Course 1

INTRODUCTION

1. What is translation?

2. What is a translator?

3. What is translation theory?

Peter Newmark – there are three main areas of translation:

a) science and technology;

b) social, economic and /or political topics and institutions;
c) literary and philosophical works.

Eugen Coşeriu, founder of the Tübingen School of Translation, signals the following mistakes
regarding the theory and practice of translation:

a) to tackle the problem of translation as belonging individually to each language;

b) to attempt at creating an ideal translation;
c) to take into consideration the profound similarity between intra-lingual translation and meaning
transfer from one language to another;
d) to accept an optimal abstract invariance as translation.

- Translators must preserve meaning, style and essential implications of the ST.

- “The concept of an ideal translation as a single, universally valid construct is a contradiction in

terms, the notion of a generic and abstract optimal version being no more acceptable in the practice
of translation as is that of an optimal “generic talk”. In this respect, translation is primarily and above
all analogous to speech, for in translation as in oral discourse, apply only the differentiating rules of
destination. For the same reason, the notion of the “best translation” of a given text simply does not
exist: there can be only the best translation of this text and that for such and such recipients, and such
and such destinations, in a given, such and such historical situation” (Coşeriu)
- An accurate translation:
a) grammatical adaptation
E.g.: Why are you laughing ? = De ce râzi?

b) adaptation of textual meaning

E.g.: He is hardly alone in his exuberance. =
*(1) Cu siguranţă că nu este unica persoană care debordează de bucurie (în legătură cu acest
lucru).
(2) Sigur nu este numai el bucuros de asta.

c) optimal equivalence: formal or functional

E.g.: doodle bugger = geolog însărcinat cu prospectarea zăcămintelor petrolifere
ratoon = lăstarul trestiei de zahăr după ce aceasta a fost tăiată;
ratter = câine care prinde şobolani
junior = student în anul trei

d) extralinguistic content
E.g.: Much lighter! = Mult mai light!

- Coşeriu: designation, signification and sense

Designation is the extralinguistic aspect, the extralinguistic factual state, the extralinguistic
fact respectively.
Signification is the content given each time by every language.
Sense is the specific content of a text, as long as this does not blend with signification and
designation.

- Cultural differences: customs, dialect

E.g.: “those vivid Arakanese longyis” = “acele stridente longyi arakanese” (George Orwell,
Burmese Days)
longyi = o bucată de pânză lungă de aproximativ doi metri pe care birmanezii o poartă în jurul
coapselor şi a picioarelor.
“a boy in a jibbah” = “un băiat îmbrăcat într-o jibbah” (V. S. Naipaul, In A Free State)
jibbah = o haină lungă fără guler sau un halat purtat de musulmani.
jade snow (Chinese)* = zăpadă albă

- The role of history in translation

E.g.: The Two Gentlemen of Verona = Cei doi tineri din Verona
- The role of the political context
E.g.: Good morning, teacher!’ = (1) ‘Bună ziua, tovarăşa profesoară!’
(2) ‘Bună ziua, doamna profesoară!’

- The role of technology

E.g.: iPhone, iPod, CD player, laptop, MP3 player, Bluetooth, internet, e-mail
moderating glass = (1) sticlă mată / opacă
pilot fuse = siguranţă indicatoare

- On making a translation one ought to pay attention to Alexander Fraser Tytler’s laws:

a) to transfer of the whole meaning;

b) to preserve the style and register;
c) to render the naturalness of the ST.
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Translate the following into the Romanian language:

“Centuries separated breakfast from lunch, and lunch from dinner, and though a man prayed
for hundreds of years that his mind might be taken from him, God would never hear. Rather the mind
was quickened and the revolving thoughts ground against each other as millstones grind when there
is no corn between; and yet the brain would not wear out and give him rest. It continued to think, at
length, with imagery and all manner of reminiscences. It recalled Maisie and past success, reckless
travels by land and sea, the glory of doing work and feeling that it was good, and suggested all that
might have happened had the eyes only been faithful to their duty.” (Rudyard Kipling, The Light that
Failed)