1. Translation Theories
Translation process: different approaches

2. Objectives: To understand what is ‘the process of translation’;
To distinguish between translation as a ‘process’ and translation as a ‘product’;
To be familiar with different approaches to translating, such as linguistic, cognitive, interpretive, hermeneutic, cultural, normative, ideological, sociological approaches.
To translate and explain the translation process by adopting different approaches.
Objectives:

3. Translation Process
When we talk about translation as a process, we normally focus on the steps and procedures taken by those involved in the translation process (be they translators, editors, revisers, translation quality controller, translation project managers, etc. depending on the infra-structure of the company).

4. What are the main levels of the translation process?

5. The levels of the process
There are two levels:
The micro level, i.e. the process achieved by the translator only. To put this differently, it is the study of the steps and procedures taken by translators to translate any text, such as reading, analyzing, consulting dictionaries, transferring, encoding, checking (revising, proofreading and editing).
The macro level, i.e. the process achieved by a number of people, such as translators, proofreaders, revisers, editors, translation quality controllers, etc. It can be classified into three main stages:
pre-translation
Translation (i.e. the micro level of translating)
Post-translation
(for more details, see Almanna 2014)

6. What are the main approaches to translating?

7. Different approaches - Linguistic approach (Nida 1964, Catford 1965);
- Cognitive approach (Roger Bell 1991);
- Hermeneutic approach (Schleiermacher, Dilthy and Streiner 1975)
- Interpretive approach or sense theory
(Marianne Lederer 1981, 1994/2003; Danica Selekovitch 1968, 1975)
- Normative approach (Toury 1980, 1995; Chesterman 1997/2000);
- Cultural approach (Vermeer 1989, Bassnett 1980/1991, Snell-hornby (1988);
- Ideological approach (Lefever 1992, 1998; Hatim and Mason 1997; Farghal (2008, 2012, 2013; among others)
- Sociological approach (Pierre Bourdieu, Niklas Luhmann and Bruno Latour).

8. Linguistic approaches: Nida (1964)
Nida (1964), being influenced by Chomsky's (1957) surface structures vs. deep structure, holds that the process of translation takes a V-shaped movement (or U-shaped movement).
Translation process, according to Nida takes a U-shaped movement, starting from the surface structure of the source text down to its deep structure, “kernel sentence”, which is transferred into a kernel sentence in the TL, which, by addition, deletion, modification and other strategies results in the surface structure.
According to Nida, the process of translation is a three-stage system, i.e. analysis, transfer and restructuring.

9. Explain Nida’s (1964) linguistic approach while translating the following text:
هو يختلف عن الآخرين فهو غير محتاج إلى مالك؛ فهو يملك مال قارون.

10. Catford’s (1965) Linguistic Approach
A year later, Catford (1965) rejects the idea of transference on the grounds that in transferring, there is some sort of implantation of the ST meaning into the TL text.
He believes that in the translation process there is a substitution of the SL text with a TL text.
As there are differences between the interfacing languages, the process of substituting implies that there should be a 'shift'.
What is ‘shift’ according to Catford (1965)?

11. Shift and its types
Shifts are defined by Catford (1965) as “departures from formal correspondence in the process of going from the SL to the TL” (p. 73).
Catford argues that there are two main types of translation shifts, namely:
a) Level shifts
b) Category shifts
According to Catford (Ibid), category shifts are divided into four types:
Structure-shifts
Class-shifts
Unit-shifts or rank-shifts
Intra-system shifts

12. Level shifts
They occur when the SL item at one linguistic level (e.g. lexis) has a TL equivalent at a different level (e.g. grammar).
For instance, in English to emphasize the frequency of the action as a matter of routine, one can express it grammatically by opting for a simple present tense, such as: 'She goes to school with her dad'. However, to emphasize the frequency of the action in Arabic, the only solution is to resort to lexical items/expressions, such as عادة ما ‘usually’, غالبا ما ‘often’ and so.
Translate the following sentence into Arabic and comment on level shifts that might occur:
e.g. My friend goes to school with his dad.

13. Category shifts: structure-shifts
They involve a grammatical change between the structure of the ST and that of the TT. By way of explanation, let us consider the following example quoted from ‘Abdul-Rahmān al-Rubai‘ī’s story ذلك الأنين ‘Groaning’ (1993) and translated by Almanna and Alrubai’i (2009: 165; bilingual edition) in which an active voice is changed into a passive voice:
ثم سقطت في إحداها، لم أعد قادرا على الخروج، قوة ساعدي لم تسعفني، وعندما أفلحت أحاط بي رجال ملثمون يتبادلون كلمات مبهمة ويستحثون بعضهم عليّ ...
Then I fell into one of them and was unable to get out. The strength of my forearm did not help me, and when I did have some luck, I was surrounded by hooded men exchanging strange words and urging one another on to attack me.

14. Category shifts: class-shifts
They occur when a SL item is translated into a TL item which belongs to a different grammatical class. For examples, there are a great number of adverbs in English that are best substituted with a prepositional phrase plus an adjective in Arabic as in:
Translate the following words and expressions:
- Dramatically
- Surprisingly
- Reasonably
فرح، حزن، عطش، جاع، غضب، ملّ، اندهش، انزعج ...

15. Category shifts: Unit-shifts or rank-shifts
They involve changes in rank, such as translating a sentence in one language into a phrase, expression, etc. in another. Consider the following example quoted from Choukri’s (2000: 168; 6th edition) and translated by Bowles (1993: 126):
ها أنا جئت. خير إن شاء الله.
Here, I am”.

16. Category shifts: intra-system shifts
They occur when SL and TL possess systems which approximately correspond formally as to their constitution, but when translators opt for selecting a non-corresponding term in the TL system (p. 80). By way of illustration, let us consider the following example in which a simple present tense expressed by ‘show’ can be translated into a simple past tense in the TL as the emphasis is on the completion of the action, rather than on its continuity or frequency:
Statistics show that about 9 out of 10 tobacco users start before they're 18 years old’
أظهرت الإحصائيات أن 9 أشخاص من أصل 10 يبدأون التدخين قبل سن الثامنة عشر.

17. 1- semantic, syntactic and pragmatic analysis of the ST and
Cognitive approach
Building on linguistic and psycholinguistic perspectives, Bell (1991: 20) states that the translation process mainly happens within “memory” in the sense that the transformation process involves two main phases, namely:
1- semantic, syntactic and pragmatic analysis of the ST and
2- semantic, pragmatic and lexico-grammatical synthesis in the TL

18. 1- Visual recognition of the lexical items; 2- syntactic parsing;
Cognitive approach: five steps
1- Visual recognition of the lexical items;
2- syntactic parsing;
3- mechanisms of lexical search;
4- semantic and pragmatic processing;
5- encoding the input (the draft) semantically, pragmatically and lexico-grammatically in the TL.

19. Explain the cognitive approach proposed by Roger Bell (1991) while translating the following text:
Translation brief:
Translate the following text to be used by first-year students in class to learn about the differences between Arabic and English syntax.
One night last summer, as Abu Ahmed sat in his cell waiting, as he did each day, for his date with the executioner, explosions and gunfire erupted and a prison guard opened the doors to his cell and told him to leave immediately.

20. read … identify (difficult words/expressions) … consult
1- Visual recognition
read … identify (difficult words/expressions) … consult
One night last summer, as Abu Ahmed sat in his cell waiting, as he did each day, for his date with the executioner, explosions and gunfire erupted and a prison guard opened the doors to his cell and told him to leave immediately.

21. 2- Syntactic parsing
One night last summer, as Abu Ahmed sat in his cell waiting, as he did each day, for his date with the executioner, explosions and gunfire erupted and a prison guard opened the doors to his cell and told him to leave immediately.
- How many sentences are there?
- What are the types of the sentences (simple or not)?
- Where is the main verb of each sentence?
- What is the tense of each verb?
- What is the voice of each verb?
- Where is the subject of each clause/sentence?
- Are there connectors?
Etc.

22. clause 2: connector (as) + S. (he) + main verb (did / past /active)
One night last summer, as Abu Ahmed sat in his cell waiting, as he did each day, for his date with the executioner, explosions and gunfire erupted and a prison guard opened the doors to his cell and told him to leave immediately.
Parsing: it is a compound complex sentence (five clauses + four connectors (as / as / and / and )
clause 1: connector (as) + S. (Abu Ahmed) + main verb (sat / past tense / active voice) + compliment (waiting for his date …)
clause 2: connector (as) + S. (he) + main verb (did / past /active)
clause 3: S. (explosions and gunfire) + main verb (erupted/ past / active) +
Clause 4: S. (a prison guard) + main verb (opened /past / active) + O. (the doors) + connector (and)
clause 5: S. (he / deleted) + main verb (told /past /active)

23. 3- mechanism of lexical search
One (واحد/واحدة/إحدى)night (ليلة) last (ماضٍ) summer(صيف) , as (بينما) Abu Ahmed (أبو أحمد) sat (جلسَ) in (في) his (ــــه)cell (غرفة/قاعة/خلية/زنزانة) waiting (ينتظر), as (كما/مثلما) he (هو) did (فعل) each (كل)dad (يوم) , for (x) his (ـــه) date(موعد/ موعد غرامي/ تاريخ) with (مع) the (الـ) executioner (شنّاق), explosions (انفجار +جمع)and (و) gunfire (اطلاق ناري)erupted (انفجر/ تنفظ/ and (و) a prison(سجن) guard (حارس)opened(فتح) the (الـ)doors (باب+ جمع) to (لـ) his (ـــه) cell (غرفة/قاعة/خلية/زنزانة) and (و)told (أخبرَ) him (ه) to (أن) leave (يغادر/يترك) immediately (فورًا/ حالًا) .

24. 4- Semantic and pragmatic processing
One night last summer, as Abu Ahmed sat in his cell waiting, as he did each day, for his date with the executioner, explosions and gunfire erupted and a prison guard opened the doors to his cell and told him to leave immediately.
في ليلة الصيف الماضي، بينما جلس أبو أحمد في زنزانته، كما فعل يفعل كل يوم، ينتظر موعده مع شنّاقه، تصاعدت الانفجارات وإطلاق النار، ودخل حارس السجن وفتح أبواب الزنزانة وطلب منه أن يغادر فوراً.
Please do not forget the translation brief:
Translate the following text to be used by first-year students in class to learn about the differences between Arabic and English syntax.

25. 5- Encoding the input (the draft) semantically, pragmatically and lexico-grammatically in the TL.
One night last summer, as Abu Ahmed sat in his cell waiting, as he did each day, for his date with the executioner, explosions and gunfire erupted and a prison guard opened the doors to his cell and told him to leave immediately.
في ليلة الصيف الماضي، بينما جلس أبو أحمد في زنزانته، كما يفعل كل يوم، ينتظر موعده مع شنّاقه، تصاعدت الانفجارات وإطلاق النار، ودخل حارس السجن وفتح أبواب الزنزانة وطلب منه أن يغادر فوراً.
Now assume that the translation brief is as follows:
Translate the following text to be published by one of the local newspapers. Then your translation needs to be reader-oriented as in:
في ليلة من ليالي الصيف الماضي، وبينما كان أبو أحمد يجلس في زنزانته - كما يفعل كل يوم - ينتظر يوم إعدامه، تصاعدت الانفجارات وسُمِعَ إطلاق النار، ودخل حارس السجن ففتح أبواب الزنزانة وطلب منه أن يغادر الزنزانة فوراً.

26. Translate the following text into Arabic to be published in one of the local anti-government newspapers.
Only three weeks after the start of the fighting, they had entered Baghdad, The majority population, which had to a large extent been excluded from power, was initially jubilant. and the Iraqi leader's grip on power had withered.

27. Also known the theory of sense.
Interpretive Approach
Also known the theory of sense.
It emerged in 1970s at the hands of a group of scholars known as the Paris School.
At the beginning, it focused on the oral translation (interpretation), but later it is used to discuss the written translation too.
Proponents of this approach are Marianne Lederer 1981 and Danica Selekovitch 1968.

28. Four steps: Understanding De-verbalization Re-expression
Later a fourth step was added Jean Delisle (1980/1988), i.e. Verification

29. Understanding: interpreter/translator tries to understand the ST by forming a personal point of view, thus resorting to his/her socio-cultural experiences, encyclopedic knowledge and contextual knowledge. De-verbalization: It means that the actual wording is divorced from the ST linguistic and stylistic norms, i.e. translators and interpreters need to get rid of the linguistic and stylistic norms of the ST in order to figure out the sense. Re-expression It means that the interpreter/translator starts searching for an idiomatic means of expression that can render the sense of the original by complying with the usage and customs of the TL; Verification: It means that translators check and evaluate their final target text (TT). It can be described as a process of beck-translation.

30. They distinguish between ‘equivalence’ and ‘correspondence’
They argue that when the correspondence is possible, then the translator/interpreter moves directly from understanding to re-expression.
However, if it is not available/possible, then the need to get the sense first in order to search for its equivalent in the TL.

31. Application
Ex: People start smoking for a variety of different reasons. Some think it looks cool. Others start because their family members or friends smoke.
Understanding & de-verbalizing:
يبدأ الناس التدخين لأسباب مختلفة، بعضهم يبدأ لأنهم يشعرون أنه أمر
[equivalent needed: ‘cool’ here means: ‘fashionable’, ‘trendy’, ‘attractive’, ‘impressive’, so one may suggest something like: ظريف أو مثير للإعجاب]
وآخرون لأن أحد أفراد عائلتهم أو أصدقائهم يدخن.

32. re-expression:
يبدأ الناس التدخين لأسباب مختلفة، بعضهم يبدأ لأنهم يشعرون أنه أمر مثير للإعجاب، وآخرون لأن أحد أفراد عائلتهم أو أصدقائهم يدخن.
Verification:
People start smoking for different reasons. Some of them start smoking because they feel it is attractive while others start because being influenced by one of their family members or friends.

33. Emic, etic, insider, outsider, superficial level and symbolic level.
Cultural Approach
Some scholars, such as Bassnett 1980/1991; Snell-Hornby 1988; Vermeer 1989/2004, hold that translators need to be bi-cultural not only bi-lingual in order to translate adequately.
However, Almanna (2014) is of a view that it is difficult to be bi-cultural, but translators can rely on their research competence to translate adequately.
Emic, etic, insider, outsider, superficial level and symbolic level.

34. Translators need to adopt an etic-emic (phonetic-phonemic) approach, i
Translators need to adopt an etic-emic (phonetic-phonemic) approach, i.e. approaching the text from the perspective of cultural insider.
In other words, they need to adopt an insider approach:
they need to be insiders in the SL culture to understand the socio-cultural experiences and
They need to be insiders the TL culture to encode the socio-cultural experiences.

35. Comments:
Consider the following example quoted from Mahfouz’s (1961: 8) اللص والكلاب'The Thief and the Dogs', translated by Le Gassick and Badawi (1984: 14):
ألم أعلّمك الوقوف على قدمين؟
It was me, wasn’t it, who taught you to stand on your own feet.
Here, the expression 'to stand on your own two feet' has a number of different meanings, depending on the context in which it is used. In this context, it does not refer to the physical activity of standing on two feet, rather it is used figuratively ـــ it simply refers to teaching somebody how to depend on oneself (cf. Abdel-Hafiz 2003: 231). As such, the translators have succeeded in being insiders in the source culture, i.e. understanding the cultural experience in the SL, and being insiders in the target culture, i.e. encoding the cultural experience in the TL. In this example, it so happens that both languages, Arabic and English, linguistically conceptualize and utilize such a world experience in a similar way; therefore, a literal translation is sufficient. However, on some occasions, the translator falls into “the trap of being a 'cognitive blinder'. That is, when the translator’s over-familiarity with the source language leads him/her to assume/presuppose that the target reader is also familiar with the expression at hand (Al-Masri 2004: ).

36. The end …
Thanks a lot