“False friends of the translator” and archaisms in Shakespeare’s sonnets: methodology for dealing with vocabulary difficulties

Abstract

This article examines methods for addressing two types of lexical difficulties encountered in studying William Shakespeare’s sonnets for foreign-language audiences: “translator’s false friends” and Early Modern English archaisms. The linguistic nature of these phenomena is analyzed, a working glossary of units that regularly cause difficulties for students is proposed, and pedagogical strategies for transforming linguistic complexity into a resource for analytical learning are described. Particular attention is paid to how lexical commentary relates to the interpretation of the sonnet’s form and imagery. Using Sonnet 27 as an example, it is demonstrated that working with antithesis and lexical ambiguity facilitates the transition from translation to interpretation. Shakespearean vocabulary becomes a true pedagogical resource when work with it is aimed not only at decoding meanings but also at developing evidential reading and critical thinking.