بسمه تعالی
درس : اصول و مبانی نظری ترجمه
تعداد واحد درسی : 2
کتاب : Meaning _ based Translation
هدف از این درس ارائه متن درس برای شیوه های مورد استفاده در ترجمه است. به این منظور فرآیندهای معمول در ترجمه مورد بررسی قرار گرفته اند. این متن درسی برای رشته مترجمی به عنوان درس تخصصی در سطح دانشگاهی تهیه شده است. این کتاب شامل مثالهایی از انواع زبانها بویژه زبانهای آسیایی، آفریقایی در زمینه معنی شناسی واجها، همایی، گزارها، تشبیه و استعاره است.
Chapter 1:
Translation, by dictionary, consists of changing from one state or form to another, to turn into one’s or another’s language.
Translation is basically a change of form. When we speak of the form of language, we are referring to the actual words, phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs
These forms are referred to as the surface structure of a language. The purpose of this text is to show that translation consists of translating the meaning of the source
language into the receptor language. This is done by going from the form of the first language to the form of a second language by way of semantic structure.
It is the meaning which is being transferred and must be held constant. Translation consists of studying the lexicon, grammatical structure communication situation, and cultural context of source language text,
analyzing it in order to determine its meaning and then reconstructing this same meaning using the lexicon and grammatical structure which are appropriate in the receptor language
The sentence “I feel sleepy” is translated “kajang pujawai” [My sleep lives] in Aguaruna and “teng” sueno [I have sleep] in Spanish. The three languages use different grammatical forms
and different lexical selections to signal the same meaning. The underlying premise upon which the book is based is that the best translation is one which
a) uses the normal language forms of the receptor language, b) communicates, as much as possible to the receptor language speakers the same meaning that was understood by the speakers
of the original source text means that the translation is presented in such a way that it will evoke the same response as the source text attempted to evoke.
Characteristics of language which affect translation:
First, meaning components are packaged in to lexical items, but they are packaged differently in one language than in another.
In most language there is a meaning component of plurality, for example the English-S. This often occurs in the grammar as a suffix on the nouns or verbs
Second, it is characteristic of language that the same meaning component will occur in several surface structure lexical items. In English, the word sleep occurs.
However, the word lamb, ram, and ewe also include the meaning sleep. Third, it is further characteristic of languages that one form will be used to represent several alternative meanings.
For example there are 54 meanings in English for “run”. This principle is not limited to lexical items since the same grammatical pattern may express several quite different meanings.
For example, the English possessive phrase “my house’ may mean “the house I own”, the house I rent”, “the house I live in”, “the house I built”.
A question form may be used for a non question. For example the question “Mary, why don’t you wash the dishes?” may in some context be asking for in formation.
But it is often used with the meaning of command or suggestion. Also signle meaning may be expressed in a variety of forms. For example the meaning “the cat is black”,
may be expressed by the following: “the cat is black”, “the black cat”, “the cat which is black”, depending on how that meaning relates to other meanings.
Only when a form is being used in its primary meaning is there a one-to-one correlation between form and meaning. The other meanings are secondary or figurative meanings.
This characteristic of skewing that is the diversity or the lack of one-to-one correlation between form and meaning is the basic reason that translation is a complicated task.
If there were no skewing literal word-for-word and grammatical structure-for-grammatical structure translation would be possible. But each language has its own distinctive forms to represent meaning
A word-for-word translation which follows closely the form of the source language is called literal translation. The goal of a translator should be to produce a receptor language
text which is idiomatic; that is one which has the same meaning as the source language but is expressed in the natural form of the receptor language.
Chapter 2:
There are two main kinds of translation: one is form-based and the other is meaning based. Form based translation attempts to follow the form.
of the source language and are known as literal translations. Meaning based translation makes every effort to communicate the meaning of the source language text in the natural form.
In modified literal translation translator modifies the order and grammar to use acceptable sentence structure in the receptor language. But lexical items are translated literally.
Literal translations of words, idioms, figures of speech, etc, result in unclear, unnatural, and some times nonsensical translations. Idiomatic translation use the natural. Forms of the receptor language both in
the grammatical constructions and in the choice of lexical items. Unduly free translations are not considered acceptable translations for most purposes. Translations are unduly free if they add extraneous
information not in the source text, if they change the meaning of the source languages, or if they distort facts of the historical and cultural setting of source language text.
Unduly free translations are made for purposes of humor, or to bring about a special response from the receptor language speakers.
Parts of speech are language specific. We can not always translate source language noun with noun. For example Indo-European languages use nouns for action but other languages use verbs.
In English “we” sometimes means “you”. Idiom means string of words whose meaning is different from the meaning conveyed by the individual words like “bullheaded” means “stubborn”.
Names of animals used metaphorically in languages. For translation, we must use adjustment. Pig has different metaphoric meaning, in different languages like gready eater, drunk, immoral, stupid person.
Chapter 3:
There is a distinction between deep (semantic) structure and the surface structure (grammatical, lexical, phonological) structure of language
Semantic structure is more nearly universal than grammatical structure. All languages have meaning components which can be classified as things, Events, Attributes or Relations for example.
Semantic propositions occur in all languages. They consist of concepts related to one another with an Event, Thing, or Attribute as the central concept. For example in the sentence
“John hits the ball” John is agent, ball is affected and hits is activity. In semantic structure ordering is chornological. Classification and number of word classes depends on distribution.
The smallest unit in the semantic structure is a meaning component. Meaning components group together to form concepts. Concepts classified into four principles, Things, Attributes, Events, Relations.
Meaning components of “boy”: Human being, Male, Young. Relationship between semantic structure and grammar: thing: noun, pronoun; Event: verb; Attribute: adjective, adverb; Relation: conjunction, preposition, particle, enclitics
In “I heared John’s call” call is noun but semantically is Event. Without skewing between semantic and grammatical structure we have: meaning component … morpheme (roots and affixes)
Concept … word; complex concept (concept cluster) … phrase; proposition … clause; propositional cluster … sentence; semantic paragraph … paragraph; episode … section; episode cluster … division semantic part … part; discourse … text
One distinction between meaning and form is that speaker can exercise choice on meaning. But since form is mechanical component of meaning speaker has no choice on it.
The meaning which is chosen will be influenced by the communication situation, like by who the speaker is, who the audience is, the tradition of the culture, age, gender, etc.
Every sentence communicates information and emotions of the source language. Before form is chosen from the possibilities in the surface structure, sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic matters must be taken in to account.
Chapter 4:
Kinds of meaning: people usually think of meaning as something that a word or sentence refers to for example the word apple refers to a fruit.
This kind of meaning is called referential meaning because the word refers to a certain things, events, attribution, or relation which a person can perceive or imagine.
A sentence has meaning because it refers to something that happened, or may happen, or is imagined as happening. Referential meaning is what the communication is about.
As referential meaning packaged into larger and larger units there is organizational meaning in the discourse, which must also be taken into account in the translation.
Certain information may be old information, some new; certain information may be the topic of the discourse, other information commenting on the topic, and some information may be more central
to the message; that is more important. It is the organizational meaning that puts the referential information together into a coherent text. Organizational meaning signaled by deictics, respetition, grouping
The message is produced in a given communication situation. The relationship between the writer or speaker and the addressee will affect the communication. Where the communication takes place
when it takes place, the age, sex and social status of the speaker and hearer, the relationship between them, the presuppositions that each brings to the communication, the cultural background.
For example, the very same person may be referred to as John, Mr.Smith, Profferssor Smith, etc., depending on the situation. This choice carries situational meaning.
It may indicate whether the situation is formal or informal. Implicit and explicit information: when people write or speak the amount of information included in the text will depend
on the amount of shared information that already exists between the speaker and the addressee. When we talk about something we leave out some of the information because the addressee
already knows these facts. In every text that one may translate there will be information which is implicit, it is not stated in an explicit form in the text itself.
Some information or meaning is left implicit because of the structure of the source language; some because it has already been included elsewhere in the text, and some because of
shared information in the communication situation. Explicit information is the information which is overtly stated by lexical items and grammatical forms. It is part of the surface structure.
All three kinds of meaning may be either explicit or implicit. Implicit referential meaning: For example, if someone asks “How many people come?” the person asked may answer, “Ten”.
In this context it is clear that “ten” means “Ten people came”. The reference to “people” and “came” is left implicit in the answer. Number must be made explicit in
English, but in many languages it can be left implicit. The sentence “Help will come” has no subject or object (the agent and affected are implicit).
But it can be “some one will come and he will help us” implicit information causes ambiguities. For example, “the shooting of the hunters” is ambiguous in English.
It has two different semantic structures. It may mean either some one shot the hunters or hunters shot something. In one case, the agent and in the other affected is implicit.
Implicit information and organizational meaning. A text is a unit. It is organized in some logical way. It is characterized by cohesion, continuity, grouping and patterns of prominence.
There is flow of old and new information, redundancy which helps signal the unity. For example, in the Hebrew the description of creation in Genesis I uses the explicit name
of God thirty-two times in this rather short text. But in other languages God, would need to be left implicit after one introduction in the text.
Pronouns would be used in some languages to retain a part of the meaning, but in some languages only verb affixes indicating third person would occur.
No information is lost, it is simply mode implicit some languages use passive constructions to indicate focus. By using a possive construction some of the meaning is left implicit
Since the agent need not be indicated. For example, “the school was founded in 1902” might be used to put the shool in focus but to do this,
the information of who founded the school has to be left implicit. The information left implicit is referential but it is left implicit to signal organizational meaning.
In Aguaruna the organizational meaning of focus would need to be indicated by special suffix on word “school” marking focus. Less explicit forms are often used to signal organizational meaning.
For example, pronouns, proverbs, and other substitute words are less explicit than the nouns and verbs which they refer to. Implicit situational meaning: information which is left implicit when talking
to another. A woman might say to her husband “Peter is sick”. In reporting the same information to the doctor, she would say, “My son Peter is sick”
Or “my son is sick”. Often in normal conversation there is much which is going on in the situation which makes it possible to understand exactly what is meant without
using many words. For example mother, seeing her child about to put his hand in the fire cries out, “No”! The child understand the message “Don’t put your hand in fire”.
In a different situation “No” might mean something very different. It is quite possible for a person from one culture to read story written about a happening in another culture
and not understand the story at all because so much information is left implicit. The translator does not want to add information which is not part of the text
he is translating. There is a difference between implicit information and one which is simply absent and never intended to be part of communication.
For instance, in the example “my son peter is sick”; mother did not say, “Peter has brow hair and is ten years old”. This is not implicid. It is absent.
Chapter 5
Steps in translation summarized under four T`s , the text the target , the team , and the tools.
The text refers to the source language document which must be translated .
The desirability of translating a particular text must be determined.
Most often the reason for translation is to communicate certain information or share the enjoyment of the source text .
The target refers to the audience. The form of the translation will be affected by question of dialect, education level, age bilingualism, and people`s attitudes towards their language .
Will translation be used in school, in business, or read in church and at home ?
The question of alphabet is important team refers to people who involved in the project.
The team includes (1) co-translators, specialist in receptor language or (2) translator with capability to handle source language and receptor language matter and an advisor or consultant .
(3) a committee working together with specific responsibilities delegated to each one . The team may include the translators a consultant , testers , reviewers and technical people to do typing and proof reading .
Tools refer to written source material which used by translators as helps . These include dictionaries lexicon , grammar , cultural descriptions , etc . of both source language and receptor language which are available .
Exegesis used to refer to process of discovering meaning of the source language text which to be translated . It is the step which includes the preparation and analysis of text .
Translator must begin by reading text several times , then by reading other materials that help in understanding
the culture of text . The analysis of the source text include some aspects.
The process of analysis include resolving ambiguity, identifying implicit information, studying key words, interpreting figurative senses recognizing when words are being used in a secondary senses .
After analysis, the translator begins drafting piece by piece, section by section. The transfer results in the initial draft which can be made by two processes.
Some translator prefer rough translation making the material flows naturally. Then they go back tighten up details to be sure there is no wrong information, and no omission or addition.
Others prefer to prepare a proposition _ like semantic draft being sure all information is accounted for and then reward it for naturalness, reword it in idiomatic form of receptor language .
The process of translation is accuracy, clearness and naturalness. The question to be answered are
(1) does translation communicate same meaning as source language?
(2) does audience understand it clearly?
(3) Is translation easy and natural to read ?
Help for evaluation must be mother _ tongue speaker of receptor language and check for no addition , deletion or change of information .
Some matters may need special testing before final draft.
If publication is to include pictures, these will need evaluation.
If special size of print is required it must be tested.
Chapter 6
Word is bundle of meaning components . The translator needs to be able to analyze the lexical items ; to unpack words in order to show meaning .
Concept is represented by word, morpheme, idiomatic expression, or by tone or by word order. Concepts are identified on the principle of contrast and comparison with in system of language.
Reality is conceptualized differently in different communities.
The phenomenon of reality around us are bundled together differently by different communities and labeled (given a name, i.e _lexicalized).
Some words are made up of more than one concept.
Central concept of “runner” is person (Thing) and the concept run (Event) serves to define person .
The combining of a number of meaning into single word reflects principle of language economy.
For pastoral culture one word may mean “taking care of at night”.
Sometimes it is necessary to translate one word of source language by several words in receptor language. English word “sad” is translated in to Aguarana as “stomach being _ broken feeling”.
Skewing of classification: The same form can be used as to different parts of speech, like blue in blue sky and sky blue.
The skewing between semantic class and parts of speech occurs in English word “knowledge” which is a noun but is based on the Event concept .
The reason for skewing is avoiding uninteresting and monotonous text and making topic (topics must be noun). Restatement is the process of unpacking the semantic structure of a word .
Chapter 7
Generic term is a class word, the meaning of which is founded in two or more different words which are specific: “animal” is generic and “sheep” is specific .
Some words may occur in several levels, like “man” which is generic and specific. Generic word used in translation. “Wolf” can be translated animal (generic) and descriptive phrase (wild).
Substitute word refers to word already introduced to the context, like car for Plymouth and thing for car.
Pronouns and proverbs are of this type. Synonyms are similar in meaning .
There will be sets of words which are synonyms in their nuclear meaning which contain certain additional positive or negative overtone like fat, plump and chubby .
The antonym of a word is exact opposite or contrast in some particular part of it's meaning, like short and tall. Opposites are kind of antonym like, much and little.
Most language also have sets of words which are the reciprocal of one another. For example, the words “give” and “receive” have reciprocal relationship to one another.
Chapter 8
Discovering meaning by grouping and contrast: Part whole relation; for example in English chin, cheek, nose are parts of head. Componential analysis used to analyze kinship term.
Each word has a central component and contrastive components which distinguish it form all other words of the set. “Man” has contrastive component of Adult and Male.
Chapter 9
There are mismatches between lexical system of different languages. English uses three words to a color area while Mbembe uses one word for it .
Lexical set on the basis of meaning called cognitive network. Some lexical sets are according to topic. Different language have different concentrations of vocabulary depending on culture geography, word view.
Chapter 10
Primary sense is the meaning suggested by word when it is used alone. Secondary meaning is meaning which depends on the context .
For example, primary meaning of “run” is to move by legs and its secondary meaning to flow. Lack of context causes ambiguity such as “This suit is lighter”.
Chapter 11
Figurative senses of lexical items :
Metonymy is association between two words, for example instead of saying: The water is boiling “The kettle is boiling”.
Association can be temporal “We are waiting for this day
[Independent Day]” or logical
“Moses is read everyday”. Synecdoche is part_whole relationship: using roof instead of house.
The ways of translating figurative senses:
(1) sense of word is translated non- figuratively
(2) to keep the word in the original , but to add the sense of the word .
(3) to substitute figurative expression of receptor language for figurative expression of source language. Idioms are expressions of atleast two words and can not be understood literally.
Idioms are semantically one unit .
Euphemism: substitution of one word for another for avoiding offensive or unacceptable expression socially; using “heaven” instead of “God”.
Hyperbole is metonymy or synecdoche with more said than the writer intended the reader to understand. For example, the expression “they turned the word upside down “ is hyperbole .
Chapter 12
Using pronoun in the receptor language depends on the discourse structure of the language and distinction between animate and inanimate, inclusive vs exclusive, honorifics and gender .
In Editorial “we”, single meaning for “we” is used. In personification intelligence or life is attributed to inanimate objects. We can refer to persons by their role .
Chapter 13
Situational context of word is important to the full meaning of word. Words reflect emotions and attitudes. Father has connotation of respect and daddy has connotation of intimacy .
Every word may have positive or negative connotation “Fox” as animal name has no emotive meaning or has positive connotation and meaning “cunning” has negative connotation in English .
Language differ in connotative meaning. In some cultures there is a negative taboo about saying the name of a person who is dead, name of some animals, and religious words.
Chapter 14
Collocation is concerned with how words go together. For example, we say “I had a dream” in English, but in Russian it is said “I saw a dream”.
Collocational range is limitation of words occur with another word. For example, “race” can not be used with “man” and “chicken” but horse race is acceptable.
Certain combinations occur together are in a fixed order, like day and night. Collocation error is called collocation clash. Concordance means consistent matching of lexical items.
Chapter 15
Lexical equivalent when concepts are shared are made in different ways (1) descriptive phrase like “It is good” may be used for “praise” (2) synonym used as equivalent .
Doublet consists of two near synonymous words like spots and blemishes. Lexical equivalents can be used by negating antonym. For example “not bad” instead of “good”.
Chapter 16
lexical equivalents when concepts are unknown because of differences in geography, custom, beliefs made by using generic word plus a descriptive modification, like “fierce animal” for wolf.
Another way is choosing one word from receptor language which has same form and function of source language. Another method is using one word in receptor language with same function.
Other possibilities are using one word from receptor language which has the same form or one word which has no correspondence of form and action .
Borrowed words have been assimilated into receptor language prior to the translation and loan words are completely new to receptor language speakers. In historical document cultural substitution causes anachronistic.
Chapter 17
Translators must recognize key words and use same equivalent for them key words of material culture are easy and related to religion and culture are difficult to translate.
Token words as loan words which denote a fact of civilization such as name of dress or invention are transliterated to retain sense of time in history .
Chapter 34
Information load is the rate at which new in formation may be introduced in the text. Technical materials have high information load than novels .
If text is about a completely new idea or unknown fact, you may tell it more slowly with added information to clarify. Information load for known information is not heavy.
The difference in information load may be individual, may depend on the audience being addressed, and may also very from language to languages. Old information is already introduced in text .
New information is not previously referred to in the text. In English definite and indefinite articles used to indicate old and new information. Word order and intonation affect old and new information .
Expectancy chains shows that certain words or phrases are expected to follow certain others, and decrease the information load. Redundancy (repetition) slows down the information rate .
Chapter 35
Text are chosen to communicate the information content of the source text. It may be information which is historical, political, religious or travelogue.
The target audience: A good deal must be known about those who use it. Questions of dialect, education level, age, bilingualism and social level affect the form of receptor language.
Translation team consists of translator, tester, reviewer, typist, proofreaders, consultant, publisher, distributor, coordinator. Tools in translation are books, equipment, work space, finances.
Chapter 36:
Steps in translation are as followings:
a) preparation. There are two kinds of preparation. First, there is the preparation which the translator should have before beginning the translation.
And secondly, there is the preparation which he undertakes as he begins work on a specific translation project. The first kind of preparation should have included training in writing,
in linguistics and in translation principles. Once the project is underway, then the translator begins the second kind of preparation which is related to the text to be translated.
To be familiar with text, he will read the entire text through several times. Next the translator will want to study the background material which is available
This includes finding out about the author, about the circumstances of the writing of the text, the purpose for which it was written, the culture of the source text,
and whom the text was written for. The study of background material should also include the study of linguistic matters related to the text. b) analysis:
One of the first steps in analysis is careful study of key words in order to find a good lexical equivalent in the receptor language. It will be necessary
to consult dictionaries and encyclopedias. Particular attention should be given to identifying the opening and the closing of the text. They give clues about the theme and style.
Many translators find it helpful to rewrite in the source language the part of the text they are working on in propositions, eliminating the skewing between the deep and surface structure.
C) transfer: transfer is the process of going from the semantic structure analysis to the initial drift of the translation. The transfer takes place in the mind of translator.
After semantic analysis, translator faces with transferring this meaning in to the second language, and introducing the appropriate receptor language skewing. In transfer process, translator produces a receptor language equivalent.
d) initial draft: as the translator begins the initial draft he should be working at paragraph level, once he is sure what the paragraph is to communicate he should compose
the draft as naturally as possible, without looking at the source language or semantic rewrite. Translator should be thinking clearly about who will use the translation, their level of education.
e) reworking the initial draft: the first thing the translator will do is to read throught the manuscript of this larger unit which is the checking. Sometimes it helps to read
it out loud or to read it in to a taper recorder and listen to it. In doing this he should be looking for
1) wrong grammatical forms or obscure constructions
2) places that seem too wordy
3) wrong order, awkward phrasing,
4) places where the connection don’t seem right and it doesn’t flow easily,
5) collocational clashes
6) questionable meaning,
7) style the second thing the translator will need to do is to check for accuracy of meaning. The third thing is dealing with themes.
Chapter 37:
Testing should be begun early in the project. After the first section, episode, or chapter is completed, it should be tested.
There are three main reasons for testing a translation. The translator wants to be sure his translation is accurate, clear, and natural. The translation will be of better quality
If several people are involved in testing. The translator himself will need to be responsible for what are called self-check. If a translation consultant is available, he can help.
There will also be reviewers. The are people who are willing to read though the translation and make comments about clarity and naturalness. It is good if each translation.
Project has some testers. Ways of testing a translation:
a) Comparison with the source language. A careful comparison with the source text will need to be made several times
during the ranslation process. One of the main purposes of the comparison is to check for equivalence of information context, nothing omitted, nothing added, and nothing different.
Back-translation: A second way to check a translation is having some one else, who is bilingual in the source and receptor language makes a back translation of the text.
This person takes the translation and writes out the meaning he gets from it back in to the source language. He should do this without having need the source text.
Comprehension tests: the pupose of this test is to sees whether or not the translation is understood correctly by speakers of the language who have not seen the translation previously.
This type of test involves having people retell the content of the translation and answer questions about it. In comprehension test using a cassette recorder can be very helpful.
Questions may be asked to give information about discourse style, theme of text or details. Style questions are concerned with the genre as well as the style of the translation.
Theme questions focus on the high points of the story or argument. Naturalness tests the purpose of naturalness tests is to see if the form of the translation is natural
and the style appropriate. This test is done by reviewers. A reviewer should be taught to expect the translation to be meaningful and easy to read.
Readability test. These tests are done by asking someone to read a part of translation aloud. It should be a complete section; that is, a unit. As they read
the tester will notice any places where the reader hesitates. Consistency checks: Source text will have had certain key terms which were identified and for which lexical equivalents were found
If the document being translated is a long one or done over a long period of time, it is possible that the translator has been inconsistent in the use
of lexical equivalents for some key terms. Consistency in editing matters requires careful attention to the spelling of the name of people, and places.