Lexical problems in rendering the story “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens into uzbek

Lexicology has always been the centred point of translation, at the same time it is a dilemma for translators. Translation process of a Charles Dickens’s novel is so intriguing that one could get deep into the lines and live with them by the help of meaningful words. Its magic is that there is no hacknaying in the real context of the story. The combination of words make nearly no challenges for translators, this means the lexical branch of the novel can only be analysed how it is rendered into Uzbek from English.

There is no doubt that while translating the story translators are likely to encounter myriad translating problems relating to lexemes, even the story is planned for young readers. Hence, there is no exception for the story “Christmas Carol”. I have also experienced some challenges during the rendering process from English into Uzbek and I am going to outline them below by demonstrating with some examples.

Initially, I am going to state out the title of the story, which is “A Christmas Carol”. If we translate the title simultaneously, the title will be “Yangi yil qo’shig’i” into Uzbek as in English the word “carol” means the song which is sung during the period of Christmas or New year.

As G.Salomov mentioned in his work “The theory of translation” how to make the work much more intriguing and attractive translators have right to alter the title completely keeping the general meaning of the story. “I have also changed one of my work’s title which is ‘When all come to an end’ into Uzbek as ‘Mangu iztirob’ coming from the general meaning of the novel.

Hence, I decided to translate the title as ‘Yangi yil sarguzashtlari’ as the story is not about any song but the main plot involves plenty of adventures pertaining to the main character Ebenezer Scrooge.

Antroponymic words in the story. In the process of translation the translator of any literary work is evident to encounter some different personal names which create some problematic issues for them. Because their translation forms differ from each other according to their special features, sometimes they are altered phonetically, but sometimes only one letter may be omitted, controversially in some cases translators find it reasonable not to change the personal names in order to keep the originality of this name as well as not to destroy the national concept arising from the names. While translating majority of proper names changed its original writing form according to their pronunciation rules such as follows:

— ‘I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come?’ said
Scrooge.

— They could scarcely be supposed to have any bearing on the death of Jacob, his old partner, for that was Past, and this Ghost’s province was the Future.

— ‘What odds then! What odds, Mrs. Dilber?’ said the woman.

— That’s your account,” said Joe.

— No. There is hope yet, Caroline.“

— They entered poor Bob Cratchit’shouse; the dwelling he had visited before;and found the mother andthe children seated round the fire.

— The colour? Ah, poor Tiny Tim!

— “Past it rather,” Peter answered, shutting up his book.

— “Sunday! You went to-day then, Robert?” said his wife.[2.PP65-82]

· Ebenezer Scrooge — Ebenezar Skruj

· Jacob Marley — Yakob Marli

· Joe — Joy

· Caroline — Kerolayn

· Bob Cratchit — Bob Kretchit

· Peter — Piter

However, I decided to keep the name “Mrs Dilber” unchanged as “Dilber xonim” to preserve the national concept to avoid arising imagination of Uzbek name. Because the name “Dilbar” exists in Uzbek nation and it creates some misunderstandings for readers.

List of words defining one of the main characters Ghost.

The story is based on the adventures between Scrooge and Three Christmas Spirits. So while translating many different forms describing Spirit come in the story frequently such as:

— The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently, approached.

— Sekingina shamdek miltillab sharpa paydo bo’ldi.

— “I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come?” said
Scrooge.

— Men kelgusi Yangi yillar ruhini uchratib turibmanmi?- so’radi Skruj.

— The upper portion of the garment was contracted for an instant in its
folds, as if the Spirit had inclined its head.

— U boshini qimirlatganida vahimali bahaybat kiyimlari biroz qisqarib oddiylashgandek bo’ldi.

— Ghost of the Future!" he exclaimed, "I fear you more than any Spectre
I have seen.

— Kelajak elchisi, -dedi u. — Men shu paytgacha uchratgan ruhlar ichida sen meni ko’proq cho’chityapsan.[2.PP65-82]

With the aim of inhibiting hackneyed words I tried to paraphrase them differently.

List of words that is untranslatable and has no alternative translation.

Every work encompass some peculiar characteristics pertaining to some particular nation or the period of that time. In this story, “Christmas Carol” readers meet some words, which are incomprehensible or not exist in Uzbek language. I will depict a few of them as an example below:

— “Putting it on him to be buried in, to be sure,” replied the woman with
a laugh. "Somebody was fool enough to do it, but I took it off again. If
calico an’t good enough for such a purpose, it isn’t good enough for
anything. It’s quite as becoming to the body. He can’t look uglier than
the did in that one.“[2.P72]

— Uni bu ko’ylakda ko’mishlarini aytyapmanda, albatta, — kulib javob qaytardi ayol. — Bunday qiladigan odam g’irt ahmoq bo’lar edi. Yaxshiyamki, uni saqlab qoldim. Kafanlik uchun kolinkor ( qalin oq surp)dan yaxshisi yo’q. U uning tanasi uchun ayni muddao. Bunday libosda xunuk ko’rinib qolmaydi.

— Ha, ha!” laughed the same woman, when old Joe, producing a flannel
bag with money in it, told out their several gains upon the ground.[32.P72]

— Ha, ha, ha! — qah-qah otib kuldi ayol qariya Joy o’zlarining erishgan foydalari haqida gapirib, ichi to’la pul solingan paxta matoli sumkani yerga qo’yar ekan.

— The phantom spread its dark robe before him for a moment, like a
wing; and withdrawing it, revealed a room by daylight, where a
mother and her children were.[2.P80]

— Sharpa tim qora, uzun ridosini (libos) xuddi qanotdek bir necha daqiqaga yoyib turdida, so’ng yig’ishtirgan edi, xonada kunduzgi yorug’lik misoli nur taralib ketdi va u yerda bir ayol bolalari bilan turgani ko’rindi.

— Holding up his hands in one last prayer to have his fate reversed, he
saw an alteration in the Phantom’s hood and dress. It shrunk,
collapsed, and dwindled down into a bedpost.[2.P82]

— Qismatini o’zgartirish ilinjida so’ngi o’tinch ila uning qo’llaridan tutganda, Skruj Ruhning yopinchig’ida allaqanday o’zgarishga guvoh bo’ldi. U kichrayib o’zgarib krovat ustuniga aylanib qoldi.

· Calico — kolinkor (qalin surp matosi)

· Flannel — flanel (paxta va yungdan to’qilgan nozik mato)

· Robe — mantiya, rido (hayvon terisidan qilingan mo’ynali uzun yopinchiq)

· Hood — kopyushon (boshni o’rab turadigan yopinchiq).

In conclusion, every translator should pay attention to enlarging lexical richness, vocabulary of his own language by reading the literary works of writers in this target language so as to be able to find and present the most suitable variations of the words to every context. These are my basic summaries after I have experienced the process of translation of the work “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens from English into Uzbek. On top of this, it is really fundamental point to prevent repetition of lexemes in order to keep and increase the value of the literary work in the second language also.

Used literature

1. Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Cambridge University Press, 2008
2. Charles Dickens. Christmas Carol. London, Chapman and Hall, 186, Strand, originallly published in 1843.
3. Oxford University. Oxford Dictionary of Current English. — USA: Oxford
4. University press, 2006.