EQUIVALENCE IN TRANSLATION. FOLLOW UP.

Lecture 8. 1/2.11.2018

 HOME ASSIGNMENT – two videos/seven sentences

1. A rolling stone gathers no moss.

2. The day drank into the night.

3. The horse raced past the barn fell.

4. I never said she stole my money.

5. “I see,” said the blind man as he picked up the hammer and saw.

6. I chopped a tree down, and then I chopped it up.

7. "What is she doing here? Someone call face control!"

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INTRODUCTION

Because of differences between languages and cultures in terms of information given or implicit,
lexical units and linguistic structures, interpreting and translation practitioners inevitably have to
make choices which imply some informational differences between source-language statement
and target-language statement. This leads to the well-known dilemma of content fidelity versus
linguistic/cultural acceptability.
Fidelity may be the most fundamental and is probably the most widely discussed component of
Translation Studies. It is linked to the concept of equivalence and to theories about equivalence;
it is virtually unavoidable in research measuring shifts between Source Texts and Target Texts,
errors and omissions;
As a product, translation continues to be studied, criticized, and even judged according to the
same traditional criteria - “accuracy,” “adequacy,” “correctness,” “correspondence,” or
“fidelity”.
Nowadays, however, quite often, translators sacrifice fidelity in favour of a stylistic equivalence.
Certain times, fidelity means adding some information for the benefit of the TT audience.
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From the cultural point of view, the equivalence was divided into four types.
The goal of any cross-cultural translation process is to achieve semantic, content, technical or
conceptual equivalence.
SE requires that the meaning of each item in the ST is similar in the language of TT.
CE refers to whether the content is relevant to the target cultural group or population (is
known to the members of these cultural groups).
TE refers to the requirement that the original and translated versions must be comparable
from the point of view of structure or layout.

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 CE is based on identical cultural concepts, on identical definitions of a construct and on
similarity in the way it is understood in particular national contexts.
Additionally, Mona Baker has stated that the equivalence could be distinguished at the various
levels – word level, above word level, grammatical, textual (word order, cohesion), pragmatic
(how texts are used in communicative situations that involves variables such as writers, readers,
and cultural context) levels.

There is not always a one-to-one correspondence between orthographic words and elements of
meaning within or across language:

newsletter – buletin informativ – вестник

tennis player – jucător de tenis – теннисист
But, what happens when words start combining with other words to form stretches of language?
Like for instance, in the case of lexical patterning: collocations and idioms (fixed expressions).

Considering the meaning of collocations and idioms rather than replacing single words with their
dictionary equivalents is crucial for translation.
Differences in patterns (due to idioms and collocations) can create problems in TR and produce
Commented [U1]:
Collocation – combination of words formed when two or more
words are often used together and form fix relationships – heavy
rain, high temperature
Idiom – a fixed expression with figurative meaning that may have a
similar counterpart in the target language, but its context of use may
be different – to break the ice, live and learn

clumsy sentences.

once in a blue moon – din joi în paște

once in a blue moon - раз в сто лет

Other permanent equivalents, though identical in their figurative meaning, are based on different
images, that is, they have different literal meaning. Like in the following examples:
to get up on the wrong side of the bed - a se scula cu fața la cearșaf - встать с постели не с
той ноги
An English idiom may have several Romanian and Russian equivalents among which the
translator has to make his choice in each particular case.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do

Când ești în haita lupilor, trebuie să urli ca lupii / Când treci prin fața orbilor, închide și tu un
ochi

When in Rome, do as the Romans do

В чужой монастырь со своим уставом не ходят /В каждой избушке свои погремушки

In specific situations, the information which is not present in the SLT may be added to the TLT.
Additional information may be put in the text (in brackets) or out of the text (using a footnote).
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Such additional information is regarded as an extra explanation of culture-specific concepts and
is obligatory specification for comprehension purposes.
The policeman waved me on – Polițistul mi-a făcut semn că pot pleca

Fuel tax protests – протесты, связанные с повышением налога на топливо

SOLUTIONS
If the meaning conveyed by a particular item or expression is not vital enough to the
development of the text, translators can and often do simply omit translating the word or
expression in question.
There are cases where omission is required to avoid redundancy and awkwardness and this
strategy is particularly applied if the SL tends to be a redundant language.
The interpreter might omit, without noticing, because they did not have enough processing
capacity for the Listening and Analysis Effort when the speech was uttered.
The interpreter can omit because it disappears from the short-term memory.
The interpreter/translator decides deliberately not to render the whole message in the TT when
this information has little value or there might be a risk of high saturation.
The interpreter/translator can omit the information that might be offensive, culturally
inappropriate.
Summer rains in Florida may be violent, while they last –
Летом во Флориде бывают сильные ливни.
Protejarea integrității datelor aferente tranzacțiilor de e-banking –
To protect the data integrity of e-banking transactions
At certain times, a structural adjustment would be made. It is also called shift (Catford) or
transposition (Vinay and Darbellnet) or alteration (Newmark). It refers to a change in the
grammar from SL to TL.
The alteration of form may mean changes of categories, word classes, and word orders.
She looked awkward. She would be easy to catch –
Părea dezorientată. O pradă ușoară.
Approximate substitutes –
TL words with similar meaning which is extended to convey additional information.
Drugstore – farmacie / Drugstore – аптека
Explanations –
Explaining OR describing the meaning of the SL words through several words in lieu of
translating it.
Brinkmanship - politica de tip „totul sau nimic”
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Brinkmanship - доведение опасной ситуации до предела
Realia –
Culture-specific words and expressions. Realia carry a very local overtone, they often represent a
challenge for translators.
 Geographic realia: wadi, yeti, kiwi
 Ethnographic realia: kimono, spaghetti, banjo
 Socio-political realia: duma, samurai, agora
 Ecology: avocado, gorilla, mistral (regional wind in France)
 Material culture: fish and chips, sari, igloo
 Social culture: siesta, rancho, machete
 Customs: Halloween, vampire, Ramadan
 Gestures
 Money & measures: Dollar, mile, stone
 Sovietism-realia: совхоз, неотложка, ЖЭК
 Regional Sovietisms: субботник
 International Sovietisms: спутник
If the English translation ignores these terms, an important historical perspective of the
narrative, a precise and ironic depiction of life in Soviet Union, vanishes. Personal names,
phraseological expressions, food and drink items, slogans, names of organisations and other
Sovietisms in the translation should not lose their informative value, even though they have
different connotations in the source text, which can hardly be transferred to the translation.
Transcription or transliteration:
kašmir (hi) = cashmere (en)
It is done letter by letter or character by character (when the original word is written in a
different alphabet). Transcription according to the TL pronunciation rules.
Word creation or calque:
marché aux puces (fr) = flea market (en)
Word creation:
mu'adhdhin (ar) = muezzin (en)
Word replacement:
Beaujolais = red wine
Translation of the overall meaning:
He purchased a chalet for his daughters.
Le-a cumpărat fetelor o casă.

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Loanwords
Are words adopted by the speakers of one language from a different language (the source
language). They simply come to be used by a speech community that speaks a different
language from the one they originated in.
Calques are literally translated words or phrases, while loanwords are words incorporated
into another language without translation.
Circumlocution is often used by people learning a new language, where simple terms can
be paraphrased to aid learning or communication.
Loanwords:
vuvuzela – vuvuzelă – вувузела
umami – umami - умами
barista – barista - бариста
Loan-translations (calque):
sky-scrapper –zgârâie nori – небоскрёб
Neologisms:
Kangatarian
Babymoon – бэбимун
Wine o’clock
Circumlocutions:
grandfather = the father of one's father
Adaptation
To replace a situation of the SL by an analogous situation of the TL.
To replace a socio-cultural reality from the SL with a reality specific to the Target Culture in
order to accomodate for the expectations of the Target Audience
He met her in the pub – Il l’a retrouvée dans le café
Douăzeci de metri în spatele lui – twenty yards behind him
Dear Sir – Уважаемый + имя, отчество
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The issue of untranslatability has been one of the major concern for many translators
particularly translators dealing with religious and creative texts. For instance, Arabic is a
language that “surely comes at the summit of the world’s untranslatable tongues”
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AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION. LOOKING FOR EQUIVALENTS
There are three fundamental issues in the AV field, namely:
 the relationship between verbal output and pictures and soundtrack,
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  the relationship between a foreign language /culture and the target language/culture,
 the relationship between the spoken code and the written one
DUBBING
Replaces a SL dialogue track with a TL dialogue track. It can involve adapting a text for on-
camera characters, including lip-synchronization for when the face or chest of a speaker is
visible in a medium shot.
Dubbing countries include mainly German-, Italian-, Spanish- and French- speaking countries in
Europe and elsewhere. Nearly all imported films and TV programmes in these countries are
dubbed.
LIP-SYNCHRONIZATION
It is a process where the insertion of audio attempts to match the lip movements of the original
actors.
This process is critical in many feature length films as it helps the audience better understand the
content and create the illusion that the content was originally filmed in their language.
Lip Syncing and Dubbing go hand in hand.
VOICE-OVER
In voice-over the original voice sound is either reduced entirely or turned down to a low
level of audibility after a few seconds.
Voice-over countries include Russia, Poland and other large or medium-sized speech
communities for whom dubbing would be very expensive and for whom subtitling is not
favoured. In the films, one narrator interprets all the dialogue. Sometimes two narrators (one
male, one female) are used.
SUBTITLES
It is a translation practice consisting of presenting a written text (on the lower part of the screen)
which recounts the original dialogues of the speakers.
The oral and written message are received simultaneously, allowing for comparison between
source text and target text.
H. Gottlieb (2012) – various types of subtitling:
 foreign language TO domestic majority language
 national minority language TO majority language
 majority language TO immigrant language
Open subtitles - viewer has no choice as to the presence of subtitles on screen
Closed subtitles - translation can be added to the programme at the viewer’s will
Subtitling Countries include several non-European speech communities as well as
a number of small European countries, for whom dubbing is prohibitively expensive.
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CONSTRAINTS
Audiovisual translation is not only the exchange between two different languages, but also
involves introducing other cultures to a country in an easy way so that the speakers can accept
them.
Difficulties -
 The limit of space
 The limit of time
 The limit of culture
Conclusions
Translators should always aim at the conceptual equivalent of a word or phrase, not a
word-for-word translation, i.e. not a literal translation.
They should consider the definition of the original term and attempt to translate it in the
most relevant way.
Translators should strive to be simple, clear and concise in formulating a question.
Fewer words are better. Long sentences with many clauses should be avoided.
Translators should not use technical terms that cannot be understood clearly; colloquialism,
idioms or specific terms that cannot be understood by common people in everyday life.
Translators should consider issues of gender and age applicability and avoid any terms that
might be considered offensive to the target population.