Tech Startup Growth Hacking 101 - Basics on Growth Marketing
What Interpreters Can Learn from Translation Theory
1. What Interpreters Can Learn from
Translation Theory
FIT XIX World Congress
August 1, 2011
Terena Bell, Speaker
2. Translation Theory Terms
English French Spanish German
Adaptation adaptation adaptación Adaptation
Amplification étoffement amplificación Erweiterung
Aspect aspect aspect Aspekt
False Friend faux ami falso amigo falsche Freunde
Interchange chasse-croisé permutación Chassé-croisé
Lacuna lacune vacío Lücke
Translation Unit unité de traduction unidad de traducción Übersetzungseinheit
3. Adaptation
The translation method of creating an
equivalence of the same value applicable to a
different situation than that of the source
language.
Ex. - In a country where the fig tree is
considered to be harmful, another plant can
be substituted for the fig tree in the Biblical
parable.
4.
5. Thomson and Thompson
Jansen and Janssen
Jonson and Ronson
Schultze and Schulze
Hernández and Fernández
杜本 and 杜朋
Fomichoff and Fomichoff
6. Amplification
The translation technique whereby a target language unit
requires more words than the source language to
express the same idea.
The translation procedure where the translator uses
more words in the target text than were present in the
source text in order to re-express an idea or to
reinforce the sense of a word from the source text
whose correspondence in the target language cannot
be expressed as concisely.
Ex. - the charge against him: l’accusation portée contre
lui
7. Aspect
The manner in which an action expressed by a verb or noun is situated
in time. Note 1. – Aspect indicates the particular point of view from
which the course of an action is considered or a specific phase
during the course of an action. Note 2. – The same word can have
several aspects. Thus, the word continuation is both durative and
imperfective
Ex. – (durative aspect) to reflect; reading
Ex. – (instantaneous aspect) to explode; bursting
Ex. – (inchoative aspect) to begin; start
Ex. – (iterative or repetitive aspect) to shred; rereading
Ex. – (perfective or terminative aspect) to close; outcome
Ex. – (imperfect aspect or non-completion) to strive; development
Ex. – (progressive aspect or continuity) to be growing; deceleration.
8. False Friend
Words of any two languages which, despite the
same origin and similar form, have different
meanings
A word in a given language whose form
resembles a word in another language, but
the meaning of the two words or one of their
senses is different
Ex. – Semantic: actual/real : actuel/réel
9.
10.
11. Interchange
A translation technique by which two lexical items
permute and change grammatical category.
Interchange is a special case of transposition.
A translation procedure where the translator swaps two
lexical items with respect to form and function so that
they switch their respective parts of speech.
Ex. – He ran across the street: Il a traverse la rue en
courant
Ex. – Il sortit de la mansion en courant : He ran out of
the house
12. Lacuna
The absence of an expression form in the target language for a
concept in the source language.
The absence in the target language of a word, an expression, or a
syntactic turn of phrase that exists in the source language. Note 1. –
A lacuna may occur in connection with a socio-cultural
phenomenon unknown to the target audience. Note 2. – Faced with
a lacuna, a translator may resort to various translation procedures
including borrowing, calque, adaptation, paraphrase,
compensation, a translator’s note, or ad hoc formulation.
Ex. – Bundesfeier => (paraphrased as) Swiss National Day
Ex. – In French the absence of a single word for ‘shallow’ (peu
profound)
Ex. – Konjunktur => (paraphrased as) the economic situation; the
financial situation
16. Translation Unit
The smallest segment of the utterance in which the cohesion of signs is such that they must not be
translated separately. Units of translation permit the segmentation of a text to be carried out.
1. A text segment consisting of a single word, a phrase, a whole sentence, or even more than one
sentence, which a translator treats as a single cognitive unit in establishing equivalence.
2. A single element in the source text or a group of elements that are linked by semantic or formal
features and which translators interpret as a single entity in association with their situational
knowledge. Note 1. – The elements that constitute the translation unit may form a sequence within
a phrase or may be dispersed throughout the text (transphraseological unit). These elements can
take on their own semantic value in the framework of the text. Note 2. – Unifying elements that
contribute to or function as translation units can be phonetic (ex.: alliteration), lexical, stylistic, (ex.:
register), narrative (ex.: highlighting events, mode or tense of verbs), rhetorical (ex.: anaphora,
argumentative progression), intertextual (ex.: allusion), etc. A single element can evoke several of
these levels simultaneously. Note 3. – The entire text does not usually constitute a translation unit.
Nevertheless, it provides a frame of reference on the holistic level that confers semantic value on
elements in the text as the translator first identifies them and then interprets them.
Synonym: unit of sense
Ex. – prendre son élan, de demain en huit, battre à coups précipités.
17. Translation Theory Terms
English French Spanish German
Adaptation adaptation adaptación Adaptation
Amplification étoffement amplificación Erweiterung
Aspect aspect aspect Aspekt
False Friend faux ami falso amigo falsche Freunde
Interchange chasse-croisé permutación Chassé-croisé
Lacuna lacune vacío Lücke
Translation Unit unité de traduction unidad de traducción Übersetzungseinheit
18. Practice Scenarios
• A mother is at the GP’s, seeking treatment for
her son with ADHD.
• A father is enrolling his daughter in their local
Big Brothers-Big Sisters program.
• An abused woman has gone to the courts to
file an EPO.
• A refugee to the US is attending his first
cultural orientation, which is the concept of
time in America.
19. For More Information
Delisle, Jean, Hannelore Lee-Jahnke and Monique C. Cormier, eds. Terminologie de la
Traduction, Translation Termonology, Terminología de la Traducción,
Terminologie der Übersetzung. Philadelphia, PA : John Benjamins Publishing Co.,
1999.
Vinay, Jean Paul and Jean Darbelnet. Comparative Stylistics of French and English: A
Methodology for Translation. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Co.,
1995.
www.ineverylanguage.com
Editor's Notes
Have people sit in sections by language; rapid fire off words – as review each term, ask for volunteer to give example in her/his language
Do English to English exercises (think LIKE your target language & show how it would be different – ex, say in EN, he went to the store by foot instead of saying il est alle a pied – so other languages can see & learn)
Super Bowl World Cup (when change, when leave?)
Tintin commics, Dupont & Dupond Thompson & Thomson Thomson and Thompson in English, Jansen and Janssen in Dutch, Jonson and Ronson in Bengali, Schultze and Schulze in German, Hernández and Fernández in Spanish, 杜本 and 杜朋 (Dùběn and Dùpéng) in Chinese, and Fomichoff andFomichoff in Russian.
Example: Abari (SW) In US we say hello before asking how people are. While Jambo exists, all this is contained in Abari
Drink & drive – example came up when I was interpreting. I just said “boire et conduire.” He asked about all these people drinking coffee while driving. Errror “boire puis conduire” even more confused. Then asked speaker to clarify instead of interjecting info about alcohol myself as blood alcohol count is more complex. Could be Inchoative, iterative, termanative (drank at the bar, stopped drinking then left), progressive (drinking at the wheel even still). Example where this didn’t exist in EN or is a transparent given, but in FR it needed to be made more clear.
Medical interpreting: the classic “intoxicado” example in Florida hospital
Preservatives preservatifs
That one. Dutch.
Required for grammar/syntax (flew to San Francisco – don’t say vole a San Fran unless you were the pilot – alle a San Fran en avion)
How effect pace of interpreting? No time for dictionaries (community interpreting vs conference – no telling what they’ll say in refugee resettlement, social service environment)
Medical interpreting: PPO, HMO – which environments can you do this in & which ones can’t you? How community/medical interpreting is different from legal/conference/government (diplomacy). Even in legal, where ethically have to maintain, sometimes can’t. How do you say juge d’instruction in US EN? Doesn’t exist. Not quite sheriff or deputy, def not completely detective, certainly not judge. (Calque would be Greek deus ex machina.) (borrowing honeymoon lune de miel) (good FR example esprit de l’escalier.) Another calque is minuterie (we don’t really use those automatic timers here for the stairwell lights or bathrooms—what do you say?) ES example, quincera. Does “15th birthday party really say enough?”
juge d’instruction – also, adaptation: Nancy Drew
Esprit de l’escalier
Pacing of original speaker, client education, how to coach the client (ask for suggestions on this, as varies by language) – because of units in FR I prefer simultaneous, DE might do better in consec, though, as sentence structure similar -- all these feed into each other (knock down vs knock up also aspect)
Look at the definition itself to determine its own units.