Στα σαββατιάτικα μεζεδάκια του ο Σαραντάκος συνέλαβε ένα ενδιαφέρον λάθος που έκανε ο Έρικ Σμιτ, διευθύνων σύμβουλος της Google, στην ομιλία που έδωσε στις 10/10/2013 στο Μέγαρο Μουσικής (για την ακρίβεια, σε απάντηση που έδωσε στον Λουκά Τσούκαλη). Η μετάφραση λέει:
«Η σημασία των νέων θέσεων εργασίας δεν μπορεί να υποτιμηθεί».
Δεν πρόκειται (ακριβώς) για μεταφραστικό λάθος, αλλά για λάθος των αγγλόφωνων. Το κλισέ είναι cannot be overestimated, cannot be overrated. Δηλαδή, «δεν μπορεί να υπερτονιστεί». Ό,τι και να πεις, λίγο θα είναι.
Γιά να δούμε όμως τι λένε για το λάθος των αγγλόφωνων:
There are opposing schools of thought for why “cannot be underestimated” almost always gets used in this topsy-turvy fashion. Mark Liberman, a linguist at the University of Pennsylvania who writes for the group blog Language Log (to which I also contribute), chalks up the problem to the inability of our “poor monkey brains” to handle multiple negatives properly. Similar “overnegation” can be found in such phrases as “I miss not having you around” (meaning “I miss having you around”) and “I never fail to miss an opportunity” (meaning “I never miss an opportunity”). Liberman sees such examples as evidence of an overall “temptation of overnegation” in English usage.
But a different rationale for “cannot be underestimated” revolves around the force of the word cannot. If cannot is understood in statements like Cuomo’s and Ambinder’s as something more like “must not” or “should not,” then we can salvage the phrase from illogicality. Instead of thinking of cannot as indicating the impossibility of an action, we can instead treat it as pointing to our moral obligation not to do something — namely, underestimating something that we shouldn’t underestimate. Ambinder’s comment on Rand Paul drives home this sense of obligation with its emphatic repetition, “That cannot — CANNOT — be underestimated.”
Διαβάστε ολόκληρο το κείμενο στην NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/magazine/23OnLanguage-t.html?_r=0
Ομοίως:
• overestimate and underestimate. There is frequent confusion between things that cannot and should not be over/underestimated, though the meanings are opposite.
o Standard: The damage caused by pollution cannot be overestimated (i.e. it is so enormous that no estimate, however high, is excessive)
o Standard: The damage caused by pollution should not be overestimated (i.e. while significant, it would be wrong to exaggerate it)
o Standard: The damage caused by pollution should not be underestimated (i.e. it is wrong to regard it as minor)
o Non-standard: The damage caused by pollution cannot be underestimated (literal meaning: it is so minimal that no estimate is too small. Intended meaning: as in the first or third example)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_commonly_misused_English_words#O
Το ερώτημα είναι: Κρατάμε το λάθος μεταφράζοντας κατά λέξη ή αποδίδουμε σύμφωνα με αυτό που ξέρουμε ότι θέλει να πει ο ομιλητής;
(Την άποψή μου την έβαλα στον τίτλο.)
«Η σημασία των νέων θέσεων εργασίας δεν μπορεί να υποτιμηθεί».
Δεν πρόκειται (ακριβώς) για μεταφραστικό λάθος, αλλά για λάθος των αγγλόφωνων. Το κλισέ είναι cannot be overestimated, cannot be overrated. Δηλαδή, «δεν μπορεί να υπερτονιστεί». Ό,τι και να πεις, λίγο θα είναι.
Γιά να δούμε όμως τι λένε για το λάθος των αγγλόφωνων:
There are opposing schools of thought for why “cannot be underestimated” almost always gets used in this topsy-turvy fashion. Mark Liberman, a linguist at the University of Pennsylvania who writes for the group blog Language Log (to which I also contribute), chalks up the problem to the inability of our “poor monkey brains” to handle multiple negatives properly. Similar “overnegation” can be found in such phrases as “I miss not having you around” (meaning “I miss having you around”) and “I never fail to miss an opportunity” (meaning “I never miss an opportunity”). Liberman sees such examples as evidence of an overall “temptation of overnegation” in English usage.
But a different rationale for “cannot be underestimated” revolves around the force of the word cannot. If cannot is understood in statements like Cuomo’s and Ambinder’s as something more like “must not” or “should not,” then we can salvage the phrase from illogicality. Instead of thinking of cannot as indicating the impossibility of an action, we can instead treat it as pointing to our moral obligation not to do something — namely, underestimating something that we shouldn’t underestimate. Ambinder’s comment on Rand Paul drives home this sense of obligation with its emphatic repetition, “That cannot — CANNOT — be underestimated.”
Διαβάστε ολόκληρο το κείμενο στην NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/magazine/23OnLanguage-t.html?_r=0
Ομοίως:
• overestimate and underestimate. There is frequent confusion between things that cannot and should not be over/underestimated, though the meanings are opposite.
o Standard: The damage caused by pollution cannot be overestimated (i.e. it is so enormous that no estimate, however high, is excessive)
o Standard: The damage caused by pollution should not be overestimated (i.e. while significant, it would be wrong to exaggerate it)
o Standard: The damage caused by pollution should not be underestimated (i.e. it is wrong to regard it as minor)
o Non-standard: The damage caused by pollution cannot be underestimated (literal meaning: it is so minimal that no estimate is too small. Intended meaning: as in the first or third example)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_commonly_misused_English_words#O
Το ερώτημα είναι: Κρατάμε το λάθος μεταφράζοντας κατά λέξη ή αποδίδουμε σύμφωνα με αυτό που ξέρουμε ότι θέλει να πει ο ομιλητής;
(Την άποψή μου την έβαλα στον τίτλο.)
