Abstract:
The purposes of the present study are 1) to study the senses of the Thai verb /pay/ go and /maa/ come in every clausal position in an original Thai novel translated into the German language, 2) to classify German forms in the translated novel which are equivalent to the Thai verb /pay/ go and /maa/ come in the original Thai novel, and 3) to study equivalence in translating Thai verbs /pay/ go and /maa/ come into German forms. Examples in this study were drawn from a selected Thai novel /kmampi?phaksaa/ Judgment and its German translation, Das Urteil. It has been found that the verb Thai verb /pay/ go and /maa/come have various meanings, depending on their position in the sentences. That is, when occurring as a single verb in a simple clause, they indicate movement away from the speakers reference point and movement towards to speakers reference point, respectively. When preceding other verbs, they indicate the distance between changing events. When occurring in the position following other verbs, the verb /pay/ go indicates direction, perfective and imperfective aspects, and excessiveness, while the verb /maa/ come indicates direction and perfect /anterior. In addition, the translated German forms representing those concepts are expressed through different linguistic realizations such as a single verb, a verb followed by a prepositional phrase, an auxiliary verb followed by a verb in past participle form, or null form. Choices of German forms depend on the meanings of the verb /pay/ go and /maa/ come as well as on the translators point of view in interpreting the contexts. Moreover, the findings have revealed that in translating the verb /pay/ go and /maa/ come into German forms, meanings are gained and lost, i.e., the manner of motion and tense are gained while motion, deixis and the meaning pertaining to the speakers subjective viewpoint are lost in translation.