Translation Methodology Methods, Levels and Techniques By Libardo Ospino Professional Translator September 2003
May 21, 2015
Translation Methodology Methods, Levels and Techniques
ByLibardo OspinoProfessional Translator
September 2003
Contents
1 THE ANALYSIS OF THE TEXT2 DIS COURSE ANALYSIS3 THE INTENTION OF THE TEXT4 THE INTENTION OF THE TRANSLATOR5 THE QUALITY OF THE WRITING6 TRANSLATION METHODS AND LEVELS7 TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES
The Analysis Of The Text Reading the text
- Is the starting point
We read the text to:
Understand what it is about.
Analyse it from a translator’s point of view not from linguist’s, literary, teacher nor student
To determine it’s intention
To determine the way it’s written to select a suitable translation method
Kinds Of Reading When Analysing The Text
General reading is required We read the words both
• Out of the context • In the context
Close reading• To get the gist• To get the essence• To get the substance
(literal meaning)
(Interpretation)
The Last Reading
This last reading is done for the purpose of
• Noting the cultural aspects of the SL text
We have to underline all: Neologism, Methophors, cultural words and institutional terms peculiar to the SL, proper names, technical terms and the untranslatable words
The Analysis Of The Text Macro analysis Micro analysis
Reading the text• The intention of
the text• The intention of
the translator• The last reading
Text styles• The readership
The quality of the writing
DISCOURSE ANALYSISIN TRANSLATION
MACRO ANALYSIS
MICRO ANALYSIS
Macroanalysis This analysis
answers these questions
Who ? When ? Where ? For whom? How ?
Microanalysis
This analisys is based on the process of segmentation to take notes on the translation problems we find in the text.• We split the text in
Lexical translation units Sintagmatic translation units
• It is used to avoid both gain and loss of information
Microanalysis
LEXICAL TRANSLATION UNITS
VERBS ADVERBS NOUNS PRONOUNS PROPER NOUNS
Microanalysis
SINTAGMATIC TRANSLATION UNITS
DETERMINANTS PREPOSITIONS ARTICLES POSSESSIVE WORDS
Examples Roberto studies English everyday
The city is beautiful
The books are on the top of the book shelf
I have a nice watch
They are good students
The Intention Of The Text
We read to search for the intention of the text
The intention of the text goes hand in hand with the understanding of the text
The title may be remote from the content as well as the intention
The Intention Of The Text It’s necessary to pay special attention
to the type of language and even the grammatical structure (passive voice – impersonal verbs)
The intention of the text represents the SL writer’s attitude of the text or subject matter
The Intention Of The Translator
Usually, the translator’s intention is identical with that of the author of the SL text
The Quality Of The Writing
The quality of the writing has to be judged in relation to the author’s intention and the requirements of the subject matter
• The word must be in the right place with the minimum of redundancy
The Process Of The Translation
The relation of translating to translation theory
The approach The levels:
The textual level The referential The cohesive level The level of naturalness
Levels of approaches to a translation process
1 Translating sentences by sentence
2 Translating paragraphs by paragraphs
3 Translating chapter by chapter 4 Read the text as whole and
translate it like wise
Approaches to translation and the texts
The first approach
Sentence by sentence Paragraph by paragraph Literary texts
Approaches to translation and the text
The secondapproach
ReadingThe whole
text
Translate chapter By
chapter
ForTechnical
OrInstitutional texts
DANGERS OF THE APPROACHES The fisrt approach
It may leave you with too much revision to do in the early part
It is time-wasting
The second approach
It is usually preferable
It can be mechanical
It may may inhibit the translator`s free play of intution
APPROACHES ALTERNATIVES
The fisrt approach is advisable for a relatively easy text
The second approach is advisable for harder texts
THE TRANSLATION OF THE LEVELS
The textual LevelThe referential LevelThe cohesive level
The level of naturlness
The Textual Level
The grammarAnd
The lexical units aretranslated
In the situationOr context ofThe sentence
The referential level
Sentences of any text Technical,Literary orInstitutional must beRead in the situation
Or context of thetext
The cohesive level
It follows bothThe structure
And the moods of The text
The level of Naturalness
Makes senseReads naturallyIt is written in
Ordinary languageThat meet the
Kind of situation
Translation Methods And levels
Translation methods obey to the main problem of translation it self
To translate literally or freely This argument has been going on since
at least the first century B.C up to the beginning the nineteenth century
Many writers are in favor of free translation
Translation Levels
WORD BY WORD
LITERAL TRANSLATION
EQUIVALENT TRANSLATION
Translation Methods or types
The methods or types
Faithful translation
Semantic translation
communicative translation
Adaptation Idiomatic translationFree translation
Writer’s Slogan Who Want The Truth To Be Read And Understood
We as translators are intended to translate
The spirit not the letter
The sense not the wordsThe message rather than the formThe matter not the manner
Word for word translation level characteristics
This is often demonstrated interlinear translation
The SL words order is preserved The words are translated literally The words are translated by their most
common meaning The words are translated out of context Cultural words are translated literally
Usage of the word for word translation level
The use of this method is either to:
Understand the mechanism of the SL
Construe a difficult as a pre-translation process
Examples of the word for translation level
I love fried fish for lunch Yo amo frito pescado para
almuerzo
I need to get there as soon as possible
Yo necesito a conseguir allá como pronto como posible
Literal Translation
Usage (presentation process)
Lexical words
Grammatical Constructions
Are converted to their nearest TL equivalents
Are translated singly out of context
It indicates the problems to be solved
Examples of the literal translation level
I love fried fish for lunch Yo amo pescado frito para
almuerzo
I need to get there as soon as posible
Yo necesito conseguir allá pronto posible
Faithful Translation Attempts to reproduce the precise
contextual meaning of the original within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures
It transfers cultural words
It preserves the degree of grammatical and lexical abnormality
Semantic Translation It is faithful It takes more account the aesthetic
value of SL text The beautiful and natural sound of the
SL text concerning it is meaning A semantic translation is written at the
author`s linguistic level It may translate less important
cultural words, not cultural equivalents, intact transference
It is used for expressive texts
Communicative Translation
It attemps to render the exact contextual meaning of the original
Both the content and the language comprehensible to the readership
More about Semantic and Communicative Translation
They must be seen as wholes Semantic translation is personal and
individual It tends to over translate It has to explain It follows the thought processes of the
author It aims at concision in order to
reproduce the pragmatic impact
More about Semantic and Communicative Translation Communicative translation is social
It concentrates on the message
It tends to undertranslate
It is normally inferior to its original
There is both cognitive and pragmatic loss
A semantic translation has to interpret
Adaptation
This is the freest form of translation Is not faithful It is used meanly for
Plays (comedies) Poetry Jokes
The themes, characters and plots are preserved
The SL culture is converted to be the TL culture text
The text is rewritten and adapted to the target culture
Free Translation
It reproduces The matter with out the manner
The content with out the form of the original
It paraphrases the original (It makes the TL text larger than the original)
Idiomatic Translation
It reproduces the message of the original
It prefers colloquialismscolloquialisms and idiomsidioms
Translation Techniques
They are also called algunas técnicas de restitución
They are used with the purpose of helping the translator to translate away from literal translation.
Translations Techniques Ampliación or Expansion
Reducción or Reduction
Modulación or Modulation
Transposition
Translation Techniques Definition
AMPLIACION OR WORD ADDING. It consist of an extension of the
target language text (texto de llegada) due to limitations in the languages involved in the process of translation (M Tricas Preckler)
TRANSPOSITION It is used with verbs, adjectives,
adverbs Nouns, pronouns and
prepositions.
Its intention is to recover the semantic and pragmatic function when translating into the target language.
MODULATION It is used to change the
conceptual basis of the words when translating.
It is believed to be the most interesting translation technique
It can be seen as reduction or as expansion of the words
REDUCTION
It is about not translating some words within the ideas in the source language.
Translation Techniques Examples
AMPLIACION OR WORD ADDING The teacher will give us a test
tomorrow morning El profesor nos evaluara mañana
en la mañana Marcos is studying English next
year Marcos va a estudiar ingles el
próximo año
TRANSPOSITION
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL HOUSE YOU LIVE IN
QUE CASA TAN LINDA EN LA QUE VIVES
O
VIVES EN UNA CASA MUY BONITA
REDUCTION
Please tell him the time Por favor dile la hora
Please show them the house por favor muestrales la casa
MODULATION Speaking English is very
important Hablar Inglès es muy importante Es muy importante hablar Inglés
Doing the right is sample of justice
Hacer lo correcto es una muestra de justicia