Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
and "free" translation and on possible criteria for a choice between the two
strategies.
Cicero: "ut interpres" vs. "ut orator" (criterion fidelity / rhetorical effect)
St. Jerome: "verbum e verbo" vs. "sensum de sensu" (criterion: text type
Holy Scriptures / profane texts)
Luther: translating vs. germanizing (criterion: "what is relevant"
theological concepts / narrative)
Schleiermacher: translation (proper) vs. (mere) interpreting (criterion:
text type literary texts / pragmatic texts)
Nida: formal equivalence vs. functional/dynamic equivalence (criterion:
purpose philological / missionary)
Lawrence Venuti: foreignizing vs. domesticating (criterion: how to deal
with otherness)
According to their time (= implicit norms) and purposes, each of these authors
preferred one strategy or the other, the pendulum swinging regularly from the
source-text pole to the target-text pole and back.
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Action-oriented approaches
(1984)
Hans Hnig (), Paul Kussmaul (and others, 1982 ff.):
Application of skopos theory to translator training and
translation teaching, -> "functionalism"
Christiane Nord: Function and Loyalty (1988ff.)
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Skopos Theory
Translation is an interpersonal, intercultural mediating action
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Translation Brief
According to Skopos Theory, the roles of initiator (or commissioner, client),
translator, source-text producer and target-text addressee are crucial for the
choice of translation methods and strategies.
What the skopos states is that one must translate, consciously and
consistently, in accordance with some principle respecting the target text. The
theory does not state what the principle is: this must be decided separately in
each specific case. (Vermeer 1989)
The basis of this decision is the actual translation situation, which can be
identified by the following questions: Who translates for whom when, where,
through which medium (orally, in written form) and for which purpose?
The situation for which a translation is needed is described or defined
(explicitly or implicitly) by the translation brief.
The translation brief does NOT tell the translator how to go about their
translating job. These decisions depend entirely on the translators
competence and responsibility.
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(VERMEER, Hans J. (1987) What does it mean to translate?, Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics
13(2): 25-33).
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CULTURE BARRIER
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m
1SG NEG give
wo
2SG
abenkm
left hand
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Translation brief: The translation should reproduce those aspects of the source
text which will seem exotic to the target audience
Spezialitten
Specialities
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lestomac, affirme un
proverbe allemand, qui
se trouve Munich
amplement confirm
[literally: "Love passes
through the stomach,"
says a German proverb,
which is well confirmed
in Munich]
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Homologous translation
Brief: Translate this poem for a monolingual anthology of modern Farsi poetry
Anthem of Beauty
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The TT is intended to be an
instrument for communication in
the target culture produced by
processing the information offer
of the source text
Function
of translatum
metatextual
phatic / referential /
expressive / appellative
translation type
DOCUMENTARY
TRANSLATION
INSTRUMENTAL
TRANSLATION
Translation form
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interlineal
literal
equifunctional
heterofunctional
homologous
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Conclusions
Functionalism does not deal with language structures but
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Thank you
for your attention!
Any questions?
cn@christiane-nord.de
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