IMT 105 - Week 2 PDF

IMT 105 WEEK 2 – TEXTUAL ASPECTS OF TRANSLATION WHAT IS TEXT?  The original words of something written, printed, or spoken, in contrast to a summary or paraphrase.  A coherent stretch of language that may be regarded as an object of critical analysis. KATHERINA REISS – TEXT TYPES (1...

IMT 105 WEEK 2 – TEXTUAL ASPECTS OF TRANSLATION WHAT IS TEXT?  The original words of something written, printed, or spoken, in contrast to a summary or paraphrase.  A coherent stretch of language that may be regarded as an object of critical analysis. KATHERINA REISS – TEXT TYPES (1977)  Germany – functionalism  assessment of translations  3 functions of language by Bühler 1. informative function (Darstellungsfunktion); 2. expressive function (Ausdrucksfunktion); 3. appellative function (Appellfunktion). Functional characteristics of text types and links to translation methods Informative text type  Plain communication of facts  the content or ‘topic’ is the main focus of the communication.  TT: transmit the full referential or conceptual content of the ST  ‘plain prose’, without redundancy and with the use of explicitation when required  TT: should focus on transmitting the factual content and terminology and not worry about stylistic niceties. Expressive text type  Creative composition  the author uses the aesthetic dimension of language  The author or ‘sender’ is foregrounded, as well as the form of the message.  TT: should preserve the aesthetic and artistic form of the ST, in addition ensuring the accuracy of information.  The translation should use the ‘identifying’ method, with the translator adopting the standpoint of the ST author.  In literature, the style of the ST author is a priority. Operative text type  Inducing behavioural responses  Aim: to appeal to or persuade the reader or ‘receiver’ of the text to act in a certain way  Buying something  Converting to a religion  Voting for someone  The form of language is dialogic and the focus is appellative.  The TT of an operative text should produce the desired response in the TT receiver.  The translation should employ the ‘adaptive’ method, creating an equivalent effect among TT readers.  The TT of an advert needs to appeal to the target audience even if new words and images are needed. Audio-medial  films and visual and spoken advertisements  supplement the other three functions with visual images, music, etc.  supplementary’ method  supplementing written words with visual images and music. Main function for each hybrid type Instruction Criteria  linguistic components:  semantic equivalence  lexical equivalence  grammatical and stylistic features;  non-linguistic determinants:  Situation  subject field or domain  Time  place (characteristics of country and culture)  Receiver  Sender  affective implications’ (humour, irony, emotion, etc.) Criticisms  Why there should only be three types of language function?  New texts  technological advances  Texts are hybrid  Business and financial texts  Markets are bullish and bearish, profits soar, peak, flatten, dive and plummet, while the credit crunch bites, hostile takeover bids are launched and fiscal haircuts imposed  whether text types and genres can be differentiated on the basis of the primary function is questionable:  annual business report  as an informative text for the company’s directors and as an operative text to persuade the shareholders and market analysts that the company is being run efficiently.  Social and personal aspects of translation Translation-oriented text analysis  Christiane Nord’s Text Analysis in Translation (1988/2005)  Translation-oriented text analysis  two basic types of translation product (and process)  Documentary translation  Instrumental translation Two Basic Types Of Translation Product Documentary translation Instrumental translation  serves as a document of a source culture  serves as an independent message communication between the author and the transmitting instrument in a new ST recipient’ communicative action in the target culture, and is intended to fulfil its communicative  in literary translation, where the TT allows purpose without the recipient being conscious the TT receiver access to the ideas of the of reading or hearing a text which, in a ST but where the reader is well aware that different form, was used before in a different it is a translation. communicative situation’  word-forword and literal translation and  The TT receivers read the TT as though it ‘exoticizing translation’ that seeks to were a ST written in their own language. preserve local colour (quark, kimono, lahmacun, etc.)  The function may be the same for both ST and TT. A MODEL OF ST ANALYSIS  a model of ST analysis which is applicable to all text types and translation situations  functional concept, enabling understanding of the function of ST features and the selection of translation strategies appropriate to the intended purpose of the translation  three aspects of functionalist approaches: (1) the importance of the translation commission (or ‘translation brief’, as Nord terms it); (2) the role of ST analysis; (3) the functional hierarchy of translation problems. The importance of the translation commission  Commission should include the following:  the intended text functions;  the addressees (sender and recipient);  the time and place of text reception;  the medium (speech or writing, and, we might now add, digital or hard copy);  the motive (why the ST was written and why it is being translated)  Enables the translator to prioritize what information to include in the TT.  Advertisement / article / website The role of ST analysis  The translator should decide on (a) the feasibility of translation (b) the most relevant ST items that need to be taken into account to achieve functional translation; (c) the translation strategy that will be necessary to fulfil the translation brief. Intratextual factors  subject matter: including how culture-bound it is to the SL or TL context;  content: the ‘meaning’ of the text, including connotation and cohesion;  presuppositions: this has to do with the relative background knowledge of ST and TT receivers and with culture- and genre-specific conventions  (10 Downing Street / readers of philosophy journal?)  there may be implicit meanings in the ST that need to be explained to the TT receiver (the owl / red in Chinese cultures, lotus flower in ancient Egypt, Buddhism, and other cultures) Intratextual factors  text composition: including microstructure (information units, stages of a plot, logical relations, thematic structure) and macrostructure (beginning, end, footnotes, quotations...);  non-verbal elements: illustrations, italics, font, etc.;  lexis: including dialect, register and subject-specific terminology;  sentence structure: including rhetorical features such as parenthesis and ellipsis;  suprasegmental features: including stress, intonation, rhythm and ‘stylistic punctuation’. The functional hierarchy of translation problems  Comparison of the intended functions of the ST and the proposed TT helps to decide the functional type of translation to be produced (documentary or instrumental).  Analysis of the translation commission determines those functional elements that may be reproduced and those that will need to be adapted to the TT addressees’ situation.  The translation type helps to decide the translation style. So, a documentary translation will be more source-culture oriented and an instrumental translation more target-culture oriented.  The problems of the text can then be tackled at a lower linguistic level, following the features of ST analysis. CASE STUDY  Usborne Cookery School’s Cooking for Beginners  an illustrated book of varied recipes to help British children aged 10+ years learn to cook.  TTs were to be produced in a range of European languages for sale abroad.  However, in order to keep costs down, the many illustrations were to be retained from the ST.  The kind of translation involved here is instrumental: the resulting TT is to function in the target culture as an independent message-transmitting text, with the TT receivers using it to learn how to cook. The ST–TT profiles in the translation commission???  The intended text functions ?  The addressees ?  The time and place of text reception ?  The medium ?  The motive ? The ST–TT profiles in the translation commission would be as follows:  The intended text functions: The ST has an informative function, transmitting information about cookery and specific recipes. It also has an appellative function, since it is appealing to children to act on what they read (to make the recipes and become interested in food and in cooking). The TT will be function-preserving as far as is possible.  The addressees: The ST addressees are probably both the British children aged 10 years and over mentioned earlier and their parents (or other older relatives, carers or friends), who are likely to be the purchasers of the book. Many of the recipes also presuppose some assistance from an adult. The TT addressees are the TL children aged 10+ and their parents or other adults.  The time and place of text reception: The ST was published in the UK in 1998; the TTs appeared in Dutch, French, Italian and Spanish over the period 1999–2000. The time difference is, therefore, of little importance.  The medium: The ST is a printed paperback book of forty-eight pages with many photographs and illustrations on each page. The TTs are to follow the same format, i.e. the words of the TL simply replace the SL words but the illustrations remain the same.  The motive: The ST has the purpose of teaching British children the basics of cooking in an entertaining way using tools and ingredients that are readily available. The TT has the purpose of doing the same for the TT children. ST analysis???  non-verbal elements ?  the register of the lexis ?  Presuppositions ? Non-verbal elements  The features of medium are crucial for the translation process and product. The illustrations cannot be altered and the length of each TT caption/instruction must not exceed the length of the corresponding ST caption/instruction. Clearly these are severe limitations on the translator. The register of the lexis  Difficult decision: recipe book  recipes are a strictly organized text genre with conventions that vary interlingually.  English prefers imperative forms (‘cut the tomatoes’, ‘add the onion’, etc.) whereas other languages (such as French, German, Spanish) use infinitive forms.  appellative function and the fact that the addressees are children  The lexis in the ST is consequently slightly simplified and rather more interpersonal than in most cookery boks.  «Take care that you don’t touch anything hot»  ‘Bring the milk to the boil, then turn the heat down low so that it is bubbling very gently’  Simmer  a similarly simplified TT that fulfils the same appellative function  this may even mean going against the conventions of the recipe in the TL and not using infinitive forms, since they tend to distance the addressee. Presuppositions  divergence in cultural background between the TT and ST addressees.  The selection of dishes: Some dishes described may not exist in the target culture (vegetable stir fry and prawn and pepper pilaff or fudgey fruit crumble)  The presupposition in the ST is that the child will have seen these dishes, perhaps made by an adult, and understand what the final product is to look like. The children and the adults may be unsure whether the recipe is turning out correctly. Changing the names of the recipes listed above (for example to Chinese vegetables and exotic rice or hot fruit dessert) may make them more accessible to the TT receivers, although not necessarily easier to cook. Presuppositions  Ingredients: Some ingredients, such as fresh ginger, pitta bread, or processed foods such as oven-bake chips and mini- croutons, may be unavailable in some target cultures. This means that either the whole recipe would be impossible to make, or the preparation of it would be different. In the TT some of these ingredients may be altered to ones that are more readily available in the target culture. Presuppositions  Cooking utensils: Utensils such as kettles, garlic presses and potato mashers are not used in all cultures. In a recipe for creamy fish pie, a drawing of a potato masher is followed by the caption: ‘Crush the potato by pressing a potato masher down, again and again, on the chunks. Do it until there are no lumps left.’