The ‘Art’ of ofTranslation

What is translation? Defining Translation: Process and/or product (interlinked and not linear sequence: v. drafting and re-drafting, editing; no 'perfect'/'correct'/'definitive' translation). Movement between: languages, cultures, media. Intralingual (rewording), interlingual (translation proper) and intersemiotic translation (transmutation) (see Jakobson): in Language Teaching we tend to concentrate on interlingual. However, it is not as simple as that, because there can be various difficulties in the process of translation, such as: idiomatic phrases: “in culo alla balena!”; cultural examples – where a word has slightly differing connotations to its equivalent in various languages e.g. “pizza” or “a cup of tea”; where one word has more than one meaning in another language e.g. “you” – “tu”, “voi” etc.

Relevant vocabulary Source Text/Target Text (SL/TL) Source Language/Target Language (SL/TL) Source Culture/Target Culture Fidelity (e.g. les belles infidèles): Literal (word-for-word) vs Free (sense-for-sense) Equivalence Skopos Theory: text typology and function Transfer and Manipulation: translation as loss and gain - never neutral, culturally marked, ideologically charged... Norm-regulated behaviour (Hermans; Levefere) Foreignising vs domesticating translation (Schleiermacher, Venuti)

Things to consider as a translator Register Tone Purpose Context Audience

Source Language Bias vs Target Language Bias The SL bias is Interlinear Translation, where the TT does not necessarily respect TL grammar, but has grammatical units corresponding to TL grammar. “Chi non risica non rosica” Who not risks not nibbles The TL bias is Free Translation, where there is only a generalised correspondence between the textual units of the ST and the TT. Nothing ventured, nothing gained

Communicative Translation Communicative Translation is produced when the ST uses an SL expression standard/appropriate for that situation and the TT uses a TL expression standard/appropriate for that situation. Senso vietato Buon appetito Prego È nato con la camicia No entry Enjoy your meal You’re welcome He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth

The Bias Scale SL biasTL bias LiteralFaithfulBalancedIdiomaticFree

“Le piace molto la novella di Boccaccio” InterlinearLiteralFaithfulBalancedIdiomaticFree To her pleases much the story of Boccaccio The story of Boccaccio pleases her greatly She likes the story by Boccaccio very much She really likes the Boccaccio story She says the Boccaccio’s just her cup of tea Boccaccio floats her boat

Intralingual translation - euphemism

Translation loss Sometimes it is impossible to transpose the whole meaning into another language. As an example is the UK political scandal “plebgate” Pleb = ?????? Cultural connotations of the Conservative Party Cultural connotations of the word “pleb” & British class system Contemporaneous political context Popular perceptions of UK politicians British Tabloid media

Idiomatic Phrases To ring a bell Like a bull in a china shop Good luck Make a mountain out of a molehill Escapee Dire qualcosa Come elefante in una cristalleria In bocca al lupo (In culo alla balena!) Fare di una mosca un elefante Piede libero

How would you translate this? Queen Victoria inquired as to why the plebs were up in arms. Her butler replied, “Well, your majesty, they seem not to be taking kindly to the new bobbies on the beat”. “Hmm”, she scoffed, “We are not amused!”

Can you think of any problems you personally might encounter in translation?

What is your own definition of translation?