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UNIVERZA V MARIBORU
FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA
Oddelek za prevodoslovje
DIPLOMSKO DELO
Tanja ŠPILJAK
Maribor, 2012
UNIVERZA V MARIBORU
FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA
Oddelek za prevodoslovje
Diplomsko delo
PREVODNI PROBLEMI PRI PREVAJANJU UČBENIKOV,
ZNANSTVENIH ČLANKOV IN POLJUDNOZNANSTVENIH
ČLANKOV
Graduation thesis
ISSUES CONCERNING THE TRANSLATION OF
TEXTBOOKS, SCIENTIFIC PAPERS AND POPULAR
SCIENCE TEXTS
Mentorica: Kandidatka:
doc. dr. Klementina Jurančič Petek Tanja Špiljak
Maribor, 2012
Lektorica:
Nika VERHOVNIK, uni. dipl. prevajalka in tolmačinja za angleški jezik in prof. slovenščine
Acknowledgements
First and foremost I would like to express my gratitude towards my mentor Prof.
Klementina Jurančič Petek, Ph.D., for all her help, guidance, assistance and
valuable advice.
I would also like to thank my family and friends for all their support.
IZJAVA
Podpisana Tanja Špiljak, rojena 04. 12. 1983, študentka Filozofske fakultete
Univerze v Mariboru, smer Prevajanje in tolmačenje angleščina ter biologija,
izjavljam, da je diplomsko delo z naslovom ISSUES CONCERNING THE
TRANSLATION OF TEXTBOOKS, SCIENTIFIC PAPERS AND POPULAR
SCIENCE TEXTS pri mentorici doc. dr. Klementini Jurančič Petek, avtorsko
delo.
V diplomskem delu so uporabljeni viri in literatura korektno navedeni; teksti niso
prepisani brez navedbe avtorjev.
__________________________________
(podpis študenta-ke)
Maribor, 31.5.2012
ABSTRACT
Translators may encounter many problems when translating scientific texts. They
have to achieve one primary goal: to write information in a clear, concise, and
accurate manner. A broad knowledge of terminology is the most important
characteristic when dealing with scientific texts. The translators have to identify
the writer-reader relationship and present the new knowledge to a target audience.
This diploma work presents the issues concerning the translation of different
scientific genres. The analysis of the scientific paper text, the textbook text, and
the popular science text shows the main differences and similarities between these
texts.
Key words: translators, scientific text, terminology, scientific genre, scientific
paper, textbook, popular science text.
POVZETEK
Pri prevajanju znanstvenih besedil lahko prevajalci naletijo na mnoge težave.
Vendar morajo doseči osnovni cilj: podati informacije na jasen, jedrnat in pravilen
način. Široko znanje terminologije je ključnega pomena, kadar imamo opraviti z
znanstvenimi besedili. Prevajalci morajo določiti odnos med piscem in bralcem
ter predstaviti novo znanje ciljni publiki.
Diplomska naloga predstavlja prevodne probleme različnih znanstvenih žanrov.
Analiza besedila znanstvenega članka, besedila učbenika in besedila
poljudnoznanstvenega članka prikazuje glavne razlike in podobnosti med temi
besedili.
Ključne besede: prevajalci, znanstveno besedilo, terminologija, znanstveni žanr,
znanstveni članek, učbenik, poljudnoznanstveni članek.
TABLE OF CONTENT
1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1
2 Theory of Scientific Text ................................................................................... 4
2.1 A Brief History of Scientific Text ............................................................................ 4
2.2 Language of Science ................................................................................................ 6
2.2.1 Characteristic of Scientific Text ...................................................................................... 8
2.2.2 “New” or “Given” Information ....................................................................................... 8
2.2.3 Connectors ..................................................................................................................... 10
2.2.4 Clauses and Sentences ................................................................................................... 10
2.2.5 Terminology .................................................................................................................. 11
2.2.6 Nominalisation .............................................................................................................. 12
2.2.7 Equivalence ................................................................................................................... 13
2.2.8 Active versus Passive Voice .......................................................................................... 14
2.2.9 Tense ............................................................................................................................. 15
2.3 Scientific genre ....................................................................................................... 16
2.3.1 Popular science texts ..................................................................................................... 17
2.3.2 Textbooks ...................................................................................................................... 19
2.3.3 Scientific paper .............................................................................................................. 21
2.4 Genre analysis ........................................................................................................ 23
2.5 Translating scientific texts ..................................................................................... 27
2.5.1 Style ............................................................................................................................... 31
2.5.2 Terminology .................................................................................................................. 35
2.5.3 Adaptation ..................................................................................................................... 36
2.5.4 Skopos Theory ............................................................................................................... 37
2.5.5 Register .......................................................................................................................... 37
2.5.6 Weights, Measures, Quantities ...................................................................................... 39
3 Analysis of texts ................................................................................................ 40
3.1 Scientific Paper ...................................................................................................... 40
3.2 Textbook ................................................................................................................. 50
3.3 Popular Science Text ............................................................................................. 57
4 Results and Conclusions .................................................................................. 65
5 Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 68
5.1 Primary literature ................................................................................................... 68
5.2 Secondary literature ............................................................................................... 68
1
1 Introduction
Science consists of accumulated and accepted knowledge, which aims to to
discover general truths. It is classified into abstract sciences, natural sciences, and
human sciences. English language is the language used in scientific discourse; it
has become the world’s predominant language of research and scholarship,
especially in research articles in journals, through which it becomes available for
international scientific community. (Day, 2006)
Day (2006) claims that scientific writing, in its broader sense, includes different
types of journal articles, types of professional communication by scientists, and
writing about science for public purposes.
When we think about scientific text, we mainly think about text that is not easy to
comprehend due to scientific terminology. Scientific text is expository, written in
a “scientific language”, a “jargon” that makes a reader feel excluded. Passive
voice, abstract nouns in place of verbs, and verbs of abstract relation in place of
verbs of material action can be often found in scientific text. (Baram-Tsabari and
Yarden, 2005)
Scientific papers can be challenging and difficult to understand,some may even
consider them dull. Scientists would find it easier, because of its structure and
organization; they need to find a way to efficiently characterize a function,
appearance or composition. However, there are different genres of scientific
writing and many are written for non-specialist readers. Genres are defined by
function, socio-cultural practices, and communicative purposes. Author’s
objective of the text is to introduce science in a comprehensive way and the
translator’s goal is to present that new knowledge to a target audience.
Scientific writing commonly denotes the reporting of original research in journals,
through scientific papers in standard format. In its broader sense, scientific writing
includes communication about science through other types of journal articles,
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such as review papers summarizing and integrating previously published research.
(Day, 2006)
Different scientific genres provide different synonyms; the terminology is not
always standardized. Lexical cohesion depends on antonyms or contrasting
members of taxonomy; some of them require disciplinary knowledge. (Myers,
1991)
However, popular science is an interpretation of science intended for the general
public. This includes television documentaries and magazine articles. Authors of
popular science make textual coherence explicit so that non-specialist readers can
understand the information they want to convey. Their main objective is to make
complex scientific subject comprehensible for everyone. (de Rijke, 2008)
How are popular science texts different from scientific papers and textbooks?
Are textbooks for students similar to scientific papers? How does the translator
translate those genres? Is translation of scientific papers more difficult than
translation of textbooks? Is translation of textbooks more difficult than translation
of popular science texts? I will try to find answers to these questions in my
diploma work.
It is important to know that many scientific texts are written in English and rarely
translated into the Slovene language. It was very difficult to find a Slovene
translation of a scientific paper and a textbook. In scientific texts, mostly in
scientific papers and textbooks, the author-oriented register focuses on the
author's knowledge, and importance of »new« information hardly reaches the
reader. Author is therefore more focused on presenting "new" information and not
so much on "given" information. (Wright, 1993)
When the translator comes across a scientific text, he/she needs to identify the
writer-reader relationship, as this will help them assign the corresponding text
type and interpret the features of the text. This will help the translator
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comprehend, if the text introduces new knowledge or, if the text already includes
facts such as who are the readers of the text (specialists, non-scientists or
students), and role of the writer (report, summery of information, was he/she
involved or not). The organization of the text, on a macro-textual and a micro-
textual level, is also important for the translator. Translators can also analyze
textual features to indicate what type of text they are dealing with. (de Rijke,
2008)
The translator has to produce a comprehensible document by following these
three goals in a target language. To make a technical, or any text for that matter,
"a comprehensible" and convey the context of the original, it has to include
syntactical and lexical features of the source and the target language. Knowing
and conveying the context of the original text is crucial. The translator has to keep
in mind that readers will read only the translation and not the original text. The
translation of the technical and scientific text should convey the exact meaning of
the original text as directly as possible. (Wright, 1993)
It is difficult for translators to produce a translation that considers all the factors,
such as style, terminology, equivalence, and all the features of the original text
that make a good translation.
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2 Theory of Scientific Texts
2.1 A Brief History of Scientific Texts
The history of scientific texts is connected to a cultural and textual development.
It started with the development of paper in year 105 and the introduction of
movable type invented in China, but credit was given to Gutenberg in the year
1455. Until around 17th
century the scientific knowledge was mostly spread in
books, but after scientific journals came into existence in 1665, changes started to
happen. The scientific knowledge started to spread among large number of
people.
Many scientists have begun their careers by using pen and paper, scientific
photographers took photos on film, and then copies of manuscript were sent to a
journal. Things have changed in the electronic era; word processors, graphic
programs, digital photographs enabled a modern way to create scientific papers.
(Day, 2006)
The genre of scientific articles developed from the informative letters that
scientists had always written to each other – and they still do. (Swales, 2001)
The publication of papers may have changed, but much has stayed the same. The
basic structure, process, and ethical norms and features have stayed the same. We
can still see the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion)
structure in scientific papers.
Early journals published “descriptive” papers, where the observations were
chronological. By the second half of the 19th
century methodology became
important. Pasteur found it necessary to describe his experiments in detail, so that
his peers could reproduce his experiments, which became a philosophy of science.
After World War II the medical research increased, scientific research increased,
and with that scientific papers were produced. The need for organization and
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saving space in the research journals was necessity. The IMRAD format came
into universal use. (Day, 2006)
Scientific texts are also a part of the culture and society they represent.
Determinant factors for language in scientific writing are socio-cultural
developments.
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2.2 Language of Science
Scientific language is more concept-centered. Carol Reeves (1992) writes about
the language of science as a language, which is very different from language of
advertising or poetry, but it is no less important. Scientists need to find a way to
efficiently characterize a function, appearance or composition.
Scientific language does not use connotations that reflect emotions or culture. It
used to be believed that scientists’ study can emerge from cultural assumptions
and biases, but scientists might not recognize it as such.
Pinchuk categorized features of scientific and technological language:
- Technical language is specialized and with each day it becomes more
specialized in contrast with ordinary language. The controlled language of
science movestoward insipidity and colorlessness.
- It seeks the most economic use of linguistic means to achieve
standardization of terms and usage.
- It seeks to avoid ordinary language associations and endeavors to define
terms accurately. (Pinchuk, 1977: 165)
When dealing with the scientific text, Kirkman (1995) shows a set of oppositions:
Sentences short vs. long
simple vs. complex
Vocabulary short vs. long
ordinary vs. grandiose
familiar vs. unfamiliar
non-technical vs. technical
concrete vs. abstract
Phrasing normal, comfortable idiomatic
expression vs. special stiff scientific
idioms
direct, incisive phrasing vs. roundabout,
verbose phrasing
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verb forms active vs. passive
personal vs. impersonal
Paragraphing use vs. non-use
Punctuation careful use vs. casual, random use
Table 1: Set of oppositions
Robert A. Day (2006) describes scientific writing as a term that commonly
denotes the reporting of original research in journals, through scientific papers in
standard format. In its broader sense, scientific writing includes communication
about science through other types of journal articles, such as review papers
summarizing and integrating previously published research. And in a broader
sense, it includes other types of professional communication among scientists; for
example, grant proposals, oral presentations, and poster presentations. Related
endeavors include writing about science for the public, sometimes called the
science writing.
There are specific features, which distinguish scientific texts from literary texts.
Day (2006) has few characteristic of scientific writing:
- Clear, simple, and well ordered as possible.
- No metaphors, similes, idiomatic expressions - they cause confusion.
- Clear and certain meaning (not just for the author's peers, but also for
students, scientists reading outside their own discipline, and readers,
whose native language is not English).
The main goal of the scientist is to communicate the new scientific findings;
therefore the scientific text has to have a specific organization of the text:
- Key is to communicate clearly and efficiently in science, this includes:
- A standard format
- Organizing ideas logically within that format. (R. A. Day, 2006)
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2.2.1 Characteristic of Scientific Texts
John Hutchins (1977) writes about the structure of scientific texts in his article. He
followed van Dijk’s (1972) structure to study the micro- and macro-structure.
According to de Rijke (2008) the vocabulary of scientific texts is not the only
problem when a non-specialist is reading it. Those “big words” cannot be solved
with any dictionary, if the reader does not know various lexical relations. Beside
the lexical relations the reader has to know the sense of the words and the function
of connectives. Moreover, the roots and affixes may be more regularized and the
relations between forms remain ambiguous (for example: infection, infectious,
infected; the relation is not transparent).
According to Myers (1991), different scientific genres provide different
synonyms, the terminology is not always standardized, and therefore the reader
has to be careful. Lexical cohesion depends on antonyms or contrasting members
of taxonomy. Some of them require the disciplinary knowledge (for example:
eucaryotic or procaryotic; RNA and DNA). Hyponyms are more common in
popular science texts; in addition the superordinate relations can be used in
definitions. (Myers, 1991)
2.2.2 “New” or “Given” Information
Hutchins (1977) divided a communicational role of a sentence into two parts: first
part is the information that has already been said or written also known as ‘given’
information; and the second part are elements that convey ‘new’ or unpredictable
information.
According to Wright (1993) the information given by the author, which are more
or less easily identified by the reader, are either "given" or "new". It is important
to emphasize that the text contains both information for the reader. Those are
relative terms of what the author perceives the reader to know (=given) or not to
know (= new). Whether the reader can identify "given" information depends on
the reader's knowledge (the reader's perspective). This also depends on whether
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the reader's and author's perspectives overlap (if they share the same assumptions
in a specific situation). If we follow Grice's cooperative principle of manner, we
can assume that the scientific and technical register reflects an agreement between
the reader and the author about the proportion of what the author thinks are
"given" information or information that are known to the reader and "new"
information or unknown to the reader. The author-reader contact is determined by
cultural norms which vary. The author can present his information that can be
closer to the reader (reader-oriented) or more distant to the reader (author-
oriented). If the text is more reader-oriented then the author obtains the reader's
"empathy" of presented information by establishing "closeness" to the reader. This
is achieved by providing a great deal of "given" information so the reader can
easily relate to the "new" information. If the reader can easily identify to the given
message then the text appears more understandable and more "interesting".
On the other hand, author-oriented register focuses on the author's knowledge and
the importance of »new« information hardly reaches the reader. Author is
therefore more focused on presenting "new" information and not so much on
"given" information. No matter who the register is oriented towards, the accepted
norm in a particular culture depends on:
(1) The value system prevalent in a society with regard to the status of the
knowledge, science, and technical register
(2) The relevant values of the individual to other individuals or the society. (S. E.
Wright & L. D. Wright, 1993)
The author always starts with what is known to the reader and then progresses to
new information. According to Daneš (1974) themes can progress in two ways:
(a) linear progression or (b) parallel progression. We can also mark this as
sentences being related subordinatively or coordinatively.
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2.2.3 Connectors
Conjunctions used in narrative texts are different from those used in descriptive
texts (e.g. scientific texts). To portray so called ‘semantic progression’ in this
genre we often use connectors that express:
Spatial relationship behind, in front of, next to, beside
Cause because, therefore
Circumstances Since
Result So
Reason For
Concession although, nevertheless, yet, in spite of
Condition if…then
Correlation as … so
Coordination And
Alternation or, either …or, alternatively
Antithesis but, on the contrary, on the other hand
Table 2: Connectors
Other connectors for parallel progression would be: furthermore, in addition,
firstly, secondly, in other words, for example, once again. (J. Hutchins, 1977)
2.2.4 Clauses and Sentences
There are three basic functions of language:
1) Ideational (case relationship – agent, patient, locative, ect.; verb
categorization – action, process, event; voices –active, passive;
semantic progression; content)
2) Interpersonal (‘modalities’ – indicative, imperative, declarative, ect.;
syntactic categories – subject, verb, object, ect.; discourse)
3) Textual (‘given’ or ‘new’ information; thematic progression)
(J. Hutchins, 1977)
Kirkman (1995) claims that sentences should be reasonably short and not
complex. Since the readers are not experts and they are unfamiliar with the
vocabulary, the complex sentences make the text even more unreadable.
11
Sentences in scientific writing are strings of ideas, which make a compound
sentence structure. Many ideas can also be rearranged into subordination, which
makes a complex sentence structure.
2.2.5 Terminology
According to Wright (1993), the weight and familiarity of words and the number
of ideas combined in each structural unit and the complexity, with which they are
arranged, is the most difficult part that concerns the scientific text. When reading
the scientific text, it is helpful to break sentences into smaller units and find
familiar words. Authors of scientific writing should write plainly and comfortably
as possible, avoiding formality of expressions. The most important is accuracy of
the meaning and many times this means using a long, scientific, unfamiliar word,
which should be supported with an explanation, if necessary. Most scientific
words are a necessity, which is why it is important to use minimal syllables to
build a sentence. When a word has a familiar meaning it is easier for the reader to
comprehend the text.
Jargon is often used, not to exclude non-scientists, but for the scientists to convey
precise meaning; it is the quickest and most efficient way of communication
between scientists.
Kirkman (1995) argues that in the scientific text nouns are used as pre-modifiers
excessively, which causes a discomfort for readers, for example: water loss
prevention (to prevent loss of water). It may be easier to comprehend, if nouns
were used as post-modifiers, for example: collection of data.
Newmark (2005) suggests that the translator can delete, slim down or reduce
jargon. This means that the translator deletes redundant words and words that are
too broad for the text; in particular verbal or adjectival nouns. But when these
words are used in a technical sense, we cannot delete them. How far can the
translator go, when reducing words, depends on two factors:
a) The degree of the authoritativeness of the SL statement (i.e., the more
authoritative, the less linguistic changes can be made);
12
b) The norms of the SL and TL.
It is easier to reduce empty verbs.
2.2.6 Nominalisation
According to Freeborn (1996) “a nominalisation is a noun created from a verb”. A
word is used for the process by which a verb is nominalised (for example: n.
consideration ↔ v. consider).
Kirkman (1995) claims that we can encounter nominalisation when scientists try
to express themselves in a more abstract way, they use excessive nominalisation –
use of ‘noun-centered’ sentences. For example: A reduction in the time required
may be effected (The time required can be reduced).
De Rijke claims that nominalisation or “grammatical metaphorisation” process is
a means of the sentence function. A sentence is a grammatical device to describe a
situation. Clauses in the scientific text contain a great amount of semantic
information to support the author’s knowledge. The syntactic structure of these
clauses can be quite simple, despite containing a lot of information. Moreover,
such clauses contain several syntactic units, which are extensive grammatical
metaphorisations. Authors, therefore, turn verbs and adjectives into nouns. With
this they create a new noun. Appearances of nominalisation in the scientific texts
are characteristic of the changes in scientific thinking and methods from the 17th
century on. Nominalisation is common in scientific texts and nouns resulting from
nominalisation can be new LSP (language of scientific purpose) terms. These
terms have two advantages: by being nouns they can participate in various
processes and they can be used to create taxonomies. For example, “radiation” as
a result of nominalisation, can be a hypernym and it can be subdivided into
different kinds of radiation. Nominalisation can simplify syntactic structure of the
sentence and can increase lexical diversity by carrying a lot of semantic
information. This means that the nominalisation enables science authors to convey
a large amount of information with a small number of words.
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According to Swales (2001: 134) “nominals are used when making claims about
other statements, rather than simply making statements”.
Some examples of nominalisation in scientific text:
presence of oxygen and water (both oxygen and water are present)
possibility of O2 formation (it is possible that O2 is formed)
CO oxidation (CO oxides)
2.2.7 Equivalence
According to Baker (1992) finding equivalence in translation has to involve
decoding the source language text and find an appropriate equivalent in the target
text. That covers linguistic units, such as words, phrases, clauses, idioms, and
proverbs. Non-equivalence can pose difficulties for the translator when translating
the terminology of scientific texts.
Newmark (2005) argues that in informative texts the equivalence is desirable only
in respect to the insignificant emotional impact. The cultural items have to be
explained by culturally neutral or generic terms, content has to be simplified, and
difficulties clarified.
Eugene Nida (1964) distinguished between two types of equivalence: formal and
dynamic. First one focuses on the form and content of the message, the latter
focuses on producing the equivalent effect on the target language readers by
forming the message to the linguistic specifications of the target language and
culture. If the objective is to keep the translation as close as possible to the source
text, then formal equivalence is produced. Moreover, if we try to conform the
target text to the target culture, then we are producing dynamic equivalence.
Sometimes the translator cannot allign the form with the content, so there is a
general rule that the content is more important than the form, if the translator
wants to achieve equivalent effect.
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However, Harvey and Higgins (1992) argue that equivalence can be misleading,
since the translation is always between two different cultures, and therefore the
effect cannot be the same. They focus more on the reduction of the loss caused by
the translation. Therefore, the translator has to decide which relevant features of
the text will be preserved. (Sharkas, 2009)
2.2.8 Active versus Passive Voice
“Voice is a grammatical term used to describe the possibility we have in English
of viewing the action of a sentence in two ways without changing the facts
reported.” (Kirkman, 1995: 54)
Kirkman (1995) argues that the passive voice is a feature of the English language
and it can be used for writing and speaking and not only in science and
technology. However, the active and passive voices are used for specific purposes,
to create the emphasis in a statement. While using passive voice we move the
interest from the ‘performer’ to the ‘undergoes’ of the action; the information
stays the same, but the emphasis is different. By shifting between active and
passive voice, the caution is needed, because the sentence can have a different
meaning in the passive that it has in the active. The passive voice can be used in
specific circumstances:
When we think the information about the agent is not important or it is
obvious.
When we do not know the agent.
When we want to assert a generally held belief.
When we do not want to state who is responsible for an idea or action.
According to Newmark (2005), native English writers tend to use passive voice
excessively and without any specific purpose. The excessive use of passive voice
in texts can produce an undesirable effect:
The prose becomes too heavy.
It is difficult to read.
It becomes unnecessarily complicated.
15
Day (2006) argues that the active voice is more precise and less wordy than the
passive voice.
Kirkman (1995) claims that technical writers are the ones who normally wish to
emphasize the findings of the work or the procedures, not the people who did
them; this is not true in popular science texts. They want accounts for their work
to be as impersonal as possible, which they achieve by using the passive voice.
However, active writing does not have to be personal.
2.2.9 Tense
According to Kirkman (1995) many scientists use the abstract roundabout style
and they are following the ‘rule’ that scientific texts have to be written in past
tense, passive voice, and third person (or impersonal). It is natural to use the past
tense to describe the experiment that has already been done, to write about
equipment used and the procedures that followed. When quoting general
principles it is appropriate to use present tenses and in discussions of data and
results the past and present tenses can be used.
Kirkman (1995) argues that writers of scientific texts contend that the readers are
primarily interested in facts and not who established them, so they use third
person. Many times natural writing would be more appealing, since it is even
more clear and accurate for the readers.
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2.3 Scientific genre
Routledge Encyclopedia of Translational Studies (1998) writes that genre “refers
to the linguistic expression conventionally associated with certain forms of
writing”. Genre is a carrier of a communication act and a mean of meaningful
communication.
According to Swales (2001), genre is a distinctive type or category of discourse of
any type, spoken or written, with or without literary aspirations. In the United
States, genre has become associated with a way of constructing particular text. It
can be defined as a mere mechanism.
Scientific genre includes three different subgenres:
scientific paper,
textbooks
popular science texts
According to Wright (1993) scientific papers, textbooks, and popular science texts
are transfactual texts. The author of these texts wishes to enhance the reader’s
knowledgebase about a certain domain of fact. The information has to be new to
the reader. Scientific papers are defined as transfactual I and presuppose an expert
knowledge. The reader evaluates the possible truth value of the information with
respect to the evidence. Moreover, textbooks and popular science texts are defined
as transfactual II and presuppose a non-expert knowledge. The author provides a
new knowledgebase or expands the existing one.
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2.3.1 Popular science texts
Scientific texts are not structured only in the IMRAD format; they’re not only
formal, third-person, passive, and impersonally constructed. There is more to
science than just scientific papers with IMRAD formats. We cannot forget about
popular science, which is an interpretation of science intended for general public,
rather that scientists and students. This includes television documentaries and
magazine articles. (Wordiq, 2012)
The authors of popular science texts make textual coherence explicit so that non-
specialist readers can understand the information they want to convey. Their main
objective is to make the complex scientific subject comprehensible for everyone.
Instead of the long noun phrases they use relative clauses, which are not hard to
understand. That makes a text longer, but the main objective is not the length of
the article, it is comprehension. The authors also tend to humanize the process of
the scientific discovery and focus on the individual researchers, which makes
science less incomprehensible. (W. de Rijke, 2008)
Parkinson and Adendorff (2004) wrote an article about popular science articles,
where they argue that popular science articles cannot serve as a model of scientific
writing, due to the provisional facts, and not controvertible or establish facts as in
scientific papers or textbooks. Popular texts function as a narrative for new
knowledge, not yet accepted as facts by research community. In contrast with
scientific papers and textbooks, popular texts focus on people and what they say
and think.
Popular science articles may be structured as debates between contesting voices.
They report evaluations of the experts. In contrast with scientific papers, the main
objective in popular texts is writing what experts said and not expressing the
writer’s opinion.
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Example from National Geographic magazine, 2010:
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture has been dabbing wild Venus
flytraps …
Charles Darwin knew better, and the topsy-turvy ways of carnivorous plants
enthralled him.
The human participants are often specified (e.i. real scientists) in popular text, in
contrast with textbooks where they are generic. Personalized human participants
can also be found in popular texts; their names and affiliated institutions are
provided (e.g. Alexander Volkov, a plant physiologist at Oakwood University in
Alabama; from National Geographic magazine, 2010). The other characteristics
of popular text are:
1. temporal conjunctions referring to present time (e.g. in 1860)
2. nominalised mental and verbal processes (e.g. analysis)
3. a narrative for knowledge claims (e.g. Swedish photographer Helene
Schmitz shot less assertive plants for National Geographic story on
Carl Linnaeus in June 2007.)
Writers of popular texts make scientists personalities; they use humor and are
distancing scientists as a group from non-scientist readers. The reader feels
recognized, the writer includes him/her into their own field, and he/she uses a
narrative form, the enthusiasm for the topic, and the humor. (Parkinson and
Adendorff, 2004)
According to Myers (1991) the non-specialist readers can relate to popular science
texts easier. They do not assume the knowledge; the text introduces the lexical
relations, they build the bridge between two registers (the specialized discipline
and the common usage of the publication). The structure of popular texts offers
the definition of terms at the beginning and the word that is not defined, is marked
as a new or technical term. Moreover, metaphors can be found in popular texts to
convey process in general terms (for example: translating a gene – gene is read).
19
2.3.2 Textbooks
The scientific genre also includes textbooks for students. Parkinson and
Adendorff noted that genre in textbooks is similar to the genre of scientific papers.
Both include the technical language and high level of nominalisation.
Characteristics of textbook writing:
a. Nouns are usually used as object (for example: recovery (not
recover)).
b. Embedded clauses are used to extend a nominal group
At the end of the disc there is an opening, which is covered by a hinged piece of
tissue [that acts as a doorway]. (P. Scott, 2008)
c. They employ more relational clauses (that indicate equivalence
relations and note attributes) than material clauses (that indicate
actions or happenings):
This behavior underpins plant carnivory and is the essential characteristic of
carnivorous plants. (P. Scott, 2008)
The authors usually do not include people in the text; they just stick to their
objective. Using the propositions with people may be seen as writing in a
subjective opinion or even showing emotions. By removing people from
prepositions, using the passive voice, and nominalisation makes the text seem
impersonal and gives the impression of objectivity. If they use person references
in the text, they are usually generic and not specific (for example: scientists
believe that …).
Carnivorous plants are often viewed as being a minor group … (P. Scott, 2008)
Readers of textbooks are students; therefore they are less powerful than a writer.
They are part of the research community. Another difference between scientific
papers and textbooks is that scientific papers must propose new information.
20
Textbooks do not contain new, but only summarized information accepted as facts
by a research community. Information in the textbook is removed from the time
and place (as in scientific papers) and from the researcher. It is obvious that
textbooks do not have an IMRAD structure; they contain discussion, recount, and
exposition. The main objective in textbooks is to explain and inform. The source
of information in textbooks is the writer, who is summarizing information from
scientific papers. The writer is more powerful than a reader; the reader is not
included in the text. (Parkinson and Adendorff, 2004)
21
2.3.3 Scientific papers
Swales (2001) claims that information given in scientific papers can be compared
to reading newspapers. There are parallels between the headline and the title, the
lead and the abstract, the main event and the major findings, and so on. Scientific
papers have distinguished chronological procedure, which reflect the traditional
organization. This genre has special features, such as informative titles, prominent
abstracts, marked sectioning and non-verbal material (tables, graphs, diagrams). A
scientific paper is a written text, up to thousand words, which reports on the
investigation carried out by an author. It contains findings; it examines issues of
theory and/or methodology. They are mostly published in research journals.
According to Hutchins, Gopnik (1972) has identified three different types of
scientific paper: the “controlled experiment” type, the “hypothesis testing” type
and the “technique description” type. Every type has a somewhat similar
structure, but has few points that vary. They mainly differ in ‘conclusion’.
Pattern of the scientific paper by Hutchins:
Current approach
Demonstration of inadequacies
Statement of problem
Statement of hypotheses
Testing the hypotheses
Solution: ‘proof’ of hypothesis
Syntactic and lexical features of scientific papers:
- Noun clauses and temporal and causal subordinate clauses (less relative
clauses);
- Shift from description to explanation (increase in intellectual complexity);
- Subject of main clauses have become more abstract;
- Concreter subjects are replaced with nouns of quality or process.
Swales (2001)
22
According to Swales (2001) all research genres need to maintain a ‘quality’ via
form of refereeing process, the acceptable level of consistency among the articles
needs to be maintain as well, with regard to sectioning, style, and referencing.
23
2.4 Genre analysis
Nike K. Pokorn (2009) claims that when dealing with genre, we must centre not
only on the substance or form of discourse, but also on the action it is used to
accomplish. Bhatia (1993) writes: “Each genre is an instance of a successful
achievement of a specific communicative purpose using conventionalized
knowledge of linguistic and discoursal resources”.
Genre analysis begins with the text and the context. Professional nature of the
discourse community should be defined and we also need to define a writer, the
audience, and their relationship. It is important to also define the background of
genre and the topic. To analyze it, we need to take into the consideration the
communicative purpose, the situational context, and distinctive textual
characteristic. The linguistic analysis can concentrate on the lexico-grammatical
features, the text-pattering, and the structural interpretation (Bhatia, 1993).
The text–pattering involves comprehending how members of a discourse
community defined values to various aspects of language used in particular genre.
Pokorn (2009: 170) argues that “by doing so, we explain the function of linguistic
features in a specific genre, which helps us understand why members of
secondary cultures write the way they do: for example, the use of noun phrases.”
To explain structuring, Swales (1981) indicates four characteristic of research
papers:
1. Establishing the research field, 2. Summarize the previous research, 3. Prepare
for present research, 4. Introduce the present research. This structure can also be
different.
When addressing cross-cultural point of view, scientific reports are constructed
out of the social relations within a research community. When writing in scientific
genre, Pokorn (2009) argues that a writer needs to have “a highly sophisticated
sense of audience, as well as an ability to convey rhetorically charged information
– to be persuasive without appearing to be so”.
24
Pokorn (2009: 171) writes that “analysis of the translation is based on functional
comparison of text across languages; this is linked to a functional approach to
translation, which looks at the purpose of the target text and examines how
successfully it has been realized through translation process”. The translator has to
take a top-down approach and start with situational and cultural context
(including genre conventions associated with both languages). When he/she is
dealing with contextualized meaning, he/she also has to consider individual items
in terms of their function within the text. The translator decisions involve
consideration of the context; moreover, he/she has to consider text strategies and
syntactic formation of the sentences. There is also other factor the translator has to
consider: the setting, participants (writer, reader), roles (communicative, social),
goals, the social knowledge, norms, and values. Pokorn has developed a model to
analyze the role played by translation; it assesses language use that relates to the
reader’s expectation, it also deals with the text as the process and as the product
(i.e. how it is interpreted by the translator and by the reader to conduct a
meaningful text).
Genre analysis explains socio-cultural, institutional, and organizational constrains
of communication.
“For assessment of how well a translated text functions in comparison with
similar text within the target culture, the concept of genre is more useful than that
of text type (defined in terms of predominant rhetorical purpose) or register
(which represents the more general linguistic choices that are made in order to
realize genres)”. (Pokorn, 2009: 172)
When the translator is analyzing the translation, he/she can compare it with the
text that matches the genre and the source text. It is important to identify the goal
of the text, which can be different for different genres. The translation purpose has
to be achieved, that helps to determine the structure of the discourse and
constrains the content. Analysis of the text needs to take into account: ideational,
interpersonal and textual functions of the text, coherence (achieving
25
communicative goal and what is efficient), and “informativity” (new-given
patterns). (Nike K. Pokorn, 2009)
Pokorn (2009) describes David Limon’s analysis of texts that focuses on three
aspects of translation and its environment:
- “the intralinguistic profile of the translation compared to a non-translated
text of the same genre in the target culture;
- the interlinguistic profile of the translated text in relation to its source
language;
- the extralinguistic relations between the translation, the situation in which
it is produced and socio-cultural context in which it is embedded”.
(Pokorn, 2009: 175)
The analysis follows nine steps: 1. Describing the context of situation, 2.
Analyzing the context of culture, 3. Identifying the communicative purpose, 4.
Identifying relevant genre conventions, 5. Analyzing the text profile, 6. Assessing
the coherence of the message, 7. Analyzing in terms of cohesion, 8. Analyzing in
terms of information structure and 9. Describing representative register features.
The crucial factor of the context of situation is “whether translators are working
into or out of their first language” and also “which genres the translators usually
deal with and whether they are familiar with genre conventions of the target text”
(Pokorn, 2009: 176) (for example, a translator may usually deal with technical
text and rarely with promotional text). Anther important factor is an available
translation infrastructure (e.g. glossaries, software).
Step two is dealing with context of culture. Pokorn (2009) claims that when
translating scientific writing from English into Slovene, Anglo-Saxon cultural
values can be seen as universal or neutral, therefore no cultural filter is employed,
rhetorical patterns and register values are imported directly into Slovene, which
influences a wide range of genres. Many textual features are transferred into the
target text in English. This happens, if the translators are translating from their
26
mother tongue, which influences on what they produce in the (foreign) target
language.
Even when we deal with the same genre, there can be differences in terms of
communicative purpose, due to the different communicative roles and the status of
their authors.
Genre conventions deal with the information structure. Too much or too little
information can affect the coherence of the text, which can make comprehension
of the text difficult for the reader. An author has to be aware of the reader’s needs.
Reader-friendly text can be achieved through organization and layout of the text
and clarity.
Comparison of the text structure (sections, sub-sections, paragraphs) is the main
factor in text profile.
Coherence includes the order of information presented to the reader and clarity of
expression. The lack of coherence can place unnecessary demands on the reader.
Cohesion can sometimes be lost during the translation process. Many times the
cohesive patterns can be clearer in the controlled text. The reader’s expectations
are often not met due to determiners, conjunctions, and lack of cohesive links
between paragraphs.
Next step, register features, depend on the particular genre and the research goals.
It focuses whether the translator had achieved the same communicative purpose as
the author.
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2.5 Translating scientific texts
Every translator needs to follow basic rules, before starting a translation. When
reading a translation, translator has to understand it and analyze it from a
translator’s point of view. Then he/she uses a right method of translation and
indentifies problems that are common for the translation of the text. (Newmark,
2005)
When the translator comes across a scientific text, he/she needs to identify the
writer-reader relationship, as this will help him assign a corresponding text type
and interpret the features of the text. This will help the translator comprehend: if
the text introduces new knowledge or does the text already includes facts; who are
the readers of the text (specialists, non-scientists or students); and the role of the
writer (report, summery of information, was he/she involved or not), etc. The
organization of the text, on a macro-textual and a micro-textual level, is also
important for the translator. The translator can also analyze the textual features to
indicate with what type of text they are dealing with. (W. de Rijke, 2008)
Newmark (2005) suggests that the translator needs to read the text, understand it
and even underline the difficult words. Then he/she needs to assess its nature,
formality, and its intention. It is also important to define possible cultural and
professional differences between the readers of the translation and the readers of
the original text. Next the translator has to recognize the style, so he/she can adopt
the structure and format of the text; therefore it is important to know whether
he/she is translating a paper or an article. The translator must translate or at least
transfer or account for every word, every number, letter, and punctuation mark.
Grammatical features can be translated boldly and freely (cutting sentences,
converting verb into nouns, etc.).
According to M. Gotti & S. Šarčević (2006) a translator needs to focus on
lexicogrammar, as well as lexis itself. Although the translators recognize lexis and
process syntax, scholars include pragmatic and rhetorical features that are initially
reserved for literature and philosophy.
28
Sandor Harvey and Ian Higgins (2002) write about three sorts of lexical problems
arising from specialized use of technical terms:
1.) Terms are not used in everyday, ordinary language and therefore they are
unfamiliar to the translator. Many times translator needs help from the
expert or specialist.
2.) Terms whose everyday use is familiar to the translator, but are used in a
specialized way in SL.
3.) Term that may have an everyday sense that is not obviously wrong in the
context. Translator does not recognize the term as the technical one.
This shows how necessary up-to-date specialist dictionaries and databases are for
the translators. But even those dictionaries are quickly out of date, because
science is constantly developing.
They also write about the conceptual reasons why the technical and scientific texts
are difficult to translate:
1.) Ignorance of underlying knowledge taken for granted by experts, but not
understood by non-specialist. Conceptual unfamiliarity of the text makes it
easy for inexperienced translator to make a mistake. Just one mistake can
change the entire concept of the text.
2.) The “logic” of the discipline – methods of argumentation, the development
of relations between concepts. Only solution with this is that translators
learn the concept of the field or to work in close consultation with an
expert. But not even expert translator can keep up with all the latest
researches while doing the translation.
Scientific translation, like the translation of any genre, requires familiarity with
SL and TL material of similar type, to serve as a source of information and a
stylistic model. It will take the translator some time to find the right information,
concept or lexis. Sources of information can be encyclopedias, journals,
textbooks, theses and dissertations, also the internet, where we get up-to-date
information. Some organizations keep databases and term banks (e.g.
Eurodicautom). These databases are continually added to, and translator conforms
29
to the agreed rendering; that is how clarity and consistency are kept. (S. Harvey &
I. Higgins, 2002: 180-181)
The translator needs to acquire the basic understanding of terminology of the text
and its various applications. The translators need to be terminologists, while
making a decision concerning the right choice among alternative expression forms
or the creation of neologisms or paraphrases. (Routledge Encyclopedia of
Translation Studies, 1998)
Myers (1991) argues that, if dealing with scientific text, the specialized
knowledge is needed.
According to Nike K. Pokorn (2009), when we talk about the translation, genre is
a useful way of looking at texts. She claims that “the emphasis on the
acceptability of any genre within the discourse community echoes the concept of
acceptability within the target culture, as opposed to the adequacy in relation to
the source text”. At the same time the communicative purpose matches the aim of
target text within Skopos theory (Reiss and Vermeer, 1984).
Myers (1991) argues that the translator must know which words and phrases count
for technical terms, which are common collocations and which terms are from
general usage.
Textual organization does not usually pose a problem for translator, if the text has
the IMRAD structure, translator must follow the same structure as well as the
structure in the popular article or in the textbook.
Title: The advantage of translating a title of the scientific paper is that it usually
states a subject, but not necessarily an intention or purpose of process described.
One of the problems that arise when translating a title for the scientific text is the
misleading adjectives and noun collocations for standardized terms. (Newmark,
2005)
30
Another problem is translating the titles of authors or names of the institutions,
where transferring a name is useful for the readers.
According to Wright (1993) the title “refers to what type of information is
conveyed in what manner and how the title relates to the remaining text”. (Wright,
1993: 26)
The title indicates what the text is about, informs the reader about the content, and
describes the author’s attitude. The author wants to make the text interesting for
the reader, the text that the reader can relate to. The title of the scientific text has
primarily an “informative” function about the text.
Going through the text follows the translation of the title. Newmark (2005)
suggests, that translator should read through the text, underline all the words, and
sentences that appear difficult. In the scientific text the translator need to focus on:
- Unfamiliar words that appear transparent and have Greek or Latin
origin. The translator should not produce neologisms and should check
suffixes of chemistry terms.
- Numbers and symbols. They have to be equivalent with numbers and
symbols of target language.
- Semi-empty words. Semi-empty words like ‘represents’ or ‘lies’ can be
reduced to ‘is’ or ‘in’ in the target language.
- Verbs often require recasting of the sentence in the target language. For
example: “organic samples and a sophisticated equipment have to be
prepared for this technique” (za to tehniko moramo pripraviti organske
vzorce in zapleteno opremo).
According to Newmark (2005) the translator has to translate sentence after
sentence and make grammatical shifts to form a natural language. The translator
needs to loosen the syntax, discover the natural word order, find the appropriate
jargon word, and avoid the jargon that only adds suffixes (- zation; - ology; - ism;
ect.). When faced with the scientific text, the translator can take his freedom and
31
change the grammar (shorten the sentences, switch the words in the sentences,
etc.).
There are many Greek or Latin terms in the scientific texts, which are
internationally known terms (plants and animals), therefore the translator can use
the Latin term, if there is no equivalent word for it in a target language.
(Newmark, 2000)
2.5.1 Style
Wright (1993) claims that the main goals in technical writing need to be
simultaneous to the translation. These goals are: clarity, concision, and
correctness. The translator has to produce the comprehensible document by
following these three goals in a target language. To make technical or any text for
that matter, "a comprehensible" and convey the context of the original, it has to
include syntactical and lexical features of source and target language. Knowing
and conveying the context of the original text is crucial. The translator has to keep
in mind that readers will read only the translation and not the original text. The
translation of technical and scientific text should convey the exact meaning of the
original text as directly as possible.
Clarity
According to Wright (1993), if syntactical and lexical features of the source and
target language differ, than the sentence in the target language is recast completely
and clarity is reached. By choosing the right meaning of the word or even
eliminating the word, the text becomes comprehensible, but not literal. Sentences
can be broken and rearranged; words with different degree of specificity can be
used in order to reach clarity. Sometimes there is not an exact word that would
completely match the original, therefore the translator needs to find a closes word
to the original word. The translator may have to use a terminology with a different
degree of specificity than of the original text, because the English language has a
larger lexicon than Slovene. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to find such
narrow lexical meaning in Slovene that is equivalent to the English word.
Moreover, the translator has to use a term that is more general or more specific
32
than used in the original text. To make text even more clearer and concise, a
translator can eliminate all the unnecessary repetitions.
Concision
Wright (1993) suggests that every idea of the original text needs to be included in
the translation. Many authors of technical texts write poorly organized texts, so
the translator can improve the organization of it and help the reader to efficiently
understand the text. The translator can improve concision sentence by sentence.
Sentences can be recast into proper target language word order and repetitions can
be eliminated, if they are not common in the target language.
Correctness
According to Wright (1993), correctness in technical translation means two
things. First, it is an accurate re-creation of ideas and technical terms of original to
target language. To reach this re-creation, the translator has to have some detailed
knowledge about the subject of the text. "Accurate" re-creation also means not
including all the typographical and grammatical errors in the original and reach
comprehension of the translation. If words or grammatical structures are not fully
understandable, they should be footnoted. Guessing is impermissible in technical
translation.
Second, correctness means producing accurate translation of technical text despite
the mistakes in the original. The translator cannot be expected to discover all the
errors, but he/she is the only one, who will read the original text so closely.
Therefore, the translator is likely to find misstatements, inconsistencies, and errors
of fact.
“Common errors in technical papers, which the translator’s knowledge of
subject matter should allow him or her to detect, include inconsistencies
between listed numbers in tables and conclusions drawn from those
numbers, textual references to one thing and accompanying diagrams
clearly showing something else, parameters in the tables referred to by
33
non-obvious symbols with no definitions of the symbols ever being given,
/…/. Translator should correct those errors in square brackets or footnotes,
in order to render the client a service and to preclude the client's blaming
of errors on the translator”. (S. E. Wright & L. D. Wright, 1993:18-19)
Wright (1993) claims that the technical translation does not need to concern itself
with style and others, who believe that all writing should reflect the specific
expectation of the target audience. By "style" she uses a word in the broader
sense; this is wide scale of consideration, ranging from the overall structural form
of the entire text to lexical choice at sentence fragment level. The view that
stylistic factors are not as important comes from in-house translators, who
produced "for-information-only" texts for use by scientists and researchers who
need to maintain awareness of foreign research trends in their technical fields. But
if these translators meet the needs of their clients then their doing is not wrong. It
is also important to know, that indicative machine translation may serve this
purpose just as adequately and maybe more economically than human translation.
In contrast, the translation produced for communicating with individuals outside
the corporate structures must contain the same criteria that are imposed on the
original source text in the target language intended for the same audience. In the
modern environment, high quality text implicitly communicates an overall,
company-wide commitment to high quality product, user-friendly operation, and
responsive customer support.
On the in-house level, all documentation used by corporate personnel should
always be written in perfectly clear language to avoid the expensive errors and
time consuming in efficiencies. Documents must speak "the language" of the
target audience and should resemble other texts from that language community.
Target texts should in no way offend ethnic, sexual or other culture-related
sensibilities. Sometimes text from one language/society to another
language/society requires drastic revision of straight forward documents.
Therefore, the translator must move beyond merely correct strategies in terms of
lexical and grammatical content in order to offer stylistically appropriate
34
solutions. (S. E. Wright & L. D. Wright, 1993)
Style of the scientific text must be tailored suit three elements: the subject matter,
the audience, and the context. (J. Kirkman, 1995)
Stylistic levels according to Wright (1993):
To achieve highly "user-friendly" target text, the translator must be clearly aware
of the appropriate stylistic considerations that must be brought to bear on target
text production at four basic levels:
- The situation level
- The macro contextual level
- The micro contextual
- The terminological unit level.
The situation level describes the external environment out of which the source
text evolves and for which it is created, coupled with the parallel (or asymmetrical
or heterovalent) environment that is the locus of the target text.
The macro context represents the global environment of the entire text itself,
especially the structural coherence established throughout the text and the logical
interaction of its constituent parts.
The micro context delimits the local environment surrounding terminological
units that are the primary carriers of technical meaning in the text.
Terminological units comprise the smallest units of discourse that must be
accounted for during the conversation process and may consist of the individual
words (lexemes and terms, phrase logical material in the form of collocations, set
phrases and even standard texts).
These four levels interact with one another. Individual factors that affect one level
play a role in determining the scope of the next level as well.
35
Macro text includes entire text and also source text type, specific topic, purpose,
author, target audience, target text type, specific topic, purpose, translator, target
audience. Some points can be identical.
The relationship between source and target text does not always represent the
symmetry. Sometimes the external expectations of the target audience differ
enough to indicate that the significant changes should be made in the target text.
In some cases, differences in the target audience expectations dictate drastic
revisions.
Free-lance translators are therefore at a disadvantage, when they face serious
macro textual asymmetry. Many times the precise application of the target text
may not be totally clear. The translators also have interest in proceeding with care
when it comes to criticizing the source text because it is possible that the
immediate client is the author of the offending text (company's CEOs, who write
their own promotional text are the worst offenders when it comes to producing
inappropriate source text. Also non-writers, who insist on writing their own texts,
frequently have their own ideas about how a translation should look). The
translator can follow only tact and good judgment to direct the client toward a
more effective text. (S. E. Wright & L. D. Wright, 1993)
Whereas macro contexts constitute an entire text or extended text sections, micro
context are smaller text segments, usually identified at the sentence or sentence
fragment level. Many translation theorists discussed differences between micro
context and "translation unit". Wright (1993) claims that translation unit is
understood as a cohesive segment lying between the level of the word and the
sentence. If dealing with formulaic material, translation units may occasionally
take the form of the sentence - the concept is admittedly difficult to tie down
precisely.
2.5.2 Terminology
Scientific text can be written with excessive roundabout phrasing and excessive
usage of pre-modifying nouns, which make difficult text even more difficult to
36
comprehend. Therefore it is better to use as much abstraction as possible when
translating.
According to Wright (1993) terminologists are most concern with terminological
units, which, along with lexical units representing general language, make up the
translation units. Terminological units represent the elements of technical
language embedded in the text and manifest themselves in the form of meaningful
morphemes used in a compound words, single word terms, collections, set
phrases, and even standard text, at which point the translation unit and the micro
context merge. (S. E. Wright & L. D. Wright, 1993)
2.5.3 Adaptation
"In 20th Century the proliferation of technical, scientific and commercial
documents has give rise to a preference for transparency in translation, with
emphasis on efficient communication; this could be seen as licensing a form of
adaptation which involves rewriting a text for a new readership." (Routledge
Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, 2001: 6)
Vinay and Darbelnet (1958) wrote that adaptation is a procedure used whenever
the context referred to the original text does not exist in the target language
culture, therefore some kind of re-creation is done.
According to Newmark (2005) adaptation is the ‘freest’ form of translation;
mainly used for plays. Moreover, the communicative translation is accurate and
economical, therefore used for “informative” texts. It attempts to capture the exact
contextual meaning of the source text in a way that content and language is
acceptable and comprehensible for a reader. This translation treats following items
similarly: dead metaphors, normal collocations, technical terms, standard notices,
and ordinary language. Cultural components are transferred and explained with
culturally neutral terms in informative text.
37
2.5.4 Skopos Theory
Skopos theory started in Germany in 1970s, when translation started to orient
toward a more functional and sociocultural concept. Schaffner wrote “skopos
theory takes seriously factors which have always been stressed in action theory
and which were brought into sharp relief with the growing need in the latter half
of 20th Century for the translation of non-literary text types.”
In the translation of scientific papers (also academic, instructions for use, tourist
guides, contracts, etc.) we cannot ignore contextual factors which surround the
translation. These factors are the culture of the intended reader of target text and
of the client, who has commissioned it, and also function, which text performs in
that culture.
Skopos - derived from Greek language, it means purpose of translation.
Skopos theory adopts a prospective attitude to translation; other theories focus on
prescription derived from the source text.
It involves equivalence and the rule of coherence and fidelity. Source and target
text need to have the same goal, so the translator need to reach one of the goals
and has to keep in mind, that the source text does not have one correct or
preferable translation. This means, that source and target texts do not have to be
identical. (S. E. Wright & L. D. Wright, 1993)
2.5.5 Register
Hoffmann claims that descriptions of the scientific and technical register are being
traditionally limited to lexical-terminological and syntactic levels, which have not
extended beyond the sentence level.
According to Wright (1993) the scientific register has been treated as a specific
feature of LSP communication. It is limited to lexical-terminological and syntactic
levels. Contrastive descriptions of varying discourse in the scientific and technical
register make the technical and scientific register transparent and accessible as a
38
problem of translation. Register is related to the function of scientific and
technical text. Different ways of presenting and sequencing information are
registers that reflects cross-cultural author-reader relationship.
In Languages for Special Purposes scientific and technical register is
concentrating on frequency and distribution of terms and term-formation patterns
with result in neologisms and "false friends". Syntactic level isolates a frequent
use of syntactic function words, participles, infinitives, and present tense. More
frequent are also longer sentences, nominalizations, and passive voice.
On textual or discourse level there are not many systematic comparative studies,
due to the lack of linguistic criteria for description. As Wright claims, most lexical
and syntactic analyses have focused on the dichotomy of 'languages for special
purposes' to teach foreign scientific and technical languages and those languages
are similar from the textual point of view. Before discussing cross-cultural
differences, the translator needs to identify and describe discourse on the parole
level. (S. E. Wright & L. D. Wright, 1993)
Halliday and Hasan (1976) defined register as “the set of meanings, the
configuration of semantic patterns, that are typically drawn upon under the
specific conditions, as well as the words and structures that are used in the
realization of these meanings”.
Pokorn (2009) divides register in:
- Field (subject manner, purposive activity of the writer and nature of a
social action)
- Tenor (role structure or social relations)
- Mode (symbolic organization of the text and its function in the context)
The text needs to display consistency of the register; this is a coherence of
meaning, which is dependent on the content and the semantic resources of the
language. Halliday and Hasan (1976) defined that “text is coherent with respect to
39
the context of situation, and therefore consistent in register, and it is coherent with
respect of itself and therefore cohesive”. The text needs a pattern formed by the
communicative event (field), the role-relationship (tenor), and the language acts
within the event (mode). When these elements overlap, we can get the ‘functional
tenor’ (writer tries to persuade, exhort or inform). The key variable of register is
the relationship between those communicating. (Pokorn, 2009)
2.5.6 Weights, Measures, Quantities
According to Newmark (2005) the translation of units of the metric system
depends on their setting and the implied relationship. When translating specialized
articles, professional magazines, ect., units are usually transferred (the metric
system is retained). It is more appropriate to convert miles, pounds, acres, gallons,
etc. Accuracy is very important. If there are given approximate figures, then the
translation can have corresponding figures, or the words that sound more natural
(about – okoli, približno).
40
3 Analysis of texts
Newmark (2005) argues that technical translation, as well as translation of
scientific texts, is part of the specialized translation and “non-cultural”, therefore
“universal”. From the other forms of translation is distinguished by terminology,
although it is only a small part of the text.
To present the issues of translating scientific texts, I have chosen three different
scientific genres; all have the informative function:
- Scientific paper
- Textbook
- Popular science text
3.1 Scientific Paper
Title:
According to Newmark (2005) the translator is entitled to ‘change’ the title of the
translation. Scientific articles normally state the subject, but not always the
purpose of the process described. It usually requires some knowledge about the
subject.
Nitrogen availability alters the expression of carnivory in the northern
pitcher plant, Sarracenia Purpurea
Dostop dušika spremeni izražanje mesojedosti pri rdeči vrčnici,
Sarracenia Purpurea
The title is descriptive; therefore it does not have to be changed. Phrase ‘nitrogen
availability’ can also be translated as dostopnost dušika. The main issue is to
choose an appropriate translation for the name of the plant Sarracenia purpurea –
škrlatna saracenija, škrlatna vrčkovka, rdeča vrčnica. The translator has chosen
the latter.
41
Style:
The scientific paper is usually free from emotive language, connotations, and
metaphors.
The similarities in style of ST and TT are 99% similar due to non-emotive
language and avoidance of metaphors in translation.
Terms:
A new terminology is, according to Newmark (2005), a central problem of
technical translation. The translator can come across a term that has more than one
meaning in one field. An academic level of vocabulary, which includes transferred
Latin and Greek words, can be used.
Examples of terms that may cause a problem for the translator:
TERMS SLOVENE TRANSLATION
Ombrotrophic Ombrotrofna, neodvisna od talne vode
Phenotypically Fenotipska, vidna lastnost
Phyllodia Filodiji, razširjen listni pecelj
Bogs and fens Visoka in nizka barja
Primordia Primordij, zasnova lista
Protists Protisti, enoceličarji
Rotifers Kotačniki
Senescence Senescenca, staranje
Photosynthetic photon flux density Gostota toka fotosintetskega fotona
Keel Gredlja
Table 3: Examples of terms
Translaters are faced with an issue weather to use more scientific terms, which
could be more appropriate, if the readers are experts and scientists, or the terms,
which the broader audience, non-scientists, could comprehend more easily.
42
Because of the complexity of this scientific paper the translator has chosen
scientific terms, which are more appropriate for scientists and experts of the field.
Technical and descriptive terms:
According to Newmark (2005) a descriptive term may be used for an object that is
new, as a familiar alternative, to avoid repetition and to make a contrast with
another one. The descriptive terms should be translated and not translated with a
technical term. If an appropriate technical term in TL does not exist or it is strange
to TL culture, a descriptive term should be used. Moreover, the technical term is
always more precise than a descriptive term.
Descriptive terms in the SL text:
“rain-fed”
Oskrbuje padavinska voda
Leaves specialized for pray capture and nutrient uptake
Listi specilizirani za lov plena in prejemanje hranilnih snovi
Leaves that are more efficient at photosynthesis
Listi, ki bolj učinkovito izvajajo fotosintezo
Slovene language is not as rich with words as the English language is; therefore,
30% of the terms have to be described in the Slovene translation.
Latin words:
According to Newmark (2005) Greek and Latin words are mostly used for the
classification purposes and serve as the internationalisms. They can be used as
equivalents if a SL term for a natural object (flora and fauna) is missing in TL. To
ensure equivalence of the register the translator should transfer standardized Latin
terms and translate SL Latin terms to TL Latin terms, unless the words are
common and have Germanic variant.
Example:
The northern pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea
Rdeča vrčnica, Sarracenia purpurea
43
This scientific paper is very specialized and focused on only one plant and that is
Sarracenia purpurea, no other Latin words are used in TT.
The voice:
According to Day (2006) passive voice functions well in the Method section of
the paper and should be rarely used elsewhere. Scientists may use passive voice as
a result of the idea that is impolite to use first-person pronouns. The passive voice
can be avoided by writing “The authors found” instead of “we”.
Active:
Materials and Methods section:
We first tested the hypothesis.
Najprej smo hipotezo testirali.
Result section:
We observed this morphological change in ecological, rather than
evolutionary, time.
To morfološko spremembo smo opazovali v ekološkem, in ne v
evolucijskem času.
Discussion section:
Plants do not respond to nutrients in isolation, however.
Toda, rastline se ne odzivajo na hranila v izolaciji.
Passive:
Materials and Methods section:
5 ml of the assigned nutrient solution was added directly on each open
pitcher on each plant.
Dodali smo 5 ml predpisane raztopine hranil direktno na vsak odprt vrček
vsake rastline.
Result section:
This prediction was also supported.
To predpostavko smo tudi podprli.
44
Discussion section:
Although this model was developed to predict the evolution of plant
carnivory, the production of carnivory organs is phenotypically plastic.
Kljub temu, da je ta model bil razvit za predvidevanje evolucije rastlinske
mesojedosti, je proizvajanje mesojedih organov fenotipska oblika.
The scientific paper is mostly written in the active voice and, therefore, the
translation is in the active voice. Passive sentences are translated using active
voice, because the active voice is more common in Slovene language; therefore,
90% of passive voice of the ST has been changed to active voice in TT.
Tense:
Kirkman (1995) claims, that large part of scientific papers should be in the past
tense. It is natural to use it when stating what equipment was used, what the
objectives were, and what procedure was followed. In the description of
procedures and in discussions of data or results it is necessary to use present
tenses.
Past tense:
Materials and Methods section:
We randomly assigned each of these plants to one of nine different
nutrient treatments.
Te rastline smo naključno določili enemu od devetih odmerkov z različnimi
hranilnih snovi.
Result section:
In extreme cases, no tubes were produced and leaves were entirely
noncarnivorous.
V ekstremnih primerih kanalov ni bilo in listi so bili popolnoma
nemesojedi.
Discussion section:
Our experiments showed that it is a phenotypically plastic.
Naši poskusi so pokazali, da je fenotipsko oblikovana.
45
Present tense:
Materials and Methods section:
This carnivorous plant collects rainwater in its pitcher-shaped leaves.
Ta mesojeda rastlina zbira deževnico v svojih, v vrčke oblikovanih, listih.
Result section:
These two bogs are not geographically unique, however.
Ti dve barji nista geografsko posebni.
Discussion section:
Nitrogen deposition is a global problem that requires accurate monitoring
at a variety of special scales.
Usedanje dušika je globalni problem, ki zahteva natančni nadzor z
različnimi prostorskimi lestvicami.
Examples show that both of the tenses are used in different sections of the
scientific papers. When experiments and results are described, the Past tense is
used, because they were done in the past. For explaining or giving facts the
Present tense is used.
The translator has followed the original text, therefore the translation has 100%
same tenses used as the ST.
Grammatical person:
The author of the scientific paper mainly uses passive voice to avoid the usage of
first person narrative. Even though this is often seen in the text, the author uses
the first person (we) and not the third person. A first person is mostly used in
Materials and Method section and Results section.
We first tested the hypothesis…
Najprej smo hipotezo testirali…
…we conducted a second experiment in which we established
experimental plots…
46
…smo uporabili drug poskus, v katerem smo vzpostavili poskusne
parcele…
We found a direct linear relationship…
Odkrili smo neposredni linearni odnos…
The translator has followed the usage of the grammatical person 100%, but
avoided the use of passive voice.
Nominalisation:
The authors of scientific papers often use nominalisation to describe processes
with as few words as possible. Nominalisation is used to achieve more abstract,
academic tone. Some examples of nominalisation:
Deposition of nutrients
Usedanje hranilnih snovi
Long-term accumulation
Dolgotrajno kopičenje
Prevent colonization
Preprečiti kolonizacijo
It can be difficult to find an equivalence of those nouns in Slovene, 90% of
nominalisation is translated with a verb. Nouns can be translated with a verb, as
they are created from a verb.
Text structure:
The text has a typical IMRAD structure, which makes it organized and easy to
follow. The translator has kept the IMRAD structure in the translation for the
same purpose.
The structure of the translated text is completely the same as the structure in ST.
Sentence structure:
Sentence structure can be very complex and some sentences are long.
47
Photosynthetic rates (µmol of CO2 per m2 per s) of the largest leaf on all
surviving plants (n=73) in the nutrient addition experiment were measured
between 20 June and 3 July, 2000, by using a Li-Cor Li-6200
photosynthesis system (Li-Cor, Lincon, NE) and custom-built 4-liter
chamber.
Stopnje fotosinteze (mikromol CO2 na m2 na s) največjega lista vseh
preživelih rastlin (n=73) pri poskusu dodajanja hranil, so bile merjene
med 20 junijem in 3 julijem, 2000, z uporabo Li-Cor Li-6200
fotosintetskim sistemom (Li-Cor, Lincon, NE) in po meri narejeno 4 litrsko
komoro.
Long, complex sentences can be made short and simple, if possible.
Because S. purpurea commonly occurs in bogs and other wetlands
throughout Canada and eastern North America, and has been introduced in
western Europe and Japan, we propose that it can be used as a ready
biological indicator of local N deposition, based on simple measurements
taken only with field clippers.
S. purpurea se pogosto pojavlja v barjih in ostalih vlažnih
predelih Kanade in na vzhodu Severne Amerike, predstavljena je
bila tudi na zahodno Evropo in Japonsko. Menimo, da bi jo lahko
uporabili kot pripravljen biološki pokazatelj lokalnega usedanja
N, ki temelji na preprostih meritvah, katere izvajamo le z
terenskimi mikrometri.
The text also contains short and simple sentences.
This species also has been introduced to bogs in California,
Scotland, Ireland, England, Switzerland and Japan.
Ta vrsta je bila predstavljena tudi barjem v Kaliforniji, na
Škotskem, Irskem, Angliji, Švici in na Japonskem.
48
The translator has divided around 40% of long sentences of the ST into shorter
sentences. Shorter ones are easier to comprehend and make more sense in Slovene
language.
Lexical categories
The vocabulary in the scientific paper is rather difficult. It is usually meant for the
internal communication between the experts. It is rich with Latinized vocabulary,
botanical vocabulary, and other technical terminology connected to chemistry,
laboratory instruments, and instruments used for research. Vocabulary is very
formal and non-emotive; the main goal is to introduce facts, present methods,
materials, and results of the research.
Nouns in the paper are common and proper, concrete, and abstract. Proper nouns
are Sarracenia purpurea, Maine, Canada, New England, Hoagland, est.; mainly
names that are connected to the place of the research and names of the plants.
Concrete nouns are nutrients, bogs, habitat, organs, plant, ecosystem, etc.
Abstract nouns are dynamics, production, deposition, etc.
There are many numbers included in the paper: amounts, quantities, etc. When
translating decimal numbers into Slovene, we have to use comma instead of the
decimal point. Examples from the paper:
SOURCE TEXT TARGET TEXT
0.025 mg 0,025 mg
Range = 10.15-39.32 Razpon = 10,15-39,32
pH = 4.3 pH = 4,3
Table 4: Examples of numbers
Example of the original text and the translation of the scientific paper:
Materials and Methods
S. purpurea. The northern pitcher plant, S. purpurea, is a long-lived (50 years) rosette-forming
perennial that ranges throughout Canada and in the eastern United States from Maine to Georgia,
where it grows in nutrient-poor bogs, fens, and seepage swamps (17). This species also has been
introduced to bogs in California, Scotland, Ireland, England, Switzerland, and Japan (18). This
carnivorous plant collects rainwater in its pitcher-shaped leaves (10), which are derived
49
developmentally through adaxial folding of the leaf primordia (19). Prey attracted to the brightly
colored, water-filled pitchers fall in and drown, whereupon the prey are processed by a suite of
consumers and decomposers, including bacteria, protists, rotifers, and fly larvae (20). Because S.
purpurea lacks digestive glands or enzymes, these decomposers mineralize nutrients in the prey
and make them available for absorption by the plant (10, 21). However, northern pitcher plants are
somewhat inefficient predators (22), and insects account for only 10% of their nutrient budget
(11). Because S. purpurea (and other carnivorous plants) typically grows in ombrotrophic bogs
that receive nutrient inputs to the plant rooting zone solely from precipitation (9, 23), the balance
of this plant’s N budget comes from nutrients dissolved in rainwater that collects in its pitchers
with some additional N contributed through mineralization by rotifers inhabiting the pitchers (24).
Consequently the growth and morphology of S. purpurea should be particularly responsive to
changes in local N deposition occurring through acidified precipitation.
Materiali in metode S. purpurea. Rdeča vrčnica, S. purpurea, je rastlina z dolgo življenjsko dobo (>50 let), ki oblikuje
rozete in je razširjena po Kanadi in vzhodu Združenih Držav od Maina do Georgie, kjer raste v
visokih barjih, ki so revna s hranljivimi snovmi, nizkih barjih in močvirjih. Ta vrsta je bila
predstavljena tudi barjem v Kaliforniji, na Škotskem, Irskem, Angliji, Švici in na Japonskem. Ta
mesojeda rastlina zbira deževnico v svojih v vrčke oblikovanih listih, ki izhajajo razvojno preko
aksialnega zgibanja listnega primordija. Plen, ki ga privabi živo obarvan, z vodo napolnjen vrček,
pade vanj in utone, nato je tam plen obdelan s strani porabnikov in razkrojevalcev, kot so
bakterije, protisti, kotačniki in ličinke muh. Ker S. purpureji nimajo prebavnih žlez ali encimov, ti
razkrojevalci razkrojijo hranilne snovi v plenu ter jih naredijo dostopne za absorpcijo rastlini.
Toda, rdeče vrčnice so neučinkoviti plenilci in insekti so le 10% delež hranilnih snovi. Ker S.
purpurea (in ostale mesojede rastline) običajno rastejo v ombrotrofnih barjih, kjer dobivajo vnos
hranilnih snovi preko korenin le preko padavin, prihaja ravnovesje N teh rastlin iz hranilnih snovi
raztopljenih v deževnici, ki se zbira v njihovih vrčkih, z nekaj dodatnega N, ki ga prispeva razkroj
kotačnikov, kateri naseljujejo vrčke. Posledično je rast in morfologija S. purpurea odvisna od
sprememb lokalnega usedanja N preko kislih padavin.
50
3.2 Textbook
Title:
The title in the textbook is straight to the point, not like the title of the scientific
paper. Therefore, the translation of the title is 100% the same.
Carnivorous plants
Mesojede rastline
Style:
Style in the textbook is mainly free from emotive language, connotation, and
metaphors. Similar to the translation of the scientific paper, the translator has also
followed the style of the ST.
Terms:
Terms in the textbooks can also be specialized; therefore the reader needs some
knowledge about the topic to comprehend the text. Newmark (2005) suggests
using a professional level of vocabulary, which includes formal terms used by
experts.
Examples:
TERMS SLOVENE TRANSLATION
Assimilation Asimilacija, presnova
Trichome Trihom, lasek
Autolysis Avtolize, spontan razkroj
Ivertase Ivertaze, encim za razgradnjo saharoze
Eutrophication Evtrofikacija, “škodljivo preobilje”
Epiphytic Epifitske, prirasle
Copepods Ceponožci
Attractant Atraktant, snov za privabljanje
Tentacles Tentakli, lovilni laski
Olfactory Olfaktorni, vonjalni
Acidification Zakisanje
51
Apopolastic Apopolastni, celične stene in
medceličnega prostora
Tadpoles Paglavci
Table 5: Translation of terms
This particular textbook is for college students, who need to have some prior
knowledge about the topic and should be familiar with these scientific terms. The
translator has used more scientific terms in the translation; this would not be
appropriate for textbooks that are used in elementary or secondary schools.
Technical and descriptive terms:
Descriptive terms in a source text are:
Nutrient pollution
Onesnaženje s hranilnimi snovmi
Only a single species in a genus
Le ena vrsta v rodu
Descriptive terms in target text are:
Lobster pot trap
Past, podobna pasti za jastoge
Pitfall trap
Past, v katero žrtev pade
About 40% of words of the source text have to be described in the translation, due
to non-existing phrases in the Slovene language.
Latin words:
Terms which do not have the Slovene translation, therefore the Latin term is used:
Bromeliads
Bromeliade
Corkscrew plant
Genlise
52
Rainbow plant
Byblis
These examples make around 20% of all Latin words in the text that do not have
the Slovene equivalent.
The voice:
Active:
Charles Darwin described Dionea as ‘the most beautiful plant in the
world’.
Charles Darwin je opisal rastlino Dionaea kot »najčudovitejšo rastlino na
svetu«.
Cells on one side of the tentacle expand relative to near side and cause the
tentacle to bow.
Celice se na eni strani tentakla razširijo do bližje strani in povzročijo, da
se list upogne.
Passive:
The trap can be functionally divided into four zones.
Past lahko glede na funkcijo razdelimo na štiri predele.
Bladderworts are found in nutrient-deficient boggy areas.
Mastnice lahko najdemo na močvirnatih področjih, katera so revna v
hranilnih snoveh.
The digestion of the captured pray is then carried out by the tentacle
heads.
Prebavo ujetega plena izvedejo glave tentaklov.
The text in the textbook surprisingly uses more of the passive voice than the
scientific paper. I assumed that the textbook would use less of the passive voice.
Sentences are mostly combined of both, the active and the passive voice.
53
The translation of sentences in passive voice is 90% in active voice, because the
active voice is more common in Slovene language.
Tense:
Past tense:
The aquatic species Utricularia vulgaris was the first plant in this genus to
be described.
Vodna vrsta Utricularia vulgaris je bila prva opisana rastlina tega rodu.
Initially it was thought that the bladders attached to the plants were a
means of flotation for the plant.
Najprej so mislili, da so mehurji, ki so pritrjeni na rastlini, pripomočki za
plavanje rastline.
Present tense:
The pitfall trap is the most basic of the trapping mechanisms of
carnivorous plants.
Past, v katero žrtev pade, je najbolj osnovni mehanizem pasti mesojedih
rastlin.
The mouth of the trumpet tends to flare outwards.
Ustje trobente se viha navzven.
There are still a number of complications to this model.
Obstaja še več težav tega modela.
The text in the textbook concentrates mainly on explaining the topic and to
present the functioning of the plants in detail, hence the present tense. There are
only two examples of the past tense.
The translator has also used the present tense in the translation; therefore the use
of tenses is 100% the same.
54
Grammatical person:
Similarly to the scientific paper, the author of the text uses passive voice to avoid
using the grammatical person. The main subjects in the text are plants and cannot
be described otherwise as by using third grammatical person (it).
The translator has followed 100% the same pattern in the translation.
Nominalisation:
Trap development
Razvoj pasti
Secretion of nectar
Izločanje nektarja
The narrowness of the pitcher and the slipperiness of the sides
Zoženost vrča in spolzka površina sten
Nominalisation is not used as frequently in the textbook as it is in the scientific
paper. It is very difficult to translate these words in Slovene, but in some cases it
is possible. Around 70% of these words were translated with verbs.
Text structure:
Informational text in textbooks can be organized as: hierarchical (main idea and
details); conceptual (central idea and supporting facts); sequential (chronological
series of events); or cyclical (circular series of events).
Textbooks and scientific papers can be similar to some extent. However,
textbooks do not follow the IMRAD structure, which is typical for a report,
because textbooks only summarize given information of facts. Textbooks mainly
contain information report and explanation. (Parkinson and Adendorff, 2011)
The given text of the textbook in presented in many paragraphs and subsections.
For better comprehension of the topic the photographs are added. The translator
has followed the text structure of the source text 100%.
55
Sentence structure:
Sentences are long and complex, even more than in the scientific paper; some are
short and simple. Here is the example of long sentence from the textbook:
The actual nutrient content of these soils is not low, but the presence of
acid tannic waters prevents bacterial action in the soil and leads to the
nutrients being maintained in an insoluble form; thus, the environment is
very low in free nutrients for plants.
Dejanska vsebnost hranilnih snovi te zemlje ni nizka. Vendar prisotnost
kislih tininskih voda preprečuje bakterijsko aktivnost v zemlji in vodi do
tega, da so hranilne snovi v neraztopljivi obliki; tako je v okolju zelo malo
prostih hranljivih snovi, ki so potrebne za rastline.
Example of the short sentence:
Glands on the leaf surface secrete the nectar.
Žleze na površini lista izločajo nektar.
For easier comprehension of the text, the translator has divided long and complex
sentences into short ones. Around 20% of long sentences are shortened for better
comprehension.
Part of the source text and the translation of the textbook:
56
Lepljiva past - rosika
Najpogostejši mehanizem pri rastlini za lov muh je uporaba lepljivega lepila na površini rastline.
Večina vrst, ki uporablja to metodo lova živali, uporablja prilagojen trihom, kateri štrli iz listne
površine in nosi majhno kapljico sluzi. Ta sluz je sestavljena iz kompleksne mešanice
polisaharidov, ki so raztopljeni v vodi (Rost in Schauer, 1977). Velikost plena, ki ga pasti lahko
ujamejo, je odvisna od obsega in lepljivosti sluzi. Edina izjema temu so vrste rodu Roridula, ki
uporabljajo lepljivo smolo. V tem delu bomo podrobno predstavili mehanizem pasti rosike (rod
Drosera).
Poznanih naj bi bilo okoli 150 različnih vrst rosik, kar pomeni, da je rod drugi največji rod
mesojedih rastlin. Zbirka različnih vrst Droser je prikazana na sliki 8.13. Kljub temu, da je rod
razširjen po celem svetu, lahko več kot polovico teh vrst najdemo le v Avstraliji. Mehanizem pasti
Drosere izstopa v primerjavi z drugimi lepljivimi tipi mesojedih rastlin, saj se pri rosikah tentakli,
kateri nosijo sluz, odzivajo na stik s plenom. Nadalje, veliko vrst lahko svoje liste tudi zloži okoli
plena, da ustvari želodec za absorpcijo hranilnih snovi. Te zmožnosti naredijo rosike enega
očarljivih rodov mesojedih rastlin za preučevanje.
57
3.3 Popular Science Text
Title:
The title of the popular science text draws the attention of the reader. The
translation captures the same effect.
Fatal attraction
Usodna privlačnost
Style:
The text is popularized therefore it includes emotive language, connotations, and
metaphors. The translator also maintains the same style throughout the text.
Terms:
Popular science texts have to be comprehensible for non-specialist readers; the
terms that are more specialized, have to be explained. Newmark (2005) suggests
using a popular level of vocabulary, which includes familiar alternative terms.
The main problem, while translating terms in the popular science text, is
translation of plant names, such as:
Butterworth
Mastnica
Australian sundew
Avstralska gomoljasta rosika
Bladderwort
Mešinka
Tropical pitcher plant
Tropska vrčnica
Venus flytrap
Muholovka
Other terms: convex (konveksno), concave (konkavno), protozoans (protozoji),
exoskeleton (zunanje ogrodje), habitat (habitat, življenjsko okolje), hydroplane
(spodrsne), absorb (sprejme).
58
The translator translates the terms into Slovene 99%, with terms that a broader
audience can understand.
Technical and descriptive terms:
Descriptive terms in the target text:
Suction traps
Pasti, ki posesajo žrtev
Pitfall traps
Pasivne pasti, v katere žrtev pade
Snap traps
Pasti, ki se zaprejo okrog plena
30% of the terms do not have the equivalent in Slovene; therefore, they have to be
described.
Latin words:
Latin term given in SL has a description of the word; therefore the translation in
TL is also a Latin word and the description.
Example:
Nepenthes rafflesiana, a pitcher plant that grows in jungles on Borneo
Nepenthes rafflesiana, vrsta vrčnice iz gozdov na Borneu
Other Latin words in the text are names of the genus:
The tropical genus Nepenthes and the North American Sarracenia
Tropski rod Nepenthes in severnoameriški rod Sarracenia
Not many Latin words are used in popular science texts and if they are, the
description follows. Only two examples (10% of all plant names) can be found in
the particular text, which do not have the English or Slovene equivalent. The both
examples are explained in the sentence and therefore, the translation is the same.
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The voice:
Active:
Darwin expanded his studies from sundews to other species.
Darwin je svoje raziskave z rosik razširil še na druge vrste.
Volkov’s experiments reveal that the charge travels down fluid-filled
tunnels in a leaf.
Volkov je s svojimi poskusi ugotovil, da električni naboj potuje vzdolž
kanalčkov v memebranah listnih celic.
Carnivorous plants turn out to be very inefficient at converting sunlight
into tissue.
Izkazalo se je, da so mesojede rastline zelo neučinkovite pri pretvarjanju
svetlobe v tkivo,…
Passive:
Venus flytraps are being poached from North Carolina by the thousands
to be sold at roadside stands.
V Severni Karolini iz narave nezakonito odvzemajo na tisoče muholovk in
jih prodajajo na obcestnih stojnicah.
…if the plants were raised in a greenhouse or poached from the wild.
…ali so muholovke vzgojene v rastlinjakih ali nezakonito odvzete iz
narave.
But even if the poaching of carnivorous plants can be halted, they will
continue to suffer from other assaults.
A tudi če bi povesm ustavili nezakonito odvzemanje mesojedih rastlin iz
narave, jih bomo še naprej ogrožali.
Fires are being suppressed, allowing other plants to grow quickly ….
Požari so vse redkejši, zato druge rastline hitreje zrastejo…
The passive voice in the popular science text is very rare, which is expected. Only
one example of the passive voice is translated into passive, other three are in
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active that is more common in Slovene language and, therefore, easier to
comprehend. The translation is around 98% in active voice.
There are also combinations of active and passive voice in a sentence:
Their habitat is disappearing, to be replaced by shopping centers and
houses.
Njihov habitat izginja zaradi potreb po novih zazidalnih površinah, na
katerih gradijo trgovska središča in naselja.
Fires are being suppressed, allowing other plants to grow quickly and
outcompete the Venus flytraps.
Požari so vse redkejši, zato druge rastline hitreje zrastejo in zrinejo manj
konkurenčne muholovke.
Tense:
Past tense:
Charles Darwin knew better, and the topsy-turvy ways of carnivorous
plants enthralled him.
Charles Darwin je bolje razumel, za kaj gre – na glavo postavljen red, ki
velja pri mesojedih rastlinah, ga je povsem prevzel.
One late spring day Aaron Ellison took me on a tour, stopping from time
to time to watch patiently as I pulled a sinking leg out of the muck.
Nekega dne pozno spomladi me je Aaron Ellison popeljal na ogled
območja. Od časa do časa se je ustavil in potrpežljivo čakal, da sem
potegnil nogo iz gostega blata.
Yet they evolved from different ancestors.
Vendar sta se razvili iz različnih prednikov.
Present tense:
The swampy pine savanna within a 90-mile radius of Wilmington, North
Carolina, is the one place on the planet where Venus flytraps are native.
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Z bori porasel močvirnat svet do 140 kilometrov of Wilmingtona v Severni
Karolini je edini kraj na svetu, kjer muholovka živi v naravi.
The animals shred the prey that fall into the pitcher, and the smaller
organisms feed on the debris.
Živali zmeljejo plen, ki pade v vrč, manjši organizmi pa se hranijo z
ostanki.
When an insect brushes against a hair on the leaf of the Venus flytrap, the
bending triggers a tiny electric change.
Kadar se žuželka podrgne ob lasek na listu muholovke, se ta upogne in
ustvari šibak električni naboj.
Present tense is common in the popular science text. With it the content is
explained in a way that every reader can understand. Past tense is used to describe
events that happened in the past, to tell about the scientists from the past, and the
discoveries from the past. The translator has followed the source text 100%.
Grammatical person:
The popular science text wishes to connect with the reader, therefore the author
uses the first person. When talking about other important scientists, it is natural
to use the third person.
He dropped flies on their leaves…
Na njihove liste je spuščal muhe…
He marveled how the weight of …
Čudil se je temu, da se je teža…
Volkov’s experiments reveal …
Volkov je s svojimi poskusi ugotovil…
The author writes about his experiences:
…I pulled a sinking leg out of the muck.
…da sem potegnil nogo iz gostega blata.
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One late spring day Aaron Ellison took me on a tour…
Nekega dne pozno spomladi me je Aaron Ellison peljal na ogled območja.
The use of grammatical person in the translation equals the use in the source text
100%.
Nominalisation:
The popular science texts avoid formality; therefore the nominalisation is not used
in such texts. The main objective is to inform about new discoveries and the
human participants.
Text structure:
The popular text has a different structure than scientific papers and textbooks. The
structure of the text has to draw attention and be interesting for the reader. The
text often starts with interesting information to arouse the reader’s interest.
Methods are not interesting for the reader. The results are also often presented at
the beginning. The text should not be long; paragraphs, illustrations, and
photographs are necessary. The text I have chosen has all the features that a
popular science text should have. The translator uses the same text structure as
authors of the source text.
Sentence structure:
Short, simple sentences and short words are easier to comprehend; therefore they
are suitable for the popular science text. The active voice is also easier to read.
Sentences in the chosen text are short and also long, but simple.
Examples of short sentences:
This was no accident. This was adaptation.
To ni bilo naključje. To je bila prilagoditev.
In the distance a student was feeding flies to the flagged plants.
V daljavi je študent označene rastline hranil z muhami.
Alas, they do a lousy job of it.
Vendar pri tem niso kaj prida uspešne.
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Examples of longer sentences:
Darwin expanded his studies from sundews to other species, eventually
recording his observations and experiments in 11875 in a book,
Insectivorous Plants.
Darwin je svoje raziskave z rosik razširil še na druge vrste ter svoja
opažanja in rezultate poskusov leta 1875 objavil v knjigi Žužkojede
rastline.
The researchers raise these insects on the food spiked with unusual forms
of carbon and nitrogen so they can later harvest the pitcher plants and
measure how much of each element from the flies has been absorbed into
the plants.
Raziskovalci v hrano za žuželke, ki jih gojijo, dodajo nenavadne oblike
ogljika in dušika, da lahko pozneje požanjejo vrčnice in izmerijo, koliko
katerega elementa iz žuželk so absorbirale rastline.
The poor soil of bogs, for example, offers little nitrogen phosphorus, so
carnivorous plants enjoy an advantage there over plants that obtain these
nutrients by more conventional means.
Revna barjanska tla, denimo, ponujajo malo hranil in fosforja, zato so
mesojede rastline tam v prednosti pred rastlinami, ki svoja hranila črpajo
na konvencionalnejši način.
The last part of this sentence could be translated: ….hranila črpajo na bolj
običajen način.
Despite some longer sentences, which are simple in structure, the translator has
not divided the long sentence into two shorter sentences in Slovene. Therefore, the
translator followed the source text 99%.
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Example of the original text and the original translation of the text from the
National Geographic article:
Charles Darwin knew better, and the topsy-turvy ways of carnivorous plants enthralled him. In
1860, soon after he encountered his first carnivorous plant—the sundew Drosera—on an English
heath, the author of Origin of Species wrote, "I care more about Drosera than the origin of all the
species in the world." He spent months running experiments on the plants. He dropped flies on
their leaves and watched them slowly fold their sticky tentacles over their prey. He excited them
with bits of raw meat and egg yolk. He marveled how the weight of just a human hair was enough
to initiate a response. "It appears to me that hardly any more remarkable fact than this has been
observed in the vegetable kingdom," he wrote. Yet sundews ignored water drops, even those
falling from a great height. To react to the false alarm of a rain shower, he reasoned, would
obviously be a "great evil" to the plant. This was no accident. This was adaptation.
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4 Results and Conclusions
In my diploma paper I wanted to demonstrate some issues that might cause
difficulties for the Slovene translators, who translate different genres of scientific
texts.
The following table represents the results of the text analysis:
Scientific paper Textbook Popular science text
The title Descriptive as in
ST.
Straight to the
point as in ST.
Draws attention
as in ST.
Style The same as in
ST.
The same as in
ST.
The same as in
ST.
Terms Scientific as in ST. Scientific as in ST. 99% translated
into Slovene.
Descriptive terms 30% of terms
described in TT.
40% of terms
described in TT.
30 % of terms
described in TT.
Latin words Only one. 20% do not have
the Slovene
equivalent.
Latin with
explanation; 10%
do not have
English or
Slovene
equivalent.
Active vs. Passive
voice
90% of Passive
changed into
Active in TT.
90% of Passive
changed into
Active in TT.
98% Active in ST
and TT.
Past vs. Present
tense
TT the same as
ST; Past and
Present.
TT the same as
ST; mainly
Present.
TT the same as
ST; mainly
Present.
Grammatical person TT the same as
ST; first person
(we)
TT the same as
ST; third person
(it)
TT the same as
ST; first and third
person.
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Nominalisation 90% translated
with verbs.
70% translated
with verbs.
Not used.
Text structure TT the same as
ST; IMRAD
TT the same as
ST.
TT the same as
ST.
Long vs. short
sentences
40% shortened in
TT.
20% shortened in
TT.
Short and longer;
not shortened in
TT.
Table 6: Results of analysis
The first issue concerning the translation of chosen genres was terminology.
Scientific words in scientific papers and the textbooks can sometimes be difficult
to find. Scientific papers are mostly written in English and Slovene ones have
only the abstract translated into Slovene. It is possible that the translator has
difficulty finding words out of the context. Many scientific terms are adapted to
Slovene language, such as protisti (enoceličarji); primordij (zasnova lista). I think
that readers of scientific papers are scientists; therefore they know what the word
protisti means. The translator, a student of translation studies, has also kept
adapted words, which should be explained, if the paper was intended for non-
scientists.
The second issue concerning the translation is adapting the language of the
popular science text to the Slovene language that is appropriate for the magazine
article. The magazine article was translated by Dora Mali or Roman Šimec.
Similes are essential for this type of articles and are also used in translation.
Simile is sometimes used as a description of the English term in the Slovene
translation. For example: leaves like champagne flutes (listi, oblikovanimi kot
kozarci za penino); like a soft contact lens (kot pri mehki kontakti leči); passive
flypaper glands (pasivne žleze, na katere se lepijo žuželke kot na muholovski
papir). However, I would translate only a couple of terms differently: življenjsko
okolje rather than habitat; običajen rather than konvencionalnejši; zabredeš do
pasu rather than zabredeš do riti; so plapolale zastavice rather than so frfotale
zastavice.
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The third issue concerning the translation of different genres is the author-reader
relationship. In scientific papers the author is usually the scientist, who reports on
his/hers research. Therefore, the author wishes to persuade the readers to accept
the knowledge that is presented in the scientific paper. If authors of such scientific
genre feel more powerful than readers, it is possible that authors can lose their
readers, who represent the scientific community.
Authors of popular science texts pretend to possess much less scientific
knowledge as authors of the scientific papers to place themselves at the same level
as readers (de Rijke, 2008). However, popular science texts are not involved in the
research, but wish to present science in a fun and exciting way. These texts are
much more focused on human participants (researchers and scientists, who made
the research). Readers and authors of these texts do not have to be scientists,
researchers or experts of science.
The textbook authors are somewhere in the middle. They do, however, have more
power than the readers, but are also not involved in the scientific research. The
knowledge in textbooks is new for the reader, but has already been researched and
given the fact status. Textbook texts are not so much focused on human
participants; those participants are often well known researcher or scientists that
are also known to readers. (de Rijke, 2008)
All three issues have to be considered when translating different scientific genres.
I my opinion the translators need to know the genre they are translating and to
understand the author-reader relationship. It is also important to distinguish
between general and scientific English and general and scientific Slovene
language.
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5 Bibliography
5.1 Primary literature
Ellison, A.M. & Gotelli, N.J. 2002. Nitrogen availability alters the
expression of carnivory in the northern pitcher plant, Sarracenia
purpurea. PNAS, vol. 99, no. 7, pp. 4409-4412. (14.2.2011)
Scott, Peter. 2008. Physiology and behavior of plants. Chichester,
University of Sussex, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (pp. 115-130)
Zimmer, Carl. 2010. Fatal attraction. National Geographic. March 2003,
Vol. 217, No. 3. (pp. 80 – 95)
Zimmer, Carl. 2010. Usodna privlačnost. National Geographic Slovenija.
Marec 2010, leto 5, št.3. (str. 46 – 61)
5.2 Secondary literature
Baker, Mona. 2001. Routledge encyclopedia of translation studies.
London, New York: Routledge.
Baker, Mona. 1992. In other words: A coursebook on translation. London,
Routledge.
Bhatia, V.J. 1993. Analysing genre. London, Longman.
Day, Robert A.. 2006. How to write and publish a scientific paper.
Cambridge University Press
de Rijke, Wieteke. 2008. Text-type specific translation problems of
scientific translation. MA Thesis: Utrecht University, Netherlands.
Freeborn, Denis. 1996. Style: Text analysis and linguistic criticism.
London: Macmillan.
Gotti, M. & Šarčević, S.. 2006. Insights into specialized translation.
Germany. (24.2.2011)
Hutchins, John. 1977. On the structure of scientific texts. UEA papers in
Linguistic 5. University of East Anglia, Norwich. (14.3.2011)
Kirkman, John. 1993. Good style. London: E & FN Spon.
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Myers, Greg. 1991. Lexical cohesion and specialized knowledge in science
and popular science text. Discourse processes 14. (24.2.2011)
Newmark, Peter. 2005. A textbook of translation. Harlow: Longman,
United Kingdom.
Nida, E.A. & Taber, C.R. 2003. The theory and practice of translation.
Brill, Boston. (15.3.2011)
Perkinson, Jean and Adendorff, Ralph. The use of popular science articles
in teaching scientific literacy. (25.10.2011)
Pokorn, Nike K.. 2009. Sodobne metode v prevodoslovnem raziskovanju.
Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete v Ljubljani.
Sharkas, Hala. 2009. Translation quality assessment of popular science
articles. Trans-kom 2, pp 42-62. (14.3.2011)
Swales, John M.. 2001. Genre analysis: English in academic and research
settings. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Tsabari, A.B. & Yarden, A.. 2005. Text genre as a factor in the formation
of scientific literacy. Journal of research in science teaching; vol. 42, no. 4,
pp. 403 – 428. (8.3.2011)
Wright, Sue E. and Wright, Leland D.. 1993. Scientific and technical
translation. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: J. Benjamins.
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