Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 3
Perspectives in Translation
1. Introduction
fundamental answer will be yes. It is again common for the critics to propose
impossible, where can the line be drawn? What can a translator do? What
can a translator not do? What are the tools and strategies a translator chooses
modem times and some features vanished long back. The features like poetic
complex wordplay and imagery, poetic vocabulary, courtly and plain style,
intense artistry, imaginative excitement and so on, prepare a new ground for
the translator to understand and translate his texts with admiration. In this
employs to render the original text to the target language. Prominent authors
ways. Some definitions are quoted here for the present study.
texts) and local (those dealing with text segments) strategies and
(71)
language.”(81)
3. Translation Strategies
employs in order to render the original text to the target language. Lorscher
translational strategies. In the present context the nine original elements from
In this light, now a question arises, what kinds of acceptable solutions and
all possible, the global and local strategies in translation are categorized
(107)
Here follows a list of these strategies, with definitions and functions of each.
Syntactic strategies are related to and have an effect on the form of the text.
target language and they primarily manipulate the form. They are,
> Borrowing
> Loan
> Transposition
> Transference
> Naturalization
context.
considered to be foreign.
target language.
category in the target language without altering the meaning of the source
text. It involves a change in the grammar from SL to TL, for instance, (i)
change from singular to plural, (ii) the change required when a specific SL
structure does not exist in the TL, (iii) change of an SL verb to a TL word,
source text (ST) unit is translated as a different unit in the target text
syntactic and lexical levels. Different types of languages use these levels
example below implies that the English sentence would have a strong
into a question. The translation shifts the level, and produces the question
> Cohesion change- Textual cohesion refers to how the parts of a text ‘stick
repetition.
strategies are those that change or modify the meaning of the text. This
strategy looks at the target text closely and aims at retaining meaning
fidelity as in the original text. In this process, the meaning is retained with
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some loss and sometimes the meaning is expanded with some new addition
to bring clarity in the target language. The strategies used in the translation
are,
> Paraphrase
> Modulation
> Compensation
> Equivalence
> Using a synonym- This strategy selects not the obvious equivalent of a
word, but a synonymy or near synonymy for it. It involvs the use of a
concrete terms.
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and condensation).
situation in the source culture does not exist in the target culture.
the source and target languages to convey the same idea. It changes the
semantics and shifts the point of view of the source language. Through
also suggests that it occurs when the translator reproduces the message
of the original text in the TL text in conformity with the current norms
of the TL, since the SL and the TL may appear dissimilar in terms of
perspective. (88)
meaning of the original in such a way that both content and language
slogans. The process is creative, but not always easy. In the context,
Pragmatic strategies concern the message of the text itself and they typically
> Explicitation
> Implicitation
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> Trans-editing
> Compensation
> Paraphrasing
> Explicitation -It makes information more explicit in the TT, depending
on reader’s knowledge.
on reader’s knowledge.
> Emphasis change - This strategy adds to, reduce of alters the emphasis
translation.
specific terms to target culture norms and expectations. This takes into
some higher unit. Filtering of wordplay into the target text is often
4. Cultural Perspectives
order to execute his /her own decisions. These decisions are more important
between the original and the translated text. The strategies discussed above
are vital as they enable a translator to carry out his/her purpose in a work of
social and political concerns influence the translator to build the objectives
in a work of translation and the cultural issues gain focus when the
Elizabethan text, the cultural problems are found embedded in the linguistic
composition of the original text. Hence they need not be opposed for they
first person to take initiative in this regard and study literal translation as an
active system “correlated with other cultural systems and embedded in the
no translation activity can free itself from the “general values and ideas
a socio-political turn and hence can throw some light on the difficulty of
the source text in its culture or of changing the function to adapt to specified
specific for the given culture. Second, the concept or reference is actually
iv. The use of footnotes, endnotes, translator's notes and other explicit
information,
intra-allusive allusion,
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Leppihalme proposes another set of strategies for translating the proper name
allusions:
footnote.
> The use of footnotes, endnotes, translator's notes and other explicit
information,
intra-allusive allusion,
> Transference-The source language (SL) word is brought into the target
> Naturalization - The SL word is brought into the TLT and the writing is
and institutions.
> Using cultural equivalent- The SL cultural word is replaced with the
which does not embrace part of the SL word meaning, it involves the
which covers the SL word meaning and the cultural note as well.
> Addition and note- An addition or note is added after the translation of
explanation.
point of view. The translator sees the phrase from different point of
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5. Research Hypothesis
convey meanings and impressions created in the original text. But this is not
the chief responsibility of a translator. Here his task becomes multifold; the
translator comprehends both the literal and implied meaning in the source
play, the translators not only deal with complex linguistic and cultural
problems with the help of these translational tools discussed above but, they
also intervene in the contexts of their own times. This act of intervention has
text. However, it is strongly suspected that the three texts chosen for
thereby making the texts of Odia translations more than linguistic renderings.
tools, chiefly concentrating on their own purpose. Hence, the focus falls on
all three categories, they are employed to carry out translators’ inherent
objectives apart from fulfilling a basic linguistic function. For this reason,
we find strategies belonging to all three categories are used in the work of
history. However, the translator acts as an author who may empower his
concerns or innovations. In the light of this hypothesis the next part of the
thesis attempts to address these issues with the help of above discussed
methods in translation.
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Work Cited