Translation Principles and Theories
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Translation Principles and Theories

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Questions and Answers

Which principle emphasizes clarity and understandability in translation?

  • Fidelity
  • Fluency (correct)
  • Structuralism
  • Elegance
  • What does Jakobson's focus on equivalence in translation imply?

  • The message should retain its meaning across languages. (correct)
  • Translation is purely linguistic.
  • Translation is limited to verbal languages.
  • There exists full equivalence between languages.
  • In Eugene Nida's translation methodology, what is emphasized for successful translation?

  • Reader orientation and context (correct)
  • Maintaining original cultural references
  • Word-for-word accuracy
  • Literal definitions of words
  • Which category of meaning relates to the emotional associations of a word?

    <p>Emotive/Connotative</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary focus of intralingual translation?

    <p>Rewording or paraphrasing within the same language</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which type of equivalence directs attention to form and content?

    <p>Formal equivalence</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What challenge does poetry pose in the translation process?

    <p>It is considered almost impossible to translate.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which aspect is considered crucial for the generative-transformational model in translation?

    <p>Deep structure clarity of thoughts and feelings</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is described as the best approach to achieve equivalent effect in translation?

    <p>Literal translation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which type of translation emphasizes grammatical and lexicon adjustments to achieve naturalness?

    <p>Dynamic translation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the concept of 'skopos' relate to in translation studies?

    <p>Text level communication</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which translation procedure involves rewording a sentence without changing its meaning?

    <p>Transposition</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which theoretical approach incorporates cultural history and socio-cultural studies in translation?

    <p>Skopos theory</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main focus of componential analysis in translation?

    <p>Identifying related words' features</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which type of translation maintains the original text's semantic and syntactic structures as much as possible?

    <p>Semantic translation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the term 'illusive equivalent effect' suggest about translation?

    <p>It is often unsuccessful.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was the main purpose of the Translation Bureau during the years 1930-1940 in Turkey?

    <p>To provide cultural awakening with western classics</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which translation model emphasizes a faithful and word-for-word approach?

    <p>Jerome's model</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is NOT one of John Dryden's three categories of translation?

    <p>Literal translation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does Alexander Tytler emphasize as crucial for a good translation?

    <p>Complete transcript of ideas</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to the principles outlined, what should a translator avoid to produce a faithful translation?

    <p>Word-for-word translation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which principle ensures a translation maintains the same style and character as the original?

    <p>Same character as original</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a significant influence of Yan Fu's contributions to translation?

    <p>Introduction of Western thinking to China</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary concern of Etienne Dolet in his approach to translation?

    <p>To reproduce sense and avoid literal translations</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    Translation Principles

    • Fidelity/Faithfulness/Trueness, Fluency/Expressiveness/Comprehensibility/Intelligibility, Elegance/Gracefulness are central to 20th century Chinese translation theory & practice.
    • These principles are criticized for being vague and difficult to apply.

    Roman Jakobson

    • Founder of modern Protestant theology and modern hermeneutics.
    • Structuralist who focused on the equivalence of a message in linguistics.
    • Language is a system.

    3 Kinds of Translation

    • Intralingual: Rewording, Paraphrasing
    • Interlingual: Traditional focus.
    • Intersemiotic: Transmutation.
      • This kind of translation indicates that translation is not limited to verbal language.
    • No full equivalence exists between two languages.
    • Differences in language shape different conceptualism of words.
    • The actual action is the translation of the message.
    • Poetry is considered impossible to translate.

    Eugene Nida

    • Bible translator.
    • Emphasized a scientific basis for translation.
    • Used linguistics, especially Chomsky's Generative-Transformational Model.

    Deep & Surface Structure

    • Deep Structure: Refers to concepts, thoughts, and feelings.
    • Surface Structure: Refers to words and language used to represent deep structure.

    Three Categories of Meaning

    • Linguistic: Relationship between different linguistic structures.
    • Referential: Literal definition of a word.
    • Emotive/Connotative: Associations that a word produces.

    Successful Translation (Nida)

    • Depends on context and understanding.
    • No word-for-word translation.
    • Reader-oriented.
    • Conveying the spirit and manner of the original text.
    • Natural and easy for expansion.
    • Similar response from the reader.

    Formal & Dynamic Equivalence

    • Formal:
      • Directs attention to the message of the source text.
      • Focus on matching elements in the target text.
      • Emphasizes accuracy and correctness.
    • Dynamic:
      • Focus on the effect of the message in the target language.
      • Reader-oriented.
      • Emphasizes a natural and easy flow in the target text.

    Tercüme Bürosu (1930-1940)

    • Turkish Humanism
    • Enlightenment
    • Cultural Awakening
    • Western sense of humanism
    • Turkish Renaissance
    • Focused on translating western classics to foster cultural awakening and a sense of renaissance in Turkey.
    • The western classics were especially directed towards young people in the new republic.
    • The aim was to promote western humanism and enlightenment in a broader sense, leading to the term "Turkish Renaissance" which was used by officials, academics, and writers.

    Jerome Model

    • Emphasizes word-for-word orientation.
    • No need for extensive translator training.
    • Dictionaries are sufficient for this type of translation.
    • Bible translation should be done with the highest degree of fidelity.

    Horace Model

    • Focuses on creating a faithful text.
    • Emphasizes a settlement between the author and the readers to ensure fidelity.
    • Recognizes that translating poetry is difficult, though not impossible.

    John Dryden

    • Introduced three categories of translation:
      • Metaphrase: Word-for-word
      • Paraphrase: Sense-for-sense
      • Imitation: Adaptation
    • Preferred paraphrase over the other two methods, arguing that literal translation could be misleading.
    • Believed that word-for-word translation was wrongful to the author.

    Etienne Dolet

    • Aimed to spread classical teachings through a humanist viewpoint and improve French language development.
    • Focused on reproducing the sense of the original text while avoiding word-for-word translation.

    Dolet's 5 Principles

    1. Translator must understand the sense and material of the text.
    2. Translator must have perfect knowledge of the source and target languages.
    3. Translator should avoid word-for-word translation.
    4. Translator should avoid Latinate and unusual forms.
    5. Translator should assemble and cooperate with words eloquently.

    Alexander Tytler

    • First comprehensive and systematic study of translation in English.
    • Reader-oriented.
    • Defined a good translation as being oriented towards the target language reader.

    Tytler's 3 Laws/Rules

    1. Translation should give a complete transcript of ideas.
    2. The style and manner of writing should be same character with original.
    3. Translation should have all the ease of the original composition.

    Yan Fu

    • Influenced by Tytler's rules.
    • Introduced western thinking to China.
    • Emphasized a translation philosophy that included:
      • Dynamic Equivalence: The message should be substantially the same. Closest natural equivalence to the source language.
      • Hierarchical Structuring: Differentiates words according to their level.
      • Componential Analysis: Identifies and discriminates specific features of related words.
      • Semantic Structure Analysis: Encourages the translator to grasp the importance of the message.

    Peter Newmark

    • Focused on the illusory nature of achieving an equivalent effect in translation.
    • Believed that the gap between source and target languages would always remain.
    • Literal translation is the best approach as long as equivalent effect is achieved.
    • Distinguished between communicative (dynamic) translation and semantic (formal) translation:
      • Communicative: To produce an effect as close as possible to the original text on its readers.
      • Semantic: To render the original text as closely as possible with respect to the semantic and syntactic structures of the target language.

    Vinay and Darbelnet

    • Focused on stylistic analysis of French and English texts.
    • Examined texts in both languages.
    • Noted differences between the languages.
    • Identified different strategies and procedures for translation.

    2 Strategies and 7 Procedures (Vinay & Darbelnet)

    • Direct: Borrowing, calque, literal translation
      • Borrowing: Using words from the source language directly.
      • Calque: Translating each word with the closest equivalent in the target language, creating a new compound word.
    • Oblique: Transposition, modulation, idiomatic, adaptation.

    Reiss

    • Focused on translation as an act of communication.
    • Emphasized the message to be conveyed.
    • Analyzed translation at the text level rather than the sentence level.
    • Conceived the translator as the medium in communication.

    Text Types (Reiss)

    • Informative: Factual texts.
    • Expressive: Artistic and imaginative texts.
    • Operative: Texts that aim to persuade or influence.

    Skopos Theory

    • Mary Snell-Hornby
    • A wide variety of concepts.
    • Focuses on the purpose (skopos) of translation.
    • Incorporates cultural history, literary studies, socio-cultural and area studies; and for legal, economic, medical, and scientific translation, the study of the relevant subject.

    Key Concepts in the Text

    • Equivalence: Refers to the relationship between the source and target texts.
    • Fidelity: How closely the translation adheres to the source text.
    • Fluency: The smoothness and naturalness of the translated text.
    • Elegance: The beauty and gracefulness of the translated text.
    • Intersemiotic Translation: Translating between different sign systems (e.g., from language to music).
    • Deep Structure: The meaning behind the words.
    • Surface Structure: The words and grammatical structure of the text.
    • Equivalent Effect: The goal of creating the same effect in the target language reader as the source text had on its readers.
    • Literal Translation: A translation that is as close as possible to the original text.
    • Transposition: Changing the grammatical structure of the sentence.
    • Modulation: Changing the point of view of the sentence.
    • Idiomatic Translation: Using idiomatic expressions in the target language.
    • Adaptation: Changing the cultural context of the text.
    • Skopos: The purpose of the translation.
    • Text Type: The type of text being translated.
    • Humanism: A philosophy that emphasizes the importance of human reason and experience.
    • Enlightenment: A period of intellectual and cultural change in Europe (17th-18th century).
    • Renaissance: A period of cultural revival in Europe (14th-16th century).

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    Description

    Explore key concepts in translation theory, including fidelity, fluency, and elegance, as well as the contributions of Roman Jakobson and Eugene Nida. Discover the various types of translation and the complexities involved in achieving equivalence across languages. This quiz will challenge your understanding of the intricate nature of translation.

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