Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Press Texts
Shirzad Mansouri1
Hossein Younesi2
This study was done to discover the strategies that were used by a group of experienced
translators at different universities and colleges when translating foreign news in international
and national English newspapers. Some aspects about concepts in translation strategies
introduced by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995 /2004), were used. They are 1.abstract for concrete
2.to change double negative phrases into positive ones and vice versa 3.to use words that
refer to specific meanings instead of words that refer to general meaning 4. to use active voice
instead of passive voice 5.to change the order of words 6.rethinking of intervals and limits
between two cultures. However, there were some other strategies that were not in Vinay and
Darbelnet's concepts. They were created by the translators to solve translation problems and
to make translated version become more understandable and meaningful. For example, the
translators deleted unnecessary or unimportant parts, added some words or chose the words
that stimulated the readers' feeling or reactions and modified structure of words and sentences.
The result of this study was that certain strategies were used most by the translators and some
of them were used least. This study has pedagogical implications for teaching translating
press texts as well as the translators who show volition to work on translating press texts.
1
Islamic Azad University Garmsar Branch
2
Islamic Azad University North Branch
Background of the study
Presently , it is undeniable that we are in era of news and information. Information technology
is one significant factor to overflowingly provide information and flood of news.People can
perceive what are going on in every part of the world from so many kinds of sources.In other
words , the world becomes smaller because of news .However , each source has its own
advantages and disadvantages , so there is an indirect competition between each source in
order to appeal news consumers.
Newspaper is one common but important source for everyone to get news. Moreover , it is
conventionally believed that newspapers have more readers than any other kind of written
text.According to VanDijk (1986) as cited in Khodabandeh (2007),"for most citizens , news is
perhaps the type of written discourse with which they are confronted most frequently". People
are so familiar with newspapers that they may look over that one important section that can
open their eyes to other parts of the world is "foreign news". How could we know what are
happening in other countries if there were no translators ? Translators play important role in
helping any readers go together with world situations. However , translators seem to be
forgotten. In addition, foreign news that are translated in newspapers are less given attention
than other kinds of news. That is , foreign news seems not the most interesting written
section in a newspaper. Furthermore , other kinds of media can attract many more news
consumers , so watching T.V or listening to the radio seems more accepted when people want
to get the news. As a result , to attract the news readers , the translators must think twice
before unveiling news.
As foreign news is interesting and important , this study was done in order to find out the
strategies that were used when translators translating foreign news at Islamic Azad University
Garmsar branch and Islamic Azad university North branch as well as Seda and Sima college
and Elmikarbordi University where a group of experienced translators were responsible to
lead translation projects and classroom practices. The findings and analysis of translation
strategies used by a group of professional Iranian translators participated in this study are
expected to be beneficial for other translators to apply the strategies used for their works. For
instructors and students , especially for the ones who concern journalism or other related
fields. Also , the students who study translation and any other readers who are interested in
translation can use the findings of this study to help them whenever they learn or practice
translation.
The main purpose of this study is to learn about the strategies that the translators used when
translating foreign news.
This study is pertaining to investigate how foreign news were translated at the university or
college level for the university students majoring in translation during Mehr 1st- Azar 1st
,1386 ( 23rd of Sep.-22nd of Nov. 2007 ).
This study focuses on a team of translators who are currently translating and teaching
The foreign news at the Islamic Azad University Garmsar Branch , Tehran North Branch ,
Elmikarbordi college and Seda and Sima College of translation.They were asked to participate
in this study as the informants of this translation project.They are:
1.Mr. Seyd Hassan Jamshidiyan , a fifty four year old translator with a bachelor Degree in
Translation.He has worked as a translator for 28 years in Iranian T.V as film and news
translator with more than 2500 hours of film translation .He has also been teaching in Seda
and Sima News College.
2.Mr.Hossein Younesi ,a forty six year old lecturer at Islamic Azad University North Branch
who has also been teaching English Translation in different universities and colleges. He is
also an expert in translation of press text as well as the translation of legal texts.
.
3.Mr.Mahyar Azizsoltani , a forty five year old English instructor and translator who
has been working for more than 18 years as an interpreter in International Conferences such
as AUD conference and for other colleges .He is also an instructor of translation in
Elmikarbordi colleges and Islamic Azad University Garmsar Branch and Tehran North
Branch.
4.Mr.Shirzad Mansouri a thirty eight years old English translator and lecturer at Islamic Azad
University Garmsar Branch. He has been teaching English translation especially the
translation of press texts for 16 years at different universities and colleges.
The logic behind the selection of this team of translators were their experience and expertise
in translation of press texts as well as their familiarity with teaching and theoretical
background of principles of translation in Iranian Academic atmosphere.
There were two sources of news which were used for this study. The foreign News in
domestic sources and in International sources including Tehran Times , New York Times ,
AFP, Reuters, and BBC News during 2006 – 2007.
Definitions of Terms
1.News article refers to randomly selected news articles from different sources.
2.Translators means the experienced translators of foreign news invited for this research.
3.Translation methods indicate how to translate texts which are divided into two main types:
4.Translation Strategies : refers to the methods or procedures ( Hatim and Munday,2004 ) that
the translators modify translated texts into target language
based on theories made by Vinay and Darbelnet (1958/1995).They were classified into two
levels as follow:
Method of Study
1.Setting
The data of the study were based on the strategies that were used by the team of
translators.
2.Materials
1 . Ten Foreign news articles selected from two available sources: domestic
Sources such as Tehran Times and foreign sources such as BBC NEWS
and their Persian copies for comparing the two versions
2.Open-ended interviews for more details with the team of translators
3.Data Collection
1.Collecting the ten news articles that were translated during classroom
hours.
2.Interviewing the news translators after translating the selected texts for
more details about strategies that were used.
4.Data Analysis
2.It can be helpful for instructors who teach journalism or other related fields to give
Clarification and clarity of differences between English and Persian news structures.
Moreover , instructors of translation can use the findings of this study to explain translation
strategies or suggest which strategy should be used for each kind of text.
3.It can be helpful for students who study Journalism or other related fields to make
use of the analysis of the findings , by adapting or applying these strategies for their
assignment as well as their work. Also , the strategies found in this study might be
applicable for students who study translation when doing assignment and also their
future career.
4.It is expected that this study might worthwhile for anyone who is interested in translation to
adapt or apply these strategies when they translate foreign news or
any kind of text.
5. This study can be of great help to the news readers for understanding better when reading
foreign news.
For the English language students who have chosen translation as their major of
study, newspapers are regarded as a good base for language study with their wide variety of
text-types and language styles. Newspapers are ,in fact , sources of forms of language which
will not , perhaps , be found in any other conventional language learning materials and which
cause language learners to be familiar with and use many different communicative skills of
language ( Baddock , 1988).Generally speaking , working on newspapers will have certain
impacts on foreign language learners.Rahimy (2003 ) has mentioned these effects as follow:
Moreover, the term newspaper suggests that the content of a newspaper will be primarily
devoted to the news of the day , and some analysis and comment on this news. Newspaper ,
however , contain a range of items; news , comment and analysis ,
advertising , entertainment ( Reah ,1998 ).In fact , this proves that newspapers are sources of
varieties in the language of a specific community. Many people spend part of everyday
reading them and the commentaries on the news known as editorials. For many language
students , they are a main source of information about current affairs in the foreign culture.
News is a late Middle English word that means "tidings, new information of recent
events"(Reah ,1998).He believes that such a definitions is so broad to be taken
into consideration in study of foreign news. Therefore, a more useful definition might be"
information about recent events that are of interest to a sufficiently large group or
that may affect the lives of a sufficiently large group"(Reah 1998,p.4).Such a definition will
lead to the differences between local and national newspapers as well as the differences
between newspapers of different countries or cultural groups.
The selection of items to put on the news pages may also affect the way in which the
reader is presented with the world. The reader of the news is its audience.
It is important to distinguish between the reader as an individual who may or may not
read that particular newspaper regularly , and the created reader who is being identified in the
text .For the purpose of analysis , the reader as individual will be referred to as the reader , the
created reader will be referred to as the implied reader.
In a more technical framework Baran and Davis ( 2000 ) described an audience-centered
theory in which placed the audience in a more central role in our understanding of mass
communication. This theory provides the theoretical basis for and has fueled interest in media
literacy. If audiences are central to mass communication process , the effectiveness in that
process should be of significance.
Language always occurs within a context and as social users of language individuals
know how to respond to linguistic triggers relating to the context of the language situation ,
the intended message , the feedback and input from others.It could be argued that language is
the key factor in the establishment and maintenance of social groups , of society as an entity.
Language allows individuals to communicate , to interpret the world and themselves , to
express logic , causes and outcomes , to establish relationships within the group. Recent
studies into the development of language within individual suggest that development of the
social skills of languages is as crucial as development of the structural aspects of language .
Newspapers are cultural artifacts. The print media of different countries and different
cultures differ in a variety of ways. The American press , for instance , has tabloid newspapers
that are very different in format and in many ways in content ,from Persian one. This is not to
say that the Persian version is necessarily worse or better than the press of other countries –
but that whatever it is , it is a product of the culture it comes from.
This is an important point to bear in mind when dealing with the language of
newspapers. Everything that is written in a newspaper has to be transmitted through the
medium of language. The transmission of a message through language almost of necessity
encodes values into the message. Language gathers its own emotional and cultural loading
.What this loading is will depend on the nature of the culture or subculture in which the
language exists.
Language operates at a series of levels. Written text has visual or graphological level.
Spoken text has an aural or phonological level, which however , can also be exploited by
written text. All texts have a word or lexical level , and all texts have a structural and
grammatical or syntactic level. It is also important to remember that texts operate within a
cultural context ; that is , they are created within a particular culture , and operate within the
value system of that culture.
Textual analysis involves the analysis of the way propositions are structured and the
way propositions are combined and sequenced ( Fairclough , 1995 ).Content
analysis is one form of textual analysis that , when applied as the sole research method ,is an
analytically inadequate way to examine the role that journalism plays in maintaining and /or
transforming social inequalities. The difference with a more interpretative textual analysis is
that the analyst examines the text in terms of what is
present and what could have been but not present. Richardson ( 2007 ) assumes that
every aspect of textual content is the result of a choice –choice to use one way of describing a
person an action or a process over another ; the choice to include a particular fact or opinion
or argument over another, etc .In more detail , the analysis of
these choices in texts
Texts should therefore be analyzed at various levels. However , textual analysis , from the
Perspective of linguistic level focuses on lexical and syntactic levels. In addition to this ,we
must also examine the forms of linguistic analysis in relation to their direct or indirect involvement in
reproducing or resisting the systems of ideology and social power. For instance, Van Dijk ( 1999 ),
sharing much of Fairclough's analytic perspective and methods
states that when adopting a textual analysis , discourse should be analyzed at various levels
or along several dimensions. Therefore , an interview with the team of translators could be a possible
way to make sure if they considered some discourse values while they were translating the selected
texts.
Since the 1950s , there has been a variety of linguistic approaches to the analysis of
translation that have proposed detailed lists or taxonomies in an effort to categorize the
translation process .Vinay and Darbelnet ( 2000 .84-93 ) identified two general translation
strategies direct translation and oblique translation. These general strategies comprise seven
Procedures or strategies of which direct translation covers three( Munday , 2004 ):
In those cases where literal translation is not possible , Vinay and Darbelnet say that the
strategy of oblique translation must be used. This includes the following:
4.Transposition : This is a change of one part of speech for another without changing the
sense.Vinay and Darbelnet ( 1995, 94 ) see transposition as probably the most common
structural change undertaken by translators.
5.Modulation : This changes the semantics and point of view of the SL .Modulation is a
procedure or in a narrow sense a strategy that is justified , in the words of the English edition
When ,although a literal or even transposed , translation results in a grammatically correct
utterance , it is considered unsuitable , unidiomatic or awkward in the TL (2000).
Vinay and Darbelnet place much store by modulation as the "touch stone of a good translator"
where as transposition simply shows a very good command of the target language( 1995,246).
Modulation at the level of message is subdivided along the following strategies which are the
main concern in this research:
Abstract for concrete
Cause _ effect
Part –whole
Part-another part
Change of word order (reversal terms )
Negation of opposite
Active to passive (and vice versa )
Filling the communicative gaps between two cultures change of symbols
This category therefore covers a wide range of phenomena among which the
Following were discovered by the researcher through a careful analysis of the translations
done by the team of translators in this study.
6.Equivalence :Vinay and Darbelnet ( 2000 ) use this term to refer to cases where languages
describe the same situating by different stylistic or structural means. Equivalence is
particularly useful in translating idioms and proverbs.
7.Adaptation : This involves changing the cultural reference when a situation in the source
culture does not exist in the target culture.
These seven main translation categories are described as operating on three levels
( Munday ,2001.58).These three levels reflect the main structural elements of concern
In this study.They are :
1.the lexicon
2.syntactic structures
3.the message
In this case , message is used to mean approximately the utterance and its metalinguistic
situation or context.Two further terms are introduced which look above word level ; these are
:
1.word order and thematic structure
2.connectors which are cohesive links , discourse markers
( however , first ,etc.) ,deixis ( pronouns and demonstrative
Pronouns such as this , that ) and punctuation.
( Munday,2001 )
This level of analysis presages to some extent the higher level text and discourse-based
analysis .
Borrowing
Calque
Direct
Literal
Translation
Translation
Strategies Transposition
Oblique
Translation Modulation
Equivalence
Adaptation
Figure1.Translation strategies according to Vinay and Darbelnet
A further important parameter taken into account by Vinay and Darbelnet is that of servitude
and option:
The first four steps are also followed by Vinay and Darbelnet in their analysis of published
translations. As far as the key question the unit of translation is concerned , they reject the
individual word. They consider the unit of translation to be a combination of a lexicological
unit and a unit of thought and define it as the smallest segment of the utterance whose signs
are linked in such a way that they should not be translated individually. The divisions
proposed include examples of individual words ,
Grammatically linked groups , fixed expressions and semantically linked groups. In their new
version, the units are rather longer .
Translation Methods
J.C. Catford ( 1965 ) categorizes translation methods into three types : extent focusing
on how much the text is translated, level emphasizing on levels of language involved in
translation and ranks highlighting units of language e.g. sentence , clause
Group and word.
Peter Newmark classifies translation methods into two main types SL emphasis which
consists of word for word translation , literal translation , faithful translation and semantic
translation; and TL emphasis which comprises adaptation , free translation , Idiomatic
translation and communicative translation.
For the purpose of this study translation methods can be classified into three main
groups. They are Word-for-word translation that the translator translates literally by its most
common meaning into TL while grammatical construction remain unchanged, Literal
translation that the translator tries to keep the original form ,so there are only few parts of the
SL that are changed, and Free translation that the translator changes or adapts the original
form to the TL , so almost every part of the SL is changed.
Translation Strategies
When the translator faces translation problems or when he cannot follow the translation
methods , he must have his own ways to achieve it. Alan Duff ( 1991 )
Guides six principles that can be used as strategies when the translator has got problems
when translating.They are meaning , form , register ,SL influence ,style and
Clarity and idioms.Meaning ,form ,style and clarity and idioms can be changed to make it
understandable and acceptable in TL.Moreover , the translator should be careful about register
and SL influence because they can affect when translating into TL.
As it was earlier described by Vinay and Darbelnet translation strategies can be divided
into two levels.Lexical level and syntactic level i.e. abstract for concrete , cause-effect , part –
whole ,part –part , reversal of terms negation of opposite ,active to passive ( and vice versa ) ,
change of symbol and rethinking of intervals and limits between both cutltures.
According to the researcher view , the important strategies which are generally used are
to modify lexical level like to add explanation or to change or omit some words or idioms that
are not close to target language, in order to make the translated text become understandable
and to modify syntactic level , which is about structure of words ,sentences and arrangement
of structures. Such strategies are used in free translation method.
As Mcloughlin ( 2000) and Reah (1998 ) state that the first aim of news is to report
factual event.Its writing style is unique in both vocabulary and structure of words and
sentence.News is not very complicated because it was written for readers of different
backgrounds e.g. life style, education or attitudes.As a result , free translation is used as
translation method.
For headline translation , the translators must bear in mind vocabulary used its length
and structure.For more details refere to Khodabandeh (2007 ) who conducted a very
comprehensive comparative study between English newspaper headlines and
Persian newspaper headlines.She concluded that through contrastive analysis it is possible to
find out more about how different the news headlines are in English and
Persian.
For news translation methods , there are three important factors to be considered as
news translation methods.They are :
1.News structures
2.Sentences and verb
3.vocabularies which are short generally known and stimulate reader's feelings.
After analyzing the data obtained from ten pieces of foreign news translated in
Translation classes during 1st of Mehr -1st of Azar 1386 (23rd of Sep.-22nd Nov.2007)
Comparing to their English copies , the results of each strategies that were used by the
Translator team were as follow:
Table2.Translation strategies used in all ten news stories
Rank Translation Strategies Frequency
1 To change the order of words 68
2 Other strategies 51
3 Omit words or idioms 48
4 To use active voice instead of passive one and vice versa 40
5 To use words refer to specific meanings instead of words that 24
refer to general meaning
6 Rethinking of intervals and limits between two cultures 13
7 Use words that refer to general meaning instead of words that 10
refer to specific meaning
8 Negation of opposites 7
9 Cause-effect & abstract for concrete 4
10 Transliterate sound from English into Persian 1
This table shows the conclusion of strategies used in all ten news stories. That is, to
change the order of words from English into Persian was used most by the translator team in
translation classes. However , other strategies that did not belong to Vinay and Darbelnet
concepts were used as the second rank. These kinds of strategies consisted of adding
explanation or some words to make news become smoother or understandable ,the use of
words that referred to the whole previous part and the use of words that stimulated reader's
feelings. There were also some strategies that were used only twice or less.
1.Conclusion
The main purpose of this study was to find out the strategies that were used by the
translator team when translating foreign news in translation classes. There were eight aspects
about concepts in translation strategies made by Vinay and Darbelnet:
1.abstract for concrete 2.cause-effect 3.part-whole 4.part –another part 5.change of word order
6.negation of opposite 7.acitve voice instead of passive voice and vice versa 8.filling or
rethinking the intervals and limits between two cultures .However , there were some other
strategies that were not in Vinay and Darbelnet 's concepts.
They were created by the translators or instructors in the classroom to solve translation
problems and make the translation version become more understandable
and meaningful. For example , omitting word or words and adding some explanation or a
word or words or choosing the words that stimulated the readers' feelings or reactions.
Foreign news about politics , business and other interesting events were collected
during 1st of Mehr to 1st of Azar 1386 ( 23rd sept.-22nd Nov. 2007 ) and
Ten news articles were selected from two sources –domestic English papers and international
news sources. The data was analyzed and the results were presented in table 2. to show the
frequency of each strategy. It was found that changing the order of words was used at high
frequency ( 68 ) and the transliterate sounds from English to Persian was the least strategy in
this rank.
2.Discussion
This study was done to find out translation strategies based on concepts introduced by
Vinay and Darbelnet. It was found that the translator team followed and agreed to use these
strategies. However , there were other strategies that did not belong to Vinay and Darbelnet
concepts.The reason of this was that news had its own writing style or language
characteristics, thus there must be some specific translation strategies for news only , like to
use the words that stimulate readers' feelings ,or to delete unnecessary words or parts. As a
result , Vinay and Darbelnet concepts might not cover all that needed to be used for news
translation ,so other news translation strategies were found in this study.
Strategies introduced by Vinay and Darbelnet and those found by this study could be
classified into two main types which were lexical and syntactic levels.
However, there were strategies which did not belong to those two levels.For this study it
could be categorized into two features which are linguistic and cultural. The comparative
view of the findings of this study with those of Vinay and Darbelnet is shown in table 3.
It could be seen clearly that there were similarities between translation strategies used
in this study and the ones introduced by Vinay and Darbelnet.
That is ,there were 1. change the order of words 2.to use active voice instead passive voice
and vice versa.3.to use words referring to specific meaning instead of words
Referring to general meaning 4.Negation of opposite words 5.abstract –concrete
6.rethinking of interval and limits between two cultures 7.casue – effect 8.use words that refer
to general meanings instead of words that refer to specific meanings.
However , in translating foreign news ,the translators needed to add explanation , delete some
unnecessary parts or words as well as using words that stimulate readers' feelings and
reactions.
Table 3.Translation strategies used in this study with those of Vinay & Darbelnet
Strategies Used Strategies Used
by Vinay and Darbelnet
in This Study
Lexical level Lexical level
- addition of explanation -abstract-concrete
- use of words that refer to general -use of words that refer to general
meaning instead of words that refer to meaning instead of words that refer to
specific meaning Specific meaning
- abstract - concrete -part-another part
- Omission of words
3.Recommendations
This study may come to recommend the followings for research consumers as well as
those who prefer to have ideas for further studies.
1.Other news translators can use this study as a guideline to solve problems that
occurred when translating because the strategies mentioned in this study are applicable to
other similar cases. However, it may also be helpful for translators of any kind of text .
2.The instructors who teach journalism or other related fields can use this study to
clarify differences between English and Persian news structures. Moreover ,the instructors of
translation can also use this study for their works, like to explain
translation theories, or to suggest which translation strategy should be used for each kind of
text.
3.The students who study English translation as their major can apply the same analysis
to use these strategies for what the translate and study, their assignment as well as their future
careers because this will help them understand the differences between English and Persian
News which were from the same source.
4.It is also possible for other researchers to apply other strategies and methods of
translation such as those introduced by Van Leuven-Zwart's in respect to translation of press
texts as well as other types of texts presented in C.Reiss's functional classification of text
types.
5.What has been presented here in this study is just a linguistic approach towards the
analysis of press text.Still there is more chance for those who prefer to do the same from a
critical discourse analysis (CDA ) point of view.
References :
Newmark.P (1988) ATextbook of translation .New York and London :Prentice Hall.