Scribd
Upload
57 views

Ntroduction To Ranslation Tudies: Ina Sîtnic University Lecturer, Ma, PHD Student

The document provides an introduction to translation studies, outlining recommended literature, course contents including definitions of translation, types of translation, translation theories and techniques, and challenges such as cultural differences, language problems, and ensuring translations convey the original meaning. It discusses translation as both a process and product, and the relationship between translation theory and practice.

Uploaded by

KateaPoleacovschi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
57 views

Ntroduction To Ranslation Tudies: Ina Sîtnic University Lecturer, Ma, PHD Student

The document provides an introduction to translation studies, outlining recommended literature, course contents including definitions of translation, types of translation, translation theories and techniques, and challenges such as cultural differences, language problems, and ensuring translations convey the original meaning. It discusses translation as both a process and product, and the relationship between translation theory and practice.

Uploaded by

KateaPoleacovschi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 31

INTRODUCTION TO

TRANSLATION STUDIES

Ina SÎTNIC
University lecturer,
MA, PhD student
RECOMMENDED BIBLIOGRAPHY
 E. Nida, Ch. Taber, The Theory and Practice of
Translation, 1982.
 P. Newmark, A Textbook of Translation, New
York,1988.
 R. Bell, Teoria şi practica traducerii, Polirom 2000.

 J. Munday, Introducing Translation Studies:


Theories and Applications, Routledge, 2001.
 Susan Bassnett, Translation Studies, 2002.

 Комиссаров В.Н. Теория


перевода(лингвистические аспекты). 1990.
 Бархударов Л. С. Язык и перевод (Вопросы
общей и частной теории перевода). 1975.
COURSE CONTENTS :
 Definition(s) of Translation/ Interpreting;
 Types of Translation/ Interpreting;
 Unit of translation;
 Translation theories;
 Context. Types of context;
 Equivalence in translation;
 Translation methods, techniques, strategies;
 Translator’s False friends;
 Lexical, grammatical and stylistic aspects of
translation;
 Translation assessment criteria;
 Translation in Moldova
TOPIC 1

Definition(s) of Translation/
Interpreting
HOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND
TRANSLATION?

 Art
 Science
 Professional skill
 Communicative means
 Talent
 A factor for cultural change
…
ETYMOLOGY OF TRANSLATION

 "translation" - "carry across" or "bring


across".

 The Latin "translatio" derives from


"transferre" ("to transfer" – from "trans,"
"across" + "ferre," "to carry" or "to bring").
DEFINITIONS OF TRANSLATION
 Translation is rendering the meaning
of a text into another language in the
way that the author intended the text.
(Peter Newmark)
 Translation - "an act of communication
which attempts to relay, across cultural
and linguistic boundaries, another act of
communication.”
(Basil Hatim and Ian Mason)
DEFINITIONS OF TRANSLATION
 Translation is a transformation of a text in
one language into an equivalent text in another
language, preserving the contents of the
message and the style of the original text.
(Roger Bell).
 Translation is a text that conforms to the
target-culture’s norms of what translations are
supposed to be like, at a given time.
 Translating, as I. A. Richards claims, “is
probably the most complex type of event in the
history of the cosmos” (E. Nida).
THE MAIN OBJECTIVES OF TRANSLATION
 todefine what is translation and how
it differs from the simple foreign
language;

 todiscuss main peculiarities of


language systems the knowledge of
which is important for the proper
translation process;

 to classify the types of translation;


THE MAIN OBJECTIVES OF TRANSLATION
 to describe the notion of translation
equivalence and state its importance for
the translation process;
 to state the influence of pragmatic and
sociolinguistic factors in the process of
translation;
 to define the notion of “translation
norms” and establish the principles of
evaluation of the quality of translation.
TRANSLATION AS PROCESS AND PRODUCT

– Process: stages in translation:


reading, analyzing, transferring the
meaning } cognitive processes in
translating.

– Product: the message rendered in


the TL, the observable result of the
process.
TRANSLATION AS PROCESS AND PRODUCT
 Alexander Fraser Tytler, author of The
Principles of Translation, tried to
systematize the process of translation.

 He outlined three principles:


 The translation should recreate the original
(ideas);
 It should resemble the original in style;
 It should read easily like the original.
THE OBJECT OF TRANSLATION STUDIES
 Terms used to refer to translation studies:
 "translatology"

 "traductology“(less common), and the


corresponding French term for the discipline
is usually traductologie.

 Translation studies- the study of the


theory and practice of translating and
interpreting, especially in an
academic context, combining elements of
social science and the humanities.
TRANSLATION STUDIES
As an interdiscipline, Translation
Studies borrows much from the various
fields of study that support translation:
history, linguistics, philology,
pragmatics,
comparative literature,
computer science,
and terminology.
AIMS OF TRANSLATION STUDIES

 Theoretical aims: to increase


understanding... by

 defining central concepts;


 describing what translations are like, what
translators do;
 explaining why translations are like this;

 discovering how translations affect readers


and cultures.
AIMS OF TRANSLATION STUDIES
 Applied aims: to improve the quality of
translations (and therefore intercultural
relations)... by
 developing better training methods,

 developing better tools, computer aids,


dictionaries, term banks...,
 developing machine translation,

 developing ways of assessing translation


quality,
 educating the public, making translators
more visible...
BASIC TRANSLATION PROBLEMS

Text problems:

 The source text is not final;


 The handwritten text is illegible;
 The text has many spelling
mistakes;
 The given text is an extract from a
bigger part;
BASIC TRANSLATION PROBLEMS

Text problems
Language problems
BASIC TRANSLATION PROBLEMS

 Text problems

 Text structure is faulty;


 Missing headings and captions (for
example, the translator needs to
translate headings or captions for the
missing pictures or photos)
BASIC TRANSLATION PROBLEMS
Language problems:
 Dialectal words (e.g. Dauncy – to look
noticeably unwell (in Ireland); and neologisms
(e.g.Spam, noob);
 Unknown abbreviations: acronyms and
initialisms (e.g. AIDS, BBC, B.C., IOM, IMF,
etc);
 Unknown slang: e.g.“The students caught
cheating on the test were given the third-
degree by the principle.”= “to be interrogated
by, The third degree is a euphemism for
torture”
BASIC TRANSLATION PROBLEMS

Language problems:
 Lexical and structural ambiguity;
 Multiword units: idioms (e.g. “Beating
around the bush”; “piece of cake”)
and collocations (e.g. strong tea,
“ceasefire agreement”; “take a look”);
 Very specific cultural phenomena and
realia (culture-specific material things;
e.g. fjord, ramadan, pagoda, county,
duma).
SOCIO-CULTURAL CHARACTER OF
TRANSLATION
 Translating takes place in a cultural
context, as part of cultural transfer and
evolution.
 Once seen as a sub-branch of linguistics,
translation today is perceived as an
inter-disciplinary field of study and the
indissoluble connection between language
and life has become a focal point of
academic attention.
SOCIO-CULTURAL CHARACTER OF
TRANSLATION

Translating, which involves two


languages, is unavoidably
influenced by two cultures, the
source-culture (SC) and the target-
culture (TC).
Yuri Lotman claims “No language
can exist unless it is steeped in the
context of culture”.
SOCIO-CULTURAL CHARACTER OF
TRANSLATION

 Cultural differences between regions of a


country, or between time periods can also
act significantly on the process of
translation.
 Intracultural factors often lead to
stylistically or even semantically distinct
translations of the same source text.
 The most influential factors in this case are
the strategic orientation and period style
within the TL culture.
TRANSLATION THEORY AND PRACTICE

 Good theory is based on information gained


from practice. Good practice is based on
carefully worked-out theory. The two are
interdependent. (Larson)

 Theory
and practice are indissolubly linked,
NOT in conflict.
TRANSLATION THEORY AND PRACTICE

 Theory and practice must be linked


together in any translation exercise simply
because one contributes significantly to the
other in the sense that theory of translation
makes students of translation aware of
language complexities; it gives them a
sense of creativity and intellect.
LINGUISTIC AND AESTHETIC
ARGUMENTS IN TRANSLATION THEORY
 The aesthetic norms of a given culture
reflect how people think.
 What is beautiful to one culture may not be
especially beautiful or may even appear
ugly to another.
 Sometimes, efforts to pursue beauty attract
a negative reaction (unintelligibliness,
ridiculousness). – a translation may also be
so stylistically heavy as to make
comprehension almost impossible.
LINGUISTIC AND AESTHETIC ARGUMENTS
IN TRANSLATION THEORY

Linguistics/Text-oriented theories
take into account the SLT and the
way an equivalent TLT has been
produced and consider it to be of
crucial importance for determining
how the translation process has
occurred and to what extent it has
been successful.
LINGUISTIC AND AESTHETIC
ARGUMENTS IN TRANSLATION THEORY

Linguistic factors exert a direct and


crucial influence upon the process of
translating.

Each of the linguistic factors,


phonological, lexical, syntactic
and textual, can interfere with
translation.
THINK ABOUT THE FOLLOWING POINTS
AND BE PREPARED TO DISCUSS THEM.

 Is a graduate or a postgraduate
qualification a prerequisite for working
as a professional translator in the
Republic of Moldova?
 If someone (individual, company, etc.)
needs a translation, how do they go
about obtaining it?

You might also like