2023

Translation Theories
SECOND YEAR COURSE – FIRST TERM
COMPILED BY : FATMA BENELHADJ
Translation Theory 2023-2024 Second Year

Lesson 1: What is Translation?

1. Definition: (Munday et al., 2022, p. 8)
 The English term translation, first attested around 1340, derives either from Old French translation or
more directly from the Latin translation (‘transporting’), itself coming from the participle of the verb
transferre (‘to carry over’). In the field of languages, translation today has several meanings:
(1) the general subject field or phenomenon (‘I studied translation at university’);
(2) the product – that is, the text that has been translated (‘they published the Arabic translation of the report’);
(3) the process of producing the translation, otherwise known as translating (‘translation service’).
Translation An incredibly broad notion which can be understood in many different ways. For
example, one may talk of translation as a process or a product , and identify such sub-types as literary
translation, technical translation, subtitling and machine translation; moreover, while more typically
it just refers to the transfer of written texts, the term sometimes also includes interpreting.
Dictionary of Translation Studies (Shuttleworth and Cowie 1997:181)
Exercise 1: (Colina, 2015, p.35)
Indicate whether the term “translation” is being used to refer to the process, product or field.
1. The company was offering free translation services to non-profit corporations.
2. An English translation of the Koran is available for all those attending the class.
3. The Open Translation Project offers subtitles, interactive transcripts and the ability for any talk to be
translated by volunteers worldwide.
4. The student decided to switch his major from literature to translation.
5. I was not too happy with the first draft of the translation, so I decided to have someone else go over it.
6. Translation is enjoying a come-back among language teachers.
2. Terminology: (Munday et al., 2022, p.8)
 The process of translation between two different written languages involves the changing of an original
written text (the source text, or ST) in the original verbal language (the source language, or SL) into a
written text (the target text, or TT) in a different verbal language (the target language, or TL):

Exercise 2: (Colina, 2015, p.36)

Using the table below, indicate the ST , TT , SL and TL for each of the texts listed in 1–4.
Example: Microsoft Word User manuals for Brazil
1. Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
2. Brochure for the use of English-speaking tourists in Dubai
3. Advanced directives for Russian-speaking immigrants in Sydney, Australia
4. Medical history for Haitian refugees in a community clinic in Florida
ST TT SL TL
Example User manuals User manuals English Portuguese
in English in Portuguese

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1
2
3
4

3. Types of Translation:
 Types: literary translation, technical translation, machine translation, interpreting, etc.

Exercise 3: how would you rank the translated texts listed below, according to the degree of closeness to the
source (“1” being the closest to the ST) customary in your target language?
Subtitles in a movie, an academic transcript, a police report, a comic strip
1……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
3……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

 Roman Jakobson’s classification (Jakobson 1959/2012: 127):

1) Intralingual translation, or ‘rewording’ – ‘an interpretation of verbal signs by means of other signs
of the same language’
Example: In the decade before 1989 revenue averaged around [NZ]$1 billion a year while in the decade
after it averaged nearly [NZ]$3 billion a year – in other words, revenue nearly tripled.
2) Interlingual translation, or ‘translation proper’ – ‘an interpretation of verbal signs by means of some
other language’

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3) Intersemiotic translation, or ‘transmutation’ – ‘an interpretation of verbal signs by means of signs of

non-verbal sign systems’.
Example: Gurinder Chadha’s 2004 Bollywood Bride and Prejudice adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and
Prejudice
Exercise 4:
1. Which word(s) are used for ‘translation’ in the languages you work with? Explore their origins. What
do these terms suggest about the conceptualization of translation?

2. Consider the changes in the following text and how far you think these can be termed ‘translation’.
J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter child ren’s books have been translated into over 40 languages and have
sold millions of copies worldwide. It is interesting that a separate edition is published in the USA with
some alterations. The first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s St one (Bloomsbury
1997), appeared as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the USA (Scholastic 1998). As well as the
title, there were other lexical changes: British biscuits, football, Mummy, rounders and the sweets
sherbet lemons became American cookies, soccer, Mommy, baseball and lemon drops. The American
edition makes a few alterations of grammar and syntax, such as replacing got by gotten, dived by
dove and at weekends by on weekends, and occasionally simplifying the sentence structure.

 Keep a notebook during a week and make a note of translation examples you come across in daily life
of Jakobson’s interlingual, intralingual and intersemiotic translation.

 Type of translation Activity (Colina, 2015, p. 18)

1) Grammar translation: A grammar translation provides a structural translation that renders the
structure of the source into the target; it is often used in foreign- and second-language teaching to test
a student’s understanding of the grammar of the language under study. It was typically used for
learning Latin.
Example: translate from Latin into English:
Puelle amat. The girl loves.
Populum spectamus. We await the people.
Deus discipulos vocat. God calls his disciples.
Christus servos liberat. Christ frees the slaves.

2) Interlinear translation: Interlinear translation is a kind of word-for-word, and at times morpheme-

by-morpheme, translation, sometimes used in linguistics, whereby the translated forms are written or
printed below the relevant words and morphemes in order to facilitate the understanding of the
structure of each word. It is often accompanied by a less literal gloss, as the meaning of interlinear
translation can be obscured by the degree of formal equivalence
Example: Indonesian (Sneddon [1996: 237])
Mareka di Jakarta Sekarang.
They in Jakarta now
‘They are in Jakarta now’
3) Gist translation: Gist translation is an activity that tries to convey the main idea of the source text in
the target language, without concern for preserving form. Unimportant content may be left out. Gisting
comprises an interlingual summary, and it is also called summary translation.

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Example:
 Intralingual: Minutes of a meeting.
 Interlingual: A researcher in historical linguistics finds a reference he/she may be interested in, but it
is in German. Unsure about whether this may be relevant to his/her topic, the researcher requests a gist
translation.
4) Sight translation: Sight translation is an activity that consists of translating a written text out loud.
Interpreters are often given written documents that they have to translate orally into the target language.
Ideally, these should be short, brief documents that are specific to the situation at hand.
Example:
A new exhibit, consisting of a business card providing basic information about the line of work of the accused,
is presented in court. The interpreter for the accused is asked to sight-translate the information for the jury.
The oral translation of the written text provided on the spot by the interpreter is an example of sight translation.
4. Translation and Translation studies (James S. Holmes)
 “Translation Studies is the discipline that deals with the study of translation”
 Translation Studies is an academic discipline that studies the theory and practice of translation.
 Translation is “a skill, a savoir-faire, that consists in going through the translating process, and being
capable of solving the translation problems that arise in each case” (Hurtado, 2001, p. 25).
 Some awareness of different theories can be of practical benefit when confronting problems for which
there are no established solutions, where significant creativity is required (Pym, 2023).
 Multilingual, interdisciplinary field (linguistics, cultural studies, philosophy, the information sciences,
etc.)
 The Netherlands-based scholar James S. Holmes in his paper ‘The Name and Nature of Translation
Studies’, originally presented in 1972 mapped out the new field.

 Holmes drew attention to the limitations imposed at the time because translation research, lacking a
home of its own, was dispersed across older disciplines (languages, linguistics etc.).

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5. Translation as an art or science: (House, 2018)

 As an art – often with regard to literary translation – the worth and success of the translation is said to
depend to a very large extent on the intuition and the competence of the translator.
 As a science, the person of the translator and his or her capabilities will not be the centre of attention.
Rather, more objective criteria for producing and testing a translation will need to come to the forefront.
 Form versus content: whether the content of a text is to be of prime importance or whether it is the
form of the text that deserves most attention.
In literary texts, the linguistic form is never arbitrary --- The linguistic form and the content are seen as a
single inseparable unit.
In non-literary texts, it is the content that needs to be preserved. --- Language is a mere vehicle for
content.

6. Translation strategies:
1. Reading exercise of the source text;
2. Detection of problem passages followed by discussions;
3. Discovery of passages which will require multiple choice rephrasing in the target language; and
4. Detection which will require multiple choice rephrasing in the target language

Activity:

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Lesson two: Early Translation Theory

http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/31805/Introducing-Translation-Studies/#vars!date=2006-04-
01_00:00:00!
1. ‘Word-for-word’ versus ‘sense-for-sense’
One of the major issues in translation is whether translators should opt for a word-for-word (literal) or sense-
for-sense (free/free imitation).
 Literal/ word-for-word translation: form based translation of the source language:

This literal translation makes little sense in English.

 Sense-for-sense/free translation: ……………… based translation of the source language.

The distinction between ‘word-for-word’ (i.e., ‘literal’) and ‘sense-for-sense’ (i.e., ‘free’) translation goes
back to Cicero (106–43 @ac) and St Jerome (347–420 ac).
It formed the basis of key writings on translation for nearly 2,000 years.
The Roman rhetorician and politician Marcus Tullius Cicero outlined his approach to translation while
introducing his own translation from the Greek of speeches of the fourth-century BC Attic orators Aeschines
and Demosthenes:

And I did not translate them as an interpreter, but as an orator, keeping the same ideas and forms, or
as one might say, the ‘figures’ of thought, but in language which conforms to our usage. And in so
doing, I did not hold it necessary to render word for word, but I preserved the general style and force
of the language.1
(Cicero 46 BC/1960 ac: 364)
- The ‘interpreter’:…………………………………………………………………………
- The ‘orator’: ……………………………………………………………………………….
- Horace, in his Ars Poetica, (c.20 BC), highlighted “the goal of producing an aesthetically pleasing and
creative poetic text in the TL” in comparison to the inelegant word-for-word style.
- St Jerome translated the Bible into Latin – opted for a sense-for-sense translation. He was accused at the
time of ‘incorrect’ translation:
Now I not only admit but freely announce that in translating from the Greek – except of course in the
case of the Holy Scripture, where even the syntax contains a mystery – I render not word-for-word,
but sense-for-sense.
(St Jerome 395 ac/1997: 25)

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- Jerome’s statement broke decades of literal, word-for-word translation. This statement is now “usually
taken to refer to what came to be known as ‘literal’ (word-for-word) and ‘free’ (sense-for-sense)
translation”.
- He rejected the word-for-word approach “because, by following so closely the form of the ST, it produced
an absurd translation, cloaking the sense of the original. The sense-for-sense approach, on the other hand,
allowed the sense or content of the ST to be translated”.
--- the origin of both the ‘literal vs. free’ and ‘form vs. content’ types of translation.
Example: (Hatem and Munday, 2004, pp. 226-227)
- Authorized King James Version (1611): ‘The noise thereof sheweth concerning it; the cattle also
concerning the vapour.’
- Revised King James Version (1982): ‘His thunder announces His presence; the storm announces His
indignant anger.’
- The New International Version (1978): ‘His thunder announced the coming storm, even the cattle make
known its approach.’
- The Living Bible (1971): ‘We feel His presence in the thunder. May all sinners be warned.’
How far can these TTs be categorized according to the ‘literal-free’ and ‘form-content’ clines.
2. Early Chinese and Arabic Discourse on translation
The ‘literal’ and ‘free’ poles surface once again in the rich translation tradition of the Arab world, which
created the great centre of translation in Baghdad. There was intense translation activity in the ‘Abbāsid
period’ (750–1250 ac), encompassing a range of languages and topics.
- Translation into Arabic of Greek scientific and philosophical material, often with Syriac as an intermediary
language (Delisle and Woodsworth 1995: 112).

The first [method], associated with Yuhanna Ibn al-Batr.ıq and Ibn N. a’ima al-Himsi, was highly literal
and consisted of translating each Greek word with an equivalent Arabic word and, where none existed,
borrowing the Greek word into Arabic.
Baker and Hanna (2009: 330)
This method was unsuccessful so a second, sense-for-sense method was proposed.
The second method, associated with Ibn Ish¯aq and al-Jawahari, consisted of translating sense-for-sense,
creating fluent target texts which conveyed the meaning of the original without distorting the target
language. (ibid)
There was an “increased use of Arabic neologisms rather than the transliteration of Greek terms.” Besides,
Arab translators became more creative in “supplying instructive and explanatory commentaries and notes”.
- The frequency and wealth of translations improved their skills. “translations of the medical writings of
Hippocrates (460–370 BC) and Galen (179–217), of philosophical works, of Aristotle (384–322 BC) on
logic and the mathematics of Euclid (fourth–third century).

3. Translation in the 16th and 17th centuries

Jerome’s Latin Vulgate was only accepted as “official by the Roman Catholic Church in 1546”.
Protestant Reformation: “translation of the Bible into vernacular languages. Any book which diverged from
the Church’s interpretation ran the risk of being …censured or banned”

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William Tyndale (c.1490–1536): linguist

- Produced an “extraordinary English Bible” … “later used as the basis for the Geneva Bible (1560) and
King James version (1611)”.
- It was banned and copies confiscated on the orders of King Henry VIII.
- Tyndale was abducted, tried for heresy and executed in the Netherlands in 1536.
Étienne Dolet (1509–1546) :
- ‘was condemned by the theological faculty of the Sorbonne in 1546,
- added, in his translation of one of Plato’s dialogues, the phrase rien du tout (‘nothing at all’) in a passage
about what existed after death.
- The addition led to the charge of blasphemy, the assertion being that Dolet did not believe in immortality.
For such a translation ‘error’, he was burned at the stake.”
His major principles of translation are as follows:
a. The translator must understand the content and the intention of the author perfectly well before
involving himself in the act of translation.
b. The translator should have a perfect knowledge of both the source and the target languages.
c. The translator must avoid the tendency to translate word for word.
d. The translator must employ the forms of speech as they are used in the speech of common
people.
e. The translator should produce a total overall effect with the approximate tone. Should focus on
the intention of the text rather than words used by the author.

Martin Luther’s
- “crucially influential translation into East Central German of the New Testament (1522) and later the Old
Testament (1534)….
- Luther had been heavily criticized by the Church for the addition of the word “allein (‘alone’/‘only’),
because there was no equivalent Greek word in the ST.”
He was one the first scholars who established the systematic principles and techniques of translation:
 Shift of word orders (changing)
 Employment of modal auxiliaries (addition)
 Introduction of connectives when required (addition)
 Suppression of Greek or Hebrew terms which had no acceptable equivalents in German
(retrenchment)
 Use of phrases whenever necessary to translate single words (expansion)
 Shift of metaphors to non-metaphors, and vice versa (simplification)
 Careful attention to textual variants

4. Early attempts at systematic translation theory

Cowley (1618-1667) advocated a very free translation:
“I have in these two Odes of Pindar, taken, left out and added what I please nor make it so much my aim to
let the reader know precisely what he [the poet] spoke, as his way and manner of speaking”

John Dryden (1631–1700), provided a brief description of the translation process would have enormous
impact on subsequent translation theory and practice. He reduced all translation to:
(1) ‘metaphrase’: ‘word by word and line by line’ translation, which corresponds to literal translation;
(2) ‘paraphrase’: ‘translation with latitude, where the author is kept in view by the translator, so as never to
be lost, but his words are not so strictly followed as his sense’; this involves changing whole phrases and more
or less corresponds to faithful or sense-for-sense translation;

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(3) ‘imitation’: ‘forsaking’ both words and sense; this corresponds to Cowley’s very free translation and is
more or less what today might be understood as adaptation.

5. 18th Century
- First comprehensive and systematic study of translation is Alexander Fraser Tytler’s ‘Essay on the
principles of translation’, published in 1790.
- Rather than Dryden’s author-oriented description (‘write as the original author would have written had he
known the target language’), Tytler (1747–1813) defines a ‘good translation’ as being oriented towards
the target language reader”:
That in which the merit of the original work is so completely transfused into another language as to be
as distinctly apprehended, and as strongly felt, by a native of the country to which that language
belongs as it is by those who speak the language of the original work. (Tytler 1797/1997: 209)
Tytler (ibid.) has three general ‘laws’ or ‘rules’.
(1) The translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work.
(2) The style and manner of writing should be of the same character with that of the original.
(3) The translation should have all the ease of the original composition.

Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834)

1) the ‘Dolmetscher’, who translates commercial texts;
(2) the ‘Übersetzer’, who works on scholarly and artistic texts.

He believes that there are only two paths open for the true translator:
Either the translator leaves the writer alone as much as possible and moves the reader towards the
writer, or he leaves the reader alone as much as possible and moves the writer towards the reader.
Schleiermacher preferred the first strategy moving the reader towards the writer (alienating).
The translator should orient himself by the language and the content of ST and then must valorize the foreign
and transfer that into the TL.

Example: The following case study look briefly at two areas where the vocabulary of the ‘literal versus free’
debate continues to be used in contemporary writing on translation.
Case study 1: Assessment criteria: The area of assessment criteria is one where a more expert writer (a marker
of a translation examination or a reviser of a professional translation) addresses a less expert reader (usually a
candidate for an examination or a junior professional translator).
(1) Accuracy: the correct transfer of information and evidence of complete comprehension;
(2) The appropriate choice of vocabulary, idiom, terminology and register;
(3) Cohesion, coherence and organization;
(4) Accuracy in technical aspects of punctuation etc.

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Lesson three: Equivalence and equivalent effect

1. Roman Jakobson
 1959: ‘On linguistic aspects of translation’
 Three kinds of translation: intralingual, interlingual and intersemiotic.
 Key issues: linguistic meaning and equivalence.
 Following De Saussure, he differentiated between langue and parole, and between the signifier and
signified (sign --- arbitrariness).
 Equivalence: ‘there is ordinarily no full equivalence between code-units’
The Russian syr and the English cheese are not equivalent (the Spanish queso, the German Käse, the Korean
chijeu, etc.) concept of soft white curd cheese – linguistic universalism ≠ linguistic relativity/ determinism
(Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, 1956)

Full equivalence is impossible: interlingual translation involves ‘substitut[ing] messages in one language not
for separate code-units but for entire messages in some other language’.
 Translatability: no longer consider whether a language can render a message from another language –
but as to degree and adequacy: equivalence has to do with differences in the structure and terminology of
languages.
 cheese can be rendered two separate concepts.
 Differences between languages: gender (house feminine in French – neuter). Semantic field (Siblings –
no equivalent)

Only creative transposition is possible: either intralingual transposition—from one poetic shape into
another, or intralingual transposition—from one language into another, or finally intersemiotic
transposition—from one system of signs into another, e.g. from verbal art into music, dance,
cinema or painting.

2. Eugene Nida: the science of translating:

 1960s: He wanted to move Bible translation into a more scientific era by incorporating recent work in
linguistics.
 Based on the work of Noam Chomsky – universal generative–transformational grammar.
 According to Nida the main problem with Jakobson’s categorization of translation is that language has
been considered only as a code, where a language is a network of communicative events.
 Nida defines translation as: Translation is reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural
equivalent of the source language; first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style.
 He provides the translator with a technique for decoding the ST and a procedure for encoding the TT.

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Equivalence:
- Formal equivalence: Formal equivalence focuses attention on the message itself, in both form and
content . . . One is concerned that the message in the receptor language should match as closely as
possible the different elements in the source language. (Nida 1964a: 159)- ST structure oriented
- Dynamic equivalence: Dynamic, later ‘functional’, equivalence is based on what Nida calls ‘the
principle of equivalent effect’, where ‘the relationship between receptor and message should be
substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message’. (Nida
1964a: 159). --- receptor’s needs

For Nida, the success of the translation depends above all on achieving equivalent effect or response. It is
one of the ‘four basic requirements of a translation’, which are (ibid.: 164):
(1) making sense;
(2) conveying the spirit and manner of the original;
(3) having a natural and easy form of expression;
(4) producing a similar response.

 ‘correspondence in meaning must have priority over correspondence in style’ if equivalent effect is
to be achieved.

Task 1: Formal and dynamic equivalence: (Nida)

The following case study considers two series of translations from the point of view of Nida’s formal and
dynamic equivalence. The three extracts are from English translations from the Hebrew of the opening of
Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.

1. King James version (KJV, originally published 1611)

1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters.
1:3 And God said, ‘Let there be light’: And there was light.
2. New English Bible (NEB, originally published 1970)
1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
1:2 Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but
the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water.
1:3 And God said, ‘Let there be light’: And there was light.
3 New American Bible (NAB, originally published 1970)
1:1 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,
1:2 the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over
the waters.
1:3 And God said, ‘Let there be light’: And there was light.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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3. Peter Newmark:
- ‘The gap between emphasis on source and target language, will always remain as the overriding problem
in translation theory and practice’ (Newmark 1981: 38).
- Narrowing the gap by replacing the old terms with those of ‘semantic’ and ‘communicative’ translation:
Communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that
obtained on the readers of the original. Semantic translation attempts to render, as closely as the
semantic and syntactic structures of the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the
original.
(Newmark 1981: 39)
- Communicative translation: ……………………………………………………………..
- Semantic translation: …………………………………………………………………….
- No full equivalent effect – the effect ‘is inoperant if the text is out of TL space and time’ (1981: 69)
- semantic translation differs from literal translation in that it ‘respects context’, interprets and even
explains (metaphors, for instance).
In communicative as in semantic translation, provided that equivalent effect is secured, the literal
word-for-word translation is not only the best, it is the only valid method of translation. (Newmark
1981: 39)

SL TL
Word-for-word Adaptation
Literal Translation Free translation

Faithful translation Idiomatic translation

Semantic translation Communicative translation

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E.g.: chien méchant --- dog that bites! Bad dog! ????

Examples:
Communicative translation: a letter from a school district to parents of children who do not speak the
majority language.
Semantic translation: a power attorney.

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Task 2: Consider the following French ST and the two English translations
1. Define Semantic and Communicative Translation (Newmark, 2001)
2. Analyse the proposed TTs and say whether they are semantically or dynamically translated

ST: Une certaine idée de la France

Charles De Gaulle
Toute ma vie, je me suis fait une certaine idée de b France. Le sentiment me l’inspire aussi bien que la
raison. Ce qu'il y a, en moi, d'affectif imagine naturellement la France, telle la princesse des contes ou la
madone aux fresques des murs, comme vouée à une destinée éminente et exceptionnelle. J'ai, d'instinct,
l’impression que la Providence l’'a créée pour des succès achevés ou des malheurs exemplaires. S*il advient
que la médiocrité marque, pourtant, ses faits et gestes, j'en éprouve la sensation d'une absurde anomalie,
imputable aux fautes des François, non au génie de la patrie. Mais aussi, le cote positif de mon esprit me
convainc que la France n'est réellement 10 elle-même qu'au premier rang; que, seules, de vastes entreprises
sont susceptibles de compenser les ferments de dispersion que son peuple porte en lui-même; que notre
pays, tel qu'il est, parmi les autres, tels qu'ils sont, doit. sous peine de danger mortel, viser haut et se tenir
droit. Bref, a mon sens, la France ne peut être la France sans la grandeur.
TT 1 :
All my life I have created a certain idea of France for myself. My feeling, as well as my reason, inspires me
with this idea. In my mind I imagine France as a fairy-talc princess or a madonna painted on frescoes, as
though destined for a distinguished and exceptional future. Instinctively I feel that Providence has created
France to have consummate successes or exemplary failures. If, however, it sinks to mediocrity in its
actions, I feel this is an absurd anomaly which is due to the faults of the French and not to the genius of the
country- Moreover, I am convinced that France only really reaches its full stature when it stands in the first
rank; that only vast undertakings can make up for the seeds of dispersal that its people carry in themselves;
that our country must have high aims and have a name for honesty and act according to its lights; otherwise
it will be in mortal danger. In short, as I see it,
Source: Memoires de Guerre. L'AppeL
TT 2
All my life, I have devised for myself a certain idea of France, Feeling inspires me with it as well as reason.
What is emotional in me naturally imagines France, like the princess in the fairy-tales or the madonna on the
frescoes of the walls, as dedicated to an eminent and exceptional destiny. I have, instinctively, the feeling
that Providence has created France for complete successes or exemplary misfortunes. If it happens, however,
that mediocrity marks her deeds and her actions. I experience the feeling of an absurd anomaly, attributable
to the faults of the French, not to the genius of the motherland. But further, the positive side of my thought
persuades me that France is really only herself when in the first rank; that vast enterprises alone are capable
of compensating for the leaven of dispersal which her people carries in itself; that our country, as it is,
among the others, as they are, must on pain of mortal danger, aim high and stand upright. In short, in my
opinion, France cannot be France without greatness.

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Lesson Four: Translation Process

1. Definition
Translation as a process: focuses on the role of the translator in rendering the source text (ST) a target text
(TT).
Translation as a product: deals with the concrete translation product produced by the translator.
2. Product
Description of strategies and procedures.
A strategy in translation: the general orientation of the translator: towards free/literal, towards TT/ST, for
domestication/foreignization.
A procedure is a specific technique/method used by the translator at a certain point in a text.
2.1.Vinay and Darbelnet: two strategies and seven procedures.
Direct translation: borrowing, calque, literal
Oblique translation: transposition, modulation, equivalence/idiomatic translation, adaptation.

2.2.Other procedures
 Amplification: The TL uses more words, often because of syntactic expansion,
e.g. the charge against him > the charge brought against him. The opposite of amplification is economy.
 False friends: a term similar in SL and TL which deceives the user into thinking the meaning is the
same, e.g. French librarie means not English library but bookstore.
 Loss, gain and compensation: translation involves some loss - it is impossible to preserve all the ST
nuances of meaning and structure in the TL. TT may make up for (‘compensate’) this by introducing a
gain at the same or another point in the text.
E.g.: if the SL is a t/v language and shows a switch from formal to informal address (so, French vous to tu),
English will need to find a way to compensate this, perhaps by switching from the use of
the character’s given name (e.g. Professor Newmark > Peter).
 Explicitation: Implicit information in the ST is rendered explicit in the TT.
grammar (e.g. English ST the doctor explicated as masculine or feminine in a TL where indication of gender
is essential).
Semantics (e.g. the explanation of a ST cultural item or event, such as US Thanksgiving
or UK April Fool’s joke)
pragmatics (e.g. the opaque and culturally located US English idiom it’s easy to be a Monday morning
quarterback)
 Generalization: The use of a more general word in the TT. ST computer > TT machine

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2.3.Servitude/option
Distinction by Vinay and Darbelnet.
 Servitude: when transposition and modulation are obligatory because of differences between the systems
of SL and TL.
E.g.: Morgen muss ich mit dem Fahrrad auf Arbeit fahren [‘tomorrow must I by bicycle to work travel’].
 Option: these are non-obligatory changes made by the translator because of his/her own style of writing
or preferences, or also to change emphasis.
to amplify or explicate a general term (e.g. this > this problem/ question/issue)
to change word order when translating between languages
that permit flexibility – so, English my mother will phone at six o’clock > Spanish a las seis llamara mi
madre [‘at six will phone my mother’].

2.4.Analytical steps (Vinay and Darbelnet)

(1) Identify the units of translation.
(2) Examine the SL text, evaluating the descriptive, affective and intellectual content of the units.
(3) Reconstruct the metalinguistic context of the message.
(4) Evaluate the stylistic effects.
(5) Produce and revise the TT.
What is a unit of translation?
Not the word! a combination of a ‘lexicological unit’ and a ‘unit of thought’.
‘the smallest segment of the utterance whose signs are linked in such a way that they should not be
translated individually’.
The divisions proposed include of
 individual words (e.g. he, but),
 grammatically linked groups (e.g. the watch, to look),
 fixed expressions (e.g. from time to time) and
 semantically linked groups (e.g. to glance away).
 numbering the translation units in both the ST and TT.

2.5. Catford: Translation shift

linguistic changes occurring in translation of ST to TT.
 Formal correspondence: ‘any TL category (unit, class, element of structure, etc.) which can be said to
occupy, as nearly as possible, the “same” place in the “economy” of the TL as the given SL category
occupies in the SL’ (Catford 1965: 27). (e.g. the noun belongings and the Spanish efectos personales
[‘personal effects’])
 Textual equivalence: ‘any TL text or portion of text which is observed on a particular occasion . to be
the equivalent of a given SL text or portion of text’ (ibid.). (e.g. he searched through my belongings
translated as examino mi bolso [‘he examined my bag’]).

 Translation shifts: ‘departures from formal correspondence in the process of going from the
SL to the TL’.

2.5.1. Level shift:

something which is expressed by grammar in one language and lexis in another.
 aspect in Russian being translated by a lexical verb in English: e.g. igrat’ (to play) and sigrat’ (to finish
playing);
 cases where the French conditional corresponds to a lexical item in English: e.g. trois touristes auraient
été tués [lit. ‘three tourists would have been killed’] = three tourists have been reported killed.

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2.5.2. Category shift

 Structural shifts: shift in grammatical structure.
The SVO structures of I like jazz and j’aime le jazz in English and French are translated by an indirect object
pronoun + verb + subject structure in Spanish (me gusta el jazz) and in Italian (mi piace il jazz).
 Class shifts: shifts from one part of speech to another:
the English a medical student and the French un etudiant en medecine
 Unit shift/rank shift: the translation equivalent in the TL is at a different rank to the SL.
Rank: sentence, clause, group, word and morpheme
 Intra-system shift: the SL and TL possess approximately corresponding systems but where ‘the
translation involves selection of a non-corresponding term in the TL system’ (1965: 80; 2000: 146).
French and English are number and article systems : advice (uncountable) in English becomes des conseils
(plural) in French, and the French definite article la in Il a la jambe cassee [‘he has the leg broken’]
corresponds to the English indefinite article a in He has a broken leg.
‘translation equivalence does not entirely match formal correspondence’

1. Identify the units of translation:

Greenwich (ST)
The ancient town of Greenwich has been a gateway to London for over a thousand years. Invaders from the
continent passed either by ship or the Old Dover Road, built by the Romans, on their way to the capital.
Greenwich (French TT)
Les envahisseurs venant du continent passaient par cette ancienne ville, par bateau ou par la Old Dover Road
(construite par les Romans) pour se rendre a la capitale.
[Back translation]
The invaders coming from the continent passed through this ancient town, by boat or along the Old Dover
Road (built by the Romans) to reach the capital.

2. Paris metro French ST

Ne mets pas tes mains sur les portes. Tu risques de te faire pincer très fort.
[Do not put your hands on the doors. You risk getting yourself nipped very hard.]

Analyse this short text using the Vinay and Darbelnet model. Use the following methodology:
➤ Divide the French ST into units and number them.
➤ Divide the English TT into units and match them to the ST units.
➤ Decide which of Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation procedures have been used and therefore what shifts
have occurred.
➤ What conclusions can you draw about the translator’s approach to this text?
➤ What difficulties do you find with this analysis?

Identify the type of shift in the following translations:

1. trois touristes auraient été tués (lit. ‘three tourists would have been killed’) = three tourists have been
reported killed.
2. I like jazz and j’aime le jazz …..Spanish (me gusta el jazz) and in Italian (mi piace il jazz).
3. English a medical student and the French un étudiant en médecine.
4. il a la jambe cassée (‘he has the leg broken’) corresponds to the English indefinite article a in He has
a broken leg.

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Translation Theory 2023-2024 Second Year

Exercise 1: (10 marks)

Consider the following English ST and German TT (a back translation is also provided)
ST: English
Please note that smoke detectors will be fitted on-board. Any misconduct will result in necessary action
being taken by rail staff and/or police.
TT:German
Beachten Sie bitte, daß die Züge mit Rauchdetektoren ausgestattet werden. Jeder Verstoß wird mit den
erforderlichen Maßnahmen durch das Bahnpersonal und/oder die Polizei geahndet.
Back translation
[Note please that the trains with smoke detectors fitted will be. Each violation will-be with the necessary
measures through the rail staff and/or the police punished.]

1. Divide the English ST into units and number them.

2. Divide the German TT (consider the English back translation) into units and match them to
the ST units.
3. Decide which of Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation procedures have been used and therefore
what shifts have occurred.
4. What conclusions can you draw about the translator’s approach to this text?

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Translation Theory 2023-2024 Second Year

Previous Exams
Translation Second year

Exercise 1: (10 marks)

Consider the following English STs and Arabic TTs:

ST: English
Before water is bottled for human consumption, it is thoroughly checked in highly specialized laboratories.
TT: Arabic version
‫ يتم فحصه بدقة في مختبرات متخصصة‬،‫قبل أن يعبأ الماء في قوارير لالستهالك البشري‬

ST: English
The first step in researching a topic nowadays is to google it.
TT: Arabic version
‫أول خطوة في تقصي موضوع ما في هذه األيام هو أن تبحث عنه في شبكة جوجل االلكترونية‬

1. Divide the English STs into units and number them.

2. Divide the Arabic TTs into units and match them to the ST units.
3. Decide which of Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation procedures have been used and therefore
what shifts have occurred.
4. What conclusions can you draw about the translator’s approach to these texts?

Exercise 2: (4 marks)
Explain the principles of loss and gain based on the following translation.
ST:
let’s talk about rights and lefts. You are right, so I left.
TT:
.‫ أنا اليمين وأنت اليسار‬،‫لنتحدث عن اليمين واليسار‬

Exercise 3: (6 marks)
Define and illustrate Jakobson’s intralingual, interlingual and intersemiotic translations.

Translation Theory - KEY

Exercise 1: (10 marks)
Consider the following English STs and Arabic TTs:
1)
ST: English
Before water is bottled for human consumption, it is thoroughly checked in highly specialized laboratories.
TT: Arabic version
‫ يتم فحصه بدقة في مختبرات متخصصة‬،‫قبل أن يعبأ الماء في قوارير لالستهالك البشري‬
2)
ST: English
The first step in researching a topic nowadays is to google it.
TT: Arabic version
‫أول خطوة في تقصي موضوع ما في هذه األيام هو أن تبحث عنه في شبكة جوجل االلكترونية‬
1. Divide the English STs into units and number them.
2. Divide the Arabic TTs into units and match them to the ST units.

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Translation Theory 2023-2024 Second Year

3. Decide which of Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation procedures have been used and therefore
what shifts have occurred.
4. What conclusions can you draw about the translator’s approach to these texts?

ST TT Procedure/shift
1.Before ‫قبل‬ Literal
2.water ‫الماء‬ Literal
3.is bottled ‫أن يعبأ في قوارير‬ Transposition – Unit/rank shift
4.for human consumption ‫لالستهالك البشري‬ Literal
5.it Deletion - omission
6. thoroughly ‫بدقة‬ Transposition – unit/rank shift
7.is …. checked ‫يتم فحصه‬ Literal
8.in ‫في‬ Literal
9.highly specialized ‫مختبرات متخصصة‬ Economy
laboratories

The translation is rather direct (5 cases of literal translations among 10).

There are two cases of transposition (oblique translation), and they are rather obligatory.
The case of deletion is also required by the language (it is an attached pronoun in Arabic).
Just the case of economy seems to be a personal choice by the translator.
2)
ST TT Procedure/shift
1. The first step ‫أول خطوة‬ literal
2. in ‫في‬ literal
3. researching ‫تقصي‬ Transposition: intra-system
shift
4. a topic ‫موضوع ما‬ amplification
5. nowadays ‫في هذه األيام‬ transposition
6.is deletion
‫هو‬ Addition
7. to google it. ‫ أن تبحث عنه في شبكة جوجل‬Transposition unit/rank shift
‫ االلكترونية‬Explicitation

The translation can be classified as oblique.

There are two cases of literal translations among 7.
There are two cases of transposition, and they are rather obligatory: 3 and 7
The other methods are amplification (choice by the author for more clarity) and 7: is also a case of
explicitation: choice by the author
6 : deletion and addition are related to the differences between the languages.
Exercise 2: (4 marks)
Explain the principles of loss and gain based on the following translation.
ST:
let’s talk about rights and lefts. You are right, so I left.
TT:
.‫ أنا اليمين وأنت اليسار‬،‫لنتحدث عن اليمين واليسار‬
Loss: translation involves some loss: it is impossible to preserve all the ST nuances of meaning and structure
in the TL.
In this case the ST plays on the multiple meanings of ‘left’, which is actually the source of humour in the
ST. This is lost in the TT because the word does not have the two meanings.

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Translation Theory 2023-2024 Second Year

Gain is a strategy that the author can use at the same or another point of the text. The author has opted for a
different translation (not the same meaning), which may cause some fun.

Exercise 3: (6 marks)
Define and illustrate Jakobson’s intralingual, interlingual and intersemiotic translations.
1) intralingual translation, or ‘rewording’ – ‘an interpretation of verbal signs by means of other signs of the
same language’
(2) interlingual translation, or ‘translation proper’ – ‘an interpretation of verbal signs by means of some
other language’
(3) intersemiotic translation, or ‘transmutation’ – ‘an interpretation of verbal signs by means of signs of non-
verbal sign systems’.

Exam 2:
Translation Theory
Exam
Task 1:
Salah Al-Din Al-Safadi (14th C) wrote about earlier generations of Arab translators:
Look at each Greek word and what it means. They seek an equivalent term in Arabic and write it down.
Then they take the next word and they do the same, and so on until the end of what they have to translate.
(Quoted in Badawi, 1968, p. 33)
1. What is the method of translation talked about in the quote? Define it.
2. What are the possible drawbacks of such translations? Give examples.
Task 2:
ST
Ne mets pas tes mains sur les portes. Tu risques de te faire pincer très fort.
TT
Beware of trapping your fingers in the doors.
1. Divide the French ST into units and number them.
2. Divide the English TT into units and match them to the ST units.
3. Decide which of Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation procedures have been used and therefore what
shifts have occurred.
4. What conclusions can you draw about the translator’s approach to this text?
Task 3:
Identify the types of shifts in the following sentences, then define them.
1. “‫ ” أفعالي كلها مقدرة عنده‬into “all my actions have been preordained by him.”
2. Arabic sentence “‫ ” قال صديقي في شماتة‬is translated into “My friend spoke gloatingly”

Task 4:
Based on Reiss’ classification of text-types, identify the type(s) of the following text and propose the
relevant translation method, then propose a translation of your own:
Shop with your Visa card and win US$ 40,000.

Translation Theory
KEY - Exam 1

Task 1:
Salah Al-Din Al-Safadi (14th C) wrote about earlier generations of Arab translators:
Look at each Greek word and what it means. They seek an equivalent term in Arabic and write it down.
Then they take the next word and they do the same, and so on until the end of what they have to translate.
(Quoted in Badawi, 1968, p. 33)
3. What is the method of translation talked about in the quote? Define it.

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Translation Theory 2023-2024 Second Year

Literal translation: a word-for-word translation where the translator does not care about the general meaning
of the text but renders each word by itself.
4. What are the possible drawbacks of such translations? Give examples.
Problems at the level of grammar: word-for-word translation can cause problems of structure in the TL.
Problems of meaning: dealing with figurative language/idioms, etc where the meaning of the whole
expression should be taken into account.
Task 2:
ST: Ne mets pas tes mains sur les portes. Tu risques de te faire pincer très fort.
TT: Beware of trapping your fingers in the doors.
5. Divide the French ST into units and number them.
6. Divide the English TT into units and match them to the ST units.
7. Decide which of Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation procedures have been used and therefore what
shifts have occurred.
ST TT Procedure
1 Ne Beware of modulation
2 Mets trapping modulation
3 Pas
4 Tes mains Your fingers modulation
5 Sur In modulation
6 Les portes The doors literal
7 tu Omission
8 Risques Omission
9 De te faire Omission
10 pincer Omission
11 Très fort Omission

8. What conclusions can you draw about the translator’s approach to this text? (2 marks)
Oblique translation: only one case of literal translation, the others are modulation or cases of omission.

Task 3:
Identify the types of shifts in the following sentences, then define them.
3. “‫ ” أفعالي كلها مقدرة عنده‬into “all my actions have been preordained by him.”
Level shift: a grammatical item in the source language is expressed using a word in the target language or
vice versa. The lexis ‘‫ ’ مقدرة‬has been translated into grammar ‘have been preordained’.
4. Arabic sentence “‫ ” قال صديقي في شماتة‬is translated into “My friend spoke gloatingly”.
Structure shift: Structure shifts are the changes in the grammatical structure (word order) of a sentence at
any linguistic rank (i.e., phrases, clauses, and sentences). the Arabic sentence “‫ ” شماتة في صديقي قال‬is
translated into “My friend spoke gloatingly” where the Verb-Subject order in Arabic is reversed into
Subject-Verb in English – PP into Adv

Task 4:
Based on Reiss’ classification of text-types, identify the type(s) of the following text and propose the
relevant translation method, then propose a translation of your own:
Shop with your Visa card and win US$ 40,000.
An ‘operative’ text that has an instructional purpose/function fused with persuasion.

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