Unless it is a foreign word or a recent loan word into Hungarian most words contain only back vowels or only front vowels. Examples of back-vowel words include újság ‘newspaper’, magyar ‘Hungarian’, angol ‘English’, and kapu ‘gate’. Front vowel word

include egyszerű ‘simple’, ismerős ‘acquaintance’, füzet ‘notebook’,

and szöveg ‘text’.

Neutral vowels: Even though the status of e, é, i, í, is hotly debated in linguistic circles, for the purpose of vowel harmony, let us consider them neutral configuration; that is, although they are inherently front, they may (and often do) occur in back vowel words. In most cases, these ‘mixed’ words are considered back vowel words, such as papír ‘paper’, tanít ‘teach’, iroda office’, and fiú ‘boy’. If a word contains only neutral vowels, it is considered a front vowel word (though there are numerous exceptions).

The present second, revised and enlarged edition of the Concise Hungarian—English Dictionary contains about 51 000 Hungarian entry-words and approximately 24 000 Hungarian phrases and idiomatic expressions. Several hundred widely used Hungarian abbreviations and Christian names are also included. These are incorporated in the main alphabet.

Words and idioms have been selected on the basis of the frequency of their use. The vocabulary is that of modem standard Hungarian Only a relatively small number of technical terms, dialect and slang words and meanings are included. The English equivalents of the Hungarian entry-words and idioms represent the most frequently used part of the present-day English and American vocabulary. It was the editor’s endeavour throughout to render the Hungarian words and phrases with English words and phrases of the same stylistic value.

Of all the types of lexical meaning explained above, the only one which relates to the truth or falsehood of an utterance and which can consequently be challenged by a reader or hearer is propositional meaning. All other types of lexical meaning contribute to the overall meaning of an utterance or a text in subtle and complex ways and are often much more difficult to analyse. To reiterate, it is rarely possible in practice to separate the various types of meaning in a word or utterance. Likewise, it is rarely possible to define even the basic propositional meaning of a word or utterance with absolute certainty. This is because the nature of language is such that, in the majority of cases, words have ‘blurred edges’; their meanings are, to a large extent, negotiable and are only realized in specific contexts. The very notion of ‘types of meaning’ is theoretically suspect. Yet, I believe that the distinctions drawn above can be useful for the translator since one of the most difficult tasks that a translator is constantly faced with is that, notwithstanding the ‘fuzziness’ inherent in language, s/he must attempt to perceive the meanings of words and utterances very precisely in order to render them into another language. This forces us as translators to go far beyond what the average reader has to do in order to reach an adequate understanding of a text.

2.3 THE PROBLEM OF NON-EQUIVALENCE

Based on the certified certificate translation Hungarian above discussion, we can now begin to outline some of the more common types of non-equivalence which often pose difficulties for the transjator and some attested strategies for dealing with them. First, a word of warning. The choice of a suitable equivalent in a given context depends on a wide variety of factors. Some offhese factors may be strictly linguistic (see, for instance, the discussion of collocations and idioms in Chapter 3). Other factors may be extra-linguistic (see Chapter 7). It is virtually impossible to offer absolute guidelines for dealing with the various types of non­equivalence which hungarian intensive course price eur euro ft exist among languages. The most that cg»4?entea,e. in this and the following chapters is to suggest strategji^^Aji^^ 18 In other words be used to deal with non-equivalence ‘in some contexts’. The choice of a suitable equivalent will always depend not only on the linguistic system hungarian private language course district 19 or systems being handled by the translator, but also on the way both the writer of the source text and the producer of the target text, i.e. the translator, choose to manipulate the linguistic systems in question.

2.3.1 Semantic fields and lexical sets - the segmentation of experience

The words of a language often reflect not so much the reality of

the world, but the interests of the people who speak it.

(Palmer, 1976: 21)

1.3 Literary or non-literary translator?

Though used quite generally, these terms are not really satisfactory. They do however indicate a differentiation between translators who translate books for publication (including non-fiction works) and those who translate texts for day-to-day commercial, technical or legal purposes.

1.3.1 What is literary translation?

Literary translation is one of the four principal categories of translator. The others are interpreting, scientific and technical, and commercial/business translation. There are also specialist fields within these categories. Literary translation is not confined to the translation of great works of literature. When the Copyright Act refers to ‘literary works’ it places no limitations on their style or quality. All kinds of books, plays, poems, short stories and writings are covered, english hungarian translation agency including such items as a collection of jokes, the script of a documentary, a travel guide, a science textbook and an opera libretto.

Becoming a successful literary translator is not easy. It is far more difficult to get established, and financial rewards, at the bottom of the scale, are not excessive by any measure. Just reward is seldom given to the translator - for example, the translator of Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice” doesn’t even get a mention. Your rewards in terms of royalties depend on the quality and success of your translation. You would be well- advised to contact the Translators Association of the Society of Authors on matters such as royalties, copyright and translation rights.

1.3.2 Qualities rather than qualifications

When experienced members of the Translators Association were asked to produce a profile of a literary translator, they listed the following points:

•      the translator needs to have a feeling for language and a fascination with it,

•      the translator must have an intimate knowledge of the source language and of the regional culture and literature, as well as a reasonable knowledge of any special subject that is dealt with in the work that is being published,

•      the translator should be familiar with the original hungarian copywriting author’s other work,

3

A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR TRANSLATORS

•      the translator must be a skilled and creative writer in the target language and nearly always will be a native speaker of it,

•      the translator should always be capable of moving from one style to another in the language when translating different works,

•      the aim of the translator should be to convey the meaning of the original work as opposed to producing a mere accurate rendering of the words,

•      the translator should be able to produce a text that reads well, while echoing the tone and style of the original - as if the original author were writing in the target language.

As is evident from this description, the flair, skill and experience that are required by a good literary translator resembles the qualities that are needed by an ‘original’ writer. It is not surprising that writing and translating often go hand in hand.

1.3.3 Literary translation as a career

Almost without exception, translators of books, plays, etc. work on a freelance basis. In most cases they do not translate the whole of a foreign language work ‘on spec’: they go ahead with the translation only after the publisher or production company has undertaken to issue/perform the translation, and has signed an agreement commissioning the work and specifying payment.

As in all freelance occupations, it is not easy for the beginner to ensure a constant flow of commissions. Only a few people can earn the equivalent of a full salary from literary translation alone. Literary translators may have another source of income, for example from language teaching or an academic post. They may combine translation with running a home. They may write books themselves as well as translating other authors’ work. They may be registered with a translation agency and possibly accept shorter (and possibly more lucrative) commercial assignments between longer stretches of literary translation.

1.4  Starting life as a translator

A non-literary translator needs to offer a technical, commercial or legal skill in addition to being able to translate. Fees for freelance work are usually received fairly promptly and are charged at a fixed rate - usually per thousand words of source text.

If you are just starting out in life as a translator, and have not yet gained recognised professional qualifications (through the Institute of Linguists, the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, or some other recognised national body) or experience, you may be fortunate in getting a job as a junior or trainee staff translator under the guidance and watchful eye of a senior experienced colleague. This wilUprobably be with a translation company or other company that needs the specific skills of a translator.

Pronunciation
Pronunciation of Vowels
Hungarian is pronounced as it is written. Unlike English it has no mute letters whose sound depends on their position in a stressed or unstressed syllable.
The vowels in each syllable are pronounced clearly and distinctly. A vowel is not reduced in an unstressed syllable. When pronouncing Hungarian vowels, the movement of the lips and jaw is more intense and definite than when articulating English vowels.
Precise differentiation between long and short vowels is extremely important. The accent above a vowel must not be ignored.
Hungarian long vowels must be pronounced in an even tone of voice. There are no diphthongs in the speech of an educated -Hungarian.

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