Translation Theory

Interpreting is oral translation
Translation 1. as a process
is a transformation of text 1 into text 2
2. as a result
is text 2

Common language
1. Source language
2. Source text
3. Target language
4. Target text

Common language
Translation is done
Source language→Target language
Source text→Target text

Common language
1. Source language is the language from which the translation is done
2. Source text is the text translated
3. Target language is the language into which the translation is done
4. Target text is the text as a result of the translation

PROFESSIONALISM
Translators aim to produce a text that is as faithful to the original as circumstances require or permit.
Translators aim to to be “invisible people”- transferring content without drawing attention to the considerable artistic and technical skills involved in the process.

PROFESSIONALISM
Some countries view translations as a clerk task and pay their translators accordingly.
Others (such as Japanese) regard it as a major intellectual discipline

Translators not only need to know their source language well.
They must also have a thorough understanding of the
field of knowledge covered by the source language,
social,
cultural or
emotional connotations that need to be specified in the target language.

The translation aims at
semantic equivalence
btw source & target language. Exact equivalence is impossible.

No perfect parallel
No translator could provide a translation that was a perfect parallel to the source text, in such aspects as
rhythm,
sound symbolism,
puns, and
cultural allusions .

LEVELS OF TRANSLATIONS
WORD-FOR-WORD
LITERAL TRANSLATION
FREE TRANSLATION

WORD-FOR-WORD
Each word in the source language is translated by a word (or morpheme) in the Target language.
The result often makes no sense, especially when idiomatic constructions are used:
It’s raining cats and dogs -
She is a sweet tooth

LITERAL TRANSLATION
The linguistic structure of the source text is followed, but is normalized according to the rules of the target language:
It’s raining cats and dogs
Идет дождь кошками и собаками.

FREE TRANSLATION
The linguistic structure of the source language is ignored, and an equivalent is found based on the meaning if conveys
It’s raining cats and dogs.

WAYS TO TEST
THE QUALITY OF A TRANSLATION
BACK TRANSLATION
KNOWLEADGE TESTING
PERFORMANCE TESTING

BACK TRANSLATION
one translates a text form language A into language B;
a different translator then turns the B text back into A and
the resulting A text is compared with the original A text.
If the texts are virtually identical, it is a strong evidence that the original translation was of high quality
(through not incontrovertible evidence, because the second translator might have improved upon the work of the first in the reverse process)

KNOWLEADGE TESTING
speakers of language B are tested about the content of the translation (e.g. a questionnaire)
the source questions are put to speakers of A.
If the results correspond, the translation is efficient.

PERFORMANCE TESTING
speakers of language B are asked to carry out actions based on the text (e.g. in a repair manual)
speakers of language A are asked to carry out actions based on the text
the results are compared to determine translation efficiency.
This is a very time consuming process, however requires expert supervision if clear results are to the obtained.

There is always some
loss of information.
WHY?
What do we translate?
What is language?

C.K. Ogden, Ivor A. Richards
MIND
WORLD LANGUAGE

concept referent sign

C.K. Ogden, Ivor A. Richards’ Triangle
a sign is a language unit (Tower, -tion)
a concept is a mental unit
a referent is an object of real and unreal world

NO direct link
According to common scientific opinion there may never be a direct link between the sign, the object and the referent.

concept referent sign

Ambiguity
the property of language units to bear several different meanings.

Какие женщины на нас
бросают взоры.

A bare conductor ran in the car.
bare голый
сonductor кондуктор
ran бегал
сar машина