Dialogue in and between Different Cultures - International ...

4. Slang
References Translating Colloquial Language/Speech: The case of slang and dialect 67
Slang is a special vocabulary, a code of communication, used by various groups
of people. According to Collins Cobuild English Dictionary (CCED) slang is an
area of vocabulary which “consists of words, expressions and meanings that are
informal and are used by people who know each other very well, or who have the
same interests” (1998:1564).
Usually, slang words and expressions serve to distinguish adolescent users
from both younger children and adults. Therefore, slang is linguistically related to
young people, since “it generally sounds odd in the mouth of an older person”
(Holmes 1997:183).
Another characteristic of slang is that it is ephemeral, since it is “sensitive to
time and local culture” (Newmark 1988:95). Slang is very informal and changes
fast. Every generation has its own slang expressions, so the words we thought as
slang before, may be out of fashion for the next generation. Characteristically,
Newmark points out that “slang is so closely related to the present, linguistically
rather than culturally, that they [slang words] sound bizarre when used in
translations of texts of a previous period” (1993:74).
It is interesting that a slang word or expression can “tell the reader a lot about
the user, the conditions under which he uses them and the period” (ibid 1981:95).
Sometimes slang expressions are continuous and become acceptable for many
generations. In this case, they may be included in dictionaries and are no longer
considered as slang terms.
Slang words and expressions create a vivid, humoristic and informal atomsphere
in most texts (Kakousis 2001).
In the translation commentary Kakousis (2001) gave for her MA thesis on her
translation of “Crimes of the Heart” from English into Greek she noted that she
rendered the meaning of slang words and expressions by
− slang,
− tracing and using established Greek fixed expressions,
− using idiomatic language,
− adding elements for a natural effect,
− and in some cases with normal speech.
For the purposes of a translation commentary on various translations of literature
for children and teenagers from English into Greek some other strategies when
translating slang are detected (Xeni 2000, Xeni 2006iv):
− find a fully adequate equivalent/corresponding expression to maintain the
aims and impact of the original, i.e. the “exotic of other cultures and times”
(Bravo-Villasante 1978:49) as well as humor and the language of the
particular social group of teenagers.