Okno na świat, okno na przekład

Abstract

A Window on the World, a Window to Translation

The core of the paper is an analysis of Olga Tokarczuk’s column “Okno” (“The window”), originally commissioned by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, first published in a German translation, and subsequently rendered into English and French. Carried out within the framework of cognitive linguistics, the analysis focuses upon the role of verbs of perception in the original (Polish) text and its three translations (English, German and French). In agreement with linguists of cognitive persuasion, it is claimed that the meaning of a text resides both in the semantic content of words and in particular grammatical structures, selected and arranged in the process of construal. It is argued that the message of “Okno” is rendered through a particular sequencing of a series of verbs of perception, which taken together constitute an extended metaphor based upon the fundamental conceptual metaphor TO KNOW IS TO SEE. Therefore, an adequate translation of the text would require recognition of the structural axis and finding in the target language(s) optimum counterparts of the original verbs. As the analysis of the three translations demonstrates, this goal may be difficult to achieve for either subjective or systemic reasons.