Translator’s Notes or Some Remarks on the Polish Edition of Gaspard de Tende’s Relation historique de la Pologne

Abstract

In this short paper I present some of the problems in translating the 17th-century historical sources such as Relation historique de la Pologne written by Gaspard de Tende. The first question that I discuss refers to the archaic language of the original text: whether it is necessary to keep it in the Polish version. In the second point I consider what kind of specific competences are demanded in translating the 17th-century documents. Presenting some examples I try to show that early modern French is very similar to contemporary one. In consequence, someone who is experienced in translating only 20th-century texts can also successfully translate de Tende’s book. Next, I emphasize that generally his style is very clear and transparent, but some phrases are complex. In such cases a translator has to find a golden mean between fidelity to the original text and its correctness in the Polish version. Finally, I indicate some more specific problems, e.g. how to translate the ‘Moscovites’ (“Rosjanie”? “Moskowici”? “Moskale”?) or who was named by de Tende “Ulric Zolner”.