Translation:
process of changing speech or writing from source lg to target lg
product or the target lg version resulting from the process
abstract concept encompassing the process and product
General goal of translation: to establish a relationship of equivalence btw the source and target texts, to ensure that both of them communicate the same message, while taking into account constraints. Constraints include context, the rules of grammar of the source lg, its writing conventions, idioms.
Translation studies - a branch of humanities dealing with the systematic, interdisciplinary study of the theory, description and application of translation, interpreting or both these activities.
Translation studies is related to academic research whose subject matter is translation, whereas translation theory is related to theory intended to account for the process of translating and its product.
Linguistically, translation studies is a branch of applied linguistics, for in the process of translating the translator makes attempt to compare and contrast different aspects of two lgs to find equivalents.
James Holmes divided translation studies into 2 areas: PURE and APPLIED translation studies. PURE is divided into 2: descriptive translation studies (the description of the phenomena of translation): product-oriented studies (examining existing translations), process-oriented studies (examining mental processes of a translator), function-oriented studies (examining the functions of translations in the recipient socio-cultural context). Translation theory (the establishment of general principles to explain and predict phenomena of translations): general and partial translation theory. Partial restricts itself to: an area (specific linguistic or cultural groups), a rank (dealing with specific linguistic levels), a text-type (eg. Bible translation), a problem (translations of idioms, metaphors), time (older period vs. contemporary texts). APPLIED (activities leading to specific practical purposes): translator training, translation aids, translation criticism, translation policy.
Translation studies and other disciplines: the focus is on the methodologies borrowed from other disciplines: psychology, literary theory, philosophy, cultural studies.
Translation studies experiences periods of fragmentation. There was a strong movement for establishing and independent discipline of interpreting studies. But a conclusion was that fragmentation could weaken the position of both translation and interpretation.
TRANSLATION: transferring ideas expressed in writing from 1 lg to another
INTERPRETING: transferring ideas expressed orally or by gestures from 1 lg to another
3 Modes of interpreting: simultaneous (real-time interpreting, speaker talks without pause, key skill: decisiveness), consecutive( involves a pause after a passage, key skill: note-taking - to take down not words, but thoughts) and whispering (real-time, interpreter whisper into the ear of the listener).
Other modes (used mostly within conference interpreting):
relay (interpreting btw two lgs via a third. When a person speaks in a lg not covered by an interpreted in an active booth, this booth can connect to another booth that covers this lg)
pivot (using a single lg as a relay. If only one or two interpreters have a less widespread lg as a passive lg, they are said to be pivots for the other booths which will take relay from them)
cheval (interpreter works alternatively in two booths in the same meeting)
teleconferencing (any form of communication, comprising of at least an audio stream, btw spatially distant participants in a meeting)
audioconferencing ( sound-only teleconferencing)
videoconferencing (a special case of teleconferencing involving a video stream. It is an example of a multimedia application, that is involving at least two different media, sound and image, in digital form.
Studio or room videoconferencing (two or more studios are linked together by video and audio).
Sight translation (a written document is explained orally from the source lg to the target lg
TYPES OF TRANSLATION (depending on linguistic aspect)
intralingual translation (paraphrasing a word, sentence using the same lg, or rephrasing an expression to clarify it)
interlingual (translation proper, from 1 lg to another)
intersemiotic (transmutation, interpretation of linguistic signs by means of non-verbal signs: written text to music, painting or film.
TYPES OF TRANSLATION (from the point of view of method)
word for word translation (the source lg word order is preserved and the words are translated by their most common meanings. Cultural words are translated literally. The main use is to understand the mechanics of the source lg or to construe a difficult text as pre-translation process)
literal (follows the form and linguistic features of the source lg, source lg grammatical constructions are converted to their nearest target lg equivalents but the lexical items are translated out of context. It may be helpful for the study of the source lg, not for those interested in the meaning of the text)
faithful (to reproduce the precise contextual message of the original within the constraints of the target lg grammatical structures. It transfers cultural words and preserves a degree of grammatical and lexical deviation from the source lg norms. Attempts to be completely faithful to the intentions of the source lg writer)
semantic (differs from faithful n that in must take into more account of the aesthetic value of the source text, compromising on meaning where appropriate so that no assonance, word play or repetition jars in the finished version. It does not rely on cultural equivalence. While faithful is dogmatic, semantic is more flexible)
communicative (renders the exacts contextual meaningof the original in such a way that both the lg and the content are readily comprehensible to the reader)
idiomatic (communicates the meaning of the source text in the natural forms of the target lg, both in the grammatical constructions and the choice of lexical items. A truly idiomatic translation does not sound like a translation)
free (meaning-based translation, sense-for-sense), it means that more emphasis is given to overall meaning than to exact wording. Usually it is a paraphrase much longer that the original)
adaptation ( freest form of translation mainly used for plays and poetry. Source lg culture converted to target lg culture and text is rewritten)
screen translation (translations of films and tv programmes, including subtitling - where the translation is typed along the bottom of the screen, and dubbing where the voices of the native speakers of the target lg are heard in place of the original actors)
Translations can be very literal, literal, modified literal, near idiomatic, idiomatic, unduly free, which add information not contained in the source text or change the meaning of the source text, or distort the facts of the historical and cultural setting of the source text.
TRANSLATION PROCESS
decoding the meaning of the source text
re-encoding this meaning in the target lg
EQUIVALENCE - the relationship btw a source text and a target text that allows the target text to be considered as the translation of the source text in the first place - if two linguistic units in two lgs carry the same meaning
TYPES OF EQUIVALENCE:
linguistic (word for word translation), there is homogeneity on the linguistic level of both the source and target lg)
paradigmatic (equivalence of elements of grammar seen as being a higher category than lexical)
stylistic (there is functional equivalence of elements in both the original and the translation aiming at an expressive identity with an invariant of identical meaning)
textual or syntagmatic (equivalence of the syntagmatic structuring of a text, that is equivalence of form and shape
Translation can have rigid adherence to the form of the original lg - FORMAL equivalence, or complete disregard for the form, not the message, of the original lg (DYNAMIC equivalence).
The task of the translator: to preserve the meaning across two different lgs or cultures, to create a pragmatically and semantically adequate translation.
An adequate translation is the replacement of a source text by a pragmatically and semantically equivalent texts in the target lg. It is both accurate rendering of the source text and one which fulfils its role in the target culture.
Adequacy - the degree of equivalence btw the meaning of the original message and the meaning of the translated one.
LANGUAGE VARIETIES: may be interpreted from various perspectives:
according to attitudes (styles)
according to the user (idiolects, social or geographical dialects)
according to subject matters (registers)
REGISTER - lg variety which is distinguished according to use:
field of discourse (lf use which reflects the social functions of the text, fileds may include a variety of subject matters)
mode of discourse (the medium used in lg activity: speech into writing)
tenor of discourse (refers to the relationship btw the partners of communication: formal vs. informal)
TWO CRITERIA OF SUCCESSFUL TRANSLATION:
faithfulness, or fidelity - the extent to which the translation accurately renders the meaning of the source text, without adding to it r subtracting from it, without intensifying or weakening any part of it - faithful traslation
transparency - the extent to which the translation appears to a native speaker of the target lg to have originally been written in that lg, and conform to the grammatical, syntactic an idiomatic conventions of that lg - idiomatic translation
TRANSLATION PROBLEMS
linguistic problems - grammatical differences, lexical ambiguity, meaning ambiguity
cultural problems - refer to different situational features
Additional problems: the source text is illegible, misspelled, incomplete, may miss important references, it may be a translation of a quotation that was originally made in the target lg, and the original is unavailable, dialect terms, neologisms, unexplained acronyms, abbreviations, jargon, rhymes, puns, poetic meter, highly specific cultural references
UNTRANSLATABILITY - property of a text in a lg for which no equivalent text can be found in another lg.
TWO TYPES OF UNTRANSLATABILITY
linguistic - there is no lexical or syntactical substitute in the target lg for a source lg item - ambiguity, plays on words, oligosemy
cultural - due to the absence in the target lg culture of a relevant situational feature for the source lg text - names of some institutions, clothes, foods, abstract concepts
THREE APPROACHES TO TRANSLATABILITY:
universalists - the existence of linguistic universals ensure translatability
monadist - each linguistic community interprets reality in its own way and this endangers translatability
deconstructionists - perceive translation as transfer of meaning
TRANSLATION PROCEDURES - general category referring to particular steps undertaken by the translator
TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES - an act of selecting target lg units, that is an actual operation or manipulation with linguistic material
THREE BASIC PROBLES IN TRANSLATION
there is no lexical correspondence at word level btw the source and target text
there is no lexical correspondence above word level - collocations, idioms and fixed expressions
there is no textual quivalence sorting out cohesion and coherence
PROBLEMS AT WORD LEVEL
there are culture specific concepts in the text
the source lg concept is not lexicalized in the target lg
the source lg word is semantically complex
there are differences in form
there are differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms
the use of loan words in the source text
Suggestions - translation by footnote, glossary at the end of a book, omission, illustration, paraphrase using related or unrelated words, using loan word plus explanation, cultural substitution
PROBLEMS ABOVE WORD LEVEL
culture-specific collocations,
the tension btw accuracy and naturalness,
market collocations in the source text,
no equivalent idiom in the target lg
Suggestions - to evaluate the significance of a potential change in meaning, use an idiom of similar meaning and different form, paraphrase, compensate, reword, translate by illustration
PROBLEMS WITH TEXTUAL NON-EQUIVALENCE
gender
person
genre
verb tense
restrictions of word order
Suggestions - to read the source text aloud to sb else and focus on intonation, change the word order by puzzling with words and clauses until they fit, use adding, explicitation, rechunking, that is reorganizing or renumbering paragraphs, sentences
MOST FREQUENT TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES:
Adaptation - when the context referred to in the original does not exist in the culture of the target text, thereby necessitating some form of re-creation. Modes of adaptation:
transcription of the original - word for word reproductions of part of the text in the original lg
omission - the elimination of part of the text
expansion - adding information in the text or in footnotes
exoticism - substitution of slang or dialect in the original text by rough equivalents in the target lg
creation - the replacement of the original text with a text that preserves only the essential message of the original
updating - the replacement of outdate or obscure information by modern equivalents
situational equivalence - insertion of a more familiar context than the one used in the original
Borrowing - the translator uses a word or expression from the source text in the target text. If they are not considered to have been naturalised in the target lg, they are normally printed in italics. They are often used when the target lg has no corresponding word in its lexicon or when the translator wants to keep a special flavour of the term - perestrojka, shaman
Calque - translator translates an expression literally into the target lg, translating the elements of the expression word for word. It is a literal translation on the level of phrase and serves the purposes of foreignisation.
Compensation - involves achieving a similar effect in the target text through different means of expression than those on the source text. It is used with puns, alliteration, rhyme, slang, metaphors, or pregnant words. Four categories of compensation:
in kind - different linguistic devices are used in the target text in order to re-create the same effect
in place - the effect in the target lg is at different place from that in the source
by merging - source text features are condensed in te target text
by splitting - the meaning of a word in the source text has to be expanded in the target lg
Explicitation - the translator expands the target text by inserting additional words. Introducing information into the target lg which is present only implicitly in the source lg, but which can be derives from the context. Four types of explicitation:
obligatory - caused by missing categories in the source lg, eg. Missing articles in Slavonic lgs necessitating addition in English
optional - dictated by differences in text-building strategies and stylistic preferences btw lgs
pragmatic - dictated by differences in cultures. A well-known name for a source lg audience may be an unknown name for the target lg audience and a translator may use an explanation by means of an additional word
translation-inherent explicitation - attributed to the nature of the translation process itself. Therefore translations are always longer than originals, regardless of lgs, genres or registers.
Modulation - a shift in the point of view, that is in cognitive categories, whereas transposition is a shift btw grammatical categories
Paraphrase or periphrasis - the translator replaces a word in the source text by a group of words or an expression in the target text
Simplification - three types
lexical - deals with non-equivalence at word level using superordinates ( a word than is more generic tan a given word) when there are no corresponding hyponyms in the target lg
syntactic - complex syntax is simplifies by replacing non-finite clauses with finite ones
stylistic - reflected in the tendency to break up long sequences and sentences, replacing phraseology with shorter collocations, and reducing or omitting repetitions
Translator's note - footnote or an endnote added by the translator to the target text to provide additional information pertaining to the limits of the translation, cultural background or any other explanation
Transliteration - refers to the spelling of words or place names imported from one lg to another, usually from a lg using a different alphabet - Peking - Beijing
Transposition - rendering a second lg element by syntactico-syntagmatic structures which have the same meaning but do not correspond formally (eg. Because of changes in the class of words used). Two main groups:
transposition of word class - include examples of attributive or adverbial functions, they are transpositions conditioned by the morphological form of individual lexical unit
transposition of syntactic categories - that is cases such as locatie and the instrumental in the target lg
SPECIALISED TYPES OF TRANSLATION
Every text belongs to literary translation which focuses on the message, not on the content, is used in parallel line with artistic translation. There is also non-literary translation
THREE MAJOR TYPES OF LITERARY TRANSLATION
of poetry -considered to be the most difficult type of translation, on the semantic level the focus in on the author's intended meaning and on how to recreate it in the target lg. Style - it is said that poetic translation may be successful only if the style has been conveyed together with the message, also translation must preserve emotional effect
of fiction - here, factors are aesthetic convention, author's worldview, historical and cultural circumstances, authorial individualism. Such a translation deals with bilingual, bicultural and bisocial transference. The most important feature of prose fiction is its style, that is the way in which the message is conveyed. Translator must decode and re-encode the message of the fiction author
of drama - the focus is mainly on the relationship between text and performance, or readability and performability. Translators are advised to apply five types of drama translation strategies:
treating the theatre text as a literary work,
using the source lg cultural context as a frame text,
translating performability,
creating source lg verse drama in alternative forms
cooperative translation
NON-LITERARY TRANSLATION
Administrative, legal and other official documents - texts are distinguished by exact definitions, impersonal and official interpretation, a great number of set phrases. They include various certificates, authorizations, regulations, court decisions. They are less problematic because
mostly primary or basic meanings are used
texts have definite syntactical structures
the minimal use or no-use of emotionally coloured words
a special system of term, fixed phrases, abbreviations
The style of English official documents is often criticized for being inanimate and therefore it is sometimes labeled as officialese. Features of legal style:
special lay-outs and the use of capital letter
large occurrence of abstract words - provision, authority, condition, request
the function of modal verbs - shall implies an obligatory consequence of a legal decision
the use of pair synonyms - terms and conditions, use and exercise, conditions and provisions
Economic and commercial documents - the style may be noted in business communication, which includes inquiries, offers, invoices, orders, claims and complains, dunning letters
Scientific and technical documents - provides information from various branches of science accurately, aptly and completely. Includes high amount of abstract words and special terms. These are words or expressions that are used only within specific field, or that describe that field in a great deal of detail.
Humanities texts resemble the publicity style, or the style of works of art. The difference btw humanities and sciences is marked in the degree of impersonality, impersonal presentation and information, which is characteristic for exact sciences. As the aim of the scientific style a comprehensible transfer of information, translators are allowed to split sentence patterns and rebuild them. The form in the scientific style is secondary, the content is primary.
4) Publicist texts - are used in mass media and are distinguished by a combination of 2 lg functions: informational and advertising. There are news - objective information and views - subjective, convincing presentation of information. They include such genres as editorial, report, review, satirical article, commentary. The style shares features with both administrative style, mainly in advertising and literary style, by its emotional power. Features of publicist style:
- frequent use of evaluating adjectives
- frequent use of euphemisms, words which are less offensive or unpleasant than other words - pass away instead of die
- use of unusual collocations or puns
- use of alliteration
- use of neologisms
- use of metaphors
- maximum utilization of the context and situation
MACHINE TRANSLATION - the application of computers to the task of translating texts from one natural lg to another. TWO TYPES:
Assisted machine translation - uses both a human translator and a computer in order to get better quality results. It can be divided into
Human Aided Machine Translation - a machine that uses human help
Machine Aided Human Translation - a human that uses machine help
Unassisted machine translation - translation created solely by a computer with no human involvement. Sometimes called Fully Automatic High Quality Translation
Machine translation seemed to be unrealistic because English contains a high degree of idiomacy disabling the automated translation and there are many words with multiple ambiguous meaning and sentences with complex structure which would lead to mistranslation. Some researchers claim that machine translation could avoid problems by being equipped with THREE TYPES OF SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE
Linguistic knowledge independent of context - semantics - by associating words with semantic features which allows it to impose constraints on what other kinds of words they appear with. Eg eat is used with edible objects
Linguistic knowledge that relates to context - pragmatic knowledge - pragmatics - by learning the notion of focus in a sentence
Common sense/real world knowledge - non-linguistics - by using a semantic net to show relations of things to each other. Words are kept in interlinked groups that relate to other groups.
Computers fail when applied to literary works, but may be successfully applied in translation of texts where no world knowledge is needed. Thus, in technical texts dealing with a very narrow topic in a rather monotonous style. MT should be directed towards specific purposes.
HISTORY - the early days of machine translation are associated with the first electronic computer, world war II and Warren Weaver. It was Weaver's original idea to use some techniques of code-breaking from mechanizes translation. The first demonstration of a Russian-English MT system took place in New York in 1954 as a joint project of IBM and Georgetown University.
The latest achievements in Machine Translation are TWO NEW TECHNIQUES:
the use of corpora or example-based system - enables comparing the input with a corpus of typical translated examples and making the closest matches
statistics-based MT - works on a principle of probabilities calculated by considering millions of words of parallel text. The statistical probabilities determine choice of lexical equivalents.
Machine translation provides draft translations of documents in certain lg pairs, based on a system of bilingual dictionaries and linguistic analysis. MT helps to save time but involves some sort of human intervention, as it requires a pre-editing and post-editing phase.
In Machine Translation THE TRANSLATOR SUPPORTS THE MACHINE.
COMPUTER-ASSISTED TRANSLATION - here, the machine supports the translator. A human translator creates a target text with the assistance of a computer program. It includes electronic and standard dictionaries, glossaries and terminology databases:
Electronic dictionaries are available in several forms - software, CD-ROMs, through the Internet. They allow immediate cross-access to information
Concordances - word-processing programmes that produce a list of all the occurrences of a string of letter within a defined corpus. Its objective is to establish patterns that are otherwise not clear. They include giving statistical data about the number of words, classifying words in terms of frequency or alphabetical order, and identifying the exact context in which the words occur. Concordances are valuable for translating specialized texts with fixed vocabulary and expression that have a clearly defined meaning. They ensure terminological consistency and provide the translator with more control over the text.
Translation memory programmes - a system that automatically searches for text segments that have been translated before and stored in the memory. These translated segments are then injected into new translation and the translator can keep, amend or discard them. Translation memory is often used to create a sentence database of a company's translations, for reuse on subsequent translation. It can be used in TWO MODES:
interactive mode - the text to be translated is on the computer screen and the translator selects the segments one by one to translate them. After each selection the programme searches its memory for identical or similar segments and produces possible translations in a separate window
automatic mode - the programme automatically processes the whole source lg text and inserts into the target lg text the translations it finds in the memory. This is a more useful mode if there is a lot of repetition because it avoids treating each segment in a separate window
THREE FUNCTIONS OF TRANSLATION MEMORY TOOLS:
segmentation of source text - software offers the translator the beginning of the next source sentence to be translated
preservation of the original typesetting and layout - the software will preserve the original typesetting and layout automatically without any new setting
translation memory proper - there are many software programmes available on market among those which are well testes are: TRADOS, DÉJÀ VU X, WORDFAST, WORDFISHER
The use of TM tools and software improves the translation process considerably. Many documents, they translate cost-effectively.
TRANSLATION MEMORY SYTEMS:
enable automatic reuse of existing translated material
maintain consistency in writing styles
ensure use of the client's preferred terminology
reduce translation costs
minimize desktop publishing costs
Computer-assisted translation is a broad term covering a range of tools, which include:
spell checkers
grammar checkers
terminology managers, allowing the translator to manage his own terminology bank in electronic form
dictionaries on CD-ROMs
terminology databases, either on CD-ROMs or through the Internet
full-text searches, or indexers - allow the user to query already translated text
concordances, which are programs that retrieve instances of a word or expression in a monolingual, bilingual are multilingual corpus
bitexts - the result of merging a source text and its translation, which can then be consulted using a full-text search tool
translation memory managers - TMM - tool consisting of a database of text segments in a source lg and their translations
DICTIONARY - a book containing a collection of the words of a lg or subject, arranged alphabetically or in some other definite order, and with explanations in the same or some other lg
VOCABULARY - a special selection of lexical units, eg. Everyday vocabulary
GLOSSARY - a kind of lexicographer product that contains a short word list providing minimal data in its entries. It is a list of explanation of the technical words and expressions in some particular subject
INDEX - an alphabetical arrangement of the words f some book or author with references to the places where they occur
CLASSED VOCABULARY - a list of words arranged according to a definite system of classifications under heads and subdivisions, according to their nature or their meaning
POLYGLOTS - dictionaries of several lgs. Some are polyglot in the vocabulary, but not in the explanation
THESAURUS - type of analogical dictionary, that is a book in which lists of semantically related groups of lexical items particularly synonyms, are organized alphabetically.
HISTORY OF DICTIONARIES - the most rapid progress in the making of general dictionaries was during the second half of the 19th century. It can be seen in three things: in the perfecting of the theory of what a general dictionary should be like, in the elaboration of methods of collecting and editing lexicographic material, and in the improved quality of the work which has been accomplished.
The older view was that the lexicographer should register only those words which are good from a literary point of view. Samuel Johnson wrote a dictionary in 1775, in two volumes.
The only way to collect the data on which the vocabulary was based was to search for them in the written monuments of the lg. But the wider scope and special aims of the new lexicography demanded that the investigation should be more comprehensive, systematic and precise. It became necessary to study a vast number of sources in order to collect excerpts covering all the essential lexis. This demanding task was beyond the powers of any one man and necessarily led to the division of labour. The making of a complete dictionary has become a cooperative enterprise. An example of such collective effort is the Oxford New English Dictionary.
TYPES of dictionaries vary according to some CRITERIA:
number of lgs - there are monolingual, bilingual and multilingual. The least useful is the multilingual, because the information It provides is generally limited and often reliable. Unilingual focus on the meaning, not equivalents, that is why they are valuable in translation
size of dictionary:
unabridged - a dictionary that covers a very large number of lexical items, generally over 400 000, including all the common words in a lg and a substantial number of specialized words or terms - Oxford English Dictionary
semi-unabridged - slightly smaller than unabridged, about 250 000 lexical items, but which gives the same amount of information for each of the items - Random House Unabridged, they are just as good as unabridged from the point of view of the quantity of information provided
abridged - a reference book which is condensed from a more comprehensive dictionary. Eg., the world list of it does not include obsolete lexical items and sense, or terminological lexical units. Thus, the term abridged presupposes that there is its unabridged counterpart, usually with the same title and produced by the same publisher
collegiate - most common and most commonly used by students, which explains it name. Covers about 150 000 lexical items and provides an adequate amount of lexicographic information
desk - not only more limited in the number of lexical items covered, about 60 000, but also in the quantity of information provided. Many specialized and special-purpose dictionaries are desk ones
pocket - worthless to the translator as it contains very few lexical items and very limited information
user characteristics - bilingual dictionaries may be compiled with the dominant lg of the users in mind, thus, certain bilingual dictionaries are intended for one lg's speakers, while others are written for the other lg's speakers. This subdivision on the basis of the dominant lg of the users is considered desirable because the needs of the two user groups can be very different
reason for using dictionaries - if it is intended for comprehension of the foreign lg, than it needs to contain much more information on the meaning of the foreign lg items. If it is for production purposes, eg. For writing, then it should include more syntactic and syntagmatic information on the foreign lg items as well as several examples to illustrate its function and use
language level of users - for foreign speakers who are learning English as the foreign lg, it will contain common lexical items, the definitions provided will be simpler, more syntactic information will be provided, and a larger number of illustrative examples will be given than if that dictionary were being produced for English speakers. In fact, there is a whole trend now in English lexicography to produce what are called learner's dictionaries, in addition to native speaker's dictionaries. Learner's dictionaries, like Collin's Cobuild, are meant for people learning English as a second lg
age of users - they may be intended for young children, school students or for adults. Children's dictionaries normally contain more pictures than examples for illustration. Dictionaries for school children, like learner's dictionaries, will contain common lexical items explained using simple definitions and illustrated by examples
general vs. specialized dictionaries - GENERAL cover lexical items commonly used in a variety of situations and only some frequently encountered specialized terms. SPECIALISED focus only on the specialize vocabulary of a given filed or a group of related fields. They are intended to ensure communication btw specialists working in that field. For the purposes of translation, general dictionaries are not sufficient and specialized dictionaries must be used, eg. Computer science, economics, agriculture. As these specialized dictionaries are restricted to a given field, they are also called special field dictionaries. And because they are limited to the specialized vocabulary or terminology of a field, they are also called terminological dictionaries
type of information provided - some dictionaries give a wide variety of lexical information, such as pronunciation, spelling variants, grammatical meaning, examples. But there are some dictionaries that limit themselves to one aspect of the lg and serve a specific purpose. These SPECIFIC-PURPOSE dictionaries are extremely varied in nature. They include dictionaries of synonyms, dialect dictionaries, dictionaries of neologisms, usage dictionaries which treat problem words in the lg, dictionaries of slang. Most special-purpose dictionaries are Unilingual, but some types may be bilingual, eg. Those of slang or jargon. There are also dictionaries covering word combination, such as collocations or fixed expression.
Others, such as dictionaries of pronunciation and etymological dictionaries are not particularly useful for translators, but both are subtypes of special-purpose dictionaries.
LEXICAL INFORMATION CATEGORIES:
pronunciation - presented using some type of phonetic transcription, found in almost every dictionary. But this is the aspect of form that is least important to translators, who have to know how to write correctly
etymology - indicated the history of a word. It is normally present only in larger, Unilingual native speaker's dictionaries
syntactic categorization - found to some extent in almost every type of dictionary. It includes the part of speech or grammatical category of the word, and the subcategories to which it belongs - countable or uncountable noun. Such information is important for purposes of text production, that is writing or translation, because the grammatical category and subcategory indicate how the word should be used
inflections - generally presented either explicitly or implicitly in all dictionaries. Irregular forms are usually presented explicitly, but when the inflection is regular, this is indicated implicitly, by omission
syntagmatic information - related to the appropriate use of a lexical item in a sentence. It can include elements such as collocations, both lexical, such as heavy rain, and grammatical, such as different from
diasystematic information - information concerning the circumstances of the use of a word, such as the kind of situation in which it can be used. If the use of a word is restricted to a given geographical area, then a geographical label will be used to indicate in what country or region it is applicable. It also included the level of the formality of a word, by means of register labels. Any headword that is not labeled for diasystematic information is considered to be neutral, that is usable in most contexts. It very important for translators
explanations of meaning, reference and use of the word - perhaps the most important type of information. MEANING refers to the different senses of the word. REFERENCE designates the extra-linguistic object to which the word refers. USE covers the pragmatic functions of the word. The most common technique for presenting an explanation of a meaning, esp in Unilingual dictionaries, is the DEFINITION, which is a verbal description of the sense of the word.
DICTIONARY-MAKING
LEXICOGRAPHY - the branch of applied linguistics that deals with dictionary-making that is the process, result and evaluation, from both the theoretical and practical aspect.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY DECISIONS
A good dictionary PREFACE OR INTRODUCTION gives some idea of why the dictionary was produced, how it was written and this helps the users understand the dictionary's strengths and weaknesses
Among the first decisions in dictionary-making there should be the one concerning the INTENDED USERS, since dictionary types are greatly influenced by user characteristics
Kind of dictionary - the possible options may include a general dictionary or a special-field dictionary, a collegiate or unabridged one
The form in which the dictionary will be presented, the form may influence the quantity and presentation of the content
MACROSTRUCTURE - consists of the nomenclature, which are the lexical items that are to be included in the dictionary
In order to achieve it, a traditional method is to examine the lexical items contained in other similar dictionaries of similar purpose and size. Final decision is made using another method - frequency of the use of lexical items in corpus, that is a body of text on computer. If we cannot find the words in the corpus, then we reject them as latent words - words that one tends to find in dictionaries but which are almost never used
The next decision concern the arrangement of the lexical items in the dictionary. The question is whether each of them will constitute a separate entry or will some of them be combined or nested with other lexical items. This question is important in the case of complex lexical items such as compounds, idioms and collocations
Another decision - the presentation of entries, eg strict alphabetical order, and the content of the front and back matter of the dictionary.
MICROSTRUCTURE - the structure of the individual dictionary entries, their various parts and the mutual relationship of these. These parts include pronunciation, definitions, equivalents, synonyms:
typographical conventions - various type-faces and type-sizes, punctuation signs and special symbols
entry preparation - finding pertinent information related to the headword covering all the lexical information categories chosen for inclusion. Such analysis enables the lexicographer not only to confirm information he has obtained from other sources such as other dictionaries, but also to discover new information, such as senses that have not been noted in dictionaries
when the first draft is completed, it is then revised. The number of revisions than an entry goes though depend on the complexity of the headwords and the experience of the lexicographer.
TERMINOLOGY - the study of terms. Terms, together with words and proper names constitute the general class of lexical items. In contrast to words and proper names that refer to general concepts, terms refer to specific concepts within particular subject fields. The CONCEPTS in terminological theory are understood as abstract cognitive units, while TERMS are perceived as their appropriate linguistic expression.
And lexicography is the study of lexical items generally referred to as words.
TERMS differ from words in that the terms have special reference within a particular discipline, and words function in general reference over a variety of subject fields. Terms are the results of agreements concluded on the precise meaning ans expression forms of lexical items. These agreements are made by means of processes of:
regularization,
harmonization and
standardization - the most important - consist of unifying and fixing each item, and unifying and standardizing its designation.
All in all, standardized terminology enables effective interaction among specialists by speeding up the process of communication. By establishing a clear one-to-one equivalence btw terms and concepts, a higher level of precision is achieved and misunderstanding is avoided.
TERM BANKS - systems which store specialized vocabulary or term in electronic form. Their main purpose is to save translation time by providing interlingual equivalents in specialized translation. From the point of view of the type of data provided, term banks are divided into FOUR CLASSES:
lg-oriented - monolingual, bilingual, multilingual
subject-oriented - monodisciplinary, multidisciplicary
theme-oriented - term-oriented, concept-oriented
lexis-oriented - terms and words, terms only, terms, phrases and sentences.
TRANSLATION TRAINING - the institutional training of translators and interpreters is a relatively new phenomenon. In the 1970s, there were only 49 translation training centers in the world, whereas in 1990s this was boosted to over 250 programmes of translation. In the past decades, translation training has experienced a tremendous, quantitative and qualitative growth and this trend seems to continue.
Translation-training institutions - organizational structures specifically designed for this task. They are usually university faculties or departments, or relatively independent institutes within higher education establishments or academies of sciences special non-degree training of translators has been organized since 1964 by the European Commission.
TRANSLATOR'S SKILLS - the European Commission's Directorate-General for Translation has produced a profile of a highly qualified translator working in the area of non-literary translation:
lg skills
perfect command of the first lg
thorough knowledge of two or more other lgs
thematic knowledge
familiarity with economics, financial affairs, legal matters, technical and scientific field
translation skills
a capacity to understand texts in the source lg and to render them correctly in the target lg, using the register and other lg conventions that correspond to their intended purpose
a capacity t obtain rapidly and efficiently, in both source and target lg, the background knowledge - facts, terminology, lg conventions, necessary to produce a translation of professional standard, even in less widely known fields. This includes the ability to use research tool and to become familiar with research strategies
a capacity to master computer-assisted translation and terminology tool, and standard ofiice-automation software
cultural skills, to solve culture-bound problems
TRANSLATION PROCEDURE:
Preparation
Analysis
Transfer
Initial draft
Reworking the initial draft
Testing the translation
PREPARATION - of two kinds. First, there is preparation which the translator should have completed before beginning the translation task, and there is preparation which he undertakes when beginning work on a specific translation.
The first kind of preparation included training in creative writing, in linguistics and in translation principles. The training in creative writing in the receptor lg is important because good writers make good translations. It is also important that the translator has enough linguistic study so that jhe can discover the features of the receptor lg, which indicate the groupings, cohesion, and prominence in that lg.
The second kind of preparation - related to the text to be translated. To do this, the translator must read the entire text through several times. When reading, the translator may want to mark any sections which seem unclear. The purpose is to understand the message intended by the author, get a feel for the style and the emotional tone.
The translator also studies the background material that is available. If the text is historical, a study should be made of the period of history in which the events took place and in which the text was written.
ANALYSIS - when reading the text, translator should write down any lexical items which seem to be key words, which are crucial to the understanding of the text. One of the first steps in analysis should be a careful study of these key words, in order to find a good lexical equivalent in the receptor lg. it will be necessary to consult dictionaries and encyclopedias for more information. This study is to help focus attention on words which are going to be important and must be given special attention, each context, however, must be considered separately when such key words are used in the translation, this is to avoid pseudo-concordance. Particular attention should be given to identifying the opening and closing the text. They will give clues to the theme.
TRANSFER - the process of going from the semantic structure analysis to the initial draft of the translation. The transfer takes place in the mind of the translator, who is producing a receptor lg equivalent.
INITIAL DRAFT - as soon as the translator begins making it, more information may be needed as far as analysis is concerned, and the translator may need to go back for more background reading or check again in the dictionary. The translator should be working on the paragraph level. Once it is clear what the paragraph is communicating, the translator should compose the draft as naturally as possible. The translator should think clearly who will use the translation, the audience should be like a backdrop to all of the drafting.
REWORKING THE INITIAL DRAFT - it should be undertaken until a larger section is completed. It is best if the draft has been left untouched for a week or two. In this way the translator comes at it with a fresh look and is able to be more objective in his evaluation and reworking of it. The first thing the translator will do is read though the manuscript of this larger unit which is being checked. In doing so, the translator looks for incorrect grammatical forms, incorrect order and awkward phrasing, collocation slashes, questionable meaning, that is sth seems strange when he hears is read, style.
Translator should also check for accuracy and meaning. It is good to prepare a second draft even if no serious errors were found. In re-drafting, one tends to make the style more natural and eliminate awkward wording.
TESTING THE EVALUATION - three main reasons:
to be sure that the translations is accurate
clear
and natural
As for who should test the translation, several people should do it - then, the translation will be of better quality. The translator will do a lot of careful checking and testing too. He will need to be responsible for self-checks. If translation consultants are available, they can be tremendous help in checking. There are also reviewers who are willing to read though the translation and make comments about clarity and naturalness.
There are several ways of testing a translation:
comparison with the source text, that is checking equivalence of information content
back-translation to the source lg
comprehension checks
naturalness and readability testing
consistency checks
TRANSLATION EVALUATION - three areas:
evaluation of published translations - usually refers to translations of literary texts, tah is poetry, novels, essays, and sacred texts. This may involve:
translation criticism - the evaluation of a single translation of a text
comparative translation study - comparison of several translations of an original text.
The aim of this type of evaluation is to judge a translation from the perspective of fidelity and quality of translation. Traditionally, this evaluation is carried out in the absence of any objective criteria and sometimes without even a detailed comparison to the original text
evaluation of professional translator's work - deals with the evaluation of the individual translator for professional purposes, eg. membership of a professional association. In this case, the translated texts are of legal, economic or technical nature and the elevation is carried out by translation agencies or companied. In addition to the criteria of fidelity and quality, other criteria in the form of rating scales are also applied
evaluation in translation teaching - to judge the level of a translator trainee's translation competence, it has become an integral part of pedagogical practice, often connected with examinations. In this type of evaluation, three function are distinguished:
diagnostic or prognostic function - to reveal the student's abilities and shortcomings, his translation potential. It can be used as a level-placement tool, as a means of determining whether or not the student may follow a given course of study
summative function - to determine the end results and to judge the knowledge acquired, and to determine whether or not the objectives have been achieved. It is performed at the end of the learning process, usually in the form of an examination. There are two types of summative evaluation: normative function - students are compared, thus allowing a classification to be established, and criteria-based - the evaluation is carried out on the basis of pre-established criteria
formative function - aims at obtaining information for the purpose of training. It can be found in the results or in the student's working process.
TRANSLATION COMPETENCE:
Ability to render the source text into the target lg correctly in terms of lg, subject matter and idiomatic style, having regard to the function of both the source text and the target text. It consists of 6 sub-competences:
communicative competence
extra-linguistic
instrumental/professional
psycho-physiological
strategic
transfer
Positive effects of translation exercises: translation helps learners realize that:
the ways that people think and express their ideas may differ in 2 lg cultural contexts
there is often no formal correspondence btw identical lg items in 2 lgs
the distance btw styles and registers in one lg may be different compared with another
one lg may be more idiomatic than another
one lg may be richer in vocabulary and structures than another