AD (c)

The basic feature of Slovak translation of Hawking`s A Brief History of Time is
its formlessness. Alongside the passages where it is very hard to upbraid with something (pages 71-77), we can find the passages that would need more preciseness and adherence. Translator is often satisfied with verbal translation and basic meaning of a word. There are missing another levels of translation, like analysis of adequacy of translation or applicability of the concrete language situation at the level of sentence, paragraph, logical unit, chapter, relations among chapters or whole book as a unit.

The main argument for thus statement is the fact, that the translation miss the unity of terms and concepts. For example, we can find different solutions in the translation of the word “pulse” which is translated as “impulz” on page 33 of Slovak translation and right after on page 34 as “pulz”. Moreover, word “weight” is once translated as “váha” then as “tiaž” (p. 27, 28, 178), but according to the meaning, we can also use the term “tiažová sila” . The word “slope” is once translated as “šikmá plocha” then as “svah”, but in physics we can also talk about “naklonená rovina.” Instead of common word “časopriestor” he uses the term “priestoročas”, which is supposed be the translation of English “space-time.” Also, as an equivalent of English “elsewhere” (p. 36) used for naming the area of events around cone,

Šurda uses Slovak word “ostatné” (p. 39). With regards to the context, it would be better to use the term “zvyšok”, which, at least, we can decline.
Very frequent is the use of Slovak words “test” or “testovať” as the equivalence for English “test, to test.” We could substitute them into “pokus” or “overiť” or use them at least optionally. The same problem we can find when analysing the translations of English word “idea” which is almost always translated as “idea”, instead of its Slovak equivalent “myšlienka” or one of its synonyms. Also, the wrong interchange is common when translating English word “technology”, that has in Slovak two different meanings “technika” and “technológia”. Furthermore, English “telescope” used in connection with Galileo Galilei (p. 237), is here translated as “teleskop” (p. 172), which is in Slovak the word used for huge and technologically difficult equipment, made for astronomical observations. For such simple tools as Galileo Galilei “telescope” was, we use in Slovak language the word “ďalekohľad”.

The problems with terminology are not only formal. E.g., “Slovak physician literature distinguish the terms “elektromagnetická interakcia” and “elektromagnetická sila” , both used as the equivalents for English “electromagnetic force” (p. 71), depending on the contextual meaning of it.
Moreover, there are objective inaccuracies. For instance, on the page 46 of original text is used the term “twenty-three million million miles” which translator, probably only mistakenly, translated as “tridsaťsedem miliónov kilometrov” (p. 47) .

Another problematic points we can see in Slovak translation of Hawking`s A Brief History of Time are the wrong translations of the titles of scientific or literary works. We can find the reference to the Aristoteles` book On the Heavens (p.2) , that is known in Slovak as O nebi, but here translated as Na nebi (p. 15). The same case is the translation of the title of Galileo Galilei`s most famous work Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (p. 237), which was published in Slovak translation by Slovenská akadémia vied, Bratislava, in 1962, under the title Dialóg o dvoch systémoch sveta. Here is the title translated as Rozhovor o dvoch hlavných systémoch sveta (p. 172).

Translator was often influenced by English original text, and many times he preferred so-called English resolution. For example, he translated “Solar System” on page 61 of original into “slnečný systém” on page 58 of Slovak translation. The other examples are: “separate, well-defined positions and velocities” (p. 73) into “separované, dobre definované pozície a rýchlosti” (p. 65); “the crests coincide” (p. 77) into “vrstvičky koincidujú” (p. 66); “it agreed perfectly” (p. 73) into “perfektne súhlasila” (p. 66); “economic climate” (p. 98) to “ekonomická klíma” (p. 82) or “fixed energy” (p. 98) into “fixovaná energia” (p. 82).
If we mentioned the translator`s influence by original English text, we cannot miss the three most frequent mistakes happening when translating from English into Slovak language, observed in this translation too.