Translation definition

Having considered all this, we shall come to understand that as an object of linguistic study translation is a complex entity consisting of the following interrelated components:

a. elements and structures of the source text;

b. elements and structures of the target language;

c. transformation rules to transform the elements and structures of
the source text into those of the target text; systems of the languages involved
in translation;

e. conceptual content and organization of the source text;

f conceptual content and organization of the target text;

g. interrelation of the conceptual contents of the source and target
texts.

In short, translation is functional interaction of languages and to

study this process we should study both the interacting elements and the rules of interaction.

Among interacting-elements we must distinguish between the ob­servable and those deducible from the observables. The observable ele­ments in translation are parts of words, words, and word combinations of the source text.

However, translation process involves parts of words, words, and word combinations of the target language (not of the target text, because when we start translating or, to be more exact, when we begin to build a model of future translation, the target text is yet to be generated). These translation components are deducible from observable elements of the source text.

In other words, one may draw the following conclusion:

During translation one intuitively fulfills the following opera­tions:

a. deduces the target language elements and rules of equivalent
selection and substitution on the basis of observed source text
elements;

b. builds a model consisting of the target language elements se­
lected for substitution;

c. verifies the model of the target text against context, situation
and background information;

d. generates the target text on the basis of the verified model.

Thus, the process of translation may be represented as consisting of three stages:

1. analysis of the source text, situation and background informa­tion,

2. synthesis of the translation model, and

3. verification of the model against the source and target context (semantic, grammatical, stylistic), situation, and background informa­tion resulting in the generation of the final target text.

Let us illustrate this process using a simple assumption that you re­ceive for translation one sentence at a time (by the way this assumption is a reality of consecutive translation).

For example, if you received:

«At the first stage the chips are put on the conveyer» as the source sentence. Unless you observe or know the situation your model of the target text will be:

«На першому етапі стружку (щебінку) (смажену картоплю) (нарізану сиру картоплю) (чіпи) кладуть на конвеєр».

Having verified this model against the context provided in the next sentence (verification against semantic context):

«Then they are transferred to the frying oven» you will obtain: «На першому етапі нарізану сиру картоплю кладуть на конвеєр».

It looks easy and self-evident, but it is important, indeed, for understanding the way translation is done. In the case we have just discussed the translation model is verified against the relevance of the concepts corresponding to the word chips in all its meanings to the concept of the word frying (Is it usually fried? or Is it worth frying?).

Verification against semantic and grammatical contexts is per­formed either simultaneously (if the grammatical and semantic ref­erences are available within a syntagma) or the verification against semantic context is delayed until the availability of a relevant seman­tic reference which may be available in one of the following rather than in one and the same sentence. Cases when the grammatical, se­mantic or situational references are delayed or missing present serious problems for translation.

The examples of specifying contexts are given in Table below.

With these simple examples we want to stress a very important fact for translation: the co-occurring words or the words situated close to each other in a source text have invisible pointers indicating various kinds of grammatical, semantic, and stylistic information. This information is stored in human memory, and the principal task of a translator is to visualize all of this information.

In the examples with chips that were just discussed we used so called deduction modeling, that is we built our translation on the basis of our knowledge about the languages involved in translation and the knowledge of «the way things are in life» (e.g. that it is hardly reasonable to fry fried potatoes or fragmented stones). We intuitively formulated hy­potheses about translation of certain words and phrases and then verified them.

So, speaking very generally, when we translate the first thing we do is analyze the source text trying to extract from it all available information necessary for generating the target text (build the intermediate model of the target text), then verify this information against situation and background knowledge and generate the target text.

For example, let the source text be: І Europe's leaders trust that these criticisms will pale into insignificance (when the full import of expansion begins to grip the public mind ¹ Then, omitting the grammatical context which seems evident (though, of course, we have already analyzed it intuitively) we may sug­gest the following intermediate model of the target text that takes into account only semantic ambiguities:

Європейські лідери/лідери європейської інтеграції/ вважають/ вірять/, що ця критика вщухне/поступово зійде нанівець/, коли важливість поширення (Євросоюзу) почне завойовувати громадську думку/, коли суспільство почне краще усвідомлювати важливість розширення Євросоюзу/.

On the basis of this model we may already suggest a final target text alternative¹⁰:

Лідери європейської інтеграції вважають, що ця критика поступово зійде нанівець, коли суспільство почне краще усвідомлю­вати важливість розширення Євросоюзу.

It is important to bear in mind that in human translation (unlike automatic) the intermediate representation of the target text will com­prise on the conscious level only the most problematic variations of translation which one cannot resolve immediately.

We seldom notice this mental work of ours but always do it when translating. However, the way we do it is very much dependent on gen­eral approach, i.e. on translation theories which are our next subject.

It goes without saying that this target text alternative is not the only ong,< many other alternatives are possible.

Література:

1. Комиссаров В.Н. Современное переводоведение. Учебное пособие. – М.: ЭТС. – 2002. – 424 с.

2. Комиссаров В.Н. Лингвистика перевода. - М, 1981.

3. Мірам Г.Є. Дейнеко В.В. Основи перекладу. - К., 2003.

4. Мирам Г.Е. Переводныe картинки. Профессия: переводчик. - К., 2001.

5. Мирам Г.Е. Профессия: переводчик. - К., 1999.

6. Нелюбин Л.Л. Переводческий словарь. - М., 1999.

7. Федоров А.В. Основы общей теории перевода. - М., 1975.

Questions

1. What interrelated components does translation include as an object of linguistic study?

2. Give short definition of translation (after Komissarov).

3. what are the interacting elements in translation? What elements are observable? What elements are deducible?

4. What interrelated operations does one fulfill in the process of translation?

5. What three stages does one distinguish in translation?