TRANSLATION PROCESS Plan Product oriented and process oriented approach 2.Dominant of a text 3.Analysis and synthesis stages 4.Adequacy and acceptability principles 5.Two planes of a text

1.Product oriented and process oriented approach Some researchers tend to distinguish between product-analysis approach, that concentrates on the translated text or metatext and process-oriented approach that concentrates on the process through which from the prototext the metatext is obtained.According to S.Holmes(1924-1986) the distinction is impossible at a practical level.

It’s clearly seen that one distinction is impossible without the other It’s clearly seen that one distinction is impossible without the other.The translation process is viewed as an interrelation between the original and translated text. The translator reading a text which should be translated projects the potential metatext into a virtual space within which the new text begins to take shape.The selection work is made more complicated by the awareness that often choices depend on the chain of consequences.

To opt for one translating word instead of another precludes some semantic potentials while stressing other possible meanings.It creates new intratextual and intertextual links while erasing other possible links. Every temporary choice should be weighed in view of the whole text,and there is never a “final” choice because the evolution of a prototext in relation to the global text is limitless.

2.Dominant of a text The text is a complex entity composed of a system of intertextual and intratextual links.The translator should pay attention upon the distinction between standard and marked elements. The neutral or specific nature of an element is to be considered in the light of the cultural context(intertextual links) and of the single author’s context (intratextual links).

All texts undergo the analysis which determines the translation choice All texts undergo the analysis which determines the translation choice. Every text has its own dominant. A literary text is distinguished by an aesthetic function of its dominant. In the translation process the dominant of the text must not be identified depending on the literary/non-literary nature of the prototext.In the real translation process we need to concentrate on the complex interweaving of the relations between the role of the prototext in the source culture and language and the role of the metatext in the target culture and language.

3.Analysis and synthesis stages The translation process is characterized by the analysis and synthesis stages.During analysis he translator refers to the prototext in order o understand it as fully as possible. In the synthesis process the translator projects he prototext on the Model Reader(the reader that is inferred from the relation between the prototext and the target culture).

If the translation process is centered on the analysis phase then the dominant of the translation is centered on the author of the prototext and on the translator. If the translation process is centered on the synthesis stage then the translation dominant will be the focus on the Model Reader of the metatext.The dominant of the prototext and the dominant of the metatext may not always coincide.

4.Adequacy and acceptability principles Adequacy is the measure of adherence of the metatext to the prototext from the translator's point of view. Acceptability is seen in relation to the culture receiving the metatext, the target culture. Translation of the Bible. Martin Luther realized that German translation of the Bible was incomprehensible to most German believers and that this fact was causing a gap between the Church and its flock. He proposed the more understandable version: “I want to speak German and not Latin or Greek because I had the purpose of speaking German in my translation.The Roman Catholic Church considered this operation sacrilegious.

That was he the cause of Luther’s excommunication That was he the cause of Luther’s excommunication.This is how the Lutheran or Protestant religion began.Afterwards,however, the Roman Catholic Church also changed its position and proposed understandable texts to its believers in a form close to the “acceptability”pole. The Bible is being translated even today and sometimes the translations are very different from he most widespread versions,so different that some consider them too far from the “adequacy” principle.

5. Two planes of a text The Danish researcher L.Hjelmslev proposed a distinction between a form and a substance of the text. In this way the text is divided into two planes (expression and content),each of which is divided into two parts (form and substance).From this it follows that there are four parts (substances)in the process of translation of a text. -the content substance is,in a sense, objective, and doesn’t vary from one language to another, but points to inherent qualities.

-the content form varies from one language to another -the content form varies from one language to another.This means that there is no a perfect match between the semantic fields of similar content forms in different languages. -expression substance is the graphic and phonic expression of the content.If an utterance is a graphic expression substance, it has corresponding phonic expression form.Hjelmslev uses as an example the tomonym “Berlin” (expression substance) and its translation into different languages (expression forms),depending on its pronunciation.

-expression form is the way in which he expression substance is actualized, I.e the way in which a graphic form is pronounced or a phonic form is written.