THEORIES OF TRANSLATION NATIONAL WORD.pptx

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1. THEORIES OF TRANSLATIONS & BEYOND by jdelgado

2. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION Definition of translation: The word translation derives from the Latin translatio (which itself comes from trans- and fero , meaning "to carry across" or "to bring across". The modern Romance languages use words for translation derived from that source or from the alternative Latin traduco ("to lead across"). The Ancient Greek term for translation , ( metaphrasis , "a speaking across"), as contrasted with paraphrase ("a saying in other words", from paraphrasis ).

3. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Transformation of a text originally in one language into an equivalent text into a different language retaining, as far as possible, the content of the message and the formal of the original text and the formal features and functional role of the original text. Translation is an expression in another language (or target language) of what has been expressed in another, source language, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalence. (Roger T. Bell)

4. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION Translation is a human activity which a llows human beings to exchange thoughts and ideas regardless of different tongues used. T he phenomenon of translation as a legitimate o ffspring of the phenomenon of language, since originally, when human spread over the earth their language differ and needed a means through which people speaking a certain language (tongue) would interest with others who spoke different language. ( Wassety , 2001)

5. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION The development of language corresponds directly to the development of human knowledge and the social organization in society. All things that give rise to man’s perception and impressions in the course of social practice are sooner or later converted into language form. The interdependence of knowledge and language is shown by the fact that the thinking process cannot work independently of language.

6. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION An important role in history has been played by translation of religious texts. Buddhist monks who translated the Indian sutras into Chinese often skewed their translations to better reflect China 's distinct culture , emphasizing notions such as filial piety . Considered one of the greatest translators in history, for having rendered the Bible into Latin , is Saint Jerome , the patron saint of translation. For centuries the Roman Catholic Church used his translation (known as the Vulgate ), though even this translation at first stirred controversy.

7. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION One of the first recorded instances of translation in the West was the rendering of the Old Testament into Greek in the 3rd century BCE. The translation is known as the " Septuagint ", a name that refers to the seventy translators (seventy-two, in some versions) who were commissioned to translate the Bible at Alexandria , Egypt . Each translator worked in solitary confinement in his own cell, and according to legend all seventy versions proved identical. The Septuagint became the source text for later translations into many languages, including Latin , Coptic , Armenian and Georgian .

8. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION The Protestant Reformation saw the translation of the Bible into local European languages — a development that contributed to Western Christianity 's split into Roman Catholicism and Protestantism due to disparities between Catholic and Protestant versions of crucial words and passages. Lasting effects on the religions, cultures and languages of their respective countries have been exerted by such Bible translations as Martin Luther 's into German , Jakub Wujek 's into Polish , and the King James Bible 's translators' into English .

9. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION Translation interfaces with philosophy, psychology, linguistics and sociology. Literary translation, in particular is relevant to these sciences, visual arts, cultural and intellectual arts. In translation the richness of vocabulary, the depth of culture and the vision of the translator would have a conspicuous effects on the works of the translator.

10. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION In the final analysis, translation is a science, an art and a skill. It is a science in the sense that it necessitates complete knowledge of the structure and make-up of two languages concerned. It is an art since it requires artistic talent to reconstruct the original text in the form of a product that is presentable to the reader who is not supposed to be familiar with the original. It is also a skill because it entails the ability to smooth over any difficulty in the translation, and the ability to provide the translation of something that has no equal in the target language.

11. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION John Dryden Discussions of the theory and practice of translation reach back into antiquity and show remarkable continuities. The ancient Greeks distinguished between metaphrase ( literal translation ) and paraphrase . This distinction was adopted by English poet and translator John Dryden (1631–1700), who described translation as the judicious blending of these two modes of phrasing when selecting, in the target language, "counterparts," or equivalents , for the expressions used in the source language: Cicero This general formulation of the central concept of translation — equivalence — is as adequate as any that has been proposed since Cicero and Horace , who, in 1st-century-BCE Rome , famously and literally cautioned against translating "word for word" ( verbum pro verbo ).

12. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION Samuel Johnson In general, translators have sought to preserve the context itself by reproducing the original order of sememes , and hence word order — when necessary, reinterpreting the actual grammatical structure, for example, by shifting from active to passive voice , or vice versa . The grammatical differences between "fixed-word-order" languages (e.g. English , French , German ) and "free-word-order" languages (e.g., Greek , Latin , Polish , Russian ) have been no impediment in this regard. The particular syntax (sentence-structure) characteristics of a text's source language are adjusted to the syntactic requirements of the target language . Martin Luther When a target language has lacked terms that are found in a source language, translators have borrowed those terms, thereby enriching the target language. Thanks in great measure to the exchange of calques and loanwords between languages, and to their importation from other languages, there are few concepts that are " untranslatable " among the modern European languages . The translator's role as a bridge for "carrying across" values between cultures

13. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION According to Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermarcher (1768-1834), father of hermeneutics in his book “ Uber die verschiedenen Methoden des Ubersetzens ” (On the Different Methods of Translating): “We are faced everywhere with the fact that speech is translated from one language into another, and that this happens in many different ways.”

14. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION He said further: “In teaching for example , the ingenuity of a teacher can be measured if an extremely complicated concept which is beyond the level of the students’ comprehension is ‘translated’ in simple, understandable terms. We can therefore say that there is no dullard in the classroom if the teacher can ‘stoop down’ to the level of the students. Furthermore, we can conclude that teaching is a process of continues translation.

15. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION Eugene Nida Principles of Correspondence • “There are no two same languages as there is no correspondence between languages, so the result is that there cannot be fully exact translations. “ Two (2) basic orientations in translating (1) Formal equivalence; (2) Dynamic equivalence

16. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION Formal equivalence - The attention is on the message, both in form and content. In this translation the translator is concerned with such correspondence as poetry to poetry, sentence to sentence, and concept to concept. The message of the receptor language should be compared to the source language message as in this way it can determine standards of accuracy and correctness. Dynamic equivalence - It is focused more on “the principle of equivalent effect.” The translator is not focused on the matching the message of the receptor language to that of the source language. But he is more concerned with the dynamic relationship between receptor and message as it was to the original receptors and the message. The translator tries to use a complete natural expressions of his own language making the message of the text comprehensible to the reader even though he might not understand the patterns of the source-language.

17. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION On Linguistic Aspects of Translation In his essay, Jakobson states that meaning of a word is a linguistic phenomenon. Using semiotics , Jakobson believes that meaning lies with the signifier and not in the signified. Thus it is the linguistic verbal sign that gives an object its meaning. Interpretation of a verbal sign according to Roman Jakobson can happen in three ways: intralingual , interlingual and intersemiotic . In the case of intralingual translation, the changes take place within the same language. Thus a verbal sign (word) belonging to a particular language is replaced by another sign (word) belonging to the same language. Interlingual translation on the other hand can be seen as replacing a verbal sign with another sign but belonging to a different language.

18. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION The last kind of explanation of verbal sign that he talks about is the intersemiotic translation . Here more than focusing on the words, emphasis is on the overall message that needs to be conveyed. Thus the translator, instead of paying attention to the verbal signs, concentrates more on the information that is to be delivered. Roman Jakobson uses the term ‘mutual translatability’ and states that when any two languages are being compared, the foremost thing that needs to be taken into consideration is whether they can be translated into one another or not. Laying emphasis on the grammar of a particular language, he feels that it should determine how one language is different from another.

19. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION Mother Courage’s Cucumbers ( by Andre Lefevere ) A writer’s work gains exposure and achieves influence mainly through “misunderstandings and misconceptions,” or, to use a more neutral term, refractions . Writers and their work are always understood and conceived against a certain background or, if you will, are refracted through a certain spectrum, just as their work itself can refract previous works through certain spectrum. Refractions —the adaptation of a work of literature to a different audience, with the intention of influencing the way in which that audience reads the work.

20. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION It corresponds to the concept of “rewriting”, which Lefevere (1992) used in Translation, Rewriting, and the Manipulation of Literary Fame. Lefevere’s expressing the relationship between refractions and ‘the evolution of literatures’ reveals that he believes both have the power to affect the developments or cause changes in the other. Lefevere also points to the presence of people during the process of the writing, rewriting, distribution, and reading of texts. It is people having different roles in the community that are influential in the process of canonization and the development of literature, which is related to the fact that “a culture, a society is the environment of a literary system .” Thus, we cannot study literature or translations in isolation from the society and of course all the other systems that are part of the social system

21. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION Lefevere shows that ideology, poetics and patronage are crucial issues that need to be taken into consideration in the evaluation of a translated text. For instance, the idea of patronage obviously brings the importance of people into the view. People like “critics, reviewers, teachers, translators” take place in the first factor, while it is the “patronage” that represents the second factor. Among the people who can be grouped together under “patronage” are those working at “academies, censorship bureaus, critical journals, and, by far the most important, the educational establishment”. It is noteworthy that Lefevere mentions teachers while explaining the first control factor and the educational establishment while discussing the second. I first thought that this is due to the fact that patronage is associated with the idea of institutions more than persons. Teachers usually do have the freedom to select the literary works to be studied in class, but they are not as ‘strong’ as the educational establishment of course. With the help of the questions they ask or the explanations they make, they can in a way influence the students’ reading the text and writing about the text.

22. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION "Translation is the permanent literary flou , and since what we usually call nonsense is, on the other hand, but the flou of thoughts, we shouldn't be surprised that a translated author always seems somewhat foolish to us.“ There are two Utopians, the bad Utopian thinks that because it is desirable, it is possible. With such an attitude, he won't give much thought to the question of how one must translate, and without further ado he will begin the task. This is the reason why almost all translations done until now are bad ones. The good Utopian, on the other hand, thinks that because it would be desirable to free men from the divisions imposed by languages, there is little probability that it can be attained; therefore, it can only be achieved to an approximate measure. But this approximation can be greater or lesser, to an infinite degree, and the efforts at execution are not limited, for there always exists the possibility of bettering, refining, perfecting: 'progress,' in short."

23. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION "The fact is that the stupendous reality, which is language, will not be understood at its root if one doesn't begin by noticing that speech is composed above all of silences . A person incapable of quieting many things would not be capable of talking. And each language is a different equation of statements and silences. All peoples silence some things in order to be able to say others. Otherwise, everything would be unsayable . From this we deduce the enormous difficulty of translation: in it one tries to say in a language precisely what that language tends to silence. But, at the same time, one glimpses a possible marvelous aspect of the enterprise of translating: the revelation of the mutual secrets that peoples and epochs keep to themselves and which contribute so much to their separation and hostility; in short—an audacious integration of Humanity."

24. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION "Languages separate us and discommunicate , not simply because they are different languages, but because they proceed from different mental pictures, from disparate intellectual systems—in the last instance, from divergent philosophies. Not only do we speak, but we also think in a specific language, and intellectually slide along preestablished rails prescribed by our verbal destiny.“ "Translation is not a duplicate of the original text; it is not—it shouldn't try to be—the work itself with a different vocabulary. I would say translation doesn't even belong to the same literary genre as the text that was translated. It would be appropriate to reiterate this and affirm that translation is a literary genre apart, different from the rest, with its own norms and own ends. The simple fact is that the translation is not the work, but a path toward the work."

25. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION "What is imperative is that, in translating, we try to leave our language and go to the other—and not the reverse, which is what is usually done. Sometimes, especially in treating contemporary authors, it will be possible for the version to have, besides its virtues as translation, a certain aesthetic value. That will be icing on the cake." "It is clear that a country's reading public do not appreciate a translation made in the style of their own language. For this they have more than enough native authors. What is appreciated is the inverse: carrying the possibilities of their language to the extreme of the intelligible so that the ways of speaking appropriate to the translated author seem to cross into theirs."

26. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION Any form of translational action, including therefore translation itself, may be conceived as an action, as the name implies. Any action has an aim, a purpose. (This is part of the very definition of an action—see Vermeer 1986.) The word skopos , then, is a technical term for the aim or purpose of a translation (discussed in more detail below). Further: an action leads to a result, a new situation or event, and possibly to a “new” object. Translational action leads to a “target text” (not necessarily a verbal one); translation leads to a translatum (i.e. the resulting translated text), as a particular variety of target text.

27. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION It goes without saying that a translatum may also have the same function ( skopos ) as its source text. Yet even in this case the translation process is not merely a “trans-coding” (unless this translation variety is actually intended), since according to a uniform theory of translation a translatum of this kind is also primarily oriented, methodologically, towards a target culture situation or situations. Trans-coding, as a procedure which is retrospectively oriented towards the source text, not prospectively towards the target culture, is diametrically opposed to the theory of translational action. (This view does not, however, rule out the possibility that trans-coding can be a legitimate translational skopos itself, oriented prospectively towards the target culture: the decisive criterion is always the skopos .) To the extent that a translator

28. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION His " polysystem theory “ analyzed sets of relations in literature and language, but gradually shifted towards a more complex analysis of socio-cultural systems . [3

29. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION

30. How can one become a good translator ?

31. Language competence - this competence includes the knowledge grammatical systems as well as repertoires, terminologies, syntactic and morphological conventions. Textual competence - that emerges from and is inter- twined with the linguistic competence, and represents an ability to define textual features of e.g. technical, legal or literary fields . Subject competence - stems from textual competence, it represents the familiarity with what the particular text is about, this concept covers both knowledge about the world (encyclopaedic knowledge) and specialist knowledge. THEORIES ON TRANSLATION

32. Cultural competence – or that translators need to be specialists on cultures, because they act as mediators between various cultural backgrounds and pre- suppositions “technical texts are often culture-bound too” ( Neubert ; Schäffner 2000: 9). Transfer competence – which encompasses the strategies and procedures that allow translating the text from L1 to L2, it is the ability to perform trans- lation as such quickly and efficiently. ( Neubert ; Schäffner 2000: 15). THEORIES ON TRANSLATION

33. Writing skills Analytical skills Research skills Technology skills SKILLS ATTRIBUTE Curiosity Love of reading Flexibility & Adaptability Attention to detail

34. Traduttore , Traditore ! Most  translators  are familiar with the expression “ traduttore ,  traditore ” meaning “ translator , traitor ” and have their own personal experiences with the difficulties in translation. We have all seen poor-quality translations, translated text that is virtually unintelligible for a native speaker, translations that misrepresent the original text and blatant mistakes whether in  subtitles , song lyrics, or in day-to-day  document translations . Translators become the villains in this story–the easy targets when pointing the finger. After all, translation is really about just taking words from one language and finding the equivalent in the target language, right? So how hard can it really be?

35. Traduttore , Traditore ! Well, for starters, translation is no easy task and involves much more than simply transferring the words into another language. It requires research, thorough understanding of both the original and target languages, cultural knowledge, and specific training on the topic you are translating. And even then, there are still inherent problems with the language itself that lend themselves to numerous interpretations and glaring mistakes. There are just some phrases that are so connected to cultural context that it is next to impossible to provide an equivalent translation of the text that also bears the same meaning.

36. Traduttore , Traditore ! So, what exactly is the translator’s job when faced with these difficult expressions? Is it better to translate them literally so as not to “betray” the text but at the risk of a lower  quality translation , or is it better to find the closest alternative that makes sense in the target language, even though the translated version may slightly modify the idea? Most translators would say that their task is to effectively communicate the same idea so that it makes sense to native speakers, but does that mean we are doomed to constant criticism? The accusations and criticism aside, translation is an essential and rewarding task. As Goethe puts it, “Say what we may of the inadequacy of translation, yet the work is and will always be one of the weightiest and worthiest undertakings in the general concerns of the world.”

37. Traduttore , Traditore ! Most  translators  are familiar with the expression “ traduttore ,  traditore ” meaning “ translator , traitor ” and have their own personal experiences with the difficulties in translation. We have all seen poor-quality translations, translated text that is virtually unintelligible for a native speaker, translations that misrepresent the original text and blatant mistakes whether in  subtitles , song lyrics, or in day-to-day  document translations . Translators become the villains in this story–the easy targets when pointing the finger. After all, translation is really about just taking words from one language and finding the equivalent in the target language, right? So how hard can it really be?

38. The End