Scientific and technical writing in English relies heavily on passive structures (in order to give the impression of objectivity and to distance the writer from the statements made in the text).
EXAMPLE:
Papers are invited on all aspects of lexicography, theoretical and practical, diachronic and synchronic.
Individual presentations should be timed to last 20 minutes, with a discussion period to follow.
Abstracts should be sent to the Lecture Programme Organizer. (English ST- Conference Circular)
The overall theme of the congress will include all the most important aspects of lexicography.
The envisaged length of individual papers is 20 minutes, not counting supplementary speeches and discussions.
We ask for a short abstract of papers to be sent to the academic organizer of the congress. (back-translated from Russian)
Voice (continued)
Voice (continued)
EXAMPLE:
The two major thematic areas [...] are oriented upon different contemporary socio-humanist research fields, thus gathering many academic teachers interested in the topics above.
Researchers from different fields [...]are invited to debate on feminist history, feminist discourse, feminine writing, feminine artistic and literary representations, mythical / ideological feminine values within political / religious contexts, all of these oriented upon the francophone culture. (English ST- from First Call for Papers for The International Colloquium Feminine Representations within the Francophone Cultural Space, at http://www.lit.ugal.ro/2010-CIL-FEMININE/First_call.htm)
Cele două axe tematice majore [...] se raportează la domenii de mare interes în cercetarea socio-umană contemporană, continuând şi completând o serie de demersuri semnificative ale universitarilor din întreaga lume.
Cercetători din domenii diferite [...] sunt invitaţi la o serie de dezbateri vizând istoria şi memoria feministă, discursul feminist, scriitura feminină, reprezentările literar-artistice ale feminităţii, proiecţiile mitice / ideologice ale acesteia la nivelul imaginarului politic sau religios, raportabile la spaţiul cultural francofon şi la valorile francofoniei. (Romanian TT- from Prima Circulară pentru Colocviul internaţional Reprezentări ale feminităţii în spaţiul francofon, at http://www.lit.ugal.ro/2010-CIL-FEMININE/Apel_colaborare.htm)
In Romanian, passive structures are rendered by means of both passive and reflexive structures.
Textual equivalence: thematic and information structures
Textual equivalence: thematic and information structures
Thematic structure: theme and rheme
The first segment of the text is called theme= what the clause is about.
The second segment of a clause is called the rheme= what the speaker says about the theme. (Halliday’s model):
EXAMPLE:
Ptolemy’s model provided a reasonably accurate system for predicting the positions of heavenly bodies in the sky.
Ptolemy’s model= the theme;
provided a reasonably accurate system for predicting the positions of heavenly bodies in the sky = the rheme.
Thematic choice involves selecting a clause element as theme.
Thematic choice involves selecting a clause element as theme.
(a) Fronted theme
- Fronting of time or place adjunct
In China the book received a great deal of publicity.
On 4th March 1985, the Fayed brothers made an offer of four pounds a share for House of Fraser.
- Fronting of object or complement
Object: A great deal of publicity the book has received in China.
Complement: Well publicized the book was.
- Fronting of predicator
They promised to publicize the book in China, and publicize it they did.
(b) Predicated theme
(b) Predicated theme
- it involves an it-structure (also called a cleft structure)
eg. It was the book that received a great deal of publicity in China.
EXAMPLE:
Era un om interesant, în orice caz, şi lui i se datorează povestea care urmează. E o datorie de pietate să-l pomenesc aici. (Romanian ST- from Creanga de aur by Mihail Sadoveanu)
He was at all events an interesting chap. It is to him that we owe the following storyso that it is only a pious duty to mention him here;
(English TT- The Golden Bough, by Mihail Sadoveanu, translated by Eugenia Farca, Bucharest: Minerva Publishing House, 1981: 32-33; 34-35)
(c) Identifying theme
-similar to predicated themes; instead of using it (a cleft structure), an identifying theme places an element in theme position by turning it into a nominalization using a wh-structure (a pseudo-sleft structure):
eg. What the book received in China was a great deal of publicity.
EXAMPLE:
Esenţialul e să înţelegi căordinea de timp a bătrânului meu din acest munte stăpâneşte asupra aeroplanului dumnealor şi asupra aparatului dumnevoastră de radio. (Romanian ST- from Creanga de aur by Mihail Sadoveanu)
What is essential for you to understand is that the regulation of time of my aged man in this mountain prevails over yonder gentlemen’s airplanes as well as over your wireless sets. (English TT- The Golden Bough, by Mihail Sadoveanu, translated by Eugenia Farca, Bucharest: Minerva Publishing House, 1981: 44-45)
The tension between word order and communicative function: a problem in translation?
The tension between word order and communicative function: a problem in translation?
-topic-prominent vs. subject-prominent languages: in a topic-prominent language linear arrangement follows the scale of CD far more closely than it does in a subject-prominent language.
-word order vs. communicative function: languages with different priorities.
Suggested strategies for minimizing linear dislocation
a. voice change
- it involves changing the syntactic form of a verb to achieve a different sequence of elements (passive- active and vice versa).
b. change of the verb
- changing the verb altogether and replacing it with one that has a similar meaning but can be used in a different syntactic configuration.
eg. I like it= It pleases me. (the latter is very unnatural)
c. nominalization
some languages allow the order verb + subject. If the translator has to adhere to an obligatory order of subject + verb in the target language, nominalization could probably provide a good strategy in many contexts.
eg. describe-description.
d. extraposition
-it involves changing the position of the entire clause in the sentence by, for instance, embedding a simple clause in a complex sentence
eg. cleft and pseudo-cleft structures.
Textual equivalence: cohesion
Textual equivalence: cohesion
Cohesion= the network of lexical, grammatical, and other relations which provide links between various parts of a text.
Main cohesive devices in English: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical cohesion.
a. Reference
reference = the relationship of identity which holds between two linguistic expressions.
EXAMPLE:
Surrounded by the toys and the gadgets of hiscalling- tape recorders, mini television sets, world-band radios- he is the quintessential Japanese combination that has conquered the world: a tinkerer turned businessman.
As the eldest son of a wealthy sake and soy-sauce producer in conservative Nagoya, he was expected to take over the family business- and perhaps become the 15th generation of Morita Mayors in the local community. Instead, he spent his time taking apart clocks and listening to Western classical music and preferred the study of physics to business. During World War Two, he went into naval research as a lieutenant, working on a thermal-guided missile and other projects, and it was there that he met his future partner, Ibuka. After the war, the two set up a business after a false start in the home-appliance market- manufacturing rice cookers. Total production: 100. Total sales: 0. (English ST- references to Akio Morita, Chairman of the Sony Corporation)
Product of a culture that values subtlety and indirect manners, Morita, with his frank way, is an ideal bridge between Japan and the West.
The eldest son of a prosperous producer of soya oil and saki, in Nagoya, the parents of Morita expected that he should take over the control of the family business. Instead of this, Morita spent the time taking clocks apart, listening to Western classical music and preferring to study physics to putting himself into business. During the Second World War dedicated himself to naval research, as a civilian and it was in this period that made a partnership in a factory of rice cooking pots. Total production: 100 pots. Total sales: 0. (back-translated from Portuguese)
English prefers to pick up the reference in a new paragraph by means of a pronoun, while Portuguese prefers lexical repetition.
b. Substitution and ellipsis
b. Substitution and ellipsis
-substitution= the replacement of an item (or items) by another item (items):
eg. You think Joan already knows?
I think everybody does. (does replaces knows).
-ellipsis= the omission of an item.
eg. Joan brought some carnations, and Catherine some sweet peas. (ellipted item: brought in the second cause).
c. Conjunction
Conjunction= the use of formal markers to relate sentences, clauses and paragraphs to each other.
EXAMPLE:
Today people are aware that modern ceramic materials offer unrivalled properties for many of our most demanding industrial applications. So is this brochure necessary; isn’t the ceramic market already over-bombarded with technical literature; why should Matroc add more?
Because someone mumbles, “our competitors do it.” But why should we imitate our competitors when Matroc probably supplies a greater range of ceramic materials for more applications than any other manufacturer.
And yet there are some customers who in their search for a suitable material prefer to study complex tables of technical data. It is for such customers that we have listed the properties of Matroc’s more widely used materials. Frankly however without cost guides which depend so much on shape such an exercise is of limited values. (English ST)
Today experts are fully agreed that modern ceramic materials offer unsurpassed qualities for many of the most demanding industrial applications. So we asked ourselves whether this catalogue would still find a corresponding resonance, given the flood of technical literature which is currently circulating in the ceramics market. Should Matroc also add its contribution to this?
On the one hand, some would say: “that is quite usual for business” but on the other hand will we reach our customers just by eagerly imitating others? Finally, Matroc offers a greater range of ceramics for more applications than most other firms.
Now, there are customers who in their search for suitable materials prefer to study copious technical data sheets. For such customers we have listed the properties of the most popular Matroc materials. (back-translated from German)
Conjunction (continued)
Conjunction (continued)
Metodele mele, însă, m-au îndemnat foarte de timpuriu, de pe când eram tânăr ca dumnevoastră, să caut argumentul acestor paleologii, datini şi eresuri ale populaţiilor din Carpaţi. Am ajuns la nişte concluzii fireşti, cărora unora li s-ar părea totuşi surprinzătoare. Am ajuns să preţuiesc şi să iubesc aceste alcătuiri vii ale religiei vechi a pământului acestuia, găsind în ele gândirea strămoşilor mei şi însuşi sufletul lor. (Romanian ST- from Creanga de aur by Mihail Sadoveanu)
But my own methods induced me- when I was not older than yourselves- to seek to interpret the palaeology, the customs and superstitions of the Carpathian populations, and I reached conclusions which are only natural, but which, nevertheless, some people might find surprising. And I have come to prize and to love the living structures of the ancient religion of this land, for I found in them the frame of thought of my ancestors, their very soul.
(English TT- The Golden Bough, by Mihail Sadoveanu, translated by Eugenia Farca, Bucharest: Minerva Publishing House, 1981: 36-37)
d. Lexical cohesion
d. Lexical cohesion
it refers to the role played by the selection of vocabulary in organizing relations within a text.
eg. if we encounter the word socialism in a text, we do not search for its referent, but we do recognize the lexical chain which links socialism with communist and East, as opposed to West and even decadent:
Ready supplies of fun throughout the thirties and forties were the decadent pseudo-sovereign regimes of the West. More recently people have turned East for their targets, reflecting the new contact with communist countries and also the growing disenchantment with socialism.
Types of lexical cohesion:
reiteration= the repetition of a lexical item (by means of a synonym or near-synonym, a superordinate or a general term)
collocation= any instance which involves a pair of lexical items that are associated with each other in the language in some way.
the way utterances are used in communicative situations and the way we interpret them in context
the way utterances are used in communicative situations and the way we interpret them in context
language in use
Focus:
coherence;
implicature.
1. Coherence
1. Coherence
Coherence= a network of conceptual relations which underlie the surface text.
difficulty: a network of relations which is valid and makes sense in one society may not be valid in another. It’s a matter of view of the world.
the coherence of a text is a result of the interaction between knowledge presented in the text and the reader’s own knowledge and experience of the world, the latter being influenced by a variety of factors such as age, sex, race, nationality, education, occupation, and political and religious affiliations.
EXAMPLE:
The purchasing power of the proposed fifteen hundred shop outlets would have meant excellent price reductions to customers across Britain and the United States. The flagship, Harrods, had never been integrated with the rest and would damage to retain its particular character and choice.
It’s often written, as a handy journalist’s tag, that I suffered from an obsession to control the splendid Knightsbridge store. It would be a very static and limited aim, I think. For Lonrho’s purpose, it could have been any well-spread stores group. It was chance, and also roulette, that brought Hugh Fraser, the seller, and Lonrho, the buyer, together in 1977. (English ST- A Hero from Zero, where Tiny Rowland gives an account of how he lost control of the House of Fraser)
There is no explicit cohesive relation which tells us that Harrods and the splendid Knightsbridge store refer to the same thing, except perhaps the use of the definite article in the splendid Knightsbridge store and the synonymy between shop outlets and store (but even that depends for its interpretation on recognizing that Harrods is a shop or store of some sort).
The combined purchasing power of 1500 stores meant excellent reductions in prices for buyers in all parts of Britain and the United States. As for the main store Harrods, it was not integrated with the rest of the stores and was kept separate from the rest in order to retain its distinctive character and the areas of choice available in it.
It has often been written about me in journalistic circles that I suffer from a sick obsession which pushes me to try and control the splendid Knightsbridge store... (back translation from Arabic)
-explicit link made by the Arabic translation through repetition of “store”.
2. Implicature
2. Implicature
Implicature raises the question of how it is that we come to understand more than it is actually said.
EXAMPLE:
The scene takes place on a public street in contemporary U.S.
“What’s your name, boy?” the policeman asked.
“Dr. Poussaint, I’m a physician.”
“What’s your first name, boy?”
“Alvin.” (used by Blum-Kulka ,1981)
Anyone familiar with address rules in American English will know that Dr. Poussaint is black. They will also realize that by refusing to accept the normal address of occupational title plus surname and by using the term boy and requesting Dr. Pouissant’s first name, the policeman means to insult the doctor.
Translation must take into consideration:
Translation must take into consideration:
the linguistic context;
the semantic context;
the pragmatic context.
Translation also involves cultural translation, as cultures shape concepts and texts differently.
Baker, Mona. 2006. In Other Words. A Coursebook on Translation. London: Routledge Group.
