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InterCorp and Treq as tools facilitating the search for equivalents

Publication

Abstract

The inability to convey in the target language exactly what is expressed in the source language is often associated with ambiguity and the problem of precise understanding of the translated unit (Kaczmarska, 2019; Kaczmarska & Rosen, 2014a). Particularly troublesome in this context are verbs related to various mental or emotional states, which in themselves can be a source of ambiguity and misunderstandings (Kaczmarska, 2016, 2019).

These verbs are difficult to translate; it is often not clear how to translate them and the question is no less often asked what they actually mean. These units are generally ambiguous and when looking for equivalents, one encounters their entire chains, but it is not possible to find one specific that would fully reflect the meaning, style and content of the original (Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, 1984, 2013).

As a result, some content is lost in translation; the translation is poorer and, as a result, has a modified meaning. Dictionaries should be of help here, however, classic (paper) dictionaries, due to their size, cannot contain all meanings of ambiguous words with contexts and examples, which would be necessary in such cases.

Disambiguation tools can be helpful; for the Polish language - WoSeDon or Słowosecja. In the future, both tools could be used in the process of disambiguation of meanings during bilingual research (Kaczmarska, 2019).

Currently, this role can be fulfilled in part by parallel bodies; In the case of Czech-Polish research and translations, the InterCorp parallel corpus (Čermák & Rosen, 2012) and the database of contextual equivalents Treq based on it can be of assistance. With the use of these tools, this article analyzes the possibilities of disambiguating the meaning of the verb mrzet and finding its equivalent in Polish.