Diction - the diction changes the level of properness between the different translations
Syntax - changes the emphasis between different words such as uneasy and enormous
Imagery/Details - the level of description between the details of the the dream or how large the bug was changed
Structure - the structure determined the direct object of the sentence, which influenced the meaning
Word choice, syntax, punctuation, and imagery shift affect the meaning of a sentence in that the development of the sentence provides context of the narrators background. If the sentence has a word choice of more elaborate vocabulary, the reader is inclined to think that the narrator is well-educated. The syntax of a sentence determines what the narrator thinks is important for the reader to know. For example, in the different translations provided, #4 puts more emphasis on the dreams than any of the others because the "agitated dreams" were placed in an appositive phrase. Punctuation also can determine how the reader pauses and exclaims when reading the sentence. Imagery gives more explanation so that the reader can know fully what the narrator is intending.
I think that they are all very important, and one aspect of creating a sentence is no more important than another. This shows that it is very hard to translate a text. Since they are all so important, the translator must take into account what the original author was intending when writing the text so that they can accurately display the correct meaning. The word choice, syntax, punctuation, and imagery determine how the reader will understand the text, thus the translator could potentially skew the entire meaning of the text. This exercise showed how little alterations completely transpose the whole idea of a sentence. Different translations can affect the tone of the character. For example, saying, "Mother died today" is a lot more detached than, "Today my mommy died."
Hey Marin, awesome blog. The conclusion of your blog really made me think, and more specifically, the claim you made that no single aspect of a sentence is more important than another. I was really struck by this. In some ways I agree. I do think that all parts of a sentence have a big impact on the sentence as whole in terms of tone and meaning, but I do think that some parts can cause bigger changes than others. For example, I think that word choice can change a sentence more than structure. In these four translations, the structure of the sentence all varied, in terms of the order of the clauses, but from every translation you still got the same basic idea that the dude woke up one morning in his bed turned into something. The word choice however, can lead to vastly different conclusions being drawn by the reader. In this case, one translation describes him as a bug, while the other as a vermin. This choice in words an lead to two completely different images being imagined in the reader's head, which can change the way they perceive the entire story.
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