Vertaalvariatie: Het gebruik van taalattituden bij het vertalen van non-standaard taalvariëteiten

Abstract

Methodologies concerning the translation of language varieties tend to be case-based. This BA thesis explores whether language attitudes could be a useful aid for translators in helping them select a suitable variety in the target language when confronted with a non-standard language variety in the source text. Language attitudes towards texts in Scottish English with translations thereof in four Dutch translations – Standard Dutch, The Hague lower class dialect, Town Frisian and Limburgish – were compared on dimensions of status, competence, integrity, dynamics, and beauty. Results show that Town Frisian is most like Scottish English and could therefore be regarded as a suitable translation variety for texts written in Scottish English. The determination of one variety as the most suitable translation variety supports the idea that language attitudes may be used to help translators find suitable translation varieties when confronted with non-standard varieties. The results are discussed with reference to dialectological sociolinguistics and the current translation studies’ attitude to dialects. Further research could expand on this explorative research by looking at language attitudes towards spoken versus written language and comparing varieties of different languages in neutral text.