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Is Translation Possible

The document discusses the debate around whether translation between languages is possible. It begins by defining translation as the movement of language between spaces and times as words are conveyed from the sender to the receiver. However, most linguistic theories view translation as impossible due to differences in semantics, phonetics, syntax and connotations between languages. While translation is still practiced, the theories taught to translation students often deny its possibility. The document argues that translation is impossible when languages differ greatly in style or when one is modern and the other primitive, as their concepts of reality may not correspond. However, it also claims that translation may be possible when equivalent concepts can be identified between languages.

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Rosita Abromavičiūtė
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335 views

Is Translation Possible

The document discusses the debate around whether translation between languages is possible. It begins by defining translation as the movement of language between spaces and times as words are conveyed from the sender to the receiver. However, most linguistic theories view translation as impossible due to differences in semantics, phonetics, syntax and connotations between languages. While translation is still practiced, the theories taught to translation students often deny its possibility. The document argues that translation is impossible when languages differ greatly in style or when one is modern and the other primitive, as their concepts of reality may not correspond. However, it also claims that translation may be possible when equivalent concepts can be identified between languages.

Uploaded by

Rosita Abromavičiūtė
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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IS TRANSLATION POSSIBLE? 1. What is translation? The word "translation" comes from Latin roots meaning a change of place.

The translation of language also requires movement in space, and in time as well. When I speak or write, here, and you listen or read, there, translation occurs. First requires a translation from mental thoughts to spoken (or written) words, then another translation of words -- the passage through real space/time -- from sender to receiver, and finally a third translation back into the recipient's thoughts. 2. The field of translation is on akward situation as most linguistic theories are incompatible with the possibility of translation, however works of translation are still carried on and students interested in translation are taught linguistic theories that deny the possibility of such a practice.

Arguments using article Michelle Fram-Cohen - Reality, Language, Translation: What Makes Translation Possible.

No, translation is not possible. a. Sandy Petrey writes in an article about the problems of translation: "Translation is of course an impossible task. No version of any sentence in one language can possibly capture the semantic richness, phonic structure, syntactic form and connotation of a sentence in another language." (2). Petrey's attitude is typical of the academic study of translation: the stylistic differences between languages make it impossible to translate as the similarities between languages are emphasized. b. Reality is not described but created by language, and that each language creates its own reality. The evidence is drawn from the problems of translating between modern and primitive languages. For example the Indian tribes of central America believe that agricultural work and dance ritual make the crops grow and both acts are identical. For this reason there is just one word for work and dance and it`s difficult to translate these concepts from their language to English and visa versa. Yes, translation is sometimes possible. Conceptual equivalence makes translatability possible. That concepts and words are not equivalent is shown by the fact that one word can have more than one meaning in the same language (i.e. "trunk' in English). Each such meaning represents a different concept. Mistranslations happen when in the source language one word represents several concepts, while in the target language each of the same concepts is symbolized by a different word. To be accurate, the translator has to identify the concept and the referent that the word in the source language represents. 3. In conclusion , in some cases when languages are different in stylistics or when one language is modern and another is primitive translation is impossible. But there is another side of the coin: if translation has equivalent in concepts it is thought to be possible

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