Compare the two translations on the basis of the following points: (i)the tense of narration (past and present tense) (ii)short, incomplete sentences (iii)sentence length Which of these translations do you like? Give reasons for your choice.

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Chapter 5

NCERT

Class 9

English

Solutions

Compare the two translations on the basis of the following points: (i)the tense of narration (past and present tense) (ii)short, incomplete sentences (iii)sentence length Which of these translations do you like? Give reasons for your choice.

Question:

Translation A	Translation B
When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along with an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini’s The Thieving Magpie, which has to be the perfect music for cooking pasta.	I’m in the kitchen cooking spaghetti when the woman calls. Another moment until the spaghetti is done; there I am, whistling the prelude to Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra along with the FM radio: Perfect spaghetti;cooking music!
I wanted to ignore the phone, not only because the spaghetti was nearly done, but because Claudio Abbado was banging the-London Symphony to its musical climax.	I hear the telephone ring but tell myself, ignore it. Let the spaghetti finish cooking. It’s almost done, and besides, Claudio Abbado and the London Symphony Orchestra are coming to a crescendo.

Compare the two translations on the basis of the following points: (i)the tense of narration (past and present tense) (ii)short, incomplete sentences (iii)sentence length

Answer:

(i)Translation A is in the past t ense while translation B is in the present tense. (ii) Translation A has complete sentences while translation B has short, incomplete sentences. (iii) Translation A has long sentences while translation B has short sentences. I prefer translation B because it is more direct and uses powerful language with a lot of imagery. It uses more personal language which is the way it should be in stories and novels.

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