12 Questions
What is the primary goal of neutrality in translation?
To show no bias and give no advice or opinion
What is the main limitation of neutrality in translation?
The difficulty in finding equivalent words in the target language
What is fidelity in translation?
The degree of similarity between the original and translated text
What is cultural adaptation in translation?
The process of adapting content to the culture of the target language
What is the result of not balancing fidelity with cultural sensitivity?
A loss of important information in the translation
What is the primary goal of fidelity in communication?
To convey accurate and unambiguous information
What is the primary challenge in translating humor?
It is often related to the language itself, making it difficult to convey.
What is the purpose of transcreation in language translation?
To adapt a message from one language to another while maintaining its intent, style, tone, and context.
What is the main problem with translating idioms?
They are deeply embedded in the culture's history and do not transfer well.
What is the primary goal of political correctness in translation?
To preserve a moderate attitude and respect in matters regarding gender, religion, or race.
What is the purpose of abridgement in language translation?
To summarize the text, cutting off the unnecessary parts but keeping the main ideas.
What is the primary feature of cultural expressions?
They vary greatly between cultures and include idioms, mindset, and traditional customs.
Study Notes
Translation Concepts
- Neutrality: the process of moving a text from one language to another without changing the sense or meaning behind it, belonging to neither extreme type or kind, and not taking sides in a controversy.
- Fidelity: the degree of similarity between the original text in one language and its translated version, containing accurate, unambiguous, and important information.
Limitations of Neutrality and Fidelity
- Neutrality limitations:
- Some words can't be directly translated due to inconsistencies and inequivalence between languages, fields, or environments.
- Thorough documentation can overcome these limitations.
- Fidelity limitations:
- Balancing fidelity with cultural sensitivity:
- Cultural adaptation is necessary to ensure the translated text aligns with the target culture for better comprehension.
- 5 key points of consideration: understanding the context, keeping up with cultural changes, sensitivity to cultural sensibility, adapting tone and style, and language nuances and idioms.
- Humor and idioms are challenging to translate due to their deep cultural embedding and language-specific nuances.
- Balancing fidelity with cultural sensitivity:
Translation Strategies
- Transcreation: adapting a message from one language to another while maintaining its intent, style, tone, and context.
- Methods for translating idioms:
- Understand the meaning
- Consider the target audience
- Use context as clues
- Convey the meaning (implying the meaning outright)
- Find equivalent idioms with the same meaning
- Strategies for political correctness and censorship:
- Revision: double-check the translated document with a different expert to ensure accuracy and cultural appropriateness.
- Abridgement: summarize the text, cutting off unnecessary parts while keeping the main ideas.
- Interpolated comment: adding translator comments to explain cultural references.
Cultural Expression and Euphemism
- Cultural expression: variations in cultural traits between cultures (music, language, religion, cultural mores, etc.).
- Features of cultural expression:
- Idioms
- Mindset and consensus of object
- Traditional custom
- Personal color
- Humor
- Euphemism: a mild or indirect word or expression to avoid being too harsh when referring to sensitive topics.
- Features of euphemism: old words with new senses of meaning.
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