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What is Translation?
Introduction:
To give an exact definition or meaning of word
Translation is not easy task. Translation like poetry
has become elusive.
Translation is a myth.
It is both a substitution and a transfer of meaning
from one language ( source language) to another
language (target language).
A process of translation from SL to TL.
In the light of recent literary criticism which denies
the author, undermines the text, highlights the reader
and emphasizes the polysemy of interpretation and
pleaded for the indeterminacy of meaning, the art of
translation has become increasingly difficult
What is Translation?
Translation, according to,
Dr Johnson
Change into another language, retaining the
sense.
A.H.Smith (1988: 8) for modifies previous
statement,
To translate is to change into another language
retaining as much of the sense as one can.
Eugene Nida
Translation is basically not a process of matching
surface forms by rules of correspondence, but
rather a more complex procedure involving
analysis, transfer and restructuring .
Dotest
The transference of meaning from one set of
patterned symbol into another set of patterned
symbol.
According to Benedetto Croce famous dictum,
Traddutore-traitor
Points to remember
Change from SL to TL retaining sense
by using TL equivalents.
Translation is a bridge between
creative and imitative art.
Complex procedure involving
analysis, transfer and restructuring.
Transference of meaning and
structure.
Kinds of Translation
1. According to Traditional Theorists
Translation
LITERARY
Sense
+
Style
NON-LITERARY
Sense
Literary:
Mataphorical/ Rhetorical
According to G.E Wellworth, literary
translation requires
1.The recreation of a situation or
cohesive semantic block in the new
language with its cultural setting.
2.The translator decodes the motive of
the SL text and encodes it in the TL
text.
3.The mode of displacement
continues.
Non-literary:
In the realms of Physical Science,
Social Science, Journalism, Law etc.
Concerns with Meaning not Style.
e.g. translating political, scientific
economic theories from SL to TL
Contents get precedence over Form
Context
Full/
Total
Partial/
Restricted
Level
Linguistic Items
Rank
Bound
Unbound/
Free
Context
Full/ Total: Every part of the SL text is
replaced by the TL text material. It is a
myth. The translator becomes the decoder of it.
Partial: Some parts of the SL text are
left untranslated.
Restricted: The replacement of SL
textual material at only one level. It is
hardly any translation.
Level
Phonological: SL phonology is
replaced by equivalent TL phonology.
The grammar and lexis of SL text
remain same except some random
grammatical and lexical deviation.
Graphological: SL graphology is
replaced by equivalent of TL graphology.
The equivalence is based on the
relationship to the same graphic
substance.
Grammatical: Replacement of SL
grammar by equivalent of TL grammar
but the lexis is not replaced. The
equivalent is based on the relationship
to the same contextual substance.
Lexical: Replacement of SL lexis by
equivalent TL lexis but the grammar is
not changed.
Rank
Bounded: Selection of TL equivalent
is deliberately confined to one rank or
few ranks (levels). Word for word
translation.
Un-bounded/ Free: Equivalent shift
freely up and down the rank scale.
METAPHRASE
PARAPHRASE
IMITATION
Free
Translation
INTRALINGUAL
INTERLINGUAL/
TRANSLATION
PROPER
INTERSEMIOTIC/
TRANSMUTATION
5. According to Mc-Guire
Translation
VERTICAL
Horizontal
References
A. H. Smith, ed., Aspects of Translation
(London: Seeker and Warburg, 1988)8.
J. C. Catford, A Linguistic Theory of
Translation ( London: OUP, 1985)20.
Theodore Savory, The Art of Translation
(London: Cape, 1957).
Horst Frenz, The Art of Translation in
N.P. Stallknecht and H.Frenz (eds)
Comparative Literature: Method and
Perspective (Carbondale: South Illinois
University Press, 1961)72-96.