On the Complexities of Translating Ernest Hemingway's Short Stories from English to Georgian

Abstract

Within any theoretical study in the field of translation, translation assessment is possible only through a complex evaluation of translation merits, strengths and weaknesses resulting from proper interpretation of the poetics of a source text and a comprehensive linguistic analysis of both source and target texts. In this paper, the examination of Georgian translations of passages of several short stories written by Ernest Hemingway allows us to formulate a set of evaluation criteria for literary translation. The evaluation system is based on lingua-stylistic analysis: lexical categories, figures of speech, multilayered content information, grammatical categories, cohesion, etc. The translation issues emphasized in the paper can be generalized leading to the creation of a methodology for the process of literary translation. The translation methodology can further normalize the translation market in Georgia which is overwhelmed by low-quality translations.