PRAGMATIC THEORY OF TRANSLATION

Submitted by: Ishrat Fatima

Submitted to: Dr.Lubna Farah Naz
Translation an Old Discipline:
Translation it is not a new field. It is dated back to many millennia as we know
relationship between the oldest of civilizations were discovered by archeologist,
many translated scripts were also discovered. As the origin of language is
considered to be same but with time as the world become more connected and
dependable each other work on translation evolved and it was recognized as
separate field from linguistics.

Linguistics and Translation:

Both are interconnected with each other and most of linguist rules are applied in
translation. However, translation has its own theories and procedure which is far
more complex then linguistics. There are many ways of translating a text like
semantic translation, word-for-word, faithful translation, adaptive, free,
idiomatic.

Equivalence in Translation:
One of key point in translation which is point of hot debate in case of both
convergence and divergence is equivalence in translation. Equivalence itself is a
broad concept, there is grammatical equivalence, textual equivalence, word level
equivalence or above world level equivalence and finally pragmatic equivalence.

Pragmatic Translation:
Most elaborate work was done by Mona Baker on the pragmatic translation.
Translation is not only transfer of meaning literary but a communication between
two groups having different ideas, culture, and different thinking. In this case
translation act as point of interaction or bridge between them. So, in pragmatic
translation we must consider aspects not only from linguistic aspect but socially,
cultural aspect, from philosophical point of view and so on. And most importantly
pragmatic translation does not deal with not only explicit meaning but implicit as
well and in the reference of context. Context is very important factor in pragmatic
translation as it clarifies the form and meaning that is meant to transfer. As most
of the time words spoken or written means much more or different then what it
shows. In some languages it is quite complicated as in Chinese. For example, in
Chinese sentence.

How to Produce Perfect Translation:

Translation cannot be perfect and 1oo% equivalent or perfect but in order to
produce most authentic far as possible one must go through certain steps
 Correct grammar: language without grammar is same as our body without
skeleton. So, for a better translation it is must. I have come across few
translated books of English from Chinese, due to poor grammatical
translation whole essence was destroyed
 Same meaning: although translator is given quite free hand to do a bit of
changes for reliability, but he must remain faithful to text. Now here
faithful does not mean word to word or semantic translation but we must
stick to meaning of text, as translator we are not allowed to alter the
message or meaning.
 Effect on audience: one of the most important point of pragmatic
translation is impact of translation on target audience. If the audience
receive it in same manner as source language audience then you have
indeed succeeded.

in order to fulfill above mention requirements we have to be careful about

translating the locutionary phrase( meaningful utterance or phrase which
intend to produce an act/action),illocutionary( it means a meaningful
expression as promise, offering or apology) perlocutionary( it is result of
previous two like as utterance meaning action which leads to expression and that
results into action).
Conclusion: pragmatic translation is reader oriented but believes in bridge and
relation between both source and target language. It covers vastness of
expressions, tones, culture and is thus vital in communication between two
different societies with diverse culture. This is what the beauty of translation is.