Download - Role of a Translator
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Uloga prevodioca
Professional translators are neitherwalking dictionaries, nor machines that
swallow words in one language thenspit them out whole in another.
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Translators are language professionals. They are applied linguists,competent writers, diplomats, and educated amateurs. Like linguists,translators have to be capable of discerning subtleties and nuances intheir languages, researching terminology and colloquialisms, and handlingnew developments in their languages. Like writers, translators have to be
accustomed to working longh
ours alone on a subject wh
ich
interests fewpeople and with a language that few people around them know. Likediplomats, translators have to be sensitive to the cultural and socialdifferences which exist in their languages and be capable of addressingthese issues when translating. And like educated amateurs, translatorshave to know the basics and some of the details about the subjects theydeal with
The fundamental rule when youre not sure of a term or phrase is ask.An important part of the translators role is to communicate with theclient -- and a good translator knows when to ask questions.
Excerpt from "The Translation Profession" by Roger Chriss
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Kako itati prevod?
Blago promaeni
Vodenica na Flosi/Oliver Tvist
Klie - karakteristike viktorijanskog romana
Sveana reenica, epiteti, vrline
Osobine pievog stila zanemarene
Narcisoidni (prevodilac kao pisac)
Orkanski visovi/Ka svetioniku Zanemareno je ko govori ton, leksika, ritam
reenice
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Kratkovidi/dalekovidi prevodi
revod prati priu G. Grin
Pesnik prevodi poeziju W.H Auden Mehaniki prevodi
Iain Banks, Wasp Factory
Zlodela u prevoenju The Hours. M. Cunningham
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He put the stub of the fat cigar he had been smoking under the coldtap, turned the water on for a second while the brown stumpsizzled and died, then threw the sodden remnant in the bin. I putmy things down on the big table and sat down, shrugging. Myfather turned up the ring on the cooker under the soup-pan,
looking beneath the lid into the warming mixture and then turningback to look at me.
There was a layer of grey-blue smoke in the room at about shoulderlevel, and a big wave in it, probably produced by me as I came inthrough the double doors of the back porch. The wave rose slowlybetween us while my father stared at me. I fidgeted, then looked
down, toying with the wrist-rest of the black catapult. It crossed mymind that my father looked worried, but he was good at acting andperhaps that was just what he wanted me to think, so deep down Iremained unconvinced.
Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory
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Stavio je opuak debele cigare koju je puio ispod slavine sahladnom vodom, odvrnuo je za trenutak dok je braon krnjetakcrvao i gasio se, zatim bacio raskvaeni otpadak u kantu. Spustiosam stvari na sto i seo, sleui ramenima. Otac je pojaao ringlu naporetu ispod erpe sa supom, pogledao ispod poklopca u smeu
koja se podgrevala, a zatim se okrenuo i pogledao mene. Otprilike u visini ramena, u sobi je lebdela zavesa sivoplaviastog
dima, sa velikim talasom u njoj, koji sam verovatno ja napravio kadsam uao kroz dvokrilna vrata zadnjeg trema. Talas se podigaopolako izmeu, dok je otac zurio u mene. Vrpoljio sam se, a ondaoborio pogled poigravajui se drkom crne prake. Proletelo mi je
kroz glavu da otac izgleda zabrinuto, ali on je bio dobar u glumi imoda je hteo da ja ba to pomislim, tako da sam duboko u sebiostao neubeen.
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How to achieve equivalence?
There are (theoretically) two ways to achieve equivalence:
literal translation: this is basically word-for-word translation inwhich the translator opts for formal equivalence the
consequence is th
at a lot of th
e content of th
e source text migh
tnot make it into the target text
free translation: basically meaning-for-meaning translation in whichthe translator aims at getting the meaning of the source textcompletely across even if it means radical formal differences
between the source text and the target text (a.k.a. functionalequivalence) the consequence here is that intended formalfeatures of the source text might not make it into the target text.
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Questions to ask
Equivalence does not only apply at the level of wordsand sentences, but also at text level. The translatormust take (at least) the following textual features intoaccount: semantics: the sense or meaning of each unit (words,
phrases, sentences etc.) in the source text and themeaning of the text as a whole, which is typically morethan just the sum of meanings of the combined units
communicative value of the text: the intended purpose of
the text place in time and space of the text
social context of the text: the sender and the intendedrecipient and the social relations between them
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What? What is the message of the text? What isits propositional content? What is its basiccontent?
Why? What's the intention of the sender? Whatis the purpose of the text? What's theillocutionary force of the text?
When? When is the time of communication?
How? What is the manner of delivery? What'sthe tone of the text? What's the register? What'sthe level of formality?
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What's the channel, or medium, of
communication?
Wh
ere? Wh
at is th
e spatial location of th
etext?
Who? Who is the sender? Who is the
recipient? What is the social relation between
them?
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The factors addressed in these questions, most ofwhich relate to the context of the text, influencethe text in terms of style, tone, register etc., and
these aspects of the source text should also be, ifpossible, transferred onto the target text;basically, they determine the writer's choice offorms. Consequently, they should also determine
the translator's choice of forms, style, registeretc. in the target language, so stylisticequivalence is also retained.
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The translator and the good
translation Tytler's standards are based on the notion of the extreme forms of
translation:
Embellishing translation: where the translator makes use of freetranslation to actually make a target text which is a better or improvedversion of the source text
Copy-cat translation: in which the translator seeks to preserve everyaspect of the source text (even including mistakes)
Tytler's rules of translation basically place the good translationsomewhere in the middle between these two extremes.
The target text should represent all of the content of the source text
The style of the target should be equivalent to that of the source
The target should be structured/composed like the source (and itshould be as easy to read as the source)
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The scale Methods, Newmark 45-48
Copycat translation
word-for-word translation: preservation
of word order and as literal translation as
possible of individual words, including
cultural words
literal translation: apart from as literalas possible translation of individual words,
grammatical structures are converted into
the nearest target language equivalents
faithful translation: stays, if possible,
within the constraints of the grammatical
structures of the target text, but draws on
certain contextual factors
semantic translation: more emphasis on
naturalness than in faithful translation,
and translation of certain cultural words
into neutral equivalents in the TL
communicative translation: aims at
reproducing the exact message of the
source text content-wise and context-wise
but with emphasis on naturalness and
acceptability/comprehensiveness to the
target text readership.
idiomatic translation: makes use of
idioms and colloquialisms that are not
present in the source text.
free translation: focuses on the content
of the target text rather than the form,
whichmeans that the same content is
expressed in th
e target text but with
verydifferent grammatical structures if need be
adaptation: the freest form of translation
and more of a target language/culture
based interpretation of the source text than
a translation as such
Embellishing translation
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Translation procedures
Literal translation
Transference: transferal of a word
or expression from the source
language/text directly into the
target text without translating itat all
Naturalization: basically
transference in which you apply
target language spelling and
morphology (and pronunciation)
to the expression or word in
question
Cultural equivalent: translating aculturally rooted word in the sourcetext/language with a roughlyequivalent culturally rooted word ofthe target language/text
Functional equivalent: translating a
word in the source language/textwith a functionally equivalent targetlanguage word (i.e. a word whichhasthe same meaning)
Descriptive equivalent: translating asource language/text word using adescription of the concept it refers to
in th
e target language (Near) synonymy: translating a source
language/text word or expressionwith a target language expressionthat is nearly, but not completely,functionally equivalent
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Through translation: literal translation of
collocations and combinations
Shift/transposition: translation of a source
language/text expression into a target
language expression which involves
ch
ange in grammatical structure, such
that a specific target language structure is
used
Modulation: change of viewpoint or
substantial conceptual concept in the
translation, for instance, using the name
of a category for a specific member of the
category, using a part for the whole (andvice versa), active for passive etc.
Recognized translation: using a well-
known accepted target language
translation for a specific source language
institutional term
Translation label: provisional target
language translation of a source language
term that does not have any conventional
translation in the target language
Compensation: making up for the loss of
someth
ing in th
e source text, by addingsomething else in the target text
Componential analysis: splitting up a
lexical unit into meaning atoms
Reduction/expansion: adding or removing
elements in translation (essentially a type
of shift)
Paraphrase: amplification or explanation
of meaning in target text