COURSE 1

TRANSLATION ISSUES, KEY CONCEPTS, DEFINITIONS,

LAWS

1. Language and culture

Translation belongs most properly to semiotics - the science that studies

sign systems or structures, sign processes and sign functions.(Hawkes,
1977)

Source Lg Target Lg

Transfer of Meaning
+
Extra-linguistic criteria

Sapir claims that ‘language is a guide to social reality’

2. Types of translation

Jakobson distinguishes three types of translation:

a. intralingual translation or rewarding – an interpretation of verbal
signs by means of other signs in the same language
b. interlingual translation or translation proper – an interpretation of
verbal signs by means of some other language
c. intersemiotic translation or transmutation – an interpretation
of verbal signs by means of signs of nonverbal sign systems.

(b) describes the process of transfer from SL to TL.

 Issue: there is no perfect synonymy:

bye bye=good bye

alb-dalb
Penniless/broke/insolvent
To buy/to purchase

1
Weak adjectives Strong adjectives

funny Hilarious
good Fantastic
bad Horrible
surprised Amazed
warm Boilling hot
cold Freezing cold
nice Delicious
angry Furious
dirty Filthy
hungry Starving
clever Brilliant
tired Exhausted

3. Decoding and recoding

E. Nida offers the following model illustrating the translation process:

Source Language Reception Language

Text Translation
↓ ↓
Analysis Restructuring
│
↓ *
-------------------------TRANSFER---→-----------

1. E.g.:

English : YES
French: Oui, Si

2
Italian : Si

Problems
 FR: OUI, SI

 Fr, IT: double or string affirmatives

 In E this often creates a comic effect.

2. E.g.
E: HELLO
FR: ça va, hallo;
GE: wie geht’s; hallo;
IT: ola, pronto, ciao.

Problems
 E:Greetings/ on the phone
 E: How do you do!
 E: How are you?
 It: CIAO

The translator is faced with the following stages:

Source Language Reception Language

HELLO ÇA VA
↓ ↓
Friendly greeting on arrival decision to distinguish between
forms
of gretting available
↓ │
-------------------------TRANSFER---→---------

3. E.g.
E: BUTTER
It: BURRO

Problems
 Both Butter and Burro describe the product made from milk for
human consumption.
 Separate cultural contexts -they cannot be considered as signifying
the same.

3
  In It, Burro is used primarily in cooking, and carries no association
with high status.
In E, Butter is used for spreading on bread and less frequently in cooking.
For BUTTER British E carries with it A SET OF ASSOCIATIONS OF
WHOLESOMENESS, PURITY AND HIGH STATUS (IN COMP,
WITH THE MARGARINE).

The translator has the responsibility of finding a solution.

4. Problems of equivalence

The crucial question: can a metaphor be translated \as such or can only be
reproduced in some way?
 Universal translator 52 languages *
Traffic jam?????

Popovic distinguishes four types:

a. Linguistic equivalence – there is homogeneity on the linguistic
level of both SL and TL- word for word translation.
b. Paradigmatic equivalence – there is equivalence between the
elements of a paradigmatic axis – elements of grammar
c. Stylistic (translational) equivalence –there is functional
equivalence of elements in both original and translation aiming at
an expressive identity with an invariant of identical meaning
d. Textual (syntagmatic) equivalence – there is equivalence of the
syntagmatic structuring of a text- that is equivalence of form and
shape.

Translation of an idiom involves the determining of stylistic equivalence

which results in the substitution of the SL idiom by an idiom with an
equivalent function in the TL.
E.G. Romanian idioms:
 Sa ii ceri mâna fetei
 Intra pe sub pielea lui
 Trage-l de limba
 Când ți-oi vedea ceafa
Arabian language?????

Nida distinguishes between two types of equivalence: formal and

dynamic.

4
Formal equivalence = closest possible match of form and content
between SL and TL. It is appropriate in diplomatic negotiations.
One-to-one translation

Eg. Communist regime *

Dynamic equivalence = principle of equivalence of effect on the

reader of TL. This is the normal strategy.

e.g. *

Claudiu Popescu

Somnoroase Pasarele – Sweet Sleepy Songsters

………………………………

e.g. Caragiale: Parol!/ Sa mor eu!=Honest

SOLUTION: the term ‘ adequacy’ – in terms of the users’ needs.

Eg.:
Two advertisements in British Sunday newspaper – one for Scotch
whisky and one for Martini.

 The whisky ad- stress on the quality of the product, the taste of the
buyer and the social status the product will confer, the distilling
process, the purity of the water, the maturity duration.
It is a written text and the photo of the product.

 Martini ad: appeals to a different social group, a younger look,

stress is laid on the fashionable status.
A photo, a brief text showing ‘ beautiful people’ drinking Martini,
members of the international jet set, rich and glamorous.

These two ads have become stereotyped in Britain.

 The same products in Italy – the products have different value.

Martini is long established, Scotch whisky- relatively new.

Thus, Scotch in the British context may be defined as the equivalent of

Martini in the Italian context, serving equivalent social functions.

5
5. Loss and gain

What is often seen as lost from the SL context may be replaced in the
TL context.
e.g.
a. The large number of terms in the Inuit’s lg for variations of snow-
84 terms, but not the term SNOW *

c. in Fr : “wine terminology” *

6. Untranslatability
Two types of untranslatability: linguistic and cultural.

Linguistic level
I’m going home= Je vais chez mois.

Cultural level:
eg. Democracy *

The translator’s task is to find an OPTIMAL solution

MINIMAX STRATEGY: Minimum effort, maximum effect

7. Process and product

Readers perceive an end-product, a result of a decision-making

process. We are looking at translation as product instead of translating
as process. Bell ( 1987) and Widdowson (1979) – translation as a
process, involving negotiation of meaning between producers and
receivers of texts.

8. Literal vs Free

6
 a. It is erroneous to assume that one-for-one equivalents exist for all
lexical items in two languages
b. The sequence structure of one language does not match that of
another.

E.g. Drakkar after-shave

Fr = Audacieux, franc et tenace

E = Bold, vigorous and tenacious

Franc does not have the same referential meaning as vigorous, but here
the brand name in Fr denotes a Viking long-boat.
At this level, franc= vigorous are indeed equivalent.

9. Science or ‘secondary activity’?

Translator: two roles in the act of intercultural communication

Author – Text- receiver- = Translator- Text- reader

We should operate with the distinction – scientific vs creative.

Translator:
 To find the best solution
 To possess the two languages at advanced level
 To research: cultural, socio-political level
 To reconstruct
 To create

CONCLUSION

7
Octavio Paz:
Every text is unique and, at the same time, it is the translation of another
text. No text is entirely original because language itself is already a
translation. Every translation is an invention and as such it constitutes a
unique text.