Pragmatic Application Of Back Translation As A Corrective Strategy To The Mistakes In Literary Translation: A Study With Reference To Agatha Christie’s Short Story Collection-The Thirteen Problems

Abstract

Literary translation is a genre of literary form in which a work written in one language is re-created in another. Many translators believe that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible to translate works of literature. Due to this complication, mistakes are inevitable. Based on the assumption that reconverting a translated text back into its original language and comparing it with the source text might be an approach to determine such mistakes, this study focuses on the applicability of back translation into literary translation. In the course, extracts from the short story collection “The Thirteen Problems” by Agatha Christie were given to students reading for Translation Studies at University of Kelaniya to be translated into Sinhalese. Said translations were back translated into English. The source text and the back translated text were compared thereupon to discern how they differ from one another. After analysing the gathered data, the differences identified between the texts could be categorized as the mistakes of literal translation, exaggerated meaning, over dependence on machine aided translation (MAT), miscomprehended context, cultural differences and over confidence of the translator. Thus, it was identified as a comprehensive technique to re-create a novel text rather credible, accurate and loyal to the source text by the pragmatic application of back translation as a corrective strategy to the aforesaid mistakes.