CONTEXT IN TRANSLATION

When it comes to communication in any language, context is really important. For good
translation, it is important to always let your translators know the context of the text you have
provided. When I talk about ‘arms’ are they connected to people or are they for weapons?

It is a clear illustration of how context is important when translating. Machine translation

— free translation on the Internet — still delivers bad translations because of its inability to
identify context. This is the reason why most mistakes made by machine translation are so funny.

Multiple Meaning and Context

In every language, there are words that have multiple meanings, which is revealed
through the context, in which the word is used.

In English, for example, there are many words that can be both verbs and nouns and if
you are given simply a list of words to translate it will be hard to guess which form or meaning
to choose. Quite often, if you are faced with website translations you have some phrases or words
that need to be rendered in another language exactly. In this case, it is necessary to have the
context and possible location of the text you are working with. For example, if you have the word
“submit” and you know that it comes at the end of a page where the user was asked to fill in
certain information and then needs to press a button to submit it, you know how to properly
translate the verb. If, however, the verb comes from a video game, where the main character is
faced with two options – “to resist” or “to submit,” the verb already has a totally different
meaning.

As you can see, context plays a vital role in selecting the right meaning of a word with
multiple meanings. In such cases, machine translation will not be such a good idea, as machines
will not distinguish between the two settings and the translation can be misleading or even
completely inaccurate.

LINGUISTIC CONTEXT AND SITUATIONAL CONTEXT

When we speak about context, it is important to note that there are basically two types of
context: linguistic and situational. Both play a significant role in the translation process.

 Linguistic context means the connections between the words in the text. The idea is
that each word exists in a relationship with the other words in the text and not in isolation.
The linguistic context determines its meaning. The interaction with other words helps the
translator choose the right counterpart in the translation. Therefore, we speak for a
translation of the overall meaning of the text and not a word for word rendering of the
text from one language into another.

 Situational context refers to the specific factors and circumstances that may affect the
meaning of a given text. It is a much broader concept than the linguistic context and
 sometimes can be interpreted differently by different people. Situational context may be
related to the facial expressions or gestures of the person speaking or to the social,
political or economic nuances a text bears. It is fair to say that situational context can be
related to the culture at large.

CONTEXT RETENTION

Principles of equivalence

– Vinay and Darbelnet views:

Equivalence-oriented translation as a procedure which 'replicates the same situation as

in the original, whilst using completely different wording. They also suggest that, if this
procedure is applied during the translation process, it can maintain the stylistic impact of
the SL text in the TL text. According to them, equivalence is therefore the ideal method
when the translator has to deal with proverbs, idioms, clichés, nominal or adjectival
phrases and the onomatopoeia of animal sounds.

Jakobson and the concept of equivalence in difference

Roman Jakobson's study of equivalence gave new impetus to the theoretical analysis of
translation since he introduced the notion of 'equivalence in difference'. On the basis of
his semiotic approach to language and his aphorism 'there is no signatum without signum'
(1959:232), he suggests three kinds of translation:
 Intralingual (within one language, i.e. rewording or paraphrase)
 Interlingual (between two languages)
 Intersemiotic (between sign systems)

Nida and Taber: Formal correspondence and dynamic equivalence:

Nida argued that there are two different types of equivalence, namely formal equivalence—
which in the second edition by Nida and Taber (1982) is referred to as formal
correspondence— and dynamic equivalence. Formal correspondence 'focuses attention on the
message itself, in both form and content', unlike dynamic equivalence which is based upon 'the
principle of equivalent effect' (1964:159). In the second edition (1982) or their work, the two
theorists provide a more detailed explanation of each type of equivalence.

Key takeaway:
Equivalence will always be an important part of human translation as long as the latter exists. To
be more specific, equivalence is one of the most important considerations of professional
translation agents and freelance translation service experts alike when it comes to localizing a
website or straightforwardly translating textual material.
Therefore, regardless of whether your professional translation agency is doing source oriented
(to be as faithful to the original text as possible) or target-oriented (to make sure that the original
message is translated in terms that the target audience will understand) translation, there's
always some degree of equivalent exchange in different echelons of language.

THEORIES OF EQUIVALENCE

Jakobson's Equivalence Theories:

R. Jakobson (1959) believes that equivalence comes in three types— intersemiotic
(equivalence between sign systems), interlingual (equivalence between languages) and
intralingual (equivalence within one language; paraphrasing or rewriting the same content).

The second type, interlingual, is the one where translation equivalence is classified in.
Nida's Equivalence Theories: Conversely, E.A. Nida (1964) has written that there are two kinds
of equivalence—formal equivalence (also known as formal correspondence) and dynamic
equivalence.

UNDERSTANDING JARGON and SLANG

Jargon is a type of language that is used in a particular context and may not be well understood
outside of it. The context is usually a particular occupation (that is, a certain trade, profession, or
academic field), but any in group can have jargon. The main trait that distinguishes jargon from
the rest of a language is special vocabulary—including some words specific to it and, often,
narrower senses of words that out groups would tend to take in a broader sense.

Slang is a type of informal category of a certain language developed within a certain community
and consists of words or phrases whose literal meanings are different than the actual meanings.
Hence, it is not understood by people outside of that community or circle.Jargon, on the other
hand, is broadly associated with a subject, occupation or business that makes use of standard
words.
References:

http://icdtranslation.com/how-important-is-context-for-translation/

https://pdfcookie.com/documents/context-retention-rvr7re6qpe2o