WHAT IS TRANSLATION?

AIMS

Translation assignments are primarily designed to contribute to your language learning. To master a foreign language we need to reach a certain level of spoken and written command in the area of:

1. Intelligibility: recognisability of words and sentence patterns (e.g. spelling and pronunciation)

2. Accuracy: conformity of words and grammar conventions and norms (i.e. the right word in the correct form in the proper place)

3. Appropriateness: suitability of language to situations and context (i.e. communicative competence)

4. Fluency. Smoothness of continuity (i.e. reference, linking, consistency)

Why?

Practicing how to transfer meaning from one language to another is one way of achieving a greater understanding of the language and how it works.

After practicing translation

1. You should be more aware of the difference between English and Spanish.

2. You should have developed your skills in solving translation problems by using dictionaries and grammar books.

3. You should have a larger English vocabulary and a better ability to apply grammatical rules.

4. You should be able to recognize the relationship between text type and style.

Meditation

Translation is a meditation activity. In meditating activities the language user is not concerned with expressing his/her own ideas, but in simply acting as an intermediary between interlocutor who are unable to understand each other directly.

Meditation could be both oral and written.

Definition of translationThe term translation is a neutral term used for all tasks where the meaning of expression in one language (the source language) is turned into the meaning of another (the target language) whether the medium is spoken or written. (David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Languages, 1987)

Levels of translation Word –for-word: Each word in the SL is translated by a word in the

TLIt’s raining cats and dogs.

Literal translation: the linguistic structure of the SL is followed, but it is normalized according to the rules of the target language.

It’s raining cats and dogs.

Free translation: the linguistic structure of the SL is ignored and an equivalent in found based on the meaning it conveys.

It’s raining cats and dogs.

The problem of translationAlthough the aim of translations is to “provide semantic equivalence”, everyone agrees that full equivalence is hard to achieve in any translation. The reason for this is the lack of synonymity of meaning. Even words that appear to be synonymous in different languages do no really carry the same meaning because social and cultural contexts evoke different associations and connotations. Therefore there is no such thing as the ideal translation, only more or less successful ones, depending on the purpose for which it was made, and the need of the people whom it was made.

Your task is to produce text which are close to the original version as possible by looking for the best (intelligibility, accurate, appropriateness, fluency) not the easiest solution.

Preparation Read through the whole text. Make a quick translation, leaving out words and expressions that

you are not immediately sure of. Translate the text sentence by sentence, not word by words, looking

up words and consulting the grammar book when necessary. Take the dog for a walk. Read through your translation without looking at the SL text. Is the

text fluent and idiomatic? Compare your version with the SL text. Is everything there? Check spelling, word order, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, verb

forms and subject-verb-agreement.