Analysis of a text regarding the model 
for Translation Quality Assessment of Juliane House

by

 Carmen Trappenberg - Julia Scheike

Contents

I. Introduction

II. Field

III. Tenor

IV. Mode

V. Genre

VI. Statement of function

VII. Comparison ST - TT

VIII. Statement of quality

I. Introduction

In the following we will examine the quality of the German translation of Bram Stoker′s Dracula by the analysis-categories of Juliane House.

The texts used are:

Source text, in the following referred to as ST:
Bram STOKER, Dracula, ed. Michael Hulse (Köln, 1995)

Target text, in the following referred to as TT:
Bram STOKER, Dracula, 3rd ed. (Wien, 1993)

Juliane HOUSE, A model for translation quality assessment (Tübingen, 1981)
Juliane HOUSE, A model for translation quality assessment. A model revisited (Tübingen, 1997)

The novel Dracula was published in London for the first time in 1897 and was written between .
The translation used here is based on the German translation by Stasi Kull from 1967.

II. Field:

Lexical Means:

For there are several sorts of text, e.g. journal entries, telegrams, newspaper articles, a log and letters, it is not possible to give a definite answer to the question of the lexical means.
The language can be understood easily, and although the text was written one hundred years ago, the language can not be classified as such.

In the context with Jonathan Harker′s journey through Europe to Transylvania there is a use of foreign, esp. German (p. 9: "paprika hendl"; p. 12: "The Herr Englishman"; p. 15: "Mittel Land"; p. 19: "′Denn die Todten reiten schnell′"; p. 20: "mein Herr") or Slavic words (p. 10: "mamaliga", "impletata"; p. 14 "′ordog′, ... ′pokol′, ... stregoica′, ... vrolok′, ... ′vlkoslak′"; p. 15: "′gotza′", p. 16: "′Isten szek!′"). Abraham Van Helsing speaks also sometimes German, esp. when he is emotionally excited, e.g. p. 179: "Mein Gott!"; p. 210: "Mein Gott! Mein Gott!".

There is also sometimes a use of professional terminology regarding e.g. the medical and psychiatric field (p. 85: "Burdon-Sanderson′s physiology or Ferrier′s brain-knowledge, p. 117: "..., chloral, ... - C2HCl3OH2O"; pp. 304-305: "... a depressed fracture of the scull, extending right up through the motor area."; "... best spot for trephining ... remove the blood clot; ... that the haemorrhage", etc.).
The main characters that are set in the upper middle-class or aristocracy speak or rather write in unmarked standard British English, except for Quincey Morris who sometimes speaks American slang (e.g. p. 70: "... that Mr. Morris doesn′t always speak slang - ... - but he found out that it amused me to hear him talk American slang, ..."; p. 253: "′blowing my trumpet,′ as Mr. Morris expressed it."). The social class difference between them and some minor characters coming from the working-class is shown in marked dialect (e.g.: p. 81: "′That won′t harm ye, my pretty; an′ it may make poor Geordie gladsome to have so trim a lass sittin′ on his lap.′"; p. 289: ′′′But ye′d better be up arter ′im soon in the mornin′, or maybe ye won′t ketch ′im; for Sam gets off main early, never mind the booze the night afore.′").
Bram Stoker characterizes Van Helsing as a foreigner by the use of incorrect grammar, concerning his spoken and written language. Examples: p. 129: "... please it so arrange ...", "... he wants my aids ...", ".... stay longer if it must..."; p. 135: "′Better he not know as yet;...′"; "′See you now, friend John?′".

Syntactic Means:

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