This article is based on the results of a questionnaire survey conducted in a group of students from the Institute of German Studies at the University of Wroclaw, during a class on written translation. The survey provided me with material for reflection on the essence of the meaning of a linguistic sign, particularly the importance and meaning of the metaphorical expressions occurring in a text, as well as on the need to interpret the meanings of these expressions, based both on the language expertise and on the extra-linguistic knowledge, supported by context-related information. Experience shows that the primary meanings of words constitute just the base on which a reader or, in this case, a translator, builds their precise (or perceived) meanings, aided by all sorts of additional tips. The subject of translation, as well as of the questionnaire, whose questions referred both to the source text and to the translation itself, was a text by German writer Peter Maiwald, entitled Die Glücklichen, being a part of his Deutsche Miniaturen series. The survey results show, inter alia, that the students, although capable of summarizing, in general, the content of the Maiwald’s miniature, had problems with the interpretation of the scenarios to which Maiwald was referring in his text, as well as with the relevant knowledge of culture, history and the world.
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