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Translation Methods and Techniques - Term Test

Communicative translation involves translating the overall meaning and intent of a text rather than word-for-word. It aims to use expressions standard for analogous situations in the target culture. Some challenges include preserving intertextuality, references, ambiguity, agreement between words, word order, passive/impersonal constructions, and interference from the source language. Translators have various procedures available to them like transference, borrowing, calques, recognized translations, adaptation, equivalence, description, reduction, expansion, modulation, transposition, notes/glossaries, discursive creation, compensation, amplification, generalization, particularization, substitution, and pragmatic variation.

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121 views

Translation Methods and Techniques - Term Test

Communicative translation involves translating the overall meaning and intent of a text rather than word-for-word. It aims to use expressions standard for analogous situations in the target culture. Some challenges include preserving intertextuality, references, ambiguity, agreement between words, word order, passive/impersonal constructions, and interference from the source language. Translators have various procedures available to them like transference, borrowing, calques, recognized translations, adaptation, equivalence, description, reduction, expansion, modulation, transposition, notes/glossaries, discursive creation, compensation, amplification, generalization, particularization, substitution, and pragmatic variation.

Uploaded by

Agos Piñero
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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INTRODUCTION

Communicative translation

Free translation where there is only a global correspondence between the textual
units of the ST and those of the TT. It’s characterised as follows: where, in a given
situation, the Source Text uses a Source Language expression standard for that
situation; the Target Text uses a Target Language expression standard for an
analogous target culture situation.

PROBLEMS

1. Intertextuality and intentionality: readers need knowledge to make sense


of a certain text and use their cultural background and knowledge
structures in order to perceive subtleties of intended meanings in a text or
texts. Intertextuality is recognising texts in terms of their dependence on
other texts, or in terms of references to texts we have already read before.
Intertextual references have to be pieced together to identify a chain of
meanings (a semantic thread) leading back from signals encountered later
in the text to earlier signals and to the complete areas of knowledge being
evoked. Intertextuality becomes a challenge for the translator who must
transfer not only the information present in the text alone, but the
intentionality of the information content as well.

2. Reference concerns mainly the bones -the factual content- of the writing.
What is being referred to? And, how can the same references best be
made in the target language?

3. Ambiguity arises whenever there are two subjects or objects that might
equally be related to the same verb.

4. Agreement:
○ Incorrect use of verbs.
○ Collective nouns.
○ Prepositions.
○ Comparatives and superlatives.
○ Parallel structures.
5. Word order: not arbitrary: Stick to the order of the original text whenever
possible or change the original word order when a translation which is
“too” literal produces as a result an incorrect word order.

6. Passive constructions.

7. Impersonal constructions.

8. Interference: if there is too much imitation of the structure and tone of the
original text, the sense can be seriously distorted. It is not a question of
rejecting the source language structure and tone, but a question of not
feeling totally constrained by them.

○ Syntactic interference: the cases when the translator neglects the


peculiar properties of his or her language grammar, or uses a
structure which exists but is less common in the target than in the
source language.
○ Lexical interference: wrong choice of a lexical unit. False friends,
Words translated by their usual meaning instead of using a more
appropriate one, “refined” or “elevated” usage of words possibly
originating in bilingual dictionaries.
○ Figurative interference: consider contextual factors such as status,
frequency, modernity, register and adequacy of metaphors and
idioms in the TL.

9. Idioms and fixed expressions: = imagen = sentido / ≠ imagen = sentido /


paráfrasis (lenguaje común) / omisión (cuando no suma nada al texto,
PERO deberíamos COMPENSAR para demostrar lenguaje coloquial).

10. Proper names: unless a single object or a person’s name already has an
accepted translation, it SHOULD NOT BE TRANSLATED.

11. Proper names and titles: after the name in English, before the name in
Spanish.

12. Institutional terms.

13. Acronyms:
○ Used for a specific text (and used only there). They are usually
explained within that text, and they are transferred or recreated.
○ Cultural acronyms: they are usually transferred and an explanation
may be added depending on the readership and the intention of the
text.
○ Used in science: internationalisms or recognised translations.
14. Eponyms: words that are identical with or derived from a proper name
which gives it a related sense.

15. WEIGHTS, MEASURES, QUANTITIES and CURRENCIES: The translation of


units of the metric system and others will depend on their setting and the
intended readership.

PROCEDURES

1. Transference: transferring a SL (source language) word to a TL (target


language) text. You “loan” the word and do not translate it. We usually
transfer words referring to:
○ Small groups or cults (e.g., Greenpeace).
○ National characteristics (e.g., machismo; Don Juan).
○ Brand names (e.g., Pioneer).
○ Names of living or dead people (with a few exceptions).
○ Periodicals and newspapers (e.g., La Voz del Interior / The Daily
Telegraph).
○ Untranslated films.
○ Private companies and institutions (e.g., ARCOR – FIAT – RENAULT).
○ Public and nationalised institutions (e.g., CGT – EPEC).
○ Street names and addresses.
○ Novels to create the atmosphere, a sense of local colour and
intimacy (e.g. Martin Fierro / Santos Vega).

2. Borrowing: We use it when there is a lexical void in the TL. It can be pure
(no alteration) or naturalised (transliteration of the SL).

3. Through translation: calque. a form of literal translation respecting TL


syntax. A bad calque imitates the ST structures to the point of being
ungrammatical in the TL; a good calque manages to compromise between
imitating a ST structure and not offending against the grammar of the TL.
E.g. Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus. Calque has a certain aspect that
translators need to consider: false friends (e.g. ingenuity: ingenio, no
ingenuidad). Calque is most commonly used with:
○ names of organisations,
○ common collocations,
○ compounds,
○ some phrases or expressions.

4. Recognized translation: You should normally use the official or generally


accepted translation of any institutional term or names of books or films,
even when you may not agree with the translation.
5. Adaptation: the use of a recognized equivalent between two situations. It
is commonly used in the cases of notices, idioms or cultural situations. E.g.
He kissed his daughter on the mouth. / Abrazó tiernamente a su hija.
6. Equivalence: convey the same situation by means of completely different
stylistic and structural sources. It belongs to the semantic field and not
lexical.
○ Cultural equivalence: the translation of a SL cultural word by an
equivalent TL cultural word. E.g 2 miles / 3 km.
○ Functional equivalence: the translation of a SL word by means of a
neutralisation or generalisation of the SL word plus an explanation of
its function. E.g khumpi cloth – the fabric used in religious
ceremonies.
○ Descriptive equivalence: It is a description or explanation of the
word. E.g. empanada, a kind of small individual meat pie.

7. Description: replacing an expression by the description of its function or


form. E.g. En vez de panettone, decir: bizcocho italiano tradicional.

8. Reduction: An adjective plus a noun combination is transformed into one


word. E.g. computer-science / computación. Compresión lingüística: se
sintetizan elementos lingüísticos. Ej: Yes, so what? / ¿Y?

9. Expansion: the addition of words to make the meaning clearer. Ampliación


lingüística: se añaden elementos lingüísticos. Ej: No way / De ninguna
manera.

10. Modulation: changing the point of view, focus or cognitive category. It is


generally used to express ideas in a more natural way. E.g. If I remember
correctly / Si mal no recuerdo…

11. Transposition: a grammatical shift.


○ Exist in both languages but work differently: order of adjectives, use
of the plural form, etc.
○ Does not exist in both languages: Spanish neutral adjective (lo más
importante es…), English gerund (Working with you is a pleasure).
○ A SL structure is grammatically possible in the TL, but a change
would produce a better version. E.g They had a drink to celebrate /
Celebraron con unas bebidas.
○ A change in verb tense or mood.
○ Sometimes omissions are necessary.

12. Notes, additions and glossaries: They are generally used for cultural
differences (in the SL and TL cultures), technical differences related to the
topic or linguistic differences (when you want to explain why you use
words in a particular or strange way).

13. Discursive creation: establishing a temporary equivalence that could


never have been anticipated out of context.
14. Compensation: including an element of information or a stylistic effect in a
different place.

15. Amplification: adding clarifications.

16. Generalisation: using a more general or neutral term.

17. Particularization: using a more precise or specific term.

18. Substitution: changing linguistic elements for paralinguistics elements or


vice versa.

19. Pragmatic variation: changing linguistic or paralinguistic elements that


affects aspects of linguistic variation. Changes of textual tone, style, social
dialect, geographic dialect.

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