role of a translator

8/8/2019 Role of a Translator

1/15

Uloga prevodioca

Professional translators are neitherwalking dictionaries, nor machines that

swallow words in one language thenspit them out whole in another.


2/15

Translators are language professionals. They are applied linguists,competent writers, diplomats, and educated amateurs. Like linguists,translators have to be capable of discerning subtleties and nuances intheir languages, researching terminology and colloquialisms, and handlingnew developments in their languages. Like writers, translators have to be

accustomed to working longh

ours alone on a subject wh

ich

interests fewpeople and with a language that few people around them know. Likediplomats, translators have to be sensitive to the cultural and socialdifferences which exist in their languages and be capable of addressingthese issues when translating. And like educated amateurs, translatorshave to know the basics and some of the details about the subjects theydeal with

The fundamental rule when youre not sure of a term or phrase is ask.An important part of the translators role is to communicate with theclient -- and a good translator knows when to ask questions.

Excerpt from "The Translation Profession" by Roger Chriss


3/15

Kako itati prevod?

Blago promaeni

Vodenica na Flosi/Oliver Tvist

Klie - karakteristike viktorijanskog romana

Sveana reenica, epiteti, vrline

Osobine pievog stila zanemarene

Narcisoidni (prevodilac kao pisac)

Orkanski visovi/Ka svetioniku Zanemareno je ko govori ton, leksika, ritam

reenice


4/15

Kratkovidi/dalekovidi prevodi

revod prati priu G. Grin

Pesnik prevodi poeziju W.H Auden Mehaniki prevodi

Iain Banks, Wasp Factory

Zlodela u prevoenju The Hours. M. Cunningham


5/15

He put the stub of the fat cigar he had been smoking under the coldtap, turned the water on for a second while the brown stumpsizzled and died, then threw the sodden remnant in the bin. I putmy things down on the big table and sat down, shrugging. Myfather turned up the ring on the cooker under the soup-pan,

looking beneath the lid into the warming mixture and then turningback to look at me.

There was a layer of grey-blue smoke in the room at about shoulderlevel, and a big wave in it, probably produced by me as I came inthrough the double doors of the back porch. The wave rose slowlybetween us while my father stared at me. I fidgeted, then looked

down, toying with the wrist-rest of the black catapult. It crossed mymind that my father looked worried, but he was good at acting andperhaps that was just what he wanted me to think, so deep down Iremained unconvinced.

Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory


6/15

Stavio je opuak debele cigare koju je puio ispod slavine sahladnom vodom, odvrnuo je za trenutak dok je braon krnjetakcrvao i gasio se, zatim bacio raskvaeni otpadak u kantu. Spustiosam stvari na sto i seo, sleui ramenima. Otac je pojaao ringlu naporetu ispod erpe sa supom, pogledao ispod poklopca u smeu

koja se podgrevala, a zatim se okrenuo i pogledao mene. Otprilike u visini ramena, u sobi je lebdela zavesa sivoplaviastog

dima, sa velikim talasom u njoj, koji sam verovatno ja napravio kadsam uao kroz dvokrilna vrata zadnjeg trema. Talas se podigaopolako izmeu, dok je otac zurio u mene. Vrpoljio sam se, a ondaoborio pogled poigravajui se drkom crne prake. Proletelo mi je

kroz glavu da otac izgleda zabrinuto, ali on je bio dobar u glumi imoda je hteo da ja ba to pomislim, tako da sam duboko u sebiostao neubeen.


7/15

How to achieve equivalence?

There are (theoretically) two ways to achieve equivalence:

literal translation: this is basically word-for-word translation inwhich the translator opts for formal equivalence the

consequence is th

at a lot of th

e content of th

e source text migh

tnot make it into the target text

free translation: basically meaning-for-meaning translation in whichthe translator aims at getting the meaning of the source textcompletely across even if it means radical formal differences

between the source text and the target text (a.k.a. functionalequivalence) the consequence here is that intended formalfeatures of the source text might not make it into the target text.


8/15

Questions to ask

Equivalence does not only apply at the level of wordsand sentences, but also at text level. The translatormust take (at least) the following textual features intoaccount: semantics: the sense or meaning of each unit (words,

phrases, sentences etc.) in the source text and themeaning of the text as a whole, which is typically morethan just the sum of meanings of the combined units

communicative value of the text: the intended purpose of

the text place in time and space of the text

social context of the text: the sender and the intendedrecipient and the social relations between them


9/15

What? What is the message of the text? What isits propositional content? What is its basiccontent?

Why? What's the intention of the sender? Whatis the purpose of the text? What's theillocutionary force of the text?

When? When is the time of communication?

How? What is the manner of delivery? What'sthe tone of the text? What's the register? What'sthe level of formality?


10/15

What's the channel, or medium, of

communication?

Wh

ere? Wh

at is th

e spatial location of th

etext?

Who? Who is the sender? Who is the

recipient? What is the social relation between

them?


11/15

The factors addressed in these questions, most ofwhich relate to the context of the text, influencethe text in terms of style, tone, register etc., and

these aspects of the source text should also be, ifpossible, transferred onto the target text;basically, they determine the writer's choice offorms. Consequently, they should also determine

the translator's choice of forms, style, registeretc. in the target language, so stylisticequivalence is also retained.


12/15

The translator and the good

translation Tytler's standards are based on the notion of the extreme forms of

translation:

Embellishing translation: where the translator makes use of freetranslation to actually make a target text which is a better or improvedversion of the source text

Copy-cat translation: in which the translator seeks to preserve everyaspect of the source text (even including mistakes)

Tytler's rules of translation basically place the good translationsomewhere in the middle between these two extremes.

The target text should represent all of the content of the source text

The style of the target should be equivalent to that of the source

The target should be structured/composed like the source (and itshould be as easy to read as the source)


13/15

The scale Methods, Newmark 45-48

Copycat translation

word-for-word translation: preservation

of word order and as literal translation as

possible of individual words, including

cultural words

literal translation: apart from as literalas possible translation of individual words,

grammatical structures are converted into

the nearest target language equivalents

faithful translation: stays, if possible,

within the constraints of the grammatical

structures of the target text, but draws on

certain contextual factors

semantic translation: more emphasis on

naturalness than in faithful translation,

and translation of certain cultural words

into neutral equivalents in the TL

communicative translation: aims at

reproducing the exact message of the

source text content-wise and context-wise

but with emphasis on naturalness and

acceptability/comprehensiveness to the

target text readership.

idiomatic translation: makes use of

idioms and colloquialisms that are not

present in the source text.

free translation: focuses on the content

of the target text rather than the form,

whichmeans that the same content is

expressed in th

e target text but with

verydifferent grammatical structures if need be

adaptation: the freest form of translation

and more of a target language/culture

based interpretation of the source text than

a translation as such

Embellishing translation


14/15

Translation procedures

Literal translation

Transference: transferal of a word

or expression from the source

language/text directly into the

target text without translating itat all

Naturalization: basically

transference in which you apply

target language spelling and

morphology (and pronunciation)

to the expression or word in

question

Cultural equivalent: translating aculturally rooted word in the sourcetext/language with a roughlyequivalent culturally rooted word ofthe target language/text

Functional equivalent: translating a

word in the source language/textwith a functionally equivalent targetlanguage word (i.e. a word whichhasthe same meaning)

Descriptive equivalent: translating asource language/text word using adescription of the concept it refers to

in th

e target language (Near) synonymy: translating a source

language/text word or expressionwith a target language expressionthat is nearly, but not completely,functionally equivalent


15/15

Through translation: literal translation of

collocations and combinations

Shift/transposition: translation of a source

language/text expression into a target

language expression which involves

ch

ange in grammatical structure, such

that a specific target language structure is

used

Modulation: change of viewpoint or

substantial conceptual concept in the

translation, for instance, using the name

of a category for a specific member of the

category, using a part for the whole (andvice versa), active for passive etc.

Recognized translation: using a well-

known accepted target language

translation for a specific source language

institutional term

Translation label: provisional target

language translation of a source language

term that does not have any conventional

translation in the target language

Compensation: making up for the loss of

someth

ing in th

e source text, by addingsomething else in the target text

Componential analysis: splitting up a

lexical unit into meaning atoms

Reduction/expansion: adding or removing

elements in translation (essentially a type

of shift)

Paraphrase: amplification or explanation

of meaning in target text

role of a translator

Documents