Translation Strategies, by Dr. Shadia Y. Banjar

LANE 462- CA-2011 I TRANSLATION STRATEGIES By: http://SBANJAR.kau.edu.sa/Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar http://wwwdrshadiabanjar.blogspot.com 12/9/2010 1 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar

1. INTRODUCTION•In the process of translating, we have Phase 1 which isthe analytical phase .•Then, Phase 2 – the transfer phrase – , in which we lookat different strategies and methods of translation.•The purpose of translation methods and procedures – andof translating itself – is to achieve maximal equivalence,or equivalent effect. 12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 2

2. EQUIVALENT EFFECT• Equivalent effect is practically the same as maximalequivalence.•The term “equivalent effect” refers to the target text having thesame effect on the target text reader as the source text has on thesource text reader.• Note that, the term “maximal equivalence” does not imply thisfocus on the readership, but, like maximal equivalence, a totallyequivalent effect is impossible to achieve. But, with a high level ofnaturalness, among other things, it is possible to, at least, achieveoptimal equivalence. 12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 3

3. TRANSLATION STRATEGIES•Translators distinguish between global translation strategies andlocal translation strategies:• Global Translation Strategy (translation method):the overall strategy you apply to a text as a whole – the primarychoice you have to make here is how close to the source text youwant your target text to be.• Local Translation Strategy (translation procedure):strategies you apply in the translation of individual expressions in thesource text, such as words, grammatical constructions, idioms etc.) 12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 4

4. Global Translation Strategies•You have to make the choice between imitative translation andfunctional translation – the first striving to retain as much of thepurely formal aspects of the source text, and the latter aims atgetting the message of the source text across, even if it takesdrastic changes in the formal aspects of the text.• Newmark lists the following translation methods, whichessentially fall along a gradual line of different type of focus, oneextreme being total focus on the source text/language and theother extreme being total focus on the target text/language:I. ST/SL Focus (Imitative Translation)II. TT/TL Focus (Functional Communication) 12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 5

GLOBAL STRATEGIESSOURCE LANGUAGE FOCUS TARGET LANGUAGE FOCUS Translation WORD –FOR –WORD ADAPTATION TRANSLATION FREE TRANSLATION LITERAL TRANSLATION FAITHFUL TRANSLATION IDIOMATIC TRANSLATION SEMANTIC COMMUNICATIVE TRANSLATION TRANSLATION 12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 6

I. ST/SL FOCUS (Imitative Translation) includes:1) word-for-word translation: preservation of word order and as literal translation as possible of individual words, including cultural words.2) literal translation: apart from as literal as possible translation of individual words, grammatical structures are converted into the nearest target language equivalents.3) faithful translation: stays, if possible, within the constraints of the grammatical structures of the target text, but draws on certain contextual factors.4) semantic translation: more emphasis on naturalness than in faithful translation, and translation of certain cultural words into neutral equivalents in the TL. 12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 7

II. TT/TL focus (functional communication) includes:1) adaptation: the freest form of translation and more of a target language/culture based interpretation of the source text than a translation as such, this is sometimes called document design2) free translation: focuses on the content of the target text rather than the form, which means that the same content is expressed in the target text but with very different grammatical structures if need be3) idiomatic translation: makes use of idioms and colloquialisms that are not present in the source text.4) communicative translation: aims at reproducing the exact message of the source text content-wise and context-wise but with emphasis on naturalness and acceptability/comprehensiveness to the target text readership. 12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 8

5. Local Translation Strategies• Lundquist lists seven translation procedures,while Newmark lists a whole bunch of them. Hereis an overview which integrates the Lundquistsand Newmarks procedures into one list:1. Direct procedures2. Indirect procedures3. Others12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 9

Direct procedures:1. Literal translation: word-for-word translation2. Transference / loan: transferring a word or an expression from the source language/text directly into the target text without translating it at all.3. Translation loan: retention of syntactic construction, but translation of the words in it.4. Through translation: literal translation of collocations and combinations – the difference between this and translation loans is that in through translation, you strife for literal translation and a higher degree of formal retention.5. Naturalization: basically transference in which you apply target language spelling and morphology (and pronunciation) to the expression or word in question. 12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 10

Indirect procedures:a) Equivalence: here, you focus on equivalence in meaning in the perspective of the reader of the target text – this means that you may sacrifice equivalent in form, or you may have to choose something which is not exactly the same thing as in the source text, but the closest in the target language.i. Cultural equivalent: translating a culturally rooted word in the source text/language with a roughly equivalent culturally rooted word of the target language/text – note, this is what Lundquist calls “tilpasning”.ii. Functional equivalent: translating a word in the source language/text with a functionally equivalent target language word (i.e. a word which has the same meaning).iii. Descriptive equivalent: translating a source language/text word using a description of the concept it refers to in the target language. 12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 11

iv.(Near) synonymy: translating a source language/text word or expression with a target language expression that is nearly, but not completely, functionally equivalent.v. Reduction/expansion: adding or removing elements in translation (essentially a type of shift).vi.Paraphrase: amplification or explanation of meaning in target textvii.Compensation: making up for the loss of something in the source text, by adding something else in the target text 12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 12

b) Shifts: this is when you use:i. Transposition: translation of a source language/text expression into a target language expression which involves change in grammatical structure or in word class.ii. Modulation: change of viewpoint or substantial conceptual concept in the translation, for instance, using the name of a category for a specific member of the category, using a part for the whole (and vice versa), active for passive, changing polarity etc.iii. Componential analysis: splitting up a lexical unit into meaning atoms and translating those. 12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 13

Other procedures:i. Recognized translation: using a well-known accepted target language translation for a specific source language institutional term.ii. Translation label: provisional target language translation of a source language term that does not have any conventional translation in the target language. 12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 14

Source:Based on: http://www.hum.aau.dk/~kim/BoT10/bot5.pdf•Basics of translation, 2010 SIS English-Aalborg University.•Peter Newmark, A Textbook of Translation New York: Prentice Hall, 1988) 69, 81-93;•Jean-Paul Vinay and J. Darbelnet, Stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais(Paris: Didier,1973);•Jean Delisle et al., ed. Translation Terminology. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: JohnBenjamins,1999. 12/9/2010 Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar 15

Translation Strategies, by Dr. Shadia Y. Banjar

by Dr. Shadia Banjar

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