Mona Baker 1/3/2015

Translators are a bridge between two culturesTranslator is in a privileged position to make explicit

the difference between the culturesTo expose injustices and to contribute to the diversity

in the world

• Translation is more taxing than writing itself (organisation and imagination)

Orthography Vs written words have no one to One relationship

• Meaning is carried by units smaller than words

Rebuild ‘’to build again’’…(morphemes)

Tennis player is one word in Turkish Tenisci

1. Meanings in words :

2. Problems in translation at the ‘’morpheme level’’

• Four types of meaning:

1. Propositional meaning:

Shirt vs socks (reference in use in the real world) if not followed –result wrong translation

2.Expressive meaning:

Cannot be called true or false/right or wrong

Don’t complain /Don’t Whigne

Famous English /Femme Fameuse (ill repute)

• Removing these words will not alter meaning but EFFECT.

3. Pre-supposed meanings:

Teeth brushed in English

Teeth polished in German

Teeth washed in Polish

4.Evoked meaning:

Dialect and register variation

Translator to make sure he knows the audience he is translating for.

(American vs British) (Mum/daughter/doctor/public)

• Non-equivalence:

• The words of a language reflect not so much of the reality of the world but the interest of the people.

Temperature words: Cool,Cold,hot,warm

divisions: baarid (‘cold/cool’), haar (‘hot: of the weather’), saakhin (‘hot: of objects’), and daafi’ (‘warm’). In contrast with English, Arabic .

• Cool and cold no difference in Arabic…

• Translators have to deal with semantic gaps

Non-equivalence at word level means that the target language has no direct equivalent for a word which occurs in the source text.

Problems arise due to factors as :

(a) Culture-specific concepts :privacy in English notoriously difficult to translate

Landslide in English (victory) over-whelming majority.

(b) The source-language word is semantically complex :

Brazillian word arruacao, ‘clearing the ground under coffee trees of rubbish and piling it in the middle of the row in order to aid in the recovery of beans dropped during harvesting’

(c) The source and target languages make different distinctions in meaning:

Indonesian makes a distinction between going out in the rain without the knowledge that it is raining (kehujanan) and going out in the rain with the knowledge that it is raining (hujan-hujanan). English does not make this difference.

• English has a variety of words ,many hyponyms under article for which it is difficult to find precise equivalents in other languages, for example feature, survey, report, critique,

…

Words related to politics and religion have more complications.

Some methods to overcome problems

• (a) Translation by a more general word

• (The rich and creamy KOLESTRAL-SUPER is easy to apply and has pleasant fragrance.)

• Target text (Arabic):

• Equivalence at word level 27

• Kolestral super is rich and concentrated in its make-up which gives a product that resembles cream, making it extremely easy to put on the hair.

• Example BSource text (Kolestral Super):

• Shampoo the hair with a mild WELLA-SHAMPOO and lightly towel dry. Target text 1 (Spanish):

• Lavar el cabello con un champu suave de WELLA y frotar ligeramente con una toalla.

• Wash hair with a mild WELLA shampoo and rub lightly with a towel.

• (b) Translation by a more neutral/less expressive word

Source text (China’ s Panda Reserves; see Appendix 3, no. 47): • Many of the species growing wild here are familiar to us as

plants cultivated in European gardens – species like this exotic lily.

• Equivalence at word level 29 • 30 In other words

Target text (back-translated from Chinese): • We are very familiar with many varieties of the wild life

here, they are the kind grown in European gardens –varieties like this strange unique lily flower.

(c) Translation by cultural substitution

Means replacing a cultural specific term with a target language item which does not have a target language propositional item but has thesame effect on the reader.

Example :

• Source text (The Patrick Collection – a leaflet produced by a privately owned museum of classic cars; see Appendix 4):

• The Patrick Collection has restaurant facilities to suit every taste – from the discerning gourmet, to the Cream Tea expert.

• . . . to satisfy all tastes: from those of the demanding gastronomist to those of the expert in pastry.

• Cream Tea (party in Britain where tea and biscuits are eaten) Italian has no such word but has pastry instead (a kind of food produced by the baker)

***(d)Translation by illustration

• This is a useful option if the word which lacks an equivalent in the target language refers to a physical entity which can be illustrated,

(e)Translation by omission :

No harm in omitting an extra/unnecessary word

The panda’s mountain home is rich in plant life and gave us many of the trees, shrubs and herbs most prized in European gardens.

The mountain settlements of the panda have rich varieties of plants. There are many kinds of trees, shrubs and herbal plants that are preciously regarded by European gardens.

• Read Mona Baker’s In Other Words : chapter 1.

• The theory of translation by W.Haas.

Topic and assignment :

Translate a paragraph from Urdu prose into English language or English prose into Urdu language. Discuss the method / methods you applied and the difficulties as a translator. Also comment on the discrepancies ,if any, in your work.(next class)

The theory of translation

• Difference in translation comes from a difference in degrees of meanings