The ‘Art’ of ofTranslation. What is translation? Defining Translation: Process and/or product...
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Transcript of The ‘Art’ of ofTranslation. What is translation? Defining Translation: Process and/or product...
The ‘Art’ of
Translation
What is translation?
Defining Translation: • Process and/or product (interlinked and not linear
sequence: v. drafting and re-drafting, editing; no 'perfect'/'correct'/'definitive' translation).
• Movement between: languages, cultures, media.• Intralingual (rewording), interlingual (translation proper)
and intersemiotic translation (transmutation) (see Jakobson): in Language Teaching we tend to concentrate on interlingual.
However, it is not as simple as that, because there can be various difficulties in the process of translation, such as: idiomatic phrases: “in culo alla balena!”; cultural examples – where a word has slightly differing connotations to its equivalent in various languages e.g. “pizza” or “a cup of tea”; where one word has more than one meaning in another language e.g. “you” – “tu”, “voi” etc.
Relevant vocabulary• Source Text/Target Text (SL/TL)• Source Language/Target Language (SL/TL)• Source Culture/Target Culture • Fidelity (e.g. les belles infidèles): Literal (word-for-word) vs Free (sense-for-sense) • Equivalence • Skopos Theory: text typology and function• Transfer and Manipulation: translation as loss and gain - never neutral, culturally marked, ideologically charged... • Norm-regulated behaviour (Hermans; Levefere) • Foreignising vs domesticating translation (Schleiermacher, Venuti)
Things to consider as a translator
RegisterTone
PurposeContext
Audience
Source Language Bias vs Target Language Bias
The SL bias is Interlinear Translation, where the TT does not necessarily respect TL grammar, but has grammatical units corresponding to TL grammar.
“Chi non risica non rosica”
Who not risks not nibbles
The TL bias is Free Translation, where there is only a generalised correspondence between the textual units of the ST and the TT.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
Communicative TranslationCommunicative Translation is produced when the ST uses an SL expression standard/appropriate for that situation and the TT uses a TL expression standard/appropriate for that situation.
Senso vietato
Buon appetito
Prego
È nato con la camicia
No entry
Enjoy your meal
You’re welcome
He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth
The Bias ScaleSL bias
TL bias
Literal
Faithful
Balanced
Idiomatic
Free
“Le piace molto la novella di Boccaccio”
Interlinear
Literal
Faithful
Balanced
Idiomatic
Free
To her pleases much the story of Boccaccio
The story of Boccaccio pleases her greatly
She likes the story by Boccaccio very much
She really likes the Boccaccio story
She says the Boccaccio’s just her cup of tea
Boccaccio floats her boat
Intralingual translation - euphemism
Translation lossSometimes it is impossible to transpose the whole meaning into another language.As an example is the UK political scandal “plebgate”
Pleb = ??????
Cultural connotations of the Conservative Party
Cultural connotations of the word “pleb” & British class system
Contemporaneous political context
Popular perceptions of UK politicians
British Tabloid media
Idiomatic Phrases
To ring a bell
Like a bull in a china shop
Good luck
Make a mountain out of
a molehill
Escapee
Dire qualcosa
Come elefante in una cristalleria
In bocca al lupo (In culo alla balena!)
Fare di una mosca un elefante
Piede libero
How would you translate this?
Queen Victoria inquired as to why the plebs were up in arms.
Her butler replied , “Well, your majesty, they seem not to be taking kindly to the new bobbies on the beat”.
“Hmm”, she scoffed, “We are not amused!”
Can you think of any problems you personally might encounter
in translation?
What is your own
definition of translation?