Translation of cabin crew vocabulary into german as based on Arthur Hailey’s "Airport"

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Translation of cabin crew vocabulary into german as based

on Arthur Hailey's “Airport”

Olena Oleniuk,

PhD in Philology, associate professor,

Ivan Franko National University of L'viv

Maksym Oleniuk,

Master of Philology,

Ivan Franko National University of L'viv

Arthur Hailey's novel “Airport” is the demonstration of a general tendency that emerged in the middle of the 20th century and significantly influenced the subsequent literary process the merging ofhigh and mass genres and going beyond the strict framework of what - was considered worthy of the writer's attention. It provides the insight into the inner world of a professional sphere being thus categorized as professional (occupational, workplace) novel. In order to reconstruct the workplace atmosphere, A. Hailey employs a variety of stylistic techniques with the abundant usage of professional vocabulary being the predominant one. Every profession has its own terminology which enables its members to interact effectively and express themselves. The core of communication in the professional aviation environment is aviation English, which reflects in its contents the results ofscientific and professional knowledge. It is the system of terms which objectively includes not only basic aviation concepts but also general scientific notions and semi-technical vocabulary. Our research has concentrated on the investigation of the means of translation of professional vocabulary observed in A. Hailey's “Airport”. The lexical items used by cabin crew members in the professional and private settings, which are further classified into realia, terms, professionalisms, jargonisms and slang, have come into the focus of our attention. The translations of the novel into German conducted by Wilm W. Elwenspoke in 1968 and published by the publishing house “Ulstein” has served as the material for the investigation. The following techniques were resorted to: literal translation, borrowing, transposition, calque, compression, generalization, adaptation, expansion, omission, reduction. The translation appears to be direct and equivalent, consequently, closer to the ST and few transformations have been applied. Nevertheless, it occasionally results in certain loss in translation.

Keywords: cabin crew vocabulary, translation strategies, adequacy of translation.

Оленюк Олена Валеріївна, кандидат філологічних наук, доцент, Львівський національний університет імені Івана Франка

Оленюк Максим Сергійович, магістр філології

Львівський національний університет імені Івана Франка

ВІДТВОРЕННЯ ЛЕКСИКИ КАБІННОГО ЕКІПАЖУ (НА МАТЕРІАЛІ НІМЕЦЬКОГО ПЕРЕКЛАДУ РОМАНУ АРТУРА ХЕЙЛІ «АЕРОПОРТ»)

Стаття має на меті проаналізувати адекватність перекладацьких стратегій, що застосовувалися для перекладу фахової лексики кабінного екіпажу німецькою мовою. Актуальність цієї наукової розвідки у тому, що проблема адекватного перекладу лексики бортпровідників потребує ретельного вивчення. Стрімкий технічний прогрес вплинув на всі аспекти нашого життя, включно з авіацією, породивши нові явища і, як наслідок, лексичні одиниці, що їх позначають. Таким чином, виникає необхідність дослідити, як вони передаються іншими мовами. У дослідженні детально проаналізовано перекладацькі стратегії, використані перекладачем В. Елвенспоком для відтворення лексики бортпровідників у романі Артура Хейлі «Аеропорт». Цей твір вважають одним з найяскравіших зразків професійного роману, особливістю якого є насиченість тексту фаховою лексикою, до якої зараховуємо терміни, реалії, професіоналізми, жаргонізми та сленгову лексику. Результати наукової розвідки показують, що для перекладу лексики бортпровідників німецькою мовою було застосовано такі прийоми: дослівний переклад, запозичення, транспозиція, калька, компресія, узагальнення, адаптація, розширення, опущення, скорочення. Таким чином, переважає використання прийомів прямого перекладу, запозичень і кальки, які традиційно використовуються для передачі технічної лексики. Переклад видається прямим і еквівалентним, отже, ближчим до вихідного тексту, кількість застосованих трансформацій є незначною. Однак подекуди це призводить до певних втрат у перекладі. Можна також зробити висновок, що успішне використання перекладацьких стратегій в поєднанні з глибоким розумінням вихідного тексту й різноманітних лінгвістичних і позамовних факторів може значно сприяти еквівалентності та адекватності перекладу.

Ключові слова: лексика кабінного екіпажу, перекладацькі стратегії, адекватність перекладу.

Introduction

translation novel hailey

With the rapid technological advances in the fast developing modern world, its globalization and erasing the boundaries it is no wonder that aviation has occupied a significant place in modern life. Thus, like all other spheres of life it has developed its terminology or specialized language, which is also dubbed professional language (Crystal, 2003).

The peculiarities of aviation English have recently become the object of active linguistic research. The scholars' attention has been focused on issues of Aviation English translation, its basic units, their interconnection, peculiarities, the methods of teaching Aviation English (Mezhzherina, 2021; Borowska, 2017; Kopecka, 2017; Schaberg, 2012).

“Aviation English describes English used by pilots, air traffic controllers and other personnel associated with the aviation industry. ... The term may encompass a wide variety of language use situations including the language of airline mechanics, flight attendants or ground service personnel.” (Moder, 2012: 227).

Arthur Hailey's novel “Airport” is the demonstration of a general tendency that emerged in the middle of the 20th century and significantly influenced the subsequent literary process - the merging of high and mass genres and going beyond the strict framework of what was considered worthy of the writer's attention. It provides the insight into the inner world of a professional sphere being thus categorized as professional (occupational, workplace) novel.

In order to reconstruct the professional context where the setting, namely the airport, is one of the main characters, A. Hailey employs a variety of stylistic techniques with the abundant usage of professional vocabulary being the predominant one.

Nevertheless, the translations of the novel “Airport” into German have not been given a comparative analysis before. This research is based on the scholarly achievements of both Ukrainian and foreign translators and thus the translations are scrutinized in terms of their consistency with the translation tradition. The novel is abundant in professional vocabulary which presents challenges for a translator in terms of lexical, grammatical and pragmatic aspects, which have not been under study yet.

Literature review. The problems of translation have been widely researched in Ukrainian, English and German translation studies by such prominent scholars and poets as M. Rylskyi, M. Zerov, Hr. Kochur, M. Lukash, R. Zorivchak, E. Nida, H. P. Grice, M. Baker, E. Berger, F. Schleiermacher et al. The prestige of Translation Studies as a discipline increased rapidly in the second half of the 20th century, after the pioneering book by E. Nida Towards the Science of Translating (1964) was published, and still is growing at a global scale, as nowadays an unprecedented number of translators are employed in turning spoken and written texts from one language to another.

There undeniably exists a problem with the reception of A. Hailey's prose. In the 1960s and 1980s, the writer's novels did not cause controversy in the United States. Publishers, responding to the demand from the audience, published them; film producers filmed them; readers, being interested in their topicality, read them, because the main characters of the works were a hospital, a hotel, an airport, a car factory - the places which played a significant role in the life of every American. Conversely, the critics ignored the author with semi-contemptuous silence, because, in their opinion, A. Hailey was an ordinary fiction writer, one of the many in contemporary literature. The writer's stories about the specifics of various industries, lives fate of people who work there, according to the majority of the reviewers, were typical, yet vivid examples of mass fiction (Danylchuk, 2013). In the English-language literary studies, the artistic works of A. Hailey were researched mostly sporadically. Articles by P. Andrews (Andrews, 1997), F. Cameron (Cameron, 1975), Dh. McLillan (McLillan, 1977) as well as the fictional story of the writer's wife Sheila Hailey “I Married a Best Seller: My Life with Arthur Hailey” (Hamilton, Jones, 2010) are generally referential.

Certain neglect of research of the reception of Hailey's literary work in German might have been caused by scarce amount of material for the investigation inasmuch as there exist only one translation of the novel into German. It was conducted by Wilm W. Elwenspoke in 1968 and published by the publishing house “Ulstein”. This translation is the object of research of the given article.

The purpose of the article is to investigate the techniques employed in translation of the cabin crew vocabulary into German and analyse the adequacy of the translation.

Results

A very notable thing about the German translation of the novel is the translation of the title itself. The translator resorts to the technique of borrowing as he does not translate the title as the equivalent German term der Flughafen but decides to preserve the original word Airport. It certainly causes loss in translation inasmuch as the target reader may not understand what is meant and may not even get interested in the book.

The method the translator applied to render the names of the airlines is that of borrowing as it often occurs when proper names are translated into German. Neither short nor more extended explication of the transcribed name is given in the following examples. However, the borrowed airline names are domesticized by introducing the articles, following the grammar rules of the TL.

He stepped into the carpeted corridor and turned to the left familiarly, heading for the apartment which Gwen Meighen shared with a stewardess of United Air Lines (p. 61)

Er trat auf den mit Teppich aus gelegten Korridor hinaus und wandte sich zielsicher nach links, ging zu dem Apartment, das Gwen Meighen mit einer Stewardess der United Air Lines teilte. (s. 85 -86)_

Inasmuch as the uniform and its elements belong to the terminological vocabulary, the traditional method to render them into German is that of literal translation.

Gwen's uniform might be standard, but beneath it she believed in expensive individuality (p. 61)

Gwens Uniform entsprach zwar den Normen, aber fur das, was darunter kam, glaubte sie an kostspielige Individualitat (s. 85-86).

Nevertheless, when the term is the part of a two-component asyndetic substantival cluster it is often reproduced as a compound noun in German, which is the result of syntactic compression.

She was in a trim uniform skirt and blouse which made her seem even younger than she was (p.129)

Sie trug den vorgeschriebenen Uniformrock mit Bluse, worin sie junger aussah, als sie war. (s. 177)

The following example illustrates the approach to the translation of a three component asyndetic substantival cluster preceded by an adjective. It is rendered in to the TL with the literal translation technique.

...palling her hair into place where it flowed superbly from beneath the smart Trans America stewardess cap. (p. 253)

...brachte ihr Haar in Ordnung, das voll und glanzendunter der schnittigen Trans-America Stewardessmutze hervorquoll. (s. 343-344)

The geographical realia Stewardess Row is not adequately translated into the TL. Having used the technique of borrowing the translator failed to convey the meaning. The application of literary translation technique would have been contributed to better perception by the audience. Die Stewardess Nebenstrasse could have been used instead.

He was still in the kitchen of Gwen Meighen's apartment on Stewardess Row. (p.128).

Er war immer noch in der Kuche von Gwen Meighens Apartment in der Stewardess Row (s. 177)

The use of literal translation technique in the next example affects the quality of translation. The English word nest is rendered as German Nest, thus the compound noun stewardess nests translated as Stewardessennestern sounds unnatural and artificial. The translator should have used the figurative meaning of the word and translate it as Heim. There is the similar case with the literal translation of a lexical unit airline sources. It would have been more efficient to use the technique of reduction and translate it as Fluggesellschaften.

Vernon Demerest had been in stewardess nests where most items used in daily living seemed to have come from airline sources. (P. 132)

Vernon Demerest war in Stewardessennestern gewesen, in denen fast alle Dinge des taglichen Gebrauchs aus Bestanden der Flussesellschaften zu stammen schienen. (s. 180)

The technique the translator chose to render the terminological unit is that of word-for-word translation. As a consequence, there is no loss in translation and the meaning of the term is adequately conveyed.

Another thing stewardesses learned was that no inventory check of removable cabin equipment was ever made at the termination of a flight (p. 132)

Noch etwas anderes merkten die Stewardessen: und zwar die Tatsache, dass von der beweslichen Ausstattuns der Kabinen am Ankunftsort nie eine Inventarprufuns vorsenommen wurde. (s. 180)

When translating the term captain into German, the translator refers to the calque translation. However, he expands the TT by adding culturally marked lexeme Herr, which denotes the conventional way of addressing a male with respect and is usually used before the rank or title. Thus, the technique of adaptation was applied.

The five stewardesses for Flight Two were already in the bus, and there was a chorus of “Good evening, Captain . . . good evening, Captain,” as Demerest and Anson Harris clambered in, followed by .Jordan... (p. 226).

Die funf Stewardessen fur Flug zwei safien bereits in dem Kleinbus undgrufiten im Chor: „Guten Abend, Herr Kapitan - guten Abend, Herr Kapitan“, als Demerest undHarris, gefolgt von Jordan, einstiegen ... (s. 307)

One more example demonstrates the literary translation, in combination with syntactic compression, of the term which is the two-component asyndetic substantival cluster and is reproduced as a compound noun in German.

With her soft English voice, she did the best she could with the treacly, insincere paragraph from her stewardess manual, which the company insisted must be read on every flight. (p. 299)

Mit ihrem weichen englischen Akzent entledigte sie sich, so gut es ging, des salbungsvollen, unaufrichtigen Textes aus ihrem Stewardessenleitfaden, der auf jedem Flug vorgelesen werden musste. (s. 404)

The following example demonstrates the certain inadequacy in translation inasmuch as the translator substitutes the adjective senior, which means having a higher position, level, or rank, with erfahrene, which means possessing skills or knowledge because you have done something often orfor a long time. Thus, the semantic meaning of an attribute is changed influencing the general idea of the sentence.

A good many overseas flights had male stewards directing cabin service, but Trans America encouraged senior women staffers like Gwen to take charge when they proved themselves capable. (p. 301)

Eine ganze Reihe der Uberseefluge hatte Stewards fur die Leitung des Kabinendienstes, aber Trans America ermutigfe erfahrene weibliche Angestellte, wie Gwen, den Posten zu ubernehmen, wenn sie sich dazu fahig erwiesen. (s. 406)

The term insubordination is faithfully translated into the TL with the equivalent term die Insubordination using the calque technique which is justified in the case since in both languages it denotes the act of wilfully disobeying a lawful order of one's superior.

In case you hadn't noticed, we happen to have a few passengers aboard. - I'll deal with the insubordination later. (p. 396).

Falls Sie es noch nicht wissen sollten: Wir haben namlich ein paar Passagiere an Bord. Auf die Insubordination komme ich spater zuruck (s. 533)

The following example contains several terminological units which are structurally viewed as noun clusters, thus the translation is predetermined by the structural form of the cluster. In a two-component asyndetic substantival cluster round-trip ticket the translator starts with a head noun and then proceeds with an adjunct which functions as an adjective. However, the three-component cluster a return flight coupon is directly translated inti the TL as a conventional in the German language compound noun. Thus, the technique of syntactic compression was employed. The other sentence from the ST is omitted by the translator. Nevertheless, the use of omission technique in this case results in certain loss in translation inasmuch as the reader is not informed about the existence of a ticket stub and a boarding folder.

If it was a round-trip ticket, you'd be holding a return flight coupon. And if it was one-way, you'd still have the ticket stub and boarding folder. (p. 400)

Wenn es ein Schein fur hin und zuruck war, mussten Sie ja den Ruckflugabschnitt haben (s. 540-541)

A number of terminological units related to the job responsibilities of the cabin crew are structurally noun clusters consisting of an adjunct and a head noun. The two-component asyndetic noun cluster is adequately translated into the TL beginning with the head noun after which adjunct noun is translated.

The stewardesses went off to complete their own preflight procedures while the three pilots beaded for the Trans America international dispatch office.(p. 226)

Die Stewardessen gingen voraus, um ihre eigenen Vorbereitunsen fur den Start zu beenden, wahrend die drei Piloten die interkontinentale Einsatzzentrale der Trans America aufsuchten. (308)

The next compound is the demonstration of an adequate choice of lexical units in the TL. The two-component asyndetic substantival cluster is well translated both structurally and semantically with some expansion of the lexeme ritual into ublichen Hantierungen, thus the meaning of something that is done regularly and always in the same way is faithfully conveyed into the TL.

Gwen Meighen, occupied with pre-takeoff rituals, bad no time for such analysis (p. 299) .

Gwen Meighen war mit den ublichen Vor-Start-Hantierunsen beschaftigt und hatte fur derlei Betrachtungen keine Zeit. (404)

One more example illustrates faithful translation of a terminological unit into the TL with the application of word-for-word translation technique.

While four of the five stewardesses busied themselves with housekeeping chores around the airplane, Gwen used the p.a. system to welcome passengers aboard. (p. 299)

Wahrend die anderen vier Stewardessen sich mit Haushaltsarbeiten im Fluez.eue befassten, hiefi Gwen uber die Lautsprecheranlage die Gaste an Bord willkommen. (s. 404)

One-componental term manifest, which denotes a list of passengers carried on a plane, is translated as die Liste in the TL. However, the meaning of this lexeme in German is a series e.g. of names, numbers, prices etc. written down or said one after the other, which is too general and lacks specification. Thus, the use of generalization technique in this case proves to be insufficient for adequate translation. The translator should have used a more conventional term die Passagierliste.

The tourist passenger count won't tally. We've made it twice; we still can't agree with the manifest and tickets. (p. 296)

Die Zahlung in der Touristenklasse will nicht stimmen. Wir haben sie schon zweimal gemacht, aber wir konnen mit der Liste und den Flugscheinen nicht klarkommen. (s. 398)

Another example with the use of generalization technique, which results in the loss in translation, can be observed in the following sentence. The monolexical substantival term ditching denotes landing an aircraft in a controlled crash into water, whereas Notlandung stands for emergency landing, which is too general and lacks the semantic component of control. Thus, the meaning is distorted.

More essential were the announcements about emergency exits, oxygen masks, and ditching. (p. 299)

Wichtiger waren die Ansagen uber Notausgange, Sauerstoffmasken und Notlandung (s. 404)

The following example presented certain difficulty for the translator, which he failed to overcome. The jargonism layover is an example of a pun where two different meanings of the word are exploited to create a humorous effect. The first one is a short stay somewhere between two parts of a journey, the second one is a slang word for having sex with somebody. However, the translator applied the technique of borrowing which resulted in loss in translation inasmuch as intended pun was not conveyed. He could have used footnotes to provide the explanation.

The word “layover” had long ago been adopted officially by airlines and was used deadpan. (p. 55)

Der Ausdruck ..Layover” war schon vor langer Zeit von den Fluggesellschaften ubernommen worden und wurde ohne Wimpernzucken gebraucht (s. 77)

One more example of inadequate transformation can be observed in the case of translation of the jargonism “perks”. It means something that you get legally from your work in addition to your wages, such as goods, meals, or a car, however, used in inverted comas, it expresses certain irony as it is used by the cabin crew to denote the goods they obtain illegally. The translator does not render this nuance when using the word Schmu, which indicates cheating, thus, the stylistic meaning is distorted.

He supposed be should not have been stuffy about the airline liquor bottles; after all, stewardess “verks” were nothing new (p. 130).

Er sagte sich, dass er wegen der Portionsflaschen nicht so spiefiig hatte sein sollen; schliefilich war es doch nichts Neues, dass Stewardessen “Schmu“ machten. (s. 180)

Conclusions

Inasmuch as the author's main objective is to recreate the atmosphere of the professional environment he provides as much factual detail as possible resorting to the use of technical vocabulary. Therefore, the text is abundant in realia, terms, professionalisms, jargonisms, slang. Translating this type of lexical units requires accurate and correct understanding of them as well as the knowledge of functioning, structure and organization of an airport and its environment. It can be concluded that inasmuch as English and German belong to the same group of Germanic languages, their morphological and syntactic structures possess certain similarities. Thus, the use of the techniques of literal translation, borrowing and calque prevails, which are conventionally employed to render technical vocabulary. The translation appears to be direct and equivalent, consequently, closer to the ST and few transformations have been applied. However, it occasionally results in certain loss in translation. It may also be concluded that successful use of translation techniques combined with the deep understanding of the ST and various linguistic and extra linguistic factors can significantly contribute to equivalence and adequacy in translation.

Література:

1. Данильчук О. М. Творчий доробок Артура Хейлі як проблема сучасного літературознавства. Наукові записки Харківського національного педагогічного університету ім. Г. С. Сковороди. Сер. : Літературознавство. 2013. Вип. 3(2). С. 75-82.

2. Межжеріна А. Англійські авіаційні терміни в аспекті перекладу. Київ : Фенікс, 2021. 96 с.

3. Airport: Novel Arthur Hailey. New York. Berkley Books, 2015. 440 p.

4. Airport: Roman Arthur Hailey; aus dem Englischen von Wilm. Elwenspoek Ullstein, 2003. 684 s.

5. Andrews P Books that take the reader into the hearts. The New York Times Book Review. 1997. June, 22. Р. 20.

6. Borowska Anna P Avialinguistics. 2017. URL: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1055293.

7. Cameron F. Arthur Hailey's Craft is an Interesting Tale Publisher Weekly, 1975. October 30. P 17.

8. Crystal David. English as a Global Language, Second Edition. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, 2003. 213 p.

9. Hamilton G., Jones B. Encyclopedia of American Popular Fiction. Facts on File, 2010. 405 p.

10. Kopecka B. “Planes are Birds” Metaphor: A Cognitively Oriented Study of Aviation Vocabulary Cognitive Approaches to Specialist Languages. Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017. - P 202-213.

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12. Moder C. L. Aviation English. Malden : Wiley Blackwell, 2013. P 227-242.

13. Schaberg C. The Textual Life of Airports: Reading the Culture of Flight. A&C Black, 2012. 192 р.

References:

1. Andrews, P (1997) Books that take the reader into the hearts. The New York Times Book Review.

2. Borowska, Anna P. (2017)Avialinguistics. URL: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1055293.

3. Cameron, F. (1975) Arthur Hailey's Craft is an Interesting Tale. Publisher Weekly, October 30.

4. Crystal, David. (2003) English as a Global Language, Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

5. Danylchuk, O. M. (2013) Tvorchyi dorobok Artura Hailey yak problema suchasnoho literaturoznavstva. [Arthur Hailey's creative output as a problem of modern literary studies]. Naukovi zapysky Kharkivskoho natsionalnoho pedahohichnoho universytetu im. H. S. Skovorody. Ser. : Literaturoznavstvo. Vyp. 3(2). S. 75-82. [in Ukrainian]

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7. Hailey, A. (2015) Airport New York : Berkley Books.

8. Hamilton, G., Jones, B. (2010) Encyclopedia of American Popular Fiction. Facts on File.

9. Kopecka, B. (2017) “Planes are Birds” Metaphor: A Cognitively Oriented Study of Aviation Vocabulary Cognitive Approaches to Specialist Languages. Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, P 202-213.

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12. Moder, C. L. (2013) Aviation English. Malden : Wiley Blackwell.

13. Schaberg, C. (2012) The Textual Life of Airports: Reading the Culture of Flight. A&C Black.

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