The Ins and Outs of Translation:

A Puzzling Crosslinguistic Riddle

Main points:

This course starts from the assumption that linguistic training

may not create translation geniuses, but it may provide
translators with the necessary methodological tools to perform
a thorough analysis of the ST and produce an equivalent TT
from a semantic, pragmatic and stylistic point of view.

Translation is a multifaceted field that embraces different types

of activities. Jakobson (1959) distinguishes three varieties
depending on the languages involved and the medium
employed: intralingual, intersemiotic and interlingual
translation.

The debate on the impossibility of translation seems pointless if

we adopt a more flexible approach that shuns the belief in an
extreme linguistic relativism. Another good reason to end the
debate on the impossibility of translation is the undeniable
importance of translators in society.

Much of the controversy around the concept of equivalence

comes from the deceptive assumption that total equivalence is
an achievable goal. Instead, equivalence should be understood
in a relative sense, as the closest approximation possible to the
meaning of the ST.

In performing their work, translators have to face a great

number of problems that force them to take difficult decisions
in order to solve complications at the least expense.

Translation is a complex activity characterised by the

intervention of opposing forces that pose serious dilemmas for
translators. Some are:

the tension between the truth or facts of the matter and the
translators competence
2 STEP BY STEP

the conflict between the intentions and style of the ST writer

and the expectations of the TL readership
the differences between the conventional features of a given
text type in the SL and the conventions of the same type of text
in the TL
the differences in the cultural settings of the languages
involved.

Translators usually dream of achieving an ideal replica of the

ST, but in practice they often have to accept that not everything
can be translated exactly into a different language.

1.1. Introduction

Quote 1.1
El traductor siempre ha sufrido un complejo absurdo,
pero real. Es como el crtico literario, del que siempre
se dice que es un escritor frustrado. El traductor
parece que quera llegar a otra cosa, pero al final se
qued en traductor [...] La traduccin es un trabajo tan
poco creativo como ayudar a un ciego a cruzar la calle.
No podemos, adems, intentar ensearle a bailar el
tango.
Mendoza, E. 2001
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 3

Eduardo Mendoza is one of Spains most renowned

contemporary writers, author of novels as famous as El
misterio de la cripta embrujada or La verdad sobre el caso
Savolta. He is also a vocational translator with professional
experience as a literary translator as well as a technical
translator and interpreter for the UN. When Mendoza
pronounced the words quoted above in a lecture given to
translation undergraduates at the Universidad Complutense
in Aranjuez, he was making reference to literary translators
and the impossibility of teaching them the necessary artistic
talent to become successful writers. Perhaps Mendoza is
right, and it may be impossible to teach translation students
to dance the tango with the grace of a professional dancer.
However, my ten years experience as a translation teacher
at the University of Murcia has shown me that a large
majority can at least learn the steps with enough ability so
as not to tread on their partners toes. We may not be able
to turn out literary, financial or scientific translation
geniuses, but we can certainly provide our students with the
necessary linguistic and methodological tools to perform a
thorough analysis of the ST and produce an equivalent TT
from a semantic, pragmatic and stylistic point of view.
On the other hand, the concept of translation as an activity,
in Mendozas words, as uncreative as helping a blind person to
cross the street, has at length converted translation into a kind
of black sheep among other teaching subjects. As a result,
translation has long been excluded from language classes and
relegated to being used as an assessment technique. But,
fortunately, this situation finally seems to have come to an end.
The 20th Century boom in technology and international relations
has greatly contributed to giving translation its status back. We
cannot forget that translation was for a long time central to
education, science and philosophy. We should remember that
many of the Medieval universities were born out of Translation
Schools and that the Toledo Translation School played a crucial
role in the West, translating the Arabic versions of Greek
scientific and philosophical manuscripts. The importance of
translation seems, thus, undeniable, but we have had to wait for
our modern international society to feel a real need for
translation and, consequently, for the duty to respond to such
need with the training of professionals able to meet the
demands of the market.
As outlined in the preface, the main aim of this book is to
initiate students into the basics of linguistic analysis as applied
to translation. In particular, Chapter 1 attempts to define
4 STEP BY STEP

translation as a problem-solving task, introducing some of the

factors that pose the type of problems that puzzle translators.

1.2. Defining Translation

Translation is a complex field that comprises different types of
activities. The first distinction is related to the differentiation
between written and oral translation (otherwise known as
interpreting). Although at first sight they may seem to differ
only in the channel of communication used, the truth is that
each involves specific factors and processes that define two
different activities and fields of study.
We may also distinguish three different meanings of the term
translation itself. As Munday (2001: 4) indicates, the word
translation may be used to refer to the product (i.e. the
translated text), the process (i.e. the action of producing the
translation) or the subject matter (i.e. the field of study).
Munday (2001) defines the process of translation between
two written texts as follows:

Quote 1.2
The process of translation between two written
languages involves the translator changing an original
written text (the source text or ST) in the original verbal
language (the source language or SL) into a written text
(the target text or TT) in a different verbal language (the
target language or TL).
Munday, J. 2001: 5

As he points out, this type of process is also referred to as

interlingual translation by the Czech linguist Roman
Jakobson (1959/2000: 114), who, in his article On linguistic
aspects of translation, distinguishes three different types of
translation:

Intralingual translation involves decoding verbal

signs in one language by using other verbal signs in the
same language. This type of translation would occur, for
instance, when rephrasing a text in order to explain it better.
It is also commonly known as rewording.

Intersemiotic translation involves using a non-

verbal sign system to interpret verbal signs. We would find
this type of translation when a written text is, for instance,
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 5

translated into cinema, music or even painting. Jakobson

also refers to this type of translation as transmutation.

Interlingual translation implies rendering verbal

signs into a different language. It would happen, for
example, when changing a text written in a SL into another
text written in a different TL. Jakobson also calls this type
translation proper. It is the type of translating we
generally refer to as translation and is the focus of this
course.

Translation is then defined here as the process between two

different written languages. But undergoing such a process is
by no means a straightforward, simple task. In performing their
work, translators have to face a great number of problems that
force them to take difficult decisions in order to solve the
difficulties at the least expense, that is, with the minimum time,
effort and loss of meaning. In the following chapters, we will
attempt to show how linguistic and textual analysis can guide
translators decisions when carrying out their work. But, first,
we should discuss the nature of the object of study and examine
some of the factors that place translators in those puzzling
situations and make translation a problem-solving task.

1.3. On the feasibility of translation

Quote 1.3
Singulirement, quand il sagit de traduction, la rflexion
commence dabord par sinterroger sur la possibilit mme
de cette pratique quelle prend pour objet; bien plus, la
tendance lourdement prdominante est de conclure
limpossibilit de traduire!
Ladmiral, J.R. 1979: 85

As Ladmiral remarks in the above quotation, in the field of

translation studies, the tendency to question the possibility of
translation has turned the need to justify its existence and
defend its importance into a common starting point in the
discipline. However, for any reader alien to translation studies
the title of this section may seem to imply, to say the least, a
totally obvious statement: why justify an almost four-thousand-
year-old practice1 that continues to play a central role in
modern society? How is translation going to be impossible if the
1 The oldest translation kept is the Acadian version of a Sumerian text that
dates back to the XVIII Century B.C. (Garca Yebra, 1988).
6 STEP BY STEP

shelves of bookstores and libraries are full of translations,

regardless of whether they are more or less well done? But
neither four thousand years of documented practice nor the
patent existence of the phenomenon have provided sufficient
evidence to put an end to the theoretical belief in the
impossibility of translation. Such a belief is one of the most
deep-rooted assumptions inherited from the strong version of
the Sapir-Whorf linguistic relativity hypothesis, according to
which language determines our way of thinking and our
conception of the world. From this perspective, the ideal
translation is considered impossible, since the conceptual
structures of speakers of different languages will at all times
differ. Using the rather stale example of the Eskimo language
and its vocabulary related to different types of snow, the
defenders of extreme linguistic determinism maintain that the
conceptualisation Eskimos have of snow will be necessarily
different from that of speakers in countries with a warmer
climate and a much more limited vocabulary about snow. 2 In
consequence, it is easy to infer that translating such Eskimo
vocabulary into a language such as Spanish would be, in their
opinion, impossible. One way or another, this belief has led to
undervaluing the translators profession, and his/her job has
been repeatedly pushed into the background, overshadowed by
the author of the source text. In this spirit of condescension,
the translators job has been disdainfully characterised as a sort
of creative treason, being compared to a traitors disloyalty or
to a wifes infidelity.
However, the impossibility of translation ceases to make
sense if we adopt a more flexible approach that rejects the
belief in an extreme linguistic relativism. In this sense, we can
affirm that translation is possible because: a) despite the
differences, human beings share certain basic mental processes
(for example, the processes for building meaning) and we are
even able to adapt our behaviour to other peoples
expectations; b) linguistic communities which display basic
cultural differences still manage to hold successful
relationships (Nida 1964); and c) although the ideal of an exact
translation is a utopia, it is nevertheless possible to achieve a
translation that can be acceptable in the target culture. After
all, a translation is what a particular linguistic community
decides to consider and accept as a translation (Toury 1980).
The world is full of inexact replicas of ideal objects and we do

2 Pullum (1991) puts forward interesting and convincing arguments

against the alleged variety in the Eskimo lexicon of many words for
different types of snow.
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 7

not deny their existence just because they do not match those
faultless models to perfection:

Quote 1.4.
Muy bien. Es imposible traducir. Pero la imposibilidad a la
que suele aludirse as es la imposibilidad de la Traduccin.
Es decir, es aquella imposibilidad que aconsejara no
construir ms casas, pues, en definitiva, todas terminan
teniendo goteras y cayndose; porque no se puede construir
la Casa.
Lpez Garca, D. 1991: 9

1.4. 0n the importance of translation

Quote 1.5.
Translators will always be needed. Without them, there
would be no summit talks, no glasnost or perestroika, no
Cannes Film Festival, no Nobel prizes, no advances in
medicine, science, or engineering, no international law, no
Olympic Games, no Hamlet, no War and Peace...
Duff, A. 1989

One of the best reasons to end the debate on the impossibility

of translation is perhaps the undeniable importance of
translators in society. Looking back now, it seems difficult to
believe that translation started centuries ago with the invention
of the first alphabets. If truth be told, the beginning of
translation is almost impossible to determine with clockwork
precision, and this is why it is often vaguely related to the
mythical origins of the history of mankind, especially to the
birth of writing. The archaeological discovery of bilingual
vocabularies inscribed in clay tablets that are about 4,500 years
old is proof that translation existed even in the most far-off
times (Delisle and Woodsworth, 1995: 7). However, the most
quoted origin of translation is often placed about 2,000 years
later, in the work of prophets translating the Holy Scriptures.
From then to current times, translators have played an
important role throughout the history of mankind, adapting and
modifying their work according to the requisites and
characteristics of each historical period. Delisle and
Woodsworth (1995) specifically distinguish nine different
functions of the translators task summarised in the nine
chapters of their book Translators through History. This book
profiles the role translators have played throughout history in
8 STEP BY STEP

inventing alphabets (Chapter 1), developing national languages

(Chapter 2), giving birth to national literatures (Chapter 3),
spreading knowledge (Chapter 4), exercising official power
(Chapter 5), disseminating religions (Chapter 6), transmitting
cultural values (Chapter 7), and elaborating dictionaries
(Chapter 8); the last chapter (Chapter 9) is devoted to the role
of interpreters and also highlights their crucial role in the
course of history.
From this perspective, the importance of translators and
interpreters may seem overpowering. Nowadays, translators
no longer invent alphabets (probably because it is an obsolete
need); however, they have continued to strengthen most of the
roles outlined in the book by Delisle and Woodsworth, and have
developed new ones generated by the needs of modern society.
In this way, translators and interpreters play a crucial role in all
facets of modern life today. Commerce, law, science, politics,
music, art and literature would become impoverished without
translation. But, unfortunately, we are not always aware of the
importance of translators; on the contrary, as members of the
general public, we often undervalue them or, even worse, fail to
recognise them. Over and over again, we find harsh criticism of
certain translations of literary works, but we hardly remember
those translators that have made it possible for many Spaniards
to shudder at Shakespeares tragedies, to shed tears of love
with the Bront sisters novels or to laugh with David Lodges
books. For many of us, translators are nothing but a feeble
shadow hidden behind the original author, which we now and
then invoke to take the blame for some translation mistake. And
yet, we barely remember the weight of a figure that has
contributed to the success of writers such as Isabel Allende,
Umberto Eco or Arturo Prez Reverte in the international
publishing market. When we watch a film or a dubbed TV series
or we hear the simultaneous interpreting of some TV
interviews, we tend to pick on the incompetent translations but
fail to praise the skilful ones.
This generalised exasperation of the public can be justified,
to some extent, by the low standards of a line of work that, at
least in Spain, still has a long way to go in enhancing
translators working conditions. In fact, the attempts to palliate
many of these shortcomings have already been reflected in
measures such as the formation of professional organisations to
improve translators work conditions and the level of
professionalism, or the creation of specialised university
centres that raise the standard of the teaching of translation
and interpreting. Nonetheless, the general public and the
clients who employ the translator or interpreter need to
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 9

become aware of the necessity to control the standard of

professionals, condemning the botched job but rewarding the
first-rate one. In this sense, we should all add more often our
voices to claims such as that of Josep Pearroja (Vice president
of the Spanish Professional Association of Translators and
Interpreters in Barcelona) published in El Pas Semanal on the
16th of August 1992:

Quote 1.6
Traductores olmpicos. Me apena comprobar que en el
artculo sobre Personajes olmpicos (El Pas Semanal, 19
de julio), que agrupa a 197 personas representantes de los
colectivos que han hecho posibles los Juegos Olmpicos,
hayan omitido a los traductores e intrpretes; sin nosotros,
Barcelona hubiera sido una inconexa babel en la que la
gran idea no se hubiera hecho realidad.
From Beeby, L.A. 1996: 4

Looking back from the current state of affairs, it is hard to

believe that everything started centuries ago with the invention
of the first alphabets. From the beginning of writing,
translators and interpreters have fought hard to find a niche for
themselves in the professional world, substituting the primitive
clay tablets for the modern interpreting booth and the
nowadays almost indispensable personal computer.

1.5. The concept of equivalence

Equivalence is probably one of the most widely debated topics
in translation. Part of the controversy around the concept of
equivalence arises from its apparent inescapability. When
talking about translation, the word equivalence is sooner or
later on everyones lips. This unavoidability stems, to some
extent, from the widespread use of the term by translation
scholars and practitioners to describe the wide-ranging
relationships between ST and TT. But it is also certainly
aggravated by the frequent everyday use of the adjective
equivalent to describe any relationship of correspondence or
similarity between two things.
Nonetheless, much of the controversy around the concept of
equivalence comes from the misleading assumption that a
complete or total equivalence is an attainable goal, as if there
were such a thing as a unique equivalent TL version of an SL
text. A translation identical to the ST is without a doubt any
translators dream. But the harsh reality of their occupation
10 STEP BY STEP

forces them to accept that not everything can be exactly

translated into a different language. As we discussed earlier in
this chapter, the impossibility of achieving a translation that
matches the ST to perfection has been the cause of endless
debates on the impracticality of undertaking such an
enterprise. However, the fact that ST and TT cannot be as alike
as two identical peas in a pod does not mean that translators
should not strive to achieve a fairly close resemblance. As
Hatim & Mason (1990) point out, translators can, nevertheless,
establish a notion of equivalence in a relative sense, that is,
understood as the closest approximation possible to the
meaning of the original text.
But accepting that equivalence can only be achieved to a
certain degree does not eradicate all the problems attributed to
the term. Even defined in a relative sense, the notion of
equivalence still seems to depend exclusively on similarity
with the ST. Even then, we will need to specify the factors that
determine whether ST and TT should be more or less alike.
Assuming that we can only achieve a close resemblance still
leaves the door open for the debate on literal versus free
translation and ignores the importance of other factors, such as
the translation task to be performed (e.g. the translation of a
literary work differs from the translation of a legal document)
or the readers needs and expectations (e.g. a translation aimed
at children may vary from one intended for adults).
This impossibility to escape the radical, ST-dependent nature
of the notion of equivalence has given rise to numerous
attempts to adopt more flexible concepts that help to overcome
the pervasive reliance on textual similarity. Two examples of
these concepts are the notions of adequacy and acceptability,
that acknowledge the role played by the particular translation
task carried out and the audience addressed respectively. From
this perspective, the eternal discussion on whether a
translation should be formally or communicatively equivalent to
the ST ceases to make sense. 3 Rather, the question that should
now be asked is whether the ST fits the specifications of the
particular translation task to be carried out and whether or not
it is acceptable for the TL audience
Nevertheless, the pervasiness of the term has been stronger
than the efforts to replace it. And, rather than disappearing, the
concept of equivalence has been developed and adapted to fit in
with current trends. In this sense, the notion has been
3 For a detailed discussion on formal v. communicative equivalence, see
Nida (1964) and Nida and Taber (1969). Munday (2001) provides an
excellent summary of the main attempts to define the nature of
equivalence.
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 11

unfettered by the constraints of the ST, adapting to the

concepts of adequacy and acceptability by incorporating key
factors in translation, such as the function fulfilled in a certain
context or the effect or impact on a given audience. When the
translation aims at performing an equivalent function in a
particular context, we can speak of functional equivalence, as
in the case of the phrases for sale and se vende, both formulae
being used to advertise the sale of a given product. The
equivalence in the impact a text has on a certain audience is
called pragmatic equivalence. Such correspondence is mostly
found in those types of texts in which reproducing the effect the
ST has on its audience becomes especially relevant, as in the
case of the translation of humorous texts, childrens books (e.g.
Mrs Large and Mam Elefante) or film titles (e.g. Home on the
Range and Zafarrancho en el Rancho).
In this way, by assuming a more pragmatic and relative role,
the term has managed to survive and is still widely used in
connection with translation, being omnipresent in most
translation analyses. We, therefore, accept Bakers use of the
term equivalence in this course for the sake of convenience,
since a good number of translators and scholars have inevitably
got into the habit of using it. But it also seems appropriate to
follow Bakers (1992) warning that it should be adopted

Quote 1.7
[] with the proviso that although equivalence can usually
be obtained to some extent, it is influenced by a variety of
linguistic and cultural factors and is therefore always
relative.
Baker, M. 1992: 6

1.6. Forces that intervene in translation

The figure below includes eight factors that intervene in the
translation process or, as Newmark (1995: 5) puts it, eight
opposing forces that pull the translation activity in opposing
directions. They are not the only factors that may cause
tensions in translation, but they are enough to get a view of the
complexity of the activity we are dealing with. In this section
we will offer some examples that illustrate how the conflict
between these forces poses numerous problems for the
translator.
12 STEP BY STEP

1. CONTENT (FACTS OF THE MATTER)

3. SL WRITER 8. TL CULTURE

5. SL NORMS TEXT 6. TL NORMS

7. SL CULTURE 4. TL
READERSHIP

2. TRANSLATOR

Figure 1.1. Forces that intervene in the translation activity

(based on Newmarks (1995: 4) figure The dynamics of
translation)

1.6.1. CONTENT V. TRANSLATOR

The content refers to what Newmark (1995: 5) calls the truth,

that is, the facts of the matter that are described or reported,
ascertained or verified (the referential truth), where possible
independently of the SL text and the expectations of the
readership. However, we have opted here for the term
content, considering that there are texts that have no truth
value and where nothing is described (e.g. in speech acts, such
as commands or requests). Usually, the content or facts of the
matter are to be rendered as such by translators into a different
language. But, unfortunately, the standard of the profession is
not always as high as expected and, more often than not, we
find that the translators competence gets in the way, altering
the original message.
With a bit of luck, the errors will have no further
consequences than that of defying the audiences common
sense. This is frequently the case with most of the mistakes
found in film dubbing. In all probability, nearly every TV viewer,
at one point or another, has had the opportunity to experience
examples of this type of intellectual challenge. For instance,
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 13

when some people heard a twenty-year-old university student of

law saying in the Spanish version of a famous TV series: Voy a
dejar la escuela, they could easily infer that the translation had
mistaken school in the sense of university school or college
(Spanish facultad) for school in the sense of primary school
(Spanish escuela or colegio).
Nevertheless, other errors might have more serious
economic, political or even health repercussions. Beeby (1996)
quotes, for instance, an example of a mistake that might have
had serious political consequences. This error took place in the
Spanish translation of the debate between George Bush, Bill
Clinton and Ross Perot on TVE2 during the American election
campaign. Rendering Clintons comment Europe would have to
take more responsibility for its own security as Tendremos que
ocuparnos de la seguridad de Europa could have certainly had
important repercussions for international politics.
Another example with international health repercussions
occurred during the process to approve the license to clone
animals. Due to a translation mistake, the European
Registration/Patent Office in Munich approved the patent to
clone human cells. The English translation referred to a method
to prepare a transgenic animal. The problem was that the word
animal in English includes human beings, whereas neither the
German (tier) nor the French (bte) words comprise humans.
Although the error was finally rectified, it raised a heated
debate which for quite some time paralyzed the approval of the
license to clone animals.
Sometimes a defective translation may even lead to financial
losses. There are some classic examples of translation mistakes
that resulted in financial loss when a company tried to
introduce a product into a new market. For instance, when
General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America,
they were apparently unaware that No va in Spanish means It
won't go, a name that did not seem very appropriate for a car.
After the company figured it out, it renamed the car in its
Spanish markets the Chevy Caribe.4 When Parker Pen marketed
a pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say It won't leak in
your pocket and embarrass you (Sp. No te avergonzar
chorrendose en tu bolsillo). However, the company mistakenly
thought the Spanish word embarazar meant embarrass. The
ads said: It wont leak in your pocket and make you pregnant
(Sp. No te embarazar chorrendose en tu bolsillo).

4 However, some people claim that this is just a legend that has managed to
survive in marketing textbooks and business seminars as an example of human
folly (cf. http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp. Retrieved 12 March
2007).
14 STEP BY STEP

Drawing 1.1. Parker Pens advertisement in Mexico

In all the examples already seen, the translator has

involuntarily made a mistake. However, not every error is due
to the translators incompetence. We should not underestimate
the power and influence of translators in society. In some cases,
translators may consciously manipulate the translation to serve
certain economic or political interests. A clear example of such
ideological manipulation is the case of the translator who
omitted the references to freedom in Clintons speech during
his visit to Vietnam in November 2000. In that speech, Clinton
made a plea to the Vietnam authorities in favour of human
rights and an opening up of their political system. In the
English version, Clinton asserted that the right to religious and
political freedom does not affect the stability of society; on the
contrary, it strengthens the confidence of people in the
institutions. However, the Vietnamese TV translator
transformed this paragraph into an unintelligible sentence that
was translated into Spanish in the newspaper El Pas (2000) as
De acuerdo con nuestra experiencia, el asunto de permitir el
trabajo [pausa] no afecta al rgimen, pero mejora nuestro
rgimen... Similar allusions to freedom or human rights
suffered a similar fate at the translators hands. Fortunately,
although the manipulation could have had strong political
repercussions, the American Administration tried to tone down
an incident that, after all, did not smear the symbolic value of
the visit.
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 15

Drawing 1.2. Interpretation of Clintons speech during his

visit to Vietnam

1.6.2. SL WRITER V. TL READERSHIP

Drawing 1.3. Prototypical British and Spanish

businessmen

Two other forces the translator has to reconcile are the

intentions and style of the writer of the source text and the
expectations and assumed knowledge of the readers of the
translation.
A clear case of how these two factors may pull the text in
opposing directions is that of the translation of humour. In
principle, a good translation of a humorous utterance should
have a similar effect on the TT reader as the ST has on its
readers, that is, making them laugh. However, to achieve this
equivalent pragmatic effect is not always easy. A humorous
utterance achieves its effect by reference to a frame or store of
shared knowledge and beliefs. Humour needs a common frame
16 STEP BY STEP

in which sender and receiver share a history and a way to

interpret experience.
For instance, English jokes about Irish people are highly
effective; they generally use a well-known pattern that has the
aim of making fun of the prototype of the thick Irish. The
following example is used by David Lodge in his novel Small
World [S.W]:
ST 1.1
Did you hear about the Irishman who tried to hijack a
plane to Dublin?
It was already going there [S.W: 232]

This type of joke usually starts by asking the hearer a question

about some action the Irish person did in the past or could
perform in the future. Immediately after the question, the
speaker provides a completely absurd answer that reflects the
Irishs lack of common sense. In this way, the joke provokes
laughter by activating the prototype of the silly Irish, a target
of English and Irish peoples humour.
When dealing with the translation of humour, the problem is
that this frame of common knowledge shared by ST readers
often differs from the information shared by TT readers. As a
consequence, the translator is obliged to choose between
maintaining the original at the expense of humour or achieving
the humorous effect at the cost of changing the writers ST.
Thus, when rendering the joke above into Spanish, the
translator may carefully weigh up both options. On the one
hand, the translator could consider that probably most
Spaniards will not have access to the prototype of the thick
Irish, a lack of knowledge that will prevent them from fully
understanding the humour of the joke. In this case, a possible
option to maintain the humour is that of using an equivalent
prototype that allows the TT audience to activate similar
attributes to those of the Irish person. In Spanish there is the
prototype of el lepero (a person from the town of Lepe in the
Spanish region of Huelva), also a target of many jokes based on
their presumed lack of intelligence or common sense:

TT 1.1.1
Sabes el del lepero que intent secuestrar un avin
para ir a Huelva?
Pues resulta que eligi uno que ya se diriga all.

Replacing the prototypical Irish character by a cultural

equivalent certainly has a similar humorous impact on Spanish
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 17

readers, but it brings with it other considerations that should

be taken into account. Thus, the translator might assume that
using a Spanish prototype would imply an unacceptable
intrusion into the fictitious world described by the ST writer. El
lepero and Huelva may strike readers as inappropriate in a
novel whose characters and places are mostly British. In this
sense, the Spanish translation El Mundo es un Pauelo [M.P]
published by Versal in 1989 opted for respecting the ST writers
characters even when that meant sacrificing part of the
humour:

TT 1.1.2
Saba el del irlands que trat de secuestrar un avin y
dirigirlo a Dubln?
Ya iba all [M.P: 292]

Using the equivalent Spanish prototype guarantees a greater

humorous impact on Spanish readers; nevertheless, the
translator of a literary work should never underestimate the
importance of the authors original world of fiction.

1.6.3. SL NORMS V. TL NORMS

Drawing 1.4. Prototypical British and Spanish newspaper

headlines

When dealing with a certain type of text (i.e. newspaper

articles, recipes, instruction manuals, etc.), we often find that
the conventional format or grammatical and lexical features of
a given text type in the SL may be different from the
conventions of the same type of text in the TL. For instance,
written recipes in English are much longer than in Spanish and
18 STEP BY STEP

use the imperative mood as opposed to Spanish infinitive. The

translator should therefore be very cautious, since a literal
translation of the ST could violate the conventions of the TL
with the resulting lack of naturalness. Instead, the
characteristics of the text type should be conscientiously
studied in both the SL and the TL and later compared in order
to make the necessary adjustments.
The tension between these two factors can be illustrated by
the translation into Spanish of British and American newspaper
headlines. British and American headlines are designed with
the main intention of catching the readers eye and attracting
their attention to the article they serve to introduce. For this
purpose, they proliferate in ambiguities, plays on words,
metaphors and other figures of speech that often turn these
texts into messages almost unintelligible to non-natives and
people without the required background knowledge. Spanish
headlines have the main objective of informing readers about
the content of the article. They conventionally summarise that
content in a clear and accurate way. For this reason, they tend
to use the present tense and avoid the conditional mood.
Ambiguities tend to be avoided and figures of speech are used
to a much lesser extent than in American headlines.
Bearing these differences in mind, it is not surprising that,
when translating British or American newspaper articles into
Spanish, translators tend to clarify the meaning. Sometimes, if
the original juggles with the terms, building an elaborate play
on words, the translator may attempt a translation in Spanish
that simplifies the original but keeps a certain word play. The
following example is the headline of an article on the alleged
implication of figure-skater Tonya Harding in a plot to disable
her rival Nancy Kerrigan by clubbing her on the knee:

ST 1.2
Oly-er than thou [Witteman, P.A. (1994) Time Magazine,
21 February]

The author argues that those who think that the aggressive
professionalism of Olympic athletes such as Harding is
besmirching the honour of the Games should reconsider that
fighting has always been part of the game and that Harding is
by no means the first skunk at the garden party. For the
headline, the writer creates quite an elaborate play on words:
by adding the comparative suffix er to the beginning of the
word Olympics, he creates an adjective that sounds similar to
Holier. In this way, the wordplay activates the meaning Holier
than thou, which makes reference to the need for athletes to
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 19

conduct themselves less aggressively and more in conformity

with the tradition of the Olympic Games.
A possible option for translating the headline into Spanish,
keeping a certain wordplay would be to use an extract from the
Biblical sentence El que est libre de culpa que tire la primera
piedra:

TT 1.2.1
La primera piedra

In this way, the Spanish headline makes reference to the

writers main argument, namely that Hardings case is by no
means the only example of aggressive competition in the
history of the Olympic Games. The translation is simpler and
clearer than the original play on words but at the same time it
maintains the religious flavour that contributes to the irony of
the article.
However, an alternative translation might be that of
eliminating any wordplay or figures of speech, summarising the
content clearly, as in:

TT 1.2.2
Conflicto en las Olimpiadas

1.6.4. SL CULTURE V. TL CULTURE

Drawing 1.5. TV commercials in Japan for American

singing raisins

Some of the greatest problems translators face arise from

differences in the cultural settings of the two languages
concerned. A clear example of the difficulties translators must
resolve due to cultural differences is the translation of so-called
20 STEP BY STEP

cultural terms (cf. Newmark, 1981), that is, terms and

expressions that relate to a particular culture. These elements
include all the objects, beliefs, customs and institutional
systems used in a given society to satisfy its needs and facilitate
its daily working. Cultural elements are always in the
translators sights, since they are regularly exploited by ST
authors. On the one hand, they contribute to giving an
impression of realism that helps readers to recognise the
description of the ST society. On the other hand, authors
frequently use these elements to activate the cultural
knowledge they share with their readers in order to create
certain effects. This means that for the translation to achieve an
equivalent impact, the TT audience will need to have access to
at least part of the background knowledge ST readers implicitly
share with the author. Lack of relevant information may indeed
result in unexpected effects, as illustrated in the above cartoon
using American singing raisins commercials on Japanese TV.
Being completely unacquainted with raisins, Japanese kids
were scared of what certainly looked more like crumpled potato
criminals than sweet dried grape singers.
To avoid this type of unintended collateral effects, the TT
audience should be given access to the information they need in
order to interpret the text correctly. To transfer the relevant
information contained in the ST to a different language often
implies the expansion of the TL linguistic and cultural
structures. The problem this poses for the translator is to
decide precisely how much of the original needs to be explained
and how much needs to be left implicit for the reader.
The following example has been taken from David Lodges
novel Small World and the Spanish translation by Esteban
Riambau Saur. The translation of the expressions TV dinners,
Times Literary Supplement and BBC World Service illustrates
the complexity of the translators decision:

ST 1.3
Akira Sakazaki has typed his last question, [...] popped a TV
dinner into the microwave oven, and, while waiting for it to
cook, reads his airmail edition of the Times Literary
Supplement and listens to Mendelssohns Violin Concerto
on his stereo headphones [...] Akira Sakazaki strips the foil
from his TV dinner and tunes his radio to receive the BBC
World Service. [S.W: 113]

The expression TV dinners does not refer as much to a

particular type of food as to the way it is consumed: in solitude
and almost certainly in front of the TV or, failing that, the radio.
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 21

The term does not only conjure up the image of a pre-cooked

meal, but also evokes a scene that typifies the boredom and
loneliness characteristic of stressful modern life. This is
precisely the scenario David Lodge intends to bring to mind
when using the expression to describe a night in the solitary life
of Akira Sakazaki, a shy and introverted Japanese translator.
Apart from the expression TV dinner, the example contains two
other cultural terms that belong to the world of literature and
communication: the Times Literary Supplement and the BBC
World Service. We should not forget that Akira Sakazaki is a
Japanese character who works as an English teacher and
literary translator. The solitude of the TV dinners and his
interest in literature and international news are thus elements
associated with the prototype of the literary translator.
Moreover, the fact that Sakazaki does not stop even to have
dinner also conjures up the stereotype of the diligent and hard-
working Japanese.

TT 1.3.1
Akira Sakazaki ha mecanografiado su ltima pregunta, [...]
metido una cena rpida en el horno microondas y, mientras
espera que se cueza, lee su edicin va area del Times
Literary Supplement y escucha el concierto de violn de
Mendelssohn en sus auriculares estereofnicos [...] Akira
Sakazaki rasga el papel de aluminio de su cena rpida y
sintoniza su radio para captar el World Service de la BBC.
[M.P: 150]

The problem with this translation is that it still hinders the

access of Spanish readers to some relevant information. To
start with, the translation cena rpida does not manage to
transmit so clearly the feeling of lonesomeness evoked by the
ST scene, since having a cena rpida in Spain does not
necessarily imply dining in solitude. An alternative that would
seem to be more easily associated with the idea of a solitary
dinner in Spanish is the option plato precocinado in T.T 1.3.2
below. What is more, given that plato precocinado does not
compulsorily involve loneliness, it is also possible to explicitly
communicate the sensation of solitude by adding the expression
en soledad. On the other hand, both The Times and the BBC are
popular enough on a worldwide scale to consider that
transcribing the English names is probably an adequate
translation strategy. Even those Spanish readers who do not
speak English would most likely be able to infer the characters
interest in literature due to the formal resemblance between
Literary Supplement and the Spanish suplemento literario.
22 STEP BY STEP

However, one could argue that the TLS is not actually a

suplemento literario, but a magazine in its own right, published
independently of The Times. TLS is only its title or name. For
this reason, the TT below proposes the translation of literary
supplement as revista de literatura and makes the international
character of the radio station clear by adding the explanation
las noticias internacionales. The translation or description of
the common nouns that illustrate the type of magazine and
news favoured by the Japanese character facilitates the
transmission of some information that is significant to interpret
the passage correctly, since it allows access to the prototype of
the literary translator and the hard-working Japanese:

TT 1.3.2
Akira Sakazaki ha mecanografiado su ltima pregunta, [...]
metido el plato precocinado en el horno microondas y,
mientras espera que se haga, lee en soledad su edicin va
area de la revista de literatura del Times y escucha el
concierto de violn de Mendelssohn con los auriculares de su
estreo [...] Akira Sakazaki le quita el papel de aluminio a su
plato precocinado y sintoniza la radio para escuchar las
noticias internacionales de la BBC World Service.

1.7. Summary
The first and most basic definition of translation that springs to
most peoples minds is probably that of a process between two
different written languages. But such an effortless, clear-cut
description is nothing but illusive. The truth is that undergoing
the translation process is by no means a simple task. In
performing their work, translators have to face a great number
of problems that force them to take difficult decisions in order
to solve the difficulties at the least expense in time, effort and
loss of meaning. In the following chapters, we will attempt to
show how linguistic and textual analysis can guide translators
decisions when carrying out their work. Here we have
discussed the nature of the object of study and examined some
of the factors that place translators in those puzzling situations
and make translation a problem-solving task.

Review questions
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 23

1. Explain the differences between intralingual, intersemiotic

and interlingual translation and give examples of each type.
2. Give different arguments for and against the impossibility of
translation.
3. Make a list of the most important roles translators have
played throughout history.
4. Explain the reasons that have given rise to much of the
controversy around the concept of equivalence and describe
some of the attempts adopted to eradicate it.
5. Look for some translation errors other than the ones
mentioned in the text that have had or could have had
serious economic, political or health repercussions.
6. Which is the main problem translators have to face when
dealing with the translation of humour?
7. Give some other examples that illustrate translators
difficulties in reconciling the intentions and style of the ST
writer and the expectations and assumed knowledge of TT
readers.
8. Describe the main differences between British and Spanish
newspaper headlines and explain the problems they pose for
translators.
9. Find some other examples of translation that illustrate the
tension between SL norms and TL norms.
10. What is the main problem translators have to face
when dealing with the translation of cultural elements?
11. Find some examples of translation of culture-specific
elements and analyse the strategies used to deal with the
differences in these cultural settings.

Further reading
Translatability is commonplace in most translation works; the
question is raised either directly (that is, formulating the
question openly) or indirectly (for instance, in relation to the
concept of equivalence, translation difficulties and methods to
overcome them, etc.). In this sense, the basic factors that in
Nidas (1964: 53-55) opinion constitute the grounds for human
communication become an excellent justification for
translatability. More specifically, Hatim and Mason (1990: 21-
35) offer a clear and concise summary of this question, relating
the impossibility of translation to the strong version of the
Sapir-Whorf linguistic relativity hypothesis and to structuralist
approaches to translation. Venutis (2000) selection of some of
the most important twentieth-century contributions to
24 STEP BY STEP

translation includes one section (from chapter 5 to chapter 8)

with several articles that illustrate the focus of most of the
translation works carried out in the 1940s and 1950s on the
issue of translatability.
The need for translation is always implicit in most translation
works. Beeby (1996: 3-8), however, deals with the issue overtly
in two brief sections made more interesting by the use of lively
examples. Apart from Delisle and Woodsworths (1995)
insightful span of translation history, Wilss (1999) also offers a
stimulating perspective on the development of translation and
interpreting in the twentieth century. Although Wilsss work
focuses on Germany, many of the observations and remarks can
be extrapolated to most European countries.
The main aspects of the recurring debate on literal (word-
for-word) v. free (sense-for-sense) translation and the problem
of equivalence are clearly and concisely summarised in
chapters 2 and 3 of Mundays (2001) book Introducing
Translation Studies: Theories and Applications.

Exercises

EXERCISE 1. Defining translation

Study the following situations and decide whether they can
be regarded as examples of translation or not. Order them
from those which can be considered prototypical examples of
translation to those that appear to be less typical:

Rewording or paraphrasing a text in the same language in

order to explain it better
Adapting a novel into a film script in a different language
Converting a poem into a picture
Rendering a novel into another language
Reproducing a film dialogue in subtitles in a different
language
Interpreting a speech into sign language for the hard of
hearing
Interpreting a conference speech orally into different
languages

Layout of Exercise 1

Aim of the exercise

The aim of the exercise is to reflect on the complexity of
translation by analysing different situations that illustrate the
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 25

variety of the translating activity and the difficulties involved in

its definition.

Working Procedure
Working in pairs, students discuss the different situations and
try to identify the type of activity involved in any of the
conditions. Then, the solutions are compared in a class
discussion in which partners justify their conclusions.

EXERCISE 2. Is translation possible?

The following examples illustrate a choice of translation
problems which are hard to overcome. Study the texts and
explain the difficulty involved in their translation. Then,
analyse the solutions offered in the translation into Spanish
published by Versal and discuss them with a partner. Relate
your conclusions to the debate on the impossibility of
translation:

1. Cheryl Summerbee was very much in favour of love. She firmly believed
that it made the world go round, and did her bit to keep the globe
spinning on its axis by her discreet management of the seating on British
Airways Tridents. On the shelf under her counter she kept a Bills and
Moon romance to read in those slack periods when there were no
passengers to deal with. [S.W: 114

Cheryl Summerbee era una gran partidaria del amor. Crea firmemente
que ste haca girar el mundo, y aada su granito de arena para
mantener el globo girando sobre su eje gracias a su discreta
manipulacin de los asientos en los Tridents de la British Airways. En el
estante debajo de su mostrador guardaba una novela rosa Bills and
Moon para leer en aquellos perodos de calma en los que no haba
pasajeros a los que atender.
(N. del T.) Mills and Boon es una editorial britnica especializada en este
tipo de novelas. [M.P: 152

2.Another, smaller advertisement urging the passer-by to Have a Fling

with Faggots Tonight is not, Morris knows from his previous sojourn in
the region, a manifesto issued by Rummidge Gay Liberation, but an
allusion to some local delicacy based on offal. [SW: 97]

Otro anuncio de tamao ms reducido y que recomienda al transente

Have a Fling with Faggots Tonight no es -Morris lo sabe desde su
anterior estancia en la regin -un manifiesto del Movimiento de
26 STEP BY STEP

Liberacin Gay de Rummidge, sino una alusin a una especialidad

gastronmica local basada en carne picada
(N. del T.): De nuevo no parece haber ms remedio que echar mano a la
socorrida nota del traductor para aclarar este juego de palabras. Faggot
es una especie de morcilla o albndiga de buen tamao, un plato popular
en el norte de Inglaterra y que es elaborado con despojos, pero significa
tambin homosexual. La frase del anuncio que lee el profesor Zapp dice
en realidad Delitese esta noche con faggots, refirindose desde luego
a la especialidad culinaria local. [M.P: 129-30]

3. Lots of air, Fulvia purred. That is in the book.

Im not saying the book is entirely fictitious, said Morris. Some of the
minor details are taken from life-
Airy as a beast...You were a beast to your wife, I think.
Ow! exclaimed Morris, for Fulvia had dug her long lacquered nails into
his flesh for emphasis.
Ow? Well, for example, tying er up with leather straps and doing all
those degrading things to er. [S.W:135]

Mucho pelo runrune Fulvia. Esto lo dice el libro.

Es que yo no digo que todo sea ficticio en el libroexplic Morris.
Algunos de los detalles menores estn sacados de la vida real.
Peludo como una bestia...Tengo entendido que eras una bestia para tu
esposa.
Coo! exclam Morris, al clavar Fulvia sus largas uas lacadas en
su carne, para mayor nfasis.
Qu cmo? Bien, pues por ejemplo atndola con correas de cuero y
hacindole toda clase de cosas degradantes. [M.P: 176]

Layout of Exercise 2

Aim of the exercise

The aim of the exercise is to initiate the debate on the
impossibility of translation. The exercise attempts to make
students aware that, despite the difficulties, it is still feasible to
achieve a translation acceptable to TT readers.

Materials needed
Here we have used a selection of passages from David Lodges
novel Small World and its translation into Spanish El Mundo es
un Pauelo by Esteban Riambau Saur. The translation of the
extracts chosen poses various problems of a humorous and
cultural kind that are particularly hard to overcome.

Working Procedure
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 27

The exercise is carried out in pairs. Students examine the

passages and analyse the translation problems, trying to find a
solution. The teacher will provide additional context wherever
necessary. The pairs must justify their decisions, taking a
stance in the debate on the impossibility of translation. Later
on, students assess the passages from the Spanish target texts,
reflecting on the viability of translation.

EXERCISE 3. The need for translation

Make a list of all the uses of translation you can think of, both
nowadays and throughout history. Write down all the things
that are possible thanks to translators and interpreters.

What is possible thanks to

translators and interpreters?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
..

Layout of Exercise 3

Aim of the exercise

This exercise aims to increase students awareness of the need
for translation, leading them to reflect on the role translators
and interpreters have played throughout history and still play
today.

Working Procedure
Students are first asked to individually write a list of all the
applications of translation that spring to their minds. Later,
they are asked to compare their lists in groups of three or four
in order to make a new list with all the possibilities. Finally, the
groups read out their lists in class and a debate is led by the
teacher.

EXERCISE 4. Literal v. Free translation

Consider the following translation situations or translation
commands and place them along the continuum below
28 STEP BY STEP

according to their suitability for a more or less literal

translation.

Translating an article for publication in a medical journal

Summarising the information of a medical article in a
different language for a patient who would like to know
more about her illness
Translating an academic certificate for validation purposes
Interpreting in a trial
Translating a contract for legal purposes
Translating an article for the foreign section of a
newspaper
Interpreting for a foreign friend who has come to visit your
country
Translating a curriculum vitae to apply for a job abroad

LITERAL
FREE

eg. translating
a contract for
legal purposes

Layout of Exercise 4
Aim of the exercise
The aim of the exercise is to make students aware that opting
for a literal or a free method is a matter of degree and depends
ultimately on the translation situation and the purpose of the
translation command.

Working Procedure
Working in groups of three or four, students decide on which is
the most appropriate place along the continuum for each of the
translation situations described. When finished, the solutions
provided by the different groups are compared in a class
discussion led by the teacher.

EXERCISE 5. On equivalence
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 29

Study the following passages and assess the translations

provided in terms of their functional and pragmatic
equivalence:

1.Morris Zapp took his departure from Milan as soon as he decently could,
if decent was a word that could be applied to the Morgana Mnage,
which he ventured to doubt. The troilism party had not been a success.
As soon as it became evident that he was expected to fool around with
Ernesto as well as Fulvia, Morris had made his excuses and left the
mirrored bedchamber. [S.W: 150]

Morris Zapp se march de Miln apenas le fue decentemente posible, si

es que decente era la palabra aplicable al matrimonio Morgana, de lo
cual se permita dudar.
El mnage trois no haba sido un xito, y apenas result evidente que
se esperaba de l que retozara con Ernesto al igual que con Fulvia,
Morris se excus y abandon el dormitorio de los espejos [ M.P: 195]

2.In this sport, Akira sees an allegory of the elations and frustrations of his
work as translator [...] Neglected at his feet lies a blue aerogramme with
questions neatly typed: p. 152, jam-butty. What is it? p. 182, Y-fronts.
What are they? p. 191 sweet fanny adams. Who is she? [S.W: 142]

En este deporte, Akira ve una alegora de las elaciones y frustraciones de

su trabajo como traductor [...] Yace abandonado junto a sus pies un
aerograma azul con unas preguntas pulcramente mecanografiadas: p.
152, jam-butty. Qu es? p. 182, Y-fronts. Qu son? p. 191 sweet
fanny adams. Quin es sta?
(N. del T.): A semejanza de Akira Sakazaki, tambin el traductor al
castellano pasa sus momentos de apuro. En este caso, para no alterar en
absoluto la intencin del autor, ha juzgado conveniente dejar intactas las
tres locuciones inglesas que tanto desconciertan, y no sin razn, al
traductor japons. Jam-butty es una especie de tartaleta casera, en
realidad una rebanada de pan con mantequilla y mermelada. Y-fronts
son calzoncillos tipo slip provistos de bragueta. Por ltimo, llegamos al
sweet fanny adams, que es donde radica la chispa humorstica en el
original y que, traducido literalmente, significa dulce culo. El hecho de
llamar a esta parte de la anatoma humana fanny adams confunde al
buen Akira Sakazaki y le mueve a preguntar quin es tan dulce seorita.
[M.P: 184]

3. Another conference?
Right. Some conference on John.
John? John who?
Pabst shrugs. Angie didnt say. She just said she was going to a
conference on John, University of Hawaii.
Could it have been Genre?
Thats it. Pabst looked at his watch. Im sorry, McGarrigle, but I have to
leave now. You can walk me to the plane if you have any more questions.
[S.W: 279]
30 STEP BY STEP

Otro congreso?
Exacto. Un congreso sobre Genaro.
Genaro? Genaro qu?
Pabst se encoge de hombros.
Angie no lo dijo. Slo dijo que iba a unas conferencias sobre John, en la
Universidad de Hawai.
Pudo haber sido Gnero?
Eso es. Pabst consult su reloj. Lo siento, McGarrigle, pero ahora
tengo que marcharme. Puede acompaarme si tiene ms preguntas
que hacer. [M.P: 349]

Layout of Exercise 5
o the top of the Adult to Child Translation world.'
Aim of the exercise
The aim of the exercise is to introduce students to the concept
of equivalence, laying special emphasis on its pragmatic and
relative role.

Materials needed
Any text containing several terms or expressions which cannot
be translated literally into Spanish. Here we have chosen
several passages from David Lodges Small World and its
translation into Spanish El mundo es un pauelo by Esteban
Riambau Saur.

Working Procedure
Students work with a partner. They compare ST and TT and
discuss the problems encountered and their solutions, focusing
on the equivalence between the SL and TL expressions. Finally,
the different analyses are compared in a class discussion led by
the teacher.

EXERCISE 6. About the perils of subjective translation

Make a list with the possible consequences which a
translation that altered the meaning of the ST could have in
each of the situations listed:

When interpreting in a trial

When translating medicine instructions
When translating the instruction manual for a domestic
appliance
When translating an academic certificate for validation
purposes
When dubbing a film into another language
 THE INS AND OUTS OF TRANSLATION 31

When interpreting for the UN

When translating a company agreement
When translating a newspaper article
When translating a tenancy agreement

Layout of Exercise 6
Aim of the exercise
The aim is to increase students awareness of the fact that
translation errors can have serious social implications,
encouraging them to reflect on the perils of altering the
meaning of the ST.

Working Procedure
Students are first asked to individually make a list of the
possible consequences a mistake in translation could have in
each of the situations stated above. Later, they compare their
lists in groups of three or four in order to make a new list of the
possibilities. Finally, the groups read out their lists and the
teacher initiates a class debate.

EXERCISE 7. Factors that intervene in translation: SL

culture v. TL culture.
Translate the following text, paying special attention to the
transfer of culture-specific terms. Decide precisely how much of
the original needs to be explained and how much needs to be
left implicit for the reader:

THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA

As we crunched up the drive at last with a pause for God to put his
thumbs together and do a few minutes trance practice God told me that
the house was owned by Carl and Marianne, friends of Eva, whod recently
been trekking in India. This was immediately obvious from the sandalwood
Buddhas, brass ashtrays and striped plaster elephants which decorated
every available space. And by the fact that Carl and Marianne stood
barefoot at the door as we entered, the palms of their hands together in
prayer and their heads bowed as if they were temple servants and not
partners in the local TV rental firm of Rumbold & Toedrip. []
After shaking a few hands I managed to get comfortably settled on a
shiny black sofa, my feet on a furry white rug, with my back to a row of fat
books handtooled in plastic abridged versions (with illustrations) of
Vanity Fair and The Woman in White.[]
Beside the double-glazed French windows, with their view of the long
garden and its goldfish pond glowing under purple light was a bar. Not
many people were drinking on this big spiritual occasion, but I could easily
have put back a couple of pints. It wouldnt have looked too good, though,
32 STEP BY STEP

even I knew that. Mariannes daughter and an older girl in tight hotpants
were serving lassi and hot Indian nibbles, guaranteed, I knew, to make you
fart like a geriatric on All-bran. [B.O.S: 30-1]

rose to t
Layout of Exercise 7
e top of the Adult to Child Translation world.'
Aim of the exercise
The aim of the exercise is to make students aware of the
problems relating to the transfer of cultural information,
especially the difficulties of deciding what relevant details
should be transmitted explicitly to the TL audience.

Materials needed
A text containing several terms or expressions that involve the
transmission of cultural information. We have chosen here a
text from The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi.

Working Procedure
Students first work individually doing their own translation.
Afterwards, they discuss the problems and their solutions with
a partner. To finish, the different translations are compared in a
class debate led by the teacher.