Chinese 747 Advanced Chinese Translation Practice Class Time: 9-11 am Wednesday Classroom: 207-302 Teacher: Dr. Yan Ding (Lydia) E-mail: Yan.ding@auckland.ac.nz

Recap of Week 5 Translation Quality Translation Assessment Holistic Assessment Discussion of Revisions Punctuation Problems

Week 6 – Linguistic Approach Equivalence Cultural Issues Translation equivalence Cultural issues in translation Finalize presentation list

Linguistic Approach Meaning, equivalence, shift, text purpose and analysis, and discourse register Structural Linguistics: focusing on the key issues of meaning, equivalence (Roman Jakobson, Eugene Nida, Newmark, Koller, Vinay, Darbelnet, Catford and van Leuven-Zwart) Functional linguistics: social context, with the work of Katharina Reiss, Justa Holz-Mänttäri, Vermeer, Nord, Halliday, Julianne House, Mona Baker, Hatim and Mason

Equivalence Roman Jakobson (1959) On Linguistic Works of Translation, three types of translation: 1) intralingual – rewording or paraphrasing, summarizing, expanding or commenting within a language 2) interlingual – the traditional concept of translation from ST to TT or the “shifting of meaning from one language to another” (Stockinger p.4) 3) intersemiotic – the changing of a written text into a different form, such as art or dance

Formal and dynamic equivalence – Eugene Nida Formal equivalence centres on the form and content of the message of the ST formal equivalence aims at matching the message in the receptor language as closely as possible to the different elements in the source language, including the form and content,

Formal and dynamic equivalence – Eugene Nida Dynamic equivalence, later termed functional equivalence (Venuti p.148) dynamic equivalence 'aims at complete naturalness of expression, and tries to relate the receptor to modes of behaviour relevant within the context of his own culture‘ (Nida 1964/2004: 156).

One major shortcoming of linguistic approaches is that they do not take cognisance of the contribution of the context in which an expression is used to the understanding of the whole message or text.

Functionalism “function of a text in the target culture determines the method of translation”. Skopos Theory: centres on the purpose of the translation and the function that the TT will fulfil in the target culture, which may not necessarily be the same as the purpose of the ST in the source culture. Cultural issues in a sociolinguistic context therefore need to be considered. Skopos is important because it means that the same ST can be translated in different ways depending on the purpose and the guidelines provided by the commissioner of the translation.

Cultural Issues in Translation Culture-specific Items (CSI) Snell-Hornby (1993) – five basic groups of prototypes in addressing the potential problems existing in translation 1) Terminology 2) Internationally known items and sets 3) Concrete objects, basic level items 4) Word, expressing perception and evaluation often linked to socio-cultural norms 5) Culture-bound elements

Cultural Issues in Translation Newmark (1998) - five different classes of "cultural categories" 1) Ecology 2) Material culture 3) Social culture 4) Organizations, customs, activities, procedures, concepts 5) Gestures and habits

Cultural Issues in Translation Vinay and Darbelnet 1) Borrowing 2) Calque (loan shift) 3) Literal Translation 4) Transposition (Shift) 5) Modulation 6) Equivalence 7) Adaptation

Mona Baker's (1998) 1) A more general word (subordinate) 2) A more natural/less expressive word 3) Cultural substitution 4) Using a loan word or a loan word plus explanation 5) Paraphrase using unrelated words 6) Omission 7) Illustration

Newmark's (1988) 1) Borrowing (Transference): transliteration 2) Naturalization: adaptation of SL into TL punctuation and morphology 3) Cultural equivalent: a TL approximate cultural word replaces the SL cultural word 4) Functional Equivalent: the use of a cultural free word 5) Descriptive Equivalent: Expanding the core meaning of SL word via description 6) Synonymy: which is appropriate only where literal translation is impossible

7) Through translation, calque or loan translation 8) Shift/Translation: a translation procedure via a change 9) Modulation: translation involving a change of perspective viewpoint and category of thought 10) Recognized Translation: use of official or generally accepted translation of any institutional term 11) Translation Label: a temporary translation usually of a new institutional term 12) Compensation: when loss of meaning, sound-effect, etc. is made up for in another part

13) Componential analysis: expanding a lexical unit into basic components of one to two or three translations 14) Reduction and Expansion: narrowing down the meaning of a phrase into fewer words or vice versa 15) Paraphrase: expansion via amplification or explanation of meaning of a segment of the text 16) Couplets: combining two or more of the above-mentioned procedure when dealing with a single problem. 17) Note, additions, Glosses: adding cultural, technical, or linguistic information of the mentioned translation strategies for rendering CSIs.

Cultural Issues in Translation 含着金钥匙出生 俄语“穿着衬衣生下来的”； 英语：born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth 德语：“梳好了头才出世的”。 “一箭双雕”或“一举两得” 法语“一块石头打两处”； 英语： to kill two birds with one stone 俄语：一枪打死两只兔子 德语：一个拍子打两只苍蝇

过着牛马不如的生活： to lead a dog’s life 瘦得像猴： as thin as a shadow 望子成龙： long to see one’s son succeed in life 穷得像乞丐： as poor as a church mouse 水底捞月: fishing in the air

“Oh! Tell us about her, Auntie,” cried Imogen, “I can’t just remember her. She is the skeleton in the family cupboard, isn’t she? ...” “She wasn’t much a skeleton as I remember her,” murmured Euphemia, “extremely well covered.” “哦！请给我们讲讲她的事儿吧，好姑妈，”伊莫金喊道：“我简直不记得她了，她是我们家衣柜里的骷髅， 见不得人，是吗？……” “我记得她并不像是骷髅，”尤菲米娅低声说，“肌肉顶丰满呢。”

False Friends

Practice

Summary