Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A Textbook of Translation
Chapter 1 Introduction
Translation into our language of habitual use is the only one that can be done naturally, accurately and with maximum effectiveness. There are three main areas of translation: a) science & technology b) social, economic and or political topics and institutions c) literary & philosophical wor!s "riting means having a sense of order and pertinence # learning to construct a specific $ gezielt, purposeful) beginning, body and conclusion for your sub%ect: a beginning that defines and sets the sub%ect out& a body that gives and illustrates pros and cons of an argument& a conclusion that states your own verdict # and all without irrelevance. The dynamics of translation $the different directions towards which it can be pulled):
Translation Often, though not by any means always, it is rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text.
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The average text for translation tends to be for an educated, middle,class readership in an informal, not collo)uial style. STYLISTIC SCALE $1artin 2oos & 3trevens) Officialese *The consumption of any nutriments whatsoever is categorically prohibited in this establishment* Official Formal eutral Informal !ollo"uial #lang Taboo *The consumption of nutriments is prohibited* *4ou are re)uested not to consume food in this establishment* *-ating is not allowed here* *5lease don*t eat here* *4ou can*t feed your face here* *6ay off the nosh* *6ay off the fuc!ing nosh*
7ther points to consider when deciding on a translation method: 8ttitude of the writer. 3etting of the text. 9uality of the writing. 8uthority of the text. Connotations and denotations $see below). 8 final reading of the cultural aspects of the 36 text, underlining neologisms, metaphors, cultural words and institutional names peculiar to the 36 or thirds language, proper names, technical terms and *untranslatable words* $words that have no ready one,to,one e)uivalent in the T6, they tend to be )ualities or actions # descriptive verbs or mental words). "e should read every seemingly problematic item in context, then in isolation, as if it were an encyclopaedia entry, and finally in context again. CONNOTATIONS & DENOTATIONS 8ll texts have an underlife. :rom a translators point of view, the only theoretical distinction between a literary and a non,literary text is whether its denotations precede its connotations, or viceversa.
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;ac! to naturalness. +aturalness is both grammatical and lexical. 8pparently, this level binds translation theory to translating theory, and translating theory to practice. <n other words: the theory of translating is based, via the level of naturalness, on a theory of translation.
Translation The occu%ation in which you ha&e to be thin'ing of se&eral things at the same time T"E TE#T!AL LE$EL 4ou intuitively and automatically ma!e certain *conversions* = literal translation. This is the level of the translationese you want to eliminate, but also of paraphrase corrective and synonym paring,down. T"E REFERENTIAL LE$EL 4ou have to ma!e up your mind, summarily and continuously, what a text is about, what it is in aid of and what the writer*s peculiar slant on it is. 4ou have to gain perspective, to stand bac! from the language and have an image of the reality behind the text, a reality for which you, and not the author, are responsible and liable. (ou build u% the referential %icture in your mind when you transform the #) into the T), and, being a %rofessional, you are res%onsible for the truth of this %icture. T"E CO"ESI$E LE$EL <t follows both the structure $following the train of thought through connective words) and the moods $a dialectical factor moving between positive and negative, emotive and neutral) of the text. T"E LE$EL OF NAT!RALNESS :or the vast ma%ority of texts, you have to ensure: a) that your translation ma!es sense& and b) that it reads naturally, that it is written in ordinary language $the common grammar, idioms and words that meet that !ind of situation). >owever, a translation of serious innovative writing may not sound natural, may not be natural to you, though if it is good it is li!ely to become more so with repeated readings.There is no universal naturalness. 4ou have to pay special attention to: 1) "ord order ') +ot ma!ing common structures unnatural by silly one,to,one translation /) Cognate words 0) 8ppropriateness of gerunds, infinitives, verb,nouns ?) "ord & idiom usage $old,fashioned or elevated usage because dictionaries don*t necessarily tell you that) @) (se of articles, progressive tenses, noun,compounding, collocations, currency of idioms and metaphores, aspectual features of verbs, infinitives.
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