)
(17a) Én voltam az ügyintézőjük (Gyepes 7)
Gain:

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(18) It was icy as hell and I damn near fell down. (Salinger 9)
(18a) Tiszta jég volt az úttest, majdnem eltaknyoltam. (Gyepes 8)
Loss:
(19) ... It cost him damn near for thousand bucks. (Salinger 5)
(19a) Majdnem négyezerbe van neki. (Gyepes 5)
Gain:
(20) .. . and you felt like you were disappearing every time you crossed a road.
(Salinger 9)
(20a) ... és ahányszor átmentem a másik oldalra, mindig úgy éreztem, hogy eltűnök,
mint a szürke szamár. (Gyepes 8)
Loss:
(21) I am not going to tell you my whole goddam autobiography. (Salinger 5)
(21a) Ebből úgysem lesz itten életírás, vagy mit tudom én ... (Gyepes 5)

In (16a) the neutral English verb to steal is replaced by the slang Hungarian verb megléptet
‘swipe’ sg, ‘walk’ sg, ‘whip’sg., lit: make sg walk (=Gain). In (17a) the English slang
expression goddam is omitted from the Hungarian translation (=Loss). In (18a) the neutral
English verb to fall down is replaced by the Hungarian slang verb eltaknyol ‘fall arse over
tip’ ‘fall head over heels’, lit: prefix+snot+verbal suffix (=Gain). In (19a) the English slang
expression damn is omitted from the Hungarian translation (=Loss). In (20a) the neutral
English verb disappear is replaced by an idiomatic expression in Hungarian: eltűnik mint a
szürke szamár ‘disappear against the sunset’, ‘do a disappearing act’, ‘do the vanishing act’,
lit: he disappears as a grey donkey. The full Hungarian expression eltűnik mint a szürke
szamár a ködben lit: disappears as a grey donkey in the fog (=Gain). In (21a) The English
slang expression goddam is omitted from the Hungarian translation.
By applying global compensation strategies translators compensate for the
secondary nature of the TL text, which was conceived originally in another language and if
they do not take special care, the language of translation will be poorer than that of
authentic TL texts.

5. Summary
Compensation, i.e. making up for inevitable losses suffered in translation is a
transfer operation independent of language pair or direction of translation. It is a
translation specific operation, since it stems from the very nature of translation: a change

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in code will inevitably lead to losses. These losses must be remedied by other means.
While local compensation (e.g., dialectal features) can be noticed immediately,
global compensation can be tracked only by examining the whole work. In the case of
global compensation, the translator makes every effort in order that the target language text
resulting from the translation should not be poorer and less colourful than the original
source language text. It would seem that this means simply adherence to target language
standards, but in reality it is much more than that. We are confronted with translation
norms since translators make a special effort in order that certain expressions should
appear in the translation. The "add and subtract" game must be played with a sound sense
of proportion, "enrichment" of the target language text must not be carried to extremes and
"overtranslation" must be guarded against.

References

Balázs, G. 1997. The Story of Hungarian. A Guide to Language. Budapest: Corvina.

Harvey, K. 1998. Compensation. In: Baker, M. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Translation Studies.
London: Routledge. 3740.
Hervey, S., & Higgins, J. 1992. Thinking Translation. A Course in Translation Method:
French to English. London: Routledge.
Kohn J. 1983. Virtutile compensatorii ale limbii române în traducere. Temesvár: Facla.
Makai, I. 1981. Solohov. In: Bart, I., Rákos, S. (eds.) 1981. A műfordítás ma. (Literary
Translation Today) Budapest: Gondolat. 566581. (in Hungarian)
Ortutay P. 1993. Az amerikai szleng fordításának problémái. (Problems of Translation of the
American Slang). Unpublished PhD Dissertation. Budapest. (in Hungarian)
Vinay, J.P. & Darbelnet, J. 1958. Stylistique comparée du français et de l'anglais. méthode
de traduction. London-Toronto-Paris: Didier.
Vinay, J.P. & Darbelnet, J. 1995. Comparative Stylistics of French and English. A
methodology for Translation. Amsterdam: Benjamins

Sources

Christie, A. 1976. Ten Little Niggers. London: Fontana Books.

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Christie, A. 1968. Tíz kicsi néger. Bp: Európa. Szíjgyártó László.

Dahl, R. 1961. Parson's Pleasure. Short Stories. Bp: Európa.
Dahl, R. 1961. Jámbor örömök. Elbeszélések. Translated by Borbás Mária.
Gárdonyi Géza 1944. Egri Csillagok. Bp: Dante Könyvkiadó.
Gárdonyi Géza 1991. Eclipse of the Crescent Moon. Bp: Corvina. Translated by George F.
Cushing.
Gárdonyi Géza 1967. Sterne von Eger. Bp: Corvina. Translated by Mirza Schüching
Greene, G. 1979. The Human Factor. New-York: Avon Books.
Greene, G. 1980. Az emberi tényező. Bp: Magvető. Translated by Ungvári Tamás.
Lawrence, D. H. 1933. Lady Chatterley's lover. Paris: Pegazus.
Lawrence, D. H. 1983. Lady Chatterley szeretője. Budapest: Magvető. Translated by
Falvay Mihály.
Mann, T. 1974. Buddenbrooks. Verfall einer Familie. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Verlag.
Mann, T. 1975. A Buddenbrook ház. Bp: Európa. Translated by Lányi Viktor.
Mikszáth Kálmán 1957. Beszterce ostroma. Bp: Akadémiai Kiadó.
Mikszáth Kálmán 1982. The Siege of Beszterce. Bp: Corvina. Translated by Dick
Sturgess.
Mikszáth Kálmán 1968. Der Graf und die Zirkusreiterin. Berlin: Rütten und Loening.
Translated by Mirza Schüching, Géza Engl.
Miksat, K. 1962. Osada Bestertse. Bp: Corvina. Translated by G. Leybutin
Salinger, J.D. 1951. The Catcher in the Rye. London: Hamilton.
Salinger, J.D. 1964. Zabhegyező. Bp: Európa. Translated by Gyepes Judit.
Twain, M. 1958. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Harper and Row.
Twain, M. 1982. Huckleberry Finn kalandjai. Bp: Móra. Translated by Koroknay István
and Karinthy Frigyes.
Wolfe, T. 1988. The Bonfire of the Vanities. New-York: Bantam Books.
Wolfe, T. 1991. Hiúságok máglyája. Bp: Magvető Könyvkiadó. Translated by Fencsik
Flóra.

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