Divergent Polysemy: The Case of Slovene namreč vs. English namely

Abstract

Divergent polysemy is a formidable translation problem; especially in L1-L2 translation. In the paper the case of the Slovene-English pair of items namreč and namely was used to illustrate the most frequent polysemy-triggered translation errors and their corrections. The hypothesis of full transferability of semantic structures from L1 into L2 was identified as one of the sources of errors. Since dictionaries turned out to be of limited use; electronic corpora were consulted to shed more light on the matter; they revealed huge differences in patterns of use between the two terms; which in turn determined the proposed plan of action. Bilingual lexicography; EFL teaching and translator education are key factors in improving the current situation.