1. 2. Introduction to translation
Lingua Inglese 2 LM

2. Last week - what kind of future for translators?
The main issue
problems of understanding SL and finding right equivalents in TL
machines are learning to do this quickly
Questions for the future
How good does a translation need to be?
Human checkers of machine translation? Quality controllers?
Quality control still requires great expertise.

3. Agenda Quality First approaches; why criteria must be articulated
Translation studies – the territory and history
Translation studies – some key issues
Literal or free
Formal or dynamic equivalence
Metalanguage of translation theory
Loss, gain and explicitation

4. Definitions Translation
Translation, version, adaptation, text transfer, cultural translation…
Interpreting
Interpreting is a form of translation in which a first and final rendition in another language is produced on the basis of a one-time presentation of an utterance in a source language
(Otto Kade, 1968, in Pöchhacker 2004: 11).

5. Quality, linguists, translators
For a linguist, translation theory is the study of how things are: what is the nature of the translation process and the relation between texts in translation.
For a translator, translation theory is the study of how things ought to be: what constitutes good or effective translation and what can help to achieve a better or more effective product […]. (Halliday 2001: 13)

6. Quality criteria made explicit
There are no absolute standards of translation quality but only more or less appropriate translations for the purpose for which they are intended. (Sager 1989: 91)
[W]e know when a translation is good, when we are able to make explicit the grounds for our judgement on the basis of a theoretically sound and argued set of procedures.
(House 2001: 156)

7. The need for theory
We need to theory to be able to judge quality

8. Why articulate quality judgements?
Trainee translators/interpreters
How can I systematically get better?
Professional translators/interpreters
How can I prove my work is good / better?
How can I be a credible reviser?
Users
Can I trust the translator and the translation?
Translation studies researchers
How can we connect with practice?

9. Holmes’ map of Translation Studies territory

10. Applied branch

11. Translation studies – the issues
Baker, Mona and Gabriela Saldanha (eds) (2009) The Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, 2nd edition, Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
Gambier, Yves and Luc van Doorslaer (eds) (2011) Handbook of Translation Studies, Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, online.
Munday, Jeremy (2012) Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and applications, 3rd edition, Abingdon and New York, Routledge, plus online website
Munday, Jeremy (2009) The Routledge Companion to Translation Studies, Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
Venuti, Lawrence (ed.) (2000/2004/2012) The Translation Studies Reader, London and New York: Routledge.

12. Interpreting in ancient times

13. Literal or free ? And I did not translate them as an
interpreter [‘interpres’], but as an
orator, keeping the same ideas
and forms ... But in language that
conforms to our usage. And in so
doing, I did not hold it necessary
to render word for word, but I
preserved the general style
and force of the language.
Cicero, 46 BCE

14. Literal or free ? “Now I not only admit but freely
announce that in translating
from the Greek – except of
course in the case of the Holy
Scripture, where even the
syntax contains a mystery
– I render not word-for-word
but sense-for-sense.”
St Jerome, Letter to Pammachius, 395 CE

15. Limits of word for word (EN) Microfibre white board super cloth
(F) Chiffon microfibre pour le nettoyage de tableaux
blancs
(GN) Weisswandtafel Mikrovliestuch
(ES) Paño de microfibra para pizarras blancas
(P) Pano de microfibra para limpieza de cuadros
blancos
(I) Panno in microfibra per la pulizia di lavagne
bianche

16. Tytler’s three ‘laws’ (1790)
The translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work
The style and manner of writing should be of the same character with that of the original
The translation should have all the ease of the original
Alexander Tytler (1790) Essay on the Principles of Translation

17. Yán Fù ( )

18. Yán Fù – three ‘requirements’
Preface to translation of Thomas Huxley’s Evolution and Ethics (1901, in Chan 2004)
xìn – faithfulness/trueness
dá – comprehensibility / fluency
yă – elegance / gracefulness

19. Non-western translation traditions
Baker, Mona and Gabriela Saldanha (eds) (2008) Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, 2nd edition, Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
Delisle, J. and J. Woodsworth (1995) Translators through History, Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, UNESCO Publishing.
Chan, Leo Takhung (ed.) (2004) Twentieth-century Chinese Translation Theory, Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Gutas, Dimitri (1998) Greek Thought/Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic translation movement in Baghdad and Early ‘Abbasid society, London and New York: Routledge.
Hermans, Theo (ed.) (2006) Translating Others, 2 vols, Manchester: St. Jerome.
Hung, Eva and Judy Wakabayashi (eds) (2005) Asian Translation Traditions, Manchester: St Jerome.

20. Modern translation theory
ACRONYMS AND TERMINOLOGY
SL = source language
TL = target language
ST = source text
TT = target text
Text producer/author
Receiver/audience/reader

21. Three types of translation
Intralingual translation – “rewording or paraphrase”
Interlingual translation – “translation proper”
Intersemiotic translation – different mode or medium
Roman Jakobson (1959/2004)
‘On linguistic aspects of translation’, in Lawrence Venuti (ed.) (2004), pp )

22. Translatability and Equivalence
‘Equivalence in difference is the cardinal problem of language and the pivotal concern of linguistics’ (Jakobson, 1959)
‘Formal equivalence’ – TL message should match SL message as closely as possible at all levels (emphasis on text)
‘Dynamic equivalence’ – closest natural TL equivalent, elicit equivalent effect in receptor of TL message (emphasis on receiver)
Nida, 1964

23. What kind of equivalence?
“closest natural equivalent” (Nida)

24. Metalanguage of translation
Borrowing: his mafioso clothes
Calque: dens sapientiae > wisdom tooth
Literal translation: Ban Ki-moon is the Secretary-General of the UN
> Ban Ki-moon è il Segretario Generale dell’ONU
Transposition: al mio ritorno >as soon as I return
Modulation: it’s difficultl > non è facile
Idiomatic translation: cock-a-doodle-do > kikikiriki
Adaptation: Tour de France

25. Cultural or linguistic gaps
bungalow, cottage, chalet, detached house, semi-detached house, terraced house, hut, mansion, villa
Waitrose/Tesco
House of Commons
mumble, murmur, mutter

26. Loss/gain and compensation
Shell-shocked: It’s no yolk as Jose cracks up over injuries
Jose Mourinho is determined to avoid having egg on his face as Chelsea kick off their Champions League campaign tonight… ‘Our style of play is important. But it is omelettes and eggs. No eggs, no omelettes. It depends on the quality of the eggs… when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot get there you have a problem.’
(Metro , p. 48)

28. Explicitation Arrução
‘clearing the ground under coffee trees of rubbish and piling it in the middle of the row in order to aid in the recovery of beans dropped during harvesting’