Download presentation
Presentation is loading. Please wait.
1
Translation Techniques
2
Quickly translate these sentences from English into Arabic (or vice versa) and think about the problems they raise: I've been living here for about ten years Time is money (proverb) " رجع بخفي حنين “ (idiom) " وافق شن طبقه “ "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" "وقد تأكد الآن أن العلم سوف يعجز عن القضاء على الدين، بل سوف يؤكد الدين" أنور الجندي "ما تزال سيرة النبي محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وستظل على مدى الأجيال والقرون، وحتى يرث الله تبارك وتعالى الأرض ومن عليها نبراسًا للمسلمين وضوءًا كاشفًا في حياتهم وأعمالهم ووجهتهم" أنور الجندي Translation is what I hate most
3
Introduction The lack of complete equivalence between languages at the lexical, syntactic, stylistic and pragmatic levels makes translation, as a straightforward process, difficult. Does this mean that translation is impossible? Of course, not. Despite its numerous (linguistic, cultural and stylistic) difficulties, people have always resorted to translation to convey a message from one language to another. Furthermore, some of the most important books (including religious texts) are only available, or only known to the general public, in their translations (translation paradox)
4
Translation Techniques
This interlinguistic communication is achieved by resorting to translation techniques. In this presentation, we will expose and exemplify the major techniques that have been used by translators unconsciously most of the time (and discussed by translation theorists) in order to convey the meanings, which are expressed in the SL, and yet preserve the structures and styles of the TL.
5
In a general sense, translation is different from other kinds of linguistic activity such as adapting, précis writing, commenting and abstracting. It may, however, in particular circumstances, involve special techniques (or procedures), about which the student of translation and the theorist should be concerned. Needless to say that these translation techniques are only justified if straightforward translation fails.
6
Perhaps, the earliest formal account of translation techniques was given by Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet (1958, 1966 : 46-55) in their Stylistique comparée de l’anglais et du français (Paris, Didier) (translated as Comparative Stylistics of French and English: a Methodology for Translation).
7
Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet (1958, 1966 : 46-55) list seven translation techniques.
Many other translation theorists have discussed the issue (e.g. Fawcett, 1997:34-41) and some have come up with their own classifications. For example, Newmark in his book Approaches to Translation (1981: 30-32) discusses seventeen translation techniques, that differ in importance according to the contextual factors of both the ST and the TT.
8
Given the fact that Vinay and Darbelnet’s taxonomy of translation techniques is one of the earliest and one of the widely-accepted and / or discussed lists of translation techniques, it will be discussed in this section in full with examples taken not only from French and English but also from Arabic. Many other common and crucial translation techniques (taken from other sources) will also be discussed.
9
1.1 Borrowing, Adoption or Loan Words ، الاقتراض ، الترجمة بالدخيل
Unit 2 - Vinay and Darbelnet’s Translation Techniques: Direct Translation Techniques مباشرة 1.1 Borrowing, Adoption or Loan Words ، الاقتراض ، الترجمة بالدخيل 1.2 Calque or Loan Translation الترجمة بالنسخ 1.3 Literal Translation الترجمة الحرفية Unit 3 - Vinay and Darbelnet’s Translation Techniques: Indirect (or Oblique) Translation Techniques ملتوية 2.1 Transposition or shifts الترجمة بالتحوير 2.2 Modulation الترجمة بالتكييف 2.3 Equivalence الترجمة بالمعادل أو المقابل 2.4 Adaptation or cultural equivalence الترجمة بالاقتباس أو التصرف Unit 4 Other Techniques 3.1 Transliteration ترجمة إملائية 3.2 Transcription ترجمة صواتية 3.3 Translation by Omission الترجمة بالحذف Translation by Addition الترجمة بالزيادة 3.4 Transfer ترجمة بالنقل 3.5 Compensation تعويض 3.6 Circumlocution or Deconstruction أسهاب – تفكيك 3.7 Translation Couplet, Triplets, and Quadruplets 3.8 Recasting Sentences إعادة الصياغة 3.9 Additions, Notes and Glosses
10
Vinay and Darbelnet’s taxonomy:
Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation techniques fall into 3 Direct Translation Techniques and 4 Indirect (or Oblique) Translation Techniques. Direct Translation Techniques are used when structural and conceptual elements of the SL can be transposed (i.e. transferred) into the TL. They include: Borrowing, Calque, and Literal Translation.
11
1. 1 Borrowing, Adoption or Loan Words
1.1 Borrowing, Adoption or Loan Words (in French: emprunt) الترجمة بالاقتباس أو الترجمة بالدخيل In a general sense, borrowing is the appropriation of words from another language. Such borrowed words are called loan words (or loanwords). For example, in Arabic words like ديموقراطي, ديكتاتوري, إمبريالية , دمقرطة , برجوازية, which are used in politics, are borrowed from the English / French words democratic, dictatorial, imperialism, democratization, bourgeoisie and the words فونيم, مورفيم, تاكميم, which are used in linguistics, are borrowed from English /French phoneme, morpheme, tagmeme. This phenomenon is known in Arabic as arabization and such words are called arabized words.
12
Borrowing is a widespread phenomenon in languages.
If it is evident that many languages borrow nowadays from English, the latter has also borrowed and still borrows numerous words from other languages. In English, café and résumé are borrowed from French, hamburger and kindergarten from German and musk and sugar from Arabic. In the past, Arabic borrowed from Greek (فندق وإزميل وأسطول) and from Latin (قنطرة والقسطاس ( = ميزان) ودينار وفردوس)
13
In translation, borrowing is not always dictated by the lack of equivalent words in the target language. Sometimes it is used to add a local color. For example, if a novel is set in France then the term ‘Monsieur’ is likely to occur even though the term ‘Mister’ and is well attested in English. Demoiselle has no single equivalent term in English and could be translated as ‘young lady’ «Quand ces demoiselles voudront bien m'écouter. Ces demoiselles se croient tout permis » ‘Intifada’, from Arabic, entered most European language since the first Palestenian uprising in 1987. Since borrowing relies on ‘importing’ rather than searching for the culturally, linguistically and semantically equivalent words in the TL, it should always come as the last resort in finding adequate terms for new concepts.
14
Frequently, loan words involve some form of ‘naturalization’ (or adaptation), that is, they are made to conform to the rules of grammar or pronunciation of the TL (which is not the case in transcription and transliteration). Borrowed words may sometimes have different meanings from those of the original language, hence the problem of ‘faux amis’. For instance, we are all familiar with the word ‘nervous’, which in most cases means ‘easily worried or frightened’ in English but ‘easily excited’ in French. Similarly, ‘to pass a test’ is not the same as ‘passer un examen’.
15
Borrowing can be resorted to for different reasons
Borrowing can be resorted to for different reasons. For example, the target language may have no generally used equivalent, the source language word may sound "better" (i.e. more specific or more fashionable) or the translator may try to retain some "favor" of the source language. In other words, borrowing, as a translation technique, is not always justified by a lexical gap in the TL; it can be simply used as a way to preserve the linguistic and cultural local color of the ST.
16
1.2 Calque or Loan Translation الترجمة بالنسخ
A calque, or ‘Through Translation’ as Newmark (1981: 30) calls it, is a term or expression introduced into one language by 'literally' translating it from another language with no grammatical or semantic adjustments. In other words, the translator imitates the structure or manner of expression of the ST at phrase level. Therefore, this is a type of borrowing at the level of structure or manner. As such, it is very similar to literal translation (but, unlike the latter, it suggests a ). loan translations often sound awkward at first, but come to be accepted with use
17
According to Vinay and Darbelnet (1958, 1966: ), Canadians are accustomed to use the expression 'les compliments de la saison', which is an imitation of the English expression 'season’s greetings‘ (or compliments of the season) , that is written for instance on cards to wish someone a happy Christmas, Easter, Festival, etc.
18
The following 'Arabic' structures and expressions are, in fact, loan translations from English or French because they were not attested in Classical Arabic. -The use of أيّ 'ayy(a/u) in the contexts in which “any” is used in English as in: اشتر أيّ كتاب تريد “Buy any book you like”. -لم و لن lam wa lan and لا و لن laa wa lan as in the examples لم و لن يفهمني “He didn’t and will not understand me”, and لا و لن أكتب إليه "I don't and will not write to him". What would be a more natural arabic way of putting this? -حتى hattaa as a translation of “even” in English as in لم يقبلوا حتى مناقشة الموضوع “They didn’t accept even the discussion of the subject”.
19
-The provision of the agent in a passive construction as in قبض اللص من طرف الشرطة “The thief was caught by the police” and وزعت الكتب بواسطة \ من طرف القنصليات “The books were distributed by the consulates”. (cf French de la part de ) SL: He works as a teacher / il travaille comme enseignant or he works as a teacher TL: يعمل كمدرس إنه What would be a more natural arabic way of putting this? SL il ajoué un rôle important dans cette affaire or He played an important role TL لعب دوراً مهماً
20
صاروخ أرض جو (surface-to-air missile) (Darir, 2004: 40-41).
Frequently, calques are meant to coin new terms for new concepts as in the following examples: حرب باردة (cold war), صلب القضية (the heart of the matter, F. le fond du problème), and, by far the best example, صاروخ أرض جو (surface-to-air missile) (Darir, 2004: 40-41). صاروخ سطح – جو، قذيفة أرض – جو there is here a problem of parsing or more specifically تشكيل Air-to-air missile Surface-to-air missile
21
Surface-to-air missile
22
http://www.arabdict.com معجم الصواب اللغوي، أحمد مختار عمر
معجم الصواب اللغوي، أحمد مختار عمر صاروخ أرض جَوّ الحكم: مرفوضة السبب: لأن هذا التعبير غير مألوف في لغة العرب. المعنى: صاروخ ينطلق من الأرض إلى الجَوّ الصواب والرتبة: -صاروخ أرض جَوّ [صحيحة] التعليق:يرى البعض أن هذا التعبير يوجّه على أنه من قبيل المركب الإضافي وتكون الإضافة للتخصيص، أو بحمله على المركب المزجي. وقد أجازه مجمع اللغة المصري على أساس أنه من تتابع الإضافات.
23
Needless to say that these new constructions and new terms find their legitimacy and importance only if they have no real Arabic equivalents, which is not always the case. For instance, for the modern expression الأغلبية الساحقة (the overwhelming majority, F. la majorité écrasante) the ancient Arabs would have said السواد الأعظم (Darir, 2004: 41). An unsuccessful calque can sound extremely unnatural, can cause unwanted humor and can be taken as evidence of the lack of expertise of the translator in the target language.
24
1.3 Literal (or interlinear) translation الترجمة الحرفية
Literal translation does not mean the same thing to all researchers. It is important to understand it here as a technique rather than a type of translation (the opposite of free translation)
25
In order to understand literal translation, it is good to start with the simplest type of translation, which is a word-for-word translation, which is after all what it means in this context. Indeed, at its extreme, literal translation means just what it says, a one (word) by one translation. For example, the English sentence "The team is working to finish the report" can be literally –in this case word-for-word- translation- into Spanish with no adjustment as "El equipo está trabajando para acabar el informe" but not into French or Arabic without resorting to the technique of transposition (see below) since grammatical structures are often not identical in all languages.
26
Thus, the same English sentence is translated into French as “L'équipe travaille (ou est en train de travailler) pour finir le rapport » and into Arabic as يعمل الفريق على إنهاء التقرير. Both sentences involve a slight change compared with the ST (some form of transposition).
27
In its strict sense, literal translation (or interlinear) can be used between some languages but not between others depending on structural similarities at the sentence level. Of course, the fact that one sentence can be translated literally across two or more languages does not mean that all sentences can be translated literally across the same languages.
28
Literal (type of trans) vs. literal (technique of trans)
As a type of translation, Literal translation can start from a word by word translation but perform the basic type of morphological or grammatical adjustments to make it acceptable in the TL. No such adjustment is understood in literal translation as a technique.
29
Literal translation- 2 The sentence “She looked at him” can be literally –in a loose sense- translated into Arabic as "نظرت إليه“ with no form of adjustment (apart from omitting the subject pronoun. The French equivalent, on the other hand, “ Elle le regarda” involves the omission of the particle ‘at’ since the verb is directly transitive in French and the prepositioning of the pronoun functioning as direct object. Thus, the Arabic sentence is a literal translation in this sense but not the French one, which involves transposition.
30
From another perspective,
Consider the following two sentences: (1) He looked at the map (2) He looked the picture of health (Vinay & Darbelnet) The first one can be translated literally into Arabic نظر إلى الخريطة or into any other languages but we cannot translate the second sentence in the same way. كان يبدو صورة الصحة is simply meaningless, on the other hand كان يبدو في صحة جيدة " أو " كانت تبدو عليه علامات الصحة " is acceptable. J.P.Vinay, J.Darbelnet, Stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais, Paris, Didier, 1958, 1999, pp
31
Other examples of sentences that cannot be translated literally:
The English sentence: “He ran across the street” can only be translated into Arabic as “عبرالشارع جرياً“ not " جرى عبر الشارع " , and into French as “Il traversa la rue en courant.” When introducing themselves, the English say: My name is John, the French say Je m’appelle Pierre, i.e. the English noun becomes a verb in French and vice versa. In Arabic, it is possible to use both structures: أدعى فلاناً، واسمي كذا .
32
In brief Literal translation, as a technique or as a method of translation, can be used as long as it yields acceptable translations respecting the meanings in the TL and not violating the structures of the TL. In case the meanings are not respected, TL structures are violated or the translation sounds awkward then some other type of translation should be fetched. .
33
Literal vs. loan translation
Loan translation (calque) Literal (as a technique) Describes primarily neologisms, which are originally thought to be incorrect or inappropriate (for violating grammar for conventions of usage) Word-for-word translation (with no significant grammatical (morphological and syntactic) or semantic adjustment Applies primarily to lexical (word level) level Applies to sentences and larger text
34
Are the expressions loan translations (Calques) or literal translations
1. (Have) ‘a nice weekend’ ‘bonne fin de semaine’ and نهاية أسبوع سعيدة (cf عطلة نهاية أسبوع موفقة 2 مائدة مستديرة E. a round-table conference, F. table ronde
35
2. Oblique Translation Techniques ثانيا: الترجمة غير المباشرة ولها أنواع أربعة هي
Oblique (or Indirect) Translation Techniques are used when the structural or conceptual elements of the SL cannot be directly translated without significantly altering meaning or the grammatical and stylistic elements of the TL.
36
Oblique translation techniques in Vinay and Darbelnet’s taxonomy include: Transposition, Modulation, Reformulation or Equivalence, and Adaptation
37
2.1 Transposition or shifts الترجمة بالتحوير or التبديل
Transposition can be defined as recategorization, i.e. a change at the level of grammar while translating from SL to TL. Even within the same language, we come across cases of transposition (i.e. paraphrasing) with no or little change in meaning as in اعمل ذلك قبل أن تذهب " أو " اعمل ذلك قبل ذهابك “” (notice the substitution of the subordinate clause in the first sentence with a noun phrase in the second. (similarly in French “Fais-le avant de partir” and “Fais-le avant ton départ” but not in English “Do it before you leave”).
38
Catford (1965: 73) uses the term ‘shift’, a much used term in translation studies, and defines it as “departure from formal correspondence in the process of going from the SL to the TL”. He (1965: 73) recognizes two major types: level shifts and category shifts. By a shift of level he (1965: 73) means “that a SL item at one linguistic level (grammar or lexis) has a TL translation equivalent at a different level (grammar or lexis)” as in ‘after she had died’ being translated as بعد موتها. Category shifts do not involve a change of level (from grammar to lexis or vice versa) (see type 1 below).
39
Newmark (1981) defines transposition as “the replacement of one grammatical unit by another” (which is of a different type). According to Newmark (1988: 85), transposition is motivated by four reasons, which result in four types of transposition.
40
The first type concerns the form and position of words.
For instance, the English single words: ‘furniture’ and ‘equipment’ are changed to plural in French ‘des meubles’ and ‘des équipements’. Similarly, French masculine ‘le soleil’ is translated into Arabic by the feminine شمس and vice versa Arabic masculine القمر is translated into French by the feminine ‘la lune’. Concerning changes in word position, this is clearly exemplified in the English/Arabic examples: 'a fast car', ' سيارة سريعة'; 'a beautiful girl', 'فتاة جميلة', where the position of the adjective changes from English into Arabic. Other syntactic types of change are evident since Arabic is a VSO whereas English is a SVO language. Both subtypes of change are automatic in the sense that they are dictated by the nature of language.
41
The second type of transposition is usually used when a SL grammatical structure does not exist in the TL. In this case, the translator looks for various options that help in conveying the meaning of the ST including shifts between grammatical categories. For example, the gerund in the following English expression might be translated into Arabic in two variable ways: ST: Talking to you was a pleasure TT: من دواعي سروري الحديث معك كان سررت بالحديث معك
42
Other examples In the case of an accident somebody says “Go for help”, which means in French “Allez chercher du secours” and in Arabic “اذهب واطلب النجدة " أو" اطلب النجدة ". . Thus the preposition in English plays the role of the verb in French or in Arabic.
43
In English they say “as soon as they returned home”, which is translated into French as “Dès leur retour chez eux” and into Arabic as “فور عودتهم إلى المنزل”, i.e. Arabic and French transform the verbal sentence into a noun phrase.
44
For the third type, Newmark (1988: 86) defines it as "the one where literal translation is grammatically possible but may not accord with the natural usage in the TL." In English, there is the expression “Give way”, which is used in traffic regulations and means the same as the French expression “Priorité à droite” or in Arabic “” الأسبقية لليمين أو للقادم من اليمين“ . Thus, the English verb is substituted by a noun phrase in Arabic and French.
45
Transposition, here, offers translators plenty of possible versions
Transposition, here, offers translators plenty of possible versions. For instance, the SL adverbial phrase becomes an adverb in the TL: ST: D'une façon brutale شرسة بطريقة TT: brutally (‘in a brutal way’) and a PP becomes an independent clause: ST: ‘At every available opportunity’ TT: كلما سنحت الفرصة
46
Concerning the fourth type, it occurs when the translator uses a grammatical structure as a way to fill a lexical gap in the TL. This falls in what Catford (1965: 73) calls level shifts. For the sake of clarification, we will quote two of the interesting examples provided by Newmark (1988: 87): ST: Après sa sortie TT: After he had gone out ST: il atteint le total TT: it totals SL: he pioneered this drug ((TL: il a été un des pionniers de ce médicament. :mod. Here, we observe that in the course of translation the grammatical structure of the TL is used in a way to compensate for or replace the lexical gap existing in the linguistic system of the TL.
47
In short, transposition is the most frequent device used by translators since it offers a variety of possibilities that help in overcoming the problem of untranslatability. Furthermore, most of the time, translators use transposition intuitively in their search for ways to transfer the ST into the TL. (Compare Vinay & Darbenet’s exposition of transposition with Dickens & Hervey’s transposition Cultural
48
Special cases Similar to transposition are two special techniques: translation by addition and omission الترجمة بالزيادة أو النقصان and criss-cross transposition التحوير المتشابك
49
Criss-cross transposition المتشابك التحوير
This technique which can also be called crossed transposition التحوير المتقاطع is, in fact, a double transposition تحوير مزدوج. In translating the English expression “He ran across the street” into French as “Il traversa la rue en courant” or Arabic “ اجتاز الشارع جرياً” there are two transpositions: (a) ‘across’ becomes a verb and (b) ‘ran’ as a verb becomes an adverbial in French and Arabic.
50
It is possible for criss-cross transposition to be incomplete in case the second word is understood from the context thus making it superfluous, as in: SL: He walked across the street. TL: Il traversa la rue . TL: اجتاز الشارع . (In the TT, the preposition ‘across’ becomes a verb, respectively ‘traversa’ in French and اجتاز in Arabic. It is needless to translate ‘walked’ as ‘en marchant’ or ‘على الأقدام سيراً’ since that is evident.
51
1.1 Borrowing, Adoption or Loan Words الترجمة بالدخيل
Unit 2 - Vinay and Darbelnet’s Translation Techniques: Direct Translation Techniques مباشرة 1.1 Borrowing, Adoption or Loan Words الترجمة بالدخيل 1.2 Calque or Loan Translation الترجمة بالنسخ 1.3 Literal Translation الترجمة الحرفية Unit 3 - Vinay and Darbelnet’s Translation Techniques: Indirect (or Oblique) Translation Techniques ملتوية 2.1 Transposition or shifts الترجمة بالتحوير 2.2 Modulation الترجمة بالتكييف 2.3 Equivalence الترجمة بالمعادل أو المقابل 2.4 Adaptation or cultural equivalence الترجمة بالاقتباس أو التصرف Unit 4 Other Techniques 3.1 Transliteration ترجمة إملائية 3.2 Transcription ترجمة صواتية 3.3 Translation by Omission الترجمة بالحذف Translation by Addition الترجمة بالزيادة 3.4 Transfer ترجمة بالنقل 3.5 Compensation تعويض 3.6 Circumlocution or Deconstruction 3.7 Translation Couplet, Triplets, and Quadruplets 3.8 Recasting Sentences 3.9 Additions, Notes and Glosses
52
2.2 Modulation الترجمة بالتكييف
Unlike transposition, which is basically syntactic, modulation is at the same time a semantic-pragmatic and syntactic or lexical procedure that results from variation in point of view (perspective) or a change in degree of certainty when there is no translation equivalent or when the literal translation sounds awkward in the TL.
53
Newmark (1981: 31) gives the following examples:
danger de mort = ‘mortally dangerous', assurance-maladie = ‘health insurance'.
54
Types of Modulation Vinay and Darbelnet (1977) distinguish between eleven types of modulation, which can be divided into two major types. A) Some cases of modulation are called ‘recorded modulation’, or ‘standard modulation’ since they are lexicalized and are already recorded in bilingual dictionaries as in: 'help-line': 'خلية انصات', 'cellule d'écoute'. B) Other cases of modulation are called ‘free modulation’ and are not dictated by the lack of equivalence but by the desire to sound more natural in the TL as in the following examples: ST: Before attempting to answer this question TT: قبل الاجابة عن هذا السؤال " شبعت “ SL: TL: Je n’ai plus faim (cf. " لم أعد جائعا “).
55
التكييف على صعيد المفردات A) lexical modulation
Standard or recorded Modulation involve lexical change revolving round some logical relationship as in the following table:
56
Other procedures SL TL Part for the whole الجزء عوضا عن الكل أو العكس workers اليد العاملة He swung the bill in my face لوح بالحساب في وجهي Il m’agita l’addition sous le nez Abstract for concrete - Cause for effect He cleared his throat - Il s’ éclaircit la voix ينظف/ ينقي حنجرته (بالتنحنح)/ تنحنح Immediate aim vs. ultimate aim Gilet de sauvetage سترة النجاة - Life-jacket Space for time, etc.
57
B) Syntactically-oriented (free) modulation التكييف على صعيد القواعد والنحو :
This type of modulation involve basically two processes: negated contrary استبدال النفي بالإثبات أو العكس , impersonal or active for passive modulation استبدال المبني للمجهول بالمبني للمعلوم أو العكس , and reordering of elements in the sentenceتغيير ترتيب الكلمات في المجموعة .
58
the ‘negated contrary’ الإثبات والنفي
One interesting type of free modulation is what Vinay and Darbelnet call the ‘negated contrary’ الإثبات والنفي , which is a procedure that relies on changing the value of the ST in translation from negative to positive or vice versa as in the following examples: ST: He acted at once TT: لم يتردد في التصرف SL: ‘It is difficult to…', TL: ‘Ce n'est pas facile de '; SL: ‘Il est honnête'; TL: لا يكذب أبدا SL: ‘Remember to pay the tax', TL: لا تنس أداء الضريبة. SL: It is not difficult to show. TL: Il est facile de démontrer. TL: من السهل أن نبرهن SL: The houses were all dark (كانت البيوت كلها مظلمة). TL: Pas une maison n’avait de lumière.
59
Impersonal or active for passive المبني للمجهول والمبني للمعلوم
Impersonal or active for passive (and vice versa) is another frequent and useful procedure. An example of the latter is: SL: He is said to be serious. TL : يقولون بأنه يتحلى بالجدية SL: He had to be forcibly restrained from leaving. TL:اضطررنا لاستخدام القوة للحيلولة دون رحيله (لمنعه من الرحيل) SL: You are wanted on the phone أنت مطلوب على الهاتف. TL: On vous demande au téléphone.
60
Reordering Words in the Sentence or changing formتغيير ترتيب الكلمات أو تغيير صيغة الجملة
The third type of free modulation to be considered is the reordering of words in the sentence resulting in a change of perspective as in: SL: You can have it. TL: Je vous le laisse / Tu peux l’avoir. يمكنك أن تأخذه/ها. SL: As if he owned the house. TL: Comme si la maison lui appartenait. كما لو كان كان يمتلك المنزل / كما لو كان المنزل ملكاً له.
61
You’re quite a stranger
أصبحت كالغريب.
62
It should be noted here that these examples are all free translations and their correctness depends on the context. Modulations become compulsory when there is a lexical gap in the TL as in standard modulation (Newmark, 1988: 88).
63
In sum, modulation is a “super-ordinate term covering almost everything beyond literal translation” (Newmark, 1988: 88). Nevertheless, this procedure should better be avoided unless it is necessary for the naturalness of the translation.
64
2.3 Equivalence (approximate equivalence) المعادل أو المقابل
In a rather unusual sense, Vinay and Darbelnet use equivalence to refer to different ways of rendering the idioms, proverbs, advertising slogans and clichés ( sentences or phrases that usually express popular or common thoughts or ideas but that have lost
65
The idea behind (approxiate) equivalence is that sometimes the same context is referred to in different ways depending on the language in use. Thus, in English they say ‘The story so far’ (in serials), but in French the expression is ‘Résumé des chapitres precedents’. (Newmark, 1988: 91). The translator resorts to equivalence as a translation technique whenever literal translation fails and whenever transposition and modulation are of no use in conveying the meaning in the target language. The classic example in this respect is that the interjection expressing pain in English is “ouch!” whereas the corresponding interjection in French is “Aïe!”.
66
Similarly, the response to the expression “thank you” in English may be “you’re welcome” but the response to ‘merci’ is one of three: de rien, il n’y a pas de quoi, or je t’en prie (but never “tu est/vous étes (le) bienvenu”). In Arabic it is possible to respond to a thank you as " عفوا "or “"لا شكر على واجب .
67
In English the adjective ‘brown’ (brun in French and أسمر in Arabic) is used in contexts where other languages may use other equivalents: SL : brown eyes TL : des yeux bruns - عيون عسلية SL : brown butter TL : du beurre roux - زبدة صفراء SL : brown shoes TL : des chaussures marron - حذاء بني SL : brown paper TL : du papier gris -ورق رمادي SL : brown hair TL : des cheveux châtins – ذهبي)) شعر كستنائي
68
Here are more examples:
Sl: رجع بخفي حنين / رجع صفر اليدين (idiom) TL: To return empty handed. Revenir bredouille. SL: من كثرة الملا حين غرقت السفينة (proverb) TL: Too many cooks spoil the broth. Deux patrons font chavirer la barque. SL : Tel père, tel fils. TL : هذا الشبل من ذاك الأسد.
69
2.4 Adaptation or Cultural Transposition الاقتباس والتصرف
In Vinay and Darbelnet's terms ( ), "adaptation is a procedure which can be used whenever the context referred to in the original text (prototext) does not exist in the culture of the target text (metatext), thereby necessitating some form of re-creation". In other words, adaptation is a kind of rewriting of the ST to make it conforms to the rules of the language and especially the culture of the TL community.
70
In this way, the procedure of adaptation aims at achieving an 'equivalence' of situations by considering a similar context in the TL whenever a cultural gap between prototext and metatext defies comprehension. Thus adaptation can be considered an instance of equivalence at the level of context.
71
Examples The tendency to nationalize (moroccanize, frenchize, arabize, englishize ...) works of literature (as in plays, for example) as far as names, units of measuring (e.g. miles vs. Kilometers) and weighing (grammes vs. pounds), clothes, habits and furniture (i.e. as far as culturally-bound words/expressions are concerned) are the easiest examples of this technique. The translation of baccalaureat as A-level (Newmark (1981: 32), for example, is one such instance.
72
Concerning examples related to social and cultural customs, the following examples might be to the point. In an English context, the expression “He shook me by the hand » is conveniently translated into French as «Il me serra la main chaleureusement” and into Arabic as " شد على يدي بحرارة “ since the English people rarely shake hands. Similarly, the expression “He greeted his father” can be translated into French as “Il embrassa son père” or “Il salua son père” and into Arabic as "قبل أباه“ or “" حيا أباه. Of course the expression “He kissed his father” is used in the English context only when it is question of a child.
73
In addition to this, Vinay and Darbelnet ( ) explain that in England it is so customary for school children to have apples as sandwich that the sight of apples in front of grocers’ in September reminds one of the new school year. Thus, in translating “The sight of those apples announced the re-opening of school » the apples could be conveniently substituted by copybooks, pencils, and bags كان منظرالدفاتر والأقلام والمحافظ المدرسية يشير إلى الدخول المدرسي .
74
The translation of metaphors, proverbs, etc
The translation of metaphors, proverbs, etc. also frequently involve this technique. "A camel" may be culturally a translation equivalent of "a horse" and vice versa! (or should it?). A French text talking about Belgian jokes could be translated into English as talking about Irish jokes (or should it?).
75
As an example of the adaptation of jokes, let us consider the following:
76
In advertisements,
77
In web designing
78
Adaptation is related to three main procedures: cultural substitution (or equivalence, see 2.3 above), paraphrase and omission. Cultural substitution refers to cases where the translator uses readily made equivalent words and expressions (that are already attested in the TL and serve the same goals as those of the SL, see examples above). When the translator cannot find a specific expression in the TL that corresponds to that in the SL, he usually resorts to paraphrase. Paraphrase is based on explanations, additions and change in words order. For instance, the English metaphor "he is a ship without compass" has no readily available equivalent image in Arabic but can be paraphrased as "انه يعيش في عالم من الضياع لا موجه له فيه". Similarly, take five or take ten (as in Ok, take five, boys) - (i.e. have a short rest) can be translated as استراحة قصيرة.
79
Omission means neglecting a word or words from the SLT in the course of translation.
This is frequently dictated by the desire to avoid cultural clashes between the SL and the TL. For example, in subtitling English TV films, Arabic subtitlers resort to omitting the words that do not have equivalents in the TT, or that may raise the hostility of the receptor such as taboo words like ‘fuck off’ and ‘shit’. In the context of proverbs, idioms and metaphors, cultural substitution, paraphrase and omission offer various possibilities for translators. However, these procedures are still the subject of much debate, especially for those who defend the idea of fidelity in translation.
80
In short, adaptation is one of the most intricate procedures of translation.
It is a double edged weapon. On the one hand, adaptation may enhance the readability of the TT by helping receptors comprehend the ST ideas, images, metaphors and culture through their own language and culture. On the other hand its overuse can end up by producing TL texts that have nothing to do with the SL texts. In other words, the tendency to reproduce in a translated text all aspects of period and / or place flavor of the original text can be so exaggerated to the extent of making the TL text incomprehensible in its own language. A procedure that works in the opposite direction of adaptation is Exoticism. Hence the eternal conflict between domestication (or adaptation) and foreignization (or exoticism) which stem from the eternal dilemma of Source Language versus Target Language Bias.
81
Louise M. Haywood reminds us that, "we have to remember that translation is not just a movement between two languages but also between two cultures. Cultural transposition is present in all translation as degrees of free textual adaptation departing from maximally literal translation, and involves replacing items whose roots are in the source language culture with elements that are indigenous to the target language. The translator exercises a degree of choice in his or her use of indigenous features, and, as a consequence, successful translation may depend on the translator's command of cultural assumptions in each language in which he or she works" ( .
83
3. Other techniques: 3.1 Transliteration ترجمة إملائية
When the SL and TL use different writing scripts it is frequently necessary to transliterate rather than translate a proper name (names of people, places, institutions and culturally-bound concepts). Transliteration means writing a word or text in the characters of a different language. For instance, in transliterating Arabic or Greek words into Roman letters or transliterating French or English words into Arabic "each character (i.e. letter, my emphasis) of the source language is converted into a character of the target language" (D. Crystal, 1987: 346) “on the basis of a conventionally established set of rules” (Catford, 1965: 66).
84
Catford (1965: 66) specifies that this process involves three steps:
(i) SL letters are replaced by SL phonological units; this is the normal literate process of converting from the written to the spoken medium. (ii) The SL phonological units are translated into TL phonological units. (iii) The TL phonological units are converted into TL letters, or other graphological units. Thus, (Café) la joie is مقهى الفرح in translation but it is مقهى لاجوا in transliteration. Similarly, النابغة الذبيانيٍ is al-naabighatu al-thubjaaniyu in transliteration. One of the characteristics of transliteration is that “the graphological units of the TL form” are directly and ideally “in one-to-one correlation with graphological units of the SL” (Catford, 1965: 68).
85
Note, however, that there is no total correspondence between Arabic and Latin letters, especially that the former language does not normally mark vowels (see Unit 11: the translation of proper names). Sometimes the translator finds himself obliged to transcribe proper nouns or culturally-bound words in the SLT for the sake of preserving the local color. Transliteration has to be distinguished from transcription.
86
3.2 Transcription ترجمة صواتية
In transcription, the "sounds (my emphasis) of the source words are converted by letters in the target language". The previous Arabic name is transcribed as annaabigha aththubyaani. Given the non-correspondence of Arabic and Latin characters, transcription may be more adequate. The difference between transliteration and transcription is clearer in the case of initials. Thus, H. E. is اتش إي in transcription but it is ه إ in transliteration. In transcription “the graphological units of the TL form are not in one-to-one correlation with graphological units of the SL” (Catford, 1965: 68).
87
Transcription also means writing a word or text using phonetic symbols
Transcription also means writing a word or text using phonetic symbols. In this latter meaning, the English word 'cat', for instance, is transcribed as /kæt/ in a broad phonological transcription and as [khat] in a narrow transcription.
88
3. 3 Translation by Omission الترجمة بالحذف ,الترجمة بالنقصان (éffacement ou allègement )
and Translation by Additionالترجمة بالزيادة (étoffement): Reduction and expansion
89
These two procedures are usually used in poorly written texts.
Expansion refers to the case where the translator exceeds the number of words of the SLT in translation. Expansion procedure occurs, for example, when the translator tries to turn implicit elements into explicit. For instance, 'the child cries for the game', should be translated as'يبكي الطفل للحصول على اللعبة’, which in back translation is ‘the child cries in order to get the game’.
90
In reduction procedure, the translator reduces the number of elements that form the SLT.
This procedure should respect the principle of relevance, that is, the translator should make sure that no crucial information is dropped in translation. Examples of reduction in translation are 'علوم سياسية’ , and ‘'علوم لسانية’ (adjective plus noun) becoming 'politics' and ‘linguistics’ in the TL.
91
In translating “My house is bigger than my uncle' s” into Arabic as " منزلي أكبر من منزل عمي (خالي) “ involves translation by addition. Translating in the opposite direction involves translation by omission. Similarly, in translating “I'll book you in at the Hilton” into Arabic as “سأحجز لك غرفة في فندق هيلتون. ” there is the insersion of the word ‘hotel’, which is a case of translation by addition, a type of exegetic translation (the opposite is gist translation). .
92
3. 4 Transfer ترجمة بالنقل In particular contexts and for particular purposes, a portion of a text is not translated but is transferred (moved) to and incorporated in the TL text. This frequently occurs in the translation of literary texts. "In literary translation it is not uncommon for some SL lexical items to be treated in this way, either because they are regarded as 'untranslatable' or for the deliberate purpose of introducing 'local colour' into the TL text" (Catford, 1965: 21). When transferred terms enter a language and stay permanently they become loanwords.
93
3.5 Compensation تعويض Controlling Translation Loss
Compensation is related to translation loss and translation gain. Hervey et al. (check)(2006: 21 ) use the term translation loss to refer to “non-replication of the ST in the TT – that is, the inevitable loss of culturally relevant features. By ‘culturally relevant’ features, they “mean features that are specific to the SL and the source culture and that make the ST what it is”. They add ( ) that “since translation loss is inevitable, translators should not agonize over it, but should feel encouraged to concentrate on ‘reducing’ it – i.e. controlling and channelling it” through compensation.
94
Compensation occurs "when loss of meaning or sound effect or metaphor in one part of a sentence is compensated in another part" (Newmark, 1981: 31). Fawcett (1997:31) defines it as: "...making good in one part of the text something that could not be translated in another". This is a frequent technique in free translation and it normally affects large texts. In general terms, compensation can be used when something cannot be translated from source to target language (translation loss), and the meaning that is lost in the immediate translation is expressed somewhere else in the TT.
95
One example given by Fawcett (1997:31) is the problem of translating nuances of formality from languages which use informal / formal forms such as ‘tu - usted’ (Spanish ), ‘tu - vous’ (French), ‘du - Sie’ (German), etc. into English, which only has 'you', and expresses degrees of formality in different ways.
96
3.6 Circumlocution or De-construction
In the absence of a specific term a descriptive noun-phrase or adjectival clause is used as an explanation or definition, e.g. phonology = علم الأصوات الوظيفي.
97
3.7 Translation Couplet, Triplets, and Quadruplets
Translation Couplets, Triplets, and Quadruplets “combine two, three or four (…) procedures respectively for dealing with a single problem. They are particularly common for cultural words, if transference is combined with a functional or a cultural equivalent” (Newmark, 1988: 91). For example, a translation couplet consists of a literal translation, loan translation or circumlocution plus transcription, e.g. sida or aids مرض فقدان المناعة المكتسب , السيدا.
98
3.8 Recasting Sentences This refers to grammatical adjustment. For instance, "French complex sentences are sometimes recast as English co-ordinate sentences. German complex sentences are sometimes rendered as two or more TL sentences" (Newmark, 1981: 32). English complex sentences are sometimes recast as Arabic co-ordinate sentences.
99
It is almost impossible to literally translate the relative clause in the following sentence into Arabic: "A beggar who had tried many ways of increasing his finances at last hit on the plan of pretending to be dumb". If necessary, it may also involve improvements on the source text.
100
Here is the anecdote A beggar who had tried many ways of increasing his finances at last hit on the plan of pretending to be dumb. A gentleman who was passing by knew the beggar by sight ad going up to him suddenly asked: "How long have you been dumb?" The beggar was taken unawares and quite forgot about his design not to speak and answered quickly "ever since I was a baby".
101
3.9 Notes and glosses Apart from expansion (translation by addition) and reduction (translation by omission) which normally affect the translated text (i.e. they are used inside the text and may be positioned between round or square brackets), the translator can use notes and glosses as endnotes (notes at the end of the chapter) or footnotes (at the bottom of the page).
102
In general, notes and glosses, (as translation techniques) are used by translators to provide explanation or add information about a culturally-bound or a technical term that necessitate explanation. Further, additional information can be written as glosses at the end of the book, with the help of a system of indexation.
103
The use of these procedures depends on the readership and the degree of the gap that exists between the SL and TL and should better be preceded by a short introduction, where the translator discusses the difficulty of the authors' terms and his ways and degrees of assistance in transferring their meanings.
104
Conclusion It is clear from the above discussion that translation procedures vary in characteristics, motivation and uses. It is up to the translator to choose the one(s) that serves his purposes. Most of the time, this choice is done intuitively by professional translators for any given text.
105
محمد نبيل النحاس الحمصي “مشكلات الترجمة:دراسة تطبيقية “مجلة جامعة الملك سعود، م16 ، اللغات والترجمة، ص ص (1424هـ/2004م) ”
Similar presentations
© 2025 SlidePlayer.com Inc.
All rights reserved.