AN OVERVIEW OF REFLECTION ON THE TERMS RELATED TO TRANSLATION To begin with a brief definition of translation, it can be stated that it is basically transferring the words included in one language to the other by making necessary changes and sticking to the source language taken from either the source text or source speech. With the help of rapid technology and the network among countries, the significance given to translation has become an indispensable part of wide range of business and communication purposes. The source determines whether it will be a job of translators or interpreters. It is important to refer each of them by explaining the differences between them at this point. In the first one, the source is a printed material …show more content…
To show an example to grasp the difference between the two of them, it is enough to claim that in its most basic sense, if the translator cannot find an equivalent for the target language, it is at word level. However, if it is above the word level, the job of the translator becomes tougher because she/he needs to deal with more complicated language elements such as collocations, idioms and fixed expressions as clearly stated by Baker. By referring to the Baker’s reasons for non-equivalence, culture-specific concepts should be counted as the first because it is very obscure that each language reflects its culture in its language and that’s why each language differs from one another. For example, a translator may not find an equivalence for the word ‘speed-dating’ just because it doesn’t exist in the target language. Lack of a superordinate word, specific term; differences in terms of form, expressive meaning and semantic complexity of the languages can be added as other cases where we come across with difficulties. In fact, the skills of the translator is needed at this very point to deal with each situation separately by using various strategies. Using a general word, translating by cultural substitution, paraphrasing and omitting the problematic lexical element can be included as the most common strategies. To refer back to what has been explained previously, the complexity of the translation is determined by such factors. Indeed, interpreters seem to come across with more difficulties since they need to think on the
Language and culture are problematic issues when it comes to international marketing. When a company enters the global markets it has to deal with many issues, which do not exist when it comes to the local market. Language is one of the problems and is always a challenge. Even though English is spoken around the world in most cases it cannot be used as a language for international campaign. Therefore the translation of the campaign into the foreign language is very important.
Being bilingual is good enough to understand what others say and able to reply faster and fluently. However, it is not enough for qualifying a bilingual as an interpreter. The interpretation activity goes beyond linguistic level and requires several important elements need to be found in a bilingual. Interpreting requires faultless command of both the source and target source, a deep insight of the subject matter and mastery of the correct methodology needed to carry out the interpreting process(…the interpretive). Interpreters do not only need to speak English fluently, but also they have to understand the cultural back ground of that language which plays a role in comprehension process. Moreover, interpreters trained to work under pressure
The problem with translating words and ideas doesn’t end with the differences in language. If the translator doesn’t fully understand the subject, or fails to grasp the minute distinctions that a guru will often make, then the translation will be wrong.
It is worth noting that most existing codes of conduct, ethics or standards of practice prescribe that the role of an interpreter should be one of “interpreter-as-conduit” role. In this role, the interpreter acts as a means for what is said by one party to reach the other. This is the basic or default role of the interpreter. The interpreter speaks exactly what has been said in the other language. This is contrary to Angelelli’s findings where the interpreter role is much more involved and extends beyond simply interpreting what was
Translator education is currently practiced around the world extensively and Iran is no exception. Through the last decade or so, the number of Iranian universities offering academic translation programs plus the number of the candidates entering such programs has been increasing. While in the mid-1980's just one university in Iran (Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran) offered this program at B.A. level, now the number of Iranian universities offering just the English translation program at M.A. and B.A. level exceeds to 130. Over eight thousand translation students in Iranian academic centers are studying at different branches of State University, Islamic Azad University, Payame Noor University and Private Universities. Accompanied by such an extreme increase in quanti...
A translator must become a trans-creator in order to achieve the above mentioned effects since the original is recreated. This kind of translation becomes transcreation with the liberalism in translation for the translator. A translator feels free to translate whatever pleases.
Clearly enough, the above translations are not all exactly the same, nor are completely different. Some translators in their translations stick for a literal word-for-word translation of the source text, as in the Trot while, others take a freer style. Adding to that, the multiple translations show us how the personal imagination of the translators impacts their interpretation. That is, within the translation process the translators affected directly with their personal perception and visualization of selecting the appropriate meaning of the original text. Therefore, personal perception plays a significant role in choosing a particular word as well as in decision making. As a result, it leads to a slight change in terms of a visual, connotative, or semantic meaning of the target text. All in all, different translations may reflect different versions of the source text based on their
Translator: This is so inexplicable. First, in my method of translation, I consider sentence as unit of translation. Second, should the translator be faithful to the word or meaning? I think, this question is absurd, because the literature is expressed with words. Every word has its own place. If someone says that, he/she takes account of concept, what does it mean? What do you take from concept? When you perceive the concept of political or economic books you do not work with words, where you are not faithful to words, but in literature any word has its own meaning. I am one of those translators, who believe that every word must be used in its place, but not necessarily as, the author has applied. I do not use word-for-word strategy, but,
In their book A Methodology for Translation, Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet condense countless translation methods and procedures to two methods which was divided into seven specific procedures.
Translation means an intense form of cultural and social act of understanding a context and conveying it to another language and culture. Studying on language theories, culture and translation and the relationship between these factors are valuable issues dueto the growing importance of human communication in the world. The variety of languages with different culturesand necessity of communications in human life caused translation to be a very effective factor in communication, exchange of cultures, and knowledge. Translation studies emerged as a distinct discipline in the past few decades and it expanded in unprecedented ways. This expansion has brought with itself a multitude of different and competing approaches, translation models etc. This shows the acceptance of the new born discipline and it established a dominant paradigm. The main job of translators is to provide an effective means of communication. The translator is simultaneously a mediator, creator, manager, producer and sometimes a critic. Efficient communication means translating an original text by word to word basis and meaning-meaning transliteration. It’s delivering the genuine context of the message to the language that the target language user understands. Translators work beyond the boundaries of languages, cultures and societies. They position themselves between the poles of specificity and adaptation in accordance with the strategies of their translational behaviour. Translation is not a simple process of translating word by word and by using a dictionary, it requires a lot of cultural awareness and understanding to be able to say it just like a native language would.Change of ideas, concentration of mutualefforts in different directions, communication among...
“Translating means comparing cultures” (Nord, 2001: 34). Culture involves almost everything in the world, whether material or spiritual. “Everything we observe as being different from our own culture is, for us, specific to the other culture” (ibid). Every action takes place in the context of a specific culture. Since everybody lives in a society, culture is succinctly defined as “the totality of beliefs and practices of a society” (Nida, 2001: 78). Translation is not done in vacuum but also conducted under cultural contexts.
As the statement in the title says, translation offers us the experience and attitudes of another culture or mentality. When for example reading books from typically English authors like Agatha Christie or George Orwell in German or any other language, we learn something about the culture or mentality, because the good description as well as the feeling of being in Britain at the present time, makes this possible.
According to Catford, “General Linguistics is, primarily, a theory about languages work.” and “Translation is an operation performed on languages … [so] any theory of translation must draw upon a theory of language - a general linguistic theory. ” (1965:1). This article discusses mainly the research process of understanding how Translation Studies and Linguistics are related to each other and in what specific aspects these two disciplines contribute to each other.
There has been a heated discussion in the field of Translation Studies with respect to where the emphasis should be put. Should it be on the source text and the sender, on the target text and the receiver or the process itself? This boils down to how one defines translation. This essay offers a critical view on the Skopos theory, which focuses on the translation process. A discussion is included to illustrate the importance of translation brief in both pedagogical and professional settings. Other related theories are presented as well. Finally, the essay concludes with a few remarks and suggestions.
The essential problem with translation is an obvious one. A word has more qualities than just its denotation. For one, a word has a sound, an attribute which has great importance in poetry (though we should not underestimate its significance in prose, as well). Also, a word consists of various connotations, meanings which only rarely cross over from language to language. Complicating matters is the nature of literature itself. Writers and poets put pressure on the language; they often choose words because of their rich variety of meanings, complicating rather than clarifying their subjects. Unfortunately, then, for the translator of literature, the currency of words is not as easy to exchange as the other kind of currency.