1

HUE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

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Compiled by

NGUYEN VAN TUAN

THEORY OF TRANSLATION AND

INTERPRETATION

HUE – December 2011

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INTRODUCTION
In today's interconnected society, translation and interpretation is essential for the global
participation of all the countries. Translators and interpreters serve as the linguistic bridge
necessary to unify all people. This book, as its title suggests, facilitates knowledge and research
in translation and interpretation studies by offering a compilation of resources relevant to
translating and interpreting job.

The book aims to identify and discuss basic concepts and problems in the area of translation and
interpretation studies. It provides an opportunity for an in-depth and hands-on study of many
areas of applied linguistics in the context of interlingual and intercultural transfer of meaning.

Various modes and types of translation, as well as translation strategies and techniques are also
discussed in the book. The students who choose to become a translator or an interpreter are
familiarized with the role and functions of translator/interpreter in the process of intercultural
communication. They are introduced to some intricacies of translation/interpretation as a
profession.

The book has both a theoretical and practical component. Theoretical issues are illustrated
by specific examples and practical exercises are built around them.

The book lays a foundation for and deals with linguistic problems and psycholinguistic
mechanisms, which are involved in the process of translation and interpretation, common to most
language pairs.

The following issues are also mentioned in the book: translation/interpreting for specific
purposes (legal translation and court interpreting; health care interpreting; conference
interpreting; technical translation; literary translation; translation of advertising arts. Practical
assignments aim at developing the following skills: being able to identify translation problems in
various types and genres of texts and solving them on the basis of previously discussed
theoretical assumptions. The texts used for analysis and translation are representative of the
kinds of texts professional translators and/or interpreters commonly deal with: scientific,
newspapers, commercial, legal, works of fiction.

On the completion of this book, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Ton Nu Nhu
Huong for her encouragement. I would also like to be grateful to Assoc Prof Dr. Tran Van Phuoc
and other colleagues of the College of Foreign Languages and the English Department for their
kind help.
Errors are unavoidable in this coursebook. Therefore, I appreciate and welcome any criticism on
the book.

Hue, December 24th, 2011

Nguyen Van Tuan
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Chapter 1: Introduction to the Translation Theories

I. What is Translation?

1. Definitions

Translation has been approached from a scientific point of view by linguists through times and
thus has been defined variously. Many have concluded that translation is scarcely an aspect of
applied linguistics or it is just regarded as a complicated process of communicating, in which one
decodes from one language and encodes into another. Some others, who have considered
translation as something scientific, however, think of translation merely in terms of complex
techniques of comparative linguistics. In order to find an adequate definition of translation,
prominent figures in linguistics such as Cat Ford, Bell, Hatim & Mason, Nida, and many others
have carried out careful analyses of the process of translating, especially in the case of source
and receptor languages having quite different linguistic structures and cultural features.

We start with the definitions quoted from the Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics:

1. “Translation is the replacement of a text in one language (Source Language-SL) by an

equivalent text in another language (Target Language-TL).”
2. “Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an
equivalent target-language text.”
3. “Translation is an activity comprising the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one
language — the source text — and the production, in another language, of a new, equivalent text
— the target text, or translation.”
And they are then followed by the linguists’ definitions:

4. “Translation is the expression in another language of what has been expressed in another,
source language, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences.” Bell (1991)

5. “Translation is basically a change of form. In translation the form of the source language is
replaced by the form of the receptor (target) language.” Larson, M.L. (1984)

6. “Translation is a communicative process which takes place within a social context.” Hatim &
Mason (1990)

7. “Translating consists of producing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent to
the message of the source language, first in meaning and secondly in style.” Nida (1975)

8. Translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a representation

of an equivalent text in a second language. (By Roger T. Bell).

These eight definitions, in spite of slight differences in the expressions, share common features
that they all emphasize the importance of finding the closest equivalence in meaning by the
choice of appropriate target language’s lexical and grammatical structures, communication
situation, and cultural context.
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However, languages are different from each other; they are different in form having different
codes and rules regulating the construction of grammatical stretches of language and these forms
have different meanings.

To shift from one language to another is, by definition, to change the forms. Also, the contrasting
forms convey meanings which cannot but fail to coincide totally; there is no absolute synonym
between words in the same language, why should anyone be surprised to discover a lack
synonym between languages.

Something is always ‘lost’ (or might one suggest ‘gain’?) in the process and translators can find
themselves being accused of reproducing only part of the original and so ‘betraying’ the author’s
intentions. Hence the traitorous nature ascribed to the translator by the notorious Italian proverb:
“ Traduttore traditore”.

Faced by a text in a language, we are able to work out not only the meaning of each word and
sentence but also its communicative value, its place in time and space and information about the
participants involved in its production and reception. We might take, as a light-hearted model of
the questions we can ask of the text, the first verse of a short poem by Kipling.

I keep six honest serving men;

(They taught me all I knew);
Their names were What? And Why? And When?
And How? And Where? And Who?
What? is the message contained in the text; the content of the signal.
Why? orients us towards the intention of the sender, the purpose for which the text was is used.
(Informing, persuading, flattering, etc.)
When? is concerned with the time of communication realized in the text and setting in its
historical context; contemporary or set in the recent or remote past or future.
Where? is concerned with the place of communication, the physical location of the speech event
realized in the text.
How? refers to whether the text is written in a formal or informal way.
Who? refers to the participants involved in the communication; the sender and receiver.
Through their definitions these scholars also confirm the possibilities of effective interlingual
communication by translation if a set of basic requirements which are considered “Laws of
Translation” could be achieved. Nida (1964) proposes four major principles:
1. Making sense
2. Conveying the spirit and manner of the original
3. Having a natural and easy form of expression
4. Producing a similar response
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Whereas Savory (1968) sets up twelve objectives for a translation:

1. A translation must give words of the original

2. A translation must give the idea of the original
3. A translation should read like an original work
4. A translation should read like a translation
5. A translation should reflect the style of the original
6. A translation should possess the style of the original
7. A translation should read as a contemporary of the original
8. A translation should read as a contemporary of the translation
9. A translation may add to or omit from the original
10. A translation may never add to or omit from the original
11. A translation of verse should be in prose
12. A translation of prose should be in prose
Nida and Savory’s principles are different in number. However, they all pay their first attention
to correspondence of meaning over correspondence of style. And it is also recognizable that
equivalence in both meaning and style cannot always be retained altogether. In concrete textual
situation, it is the translator that decides which principles must be achieved and it is the meaning
that must have priority over the stylistic forms.

Translation is the process in which a written communication or a text in a first language is

produced as the written communication or text in the second language interpreting the same
meaning. Here the text in the first language is the "source text" and the equivalent text that
communicates the same message is the "target text" or "translated text". Initially translation has
been a manual activity. Today, together with manual translation, there is also automatic
translation of natural-language texts, which is referred to as machine translation or computer-
assisted translation which use computers as an aid to translation. Translation is one way to bring
the world closer.

Etymologically, "translation" refers to "bringing across" or "carrying across". Originated from

the latin word "translatio" , the perfect passive participle of which is "translatum" or "transferre".
Trans implies "to transfer" and "ferre" implies to "to carry to bring across". For the modern
Roman, Germany and Slavic European language, the word "traducere" is used for translation
which implies "to bring across" or "to lead across" in English. The Greek term for translation is
"metaphrasis" which implies "a speaking across". "Metaphrase" implies a word-for-word
translation or literal translation while "paraphrase" in Greek means a saying in other words.

A written translation recreates the content, tone, and style of a source language document in
another language. Translated documents should read as if they were originally written in the
target language by a subject matter expert.
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In translation, there is substitution of target language meanings for source language meanings:
not transference of target language meanings into the source language. In transference, there is
an implantation of source language meanings into the target language text. These two processes
must be clearly differentiated in any theory of translation. (Catfort)

Translation is a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and/or statement in
one language by the same message and/or statement in another language. (Peter Newmark)
Traditionally, translation has been a human activity, although attempts have been made to
automate and computerize the translation of natural-language texts — machine translation — or
to use computers as an aid to translation — computer-assisted translation.

The goal of translation is to establish a relation of equivalence of intent between the source and
target texts (that is to say, to ensure that both texts communicate the same message), while taking
into account a number of constraints. These constraints include context, the rules of grammar of
both languages, their writing conventions, their idioms, and the like.

2. Various Definitions and Understandings of Translation

Nida (1965) says, “Translation consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest
natural equivalent of the source language massage, first in terms of meaning and secondly in
terms of style.”

According to Lefevere, translations should be re-termed ‘rewritings', in order to both raise the
status of the translator and get away from the limitations of the term ‘translation' (Bassnett &
Lefevere, 2001.).

Some specialists make use of the following pair of terms literal v. free translation in the hope of
shedding light on translation and clarifying certain translation process.

It has been an age-old debate concerning whether translation should be free or literal. Some
translation theorists present these two aspects of the translation process as though they were
alternatives, one or the other of which is to be opted for at one time, depending on the translator's
own brand of theory or the prevailing orthodoxy. But, as Hatim and Mason (1997) make
abundantly clear, literalness or freedom is intrinsic properties of the relevant part of the text
being translated. That is, it would be misleading to refer to a literal or a free translation of, say,
an entire genre such as an editorial or a news report. Instead, it is more appropriate to talk of a
less literal translation of a certain part of an editorial, or a more literal translation of a certain part
of a news report. Text type, at both the micro- and the macro-levels, is thus the last court of
appeal in determining what forms of expression are to be retained or discarded, and how these
may be modified to be contextually appropriate.

Nida (1984) also talks about translation form the perspective of equivalence: formal equivalence
(closest possible match of form and content between ST and TT) and dynamic equivalence
(principle of equivalence of effect on reader of TT).
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Newmark (1982) discusses translation in the following way: semantic translation (to render, as
closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of the second language allow, the exact
contextual meaning the original) and communicative translation.

Naturally, actual effects on receivers of texts are difficult to gauge. Consequently, it seems
preferable to handle the issue in terms of equivalence of intended effects , thus linking
judgments about what the translator seeks to achieve to judgments about the intended meaning of
the ST speaker/writer.

Closely related to the literal versus free issue is the debate on the primacy of content over form
or vice versa. Form, or style, may be seen as the result of motivated choices made by text
producers; thus, we shall distinguish style from idiolect, the unconscious linguistic habits of an
individual language user; and the conventional patterns of expressions which characterize
particular languages. Stylistic effects are, in this sense, traceable to the intentions of the text
producer and these are what the translator seeks to recover. Style, then, in the sense we are
retaining, is not a property of the language system as a whole but of particular language users in
particular settings. The translator, as a language user in a setting which is generally not that of
the ST producer, has to be able to judge the semiotic value which is conveyed when particular
stylistic options are selected.

Style is also an ideal for us to maintain in our mind and to endeavor to reach. Style means all
kinds of things. Encarta English dictionary lists 11 definitions for it. Its third definition says: way
of writing or performing: the way in which something is written or performed as distinct from
the content of the writing or performance. This is where we commence our discussion. Lynch
(2001) provides us with more or less what is generally understood of style in our school days. He
says that at its broadest, it means everything about your way of presenting yourself in words,
including grace, clarity, and a thousand indefinable qualities that separate good writing from bad.
I also remember huge amount of stress from my teachers is placed on economy, precision and so
on, plus clarity as stated by above. In a word, style is used as a term distinguished from content
in writing and it stresses form or format. In other words, style means ‘how' whereas content
refers to ‘what'.

If style comes only second in priority, it certainly stands very high in importance. It is only
natural that good form conveys the content in more sufficient and adequate way. In translation
discussion, faithfulness in content has always been emphasized and treated seriously, but
faithfulness in style seems to pose more difficulty. In literature, style is the novelist's choice of
words and phrases, and how the novelist arranges these words and phrases in sentences and
paragraphs. Style allows the author to shape how the reader experiences the work. For example,
one writer may use simple words and straightforward sentences, while another may use difficult
vocabulary and elaborate sentence structures. Even if the themes of both works are similar, the
differences in the authors' styles make the experiences of reading the two works distinct. Without
extensive reading the capture of the so-called style is really a tough challenge. (quoted in Shi,
2004)

Is translation more about theory or practice? Hatim & Mason (1997) say, “The gap between
theory and practice in translation studies has existed for too long. Now thanks to work being
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done in several different but related areas, there is an opportunity to narrow that gap. Recent
trends in socio-linguistics, discourse studies, pragmatics and semiotics, together with insights
from the fields of artificial intelligence and conversation analysis, have advanced our
understanding of the way communication works. The relevance to translation studies of all of
this is obvious as soon as translation is regarded not as a sterile linguistic exercise but as an act
of communication”.

Nida ( as quoted in Fan, 1999) also says in the preface written for Professor Fang Zhongying's
course-book of translation that translation practice without an adequate theory produces only
haphazard results, while theory without practice is completely sterile.

To sum up, Wikipedia (2004), after integrating the research achievements of modern day
translation circles provides the following understanding of translation, which is universally
acknowledged now. Translation is an activity comprising the interpretation of the sense of a text
in one language - the source text - and the production of another, equivalent text in another
language - the target text . The goal of translation is to establish a relationship of equivalence
between the source and the target texts (that is to say, both texts communicate the same
message), while taking into account the various constraints placed on the translator. (These
constraints include the rules of grammar of the source language, its writing conventions, its
idioms and the like.) The term translation is also used for the product of this procedure.
Translation is also the name given to a profession which consists of transferring ideas expressed
in writing from one language to another.

3. The Functions and Purposes of Translation

3.1. Functions

Lefevere (2001) believes that there are four types of function: the communication of information,
transmission of cultural capital (cultural capital is what makes you acceptable in your society at
the end of the socialization process known as education), entertainment, and persuasion.

Concerning the translation functions, the following purposes are proposed.

1. To determine, after careful linguistic and socio-linguistic research, the specific target audience
for the translation and the kind of translation appropriate to that audience. It is recognized that
different kinds of translation into a given language may be valid, depending on the local
situation, including, for example, both more formal translations and common language
translations.

2. To communicate not only the informational content, but also the feelings and attitudes of the
original text. The flavor and impact of the original should be re-expressed in forms that are
consistent with normal usage in the receptor language.

3. To recognize that it is sometimes necessary to restructure the form of a text in order to achieve
accuracy and maximal comprehension. Since grammatical categories and syntactic structure
often do not correspond between different languages, it is impossible or misleading to maintain
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the same form as the source text. Changes of form will also often be necessary when translating
figurative language. A translation will employ as many or as few terms as are required to
communicate the original meaning as accurately as possible
What follows are ideas from a text-linguistic point of view. A translation-oriented Model of Text

Functions is listed as follows.

Referential function: informative; metalinguistic; directive; didactic.

Expressive function: aesthetic; emotive; evaluative; ironic.

Appellative function: appealing to reader's previous experience or knowledge; appealing to their

sensitivity/their secret desires; appealing to their real or imagined needs.

Phatic function: aiming at establishing, maintaining or ending contact between sender and
receiver. The phatic function thus largely depends on the conventionality of its form. The more
conventional the linguistic form, the less notice we take of it. (The problem is that a form that is
conventional in one culture may be unconventional in another).

Of course, a particular text can be designed to carry out a combination of several functions and
sub-functions.

If we can acknowledge the different functions of the original text, then we are solidly grounded
to reproduce in the target language at least approximately the identical functions so our
translation fulfills its mission.

3.2. Purposes

Nord (1989) puts forward the following pair of terms in talking about the purposes of translation:
Documentary translation (preserve the original exoticizing setting) vs. instrumental
translation (adaptation of the setting to the target culture).

Sigrid Kupsch-Losereit (2001) defines a translation error as an offence against: the function of
the translation, the coherence of the text, the text type or text form, linguistic conventions,
culture- and situation-specific conventions and conditions and the language system. What is the
significance of such an assertion? The function of the translation is put at the top of the list,
showing that the most serious error is to fail to convey the original function. To sum up, if the
purpose of a translation is to achieve a particular function for the target addressee, anything that
obstructs the achievement of this purpose is a translation error.

Next let us move on to study the functional classification of translation errors. Errors may occur
in every aspect of translation, as shown in the following:

1. Pragmatic: caused by inadequate solutions to pragmatic translation problems such as a lack of

receiver orientation.
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2. Cultural: due to an inadequate decision with regard to reproduction or adaptation of culture-

specific conventions.

3. Linguistic: caused by an inadequate translation when the focus is on language structures (as in
foreign-language classes).

4. Text-specific: which are related to a text-specific translation problem and, like the
corresponding translation problem, can usually be evaluated from a functional or pragmatic point
of view. (cited in Nord. 2001.)
Let us herein emphasize that translating is an activity. This means that a theory of translation can
be embedded in a theory of human action or activity. The parameters of action theory may help
to explain some aspects of translation.

Human actions or activities are carried out by ‘agents', individuals playing roles. When playing
the role of senders in communication, people have communicative purposes that they try to put
into practice by means of texts. Communicative purposes are aimed at other people who are
playing the role of receivers. Communication takes place through a medium and in situations that
are limited in time and place. Each specific situation determines what and how people
communicate, and it is changed by people communicating. Situations are not universal but are
embedded in a cultural habitat, which in turn conditions the situation. Language is thus to be
regarded as part of culture. And communication is conditioned by the constraints of the situation-
in-culture.

In translation, senders and receivers belong to different cultural groups in that they speak
different languages. They thus need help from someone who is familiar with both languages (and
cultures) and who is willing to play the role of translator or intermediary between them. In
professional settings, translators don't normally act on their own account; they are asked to
intervene by either the sender or the receiver, or perhaps by a third person. From an observer's
point of view, this third party will be playing the role of ‘commissioner' or ‘initiator'; from the
translator's point of view, they will be the ‘client' or ‘customer'. Initiators may have
communicative purposes of their own or they may share those of either the sender or the
receiver. Translating thus involves aiming at a particular communicative purpose that may or
may not be identical with the one that other participants have in mind.

Nida (1976) treats this topic too, arguing that: when the question of the superiority of one
translation over another is raised, the answer should be looked for in the answer to another
question, ‘best for whom?'. The relative adequacy of different translations of the same text can
only be determined in terms of the extent to which each translation successfully fulfills the
purpose for which it was intended. In other words, the relative validity of each translation is seen
in the degree to which the receptors are able to respond to its message (in terms of both form and
content) in comparison with (1) what the original author evidently intended would be the
response of the original audience and (2) how that audience did, in fact, respond.

Benjamin (1992) argues that the task of the translator consists in finding that intended effect
upon the language into which he is translating which produces in it the echo of the original. It is
interesting that Benjamin uses the word ‘echo.' The task of the translator can only produce the
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echo of the original, not the originality of the original. The idea of the echo is that we hear our
own voices sent back to us. The echo is never strictly identical with what has been voiced before.
It also suggests something about the space, the topography, of the domain that creates the echo.
The voice that comes back to us is similar to what we uttered but is also distorted by the response
of what sends back our voice.

In other words, just as Steiner (1975) says, translation, in short, inside or between languages,
equals human communication. According Gu (2000), translation is in much the same way as in
human activity of information exchanges, which is a fundamental activity throughout our life. In
some sense, it can be said that human communication is always done through translation.
Translation happens when humans learn to know the world, restoring what we see of the outside
world in our mind in visual code. This process actually is a kind of creative translation for the
outside world is not exactly equal to the visual code in our brains, but it is a vivid and lively
representation of the outside world. In a word, translation is an activity of understanding not only
between humans themselves but also between the humans and world.

All these arguments are strong positive support of the paramount importance of the proper
understanding of the original functions as well as the purposes before one sets out doing a piece
of translation.

3.3. Translation Criteria

To begin with, let us cite what Tytler (1907), an authority both in theory and in practice, has to
say

1. that the translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work;

2. that the style and manner of writing should be of the same character with that of the original;

3. that the translation should have all the ease of original composition.

Nida (1964) proposes that translation must

1. make sense;

2. convey the spirit and manner of the original;

3. have a natural and easy form of expression;

4. produce a similar response.

The fourth requirement is an addition to Tytler's list, reflecting modern concern with reader
response.

There have been in history, and even today, three respects of concern in translation: author-
centered, text-centered and reader-centered translating.
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Jumpelt (2001) when discussing translation equivalence, presents in the following five pairs of
principles contradicting each other.

1. A translation must reproduce the words of the SLT.

2. A translation must reproduce the ideas (meaning) of the SLT.
3. A translation should read like an original.
4. A translation should read like a translation.
5. A translation should retain the style of the SLT.
6. A translation should mirror the style of the SLT.
7. A translation should retain the historical stylistic dimension of the SLT.
8. A translation should read as a contemporary piece of literature.
9. In a translation, a translator must never add or leave out anything.
10. In a translation, a translator may add or leave out something.

It is remarkably contradictory and, as such, rather, confusing. Nevertheless, all translation

principles are, to some extent justifiable within a specific translational frame of reference.

What the extended commentary did was to ‘situationalise' the text by relating it to its
environment, both verbal and non-verbal. Malinowski referred to this as the context of situation,
including the totality of the culture surrounding the act of text production and reception. He
believed the cultural context to be crucial in the interpretation of the message, taking in a variety
of factors ranging from the ritualistic (which assumes great importance in traditional societies),
to the most practical aspects of day-to-day existence.

Gu (2003) argues in his well-acknowledged paper on translation criteria that there is no one
absolute good-for-all criterion, for translation practice is a far more complex process involving
many factors. He then introduces a new term-multi-criterion, criteria complementing one
another. To clarify it, with the varying situations criteria must adapt to suit the current needs.
Criterion suitable for this kind of style may not be appropriate for another. Criterion that is of
fundamental importance in translating this piece may turn out to be improper in guiding the
process of translating another piece. Only when depending on various situations and
complementing criteria can a perfect piece of translation be produced.

4. Translation Equivalence and Translation Non-equivalence

4.1. Theories of Equivalence

Translation defined by many scholars from different notions of view. Some of translation
scholars defined their theories a source-oriented theory, others regarded the target-oriented
theories. There are also theorists who chose a place in between; however, all translation theories
are related to the notion of equivalence in one way or another. Hence, equivalence plays a crucial
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role in translation. In fact, both source and target languages include ranges of equivalents from
the least meaningful level of a language, namely, morpheme to the big levels like sentence. In
the process of translation these levels of language appear to be equivalence levels between
source language and target language. For example, if there is a word in the S.L, it must be
translated into T.L at the word level usually. Accordingly, translation is the matter of
establishing equivalence between S.L and T.L.

Translation developed mainly in the second half of the 20th century. Therefore, theory of
equivalence has been studied scientifically from the beginning of the second half of the 20th
century up to now.

4.1.1. Jakobson and Equivalence in Difference

Jakobson (1959) made a contribution to the theoretical analysis of translation. He introduced the
concept of equivalence in difference. He suggested three kinds of equivalence known as:

-Intralingual (within one language, i.e. rewording or paraphrase)

-Interlingual (between two languages)
-Intersemiotic (between sign systems)

4.1.2. Nida: Formal Equivalence vs. Dynamic Equivalence

Nida (1964) argued that there are two different types of equivalence. Namely formal
equivalence- which in the second edition by Nida is referred to as formal correspondence and
dynamic equivalence. Formal correspondence focuses attention on the message itself, in both
form and content, unlike dynamic equivalence which is based upon the principle of equivalent
effect.

Formal correspondence consists of a TL item which represents the closest equivalent of a SL

word or phrase. Nida makes it clear that there are not always formal equivalents between
language pairs he therefore suggest that these formal equivalents should be used wherever
possible if the translation aims at achieving formal rather than dynamic equivalence. The use of
formal equivalents might at times have serious implications in the TT since the translation will
not be easily understood by the target audience.

Dynamic equivalence is defined as a translation principle according to which a translator seeks to

translate the meaning of the original in such a way that the TL wording will trigger the same
impact on the original wording did upon the ST audience.

4.1.3. House and Overt and Covert Translation and Equivalence

House (1977) discussed the concept of overt and covert translations. In an overt translation the
TT audience is not directly addressed and there is therefore no need at all to attempt to recreate a
second original since an overt translation must overtly be a translation. By covert translation, on
the other hand, is meant the production of a text which is functionally equivalent to the ST. 
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House also argues that in this type of translation the ST is not specifically addressed to a TC
audience.

4.1.4. Baker's Approach towards Equivalence

Baker (1992) defined four kinds of equivalents as follows:

- Equivalence that can appear at word level and above word level, when translating from one
language into another.

- Grammatical equivalence, when referring to the diversity of grammatical categories across

languages.

-Textual equivalence when referring to the equivalence between a SL text and a TL text in terms
of information and cohesion.

- Pragmatic equivalence, when referring to imprimaturs and strategies of avoidance during the
translation process.

4.1.5. Vinay and Darbelnet and Their Equivalence Definition

Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) view equivalence-oriented translation as a procedure which

replicates the same situation as in the original, whilst using completely different wording. They
also suggest that, if this procedure is applied during the translation process, it can maintain the
stylistic impact of the SL text in the TL text.

4.1.6. Catford and Translation Shift and Equivalence

Catford (1996) in the revision of his book introduced a very perfect taxonomy towards
translation.

Cartford's approach to translation equivalence clearly differs from that adopted by Nida since
Catford had a preference for a more linguistic-based approach to translation and this approach is
based on the linguistic work of Firth and Halliday. His main contribution in the field of
translation theory is the introduction of the concepts of types and shifts translation. Catfrod
proposed very broad types translation in terms of three criteria:

1. The extent of translation (full translation vs partial translation).

2. The grammatical rank at which the translation equivalence is established (rank bound
translation vs. unbounded translation).

3. The levels of language involved in translation (total translation vs. restricted translation).

He also defined the shifts which exist within different languages.

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His category is as follows:

Shifts will be divided into two parts level shifts: (morphology, graphology,….) and category shift
which include structural shift (order of words in a sentence) and class shifts (part of speech) and
unit shifts (sentence, clause, phrase, word) and intra-system shifts (structure of parts of speech)

Catford (1996) described his latest category of equivalence (his notable contribution in the field
of translation). It is the binary taxonomy which sheds light on the translation studies. In fact,
Catford (1996) studied the equivalence and found out that there are two factors which affected
the equivalence. They are linguistic and cultural factors. These two factors brought two
equivalents. They are linguistic and cultural equivalents. This finding of Caford is very
significant because it consists of both important approaches toward equivalence, namely,
linguistic and cultural approaches. In fact, what other translation scholars defined separately and
one by one, Catford described and explained in one binary opposition (cultural and linguistic
factors or equivalents).

4.2. Translation Equivalence

Equivalence can be considered a central concept in translation theory; many theorists define
translation in terms of equivalence relation. Pym (1992) has even pointed to its circularity:
equivalence is supposed to define translation, and translation, in turn, defines equivalence. Here
are some elaborate approaches to translation equivalence:

Nida (1964) distinguishes formal equivalence and dynamic translation as basic orientations
rather than as a binary choice:

1. Formal equivalence is achieved when the source language and target language words have the
closest possible match of form and content.

2. Dynamic equivalence is achieved when the source language and target language words have
the same effect on their effective readers

Newmark (1988) terms Nida’s dynamic equivalence as ‘equivalence effect’ or ‘equivalence

response’ principle: “the overriding purpose of any translation should be to achieve ‘equivalence
effect’, that is to produce the same effect (or one as close as possible) on the readership of the
translation as was obtained on the readership of the original” (Newmark 1988). He also sees
equivalence effect as the desirable result rather than the aim of any translation except for two
cases: (1) if the purpose of the source language text is to affect and the target language
translation is to inform or vice versa; (2) if there is a pronounced cultural gap between the source
language and the target language text.

Koller (1979) presents five types of equivalence as follows.

1. Denotative equivalence: This orients towards the extralinguistic content transmitted by a text.
 16

2. Connotative equivalence: This respect indicates that individual expressions in the textual
context do not only have a denotative meaning but also additional values which mean various or
synonymous ways of expressions.

3. Text-normative equivalence: This has to do with text-type specific features or text and
language norms for given text types. To put it another way, the SL and TL words are used in the
same or similar context in their respective languages.

4. Pragmatic equivalence: This means translating the text for a particular readership, i.e. the
receiver to whom the translation is directed, and to whom the translation is tuned in order to
achieve a given effect.

5. Formal equivalence: This aims to produce an “analogy of form” in the translation by

exploiting the formal possibilities of the TL or even by creating new forms if necessary.

4.3. Translation Non-equivalence

Baker, M. (1992) approaches the concept of equivalence differently by discussing the notion of
non-equivalence at word level and above word level, grammatical equivalence, textual
equivalence, and pragmatic equivalence.

Non-equivalence at word level means that the target language has no direct equivalent for a word
which occurs in the source text. Common problems of non-equivalence then involve such cases
as culture-specific concepts, the SL concept is not lexicalized in the target language, the SL word
is semantically complex, the SL and TL make different distinctions in meaning, the TL lacks a
super-ordinate, the TL lacks a specific term (hyponym), differences in physical or interpersonal
perspective, differences in expressive meaning, difference in form, differences in frequency and
purpose of using specific forms, the use of loan words in the source text.

Non-equivalence above word level is closely related to the differences in the collocational
patterning of the SL and TL, which create potential pitfalls and can pose various problems in
translation.

Grammatical equivalence is more concerned with the differences in the grammatical structures of
the SL and TL, which often result in some change in the information content of the message
during the process of translation. This change may take the form of adding to the target text
information which is not expressed in the source text. This can happen when the TL has a
grammatical category which the SL lacks. Likewise, the change in the information content of the
message may be in the form of omitting information specified in the source text. If the TL lacks
a grammatical category which exists in the SL, the information expressed by that category may
have to be ignored.

Textual equivalence is achieved through the realization of cohesion, or cohesive devices such as
reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical cohesion from the source text into the
target text.
 17

Pragmatic equivalence is realized by means of studying and translating coherence and

implicature from the SL to the TL.

4.3.1. Different Kinds of Non-equivalence

1. Culture-specific concepts

The SL word may express a concept which is totally unknown in the target culture. The concept
in question may be abstract or concrete; it may relate to a religious belief, a social custom, or
even a type of food. Such concepts are often referred to as ‘culture-specific’. Speaker (of the
House of Commons) has no equivalent in many languages. It is often translated into Russian as
‘Chairman’, which does not reflect the role of the speaker of the House of Commons as an
independent person who maintains authority and order in Parliament.

2. The SL concept is not lexicalised in the TL

The SL word may express a concept which is known in the target culture but simply not
lexicalised, i.e. not allocated a TL word to express it. Landslide has no ready equivalence in
many languages, although it simply means ‘overwhelming majority’.

3. The SL word is semantically complex

This is a fairly common problem in translation. A single word which consists of a single
morpheme can sometimes express a more complex set of meanings than a whole sentence.

4. The SL and TL make different distinctions in meaning

The TL may make more or fewer distinctions in meaning than the SL. What one language
regards as an important distinction in meaning another may not perceive as relevant.

5. The TL lacks a superordinate

The TL may have specific words (hyponyms) but no general word (superordinate) to head the
semantic field.

6. The TL lacks a specific term (hyponym)

More commonly, languages tend to have general words but lack specific ones, since each
language makes only those distinctions in meaning which seem relevant to its particular
environment. English has many hyponyms under article for which it is difficult to find precise
equivalents in other languages, for example feature, survey, report, review and many more.

7. Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective

Physical perspective may be of more importance in one language than it is in another. Physical
perspective has to do with where things or people are in relation to one another or to a place, as
expressed in pairs of words such as come/go, take/bring.
 18

8. Differences in expressive meaning

There may be a TL word which has the same propositional meaning as the SL word, but it may
have a different expressive meaning. The difference may be considerable or it may be subtle but
important enough to pose a translation problem in a given context. Differences in expressive
meaning are usually more difficult to handle when the TL equivalent is more emotionally loaded
than the SL item. This is often the case with items which relate to sensitive issues such as
religion, politics and sex.

9. Differences in form

There is often no equivalent in the TL for a particular form in the source text. Certain suffixes
and prefixes which convey propositional and other types of meaning in English often have no
direct equivalents in other languages. English has many couplets such as employer/employee,
trainer/trainee, and payer/payee.

10. Differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms

Even when a particular form does have a ready equivalent in the TL, there may be a difference in
the frequency with which it is used or the purpose for which it is used. English uses the
continuous –ing form for binding clauses much more frequently than other languages which have
equivalents for it.

11. The use of loan words in the source text

The use of loan words in the ST poses a special problem in translation. Quite apart from their
respective propositional meaning, loan words such as au fait, chic in English are often used for
their prestige value, because they can add an air of sophistication to the text or its subject matter.
This is often lost in translation because it is not always possible to find a loan word with the
same meaning in the TL.

4.3.2. Strategies for Non-equivalence in Translation

1. Translation by a more general word (superordinate)

This is one of the commonest strategies for dealing with many types of non-equivalence,
particularly in the area of propositional meaning. It works equally well in most, if not all,
languages, since the hierarchical structure of semantic fields is not language-specific.

2. Translation by a more neutral /less expressive word

Baker (1992) gives an example to illustrate this.

Source text: the shamanic practices we have investigated are rightly seen as an archaic
mysticism.
 19

Target text (back-translated from Japanese): the shamanic behaviour which we have been
researching should rightly be considered as ancient mysticism.

The translator could have used a Japanese phrase which means ‘behind the times’ and which
would have been closer to both the propositional and expressive meanings of archaic. This,
however, would have been too direct, that is too openly disapproving by Japanese standards. The
expressive meaning of archaic is lost in the translation.

3. Translation by cultural substitution

This strategy involves replacing a culture-specific item or expression with a target-language item
which does not have the same propositional meaning but is likely to have a similar impact on the
target reader. The main advantage of this strategy is that it gives the reader a concept with he/she
can identify, something familiar and appealing.

Source text: The Patrick Collection has restaurant facilities to suit every taste – from the
discerning gourmet, to the Cream Tea expert.

Target text (back translated from Italian): to satisfy all tastes: from those of the demanding
gastronomist to those of the expert in pastry.

In Britain, ‘cream tea’ is ‘an afternoon meal consisting of tea to drink and scones with jam and
clotted cream to eat. It can also include sandwiches and cakes. ‘Cream tea’ has no equivalent in
other cultures. The Italian replaced it with ‘pastry’, which does not have the same meaning.
However, ‘pastry’ is familiar to the Italian reader and therefore provides a good cultural
substitute.

4. Translation using a loan word or loan word plus explanation

This strategy is particularly common in dealing with culture-specific items, modern concepts,
and buzz words. Following the loan word with an explanation is very useful when the word in
question is repeated several times in the text. Once explained, the loan word can be used on its
own; the reader can understand it and is not distracted by further lengthy explanations

Source text: Morning coffee and traditional cream teas are served in the conservatory.

Target text (back-translated from Japanese): Morning coffee and traditional afternoon tea and
cream cakes can be enjoyed in the conservatory (green house)

The underlined word in the ST is used as loan words in the Japanese text, not because they have
no equivalents in Japanese but because they sound more modern, smart, high class.

5. Translation by paraphrase using a related word

 20

This strategy tends to be used when the concept expressed by the source item is lexicalised in the
TL but in a different form, and when the frequency with which a certain form is used in the
source text is significantly higher than would be natural in the TL.

Source text: There is strong evidence, however that giant pandas are related to the bears.

Target text (back-translated from Chinese): but there is rather strong evidence that shows that big
pandas have a kinship relation with the bears.

6. Translation by paraphrase using unrelated words

If the concepts expressed by the source item are not lexicalised at all in the TL, the paraphrase
strategy can be used in some contexts. Instead of a related word, the paraphrase may be based on
modifying a superordinate or simply on unpacking the meaning of the source item, particularly if
the item in question is semantically complex.

Source text: ….the lower mixed broadleaf forests….are the areas most accessible to and
disturbed by Man.

Target text (back-translated from Chinese): …the mixed broadleaf forests of the lowland area are
the places where human beings enter most easily and interfere most.

The main advantage of the paraphrase strategy is that it achieves a high level of precision in
specifying propositional meaning. One of its disadvantages is that a paraphrases does not have
the status of a lexical item and therefore cannot convey expressive, evoked, or any kind of
associated meaning. Another advantage of using this strategy is that it is cumbersome and
awkward to use because it involves filling a one-item slot with an explanation consisting of
several items.

7. Translation by omission

This strategy may sound rather drastic, but in fact it does no harm to omit translating a word or
expression in some contexts. If the meaning conveyed by a particular item or expression is not
vital enough to the development of the text to justify distracting the reader with lengthy
explanations, translators can and often do simply omit translating the word or expression in
question.

This is a useful option if the word which lacks an equivalent in the TL refers to a physical entity
which can be illustrated, particularly if there are restrictions on space and if the text has to
remain short, concise, and to the point.

Many newcomers to translation wrongly believe it is an exact science, and mistakenly assume a
firmly defined one-to-one correlation exists between the words and phrases in different
languages which make translations fixed, much like cryptography. In that vein, many assume all
one needs to translate a given passage is to decipher between the languages using a translation
dictionary. On the contrary, such a fixed relationship would only exist were a new language
 21

synthesized and continually synchronized alongside an existing language in such a way that each
word carried exactly the same scope and shades of meaning as the original, with careful attention
to preserve the etymological roots, assuming they were even known with certainty. In addition, if
the new language were ever to take on a life of its own apart from such a strict cryptographic use,
each word would begin to take on new shades of meaning and cast off previous associations,
making any such synthetic synchronization impossible. As such, translation from that point on
would require the disciplines described in this article. Suffice it to say, while equivalence is
sought by the translators, less rigid and more analytical methods are required to arrive at a true
translation.

There is also debate as to whether translation is an art or a craft. Literary translators, such as
Gregory Rabassa in "If This Be Treason" argue convincingly that translation is an art, though he
acknowledges that it is teachable. Other translators, mostly professionals working on technical,
business, or legal documents, approach their task as a craft, one that can not only be taught but is
subject to linguistic analysis and benefits from academic study. Most translators will agree that
the truth lies somewhere between and depends on the text. A simple document, for instance a
product brochure, can be quickly translated in many cases using simple techniques familiar to
advanced language students. By contrast, a newspaper editorial, text of a speech by a politician,
or book on almost any subject will require not only the craft of good language skills and research
technique but also the art of good writing, cultural sensitivity, and communication.

5. Principles of Translation

In case you're not familiar with this name, Lord Woodhouselee, properly known as Alexander
Fraser Tytler (1747-1813), is the author of Essay on the Principles of Translation, which despite
being originally published in 1791, is still relevant today. He sets down principles for translation
and gives guidelines for quality assessment that are strikingly modern.

Woodhouselee's three principles are as follows:

1. A translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work;

2. The style and manner of writing should be of the same character as that of the original;

3. A translation should have all the ease of original composition.

None of these would surprise a modern translator, yet they are nonetheless often touchy issues.
So let's look at each a bit.

The first principle seems obvious enough. It means no errors or omissions, but also includes the
idea that a translation is not a copy or a reproduction, but an original work in and of itself, even if
its content is based entirely on another's work. The translator is not supposed to make additions,
amendments, or annotations, except possibly when working on esoteric literary texts. The
translator should not play the game of rewriting an original text so that it says "what the author
meant" or "what the author should have said."
 22

The second principle is similarly obvious, though difficult to execute in practice. It means that
the translator must not only have a complete command of writing in the target language (the
translator's native language, in almost all cases), but also must be able to perceive stylistic
touches and understand their meaning in the original text. A simple example from the realm of
patent translation should suffice: "means" is the term of choice in a U.S. patent when explaining
how the invention operates; by custom, it takes no article, which in any other document would be
grammatically and stylistically peculiar, but in a patent is what we do. A patent translator
working into English must know this, otherwise the character of the translation will be flawed.

The third principle is the hardest to achieve, because it harks back to the Russian axiom that
states that if a translation is beautiful, it is not faithful, and if it is faithful, it is not beautiful.
There is a delicate balance to achieve here, in other words, and translators must aspire to be good
writers in their native language, and must know all the finer points of writing in the subject and
language they are working in so as to produce a translation with "all the ease of original
composition." In other words, a translation should not sound like a translation.

Of course, these principles are open to debate, and in some obvious cases are deliberately
ignored or even ridiculed. The Bible, for instance, would not sound at all pleasing if written in
modern American English; rather the various modern versions based on the King James
translation seem to be what people want, and anything else seems flawed or fake. Literary
translation, particularly poetry, often cannot capture the manner of writing of the original, or as
Robert Frost said: "poetry is what is lost in translation." How, after all, do you recreate the meter
of the Roman poet Horace in a language like English (which is metrically very different), or in
Japanese (which doesn't allow for meter as the Romans used it)?

Further, most translators at present are hired guns; they function on a "work for hire" basis and
therefore have to please their clients, or if in-house, satisfy their team leaders and adhere to
whatever corporate guidelines or protocols exist. Many times I've had clients tell me to ignore
this or change that, or use a term I know to be incorrect or irregular, or insist of major formatting
or stylistic changes. All of this might send Woodhouselee spinning in his grave, but he was
writing about literary translation, and not thinking of modern freelance translators working with
clients in different time zones, communicating by email, researching terminology and subject
material knowledge on the Web, all while under very tight deadlines.

Woodhouselee has a lot to offer. The fact that his book is still available and worth reading is
significant in and of itself. But as with all suggestions regarding how to translate, we must
remain vigilant to the realities of our own particular situations, which can vary depending on the
client, agency, or company, and even vary within a single document.

General Translation Principles for a Translation Project

Translation principles are much more rigid for translation projects. In order to produce high-
quality translations, we will follow these general translation principles.

1. Translations will be done with the goal of accuracy, naturalness, and clarity.
 23

a. The meaning of the original text is to be translated accurately, exactly.

b. The meaning of ideas will be translated, not word-for-word translation.
c. Meaning will have priority over form.
d. Naturalness of expression will have priority over form.
e. Translated materials should sound natural and be readily understood by native speakers of the
target language. This includes word order, grammar, sentence length, idiomatic phrases, word
pictures, and figurative expressions.
f. Vocabulary will be carefully chosen, with common words preferred over archaic and with the
goal of producing a translation that is clearly and correctly understood by all speakers of that
language, regardless or age, sex, education level, geographical location, dialect, etc.
2. Translations will be faithful to the original text.
a. There will be no omissions, additions or changes in translations; any done in other materials
will be handled with care and with authorization from the original authors.
b. The translation should not have added interpretation, explanation, or application. The
translation should not reflect the translator’s bias or beliefs.
c. Contextualization: The situation, culture, and language of the original audience must be
considered BUT facts must not be changed.
d. A carefully monitored series of checks for accuracy will be carried out by the translation team.
Note requirements for translator and translation team:
i. Primary (first draft) translators must be native speakers of the target language. Translator
should have good knowledge of source language culture and language as well as receptor
language and culture.
ii. Other translation team members must include at least three native speakers of the target
language who are involved in checking the translation.
iii. Other translation team members and project consultant may be the proficient non-native
speakers of the target language.
iv. Testing of the translation will be carried out in both oral and written tests with a wide variety
of people who are native speakers of the target language.
e. Translation from a simple base improves accuracy of translation and is strongly advised when
possible.
3. Translation projects will often call for literacy work in the same language.
 24

Measuring success in translation

As the goal of translation is to ensure that the source and the target texts communicate the same
message while taking into account the various constraints placed on the translator, a successful
translation can be judged by two criteria:

1. Faithfulness, also called fidelity, which is the extent to which the translation accurately renders
the meaning of the source text, without adding to it or subtracting from it, and without
intensifying or weakening any part of the meaning; and

2. Transparency, which is the extent to which the translation appears to a native speaker of the
target language to have originally been written in that language, and conforms to the language's
grammatical, syntactic and idiomatic conventions.

A translation meeting the first criterion is said to be a "faithful translation"; a translation meeting
the second criterion is said to be an "idiomatic translation". The two are not necessarily
exclusive.

The criteria used to judge the faithfulness of a translation vary according to the subject, the
precision of the original contents, the type, function and use of the text, its literary qualities, its
social or historical context, and so forth.

The criteria for judging the transparency of a translation would appear more straightforward: an
unidiomatic translation "sounds" wrong, and in the extreme case of word-for-word translations
generated by many machine translation systems, often result in patent nonsense with only a
humorous value.

Nevertheless, in certain contexts a translator may knowingly strive to produce a literal

translation. For example, literary translators and translators of religious works often adhere to the
source text as much as possible. To do this they deliberately "stretch" the boundaries of the target
language to produce an unidiomatic text. Likewise, a literary translator may wish to adopt words
or expressions from the source language to provide "local colour" in the translation.

The concepts of fidelity and transparency are looked at differently in recent translation theories.
The idea that acceptable translations can be as creative and original as their source text is gaining
momentum in some quarters.
In recent decades, the most prominent advocates of non-transparent translation modes include
the Franco-Canadian translation scholar Antoine Berman who identified twelve deforming
tendencies inherent in most prose translations (L’épreuve de l’étranger, 1984), and the American
theorist Lawrence Venuti who called upon translators to apply "foreignizing" translation
strategies instead of domesticating ones (see, for example, his 'Call to Action' in The
Translator’s Invisibility, 1994).

Many non-transparent translation theories draw on concepts of German Romanticism, with the
most obvious influence on latter-day theories of foreignization being the German theologian and
philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher. In his seminal lecture "On the Different Methods of
 25

Translation" (1813) he distinguished between translation methods that move "the writer toward
[the reader]", i.e. transparency, and those that move the "reader toward [the author] ", i.e.
respecting the foreignness of the source text. Schleiermacher clearly favoured the latter. It is
worth pointing out, however, that his preference was motivated not so much by a desire to
embrace the foreign but was rather intended as a nationalist practice to oppose France's cultural
domination and to promote German literature.

The concepts of fidelity and transparency remain strong in Western traditions, however. They
are not necessarily as prevalent in non-Western traditions. For example, the Indian epic
Ramayana has numerous versions in many Indian languages and the stories in each are different
from one another. If one looks into the words used for translation in Indian (either Aryan or
Dravidian) languages, the freedom given to the translators is evident.

II. The History of Translation

"Without translation, there is no history of the world." L. G. Kelly

Studying the history of translation helps those who are interested in translation, literature, and
cultural studies to better understand the contribution of translation to civilization and to the
development of all cultural and intellectual life. Translation is closely related to progress in that
all the awakening periods in the history of nations have started with translations. Translation
introduces nations to various perspectives on their paths to modernization and intellectual
advancement.

In order to justify translation as an independent discipline, it is necessary to first construct a

history of translation. By doing so, we bring to light how the cultural and intellectual interactions
between people and civilizations took place throughout history. Regarding this, French theorist
Antoine Berman wrote: "The construction of a history of translation is the first task of a modern
theory of translation."

1. Translators through History

The ancient Greek word for translator-interpreter is Hermêneus, directly related to the name of
the god Hermes. The verb Hermêneuo means to interpret foreign tongues, translate, explain,
expound, put into words, express, describe, write about. The many further meanings of the Greek
word for translator-interpreter (mediator, go-between, deal-broker, marriage-broker) suggest that
interpreters almost certainly had to exist during prehistory - the period before writing was even
invented.

In ancient times, ideas and insights used to be transferred from culture to culture primarily
through travelers and tradesmen. Gradually, translation began to play, and continues to play, a
key role in the development of world culture. For example, translation has played a major part in
the movement of knowledge from Ancient Greece to Persia, from India to Arab nations, from
Islam into Christianity, and from Europe to China and Japan.

There have been two great historical examples of how translation introduced one culture to
 26

another. One is the translation of the Buddhist scriptures from various Indian languages into
Chinese. The second is the translation of Greek philosophical and scientific works from Greek
and Syriac into Arabic, thereby introducing them to the Islamic world.

A history of world culture from the perspective of translation reveals a constant movement of
ideas and forms, and of cultures constantly absorbing new influences because of the work of
translators. It dispels the assumption that everything starts in the West and undermines the idea
of rigid boundaries between East and West.

"Translators have invented alphabets, helped build languages and written dictionaries. They have
contributed to the emergence of national literatures, the dissemination of knowledge, and the
spread of religions. Importers of foreign cultural values and key players at some of the great
moments of history, translators and interpreters have played a determining role in the
development of their societies and have been fundamental to the unfolding of intellectual history
itself." ("Translators through History", Jean Delisle and Judith Woodsworth, John Benjamins
Publishing Co., 1995)

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it." Sir Winston Churchill

2. National Translation Movements

Major periods in the history of translation tend to coincide with eras when a major differential or
inequality exists - or is perceived to exist - between two cultures or two peoples speaking
different languages. One of these peoples perceives the need to absorb greater or higher
knowledge from another, whether this knowledge is conceived in political, religious, or scientific
terms.

All throughout history, the task accomplished by translators has acquired an extraordinary
importance in the development and transmission of the cultural heritage of humankind. European
culture, with all of its great wealth of knowledge, could not have been possible without the
significant translation efforts of just a handful of countries: China, Greece, Iran, India, Iraq,
Spain, and Ireland. The following national translation movements are considered by historians to
have played a major role in the developmental path of world culture:

Prehistory: predominance of interpreting and mediating (marriage-brokers, deal-makers, peace-

seekers, etc.)

Sumerians, Akadians, Assyrians: the need to make laws, creation tales and other scriptures, and
economic norms known among peoples using different languages

Egyptians: the need to communicate with the Hittites and peoples in Southern Egypt

Greeks: the need to understand Egyptian civilization

Romans: the need to understand Greek civilization

 27

Chinese (Seventh Century AD): the need to understand Indian civilization, especially Sanskrit
and Pali scriptures

Arab and Persian World: (Jundishapur and Baghdad, Eighth to Tenth Centuries): the need to
absorb and integrate Sanskrit, Hebrew, Syriac, and Greek knowledge into Persian and Arabic
cultures

Irish (Eighth Century AD): the need for a decisive mediator between late antiquity and the
Western Middle Ages, after the conquest of Spain by the Muslims resulted in the decline of Latin
influence in Europe

Japanese (Ninth to Tenth Centuries): the need to understand and absorb Chinese culture, with
Korea as an important intermediary

Western Middle Ages: the need to reabsorb and integrate Arabic, Hebrew, and Greek knowledge
into medieval Europe

Renaissance: reintegration of Ancient Greek culture in the West

Conquest and colonization: the need to understand American, African, and Asian languages and
dialects

Age of Enlightenment and Nineteenth Century: decline of Latin, emergence of modern national
languages as the measure of human knowledge

Modern Times: many competing major and minor national languages

3. The Chang'an School

The earliest historical records show sporadic translation activities in China in the eleventh
century BC. Documents from that time indicate that translation was carried out by government
clerks, who were concerned primarily with the transmission of ideologies. In a written document
from the late Zhou dynasty, Jia Gongyan, an imperial scholar, wrote: "Translation is to replace
one written language with another without changing the meaning for mutual understanding."

This definition of translation, although primitive, proves the existence of translation theory in
ancient China. Serious discussions on translation, however, did not begin until the introduction
of Buddhism into the country during the Six Dynasties (222-589 AD), when Buddhist monks
began translating classics of Buddhism into Chinese.

Before coming to China, Buddhism, which is of Indian origin, had already undergone several
centuries of development. The translation of Buddhist literature from Pali and Sanskrit into
Chinese proved to be a great undertaking and Buddhism became one of China's major religions.
It was not only Buddhism, however, that had penetrated into China. Sankhya, tantra sastras, and
other Hindu beliefs were also introduced into the thought of that country. The combined impact
 28

upon the world was profound, not only helping to reshape man's outlook and way of life, but also
adding a written script, unique art, literature, and philosophy to the common wealth of mankind.

By the end of the fourth century, translation was officially organized on a large scale in China. A
State School of Translation was founded for this purpose and Dao An, an imperial officer, was
appointed its director. In 379, Dao An was abducted to Chang'an (Xi'an), where he started the
famous Chang'an School. It was at this time that monks from Kashmir began to enter China in
large numbers, bringing with them many texts from their homeland, which they translated into
Chinese, and making the school one of the most important translation centers of the time.

Three of the most accomplished translators of the Chang'an school each adopted different
theories regarding translation. Dao An insisted on a strict literal translation, i.e., that the source
text should be translated word by word. The Indian scholar Kumarajiva, on the other hand, took
up an opposite view and advocated a completely free translation method for the sake of elegance
and intelligibility in the target language.

In his own translation practice, Chinese Buddhist scholar Xuan Zang combined the advantages of
both Dao An's respect for the form of the source text, and Kumarajiva's free style of translation.
Xuan Zang aimed to achieve an intelligibility of the translation for the target language readers,
and developed his criteria that translation "must be truthful and intelligible to the populace." It
might be during this period of time that there was the first discussion on literal translation vs.
free translation - a core issue of translation theory.

Eventually, the translation of sutras lost importance in China and rulers directed their attention
westward. Arabs began to settle in China, with some even becoming mandarins or merchants.
Having learned the Chinese language, some of these erudite high officials began translating
scientific works from Arabic or European languages. By the eighth century, conversion to Islam
had already started in Central Asia.

"We will not wait to achieve progress; we will start where human knowledge has ended."
Mary-Jo McConahay

4. Plato's Academy

The western academic tradition begins with the Greeks. Plato's Academy, established in Greece
during the fourth century BC, was based on the ideological conviction that well-trained
philosophers could reliably find truth. At that point in human history, philosophy was on the
cutting edge of knowledge. For Plato, education was about turning the mind from "the world of
becoming" (the world in all its transitory concerns) to the "world of being" (essences and ideals).
It involved a shift of consciousness.

Plato founded his Academy in Athens, in about 387 BC. It was on land which had belonged to a
man called Academos, and this is where the name Academy (Akademeia) came from. The
Academy was an institution devoted to research and instruction in philosophy and the sciences,
and Plato presided over it from 387 BC until his death in 347 BC. Many intellectuals were
 29

schooled there, the most prominent being Aristotle. The Academy survived for 900 years, until it
was closed down in 529 AD, making it the longest surviving university known.

The Academy played a critical role not only in the preservation of Greek knowledge, but also of
Egyptian knowledge. Fueled by an intense desire to understand the coherent, complete and
interrelated system of science, religion, art and philosophy of the Egyptian civilization,
legendary Greek thinkers like Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristotle, Herodotus (later to become known
as the 'father of history'), and Plato himself, derived much of their wisdom and knowledge from
the science of Ancient Egypt. Greek and Egyptian cultures became intertwined after the death of
Alexander the Great in 323 BC.

When the Christian emperor Justinian closed Plato's Academy during the holy crusade against
classical thought, Christian heresy, and paganism, many of its members were forced into exile.
As they fled, they took with them precious scrolls of literature, philosophy, and science. These
scholar-refugees journeyed to Persia and other places east, looking for sanctuary under the rule
of Sassanid King Khusro I, and in academies like the seventh century Academy of Jundishapur
in Persia.

5. The Great Library at Alexandria

During the Greco-Roman era, the intellectual leadership shifted from Athens to Alexandria.
Alexander the Great's dream of unifying the world sparked the idea of constructing a great
library, which would gather the cultures and civilizations of the whole world. The location of this
great library was Alexandria, Egypt, at the crossroads of the three continents of Asia, Africa and
Europe. In this historical moment, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina was built on a site near the
famous Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

The Great Library at Alexandria was the first recorded attempt at making a collection of all the
world's recorded knowledge. Records report that it was connected to the Mouseion, or Temple of
the Muses, which was an academy of learned men dedicated to the preservation, copying, and
cataloging of knowledge. It was founded by the Pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter around 300 BCE,
whose great ambition was to possess all known world literature. Later, Ptolemy II Philadelphus
gave it the mission of procuring a copy of every book that existed.

In addition to the acquisition of the bulk of Greek literature and a lot of the knowledge of
Ancient Egypt, there is evidence that the The Great Library also incorporated the written works
of other nations, including Buddhist writings and works from the Jewish, Babylonian,
Zoroastrian, and the newly emergent Roman traditions. Ancient historians claim that the library's
700,000 book collection was so comprehensive that no manuscript was available in any library
worldwide that was not available in Alexandria.

Demetrius of Phaleron, a student of Aristotle, was the first recorded librarian at Alexandria
between 290 - 282 BC. According to Aristeas, writing 100 years after the library's inception,
Ptolemy I delegated Demetrius the job of gathering books and scrolls, and of supervising a
massive effort to translate works from other cultures into Greek. Because there was a large
Jewish community living in Alexandria at the time, Demetrius made his first job the translation
 30

of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek (the 'Septuagint') for which the Library hired 72
rabbis.

Ptolemy III Euregetes wrote to all the world's sovereigns asking to borrow their books in order to
copy them. As the Greeks lent him the texts he copied them, kept the originals, and sent the
copies back. In doing so he forfeited the rich deposit he had laid down, but he had the originals.
Ships arriving at Alexandria were searched for books and the same copy and return procedure
was inflicted. Works were not accepted as originals without rigorous textual criticism and
comparison to other copies of the same work. In this way scribal mistakes could be routed out.

The Great Library at Alexandria was founded at a unique place and time which allowed its
scholars to draw on the deductive techniques of Aristotle and Greek thought, in order to apply
these methods to the knowledges of Greece, Egypt, Macedonia, Babylonia, and beyond. The
location of Alexandria as a center of trade and major exporter of writing material offered vast
opportunities for the amassing of information from different cultures and schools of thought.

Entirely new disciplines such as grammar, manuscript preservation, and trigonometry were
established. This fortuitious collection of documents in an Egyptian city later allowed the
transmission and translation of vital classical texts into Arabic and Hebrew, where they would be
preserved long after copies were lost during the Middle Ages in Europe.

Alexandria, together with the Lyceum Academy, and the library at Pergamon, were the
prototypes for medieval monasteries and universities. The methods of research, study, and
information storage and organization developed in the Library are much the same as those being
used today. It was mainly due to the Great Alexandria Library that scholarship in Alexandria
flourished, for it was based upon thorough study and an understanding of the value of a past
heritage that was deemed worthy of preservation.

6. The Academy of Jundishapur

After all, it was the Arabs who brought with them into Spain the Arabic versions of the Greek
works, from which translations were made into Latin and spread throughout Europe during its
dark ages. This Greek body of knowledge brought Europe out of the Dark Ages and into the
Renaissance, or rebirth. The question remains, however: by whom, where, and when was the
Greek body of knowledge transmitted to the Arabs themselves?

The Arabs acquired Greek science from two sources:

- Directly from the Greeks of the Byzantine empire

- From Syriac-speaking Nestorian Christians of Eastern Persia

By the third century AD, Syriac had already replaced Greek as the literary language of Western
Asia. In Jundishapur, the Syriac texts were translated into Arabic, and by the tenth century,
almost all the available texts of Greek science were available in Arabic. In his book "How Greek
Science Passed to the Arabs", historian De Lacy O'Leary explains:
 31

"Greek scientific thought had been in the world for a long time before it reached the Arabs, and
during that period it had already spread abroad in various directions. So it is not surprising that it
reached the Arabs by more than one route. It came first and in the plainest line through Christian
Syriac writers, scholars, and scientists. Then the Arabs applied themselves directly to the original
Greek sources and learned over again all they had already learned, correcting and verifying
earlier knowledge."

In his book "Science in Translation", Scott L. Montgomery writes: "To assume that Greek was
translated into Arabic still essentially erases centuries of history. What was translated into Arabic
was usually Syriac, and the translators were neither Arabs (as the great Muslim historian Ibn
Khaldun admitted) nor Muslims. The real story involves Sanskrit compilers of ancient
Babylonian astronomy, Nestorian Christian Syriac-speaking scholars of Greek in the Persian city
of Jundishapur, and Arabic and Pahlavi-speaking Muslim scholars of Syriac."

According to tradition, the Academy of Jundishapur in Persia (modern-day Iran) began with the
founding of the city by King Shapur I in the third century AD. He is said to have ordered the
collection of Greek works on philosophy and medicine, and had them translated into Pahlavi for
the academy's library. King Shapur married a Christian princess, the daughter of the Roman
Emperor. She arrived with artisans to build and decorate in the style of Constantinople, and with
physicians, to assist her in case of illness.

This cosmopolitan city continued to develop as a center of learning and culture for several
centuries. In the sixth century, shortly before the rise of Islam, the Academy of Jundishapur
reached its peak. In many ways, the center at Jundishapur combined the sum of ancient wisdom
at the time, bringing together knowledge from Greek, Roman, Jewish, Syrian, Christian, Persian
and Hindu sources. Even Chinese thought, through the Silk Road connection, may have reached
there.

Among the scholars at the center were Greek philosophers and teachers who had fled the closed
Plato's Academy at Athens. Among the works they brought with them were Euclid's work in
mathematics, the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato, works by Ptolemy and others. Along with
Nestorian scholar-refugees, they held discussions with the king, wrote, taught and translated.
These Syriac translators thought it was essential to get as close to the original meaning of the
Greek as possible. But, this method led to a style of translation that was virtually word-for-word,
doing great injustice to Syriac word order, and later also to Arabic word order when the same
technique was used for the first translations into Arabic.

Also brought to the school were Indian scholars working in Sanskrit who discussed moral and
ethical teachings, Indian astronomy, and Indian mathematics with its Hindi numerals, which
came to the Academy on its way to Muslim lands and later to Renaissance Europe. Combining
the scientific traditions of the Greeks, Persians and Indians, it became the most important
medical center in the world, continuing its influence into the eleventh century, even during the
height of Baghdad's reign as an intellectual center. In fact, the first generation of the Baghdad
school were all graduates and scholars of Jundishapur.
 32

When the city of Jundishapur surrendered to Muslim military leaders in 636 AD, the Academy
was left undisturbed. After the establishment of the great House Of Wisdom at Baghdad, the
importance of Jundishapur was overshadowed and it gradually disappeared.

7. The House of Wisdom

By the year 529, the Roman and Byzantine emperors had already destroyed much of the Greek
knowledge because of its alleged paganism and differences with Christianity. Great librairies
were burnt to the ground: the library in Carthage with 500,000 manuscripts, the library at
Pergamus with 200,000 texts, the famous library in Alexandria, Egypt with 700,000 manuscripts,
and the Pisistratus in Athens, where only Homer's "Epics" was salvaged. Even the Vatican
libraries were raided and Plato's original Academy in Athens closed because it was a hotbed of
'pagan' philosophy.

For the history of Western civilization, the demise of Rome was a turning point. Having reached
a high level of classical culture and learning, the fall of Rome was seen as a great decline. In
Europe, the time of tumult and so-called barbarian invasions turned a sparkling civilization into
forgotten ruins. Learning and culture retreated into fortress-like monasteries, where it moldered
for centuries with little improvement. Libraries suffered the same fate. Scrolls and books were
lost, and those that were saved from ruin ended up uncataloged and forgotten in dark rooms of
monasteries.

Much of the remaining Classical Greek writing did not survive the centuries of neglect that
followed. But, while Europe wallowed in the mire of the Dark Ages, Arab scholars translated
into Arabic the few Greek texts that remained. Also translated were texts in other languages like
Syriac, into which the Greek originals had previously been translated by political and religious
refugees who had left Greece for India, Persia and other parts east, including some who had been
expelled from Plato's Academy in Athens.

It was in Baghdad that the Muslims founded their great school of translation known as the House
of Wisdom. Their formidable ambition was to translate as much as they could find of
mathematics, astronomy, astrology, ethics, geography, mechanics, music, medicine, physics,
philosophy, the construction of scientific instruments - whatever remained of Classical Greek
knowledge.

The first Arabic translations used the same literal style of the Syriac translators. Syriac had
evolved as a written language through translations of the New Testament, where it was thought
to be essential to get as close to the original meaning of the Greek as possible. This led to a style
that was virtually word-for-word translation. The Arabs later abandoned the tradition of literal
translation and concentrated on making the sense of the Greek writers comprehensible to the
reader. They went back to the original Greek texts and translated them directly into Arabic,
revising earlier translations into Syriac and Aramaic.

The House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikmah) was started by Caliph al-Mamun in 830 AD. It was the
center of Islamic learning, where great translation projects took place to convert the great works
of different cultures into Arabic, which went on to become the language of knowledge and
 33

learning for many centuries. During Baghdad's golden age there was no censorship or religious
bigotry and the Arab elite welcomed influences equally from Indians, Chinese, Christians, Jews
and Pagans. The Baghdad school employed a diverse team of Christian and Muslim translators to
help translate books from around the world.

One of the House of Wisdom's most famous scholars was Hunayn ibn Ishaq, who eventually
translated the entire canon of Greek medical works into Arabic, including the Hippocratic oath.
Later becoming the director of the school, Hunayn also wrote at least twenty-nine original
treatises of his own on medical topics. One of these was the first known medical work to include
anatomical drawings. The book was translated into Latin and for centuries was the authoritative
treatment of the subject in both Western and Eastern universities.

Some translators were paid an equal weight of gold to their translated manuscripts. It meant
sometimes traveling as far as India to look for original manuscripts and study the mathematics
and philosophy of those who had written in classical Sanskrit centuries earlier. The first great
advance on the inherited mathematical tradition was the introduction of 'Arabic numerals', which
actually originated in India and which simplified calculation of all sorts and made possible the
development of algerbra.

This translation of knowledge is considered to be one of the main events of the Middle Ages.
The House of Wisdom's main concern was foreign knowledge, and around it the Baghdad School
evolved. Great libraries and schools thrived on the works that the translators contributed. The
House of Wisdom restored the continuity of human knowledge by learning and translating from
the older cultures. Without the ancient knowledge that was preserved and translated through the
dark ages of medieval Europe, the Renaissance would not have been possible.

8. A Passage to India

In "How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs", O'Leary continues his account: "Then there came a
second channel of transmission indirectly through India, mathematical and astronomical work,
all a good deal developed by Indian scholars, but certainly developed from material obtained
from Alexandria in the first place. This material had passed to India by the sea route which
connected Alexandria with northwest India. Then there was also another line of passage through
India which seems to have had its beginnings in the Greek kingdom of Bactria, one of the Asiatic
states founded by Alexander the Great, and a land route long kept open between the Greek world
and Central Asia."

The most notable of the Indian translators was the scholar-monk Kumarajiva. By the end of the
fourth century, Indian culture had penetrated into China from both the north and south of India,
giving Kumarajiva the opportunity to learn Chinese as well as his native Sanskrit. Kumarajiva
began working to correct the imperfections of the provincial dialect and later to translating
Buddhist texts and correcting earlier translations. A Bureau of Translators was set up under his
supervision, with over 800 scholars on staff.

The wealth of India, with its fine cities and prosperous villages, attracted the attention of foreign
invaders, including Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia. This was a period of great
 34

scientific discovery and intellectual triumph for Sanskrit learning. Brahman language scholars
worked out all the major rules regarding the science of language and sounds (phonetics). Sanskrit
grammar was standardized and Indian script was formalized, well able to represent all the sounds
produced by the human voice.

Some linguists claim that ancient Indian script old Brahmi (or Indus), is a thousand years older
than the Phoenician script, currently believed to be the origin of all alphabetic writing. Alphabets
believed to be derived from old-Brahmi include Phoenician, Semitic, Aramaic of Taxila, Sabien
Hemyaretic, and Greek. In India, Indus developed in two divergent directions: Devanagari in the
north, and Ashokan Brahmi, from which derived Bhattiprolu Brahmi in the south. Devanagari is
considered one of the most perfect writing systems ever devised.

Indian mathematicians used the number zero (0), and developed the decimal system and the
concept of negative numbers. The Hindu numerical notation was then carried to Arabia about
770 AD by a Hindu scholar named Kanka, who taught Hindu astronomy and mathematics to
Arabian scholars and, with his help, they translated the material into Arabic. From Arabia, the
numerals slowly marched towards the West through Egypt and Northern Arabia, finally entering
Europe in the eleventh century.

Art, literature, and philosophy also flourished, providing many fine examples of the genius of
ancient India. Indeed, Sanskrit culture was greatly influenced by Western thought and
civilization, through contacts with the Greeks, Romans, and Persians. All of these systems
eventually came to the attention of the Arab scholars.

9. The School of Toledo

In 1085, Toledo, Spain was taken from the Muslims by Alfonso VI of Leon. It soon became the
capital of Castile and a community of scholars. There, the transmission of ancient knowledge
reached its peak through the School of Toledo where translations were made from Arabic to
Latin and later to Spanish, and helped the scientific and technological development for the
European Renaissance. Toledo took the place of Baghdad as the new great translation center of
the world.

Under the leadership of French Archbishop Raymond, who reigned from 1126 until his death in
1152, the Toledo School's Bureau of Translation attracted first rate scholars from all over
Europe. Raymond knew the wealth of knowledge and scientific expertise, which the Muslim
world possessed, and desired that Christendom gain access to its riches. Archdeacon Dominic
Gundisalvi undertook many translations and directed the Bureau of Translation that Raymond
had founded. Among the school's great scholars were Gherard of Cremona, John of Seville,
Adelard of Bath, Robert of Chester, Rudolf of Bruges, Hermann of Carinthia, and Michael Scot.
The twelfth century came to be known as the Age of Translation.

By the middle of the thirteenth century, scholars such as these had translated the bulk of ancient
science into Latin, including the writings of such greats as Aristotle, Ptolemy, Euclid and
Hippocrates, which had been preserved in Arabic for hundreds of years. These writings were
 35

either Arabic translations from Greek, Persian and Indian books or they were written by Muslim
scientists themselves as new works.

Also translated were the writings of Muslim intellectual giants who, for generations, had
expanded on the Ancient Greek works and written extensive glosses (marginal notes) and
commentaries about their translations in their manuscripts. The School of Toledo represented the
intellectual door through which this incredible storehouse of knowledge would become known to
the West.

Many translators from Arabic into Latin worked alone, however, the usual method of translation
was for two scholars to work in tandem. The basic procedure was for one scholar to translate
aloud from the Arabic text into the vernacular, and for the second to translate from the
vernacular, producing a Latin draft. For example, the translator from Arabic into Castilian (or
Catalan) might be a Jew, in which case the other member of the team would be a Christian,
typically a cleric. This practice, known as cross-language translation lent characteristic social
coloring to the process.

The following text is quoted from Jacob Bronowski's "The Ascent of Man", the award-winning
13-part BBC television series covering the history of civilization and science: "When
Christianity came to win back Spain, the excitement of the struggle was on the frontier. Here
Moors and Christians, and Jews too, mingled and made an extraordinary culture of different
faiths. In 1085 the centre of this mixed culture was fixed for a time in the city of Toledo. Toledo
was the intellectual port of entry into Christian Europe of all the classics that the Arabs had
brought together from Greece, from the Middle East, from Asia."

"We think of Italy as the birthplace of the Renaissance. But the conception was in Spain in the
twelfth century, and it is symbolised and expressed by the famous school of translators at
Toledo, where the ancient texts were turned from Greek (which Europe had forgotten) through
Arabic and Hebrew into Latin..."

A school for translation was also founded in Palermo, Sicily in the thirteenth century similar to
the school at Toledo. The two schools established close relations and exchanged books,
translations and scientists. Some of the most prominent translators at the Palermo School of
Translation were Eugenius of Palermo and Leonardo Pisano. As in Toledo, the translation work
at Palermo was mainly concerned with works in mathematics, philosophy and the natural
sciences. A result of this scientific activity are the thousands of Arabic manuscripts still held
today in the Vatican Library in Rome.

9. The Long Seventh Century

"As the Roman Empire fell, as all through Europe matted, unwashed barbarians descended on
the Roman cities, looting artifacts and burning books, the Irish, who were just learning to read
and write, took up the great labor of copying all of western literature - everything they could lay
their hands on. Without the Mission of the Irish Monks, who single-handedly re-founded
European civilization throughout the continent in the bays and valleys of their exile, the world
that came after them would have been an entirely different one - a world without books. And our
 36

own world would never have come to be." ("How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story
of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe", Thomas Cahill,
New York: Doubleday, 1995)

In his book "Ireland and Her Neighbours in the Seventh Century", historian Michael Richter
writes: "Irish society was the first outside the Roman empire to receive Christianity, and to do so
in Latin, as was to become customary elsewhere in the West. Since Ireland was spared the
upheavals which characterized the post-Roman centuries in Western Europe, Latin learning
unfolded there within a context of a vibrant native Irish culture. Because of the use of Latin, Irish
Christian culture was accessible to non-Irish scholars."

"Ireland and Spain were the societies with the most dynamic Latin culture during the long
seventh century (563-731). Where they differed was that Spain was conquered by the Muslims in
the early eighth century with a consequent decline of influence in Europe, whereas Ireland
remained largely undisturbed for another 100 years. In this way Ireland emerged as the decisive
mediator between late antiquity and the Western Middle Ages."

In 432 AD, Patrick of Ireland arrived from Britain with several of his loyal followers and, for the
remainder of his life, worked to convert the natives to Christianity. One of the most profound
introductions brought to Ireland by Patrick was the Latin alphabet. Latin had become extinct in
Britain as a spoken language, but the shadow of the Roman Empire had never extended to
Ireland.

Patrick established monasteries across the country where language and theology could be
studied. During the Dark Ages these monasteries served as sanctuaries to many of the
Continent's great scholars and theologians. Learning was prized, and the monks had plenty of
time for personal study or to learn Latin, and sometimes even Greek. The craft of the written
word would be used by Irish monks to translate many important literary works, and to record a
great wealth of oral traditions and history.

Great centers of learning were established and students from every corner of Europe flocked to
Irish universities to receive their education, including the sons of many of the Anglo-Saxon
kings. It was here that the lamp of Latin learning was preserved for the ages. During this age, the
great illuminated manuscripts of Ireland were produced. It was the long seventh century; Europe
was in the Dark Ages and Ireland was in a period of 'Golden Enlightenment'.

But Ireland's contribution was two-fold. At the same time that Christians were coming to Ireland
from abroad, thousands of Irish missionaries - male and female - were leaving their native
country to live in Britain and the Continent, in an effort to reconvert a pagan Europe to
Christianity. These pilgrims spread classical learning and influence into France, Lombardy and
England. From the sixth century onward, Irishmen were busy founding centers of learning,
churches, and monasteries all over Europe, and as far east as the Ukraine, as far north as the
Faroes, and as far south as Italy. Ireland became synonymous with literacy and learning.

The final linguistic process in Irish took place after Arabic learning was introduced to Ireland in
the twelfth century, carried there by returning Irish religious leaders and scholars who had been
 37

teaching in the great universities of Europe such as Bologna, Padua and Montpellier. By this
time, Irish medical practitioners, who were renown throughout Europe, had adopted Arabic
medical ideas. Before 1800, the Irish language actually contained the largest collection of
medical manuscript literature surviving in any one language.

"I have never met a person who is not interested in language." Steven Pinker

10. Ten Years that Changed the Perception of the Translator

(From "The ATA Chronicle", December, 1995) -During the ten years between 1536 and 1546,
three famous translators met their death. One was tortured first and then burned at the stake in
Paris, the great center of civilization. The second was strangled and then burnt in the city of
Antwerp. And even though the third died a natural death, half of Europe longed to see him
executed.

In the most dramatic of these cases, the ostensible reason for the translator's execution at the
stake was that he had dared to insert three extra words into one of his translations, words which
were not clearly present in the original. Étienne Dolet (1509–1546), a French humanist was tried
for translating one of Plato's "Dialogues" in such a way as to imply disbelief in immortality.
Dolet did in fact add three extra words to a text he was translating from Greek, though many
scholars defend their use as adding to the clarity. He was condemned as an atheist, tortured and
strangled at the age of thirty-seven; his body was burned with copies of his books at his feet.

The second translator to die for his transgressions was Bible translator and reformer William
Tyndale (1494-1536), who was so impressed by Martin Luther's teachings that he created
English versions of the Christian texts and the Torah, which he then smuggled into England
without the knowledge of King Henry VII. Tyndale was forced to flee England but was
eventually arrested in Belgium in 1535, and then imprisoned for a year and a half before being
strangled and burned at the stake.

As a translator, Tyndale coined many everyday phrases, including: "Let there be light", "Eat,
drink and be merry", "The powers that be", "Ye of little faith", "Am I my brother's keeper", "A
man after his own heart", and "Signs of the times". His translation of the Bible is credited with
influencing the later "King James" version.

The last of the three 'translator-warriors' was the charismatic and successful Martin Luther
(1483-1546) himself, who dared to translate the Bible into German, and the one man so many
would have rejoiced to see crucified. In 1540, Luther wrote the self-promoting and nationalistic
Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen, in which he criticized Latin, Hebrew and other languages for being
full of "stones and stumps", compared to his 'smooth' German writing.

As a poet, writer and translator, Luther reformed the German language in ways that can still be
felt today. He is often considered the "father of the modern German language." Still, Luther was
constantly forced to defend his principles of meaning-oriented translation and he was eventually
put under the ban of the Empire. Fearing for his safety, his own friends once kidnapped him to
protect him.
 38

Until the passage of these ten pivotal years, translators in the West had been viewed more as
heroes than as villains. They had opened all the ancient arts and sciences to the world around
them, not only philosophy, astronomy, and geometry but the more advanced range of Arab
mathematics, not to mention medicine, optics, and other sciences. They had even opened the
door to the enormously popular studies of alchemy, geomancy, and astrology. As Giordano
Bruno himself would say: "From translation all science had its off-spring."

After 1546, public attitude began to change and translators were no longer viewed as heroes.
Increasing emphasis would be placed on the inadequacy of translators and even the translation
process itself, a view which has largely prevailed until the present day.

"When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better
language." John Donne

11. Ancient Wisdom for the Modern World

Most of the world's past comes to us in translation. "It may not overstate the case," writes L. G.
Kelly, "to claim that the history of the world could be told through the history of translation."
Some of this history is well charted, as with the translation of the Bible, the work of
missionaries, and the Orientalist translators in India, but there remain vast unknown territories.
Only recently have scholars begun to write about the role of individual translators."

"At a time when people and ideas, and culture and business, seem to increasingly cross the
barriers of language, translation from one language to another becomes a necessary part of the
action, with that action being neither transparent nor automatic. Translators make choices about
how to move the text across the barriers behind which cultures have evolved characteristic
linguistic ways of seeing and thinking, of encoding and protecting their cultures. All throughout
history, we can see the creativity of individual translators as they sought to push their texts
through filters of culture and language." ("The Journal of American History", Willi Paul Adams
and David Thelen, March, 1999)

Indeed, translators have an ancient wisdom.

III. Translation and Technology

The latest years have seen remarkable changes in the world's economy and, consequently, in
everyone's lives. Many trades have disappeared, whereas others have emerged and still others
have changed dramatically to keep up with contemporary demands.

The trade - and art - of translators is arguably very old. In general terms, translators have existed
ever since two persons speaking different languages managed to communicate by means of
making one's language understandable by the other party.

Whatever was for many years seen as an art, such as painting, music or literature, has become a
business asset these years. Translation, as most other occupations nowadays, is market-oriented,
time-sensitive and must be error-free.
 39

This means that the typical translator has also changed. Instead of a highly educated, often anti-
social scholar sitting at his table for months struggling to find the right word to translate some
valuable poetry, today’s translator is usually in front of a computer screen churning out
thousands of words per day to translate documents whose timely translation may mean
sumptuous sums of money in business to the client.

Still, the outside world seems to be unaware of such change. The mere mention of translation
reminds listeners of a simple hobby or, worse than that, an odd job. Such ignorance is so wide
that it is seen within the academic world and even among students aiming at obtaining a degree
in translation.

This part aims to show how technology has changed translators' trade over the last years – and
centuries – and to demonstrate how it has turned translation from art into business. In an industry
that makes billions of dollars a year, good translators are starting to find a way to get their share
and to live high-end lives from their profitable activity.

Nevertheless, no money was involved by the time the first major works were translated, as
shown in 1, which goes back to Jerome and to the first translations of the Bible in order to
provide an overview of the trade in years gone-by and which also mentions the first
developments, such as the advent of the press and the discussion of the theory of translation.

Subpart 2 comments on the first tools available to help translators in their job. Emphasis is given
to the typewriter, which, when properly used, can increase productivity. However, such output
growth was not seen in a positive light by many professionals at first. It was the beginning of the
shift from art to business.

A major breakthrough was seen when typewriters were put aside in favour of personal
computers. Besides allowing the same touch-typing skills to be used, PCs gradually developed to
provide other extremely valuable resources for translators, including electronic dictionaries and
glossaries, voice recognition software and, most of all, computer-aided translation tools. Subpart
3 tries to render an accurate description of all such resources, placing special focus on how CAT
tools are so helpful and why they have become almost mandatory for professional translators
nowadays.

Computers have been used as early as of the late Seventies and early Eighties, and have become
almost a commodity since then. However, it was not until the early Nineties (or mid Nineties in
Brazil), that they acquired a totally new dimension with the creation of the Internet, an
international network of computers. It suddenly became possible to communicate in real time
with other people by means of such computers and to access vast repositories of information
stored in computer servers located anywhere in the world

1 The First Translators

As Giordano Bruno once said, “From translation all science had its offspring.”
 40

Such statement reveals the antiquity of this trade. In fact, it may be argued that, as of the moment
in which two individuals speaking different languages tried to engage in communication, there
was translation. Likewise, as of the moment a third person versed in both languages tried to
facilitate such communication, there was a translator.

However, the formal work of translators concerning written translations was not possible until
the very advent of writing. Before that, in pre-history, translators were mostly mediators -
marriage-brokers, go-betweens, dealmakers, peace-seekers.

As writing was initially mastered by just a few individuals, so was translation. And, as the first
books were written by members of the clergy, so were the first translations.

The first serious and long endeavours into translation were aimed at religious books. In this
aspect, no other early translator is more frequently remembered than Jerome, or Saint Jerome,
nowadays widely regarded as "the patron of translators."

Jerome, born in the year 347 in the territory now belonging to Bosnia-Herzegovina, translated
the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin. Jerome's edition, the Vulgate (meaning it was
translated into vulgar rather than erudite Latin), is still the official biblical text of the Roman
Catholic Church. His work received plenty of criticism, which shows the subjective nature of any
translation. The entry for Jerome in the Wikipedia describes his greatest work in detail.

Jerome was a renowned Latin scholar at a time when Greek was held in much higher regard.
Even though he spoke some Hebrew, he moved to Bethlehem before initiating his work in order
to improve his grasp of the language and to know more about Jewish scripture commentary. He
began his translation in 382 by correcting the existing Latin language version of the New
Testament, commonly referred to as the Itala or Vetus Latina (the "Italian" or "Old Latin"
version). By 390, he had turned to the Old Testament in Hebrew, having previously translated
portions from the Septuagint Greek version. He completed this work by 405. For the following
fifteen years, until he died, he produced a number of commentaries on Scripture, often
explaining his translation choices.

The advent of printing, made possible by Johann Gutenberg in the 15th century, made it easier
for other versions of the Bible to appear, notably by Martin Luther into German and Jakub
Wujek into Polish. Concerning English, the King James Bible has had lasting effects on the
religion, culture, and language of English-speaking countries.

The King James version of the Bible was first published in 1611. Ironically, though often
referred to as the King James Version, the only active part King James took in the translation
was lifting the criminal penalty attached to its translation and setting very reasonable guidelines
for the translation process. The book is widely regarded as an instrumental founding block for
Modern English, as many Latin words were borrowed into the language.

Between the 17th and 18th centuries, English writers such as John Dryden, Alexander Pope,
Abraham Cowley, Lord Roscommon and Lord Woodhouslee were involved in a movement
known as Augustan Poetry, inaugurating a new era by taking into account not only accuracy, but
 41

metrics and the cultural content of the translation. It was intended to provide a meaningful text
for readers, and not only a literal translation.

Until now, such dilemma between providing an accurate rendering of the original and adapting it
to the target influence has been the goal of most translators, with the most renowned of them
being able to successfully address this issue.

2 Early Tools

For many years, the only companions of a translator were ink, quill pens and paper. It was
probably with such gear that Jerome spent years translating the Bible. Since early writing was
also considered an art, calligraphy was paid much attention to, which eventually would lead to a
long time to draft one or two pages.

Even though the invention of the pencil, in the 19th century, eased some of the pains by allowing
the text to be more easily erased and overwritten, it was not until the development of the
typewriter that a tool caused such great impact in the trade. By means of touch-typing, it was
then possible to write many more words per minute, and without worrying about calligraphy.

However, such development was not very well received among some translators. The idea of
using a device to provide faster output was against the very idea of translation as a painful and
delicate art. To some, it was as if a machine were invented to create paintings, dispensing with
the painter's creativity.

Nowadays, some translators are still uncomfortable with anything that might make their trade
easier. Some of them have long been refractory to any technological advances. It has been as if
speeding up the process would make it less valuable or honourable.

Whereas using an ordinary typewriter may seem rather old-fashioned and outdated nowadays, it
used to be considered some kind of undesired advance by some translators. At that point, one
could already see two “schools” among translators: those who see it as an art, and those who see
it as a trade, or even as an asset. And it is not just a matter of age, as shown by English translator
Jack Doughty, who has been in the trade for over 53 years.

In 1965, when Mr. Doughty started freelance work, he already used, in his words, “a cheap
portable typewriter.” He never provided translations in handwriting, even though the firm for
which he worked kept accepting such translations for many years afterwards. In 1975, he
switched to an electric typewriter. An electronic one followed in 1988. As of 1991, he has been
using a computer to prepare his translations.

His career may summarise how translation tools have evolved over the years. Besides the
equipment used for actually writing the translation, the type of material employed for
consultation has seen changes as well. As discussed later in this article, hardcopy dictionaries
and glossaries are being increasingly replaced by electronic and online resources. On the other
hand, this does not mean printed material is outdated. Mr. Doughty, for instance, accepts that
 42

electronic dictionaries “have improved considerably,” but says he "cannot imagine abandoning
my (his) collection of dictionaries on paper.”

However, translation is no different to other trades when it comes to changing old habits. For all
the acknowledgement of how relevant modern translation tools are, there is a trend among more
experienced translators not to embrace them unless it proves necessary, that is, unless the
translator may end up losing his job in case of non-compliance. “I don't find it easy to master
new technology and as long as I and my clients are happy with the way I do things now, I shall
continue in the same way,” explains Mr. Doughty.

3. Computers Applied to Translation

Even in the face of so much opposition by old school translators, computers are now part of the
trade. Whereas some professionals may prefer to work without modern devices, electronic aids
are often an unquestionable asset, speeding up the process, providing consistency and preventing
translators from relying on their “traditional” memory only, but rather introducing the idea of
electronic memories, or, in the current lingo, translation memories.

Whereas some electronic tools are very expensive software that may take years for one to learn,
others are a mere reflection of old reference books in electronic format: dictionaries and
glossaries.

It may be argued that a translator who relies on his memory only and carries out no research
whatsoever is not a reliable professional. A translator is not expected to know everything in his
subject matter, and even if he does –which is theoretically unlikely–, he is not expected to
remember everything by heart. Thus reference materials have always been very valuable in the
trade of translation.

However, there are at least two drawbacks to carrying out research in hardcopy reference
material. The first of them is the time it takes for the necessary information to be found. Even
with well-organized catalogues, summaries and indexes, it may take quite a while for the right
book to be found and for it to be browsed through until the information is found. Worse still,
sometimes you may not even know exactly what you are looking for. Albeit at first seeming a bit
nonsensical, this is very common when you have the feeling "you knew that word," but your
memory is not serving you well. In that situation, simply looking at a pile of books makes you
feel impotent and frustrated.

Another drawback is that no room will ever be enough for all the books you need. Even a
translator who specialises in a very specific subject matter, such as tax law, will find it harder to
store all his books and have them handy for consultation at any time – not to mention the fact
that they will have to be bought or acquired somehow, which means touring a number of
libraries and spending a lot of money in the process.

3.1. Electronic dictionaries and glossaries

The advent of computers has minimised such drawbacks – or eliminated them altogether in some
cases. A computer-based dictionary, for instance, is stored in a fraction of a computer disk,
 43

which means all but nothing in terms of space. It still has to be bought, but an electronic version
tends to be less expensive than a hardcopy dictionary because there are fewer costs involved: no
paper, no shipping, no ink, etc. The translator will also need to spend considerably on computer
storage space (i.e. hard disks, CD-ROMs or other similar devices) to be able to store all his
dictionaries. Nevertheless, it may be argued that buying a hard disk to store 1000 dictionaries
may cost less than buying a bookshelf –or renting a room– for the same number of books.

In the end, even if savings in terms of money are not very significant, there will be a key
reduction in time spent doing research and in ease of consultation. Computer dictionaries usually
proceed automatically to the term you want to consult by simply typing the relevant word. Also,
the entry may contain links to other relevant information, that is, when you look for the term
“horário” in English, you may be simply a click away from relevant searches such as "fuso
horário" or "horário de verão." In the end, a few minutes or seconds may be enough for a real
adventure through a reference book, something that might take much longer by examining a pile
of books, and that would certainly discourage and frustrate the examiner – in this case, the
translator.

3.2. Online resources

As the Internet becomes more and more popular, it is also easier to find online resources that one
would otherwise have to buy – either in hardcopy or magnetic media. Nowadays, many
dictionaries can be browsed online, saving time and money. The Merriam-Webster, for instance,
allows users to check the meaning of any word in English, and it also contains idiomatic
expressions and phrasal verbs. The online version is rather comprehensive and still at no cost.
The only drawback is that, if you do not know the word you are looking for, it may be of not as
much help as hardcopy material, as it will only return a match if you insert a word. For instance,
if a translator has the feeling the word he is looking for starts with "ped," he will most likely go
through all words starting in "ped" and find what he is looking for in a hardcopy dictionary. This
unfortunately would not be possible at the Merriam-Webster website.

3.3. Computer-assisted translation tools

Computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools are computer software packages aimed at facilitating
translation by creating the so-called translation memories (TMs) containing the choices made by
the translator himself. When a CAT tool is used, the source document, written in a source
language, is segmented – a segment can be any part of a text, but it is usually a sentence ending
in a full stop. Each source segment, then, is supposed to be matched with a target segment. When
no previous match is found in the TM, the translator is prompted to fill in a blank target segment
with the respective translation. After the translation is entered, a translation unit is created
containing the source segment and the target segment, along with source and target language
information and other optional data, such the author's name. This translation unit is added to the
translation memory.

Whenever a new segment is opened for translation, the software scans the translation memory
for that segment. If it has previously been translated –in which case it has been stored in the TM–
the TM shows the stored translation as a "100% match" in the target segment. If the new segment
 44

is found to be very similar to one or more segments stored, the TM may show a "fuzzy match" in
the target segment.

Both a 100% match and a fuzzy match are suggestions presented to the translator by a database
created by himself; they are by no means automatic choices that have to be followed. However,
whereas a 100% match may be edited by the translator depending on the context, a fuzzy match
must be edited because it is not actually an acceptable translation of the source segment, but just
a translation of a very similar segment, which may prove useful on how to translate the new one.

Nelson Laterman, a Brazilian translator living in the United States, explains in his very
informative personal website how CAT software works:
CAT Software allows the development of a database of sentences. To each sentence of the
original corresponds a matching translation. The translator can update, correct or delete the
sentence as he/she sees fit. The database can be used later in other projects for the same client.

Another explanation, now a bit more technical, is given by French translator Sylvain Galibert.

CATs consider a document to be a succession of meaningful units called segments. Typically a

segment is a sentence, but in some cases, it could be a phrase or even a single word. When
translating a document, the CAT will isolate segments in your document. This process is called
segmentation. It is by itself very useful to the translator as he no longer has to look for the next
sentence to translate. It's right in front of his eyes. The segment containing the sentence of the
original document is called source segment. The segment containing your translation is called
target segment.

The rationale behind using CAT tools is to speed up the translator’s work by preventing him
from having to stop and research the same term over and over again. It is, in fact, a technological
aid to the translator's own memory, which sometimes cannot be trusted.

To understand how useful translation memories are, nothing better than producing one and
seeing the results. We may take the following case as an example.

In a very lengthy legal document, the translator has to translate the heading “Grace Period.” He
does not know that the correct translation would be “Período de Carência,” so he has to stop his
work and carry out some research to find out what the correct translation is.
Now let us suppose that, again, he finds the same term in a later translation and his memory fails
him again. If he did not use a CAT tool–and consequently did not create a translation memory–,
he would have to lose time again by looking over the phrase.

However, if he did create a translation memory and is using a CAT tool, the next time he finds
the expression "Grace Period," the software will automatically present the expression "Período
de Carência" and ask him whether he would like to keep it.
This may be a very simple example, and one might say that the translator would lose just 30
seconds to find the right translation without a CAT tool. Nevertheless, one should also consider
that such memory lapses occur very often, and that such deviations may ultimately hinder the
translator's concentration and impair his work.
 45

Another advantage in using CAT tools to remember previous choices is style consistency. Good
writers usually learn that repeating the same word often and often is bad style. They learn to use
synonymous as often as possible and the mere thought of repeating the same word in the same
sentence is a nightmare. However, there are cases in which a word cannot be replaced with
another because it may lead to misunderstandings. For instance, things have to be very clear in a
contract. Therefore, even though words such as "vendor" and "supplier" may be synonymous in
certain cases, their usage must be consistent in a legally-binding document.

3.3.1. Other features

The identification of 100% and fuzzy matches is not the only way in which a CAT tool may be
useful. It may be used to look up a single word or term in the translation memory. It may show
up in another document in a different context and the translator may still locate its previous
translation at the click of a mouse. Most CAT tool packages have mechanisms that allow the user
to check whether the translation memory contains a specific term and present the sentences and
contexts in which it has been formerly found and translated.

3.3.2. Leading software packages

The top translation-memory package nowadays is unquestionably SDL Trados, which may cost
in excess of EUR 1,000 and requires a dongle (physical peripheral connected to the computer
serial port) in order to work. The reason is to prevent pirate copies from being used for free.
Wordfast, in turn, is less expensive, costing from EUR 125 to EUR 250, and can be used on a
full basis for free as long as translation memories contain up to 500 segments. SDLX used to be
a player in this market, but, following SDL's acquisition of Trados, it may be discontinued in the
future in favour of Trados Workbench. Other packages worth noting are Star Transit and
Wordfisher.

3.4. Computer-assisted translation and machine translation

In order not to lead to confusion, the difference between computer-assisted translation and
machine translation should be noted. As explained above, CAT tools are used to provide
suggestions based on the previous work done and stored by the translator himself. Machine
translation, in turn, is a process that involves the use of algorithms to automatically translate
words or sentences into a language other than the source.

One may wonder then why there are still human translators when a machine can automatically
do the job. The answer is that, for all the billions of dollars invested in artificial intelligence, no
computer software has ever succeeded in translating complex documents containing slang,
abstract language and words the meaning of which will depend on an intricate context.

Accordingly, it has been very important for professional translators to make it perfectly clear
they do not use automatic translation. Even people with not much linguistic knowledge will
recognise that software such as Systran will hardly provide them with a correct and idiomatic
translation. So, when they hear that a translation is using computer-assisted tools, it may convey
 46

the wrong idea that the translator is going to lay back and run some automatic translation with
very poor results.

In October 2000, the Wall Street Journal was quoted as giving two free online automatic
translation services a test run and concluded as follows:
These services are passable for travellers or for those wanting to translate a letter from a distant
cousin. I definitely wouldn’t use them for business or anything that remotely requires accuracy
(A Closer Look, 10/00).

Last but not least, it should be mentioned that machine translation is sometimes used on a serious
basis. As Ursula Schwalbach and Franco Zearo describe in their article Machine Translation:
Translating Automation into New Opportunities, published in the May 2006 issue of the ATA
Chronicle magazine, "language automation depends largely on consistent language patterns."
They maintain that, for the sake of slashing translation costs, computer translation may be used
in a project if the source text is written in a "disciplined" way, that is, by using plain and short
sentences and by avoiding words, phrases or sentences that might have very different
translations.

Among the known pitfalls are noun clusters, nested relative clauses, and those ubiquitous "-ing"
constructions always in search of their proper agents. For a company, it means separating
creative writing efforts (for example, marketing and advertising copy) from text intended for MT
or other automation.

Even so, the authors concede that post-editing is inevitable, as the likelihood of the computer's
producing inaccurate translations is high. Nevertheless, the cost of the translation job as a whole
will arguably be lower, since editing usually costs less than actual translation. As the authors
sustain, "when coupled with terminology management, and post-editing services, MT can
provide an attractive cost/benefit solution."

3.5. Other useful software

Besides software programs that have been developed specifically to facilitate the work of
translators and linguists in general, such professionals may currently benefit by using an array of
other software solutions to speed up and improve their job. These programs include voice
recognition, optical character recognition and even Microsoft Word features.

3.5.1. Voice recognition

Occupational diseases are a major issue for any professionals, and translators are no exception to
the rule. Looking at the computer monitor for long hours and sitting in an improper position are
two examples of activities that might lead to illnesses.

Another potentially hazardous habit is typing on the keyboard for too long. It can affect muscles
and nerves and lead to repetitive strain injury (RSI). Many translators have experienced such
symptoms, whereas many others are afraid they might some day develop them, and it's to prevent
it that voice recognition software has been increasingly used in the field of translation.
 47

IBM's Via Voice and Dragon's Naturally Speaking are just two examples of commercially-
developed software packages that allow computer users to dictate texts instead of typing them on
the keyboard. Both are available for all major languages, but they also share the same
vulnerability: they need extensive "training" of the software so as to correctly "understand" all
words that are said and transpose them to the word processor software.
In addition, microphone sensitivity may also play a role in hindering voice recognition
effectiveness. The ideal scenario includes a high-fidelity microphone, total absence of noise, a
clear and steady pronunciation and, most of all, plenty of training, by which the software is told
how its unique user tends to pronounce each word. Even with such drawbacks, voice recognition
software is a revolutionary alternative for those who, for any reasons, do not want or cannot use
the keyboard any longer.

American translator Donna Sandin examined in the July 2006 issue of the ATA Chronicle
magazine the ups and downs of using voice recognition software.
Training time for this kind of program has been minimized, but do not buy it unless you are
willing to continue to use your mouse and keyboard for certain tasks. Using voice recognition
100% of the time is not practical, and you save trouble by using both voice and keyboard
functions

3.5.2. OCR

An optical character recognition (OCR) software program, as its name implies, converts image
files into text files by optically recognising alphabetic characters. It is particularly useful when
the translator receives a file that is a digital picture of newspaper page, for instance.

The OCR software scans the image file (which could be a JPG, a BMP or a PDF file created
from an image, among other formats), identifies the characters, words and sentences and copies
them into a text file. However, as it occurs with voice recognition, OCR may not function
properly unless in an ideal scenario: the font in the image file must not be too small nor can there
be any text overlapping.

Usually, the OCR program will allow the user to review the operation by identifying a few
potentially incorrect words transposed to the text document and comparing them to the
corresponding part of the image file. OCR software also usually contains a built-in dictionary in
order to validate the program choices. Whenever the scanning of the image file results in an
unknown word, the user is prompted to validate the choice, as there could have been an error.
One typical OCR error is mistaking a small "L" for a capital "i" (both looking the same as "I").

3.5.3. Microsoft Word

Translators do not have to go to any lengths to find useful software to make their work more
effective. Microsoft Word for Windows is arguably the most widely used word processor, and
this is partly due to the fact that it is very intuitive and easy to use – you just launch it and start
typing. However, Word is a very powerful application with countless features that most users
never take advantage of. One of them is the so-called AutoCorrect, by means of which typing
 48

frequently repeated terms may be prevented. As American translator Clifford E. Landers

demonstrates in his article Save Time and Avoid Errors with MS Word's AutoCorrect, published
in the June 2006 issue of the ATA Chronicle magazine, the user may assign an abbreviation to
any given word, sentence of sequence of words. Afterwards, whenever that specific abbreviation
is typed, followed by a space, the full word or sequence of words will appear, clearly saving
typing time, as exemplified by the author.

(…) just imagine how much this technique will save you when dealing with longer phrases like
Supreme Court decision ("scd"), early Shakespearean drama ("esd") or Holy Roman Apostolic
Catholic Church ("hracc").

In the same article, Landers also mentions Word's glossary function. Whenever the software
finds a word that is not in its glossary, which is a possible typo, it underlines the word in red, and
the user, by right-clicking on the word, opens a context menu with similar words, one of which
might be the actual word he wanted to use. This is specifically useful when the translator is
unsure of the spelling of a given word but does not want to lose time by looking up a dictionary.

4. The Internet as a Corpus

Until not very long ago, searching for information on the Internet was like trying to find a needle
in a haystack. You could have your bookmarks containing your main reference websites, but
there was always a feeling that you might have been missing some information published
elsewhere. Unlike with hardcopy material, you could hardly find a comprehensive directory
containing all the publications for a subject, an author or a year.

That started to change with the development of the so-called search engines. With one major
difference: they go much further than looking for key-words such as title, author and year of
publication. They can actually search inside virtually any web site. It is as if you could assemble
all your old books and instantly find out how many times a given term was used, in which books,
in which pages, and in which context – that is, next to what other terms and sentences.

No other website may sum up this breakthrough better than Yahoo directory (now remodelled)
was for many years the number one in terms of Internet searches, but the mechanism was
different: you searched for a website rather than for specific information. If you wanted to find a
website about translation, you might type the word "translation" in the query field or browse
through directories until arriving at the specific field of knowledge.

Things changed with the concept of search engines. By means of software programs called
crawlers or spiders, a wealth of computer power visits countless webpages every day and follows
every link contained on them, which means they "crawl" over the Internet trying to find as many
pages as possible. If there is one link on your webpage, odds are these crawlers will at some
point reach it.

Since these servers running crawlers have huge storage capacity, they can make a copy of each
webpage visited (excluding pictures and some special effects). When you then submit a query on
Google, for instance, the time it takes for virtually the whole of the Internet to be searched is just
 49

the time it takes for the data to travel from your computer to Google's servers and come back - all
but nothing in this high-speed Internet era.

Nevertheless, the first search engines, such as Yahoo itself, lacked something very important,
which is the ability of ranking websites according to relevance. Google, in turn, took the Internet
by storm when they developed specific (and secret) algorithms that take specific patterns and
information into account to present the most relevant information at the top of your query results.

For instance, on an earlier search engine, a query for "Brazil" might result in any website
containing this word – that is, billions of webpages. On Google, the following results appear at
the top: Brazil's Federal Government, Brazilian Tourism Portal, Yahoo! Brazil, IBGE (Brazil's
Geography and Statistics Institute), and Jornal do Brasil (a Rio de Janeiro newspaper, one of the
most traditional Brazilian dailies). These are very relevant websites for whoever wants to find
information about Brazil.

4.1. Translation and Google

It did not take long for translators to realise the potential benefits of such search engines. They
may constitute the biggest corpus on Earth. The Internet ceases to be just a tool by which
dictionaries and glossaries may be searched for specific entries to be translated or explained; now
translators can enter any term and find out how it is actually used in the language.

For instance, a non-native English speaker may be unsure about whether it is more common to
say "heavy rain" or "strong rain." A simple query on Google gives the hint: "heavy rain" results
in over 11 million web pages; "strong rain", in turn, results in fewer than 50,000 web pages.

Of course there are some drawbacks to this approach. The mere fact that almost 50,000 web
pages contained the phrase "strong rain" –which is not at all idiomatic in English– shows how
unreliable the Internet may be as a source of knowledge. After all, anything published online –
and captured by the crawlers– will be part of this huge corpus.

Fortunately, Google's algorithms tend to present "reliable" websites at the top. It is known that
this is obtained by measuring what they call "page rank," a figure that is arrived at by taking into
account the number of other websites linking to that specific page.
Nevertheless, a translator is better off not entirely trusting a machine. Checking the websites
listed in search results is essential to verify the adequacy of the information. For instance, if the
hypothetical translator trying to check the usage of "strong rain" did not even have a clue of the
possibility of using "heavy rain," he might well be tempted to go with his first idea after seeing
almost 50,000 occurrences of this phrase.

However, a closer look shows that the top hit for "strong rain" is actually for "strong, rain" in the
middle of a sentence. The same is true of the fourth hit. The fifth talks of "strong rain rates". The
second, in turn, is a webpage about Algerian affairs, very likely written by a non-native speaker
of English.
 50

Search engines prove no exception to the rule that every source of information should be looked
upon with caution. However, when correctly used, they are arguably today's translator's best
friend.

4.2. Closing the distance gap between translators

Technology advances, most notably the Internet, have not only helped translators do their job
faster and more consistently; they have actually brought together translators who live very far
away from each other. In the early days of the translation trade, it was uncommon for translators
to meet up and discuss their work. When it happened, it was by means of conferences and
summits on a periodic basis in which broader matters were discussed.
However, it has become increasingly easy to contact fellow translators quite instantly in order to
solve terminology queries when reference works seem not to suffice. Even if the Internet does
not bear any fruit in terms of providing references and sources for research, it still allows
translators to talk to each other and share their opinions, possibly leading to solving such query.

Nowadays, there are messaging software programs such as Windows Live Messenger, ICQ and
Skype, which allow instant communication, both text- and voice-based. However, the most
successful means for translation-related discussions are the so-called mailing lists.

A mailing list is a facility on the Internet that links a group of people together with common
interests. If you belong to a mailing list you can receive regular messages posted to that list via
email.

By sending a message to a mailing list, a translator may potentially reach numerous other
professionals subscribed to the same list and receive responses from all of them, responses which
will also be available for the other subscribers. Over time, the list itself constitutes archives that
become a compendium of information on how translation problems are solved and of the
processes involved.

Examples of mailing lists are Lantra-L and Trad-Prt. The former is open to translators of all
languages and is not moderated. Sometimes, due to its very wide nature, subscribers do not
follow all threads and create e-mail filters to receive just messages that pertain to them – for
instance, only messages that contain the word "Romanian." The latter is strictly moderated and is
aimed only at translators who work with Portuguese either as a target or source language.
Messages unrelated to translation are forbidden, unless if properly tagged as "offtopic" in the
subject line. Certain subjects, such as politics, are prohibited in all cases.

4.2.1 Translators' directories

The Internet also proves a valuable tool to market translators' services. The most successful
example so far is a website based in the United States, currently with thousands of subscribers.
ProZ.com went live a few years ago and is now typical of how a Web portal may help translators
advertise their services and get jobs. Users (non-paid) and members (paid) have different access
levels to the content, but I will consider here the benefits provided to members who pay an
annual fee of US$ 100.
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The KudoZ is a feature by which translators may present terminology queries to be answered and
discussed by colleagues. The asker has the option to present further notes within the same query
and then choose the most valuable answer, granting points to the respondent in a score-based
system that ranks translators by language combination and area of expertise.
This ranking is important when potential outsourcers are looking for translators in the Directory.
The more points a translator achieves in a given area or combination, the more experienced or
knowledgeable he may potentially be. Both the Directory and the KudoZ areas provide links to
translators' personal web pages hosted by ProZ.com itself. These pages contain a free-text area
for general information about the translator, as well as basic information such as educational
background, certifications, KudoZ points, availability, rates (optional) and native language.

The BlueBoard area is of immense importance as translation has become a telecommuting

activity. Oftentimes translators work for a client or agency located in another country, and, as
such, contracts can hardly be enforced and both parties rely on each other's good faith – both in
terms of delivering the job within the expected standards of accuracy and punctuality and
receiving payment. Just as outsourcers browse the website looking for clues that might indicate
the suitability of a given translator for a given job, translators can access the BlueBoard to place
their comments about the payment practices of agencies and clients they have worked for. If an
outsourcer has 10 comments by translators, and all of them are highly positive, odds are bona-
fide translators do not need to worry about not getting paid by such client or agency. However, if
the outsourcer reputation is somehow stained by multiple negative comments, translators
approached by the company might want to request payment in advance – or forget about such
outsourcer altogether. In the end, bona-fide outsourcers will not want to have their reputation
stained because that will mean a hard time to find good and reliable translators in future to pass
on their assignments.

ProZ.com members can also post jobs. It is not uncommon for a translator to outsource jobs – as
long as the client is aware of such practice. In that case, he or she may choose to contact a
specific translator or to post a job online, in which case translators may apply in accordance with
the poster's requirements. ProZ.com serves as a venue only and takes no responsibility for the
agreements made by poster and bidder.

Other tools are available for site members, including web hosting, which means translators are
provided with disk space to host a personal website not affiliated with ProZ.com and can even
buy a specific domain by paying an extra fee.

There are numerous other websites offering more or less the same content made available by
ProZ.com, including Translators' Café and Translators' Base. However, ProZ.com stands out
because of a higher number of members and also greater services provided for non-paid users.
For instance, just a few features are "members-only," among them hosting and unrestricted
access to the BlueBoard. Common users, in turn, may post comments at any time but have to
spend money or Browniz –points won by participating in other areas of the website– to access
outsourcer entries.

4.2.2. Translators' associations

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Because of the very nature of their job, it has been difficult to conjure up translators in an
association. The popularity of Internet, computers, telephony and other technologies is changing
this picture, and now translators can count on a myriad of groups, forums, agencies and
associations.

Nowadays, the most respected and well known is the American Translators Association, known
as ATA. In spite of the name, its members are both Americans and non-Americans.
The association was founded in 1959 and is the largest professional association of translators and
interpreters in the US, with 10,500 members in 70 countries.

In 2005, the ATA conducted the Translation and Interpreting Compensation Survey, which, as
well as providing the average income figures of its members, also rendered interesting
demographics. A total of 67.1% of ATA members are women, against 32.9% who are men. The
majority was not born in the United States (63.6%, against 36.4% of American-born members).
In terms of education level, three quarters of the respondents informed they have at least a
bachelor's degree (32.1%) or also a master's degree (42.5%).

One of the main aims of the association –and one that makes it popular– is to provide
accreditation. Considering that translation is an unregulated profession in many places, potential
clients usually try to assess the expertise of translators in a series of ways. Being a member of an
association such as the ATA is surely a good attestation for a translator, albeit not a guarantee.

In Brazil, there are two main associations, the Abrates, which is ATA's counterpart and offers
certification programmes as well, and the Sintra, which is a translators' union aiming at
representing the class.
Ever since its inception, the translators' trade has seen a myriad of changes, as shown in the
previous parts. Whether by means of translation memory software, electronic dictionaries or
voice recognition, translators are now able to speed up their work and make it more effective and
efficient.

Ultimately, the result of such changes has been best reflected in the income earned by translation
professionals. It may be argued that the myth of translators' being poorly-paid and under-
acknowledged workers may be now a thing of the past. Perhaps they still do not receive the
recognition they deserve, but the revenues earned from translation are on the way up.

This increase is closely related to the use of technology applied to translation. The rationale is
simple, as translation tools allegedly increase the amount of work a translator can perform within
a certain period of time. Since translation is usually paid by the word (in some cases, it may be
paid by the hour or by the page), greater effectiveness translates into higher income.

The ATA Translation and Interpreting Compensation Survey, conducted in late 2005, shows that
the average US-based freelance translator (meaning an independent contractor who does not
work in-house for any specific client) makes on average USD 54,207 per year. That amount puts
translators on a par with other professionals, such as lawyers, architects, doctors and university
professors.
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Since many ATA members do not actually live in the United States, the survey also mentioned
that non-US based translators earn a little less, at USD 47,587 per annum on average. Still, if the
amount is converted into Brazilian reais, as of 07 September 2006, it exceeds BRL 100,000 per
year, or almost BRL 8,500 per month.

The survey also showed that the average US-based translator charges USD 0.18 per source word
translated. The amount is a little higher than the rate suggested by Sintra, translators' trade union
in Brazil, namely BRL 0.22 for translation into Portuguese and BRL 0.32 for translation from
Portuguese.

It should be pointed out, however, that both ATA and Sintra simply state the average rates
practised by the market, based on their own information. Neither of them wants such figures to
be seen as pricing suggestions, as such practice might be construed as in violation of antitrust
laws and against free competition. Therefore, it can be argued that translation rates may vary
from far below average to far above average.

On the other hand, one should not fail to mention that only a small percentage of translators take
full advantage of the cutting-edge tools currently available. According to German translator Jost
Zetzsche, out of a universe estimated at 300,000, only about 10,000 to 15,000 translators
worldwide use translation memory software. Such scenario, in my opinion, is likely to change in
the near future as more and more translators understand the professional and financial benefits
that lie behind embracing technology.

One of the purposes of this paper is to encourage the translators who may eventually read it to
embrace the tools modern technology offers them, lest they may fall behind in this competitive
world, thus losing the professional and financial benefits they may otherwise reap.

IV. Kinds of Translation

The types of translations also varied. The following refers to some experts and types of
translation issued by them.

1. Larson’s Classification
Larson (1984) divided two major types of translation. They are:

1.1. Form-based Translation

Form-based translations attempt to follow the form of the source language and are known as
literal translations. If the two languages are related, the literal translation can often be
understood, since the general grammatical form may be similar. However, the literal choice of
lexical items makes the translation sound foreign.

1.2. Meaning-based Translation

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Meaning-based translations make every effort to communicate the meaning of the source
language text in the natural forms of the receptor language. Such translations are called idiomatic
translations. Idiomatic translation uses the natural form of the receptor language, both in the
grammatical constructions and in the choice of lexical items. A truly idiomatic translation does
not sound like a translation. It sounds like it was written originally in the receptor language. The
translator’s goal should be to reproduce in the receptor language a text which communicates the
same message as the source language but using the natural grammatical and lexical choices of
the receptor language, his goal is an idiomatic translation.

2. Catford’s Classification
Based on Catford (1965), there are 3 broad types or categories of translation in terms of the
extent, levels, and ranks.

2.1. Extent–full vs. partial translation. In a full translation, the entire text is submitted to the
translation process, that is very part of the ST is replaced by the TT material. In a partial
translation, some part or parts of the ST are left untranslated: they are simply transferred to and
incorporated in the TT. In literary translation it is not uncommon for some ST lexical items to be
translated this way, either because they are regarded as ‘untranslatable’ or for the deliberate
purpose of introducing ‘local colour’ in to the TT

2.2. Level-Total vs. Restricted translation. This distinction relates to the levels of language
involved in translation. . By total translation we mean what is most usually meant by
‘translation’; that is, translation in which all levels of the ST are replaced by the TT material.
Strictly speaking, ‘total’ translation is a misleading term, since though total replacement is
involved it is not replacement by equivalents at all levels. Total Translation may best defined as :
replacement of ST grammar and lexis by equivalent TT grammar and lexis with consequential
replacement of SL phonology/graphology by (non-equivalent) TT phonology/graphology. By
restricted translation we mean: replacement of ST material by equivalent TT material at only
one level. That is translation performed only at the phonological or at the graphological level, or
at one of the two levels of grammar and lexis.

2.3. Ranks–Ranks of Translation. It relates to the rank in a grammatical (or phonological)

hierarchy at which translation equivalence is established.

3. Newmark’s Classification
Newmark (1995), distinguish 8 kinds of translation. They are:

3.1. Word-for-word Translation

This is often demonstrated as interlinear translation, with the TT immediately below the ST
words. The ST word-order is preserved and the words translated singly by their most common
meanings, out of context. Cultural words are translated literally. The main use of word-for-word
translation is either to understand the mechanics of the source language or to construe a difficult
text as a pre-translation process.

3.2. Literal translation

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The ST grammatical constructions are converted to their nearest TT equivalents but the lexical
words are again translated singly, out of context. As a pre-translation process, this indicates the
problems to be solved.

3.3. Faithful translation

A faithful translation attempts to reproduce the precise contextual meaning of the original within
the constraints of the TT grammatical structures. It ‘transfers’ cultural words and preserves the
degree of grammatical and lexical ‘abnormality’ (deviation from ST norms) in the translation. It
attempts to be completely faithful to the intention and the text-realization of the ST writer.

3.4. Semantic translation

Semantic translation differs from ‘faithful translation’ only as far as it must take more account of
the aesthetic value of the ST, compromising on ‘meaning’ where appropriate so that no
assonance, word-play or repetition jars in the finished version. Further, it may translate less
important cultural words by culturally neutral third or functional terms but not by cultural
equivalents and it may make other small concessions to the readership.

3.5. Adaptation

This is the ‘freest’ form of translation. It is used mainly for plays (comedies) and poetry; the
themes, characters, plots are usually preserved, the ST cultures converted to the TT culture and
the text rewritten.

3.6. Free translation

Free translation reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without the form of the
original. Usually it is a paraphrase much longer than the original, a so-called ‘intralingual
translation’, often prolix and pretentious, and not translation at all.

3.7. Idiomatic translation

Idiomatic translation reproduces the ‘message’ of the original but tends to distort nuances of
meaning by preferring colloquialisms and idioms where these do not exist in the original.

3.8. Communicative translation

Communicative translation attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in
such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the
readership. The types of translation of number 1 to number 4 is what called SL oriented
translation while number 5 to number 8 is called TL oriented translation.
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4. Jakobson’s Classification
Besides the types of translation above, the types of translation could also divide based on the
language that involved in the process of the translation. Jakobson, In his article entitled ‘On
Linguistic Aspects of Translation’ states that there are 3 types of translation. They are:

4.1. Intralingual translation, or rewording (an interpretation of verbal signs by means of other
signs in the same language).

4.2. Interlingual translation or translation proper (an interpretation of verbal signs by means of
some other language).

4.3. Intersemiotic translation or transmutation (an interpretation of verbal signs by means of

signs of nonverbal sign systems).

According to the purpose, translation can be divided into four types: (a) pragmatic, (b) aesthetic-
poetic, (c) ethnographic, and (d) linguistic translation (Brislin, 1976). Pragmatic translation is the
translation of a message with an interest in accuracy of the information meant to be
communicated in the target language form. Belonging to such translation is the translation of
technical information, such as repairing instructions. The second type is aesthetic-poetic
translation that does not only focus on the information, but also the emotion, feeling, beauty
involved in the original writing. The third is ethnographic translation that explicates the cultural
context of the source and second language versions. The last type is linguistic translation, the one
that is concerned with equivalent meanings of the constituent morphemes of the second language
and with grammatical form. Seen from this classification, the translation of literary work should
be the aesthetic-poetic one.

The other kinds of translation or translation approach important to review are the ones related to
the concept of dynamic translation, semantic translation, communicative translation, and artistic
translation.

Dynamic translation tries to transfer the messages or ideas into a target language and to evoke in
the target language readers the responses that are substantially equivalent to those experienced
by the source text readers (Nida and Taber, 1982 :28). A definition of dynamic translation
centers on the concept of dynamic equivalence, that is the closest natural equivalence to the
source language message. Hohulin (1982: 15) notices that the definition of dynamic translation
contains three essential terms: (a) equivalent, which points toward the source language message,
(b) natural, which points toward the receptor language, and (3) closest, which binds the two
orientations together on the basis of the highest degree of approximation. Dynamic equivalence
approach can be used in the level of translating sentences or group of sentences, because the
whole message lies here.

Similar to the above concept is the idiomatic translation developed by Beekman and Callow (in
Gutt, 1991: 68). It resembles the dynamic equivalence approach in the sense that it rejects the
form-oriented translation and emphasizes that a translation should convey the meaning of the
original. A translation, according to this approach, should be faithful to the ‘dynamics’ of the
original, or the SL’s ‘naturalness’ of language use and ease of comprehension.
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The idea of dynamic translation was first proposed by Nida and Taber and the semantic and
communicative translation was by Newmark. He even states that the concepts represent his main
contribution to general theory of translation (Newmark, 1991: 10). It seems to be a reaction to
the concepts of formal and dynamic equivalence, literal and free translation. In the above
dichotomy, the first “pole” of the dichotomy (formal equivalence and literal translation) seems to
be condemned for being not be able to transfer the message. Semantic and communicative
translation seem to be in the middle of the two poles formal and dynamic translation. (Here
formal translation is understood as translation that pursues the formal equivalence and dynamic
translation is the one that seeks for the dynamic equivalence. Discussion on the issue of
equivalence can be seen in the next sub-point.)

Semantic translation emphasizes the “loyalty” to the original text. It is more semantic and
syntactic oriented and, therefore, also author-centered. On the other hand, communicative
translation emphasizes the loyalty to the “readers” and more reader-centered. The two concepts
are not to be contrasted with literal word-for-word translation which is criticized in the concept
of formal translation and literal translation. He sees it as a translation procedure. He states that
literal word-for-word translation is not only the best in both communicative and semantic
translation, but it is the only valid method of translation if equivalent effect is secured
(Newmark, 1991).

He further maintains that, in fact, there is no pure communicative or pure semantic method of
translating a text. There are overlapping bands of methods. A translation can be more or less
semantic as well as more or less communicative. Even a part of a sentence can be treated more
communicatively or more semantically. Anyhow he maintains that the more important the
language of the text or units of text, e.g. in the sacred texts, the more closely it should be
translated. Finally he points out that meaning is complicated, many-leveled, a ‘network of
relation’. The more generalization and simplification is done, the less meaning is gotten. From
this discussion, it can be argued that the choice between semantic and communicative approach
is done in the level of translating sentences or even parts of sentence (Newmark, 1991).

In the area of literary translation, Chukovsky (1984) offers the concept of artistic translation.
Like the other types of translation, meaning is a very important point to consider. Yet, style is
taken as importantly as the other aspects for style is the portrait of the author; so when a
translator distorts his style he also distorts ‘his face’ (Chukovsky, 1984). Besides the meaning,
impression on the readers should also be kept the same. This translation expert states that it is
essential that the readers of the translation should be carried into the very same sphere as the
readers of the original, and the translation must act in the very same nerves (Chukovsky, 1984).

To compare, formal and dynamic translation center on the message of the original, the semantic
and communicative translation on whether author-centered or reader-centered, and artistic
translation does on the consideration of literary aspects: ideas and style. The concepts are based
on different ground. It is clear that the concept of dynamic translation is suitable for translating
the Bible. It is so because the concept of dynamic equivalence itself was developed from the
practice of Bible translation. As it is known, there are many kinds of text some of which are with
the characteristics different from the Bible. The semantic and communicative ones, on the other
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hand, can be applied at any kinds of text. The case of style is also discussed by Newmark in his
hint that “the more important the language of the text or units of text, the more closely it should
be translated.” Finally, artistic translation is probably most appropriate for translating certain
literary works, like poetry. Maintaining the author’ style accurately is very difficult in certain
novels as the translator is confronted with the syntactic system as well as literary convention of
the target language.

5. Classification Based on Text Types

Based on the text-types or genres, translation can be divided into the following types

5.1. Administrative translation

Administration in general refers to the process of management. Administrative body is a

management body of an organization, be it large scale or small scale which supervises the overall
work procedure of the organization. Administrative translation refers to the translation of
administrative documents, for businesses administration it is business documents, for
government it is government documents and other such documents. Administrative translations
ease up the communications between the administrators of different languages.

Administrative language is different from everyday language. For accurate administrative

translation the administrative translator must have profound knowledge of the management
procedure he or she is going to translate. Proficiency in administrative language enables clear
and crisp translation of administrative documents. Thorough knowledge on the source and target
language is also necessary for culturally perfect translation.

Although administrative has a very broad meaning, in terms of translation it refers to common
texts used within businesses and organisations that are used in day to day management. It can
also be stretched to cover texts with similar functions in government.

5.2. Commercial translation

Commercial translation or business translation covers any sort of document used in the business
world such as correspondence, company accounts, tender documents, reports, etc. Commercial
translations require translators with knowledge of terminology used in the business world.

From the earlier times commercial interaction was one of the foremost features of ancient
civilizations. Commerce of different goods by the traders created new paths of cultural
interactions among different lands. Commercial translations make the path of commercial
interactions between two languages easier. Commercial translation refers to the transmission of
business, tax papers, bank documents and other types of commercial documents between two
languages.

Commercial translation requires special proficiency in the specific commercial field. The
commercial translator must have thorough knowledge regarding the commercial domain he or
she is going to translate along with deft skills in the language of commerce. A perfect
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combination of all these skills will enhance the presentation of the commercial data from the
source to the target language.

5.3. Computer translation

The word computer today is synonymous to fast life. It is a device which gears the globe to novel
heights. In this age of Internet and computers computer translation today accounts for a bulk
percentage of translation - load in the globe. Computer translations create a global path for the
world through which all the contingents can experience success by taking part in the worldwide
race for progression.

Not to be confused with CAT, computer assisted translations, which refer to translations carried
out by software. Computer translation is the translation of anything to do with computers such as
software, manuals, help files, etc.

Computer translation generally refers to software localization or translation, translation of

manuals, brochures and more. This is a technical field and the computer translator must be
endowed with technical skills in the particular software and other fields to translate perfectly.

5.4. Economic translation

Similar to commercial or business translation, economic translation is simply a more specific

term used for the translation of documents relating to the field of economics. Such texts are
usually a lot more academic in nature.

Economics is a subject dwelling on the system of production and consumption of a society.

Economics gives a clear view of the pragmatic aspect of life. Economic translation refers to
translation of documents related to economics as an academic discipline and translation non-
academic documents like bank articles, sales reports and more.

Economics is a broad and complex subject field with several sub-fields like macro economics,
micro economics and economics of a particular state and like that. For perfect economic
translation the economic translator must have in-depth knowledge on the particular domain of
economics he or she is going to translate. For non-academic economic document translation
knowledge on the specific field is required. Along with this proficiency in both source and target
languages is a primary necessity for accurate economic translations.

5.5. Financial translation

Financial translation is the translation of texts of a financial nature. Anything from banking to
asset management to stocks and bonds could be covered.

Finance is the subject dealing with economy of investment and allocation of resources. Economy
of the world runs on the science of finance. From micro level of a small household to gigantic
concerns finance plays a major role. Financial translation makes the transfer of financial
documents easier across languages.
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The world of finance is a complex maze, which speaks, in its own characteristic jargons. The
financial translator must have square knowledge of the field he or she is going to translate. For
perfect financial translations proficiency in the language of the financial world is also a primary
requirement along with skills in handling both the source and the target language. Financial
translation should be crisp and to the point and should present the technical matters perfectly in
the target language.

5.6. General translation

A general translation is the simplest of translations. A general text means that the language used
is not high level and to a certain extent could be in layman's terms. There is no specific or
technical terminology used. Most translations carried out fall under this category.

5.7. Legal translation

Legal translations are one of the trickiest translations known. At its simplest level it means the
translation of legal documents such as statutes, contracts and treaties.

A legal translation will always need specialist attention. This is because law is culture-dependent
and requires a translator with an excellent understanding of both the source and target cultures.
Law acts as a positive directive towards social betterment from the inception of human society.
Law though a universal institution is implemented in different lands differently. Legal translation
refers to the transfer of legal files, litigations, PIL, tax returns and other such documents from
one language to another. Legal translations make the communications of legal documents across
languages easier.

The language of legal field speaks in its own jargons and terminologies. In-depth knowledge
regarding the specific legal domain is an essential pre-requisite for the legal translator. Apart
from that proficiency in the legal lingo which will enable apt transfer of the legal documents
from the source to the target language.

Most translation agencies would only ever use professional legal to undertake such work. This is
because there is no real margin for error; the mistranslation of a passage in a contract could, for
example, have disastrous consequences.

When translating a text within the field of law, the translator should keep the following in mind.
The legal system of the source text is structured in a way that suits that culture and this is
reflected in the legal language; similarly, the target text is to be read by someone who is familiar
with another legal system and its language.

5.8. Literary translation

A literary translation is the translation of literature such as novels, poems, plays and poems.
The term ‘literature’ spans a vast domain including different genres of fictions like poems,
novels, short stories and several non-fictional genres. Literary translation unlocks the doors of
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unseen riches of other languages for us. It creates new paths of communications between the
literatures of different lands speaking different languages.

The translation of literary works is considered by many one of the highest forms of translation as
it involves so much more than simply translating text. A literary translator must be capable of
also translating feelings, cultural nuances, humour and other subtle elements of a piece of work.
Some go as far as to say that literary translations are not really possible. In 1959 the Russian-
born linguist Roman Jakobson went as far as to declare that "poetry by definition [was]
untranslatable". In 1974 the American poet James Merrill wrote a poem, "Lost in Translation,"
which in part explores this subject.

Literary translation is a challenging field as it includes apt transfers of the cultural values of one
language, the source language to the target language. Literary translator needs in-depth
understanding of the social, historical and cultural context of the original piece of text for
accurate semantic translation of the literary text.

5.9. Medical translation

A medical translation will cover anything from the medical field from the packaging of medicine
to manuals for medical equipments to medical books.
Like legal translation, medical translation is specialisation where a mistranslation can have grave
consequences.

Continuous innovations and inventions in medicine are gearing the globe towards a healthy
future. And from early ages medical translations made transfers of medical documents easier
between various languages. Medical translation creates bridges between different languages for
better transmissions of medical data.

Medical translation is a challenging field. The medical translator must have thorough knowledge
of the specific medical field, like dentistry, toxicology, endocrinology, cardiology or others for
clinically perfect medical translation. The language of medical world is also different and the
medical translators need to be proficient in that language. Medical translations must be in a lucid
and crisp manner and blissfully correct otherwise faulty medical translations may lead to
massacres.

5.10. Technical translation

A technical translation has a broad meaning. It usually refers to certain fields such as IT or
manufacturing and deals with texts such as manuals and instructions. Technical translations are
usually more expensive than general translations as they contain a high amount of terminology
that only a specialist translator could deal with.

One of the strongest horses driving the chariot of global progress is technology. With novel
technologies the world is touching new heights. Language barriers often create obstacles in the
path of overall technical progress of the world. Technical translation helps to dissolve the
language confines so that all the parts of the world can reap the benefits of technology. Technical
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translations ease the communication processes regarding the technical matters among different
lands speaking different languages.

Technical translation requires specific knowledge in the technical fields. The language of the
technical world is also different with their characteristic jargons and terminologies. The technical
translator must be proficient in the lingo of the technical world for technically perfect technical
translation. Translation of technical documents should be clear and crisp to the understanding of
the target reader.

V. Translation Procedures

Translation procedures, as stated by Newmark (1988), are used for the translation of sentences
and smaller units of language. According to Newmark there exist the following procedures:

- Borrowing
- Calque
- Literal translation
- Transposition
- Modulation
- Total syntagmatic change
- Adaptation

The first three, called direct translation procedures, are used when structural and conceptual
elements of the source language can be transposed into the target language. The other four,
called oblique translation procedures, are used when structural and conceptual elements of the
source language cannot be directly transposed without altering meaning or upsetting the
grammatical and stylistic elements of the target language. Oblique translation procedures require
that the translator have an in-depth knowledge of both languages involved in the translation
process. For instance, transposition requires that the translator know it is possible to replace a
word category in the target language without altering the meaning of the source language text.
Modulation, which is perhaps the most complex of all the procedures, requires that the translator
knows the mechanics of both source and target languages as well as their respective inherent
qualities.

1. Borrowing

It can be said that borrowing is the simplest translation procedure of all. Indeed, it would
scarcely be a procedure of any relevance here if the translator did not occasionally need to make
use of it in order to create some particular stylistic effect. To introduce an element of local color,
foreign terms are often retained. Elements of local color evoked by means of borrowings have an
effect on the style, and consequently also on the message itself. It is worth noting that loans often
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actually enter language via translation as happens with semantic loans or false friends against
which one has to be on one’s guard.

Vietnamese is a language that has so many borrowings, especially in recent times when the
influence of foreign cultures is stronger than ever. Examples of borrowings in Vietnamese are:
Internet, vitamin, live show, hormone, axit, virus, dollar, email… (English), toilette, cravate,
fromage, savon (French), etc.

Similarly, when translating from Vietnamese into a foreign language, we have to retain some
culturally distinctive words that cannot be replaced by foreign words. Eg. Ao dai, pho, xich lo….

2. Calque

A calque is a loan translation of a particular kind: a complete syntactic unit is borrowed, but its
individual elements are translated literally. The result may be a calque of expression, which
preserves the syntactic structure of the source language while introducing a new mode of
expression.
Eg. Global warming vs. sự nóng lên toàn cầu
Cold war vs. chiến tranh lạnh
Trade mark vs. nhãn hiệu thương mại (thương hiệu)
Superman vs. siêu nhân
Call girl vs. gái gọi .
The White House vs. Nhà trắng
The summit conference vs. hội nghị thượng đỉnh
Suicide bombing vs. ném bom tự sát

3. Literal Translation

Literal, word-for-word translation is defined as one where the resulting target language text is
grammatically correct and idiomatic, but where the translator has not needed to make any
changes other than those that are obviously required by the target language grammar itself (such
as concord, inflectional endings).

Eg. Kim Chi là cô gái đẹp, làm vợ thằng Tuân đúng là “hoa nhài cắm bãi cứt trâu”.
 Kim Chi is a beautiful girl, and as Tuan’s wife it was certainly a case of “a sprig of jasmine
in a field of buffalo shit”.

In principle, literal translation is a unique solution, reversible and complete in itself. It is most
commonly found in translations between closely related languages, and especially those having a
similar culture. If literal translation is often possible between French and English, this is because
shared metalinguistic concepts can equally well derive from a physical co-existence, periods of
bilingualism, with the conscious or unconscious imitation that accompanies a certain intellectual
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or political prestige. Another reason is the general convergence of thought, and sometimes of
structure, among the European languages (such as the creation of the definite article, the
concepts of culture and civilization).

4. Transposition

Transposition means the replacing of one word-class by another, without changing the meaning
of the message. The procedure can also be used within a language, as in rewording: thus He
announced that he would return can be reworded, with the subordinate verb becoming a noun, as
He announced his return. We call this second version the transposed form, and the original one
the base form. In translation, two types of transposition can be distinguished: obligatory and
optional transposition.

The base and transposed forms are not necessarily equivalent from the stylistic point of view.
The translator must thus be prepared to carry out a transposition if the resulting version fits better
in the sentence or allows a particular stylistic nuance to be retained. The transposed form
generally has a more literary character.

When translating from Vietnamese into English or vice versa, we have to use this procedure very
often. The reason is English tends to have more noun phrases whereas it sounds more
Vietnamese to use verb phrases.

Eg. His generosity was a result of the poverty of his early years
Sự hào phóng của ông là kết quả của những năm tháng nghèo khó thời niên thiếu.

5. Modulation

Modulation means a variation in the message due to a change in the point of view: seeing
something in a different light. It is justified when a literal or transposed translation results in a
form which is grammatically correct but not quite natural, going against the feeling of the target
language.

Through modulation, the translator generates a change in the point of view of the message
without altering meaning and without generating a sense of awkwardness in the reader of the
target text.

As with transposition, we can distinguish free or optional modulations from fixed of obligatory
ones. An example of an obligatory modulation is the phrase “in the world” which must be
rendered in Vietnamese as “trên thế giới”. It is because it would sound unnatural to say “trong
thế giới”. A common example of an optional modulation takes place when a negative expression
in the source language becomes positive in the target language, although this is also closely
linked to language specific stylistic features.
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Eg. It is not difficult to do this.

 việc này dễ thôi mà.

The difference between fixed and free modulation is one of degree. In the case of fixed
modulation, a competent bilingual will not hesitate to have recourse to this procedure if it is
supported by frequency of usage, total acceptance of usage, or a status established by the
dictionary or a grammar book.

With free modulation, no fixation has taken place and the process must be undergone anew in
each case. However, this kind of modulation is not really optional in the strict sense; correctly
carried out, it must result in the ideal target language solution corresponding to the source
language situation. By way of comparison, one could say that a free modulation leads to a
solution which makes the reader exclaim “yes, that’s just how it would be said.” Free modulation
thus nevertheless tends towards a unique solution; and this unique solution rests on a habitual
mode of thought, which is imposed and not optional. Between fixed and free modulation, there is
only a difference of degree; a free modulation may at any moment become a fixed one as soon as
it becomes frequent, or as soon as it is felt to be the unique solution (this usually happens during
the examination of bilingual texts or discussions at a bilingual conference, or as a result of a
famous translation which becomes established by virtue of its literary value). The evolution of
free modulation into a fixed one becomes complete when it is recorded in dictionaries and
grammar books, becoming something to be taught. From that moment on, non-modulation
constitutes a mistake of usage and is condemned as such.

There are several types of modulation

Concrete vs. abstract: give a pint of your blood  donnez un peu de votre sang (give a little of
your blood)

Whole vs. part: he shut the door in my face  il me claque la porte au nez (he shut the door in
my nose)

Part vs. different part: water off a duck’s back  nước đổ đầu vịt

Converses: you can have it  je vous le laisse (I leave it to you)

Cause vs. effect: baffles analysis Þ échappe a l’analyse (escapes analysis)

Means vs. result: firewood Þ bois de chauffage (wood for heating)

Different sense: the rattle of a cab (sound) Þ le roulement d’un fiarce (movement) (the rolling of
a cab)
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6. Total Syntagmatic Change

Two texts may account for the same situation by means of very different stylistic and structural
devices. The change involved is usually syntagmatic, affecting the whole of the message. Most
examples are thus fixed, they belong to the phraseological repertoire of idioms, clichés, proverbs,
nominal or adjectival collocations, etc. proverbs typically provide perfect illustrations of the
procedure: when the cat’s away, the mice will play Þ vắng chủ nhà gà vọc niêu tôm; the early
bird catches the worm Þ trâu chậm uống nước đục. And the same is true of idioms: as like as
two peas Þ giống nhau như hai giọt nước; promise the moon Þ hứa nhăng hứa cuội.

7. Adaptation

This last procedure brings us to the extreme limit of translation; it is used in cases where the
situation to which the message refers does not exist at all in the target language and must thus be
created by reference to a new situation, which is judged to be equivalent. This is therefore a
question of situational equivalence.

Eg. Bụt lại xuất hiện, khuông mặt hiền từ như người mẹ an ủi cô: con đừng khóc
The Goddess of Mercy appeared again, with a face as sweet as a loving mother, and comforted
her: "Do not cry, my child”.

In Vietnamese culture, But is understood as an old fairy man, but when ‘Tam Cam’ is translated
into English by an English author, ‘But’ is translated as ‘The Goddess of Mercy’, a female fairy
figure, which is popular in English folklores.
Besides the above-mentioned procedures, Baker (1992) also suggests some other strategies to
deal with the problems of non-equivalence at word level.

8. Naturalisation

This is the translation procedure that succeeds transference and adapts the SL word to the normal
pronunciation, and then to the normal morphology (word-forms) of the TL, e.g. cowboy – cao
bồi;

9. Cultural Equivalent

This procedure is an approximate translation where the translator translates a SL cultural word
by a TL cultural word, e.g. baccalaureat is translated as “A” level. The translation uses of these
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approximate equivalents are limited because they are not accurate, but they can be used in
general texts, publicity and propaganda, as well as for brief explanation to readers who are
ignorant of the relevant SL culture. A great advantage of approximate cultural equivalents is that
they have a greater pragmatic impact than culturally neutral terms; they are important in drama
as they can create an immediate effect. However, the main purpose of this procedure is to
support or supplement another translation procedure in a couplet.

10. Functional Equivalent

Functional equivalent, which is applied to cultural words, requires the use of cultural-free words,
sometimes with a new specific term. Its function is to neutralise or generalise the SL word; and
sometimes add a particular, e.g. baccalaureat – French secondary school leaving exam. This
procedure is the most accurate way of translating or deculturalising a cultural word.
This procedure is also used when a SL technical word has no TL equivalent. In other words, this
procedure fills in the gap between the SL culture and TL culture. In translation of cultural terms,
this procedure is often combined with transference.

10.1 Descriptive Equivalent

To distinguish description from function, Newmark (1988) presented an example: Samurai is

described as ‘the Japanese aristocracy from the eleventh to the nineteenth century’; its function
was ‘to provide officers and administrators’. Generally, description and function are essential
elements in translation.

10.2 Reduction and Expansion

Reduction and expansion are rather imprecise translation procedures, which the translator
practises intuitively in some cases and purposedly in others. There is, however, at least one shift
for any procedure.

E.g. (1) SL adjective of substance plus general noun, TL noun: science linguitique – linguistics
(2) For expansion, a not uncommon shift is SL adjective, TL adverb plus past participle: cheveux
egaux – evenly cut hair.

10.3. Combination

Couplets, triplets, quadruplets are the combinations of two, three or four of the procedures for
dealing with a single problem. These combinations are particularly in the translation of cultural
words in which transference is combined with a functional or a cultural equivalent.

V.I. Accommodation in Translation

1. What Does Accommodation Mean?

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Accommodation is considered a synonym of adaptation which means changes are made so the
target text produced is in line with the spirit of the original. A text which is not obviously a
translation in the traditional sense is thus created. Here, we must in the first place define
translation. Translation consists of providing, in the receptor language, the closest natural
equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of
style. (Nida, 1984). Is translation a scientific study or artistic endeavor, researchable theory or
technical craft, a branch of linguistics or of literature? It seems that all of these definitions have
their advocates among translators and those who have sought to characterize its theory and its
practice. Here the somewhat sterile debates about translation as a process or translation as a
product give way to fresh opportunities to cohere the semiotic, the linguistic, the social, the
cultural and the psychological perspectives on communicating. In short, it offers a broader
concept of what it means to understand. We believe translation is not merely linguistic
conversion or transformation between languages but it involves accommodation in scope of
culture, politics, aesthetics, and many other factors.

Translation, in terms of methodology, may be literal translation or free translation, which used to
be an irreconcilable dilemma in translation circles on which unfortunately no authoritative
conclusion has been reached. It is agreed that one should translate literally, if possible, or appeal
to free translation. Yet few abide by such a rule for reasons that will be discussed shortly. The
opposite of adaptation is transcription, which is a word-for-word method of translation rarely
applied in translation practice with the exception of lists and catalogues, because linguistic
differences forbid us from doing so, especially when the two languages belong to quite different
language families.

Accommodation is also translation, a free, rather than literal, kind of translation. Moreover, it is
inevitable in practice if the translation is to maintain the source message's essence, impact, and
effect. 

2. Theoretical Bases

In the West there is an interesting saying: “A translation is like a woman: if it is faithful, it is not
beautiful; if it is beautiful, it is not faithful”. The faithfulness-beauty contrast was often used by
translators to describe the effect of a piece of translated work. Most would rather prefer
faithfulness to beauty when evaluating a translation. Academically, it is the dispute between
source-centered and target-centered trends. During most of the history of translation both in
the East and the West, source-centeredness was regarded a priority and was strictly followed.
More than one hundred years ago, during the Qing Dynasty, Yan Fu, who was a household name
in the Chinese translation circles placed faithfulness as the first of his three-word principle:
faithfulness, smoothness, and elegance. Lu Xun, a well-known translator and man of letters, is a
strong supporter of such a view and his translations co-authored with his brother evidently
proved his idea, although their translations were accused by some as unnatural or even non-
understandable. Similarly, in the West, A.F. Tytler proposed his principles:

A translation should:
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- give a complete transcript of the ideas and sentiments in the original passage;
- maintain the character of the style;
- have the ease and flow of the original text.

This is cited here to demonstrate the historical fact that source-centeredness was prevalent, not to
prove that these principle are wrong or should be abandoned altogether. Instead, one should
study them seriously and apply them in practice. Our suggestion is that if for linguistic or
cultural reasons the source cannot be transcribed, we must make accommodations rather than
translate it literally. As a matter of fact, accommodations are made exactly to preserve the
original style or manner. As translation theories develop, a shift can be observed from source to
target, from form to content and meaning which is essential in any form of human
communication.

In modern times, a new theory appeared to offer a compromise. It was proposed by Christiane
Nord (2001), who introduced a pair of terms: Documentary (preserve the original exoticizing
setting) vs. instrumental translation (adaptation of the setting to the target culture). Whether a
translation ought to be instrumental or documentary when cultural and historical elements are
involved is therefore the translator's decision. If s/he focuses on the transmission of the original
flavor for the reader's reference, documentary translation is preferred; if s/he mainly intends to
convey the information for basic communication, instrumental translation is sufficient.
Moreover, if the purpose of a translation is to achieve a particular purpose for the target
audience, anything that obstructs the achievement of this purpose is a translation error. This is
significant in its emphasis on the target-centeredness.

3. Kinds of Accommodation

3.1. Collocation Accommodation

Because translation is primarily a linguistic endeavor, either oral or written, we would like
initially to deal with accommodation in the linguistic sphere.

If language were simply a nomenclature for a set of universal concepts, it would be easy to
translate from one language to another. One would simply replace the English name for a
concept with the Chinese name or vice versa. Learning a new language would also be much
easier than it is. Actually, each language articulates or organizes the world differently and
languages do not simply name existing categories, but they articulate their own.

Collocation is a difficult factor for anyone learning a foreign language. Talking from my own
experience, I from time to time find myself puzzled with some English collocations and it is not
rare that in my translation practice I often make such collocation mistakes which I do not notice
until a foreign colleague or friend points them out. There seems to be no reason for certain
collocations. Builders do not produce a building; authors do not invent a novel. Regular
dictionaries are of little help in translating collocations, and the translator must often resort to
accommodation. For example, when butter or eggs go bad they are described in English as rancid
and addled respectively. Both rancid and addled mean 'stale/rotten' but swapping modifiers
 70

would make unacceptable collocations. When translated into Chinese, a common collocation is
choule, meaning 'has become stinky.' Here accommodation is made naturally, for the original
English collocation.. Another example is the English phrase 'dry cow,' which is correctly
rendered in Chinese as 'the cow has stopped providing milk,' because a literal translation ganniu
would perplex the Chinese speaker, causing communication to fail.
 

3.2. Cultural Accommodation

Culture is too broad a term and it may cover everything. Culture can mean the arts collectively:
art, music, literature, and related intellectual activities; knowledge and sophistication:
enlightenment and sophistication acquired through education and exposure to the arts; shared
beliefs and values of a group: the beliefs, customs, practices, and social behavior of a particular
nation or people; shared attitudes: a particular set of attitudes that characterizes a group of
people (Encarta, 2003). If applied in the sense expounded above, the present article can all be
covered in one word-cultural accommodation.
 

3.3. Aesthetic Accommodation

Poetry has been notoriously believed to be untranslatable. Robert Frost once said, "Poetry is
what gets lost in translation." This is sufficient evidence of the difficulty involved in translation
of poetry; therefore accommodation is even more necessary. Because poetry is fundamentally
valuable for its aesthetic value, aesthetic accommodation becomes a skill instead of a basic
requirement. A good poetry translator instinctively knows the difference between the aesthetic
traditions of different cultures, so his/her translation can be better appreciated by the target
reader and can achieve the required effect. Otherwise the translation is doomed to be a failure no
matter how close or similar it looks to the original.

E.Nida (1984) difines translation as “ Translation consists in reproducing in the receptor

language the closest natural equivalent of the source language massage, first in terms of meaning
and secondly in terms of style.” How is style transferred in the receptor language becomes a
problem and challenge for every translator or interpreter.  As translators and interpreters we are
mediators. The ancient Chinese referred to the translator as a “match-maker” or “go-between”
and translation as a medium through which both parties finally understand each other, though it
was not considered a highly-valued profession. Obviously, the translator should not only have a
bilingual ability but also a bi-cultural vision. Translators mediate between cultures (including
ideologies, moral systems and socio-political structures), seeking to overcome those
incompatibilities which stand in the way of transfer of meaning. What has value as a sign in one
cultural community may be devoid of significance in another and it is the translator who is
uniquely placed to identify the disparity and seek to resolve it.

But there is another sense in which translators are mediators; in a way, they are ‘privilege
readers’ of the SL text. Unlike the ordinary ST or TT reader, the translator reads in order to
produce, decodes in order to re-encode. In other words, the translator uses as input to the
translation process information which would normally be the output, and therefore the end of, the
 71

reading process. Consequently, processing is likely to be more thorough, more deliberate than
that the ordinary reader; and interpretation of one portion of text will benefit from evidence
forthcoming from the processing of later sections of text. Now, each reading of a text is a unique
act, a process subject to the particular contextual constraints of the occasion, just as much as the
production of the text is. Inevitably, a translated text reflects the translator’s reading and this is
yet another factor which defines the translator as a non-ordinary reader: whereas the ordinary
reader can involve his or her own beliefs and values in the creative reading process, the translator
has to be more guarded.

V.II Culture and Translation

Language is an expression of culture and individuality of its speakers. It influences the way the
speakers perceive the world. This principle has a far-reaching implication fro translation. If
language influences thought and culture, it means that ultimate translation is impossible. The
opposite point of view, however, gives another perspective. Humboldt’s "inner" and "outer"
forms in language and Chomsky’s "deep" and "surface" structures imply that ultimate translation
is anyhow possible.

In practice, however, the possibility depends on the purpose and how deep the source text is
embedded in the culture. The more source-text-oriented a translation is, the more difficult it is to
do. Similarly, the deeper a text is embedded in its culture, the more difficult it is to work on.

Related to translation, culture manifests in two ways. First, the concept or reference of the
vocabulary items is somehow specific for the given culture. Second, the concept or reference is
actually general but expressed in a way specific to the source language culture. In practice,
however, it is suggested that a translator should take into account the purpose of the translation
in translating the culturally-bound words or expressions. The translation procedures discussed
should also be considered.

1. Cultural Consideration in Translation

It has been long taken for granted that translation deals only with language. Cultural perspective,
however, has never been brought into discussion. This can be seen in most of the following
definitions.

The first definition is presented by Catford (1965). He states that translation is the replacement of
textual material in one language by equivalent textual material in another language. In this
definition, the most important thing is equivalent textual material. Yet, it is still vague in terms of
the type of equivalence. Culture is not taken into account.

Very much similar to this definition is that by Savory (1968) who maintains that translation is
made possible by an equivalent of thought that lies behind its different verbal expressions.
Next, Nida and Taber (1969) explain the process of translating as follows.
Translating consists of reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the
source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.
 72

In Translation: Applications and Research, Brislin (1976) defines translation as: "the general
term referring to the transfer of thoughts and ideas from one language (source) to another
(target), whether the languages are in written or oral form; whether the languages have
established orthographies or do not have such standardization or whether one or both languages
is based on signs, as with sign languages of the deaf."

Identical with the above definition is the one proposed by Pinhhuck (1977). He maintains that
"Translation is a process of finding a TL equivalent for an SL utterance".

In the definitions appearing in 1960s-1970s, some similarities have been found: (1) there is a
change of expression from one language to the other, (2) the meaning and message are rendered
in the TL, and (3) the translator has an obligation to seek for the closest equivalent in the TL.
Yet, there is no indication that culture is taken into account except in that of Nida and Taber.

Actually Nida and Taber themselves do not mention this matter very explicitly. Following their
explanation on "closest natural equivalent", however, we can infer that cultural consideration is
considered. They maintain that the equivalent sought after in every effort of translating is the one
that is so close that the meaning/message can be transferred well.

The concept of closest natural equivalent is rooted in Nida's concept of dynamic equivalent. His
celebrated example is taken from the Bible, that is the translation of "Lamb of God" into the
Eskimo language. Here "lamb" symbolizes innocence, especially in the context of sacrifice. As a
matter of fact, Eskimo culture does not know "lamb". Thus, the word does not symbolize
anything. Instead of "Lamb of God", he prefers "Seal of God" to transfer the message. Here he
considers cultural aspects.

The inclusion of cultural perspective in the definition of translation unfortunately does not
continue. The later ones keep on not touching this matter. See the following definition.

"Translation involves the rendering of a source language (SL) text into the target language (TL)
so as to ensure that (1) the surface meaning of the two will be approximately similar and (2) the
structure of the SL will be preserved as closely as possible, but not so closely that the TL
structure will be seriously distorted (McGuire, 1980).

In the following definition, Newmark does not state anything about culture.

"Translation is a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and/or statement in
one language by the same message and/or statement in another language" (Newmark, 1981).
Finally, Wills defines translation more or less similarly as follows.

"Translation is a transfer process which aims at the transformation of a written SL text into an
optimally equivalent TL text, and which requires the syntactic, the semantic and the pragmatic
understanding and analytical processing of the SL" (Wills in Noss, 1982).

It is known that out of 8 definitions above only one takes cultural aspects into account, the one
by Nida and Taber. This definition is actually a specific one, rooted from the practice of the
 73

Bible translation. By nature, it is understood that the translation should be done to every
language. As the content addresses all walks of life and culture plays an important role in human
life, culture, therefore, should be considered.

The other definitions, however, are meant to explain the experts' view on translation theory to be
applied in the translation of all types of material, including scientific or technical texts which are
not deeply embedded in any culture. Thus, it can be momentarily hypothesized that cultural
consideration must be taken if the material to translate is related to culture. For material that is
not very much embedded into a specific culture, cultural consideration may not be necessary.

According to Snell-Hornby (1988), however, this exclusion of cultural aspect from the
discussion of translation theory is due to the view of the traditional approach in linguistics which
draws a sharp dividing-line between language and "extralinguistic reality" (culture, situation,
etc.). The contemporary approach, according to her, sees language as an integral part of culture.
This view can be seen in Hymes (1964) and Halliday and Hasan (1985), for example.

2. The Importance of Culture in Translation Work

Translation is not just the activity of translating word by word from the source language to
another language. This cannot guarantee quality translation as one language cannot express the
actual meaning of the other if the transalation concentrated on words only.

In fact there are differences between the meanings built in and the meanings that must be
captured and expressed. A translator might face a lot of difficulties while translating from one
language to another. This is why a translator working with a Translator Toronto or New York
based company needs to think differently by directing their attention to different aspects of the
environment.

Translation is not simply replacing words with similar meaning but of finding appropriate ways
of saying things in another language. For accurate translation from the source language to the
target language importance must be given to the culture of the target language. It is the cultural
aspect only that can help in communicating the message in the way it should be. Plus, it also
helps in avoiding misunderstandings.

Before beginning the translation work, it is essential for the translator to do some research on the
lexical content and syntax of the target language along with the ideologies, value systems and
ways of life in a given culture. This will help the translators to have an idea about the audience in
both languages and different elements of the target language. For example there is a lot of
difference in the way French is spoken in European countries and in Canadian states and the
same goes with English too and any translator in Toronto or Montreal or in some European city
will have to take the differences into account.

Key cultural elements to consider while translating:

 74

1. Customs and tradition are part of a culture and for translating a translator must be aware of
these aspects. Be it a marriage or a funeral, a festival or some vows, any translator can get into
problems if he/she translates without comprehending or understanding the significance behind
the occasion. For example, in a Christian marriage, the exchange of kisses is part of the
ceremony while the same would be totally inappropriate. Even expressing feelings in public is
outrageous here.

2. It is important to verify the connotation of the product name in a foreign language, as there
might be different meanings of the same word in different languages. This is even more
important when the translation is done for a global marketing campaign.

3. Anything humorous must be treated carefully as the target audience might not appreciate the
way it has been written or even understand it. Thus, translation and linguistic expression must be
viewed within the wider societal and cultural environment.

4. Keeping in mind the target audience, the grammar, punctuation and vocabulary should be
used as it impacts the style of the language.

5. Also consider other cultural factors too such as pictures, symbols and colors as the same
picture might have negative connotation in some other country. For example the color white is
associated with mourning in Japan but in most of the European countries it is the black color that
represents mourning. In the same way even pictures can have a cultural or political implications
and can sometimes cause a problem with the target audience.

Thus, for a good translator working with a Translator Toronto or New York based company it is
important for him to a thorough understanding of the culture of the source language as well as
that of the target language apart from their hold in linguistic. When looking for translation
service in Spanish Translation or say German Translation make sure that the company gives due
importance to the cultural aspects of both the source and the target language.

3. Language and Culture

Culture in this discussion should be seen in a broad sense, as in anthropological studies. Culture
is not only understood as the advanced intellectual development of mankind as reflected in the
arts, but it refers to all socially conditioned aspects of human life (cf. Snell-Hornby, 1988:
Hymes, 1964). In practical wordings, Goodenough (1964) puts:

"As I see it, a society's culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to
operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and do so in any role that they accept for any one
of themselves. Culture, being what people have to learn as distinct from their biological heritage,
must consist of the end product of learning: knowledge, in a most general, if relative, sense of the
term. By definition, we should note that culture is not material phenomenon; it does not consist
of things, people, behavior, or emotions. It is rather an organization of these things. It is the
forms of things that people have in mind, their models of perceiving and dealing with their
circumstances. To one who knows their culture, these things and events are also signs signifying
the cultural forms or models of which they are material representation."
 75

It can be summarized that this definition suggests three things: (a) culture seen as a totality of
knowledge and model for perceiving things, (b) immediate connection between culture and
behavior and events, and (c) culture's dependence on norms. It should be noted also that some
other definitions claim that both knowledge and material things are parts of culture. See, for
example, Koentjaraningrat (1996) and Hoijer (1967)

According to Snell-Hornby (1988), the connection between language and culture was first
formally formulated by Wilhelm Von Humboldt. For this German philosopher, language was
something dynamic: it was an activity (energia) rather than a static inventory of items as the
product of activity (ergon). At the same time language is an expression of culture and
individuality of the speakers, who perceive the world through language. Related to
Goodenough's idea on culture as the totality of knowledge, this present idea may see language as
the knowledge representation in the mind.
In 1973, Humboldt's view was echoed by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in their Sapir-
Whorf hypothesis. This principle states that thought does not "precede" language, but on the
contrary thought is conditioned by it. The system of honorific style used in Javanese, for
example, affects the speakers' concepts of social status.

Halliday (1985) states that there was the theory of context before the theory of text. In other
words, context precedes text. Context here means context of situation and culture (Halliday and
Hasan, 1985). This context is necessary for adequate understanding of the text, which becomes
the first requirement for translating. Thus, translating without understanding text is non-sense,
and understanding text without understanding its culture is impossible.

Humboldt's idea, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, and Halliday's idea have a far-reaching implications
for translation. In its extreme, the notion that language conditions thought and that language and
thought is bound up with the individual culture of the given community would mean that
translation is impossible. We cannot translate one's thought which is affected by and stated in
language specific for a certain community to another different language because the system of
thought in the two languages (cultures) must be different. Each language is unique. If it
influences the thought and, therefore, the culture, it would mean that ultimate translation is
impossible.

Another point of view, however, asserts the opposite. Ironically this also goes back to
Humboldt's idea bout inner and outer forms of language. Later it is developed into the concepts
of deep structure and surface structure by Chomsky. Inner form and deep structure is what
generally known as idea. Following this concepts, all ideas are universal. What is different is
only the surface structure, the outer from. If it is so, translation is only a change of surface
structure to represent the universal deep structure. Accordingly, translation is theoretically
always possible.

All in all, we are faced with two extremes. Which one is right? The answer, according to Snell-
Hornby (1988) lies not in choosing any of the two. If the extremes are put at the ends of a cline,
the answer lies between the two. In brief, theoretically the degree of probability for perfect
translation depends on how far the source language text (SLT) is embedded in its culture and the
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greater the distance between the culture between SLT and target language text (TLT), the higher
is the degree of impossibility.

4. Culture and Translation Theories

The cultural-specific items (CSIs) of a source text constitute a connotative semantic variable
which the translator cannot ignore. To demonstrate this idea, it is imperative to clarify the
concept of culture and to agree on a definition that will guide the comparative analysis. The
definition of the concept given by Ward Goodenough can be used as a starting point:

A society’s culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a
manner acceptable to its members, and do so in any role that they accept for any one of
themselves. Culture, being what people have to learn as distinct from their biological heritage,
must consist of the end product of learning: knowledge, in a most general, if relative sense of the
term. By this definition, we should note that culture is not a material phenomenon; it does not
consist of things, people, behavior, or emotions. It is rather an organization of these things. It is
the forms of things that people have in mind, their model for perceiving, relating and otherwise
interpreting them.

An individual’s cultural identity is therefore made up of all the things s/he has learned since birth
so as to function in her/his social environment in an optimum way. At first, the notion of cultural
identity seems to involve a certain homogeneity and unity. However, a given individual
possesses a multitude of social identities. S/he can, for instance, belong simultaneously to a
nation, an ethnicity, a gender, a social class, a socio-professional category, a geographical region
and an age group. Admitting that an individual possesses a multitude of social identities means
admitting that her/his cultural identity is multiple too. Since individuals belong simultaneously to
distinct social groups, they operate on several cultural levels.

To link this with Joyce’s short story, it is possible to spot these different levels in Gabriel, the
male protagonist. He is a man, he is Irish, he is Catholic, and he is opposed to the nationalist
movement. As Lance Hewson and Jacky Martin underline, culture is not a static entity: “‘culture’
is not some homogenous and eternal truth, but a specific collection of features which have to be
minutely examined in each translation situation”. An individual’s culture is thus multiple and
perpetually changing as s/he joins or leaves a given social group. Culture is therefore a dynamic
and hybrid system. This characteristic of culture has important consequences for the act of
translation. Indeed, languages are emanations of cultures, and translations are hence a meeting
point between languages and cultures. As Mary Snell-Hornby states: “If language is an integral
part of culture, the translator needs not only proficiency in two languages, he must also be at
home in two cultures. In other words, he must be bilingual and bicultural”. The cultural aspect of
translation cannot be understated.

The main challenge in translation is to manage to convey in the target text the cultural
connotations pertaining to the language and to the source text being translated. It is unlikely that
two concepts or two representations would coincide from one language to the other. For
example, biblical translators have been faced with the dilemma of wondering how to translate
“lamb” in a culture where the term does not connote innocence, or, even worse, where the animal
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does not exist. It seems that the risk of not conveying the source message in its totality when
dealing with CSIs is high and that entropy, a loss of information, might often occur. Translating
is not a simple linguistic transposing operation, and it is thus vital to take into account the extra-
linguistic cultural factor.

When dealing with the cultural aspect of translation, it is difficult to agree on what should be
designated as CSIs. Often, researchers avoid defining them and disagree on the terminology,
using vague expressions such as “cultural reference” or “socio-cultural term”. This lack of
precision is quite disconcerting, and it is essential to agree on a definition that may guide the
comparative analysis. These items belong to a particular culture, they refer to cultural identities
which do not have direct equivalents in another culture. For instance, references to the
institutions, history, toponymy, or art of a given culture are CSIs. Cultural connotative references
represented linguistically in a source text constitute a translation conflict because there are no
concepts covering the exact same field of definition in the target culture. This is when a CSI
appears in translation. Indeed, according to Javier Franco Aixelá, CSIs are:

Those textually actualized items whose function and connotation in a source text involve a
translation problem in their transference to a target text, whenever this problem is a product of
the nonexistence of the referred item or of its different inter-textual status in the cultural system
of the readers of the target text. These clarifications on the concept of culture and its impact on
translations prove that translating culture is a complex process. Researchers such as Michel
Ballard have shown that there are two strategic leanings when dealing with these CSIs. He
wonders how a French translator should translate a text describing English workers drinking
tea. Should the translator switch to coffee, wine or beer because in France the reference to tea
would be inappropriate in this situation? Or, should s/he keep the source item? Translators are
in a dilemma; they have conflicting options when dealing with a CSI: retaining it in the target
text (choosing “thé”), replacing it (switching to “café”) or simply not translating it.

The translation of culture demands that translators make a choice between conservation and
replacement of the item. Researchers in Translation Studies usually promote one of the two
strategies, using different but semantically approaching terminologies. Holmes uses the terms
“naturalizing” and “exoticizing”, Aixelá writes about “naturalization” and “conservation”, while
Lawrence Venuti coined the terms “domestication” and “foreignization”. Venuti’s research and
its implications are of particular relevance to this study. He believes that domestication consists
in erasing the references that could be culturally foreign to the target readership. This strategy
therefore implies the disappearance of the cultural concepts pertaining to the source language
which do not exist in the target culture. In the domestication process, translators decide to
replace CSIs by target items that they believe are equivalent to the source items. Advocates of
domestication argue that this strategy makes for a better level of comprehension for the target
readership. Indeed, in A Textbook of Translation, Paul Newmark stresses that “transference ...
blocks comprehension, it emphasizes the culture and excludes the message”. In domestication,
optimum comprehension is vital and the target readership should not be hindered by the foreign
aspects of the text. In fact, the goal of its promoters is to give the impression that the target text is
not a translation but an original. Evidence of any translation activity must therefore disappear so
as to provide an unambiguous target text. The main translating tools used in domestication,
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equivalence or non-translation, imply either the replacement of the CSI by a so-called equivalent
target item, or the obliteration of the item.

Venuti strongly opposes this theoretical discourse. He deplores this strategy which, according to
him, makes the translator totally invisible and favors the creation of a clear and transparent style
aiming at minimizing the foreign aspects of the source text. Foreignization, on the other hand,
consists in accepting the cultural difference and in reproducing the cultural specificity in the
target text. Venuti defines foreignization as “an ethnodeviant pressure ... to register the linguistic
and cultural differences of the foreign text, sending the reader abroad”. What matters here is the
source text, not an elusive optimum level of comprehension. Foreignization aims to convey the
cultural and linguistic nuances of the source text by using “resistant” tools such as calque, loan
word, or literal translation, which adhere to the text and favor the conservation of its cultural
specificity. Of course, the main argument against foreignization is the creation of a potential lack
of comprehension for the target readership. This is the reason why foreignization tools are
sometimes accompanied by explanation devices such as the extra-textual translator’s note.

These two strategies show conflicting definitions of what translations are meant to achieve and
opposing visions of the role of target texts in target cultures. Translators must choose between
“sending the reader abroad” and adapting the CSI to the target cultural environment. Whether
translators should go for domestication or foreignization is an open debate. It will thus be most
instructive to assess in practice, during the descriptive comparative analysis, when and how
translators use these strategies.

These theoretical clarifications about culture and translation help to redefine the aim of the
analysis which is comparing how the two translators translated the CSIs of the source text. From
this perspective, Joyce’s short story is an excellent source because CSIs abound. My study also
attempts to determine whether the translators’ choices are systematic. For instance, if a translator
decides to borrow a CSI once, will s/he do so for all similar items? It is also necessary to assess
what degree of entropy, on a semantic level, is implied by the translators’ choices. Finally, we
must analyze whether the translators’ strategic choices relate to domestication or foreignization
and the implications of such choices.

5. Culture and the Translator

An effective cultural translation would only be possible if the translator has had adequate
training with a particular discipline that involves international or local cultures, or had lived in a
place long enough to know the specific customs and ethos of a culture. A good cultural
translation would be able to transform the cultural content of these kinds of documents and
transfer them to the target language, sacrificing little of the much needed cultural content.

The more a translator is aware of complexities of differences between cultures, the better a
translator s/he will be. It is probably right to say that there has never been a time when the
community of translators was unaware of cultural differences and their significance for
translation. Translation theorists have been cognizant of the problems in terms of cultural
knowledge and cultural differences at least since ancient Rome. Cultural knowledge and cultural
differences have been a major focus of translator training and translation theory for as long as
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either has been in existence. The main concern has traditionally been with words and phrases that
are so heavily and exclusively grounded in one culture that they are almost impossible to
translate into the terms – verbal or otherwise – of another. Long debate have been held over
when to paraphrase, when to use the nearest local equivalent, when to coin a new word by
translating literally, and when to transcribe. All these “untranslatable” cultural-bound words and
phrases continued to fascinate translators and translation theorists.

As for practical translation, we focus on translation of culture-specific items, demonstrating how

different strategies can be used as a didactic tool for solving culture-bound translation problems.
Since the term “cultural turn” was proclaimed in 1990, its implications have informed both
translation theory and pedagogy. The need to educate future translators to become competent and
professional mediators, aware of and sensitive to linguistic and cultural diversity, has become
one of methodological axioms in translator training institutions. Cultural skills, defined as
“means and strategies for identifying and solving culture-bound translation problems” are listed
in the professional translator’s skills profile by the Directorate-General for Translation of the
European Commission (DGT) in its recommendation for the program of a European Master’s in
Translation.

Various approaches for tackling culture specific items have been developed, from contrastive,
linguistically-syntactically biased in the tradition of Vinay and Darbelnet to strategic ones,
displaying a spectrum of the translator’s loyalty between a source culture and target culture
orientation. These approaches, when involving decisions of detail, i.e. on a level of a particular
translation unit (lexical item) are called here techniques, although terms such as procedure
(Newmark 1991:3) or protocol (López Rodríguez 2002: 214) are also applied. An approach
involving a global decision about a text is defined here as a strategy.

The notion of culture is essential to considering the implications for translation and, despite the
differences in opinion as to whether language is part of culture or not, the two notions of culture
and language appear to be inseparable. In 1964, Nida discussed the problems of correspondence
in translation, conferred equal importance to both linguistic and cultural differences between the
SL and the TL and concluded that differences between cultures may cause more severe
complications for the translator than do differences in language structure. It is further explained
that parallels in culture often provide a common understanding despite significant formal shifts
in the translation. According to him cultural implications for translation are thus of significant
importance as well as lexical concerns.

Nida's definitions of formal and dynamic equivalence in 1964 considers cultural implications for
translation. According to him, a "gloss translation" mostly typifies formal equivalence where
form and content are reproduced as faithfully as possible and the TL reader is able to
"understand as much as he can of the customs, manner of thought, and means of expression" of
the SL context. Contrasting with this idea, dynamic equivalence "tries to relate the receptor to
modes of behavior relevant within the context of his own culture" without insisting that he
"understand the cultural patterns of the source-language context". According to him problems
may vary in scope depending on the cultural and linguistic gap between the two (or more)
languages concerned.
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It can be said that the first concept in cultural translation studies was cultural turn that in 1978
was presaged by the work on Polysystems and translation norms by Even-Zohar and in 1980 by
Toury. They dismiss the linguistic kinds of theories of translation and refer to them as having
moved from word to text as a unit but not beyond. They themselves go beyond language and
focus on the interaction between translation and culture, on the way culture impacts and
constraints translation and on the larger issues of context, history and convention. Therefore, the
move from translation as a text to translation as culture and politics is what they call it a Cultural
Turn in translation studies and became the ground for a metaphor adopted by Bassnett and
Lefevere in 1990. In fact Cultural Turn is the metaphor adopted by Cultural Studies oriented
translation theories to refer to the analysis of translation in its cultural, political, and ideological
context.

In 1984, Reiss and Vermeer in their book with the title of ‘Groundwork for a General Theory of
Translation’ concentrated on the basic underlying ‘rules’ of this theory which involve: 1- A
"translatum" (or TT) is determined by its skopos, 2- A TT is an offer of information in a target
culture and TL considering an offer of information in a source culture and SL. This relates the
ST and TT to their function in their respective linguistic and cultural context. The translator is
once again the key player in the process of intercultural communication and production of the
"translatum" because of the purpose of the translation.
In 1988 Newmark defined culture as "the way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a
community that uses a particular language as its means of expression", thus acknowledging that
each language group has its own culturally specific features. He also introduced ‘Cultural word’
which the readership is unlikely to understand and the translation strategies for this kind of
concept depend on the particular text-type, requirements of the readership and client and
importance of the cultural word in the text.

Peter Newmark also categorized the cultural words as follows:

1. Ecology: flora, fauna, hills, winds, plains

2. Material Culture: food, clothes, houses and towns, transport

3. Social Culture: work and leisure

4. Organizations Customs, Activities, Procedures,

5. Gestures and Habits

Newmark introduced some strategies for dealing with cultural gaps as follows:

1. Naturalization: a strategy when a SL word is transferred into TL text in its original form.

2. Couplet or triplet and quadruplet: is another technique the translator adopts at the time of
transferring, naturalizing or calques to avoid any misunderstanding: according to him it is a
number of strategies combine together to handle one problem.
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3. Neutralization: neutralization is a kind of paraphrase at the level of word. If it is at higher level

it would be a paraphrase. When the SL item is generalized (neutralized) it is paraphrased with
some culture free words.

4. Descriptive and functional equivalent: in explanation of source language cultural item there is
two elements: one is descriptive and another one would be functional. Descriptive equivalent
talks about size, color and composition. The functional equivalent talks about the purpose of the
SL cultural-specific word.

5. Explanation as footnote: the translator may wish to give extra information to the TL reader.
He would explain this extra information in a footnote. It may come at the bottom of the page, at
the end of chapter or at the end of the book.

6. Cultural equivalent: the SL cultural word is translated by TL cultural word

7. Compensation: a technique which is used when confronting a loss of meaning, sound effect,
pragmatic effect or metaphor in one part of a text. The word or concept is compensated in other
part of the text

In 1992, Mona Baker stated that S.L word may express a concept which is totally unknown in
the target culture. It can be abstract or concrete. It maybe a religious belief, a social custom or
even a type of food. In her book, In Other Words, she argued about the common non-equivalents
to which a translator come across while translating from SL into TL, while both languages have
their distinguished specific culture. She put them in the following order:

a. Culture specific concepts

b. The SL concept which is not lexicalized in TL
c. The SL word which is semantically complex
d. The source and target languages make different distinction in meaning
e. The TL lacks a superordinate
f. The TL lacks a specific term (hyponym)
g. Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective
h. Differences in expressive meaning
i. Differences in form
j. Differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms
k. The use of loan words in the source text

Mona Baker also believed that it is necessary for translator to have knowledge about semantics
and lexical sets. Because in this case:
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S/he would appreciate the “value” of the word in a given system knowledge and the difference of
structures in SL and TL. This allows him to assess the value of a given item in a lexical set.
S/he can develop strategies for dealing with non-equivalence semantic field. These techniques
are arranged hierarchically from general (super-ordinate) to specific (hyponym).

In 1996, Simon mentioned that cultural studies brings to translation an understanding of the
complexities of gender and culture and it allows us to situate linguistic transfer. She considered a
language of sexism in translation studies, with its image of dominance, fidelity, faithfulness and
betrayal. She mentioned the seventeenth century image of “les belles infidels” (unfaithful
beauties), translations into French that were artistically beautiful but unfaithful. She went further
and investigated George Steiner’s male-oriented image of translation as penetration.
In 2002, regarding cultural translation Hervey and Higgins believed in cultural translation rather
than literal one. According to them accepting literal translation means that there’s no cultural
translation operation. But obviously there are some obstacles bigger than linguistic ones. They
are cultural obstacles and here a transposition in culture is needed.

According to Hervey & Higgins cultural transposition has a scale of degrees which are toward
the choice of features indigenous to target language and culture rather than features which are
rooted in source culture. The result here is foreign features reduced in target text and is to some
extent naturalized. The scale here is from an extreme which is mostly based on source culture
(exoticism) to the other extreme which is mostly based on target culture (cultural
transplantation):

1. In "Exoticism" the degree of adaptation is very low. The translation carries the cultural
features and grammar of SL to TL. It is very close to transference.

2. "Calque" includes TL words but in SL structure therefore while it is unidiomatic to target

reader but it is familiar to a large extent.

3) "Cultural Borrowing" is to transfer the ST expression verbatim into the TT. No adaptation of
SL expression into TL forms. After a time they usually become a standard in TL terms. Cultural
borrowing is very frequent in history, legal, social, political texts; for example, “La langue” and
“La parole” in linguistics.

4. "Communicative Translation" is usually adopted for culture specific clichés such as idioms,
proverbs, fixed expression, etc. In such cases the translator substitutes SL word with an existing
concept in target culture. In cultural substitution the propositional meaning is not the same but it
has similar impact on target reader. The literal translation here may sound comic. The degree of
using this strategy sometimes depends on the license which is given to the translator by
commissioners and also the purpose of translation.

5. Based on "Cultural Transplantation", the whole text is rewritten in target culture. The TL word
is not a literal equivalent but has similar cultural connotations to some extent. It is another type
of extreme but toward target culture and the whole concept is transplanted in TL. A normal
translation should avoid both exoticism and cultural transplantation.
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So far theorists have paid attention to different aspects of language and culture and also the
translation of such culture-specific elements which has been discussed by many scholars, who
referred to such elements as “cultural terms” (Newmark 1991), “cultural references” (López
Rodríguez 2002) or “culturemes” (Zohar 1997).

According to the aim of this paper, at first some theorists who has offered some strategies for
tackling with culture bound terms, has been mentioned. As the second aim of this paper, in order
to investigate an interface of methodological assumptions and teaching environment, i.e.
solutions for classroom didactics, It suggests that tourist guidebooks are valuable teaching
material for that purpose, demonstrating how and in what modules of translator training they can
be used.

In the times of increased mobility, traveling – or as some would prefer, tourism– has become a
significant constitutive part of global, symbolic communication space and of identity
construction process. Travel experience confronts the traveling subject with otherness, and this
encounter may contribute to finding ways not only to other cultures but also to the Self, as
images and reflections of oneself and home are challenged abroad. Traveling in its various forms
has been frequently hailed an exercise in cross-cultural understanding and overcoming
stereotypes, yet, paradoxically, it contributes both to reinforcing and leveling of cultural
differences. Tourist guidebooks are a significant element of this paradoxical mechanism. While
travel writing documents and mediates encounter with otherness, tourist guidebooks, due to their
generic constraints, do so in a particularly conventionalized and ritualized manner, presenting
their destinations as mythologized cultural packages. In a globalizing world, replete with
homogenized (pop) cultural products, most tourist guidebooks produce and reproduce distinct
cultural identities of destinations and their inhabitants. As Bausinger argues, “das
Touristenspezifische wird für Touristen hergestellt” (1991). In other words, tourist guidebooks
maintain and reinforce cultural differences and cultural specificity for the sake of upholding
travel myths, desires and fantasies and thus of motivating travelers to set off. For these reasons –
offering foreign culture in a nutshell – tourist guidebooks can prove their usefulness in the
intercultural communication classroom. A critical reading of these texts offers discussion
material concerning significant aspects of intercultural communication such as world views,
stereotypes, cultural assumptions and values, attitudes and beliefs, politics of representation,
generic or text type constraints. Tourist guidebooks are also of significant pragmatic value,
offering general and thematic knowledge about their destinations, ranging from history to
cuisine.

Within tourist guidebooks, numerous instances of culture-bound elements were found, such as
names of institutions, historical buildings, tourist attractions, customs and dishes. The most
frequently applied translation technique can be for example, in Hervey and Higgins’ terms,
cultural borrowing, often followed by a gloss.

Once translators familiarized themselves with the methodology, as a follow-up they were to
select a section (or a paragraph) from a tourist guidebook to their hometown, with a high-rate of
cultural references, and prepare an annotated translation, explaining both strategic decisions and
decisions of detail with reference to culture-bound elements.
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As has been discussed, guidebooks can be useful material in translator training classes.
Embodying the spirit of traveling and worldliness, they increase students’ motivation and
interest. With the model of cultural transposition, in the practical translation classroom
guidebooks can be used to teach culture-specific items and techniques for their rendering, that is
cultural and translation skills. As guides closely relate to the area of tourism, they also prepare
students for translation of specialized tourist texts. They can also be used in the intercultural
communication classroom to foster students’ sensitivity to and awareness of cultural differences,
cultural and national identities and politics of representation. Further, our guidebook-based
activities are aimed at strengthening students’ feeling of integrity and empowerment by getting
to know the self. Approaching the chosen guides as cultural and imported products, skills of
critical analysis and self-reflexivity are taught. However, the objective is not to criticize or
protect against “cultural imperialism” of the English language but to show how some cultural
identities are made and to teach how to navigate through this world of proliferating and
competing identities. Encountering and negotiating between different world views, students
become equipped with transferable skills of communication specialists who are able to
successfully mediate between cultures and languages.

V.III. Further Reading

1. Reading 1

Linguistic Approach to Translation Theory

Joseph F. Graham in his article Theory for Translation asks the question if the time-honoured act
of translation really is a subject that begs to be theorized. It seems to me that this is indeed the
case if the wealth of literature on the subject available today is any indication. Early attempts at
theory can be traced back over 2000 years to Cicero and Horace, with the key question being
whether a translator should be faithful to the original text by adopting a “literal” (word-for-word)
approach or whether a “free” (sense-for-sense) approach should be taken. This discussion
continued right through to the second half of the 20 th century when more systematic analyses
were undertaken by Western European theoreticians. These systematic analyses, which elevated
translation studies from its role of being primarily a language-learning activity, centred on
theories of translation in new linguistic, literary, cultural and philosophical contexts (Munday). It
is the linguistic approach that is the subject during the course of this discussion.

The linguistic approach to translation theory focusing on the key issues of meaning, equivalence
and shift began to emerge around 50 years ago. This branch of linguistics, known as structural
linguistics, features the work of Roman Jakobson, Eugene Nida, Newmark, Koller, Vinay,
Darbelnet, Catford and van Leuven-Zwart. It wasn’t long however, before some theorists began
to realize that language wasn’t just about structure – it was also about the way language is used
in a given social context. This side of the linguistic approach is termed functional linguistics
(Berghout), with the work of Katharina Reiss, Justa Holz-Mänttäri, Vermeer, Nord, Halliday,
Julianne House, Mona Baker, Hatim and Mason figuring prominently.
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Of course other theorists have contributed to the development of a linguistic approach to

translation, but the abovementioned have been singled out for discussion primarily because of
their influence, and also because they are perhaps the most representative of the trends of the
time.

Douglas Robinson writes that for some translators “the entire purpose of translation is achieving
equivalence.  The target text must match the source text as fully as possible”. Linguistic meaning
and equivalence are the key issues for the Russian structuralist Roman Jakobson who, in his
1959 work On Linguistic Works of Translation, states that there are 3 types of translation:

1. Intralingual – rewording or paraphrasing, summarizing, expanding or commenting within

a language

2. Interlingual – the traditional concept of translation from ST to TT or the “shifting of

meaning from one language to another” (Stockinger)

3. Intersemiotic – the changing of a written text into a different form, such as art or
dance (Berghout; Stockinger).

For Jakobson, meaning and equivalence are linked to the interlingual form of translation, which
“involves two equivalent messages in two different codes”. He considers Saussure’s ideas of the
arbitrariness of the signifier (name) for the signified (object or concept) and how this equivalence
can be transferred between different languages, for example the concept of a fence may be
completely different to someone living in the suburbs or a prison inmate. He expands on
Saussure’s work in that he considers that concepts may be transferred by rewording, without,
however, attaining full equivalence. His theory is linked to grammatical and lexical differences
between languages, as well as to the field of semantics.

Equivalence is also a preoccupation of the American Bible translator Eugene Nida who rejects
the “free” versus “literal” debate in favour of the concept of formal and dynamic equivalence – a
concept that shifts the emphasis to the target audience. This was done in order to make reading
and understanding the Bible easier for people with no knowledge of it.

Formal equivalence centres on the form and content of the message of the ST while dynamic
equivalence, later termed functional equivalence (Venuti), “aims at complete naturalness of
expression” (Munday) in the TT. His 1964 Toward a Science of Translating and his co-
authorship with Taber in 1969 of Theory and Practice of Translation aim at creating a scientific
approach incorporating linguistic trends for translators to use in their work (Munday). He views
Chomsky’s theory of Universal Grammar as a way of analyzing the underlying structures of the
ST in order to reconstruct them in the TT, so that a similar response between the target audience
and TT and source audience and ST can be achieved.

His linguistic theory moves towards the fields of semantics and pragmatics, which leads him to
develop systems for the analysis of meaning. These include:
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1. Hierarchical structures (superordinates and hyponyms), such as the hyponyms “brother”

or “sister” and the superordinate “sibling” (Libert). In a cultural context it may not be
possible to translate “sister”, so “sibling” may need to be used.

2. Componential analysis, which identifies characteristics of words that are somehow

connected, such as “brother” in Afro-American talk does not necessarily refer to a male
relation born of the same parents.

3. Semantic structural differences where the connotative and denotative meanings of

homonyms are identified, for example “bat” the animal and the piece of sporting
equipment (Berghout).

The British translation theorist Peter Newmark, influenced by the work of Nida, feels that the
difference between the source language and the target language would always be a major
problem, thus making total equivalence virtually impossible (Munday). He replaces the terms
“formal equivalence” and “dynamic equivalence” with “semantic translation” and
“communicative translation”, and alters the focus of the translation back to the ST with his
support for a literal approach.

Nida’s attempt at a scientific approach was important in Germany and influenced the work of
Werner Koller for whom equivalence “may be ‘denotative’, depending on similarities of register,
dialect and style; ‘text-normative’, based on ‘usage norms’ for particular text types; and
‘pragmatic’ ensuring comprehensibility in the receiving culture” (Koller in Venuti). He also
works in the area of correspondence, a linguistic field dedicated to examining similarities and
differences between two language systems. One example of this would be looking at the area of
“false friends”, such as the French verb rester, which does not mean “to rest” but “to remain”.

Although discussion on equivalence has subsided, it still remains a topic that manages to attract a
certain amount of attention from some of translation theory’s leading figures. Mona Baker and
Bassnett both acknowledge its importance while, at the same time, placing it in the context of
cultural and other factors.

The emphasis of the structural approach to translation changes towards the end of the 1950s and
early 1960s with the work of Vinay, Darbelnet and Catford, and the concept of translation shift,
which examines the linguistic changes that take place in the translation between the ST and TT
(Munday). According to Venuti “Translation theories that privilege equivalence must inevitably
come to terms with the existence of ‘shifts’ between the foreign and translated texts”.

Vinay and Darbelnet in their book Stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais (1958)
compare the differences between English and French and identify two translation techniques that
somewhat resemble the literal and free methods (Vinay and Darbelnet in Venuti p.128).  Direct
(literal) translation discusses three possible strategies:

1. Literal translation or word-for-word

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2. Calque, where the SL expression is literally transferred to the TL, such as the English
character ‘Snow White’ in French becomes ‘Blanche Neige’, because the normal word
configuration in English of ‘white snow’ would be transferred as ‘neige blanche’

3. Borrowing – the SL word is transferred directly into the TL, like ‘kamikaze’.

Oblique (free) translation covers four strategies:

1. Transposition – interchange of parts of speech that do not affect the meaning, a noun
phrase (après son départ) for a verb phrase (after he left)

2. Modulation – reversal of point of view (it isn’t expensive / it’s cheap)

3. Equivalence – same meaning conveyed by a different expression, which is most useful for
proverbs and idioms (‘vous avez une araignée au plafond’ is recognizable in English as
‘you have bats in the belfry’)

4) Adaptation – cultural references may need to be altered to become relevant (‘ce n’est pas
juste’ for ‘it’s not cricket’) (Vinay and Darbelnet in Venuti).

Two other important features arise from the work of Vinay and Darbelnet. The first of these is
the idea of “servitude”, which refers to the compulsory changes from ST to TT; and “option”,
which refers to the personal choices the translator makes, such as the modulation example
above. Option is an important element in translation because it allows for possible subjective
interpretation of the text, especially literary texts (Munday).

In 1965 the term “shift” was first applied to the theory of translation by Catford in his work A
Linguistic Theory of Translation. Here he discusses two types of shift:

1. Shift of level, where a grammatical concept may be conveyed by a lexeme (the French
future tense endings are represented in English by the auxiliary verb ‘will’).

2. Category shifts, of which there are four types – structural shifts (in French the definite
article is almost always used in conjunction with the noun); class shifts (a shift from one
part of speech to another); unit or rank (longer sentences are broken into smaller
sentences for ease of translation); selection of non-corresponding terms (such as count
nouns).

His systematic linguistic approach to translation considers the relationship between textual
equivalence and formal correspondence. Textual equivalence is where the TT is equivalent to the
ST, while formal correspondence is where the TT is as close as possible to the ST
(Munday). Catford also considers the law of probability in translation, a feature that may be
linked to the scientific interest in machine translation at the time.

Some thirty years after Vinay and Darbelnet proposed the direct and oblique strategies for
translation, Kitty van Leuven-Zwart developed a more complex theory, using different
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terminology, based on their work. Her idea is that the final translation is the end result of
numerous shifts away from the ST, and that the cumulative effect of minor changes will alter the
end product (www.erudit.org). She suggested two models for translation shifts:

1. Comparative – where a comparison of the shifts within a sense unit or transeme (phrase,
clause, sentence) between ST and TT is made. She then conducts a very detailed analysis
of the “architranseme” or the core meaning of the word, and how this meaning can be
transferred to the TL. She proposes a model of shift based on micro-level semantic
transfer.

2. Descriptive – situated in the linguistic fields of stylistics and pragmatics deals with what
the author is trying to say, and why and how this can be transferred to the TT. It deals
with differences between the source and target cultures and serves as a model on a macro
level for literary works (Berghout).

The 1970s and 1980s sees a move away from the structural side of the linguistic approach as
functional or communicative consideration is given to the text. Katharina Reiss continues to
work on equivalence, but on the textual level rather than on the word or sentence level. She
proposes a translation strategy for different text types, and says that there are four main textual
functions:

1. Informative – designed for the relaying of fact. The TT of this type should be totally
representative of the ST, avoiding omissions and providing explanations if required.

2. Expressive – a “higher” level of literary text such as poetry in which the TT should aim at
recreating the effect that the author of the ST was striving to achieve. In this case Reiss
says “the poetic function determines the whole text” (Reiss in Venuti p.172).

3. Operative – designed to induce a certain behavioral response in the reader, such as an

advertisement that influences the reader to purchase a particular product or service.  The
TT should therefore produce the same impact on its reader as the reader of the ST.

4. Audomedial – films, television advertisements, etc supplemented with images and music
of the target culture in the TT (De Pedros).

Criticism has sometimes been levelled at Reiss because the chosen method for translation may
not depend only on the text type, which may also have a multifunctional purpose (Berghout;
Munday).

Within the realm of functional linguistics is Justa Holz-Mänttäri’s theory of translational action
that takes into account practical issues while, at the same time, placing the emphasis firmly on
the reader of the TT.  This means, for example, that things like the source text type may be
altered if it is deemed to be inappropriate for the target culture. She sees translation as an action
that involves a series of players, each of whom performs a specific role in the process. The
language used to label the players very much resembles that of Western economic jargon –
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initiator, commissioner, ST producer, TT producer, TT user, TT receiver, that is adding another

dimension to the theory of translation as yet rarely mentioned (Munday).

The Greek expression “skopos” that means “aim” or “purpose” was introduced to translation
theory by Hans Vermeer in the 1970s. Skopos theory, which is linked to Holz-Mänttäri’s
translational action theory (Vermeer), centres on the purpose of the translation and the function
that the TT will fulfil in the target culture, which may not necessarily be the same as the purpose
of the ST in the source culture.  The emphasis once again stays with the reader of the TT, as the
translator decides on what strategies to employ to “reach a ‘set of addressees’ in the target
culture” (Venuti p223). Cultural issues in a sociolinguistic context therefore need to be
considered. Skopos is important because it means that the same ST can be translated in different
ways depending on the purpose and the guidelines provided by the commissioner of the
translation.

In 1984 Vermeer and Reiss co-authored Grundlegung einer allgemeine Translationstheorie

(Groundwork for a General Theory of Translation) based primarily on skopos, which tries to
create a general theory of translation for all texts. As a result, criticism has been levelled at
skopos on the ground that it applies only to non-literary work (Munday); it downplays the
importance of the ST; and does not pay enough attention to linguistic detail.  I tend to disagree
with this last point because I look at skopos as a means of reflecting the ability of the translator. 
If he/she is able to produce a TT that meets the requirements stated at the outset of the
assignment, which may lie somewhere between the two extremes of a detailed report or the
summary of a sight translation, whilst working with possible time and financial constraints, then
the linguistic level is not an area that merits criticism.

Christiane Nord (1989) in Text Analysis in Translation states that there are two types of
translation:

1. Documentary – where the reader knows that the text has been translated.

2. Instrumental – where the reader believes that the translated text is an original.

She places emphasis on the ST as she proposes a ST analysis that can help the translator decide
on which methods to employ. Some of the features for review are subject matter, content,
presupposition, composition, illustrations, italics, and sentence structure (Munday p.83). In
Translation as a Purposeful Activity (1997) her theory is developed as she acknowledges the
importance of skopos. The information provided by the commissioner allows the translator to
rank issues of concern in order before deciding on inclusions, omissions, elaborations, and
whether the translation should have ST or TT priority. By also giving consideration to Holz-
Mänttäri’s role of players, she manages to provide a viewpoint that accommodates three
important concepts in the functional approach to translation.

Linked to Nord’s theory of ST analysis is discourse and register analysis which examines how
language conveys meaning in a social context. One of the proponents of this approach was the
Head of the Linguistics Department of Sydney University, Michael Halliday, who bases his work
on Systemic Functional Grammar – the relationship between the language used by the author of
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a text and the social and cultural setting. Halliday says that the text type influences the register of
the language – the word choice and syntax. He also says that the register can be divided into
three variables:

1) Field – the subject of the text

2) Tenor – the author of the text and the intended reader

3) Mode – the form of the text

all of which are important on the semantic level. Some criticism has been directed at Halliday’s
complex terminology and his approach, mainly because it is English-language based (Munda;;
Berghout).

Juliane House’s Translation Quality Assessment: A Model Revisited also examines ST and TT
register, and expands on Halliday’s ideas of field, tenor and mode.  She creates a model for
translation, which compares variables between ST and TT before deciding on whether to employ
an overt or covert translation (Stockinger). An overt translation is one that clearly centres on the
ST, in no way trying to adapt the socio-cultural function to suit the target audience (like Nord’s
documentary translation).  This means that the target audience is well aware that what they are
reading is a translation that is perhaps fixed in a foreign time and context. Such is the case with
Émile Zola’s Germinal, first published in French in 1885 and translated into English by Leonard
Tancock in 1954.  Readers of the English know that they are reading a translation of a
description of coal mining conditions in northern France in the 1800s, which retains all proper
nouns of the original French text (Ma Brûlé, Philomène, Bonnemort, Mouque). This is just one
of the techniques used to reveal the overt nature of the text. A covert translation (like Nord’s
instrumental translation) is one in which the TT is perceived to be an original ST in the target
culture.  Such is the case with the guide leaflets distributed to visitors at Chenonceau Castle in
the Loire Valley, which seem to have been created individually for an English audience and a
French audience (and possibly German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese audiences), so much so
that it is almost impossible to tell which is the ST and which is the TT.

In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation (1992) by Mona Baker, taking advantage of

Halliday’s work, raises a number of important issues. She examines textual structure and
function and how word forms may vary between languages, such as the substitution of the
imperative for the infinitive in instruction manuals between English and French. Gender issues
are raised as she discusses ways in which ambiguous gender situations can be overcome, such as
adjectival agreement in French. She also discusses three pragmatic concepts where pragmatics is
“the way utterances are used in communicative situations” (Baker in Munday):

1. Coherence relates to the audience’s understanding of the world, which may be different for
ST and TT readers.

2. Presupposition is where the receiver of the message is assumed to have some prior
knowledge. “It’s a shame about Uncle John!” assumes the reader knows that something
bad has happened to that person called Uncle John. This raises problems in translation
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because TT readers may not have the same knowledge as ST readers. Possible solutions
are rewording or footnotes.

3. Implicature is where the meaning is implied rather than stated. “John wanted Mary to
leave” may imply that “John is now happy that Mary left” (Libert lecture 24/3/05), which
can lead to a mistranslation of the intention of the message.

Basil Hatim and Ian Mason co-authored two works: Discourse and the Translator (1990) and
The Translator as Communicator (1997), in which some sociolinguistic factors are applied to
translation. They look at the ways that non-verbal meaning can be transferred, such as the change
from active to passive voice which can shift or downplay the focus of the action. They also
examine the way lexical choices are conveyed to the target culture, for example “Australia was
discovered in 1770 by Captain Cook” to an Aboriginal audience (Berghout). However, I believe
that they tend to revert to the literal versus free discussion with their identification of “dynamic”
and “stable elements within a text, which serve as indicators for a translation strategy
(Munday). Mason, in his essay Text Parameters in Translation: Transitivity and Institutional
Cultures (2003) thinks that Halliday’s Systemic Grammar should be viewed in the context of
translational institutions, such as the European Union where it “might make a more significant
contribution to translation studies” (Venuti). Interestingly, the outcome of this paper reveals a
tendency for EU translators to “stay fairly close to their source texts” (Mason In Venuti).

Like all other theories, discourse and register analysis has received its share of criticism. It has
been labelled complicated and unable to deal with literary interpretation.  The possibility of the
author’s real intention being determined, along with its fixation in the English language are also
subject to some scrutiny.

The linguistic approach to translation theory incorporates the following concepts: meaning,
equivalence, shift, text purpose and analysis, and discourse register; which can be examined in
the contexts of structural and functional linguistics, semantics, pragmatics, correspondence,
sociolinguistics and stylistics. Meanwhile, as translation strives to define its theory through the
linguistic approach, Eugene Nida’s scientific approach has evolved into a quest for a more
systematic classification of all translation theories, which he says should be based on linguistics,
philology and semiotics (Nida).

2. Reading 2

Equivalence in Translation: Some Problem-solving strategies

Introduction
In any account of interlingual communication, translation is used as a generic term.
Professionally, however, the term translation is confined to the written, and the term
interpretation to the spoken (Newmark, 1991: 35). If confined to a written language, translation
is a cover term with three distinguishable meanings: 1) translating, the process (to translate; the
activity rather than the tangible object), 2) a translation: the product of the process of translating
(e.g. the translated text), and 3) translation: the abstract concept which encompasses both the
process of translating and the product of that process Bell (1991: 13). The term 'translation' used
 92

and discussed throughout this paper is confined to the written language, and refers to both the
product and process of translating.
The definitions of translation suggested above imply that producing the same meaning or
message in the target language text as intended by the original author is the main objective of a
translator. This notion of 'sameness' is often understood as an equivalence relation between the
source and target texts. This equivalence relation is generally considered the most salient feature
of a quality translation.
Problems of Equivalence
The principle that a translation should have an equivalence relation with the source language text
is problematic. There are three main reasons why an exact equivalence or effect is difficult to
achieve. Firstly, it is impossible for a text to have constant interpretations even for the same
person on two occasions (Hervey, Higgins and Haywood (1995). According to these translation
scholars:
Before one could objectively assess textual effects, one would need to have recourse to a fairly
detailed and exact theory of psychological effect, a theory capable, among other things, of giving
an account of the aesthetic sensations that are often paramount in response to a text (Hervey,
Higgins and Haywood (1995).
Secondly, translation is a matter of subjective interpretation of translators of the source language
text. Thus, producing an objective effect on the target text readers, which is the same as that on
the source text readers is an unrealistic expectation. Thirdly, it may not be possible for translators
to determine how audiences responded to the source text when it was first produced. Miao
(2000) gives a specific example of the impossibility of the equivalence relation:
If an original was written centuries ago and the language of the original is difficult to
comprehend for modern readers, then a simplified translation may well have greater impact on
its readers that the original had on the readers in the source culture. No translator would hinder
the reader's comprehension by using absolute expressions in order to achieve equivalent effect
(Miao, 2000)
Because the target text can never be equivalent to the source text at all levels, researchers have
distinguished different types of equivalence (Lauscher, 2000). Nida (1964) suggests formal and
dynamic or functional equivalence. Formal equivalence focuses attention on the message itself,
in both form and content. It requires that the message in the target language should match as
closely as possible the different elements in the source language. Dynamic equivalence is based
on the principle of equivalent effect, where the relationship between the receptor and message
should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the
message. Newmark (1981) makes a distinction between communicative and semantic translation.
Like Nida's dynamic equivalence, communicative translation also tries to create the effect on the
target text reader which is the same as that received by readers of the source language text.
Koller (1997) proposes denotative, connotative, pragmatic, textual, formal and aesthetic
equivalence. Munday (2001) describes these five different types of equivalence as follows:
1. Denotative equivalence is related to equivalence of the extralinguistic content of a text.
2. Connotative equivalence is related to the lexical choices, especially between near-synonyms.
 93

3. Text-normative equivalence is related to text types, with texts behaving in different ways.
4. Pragmatic equivalence, or 'communicative equivalence', is oriented towards the receiver of the
text or message.
5. Formal equivalence is related to the form and aesthetics of the text, includes word plays and
the individual stylistic features of the source text.

Baker (1992) classifies various problems of equivalence in translation and suggests some
strategies to deal with them. Adopting a bottom-up approach, she begins with simple words and
phrases and continues with grammatical, textual and pragmatic equivalences.

Strategies to solve problems of equivalence

As has been mentioned above, problems of equivalence occur at various levels, ranging from
word to textual level. The equivalence problems emerge due to semantic, socio-cultural, and
grammatical differences between the source language and the target language. These three areas
of equivalence problems are intertwined with one another. The meaning(s) that a word refers to
are culturally bound, and in most cases the meaning(s) of a word can only be understood through
its context of use.
Due to semantic, socio-cultural, grammatical differences between the source language and the
target language, loss and addition of information in translation cannot be avoided. Basnett-
McGuire (1991) states that once the principle is accepted that sameness cannot exist between the
two languages, it is possible to approach the question of loss and gain in the translation process.
Bell (1991) suggests a similar point that 'something' is always lost or, one might suggest, gained
in the process, and according to Nida (1975), "all types of translation involve 1) loss of
information, 2) addition of information, and /or 3) skewing of information". To conform to the
stylistic demands and grammatical conventions of the target language, structural adjustment in
translation is inevitably needed. These possibilities are expanded below.
1. Addition of information
Information which is not present in the source language text may be added to the target language
text. According to Newmark (1988), information added to the translation is normally cultural
(accounting for the differences between SL and TL culture), technical (relating to the topic), or
linguistic (explaining wayward use of words). The additional information may be put in the text
(i.e. by putting it in brackets) or out of the text (i.e. by using a footnote or annotation). Such
additional information is regarded as an extra explanation of culture-specific concepts (Baker,
1992) and is obligatory specification for comprehension purposes. Native speakers of Batak
Tapanuli language (the native language of Batak community in North Sumatra), for example,
have the word marhusip which literally means 'to whisper'. If the word marhusip is used in the
context of discussing marriage within the community in question, its meaning is more than 'to
whisper'. It refers specifically to a situation where family members of the bride meet family
members of the groom to talk about the dowry. In the meeting, family members of the bride
whisper with one another while deciding the amount of dowry they ask from the groom. Family
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members of the groom also do they same thing while deciding whether to accept or reject it. In
this context, the word marhusip may be translated into 'to whisper', but additional information to
clarify the meaning of marhusip is needed to help target readers understand its underlying
concept.

Addition of information for specification purposes is also required "if ambiguity occurs in the
receptor language formation and if the fact that greater specificity may be required so as to avoid
misleading reference" (Nida, 1964). It would be misleading, for example, if the word men in
Tannen is an apologist for men is translated into para pria in Indonesian. The reason is that it
does not actually refer to men in general but to American men in particular, who became the
focus of Tannen's study on male-female interactions. It can be argued that translators should add
the word Amerika to the Indonesian version to avoid ambiguity or to avoid a misleading
interpretation of the outcomes of the study by Indonesian readers (Nababan, 2003).
Amplification from implicit to explicit status is another factor that requires additions. In relation
to this, Nida (1964) states that 'important semantic elements carried implicitly in the source
language may require explicit identification in the receptor language'. In a given context, the
meaning of the sentence, This rule is to round to the nearest even number, is implicitly stated and
can easily be understood by readers of the original text (See Nababan, 1989 and 1999) If
translated into Indonesian, an addition of information of suatu angka yang berada pada dua batas
kategori (a number lying between two categories) and alteration of word class (the active verb
membulatkan into the passive verb dibulatkan) are required to achieve grammaticality and
produce an explicit meaning for Indonesian readers. It is by convention the Indonesian transitive
verb membulatkan, as the equivalence of to round, needs an object. In such case, that sentence
should be rendered into:
Target sentence:
Menurut aturan pembulatan ini, suatu angka yang berada pada batas dua kategori dibulatkan ke
angka genap terdekat.
Back-translation:
According to the rule, a number lying between two categories is rounded to the nearest even
number.

Addition of information may also be required due to the shift of voice and the alteration of word
classes to avoid misinterpretation (Nida, 1964). The word cut in I cut my finger is an active
voice. If translated into Indonesian, the word class should be changed into a passive one, tersayat
(was cut) and the addition of oleh pisau (with knife) is needed if a native speaker of Indonesian
means that he or she did it by accident. There are also cases where two languages use a different
class of words and a different level of utterances to denote the same meaning. The adjective
adjustable in I have an adjustable chair is changed or translated into an adjective clause yang
dapat disetel (which can be adjusted) in which the addition of yang (which) is obligatory to
achieve grammaticality.
2. Deletion of information
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Baker (1992) refers to deletion as "omission of a lexical item due to grammatical or semantic
patterns of the receptor language" (Baker, 1992). She states further that this strategy may sound
rather drastic, but in fact it does no harm to omit translating a word or expression in some
contexts. If the meaning conveyed by a particular item or expression is not vital enough to the
development of the text to justify distracting the reader with lengthy explanations, translators can
and often do simply omit translating the word or expression in question (Baker, 1992).
There are cases where omission is required to avoid redundancy and awkwardness (Nida, 1964)
and this strategy is particularly applied if the source language tends be a redundant language. The
category of plural in English is both morphologically conditioned (e.g. child/children,
mouse/mice), and phonologically conditioned (e.g. book/books, box/boxes, pen/pens). In some
circumstances, a plural noun is also preceded by a determiner showing plurality (some books,
three pens). If the 'double' expression of such category is reflected in Indonesian, redundancy
will occur. It is by convention that the category of plural in Indonesian is lexically formed by
repetition of the noun buku-buku (book-book) or by adding a noun quantifier such as beberapa
(some) or tiga (three). Once a given noun is in the plural form, the quantifier has to be deleted.
On the other hand, once there exists a quantifier denoting plurality, the noun in question should
be in the singular form or the repetition of the noun should be avoided.
As implicitly stated by Baker (1992) above, deletion may also refer to pieces of content rather
than restructuring for grammatical purposes. Such a deletion of expressions or information is
debatable in relation to the translation of academic texts, however. Anyone who writes an
academic text, for example, will not include unimportant information in his or her writing.
Similarly, anyone who reads such a text should consider that all information in the text is
important. Translators are not an exception; they should read the text as the original reader or a
non-translator reader reads it. That is to say that this notion of information deletion should not be
used as 'an excuse' to hide the inability of translators to understand and transfer message of the
original text.
3. Structural adjustment
Structural adjustment is another important strategy for achieving equivalence. Structural
adjustment which is also called shift (see Catford, 1965) or transposition (see Vinay and
Darbellnet, 1977) or alteration (see Newmark, 1988) refers to a change in the grammar from SL
to TL (Newmark, 1988). Similarly, Bell (1991) states that to shift from one language to another
is, by definition, to alter the forms. The alteration of form may mean changes of categories, word
classes, and word orders. Structural adjustment, according to Nida (1964), has various purposes,
including: 1) to permit adjustment of the form of the message to the requirements of structure of
the receptor language, 2) to produce semantically equivalent structures, 3) to provide equivalent
stylistic appropriateness, and 4) to carry an equivalent communication load.
Newmark (1988) divides the shift of forms into four types. One type of shift is the change from
singular to plural or in the position of adjective. The position of an adjective in English, for
example, may occur before a noun (i.e. a difficult text) or before and after a noun (i.e. a difficult
text available in the library). An adjective in Indonesian always comes before a noun. Therefore,
a difficult text and a difficult text available in the library should be translated into sebuah teks
sulit (a difficult text) and sebuah teks sulit yang tersedia di perpustakaan itu (a difficult text
which is available in the library or a difficult text available in the library) respectively. A second
 96

type of shift is required when a SL grammatical structure does not exist in the TL. In English, for
example, cohesive devices such as however and nevertheless may be put at the beginning or in
the middle of a sentence. In Indonesian, such cohesive devices always occur at the beginning of a
sentence. The third type of shift is the one where literal translation is grammatically possible but
may not accord with natural usage in the TL. The English sentence The man to whom she is
talking on the phone lives in Jakarta can be translated literally into Laki-laki kepada siapa dia
sedang berbicara di telepon tinggal di Jakarta. This literal translation is accurate in content but
doesn't sound Indonesian . To conform to natural usage in Indonesian, the structure of the
sentence should be adjusted into Laki-laki yang sedang berbicara dengannya di telpon tinggal di
Jakarta (The man who is talking to her on the phone lives in Jakarta). The fourth type of
transposition is the replacement of a virtual lexical gap by a grammatical structure (see
Newmark, 1988).
In addition to the types of alteration described above, alterations of word classes (i.e. shifts from
one class of words to another or from word level to phrase or clause level) are also required due
to grammatical differences between the source and target languages. The preposition with in I
am married with three young girls is changed into a conjunction dan (and), and the verb
mempunyai needs to be added in Indonesian. The prepositional phrase in red in ‘The woman in
red is my wife is altered into an adjective clause yang berbaju merah (who wears the red clothes).

3. Reading 3
Language and Culture in Translation: Competitors or Collaborators?

By Komissarov

The title of this collection of papers sponsored by the International Federation of Translators
outlines a direction of research which is of great theoretical and practical interest. Language and
culture are obviously the two dominant factors which make translation an indispensable and
most complicated kind of intellectual activity.

Our world is a babel of languages and interlingual communication, that is communication

between people speaking different languages, is impossible unless the linguistic barrier is
overcome in some way.

Thus language, or rather difference in languages, is the raison d'être of translation. We translate
from one language into another to make interlingual communication possible. The idea of
linguistic transfer is implicit in the very name of the phenomenon and a definition of the
translating process usually makes some reference to language or languages.

The cultural factor in translation is also undeniable if not so obvious. No communication is

possible unless the message transmitted through speech utterances (or texts) is well understood
by the communicants. But this understanding can be achieved only if the information contained
in language units is supplemented by background knowledge of facts referred to in the message.
People belonging to the same linguistic community are members of a certain type of culture.
They share many traditions, habits, ways of doing and saying things. They have much common
knowledge about their country, its geography, history, climate, its political, economic, social and
cultural institutions, accepted morals, taboos and many other things. All this information is the
 97

basis of the communicants presuppositions which enable them to produce and to understand
messages in their linguistic form.
It is obvious that in interlingual communication involving members of two different cultures this
common knowledge may be seriously limited which will be an obstacle to understanding. In
other words, the translated message is transferred not only to another language but also to
another culture. This fact cannot but influence the translating process. In addition to overcoming
the linguistic barrier the translator has to surmount the cultural barrier, to make sure that the
receptors of the target text are provided with the presuppositions required for their access to the
message contents.
Given the importance of the linguistic and cultural factors in translation, what are the
relationships between them? Can a translation be made either on a linguistic basis or on a
cultural one, or are they so interdependent that the one always implies the other? Can we speak
about "linguistic" and "cultural" translations? Are we to choose between a linguistic theory or
translation and a cultural (or ethnographic) one?

The answers to these questions involve the consideration of some broader theoretical issues. Do
cultural differences really necessitate and justify substantial changes in the source text message
to make it understandable to the target text receptors? How should the translator reconcile his
loyalty to the source text and his concern about the target text receptors? In other words, what is
the relative theoretical weight of translation equivalence and translation pragmatics? Obviously,
some fundamental aspects of translation theory are involved here.
Let us begin with the first part of the title: "from language to language" and consider the role of
languages and linguistic sciences in the theory and practice of translation. Much research has
been done in the field of translation in the last few decades, which has resulted in the
development of the linguistic theory of translation.

The linguistic study of translation had to overcome many prejudices and doubts concerning the
importance of the linguistic aspects of the translating process and the possibility of describing
this process in linguistic terms. In 1956, E. Gary claimed that linguistics had nothing to do with
translation which, in his opinion, was anything but a linguistic operation. E. Cary insisted that
the role of language (or languages) in translation was negligible and could be compared with the
role of notation in composition of music, that translation of a literary work was a literary process
and that of a lyrical poem, a lyrical operation. E. Cary did not speak of technical translation but
in the same line of argument one could claim that the translation of a paper on chemistry was a
chemical process and the translation of a book on medicine is a medical operation.

Most of the doubts were related to the restricted concepts of language as the object of linguistic
science. For some linguists the field of linguistic research should be limited to the so-called
microlinguistics or internal linguistics in the Saussurian sense. Microlinguistics is concerned
predominantly or even exclusively with language structure, viewing it as an immanent entity
developing and functioning according to its own internal predispositions, apart from social,
psychological or cognitive phenomena. Consequently, not only the study of specific ways
language is used in speech communication, but also all attempts at analysing the meaning of
language units must be considered non-linguistic. The main aim of microlinguistics is a formal
description of the language system based on the interrelationships and interdependencies of its
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elements without any recourse to external factors. Such a description, it is presumed, would
ensure the objectivity of analysis comparable to that of exact sciences.

Obviously, the translation situation which involves equivalent messages, that is speech units or
texts, in two different languages is not part of the system of either of these languages and cannot
be studied and described in terms of microlinguistics. On the strength of this reasoning the basic
factors influencing the translating should be regarded as extralinguistic and a linguistic theory of
translation is a misnomer and has no right to exist.

The restrictive concept of language and linguistics has been made obsolete by the development
of linguistic sciences. The microlinguistic approach misses the language rationale which makes it
the most important vehicle of civilization. It underestimates the main social function of language:
to serve as a means of human communication and cognition. This function cannot be performed
unless language is a system of meaningful units, an instrument to arrange information so as to
make possible its exchange among communicants. No true insight into the nature of language is
possible, therefore, without studying the ways different bits and elements of information are
incorporated in various language units, without discovering how change of information is made
through language units in actual speech under different circumstances. This focuses the linguist's
attention upon the semantic aspect of language and various social, psychological, situational and
other factors which influence the choice of a particular speech pattern.

It is in this direction that linguistics has been moving in the second half of the XXth century.
Having made good progress in the study of linguistic form, it turned its attention to the semantic
aspect of language, its semantic structure. Developing new concepts of semantic fields, sememic
analysis and many others, it paved the way for a detailed description of the various strata of
contents in speech utterances and integrated texts. New important branches of linguistics have
emerged including sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, contextual linguistics, text linguistics,
pragmalinguistics, etc., which now ensure a more comprehensive, multidimensional approach to
language, speech and verbal communication as a whole. Linguistics has become macrolinguistics
in the broader sense of the term. Many phenomena that were considered extralinguistic even
though they determined in some direct or indirect way the form and/or content of verbal
utterances, have found their place within the new enlarged field of linguistic research.

These developments greatly enhanced the potential of linguistic research and made it possible for
linguistics to meet the challenge of the translation explosion of the XXth century. More and more
linguists began to turn their attention to the phenomenon of translation. There was a growing
awareness that linguistics could no longer ignore this important type of language use, that, as
M.A.K. Halliday put it, "the theory of translation is an important, if somewhat neglected aspect
of general linguistics." Moreover, it became evident that the study of translation could be of great
value to the further development of linguistics, as it could bring out certain features and
possibilities in a language which could not be discovered in any other way. The linguists realized
that translation is a sort of dynamic comparison of languages in action which gains a new insight
into the way languages function in speech and reveals much of both their universal and specific
features. The obvious conclusion was: "Any comparison of two languages implies an
examination of their mutual translatability; widespread practice of interlingual communication,
particularly translation activities must be kept under constant scrutiny by linguistic science."
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An additional impetus to the development of the linguistic theory of translation was given by the
attempts to achieve automatic translation with the help of computers. After a promising start it
was soon discovered that in order to teach the computer how to do this, we must first know a lot
more about the linguistic mechanics of translation. This emphasized the need for an in-depth
study of translation activities in general. Many linguists who were inspired by the prospects of
automatic translation got interested in the problems of human translation and found it no less
promising and absorbing field of research.

Much work has been done in universities and translators' training schools looking for a
theoretical basis of their syllabuses and curricula. The results of linguistic research in translation
were incorporated in theoretical and practical courses offered to future translators.

At present the linguistic theory of translation is a body of theoretical thought embracing the most
important aspects of interlingual communication.
The core of the translation theory is the general theory of translation which is concerned with the
fundamental aspects of translation inherent in the nature of interlingual communication and
therefore common to all translation events, irrespective of what languages are involved or what
kind of text and under what circumstances is translated. Basically, replacement of the source text
by the target text of the same communicative value is possible because both texts are produced in
human speech governed by the same rules and involving the same relationships between
language, reality and the human mind. All languages are means of communication, each
language is used to externalize and shape human thinking, all language units are meaningful
entities related to nonlingualistic realities, all speech units convey information to the
communicants. In each language communication is achieved through a complicated
interpretation of the speech units by the communications, involving an assessment of the
meaning of the language units against the background information derived from the contextual
situation, general knowledge, previous experience, various associations and other factors. The
general theory of translation deals, so to speak, with translation universals and is the basis for all
other theoretical studies in this field, since it describes what translation is and what makes it
possible.

An important part of the general theory of translation is the theory of equivalence aimed at
studying semantic relationships between the source and the target text. There is a presumption of
semantic identity between the translation and its source text. At the same time it is easily
demonstrable that there is, in fact, no such identity, for even a cursory examination of any
translation reveals inevitable losses, increments or changes of the information transmitted.

The general theory of translation describes the basic principles which hold good for each and
every translation event. In each particular case, however, the translating process is influenced
both by the common basic factors and by a number of specific variables which stem from the
actual conditions and modes of the translator's work: the type of the source text he has to cope
with, the form in which the source text is presented to him and the form in which he is supposed
to submit his translation, the specific requirements he may be called upon to meet in his work,
etc.
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Contemporary translation activities are characterized by a great variety of types, forms and levels
of responsibility. The translator has to deal with the works of the great authors of the past and of
the leading authors of today, with the intricacies of science fiction and the accepted stereotypes
of detective stories. He must be able to cope with the elegancy of expression of the best masters
of literary style and with the tricks and formalistic experiments of modern avant-gardistes. The
translator has to preserve and fit into a different linguistic and social context a gamut of shades
of meaning and stylistic nuances expressed in the source text by a great variety of language
devices: neutral and emotional words, archaic words and new coinages, metaphors and similes,
foreign borrowings, dialectal, jargon and slang expressions, stilted phrases and obscenities,
proverbs and quotations, illiterate or inaccurate speech, and so on and so forth.

The source text may deal with any subject from general philosophical principles or postulates to
minute technicalities in some obscure field of human endeavour. The translator has to tackle
complicated specialized descriptions and reports on new discoveries in science or technology for
which appropriate terms have not yet been invented. His duty is to translate diplomatic
representations and policy statements, scientific dissertations and scathing satires, maintenance
instructions and after-dinner speeches, etc.

Translating a play the translator must bear in mind the requirements of theatrical presentation,
and dubbing a film he must see to it that his translation fits the movement of the speakers' lips.
He may be called upon to make his translation in the shortest possible time, at an official lunch
or against the background noise of loud voices or rattling typewriters.

In conference interpretation the translator is expected to keep pace with the fastest speakers, to
understand all kinds of foreign accents and defective pronunciation, to guess what the speaker
meant to say but failed to express due to his inadequate proficiency in the language he is using.
In consecutive interpretation he is expected to listen to long speeches taking short notes, and then
to produce his translation in a full or compressed form, giving all the details or only the main
ideas.

In some cases his customers will be satisfied with a most general idea of the original message, in
other cases the translator will be taken to task for the slightest omission or minor error.

Each type of translation has its own combination of factors influencing the translating process.
The general theory of translation is supplemented, therefore, with a number of special translation
theories identifying major types of translation work and describing the predominant features of
each type.

Another important branch of the theory of translation is concerned with the study of the source
and target language units which can replace each other in the translating process. The creation of
equivalent texts results in, and, in part, is dependent on, the equivalence of the correlated units in
the two texts. In any two languages there are pairs of units which are of identical or similar
communicative value and can replace each other in translation. The communicative value of a
language element depends both on its own semantics and on the way it is used in speech.
Therefore translation equivalence may be established between units occupying dissimilar places
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in the systems of respective languages. It follows that equivalent units cannot be identified
before a certain amount of the target texts have been compared with their source texts.

It is obvious that a description of translation equivalents should be bilingual, that is, it should
always relate to a definite pair of languages. Moreover, a bilingual theory of translation should
describe two separate sets of equivalents, with either language considered, in turn, as the source
language and the other as the target language. Nevertheless all bilingual theories of translation
proceed from the same basic assumptions as to the classification of equivalents and their role in
the translating process.

Of particular interest is that branch of the theory of translation which is concerned with the
translating process itself, that is, with the operations required for passing over from the source
text to the target text. It is a great challenge to the translation theory to discover how the
translator does his work, what his mental processes are which ensure production in the target
language of a text of identical communication value with the given source text. True, these
processes are not directly observable but they can be studied, even though with a certain degree
of approximation, in various indirect ways. This direction of the translation theory is of
considerable practical value for it makes possible the description of particular methods of
translation that can be used by the translator. The study of the translating process reveals both the
translator's general strategy and specific techniques used to solve typical translation problems.

This outline of the main directions of linguistic research in the field of translations is, of
necessity, sketchy and incomplete. It shows, however, that acceptance of translation as part of
linguistic studies is warranted and productive. Translations are made from language to language,
the translating process is a kind of languageuse in the specific conditions of interlingual
communication and, like other language applications, it is within the scope of linguistics, that is
to say, of macrolinguistics.

Now let us return to the other part of our theme: What does translation from culture to culture
mean? Numerous facts of the cultural differences between the two linguistic communities
influencing the translating process are well-known and they have been discussed in a great
number of publications. As often as not, they are referred to as factors necessitating all kinds of
pragmatic adaptation in translation.

The most common case of such adaptation is the necessity of providing additional information in
the target text to compensate for the lack of some knowledge shared by the receptors of the
source text. This case can be exemplified by the not infrequent practice of supplying proper and
geographical names with the common names of the subjects they denote. Such names as News-
week, Oregon, Columbia Pictures, Roy Rogers refer to well- known facts in American culture
and do not need my explanation in the English original, but in the Russian translation they
become Newsweek magazine, the state of Oregon, the Columbia Pictures film company and a
Roy Rogers dinner or snack bar. Similarly, specific notions and phenomena unknown in the
target language culture as "affirmative action", "money laundering", "dinner theater", or "date
rape" will require additional information or explanation.
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It has been pointed out that particular translation problems may arise in relation to various
symbolic actions in the source language culture, which are absent in the target language culture
or may have a different meaning there. For instance, whistling as a way to express admiration is
not common in Russia and the Russian people do not make V-signs with their fingers.

Similar difficulties have to be overcome when translating various figurative and metaphorical
expressions. The translator must make sure that the receptors of his translation will understand
why one should not carry coals to Newcastle and that to lead a person by the nose means to
subjugate him and not to deceive as implied by the identical expression in Russian. To ensure
proper understanding the translator will provide additional information or use another Russian
expression with a similar meaning or just explain the figurative meaning of the English idiom
.
All this is part of the translator's main aim of bringing the original message over to the target
language receptor. Understanding a message means interpreting it on the basis of the required
background knowledge. If such knowledge is missing due to cultural differences, it should be
supplied or compensated for. The translator renders into another language what the words in the
original message mean in their culture. The cultural specifics influence the way the language
units are used and understood. Culture finds its expression in the language and through the
language. A linguistic theory of translation must incorporate the cultural aspect as well.
Translation from language to language is ipso facto translation from culture to culture.

It follows from the above that an excessive emphasis on the cultural aspect of translation as
opposed to its linguistic aspect is hardly warranted or productive. It can easily bring about some
kind of ethnographic bias in translation theory like that which is so apparent in J. B.
Casagrande's formula: "One does not translate LANGUAGES but CULTURES"
.
Even without a direct opposition to the linguistic theory of translation the ethnographic bias
involves serious theoretical problems related to the nature of translation and its loyalty to the
source text. This can be best exemplified by an analysis of the seminal contributions to the
theory of translation made by E. Nida and his colleagues who are engaged in Bible translations.

E. Nida is a prominent linguist and his approach to translation is largely language-oriented. At

the same time many of his theoretical generalizations concerning the character and the aims of
the translating process are not infrequently ethnographically biased.

Of great theoretical interest is Nida's suggestion that translation theory should distinguish
between two different types of translation equivalence: 1) "formal equivalence" when translation
is fully oriented towards the source text trying to reproduce it in all possible detail, and 2)
"dynamic equivalence" when translation is fully oriented towards its receptors in the target
language trying to produce the desired communicative effect upon them. As the very opposition
of the terms "formal" and "dynamic" implies, Nida's sympathies are wholly with the latter. It is
presumed that the degree of "dynamic equivalence" should be evaluated not against the source
text but against the receptors' reactions which are greatly dependent on their cultural background.
E. Nida cites numerous examples illustrating that the cultural gap necessitates considerable
changes in the message in the course of the translating process. He claims that the expression "as
white as snow" has no meaning for the people living in a tropical country and should be replaced
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in translation with something they will understand, such as, for instance, "as white as the feather
of an egret", that the Biblical "to greet one another with a holy kiss" may be misunderstood by
the receptors for whom a kiss implies a totally different kind of relationship and should be
replaced with something like "to give a hearty handshake all around", etc. Similar examples are
given by his colleagues. In the Bible Jesus Christ says that he is "the bread of life", but since for
some Mexican Indians "bread" is but so important as "tortillas", it is suggested that it is
"tortillas" that should be used in translation. For the same reason "wolf' becomes "coyote", "fig
tree" is translated as "apple-tree", and "half coconuts shells" are substituted for ordinary "cups"
.
Presumably all these examples are a true reflection of the Bible translators' practice aimed at
bridging the gap between two different cultures. However, they can hardly be used as a basis for
sweeping theoretical generalizations. We must first examine if this practice is sufficiently
representative and, indeed, if it is just right. It can be argued that the Bible translations are an
exceptional case both because of the kind of linguistic expression they have to deal with, and the
specific aims pursued by the translators. The language of the Bible is often figurative, sometimes
obscure or mystical. The Bible story is deeply rooted in the culture of a people who lived
thousands of years ago, the cultural gap is obviously great and the translator is naturally much
concerned with it.

The present-day translators of the Bible do their work with a very specific aim. They are
missionaries rather than just translators: they want their translation to influence the receptors, to
make them accept the translation as a sacred book, and to convert them or to strengthen their
faith. The translator does his best to remove the cultural differences which may in any way
alienate the receptors, hinder their understanding of the Bible's message, or prevent them from
accepting the Book as their own.

What is still more important is that the Bible translators of today offer their translations to a very
specific type of receptors: members of small ethnic communities in Africa or South America
who are more or less isolated from world culture. The translators seem to believe that their
receptors are more culture-bound and less open to different cultures than more advanced
societies are. Obviously they do not think much of their receptors' ability to learn and to
understand new things and ideas. Otherwise they would not think them unable to imagine that
other people may value bread more than tortillas. (Or even if they do, the phrase "I am the bread
of life" will not impress them as the translator wants them to be impressed).

Admitting the importance of the specific goal pursued by the Bible translators, one may ask
whether the right way to achieve it is to replace the artefacts of one culture with those of the
other one. S. Bassnett-McGuire dismissed the whole concept of Nida's dynamic equivalence by
claiming that "to give one another a hearty handshake all around" is just a bad translation of
"greeting with a holy kiss". Undoubtedly, E. Nida's ideas deserve a more detailed analysis, but
the cultural adaptation advised by him does create a number of problems. The dynamic
equivalence concept results in the receptors getting a false impression that the source language
culture does not much differ from their own. The procedure does not bridge the cultural gap but
rather pretends that it never existed. The receptors get access to a different story set in a familiar
environment. The history of literature in many countries shows examples of such cultural
adaptation when the original story is transplanted to another soil (suffice it to recall West Side
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Story and its Shakespearean prototype), but to call them translations means stretching the
meaning of the term too much.

Translation is an important vehicle for intercultural contacts. Translating from culture to culture
means, first and foremost, to bring to the receptors new facts and ideas inherent in the source
language culture, to broaden their cultural horizons, to make them aware that other people may
have different customs, symbols and beliefs, that other cultures should be known and respected.
This cultural and educational role of translation cannot be too much emphasized.

The ability of the receptors to understand and overcome cultural differences in receiving the
source text message should not be underestimated. Even within one and the same culture there
are numerous subcultures and subdivisions and people are used to other people talking, acting
and believing differently from themselves. A Russian reader can readily accept the fact that a
Bulgarian shakes his head in assent, that in Britain they drive on the left side of the road, or that
in India the cow is a sacred animal. Reading in Shakespeare's sonnet: "Shall I compare thee to a
summer's day" the native of a tropical land where summer is not a pleasant season, can still
understand that the poet meant the comparison to be complimentary and that obviously in his
culture summer is viewed differently. I would even suggest that the expression "as white as
snow" can be well understood by a person who has never seen a snowdrift: he will guess that it is
something extremely white.
If necessary, it can always be explained to him what it is, or shown in a picture. The problem
may seem more complicated if the target language has no specific word for "white" but in this
case the translator would have to cope with the familiar task of translating an equivalent-lacking
word.

The translator has to do not with the cultural facts per se but with their names and verbal
descriptions in the source text. In many instances a cultural problem in translation can be
reformulated as a language problem and handled as similar language problems of noncultural
origin. For example, the English idiom "to get up on the wrong side of the bed" could not have
been coined in the Russian culture where beds were not usually put in the middle of the room but
pushed against the wall or the stove. Contrariwise, the phrase "to wash dirty linen in public"
though also an English idiom, refers to a procedure possible both in the English and Russian
cultures. At the same time both idioms belong to the same type of translation problems: neither
has any identical equivalent in Russian but can be easily translated with Russian idioms based on
different figures of speech

To sum up:

1. The linguistic and cultural aspects of translation need not be opposed for they are
complementary. Cultural (ethnographic) translation problems can usually be reformulated as
language problems and incorporated in the linguistic theory of translation.

2. The differences in the source language and target language cultures may necessitate additional
information in the target text explaining unfamiliar facts and ideas to the receptors. In other cases
they may result in omission of irrelevant details. Both addenda and omissions are typical
translation procedures, not necessarily caused by cultural differences.
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3. Orientation towards the target text receptors means concern for their adequate understanding
of this source text message. Any type of equivalence implies a loyalty to the source text which is
the hallmark of true translation.

4. It is expedient to draw a line of demarcation, both in theory and practice, between translation
and various types of pragmatic adaptations, which may more or less depart from the original
message to achieve some specific pragmatic goal.

IX. Questions for Discussion

1. What is translation? Can you give your own definition of translation?

2. What are the differences in the eight definitions of translation given in this chapter?
3. What are the objectives for a translation suggested by Savory?
4. What are the functions of translation?
5. What are the purposes of translation?
6. What are the three kinds of equivalence given by Jakobson?
7. What is Baker’s approach towards equivalence?
8. What are Koller’s types of equivalence?
9. How many kinds of non equivalence are there?
10. What are the strategies for non-equivalence in translation?
11. What are the principles of translation?
12. What are the generation principles for a translation project?
13. How does technology affect translation?
14. What are computer-assisted-translation (CAT) tools?
15. Name some translators’ directories.
16. Name some translators’ associations.
17. According to Larson, how many kinds of translation are there?
18. According to Newmark, how many kinds of translation are there?
19. If the classification of translation is based on text-types, how many types of translation are
there?
20. What are the translation procedures?
22. How many kinds of accommodation in translation are there?
23. What is the importance of culture in translation work?
24. How did Newmark categorize cultural words?
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Chapter 2: Translating and Translator

I. The Business of Translating
1. The Inevitable Introduction
Translation is a service business, not an industry or commerce. The basic difference between
industry, commerce and services lies in inventories. Industrial establishments keep at least two
kinds of inventory: raw materials and finished goods. Commercial establishments keep only
finished goods inventories. Service establishments, however, keep no inventories.

An example will make this clear: a paint factory will keep inventories of raw materials
(pigments, thinners, binding agents) and finished goods (paint); a hardware store will keep only
inventories of finished goods (paint). A painter (service provider) will keep neither. Painters may
keep inventories (brushes, for instance) but those are not for sale. What a painter sells is painting
services, and services cannot be stacked in shelves because they are intangible.

Now, every product, tangible or intangible, can be compared with another product based on three
parameters: delivery time, quality and price. Buying decisions are based on tradeoffs among
those three parameters: Product A is very good, but too expensive. Product B is good and
reasonably priced, but unfortunately they don’t carry that brand at your local store and you do
not have the time to look for it elsewhere. So you settle for Product C, which, in your opinion,
offers the best balance of the three parameters at the time. How does all that affect our business?
2. Time and Tension
Because we carry no inventories, clients who call us for a translation know they will find none.
They also know they will find no “Product B” that will somehow meet their needs. Finally, they
know that calling another translator will not help much, because nobody will have their
translation ready for them.

So, they press for immediate service. Many translators complain that jobs go to the lowest
bidder, but my experience is that the majority goes to lowest bidder among those who offer the
fastest turnaround.   This creates a certain amount of tension between client and translator.
Tension that is made worse by the fact that time devours itself: if a client needs a translation
within 72 hours, each minute spent finding a translator reduces the time available to do the job.
Once I was asked to translate five long annual reports within three days, a job I had to refuse.
The desperate client called every agency in town and three of them called me - each of them with
a shorter turnaround time: because deadlines are fixed, turnaround times must be flexible. The
problem seems to affect translators more strongly than other professionals. The other day I called
my doctor for an appointment, and the first date available was a month later. Tell one of our
clients it will have to wait a week and it will probably hang up on you. If I had an emergency,
my doctor would tell me to look for help in a hospital: they all have emergency rooms these
days. We cannot do that: as far as our clients are concerned, we are the emergency room.
Faster means of communication have made the situation even worse. When Brazilian companies
airmailed information to their parent companies, they gave me a week to translate their annual
reports. Now they e-mail everything and want same-day translations. 

Why is pressure for short turnarounds so heavy?

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Pressure on translators is heavier than it is in other service businesses because the translator is
often one of the last links in a very complex chain of events. For instance, we are the people who
translate the specs required to bid for a government contract. We are the outsiders, called at the
end of the process, when delays have been accumulating for months and everybody is on edge.
Thus being, we cannot even fight for time: there isn’t any time left to be fought for.

The people who prepare the specs do their best to prepare a great set of specs - but we must do
what it takes to meet the delivery deadline. Therein lies the difference. To make things worse,
the average translation is getting bigger and bigger. A few months ago, I was offered a 1.4-
million-word job. That is twice the size of the Bible. Turnaround 45 days, maximum. Of course,
I declined. Time pressures favor new entrants: sometimes the only person who can take the job is
someone who actually never did a professional translation before. Unfortunately, this also means
that someone’s opera prima often is a rush job done without the benefit of appropriate
equipment.  

3. Questions of Quality

The constant pressure for fast service created by the lack of inventories has a deplorable impact
on quality - we all know that. Often clients say time matters more than quality. The guy who
wanted five reports in three days said he did not care: he just wanted a heap of paper he could
show a government official in connection with a public bid. Nobody would read it, said he. Well,
perhaps. But, no matter what the client says, someone would have a look at the job sometime and
say “Look at this mess! And we paid this guy a premium for the garbage.” So, I said no to the
job and goodbye to a very large fee. I do not regret it.

But the point I would like to make is different. Because we have no inventories, clients cannot
possibly test our product for quality. When they contact us, they find not a product, but a
potential. And potentials cannot be tested for quality.

Clients can ask for samples of past work or for tests - when there is time for that, which is not
often. In any case, many translators refuse to do tests and, since most of our work is confidential,
we often cannot provide samples. And, finally, tests and samples are so easily faked that some
clients do not even bother to ask.

Quality has to be evaluated indirectly, based on what we have done for that client or for someone
he knows. This procedure favors experienced translators and is thus hated by new entrants, who
would like to see clients giving a newcomer a deserved break. I deeply sympathize with
newcomers and their plight, but let us remember that this is exactly the method we use when, for
instance, we need a doctor: we prefer the experienced doctor who helped aunt Jane out of her
illness to the young promising doctor just out of medical school.  
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4. The Problem of Price

A surprisingly large number of people claims that for every product there is a fair price based on
its cost. In fact, prices result from the play between supply and demand and bear no relationship
to costs. The difference between price and cost is often called margin. If your margin is high and
your volume is also high, you make a good profit. Otherwise, you don’t. No business bases its
prices on costs. Everybody - including us - charges as much as they can and cuts costs to the
absolute minimum in order to maximize margins. If they cannot make a profit, they will try some
other business. That is the way the law of supply and demand works.

All this may seem outrageous, but it is borne out by the fact that translators, especially new
entrants, are always eager to know how much to charge - not how much it costs. In addition, we
must keep in mind that because translation is a labor-intensive activity, most of our fees cover
labor and, because most of us are independent operators, labor means what we pay ourselves.
Now, what we pay ourselves is not a cost; a cost is what we pay to the other guy. Prices are
based on supply and demand, but buying decisions are based on a comparison between
competing products, which, in turn, is based on delivery times, quality and price considerations.
Because time is usually so pressing, it often weighs more than quality in translation purchase
decisions.  In addition, many buyers see translation as a commodity - that is, as a standard
product, such as 23-carat gold, which should have a standard price. The notion is reinforced by
the fact that most translators will quote fees and delivery times on any job sight unseen. Many
translators will even quote prices on their home pages: so much per word, no matter what. If we
treat translations as a commodity, we can hardly condemn our clients for doing the same.   Small
wonder clients base their purchasing decisions on the hallowed method of “get three quotes and
award contract to lowest bidder.” Of course, this should be construed as “lowest bidder among
those offering short turnarounds,” for if you cannot handle the job immediately, you are
automatically excluded from the process. No use trying to convince a client my translation offers
better quality: all translators claim that. That brings us back to the no-inventory problem, the
main thread underlying this article: quality only comes into consideration after the translation is
received and examined. If those who bargained for the lowest prices and shortest turnaround
times, complain at this point that the job was very poorly done, it is too late.  

5. The Inevitable Internet

You cannot really write an article on the business of translation these days without mentioning
the Internet. How does the Big Net affect our business? Basically, the Net has made us
omnipresent. Five years ago, a company in Guatemala that wanted a translation from Hungarian
into Spanish might have a hard time finding a translator. Now, it can access the Internet and find
a translator in a matter of minutes or hours, although not necessarily a good one. In addition, this
translator may live in Argentina, if she prefers the pampas to the puszta. The other side of this
coin is that a translator can no longer hold sway over a number of clients just because she (most
translators are female) is the only one in the area who can cope a given language.  This particular
coin seems to have three sides, not two. For the omnipresence allowed by the Internet will also
end with all dreams of restricting entry into the profession to a small number of “legally
qualified” persons. This is known as “closed shop” and, although many of its advocates are
honest people who see it as a form of “consumer protection,” it is often just a ploy to increase
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prices by restraining competition, very much like the rules imposed by the medieval craft guilds.
Because translations can move so fast over the Internet, if a closed shop environment is
established in any country, translators who have been excluded could easily go on working
through agencies in some other country and continue living where they have always lived. Not
that I believe closed shops would benefit translators in any way, mind you, but that is another
long, long, story, which I may approach in a future article.

II. Thoughts for the Future

1. Translators will

1.1. Submit their work on time. This remains the number one complaint of agencies and clients,
and they have every right to be upset. Translation is not a "better late than never" profession. Get
the work in on time and your clients will love you for it.

1.2. Create translations which are free from errors and omissions. There shall be no missing
words, phrases, paragraphs or pages in translations this year. Terminology will either be correct
or noted as uncertain. Words and phrases which are difficult to explain will be noted in a
"Translator’s Note" at the end of the document. Translators are rendering information from one
language to another and know that this process has pitfalls and hurdles. The translator should tell
the agency or client about these problems and let them decide what to do.

1.3. Take the time to educate clients about the issues involving translation, be they linguistic,
cultural, social, or philosophical. The client should not be surprised when reading the translated
text. The client should be informed, ahead of time, about what to expect and not to expect.

1.4. Service the client. Clients will be treated with respect and compassion. They shall be
informed of all problems and issues involving the translation, by phone or in writing. Translators
should express an interest in all parts of the process of translation, not just their own role.

1.5. Maintain a proper home office, complete with a real computer, current versions of word
processing software and other business applications, a fax and modem, and a proper printer
which produces clean, clear, crisp, quality text and graphics. Translators complain about the lack
of professional treatment in the industry; it’s time they do their part and be professionals
themselves.

1.6. Learn how to use word processing software and the modern conventions in desktop
publishing. We all should be putting single spaces between words and sentences, using proper
ASCII characters for accents and other symbols, using tabs, tables, columns, and margins
correctly, and providing file formats our clients can read.

1.7. Learn the subtle art of telecommunications and modem transmissions. Agencies and clients
complain regularly about translators who can’t deliver work properly to their email accounts or
FTP sites. Translators have to be able to deliver their work in a timely fashion. Having a good
ISP or corporate Internet and giving translators reasonable access will go a long way to
minimizing delivery delays.
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1.8. Go on-line. Translators represent an integral facet of international communication and the
emerging global village. They have to be able to talk to each other about what they do and how
they do it. Letters are too slow, telephone calls and faxes too expensive. However, on-line,
messages and files can be sent and received almost instantly, plus information on virtually any
subject imaginable is available for the asking. Take advantage of the on-line universe.

1.9. Accept assignments for which they have the time and knowledge and turn down all others.
Translators should not take jobs if they don’t really have the time to do the work properly or if
they lack the requisite background knowledge and experience and reference materials.
Translators should refer jobs which they cannot accept to other translators whom they know to
be competent and responsible professionals.

1.10. Abandon their individualistic and perhaps ivory-tower tendencies and recognize that they
are part of a complex process and that they have thousands of colleagues around the world.
Translators should talk to each other about clients, about technology, about terminology, in
essence, about their profession. They should not think of other translators as competition, but as
colleagues and brethren, as friends and co-workers, people to learn from and teach to, people to
give and receive work from, and as people who are in the same situation. Only when translators
start to think and act as a professional group with clearly defined goals and standards will the
profession itself be accorded the respect and understanding it so requires.

2. Translation agencies and vendors will

2.1. Pay translators within a reasonable amount of time. There is no reason why a translator
should have to wait sixty or ninety days for payment. There is no reason why a translator should
have to write letters and make phone calls in order to receive pay. Agencies should specify in
their independent contractor’s agreements how long payment will take and then make payment
within that time.

2.2. Maintain a presence on the Web. This includes not only an email account or FTP site that
translators can use to send and receive translations, but also a virtual space where translators can
go to get information such as style sheets, company policies for translators, and other pertinent
information for translation projects, such as glossaries, translation memories, or sample
documents to use for reference.

2.3. Have people in-house who understand the languages they deal with. I don’t want to ask
someone at an agency about a text and then be told that they don’t know because no one there
reads the language it’s in. If an agency is going to do high volume work with a language, they
should have at least one person who can read, write, and speak that language. The problems this
will solve, the time it will save, and the frustration it will eliminate will more than justify the cost
of hiring such a person.

2.4. Use a standardized independent contractor’s agreement. Every time I work for a new
agency, I have to sign a new agreement, after reading and studying it and then deciding if I think
it’s fair. We’re all dealing with the same problems and issues in the industry; let’s use the same
agreement.
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2.5. Use a standardized independent contractor’s information sheet. Every time I submit material
to a new agency, I have to fill out pages of forms. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were one form
which everyone used, and then you could just keep copies around your office and send it off as
necessary? I think it would be great. After all, the agencies are all after the same information, so
why not use the same information sheet? And we could even have this form in HTML format,
further streamlining the process of gathering and organizing information on translators.

2.6. Send detailed information to the translator about the job and how it should be done. Make a
style sheet which specifies how to handle such matters as charts, graphs, page numbers, fonts,
margins, and so on. This will not only make the translator’s job easier, but will cut down on the
time the agency spends answering the phone and explaining such details to the translator.

2.7. Provide clean, legible, readable copies of the material to be translated along with all other
related material. A fax of a photocopy of a fax is not readable, no matter how good a translator
might be at decoding information. Moreover, translators are hired to render information and
ideas from one language to another, not to decode bad printing or writing.

2.8. Hire at least one person who is (or was) a professional translator. Working with an agency
which considers the translation industry to be just another business is frustrating. The agency
should understand the profession and the people in it. The only sure way to do this is have staff
who have been professional translators.

2.9. Define a schedule and then stick to it. No one appreciates being told that a project will start
on a particular day and then finding out it has been delayed by a week or two, or even a month.
No one appreciates starting a job and then getting told that the deadline has been moved up and
the job must be done in three days instead of four. Translators already work under extreme time
constraints; the agencies and clients should at least stick to the original terms for the job.

2.10. Recognize the valuable and vital service that translators provide. Agencies and clients
should not be concerned with what title to use for a translator or how to define their role in
linguistic or corporate terms. They should be concerned with providing the in-house translator
with a proper work environment, including computer hardware and software, dictionaries and
reference materials, and understanding and cooperation. They should provide the free-lance
translator with fair market price for the work, clear instructions concerning the material, and
readable copies of all documents.

3. Someone will

3.1. Start an organization which would not only inform and educate the general public about
translation, translators, and agencies, but would also provide information about the current state
of affairs in the profession, give advice to translators, agencies, and consumers of translations,
create just and proper policies, guidelines, and standards for the profession, and develop a set of
standards and a system for accrediting translators.
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3.2. Create a solid, stable, and functional translation and glossary management software package
for Windows, UNIX, and Macintosh systems. The software would keep track of past documents
and identify what you’ve translated before, help build glossaries and terminology lists, actively
assist in the translation of material like lists and tables, and exchange data with the same
software on other computers, be they on a network or completely separate, as well as with other
software on any of the current computer platforms. A Java-based application with support for file
translations for standard database formats (dbf, sylk, and so forth) as well as the proprietary
formats for Trados, TM2, and Catalyst, among others, would be ideal.

3.3. Develop a library of current and complete language reference materials. Translators, along
with everyone else working with languages rely on the existence of accurate and up-to-date
materials to do research and create quality materials. Translators themselves often have to
develop their own glossaries and terminology lists. Someone should tap into this vast pool of
language resources and create the materials which we all require.

3.4. Convince the federal government and state governments that while regulation and
accreditation of translators might not be a bad idea in theory, the likely result in practice of
creating regulations without proper understanding of the professions and input from
professionals in all aspects of the industry will be mere chaos and confusion, coupled with a lack
of capable and competent translators. Translators should police themselves, avoiding the
problems of government-imposed regulation.

3.5. Perform the academic research necessary to provide a strong theoretical base for the
translation profession. Few translators have any idea of what they are doing in terms of
linguistics or language. Moreover, few theoreticians (be they linguists, psychologists, or
sociologists) can agree on what translation is, how it is done, or what purpose it should serve.
Such fundamental definitions would help translators get the professional respect they desire, help
agencies and clients understand the process of translation and its value, and help government
regulators create reasonable guidelines and standards.

4. Clients Will

4.1. Stop confusing translators and interpreters. Translators deal with the written language.
Interpreters deal with the spoken language. A translators cannot necessarily interpret and an
interpreter cannot necessarily translate. Moreover, there is no such thing as ‘simultaneous
translation’ or ‘written interpretation’.

4.2. Stop complaining about translation and translators or using them as scapegoats. Translation
is a multifaceted process involving many people, not just the translator. Moreover, many of the
problems people complain about in a translated text cannot be solved without giving the
translator permission to rewrite the material in its entirety. Translation is more than just
swapping words or converting a phrase from one language to another. And while I certainly
don’t want to exonerate all translators for every error ever made, let’s consider the big picture
before dumping on the translator.
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4.3. See the value and relevance of translation. Translation is about communication. In the
modern world, often called the ‘global village’ or ‘international community’, communication of
information and ideas between different languages and cultures is critical for peace, for the
development of economies and technology, and for the growth of nations and regions.
Translators are a small, but vital part of this process. They facilitate communication between
people who want and often must communicate. Their role in this process must be better
understood and more greatly appreciated.

III. What Every Novice Translator Should Know

1. The Nature and Importance of Translation

Translation is ultimately a human activity which enables human beings to exchange ideas and
thoughts regardless of the different tongues used. Al Wassety (2001) views the phenomenon of
translation as a legitimate offspring of the phenomenon of language, since originally, when
humans spread over the earth, their languages differed and they needed a means through which
people speaking a certain language (tongue) would interact with others who spoke a different
language.

Translation is, in Enani's (1997) view, a modern science at the interface of philosophy,
linguistics, psychology, and sociology. Literary translation in particular is relevant to all these
sciences, audio-visual arts, as well as cultural and intellectual studies.
There are eight types of translation: word-for-word translation, literal translation, faithful
translation, semantic translation, adaptive translation, free translation, idiomatic translation, and
communicative translation.

Translation is, in Chabban's words (1984), "a finicky job," as it has not yet been reduced to strict
scientific rules, and it allows for the differences that are known to exist between different
personalities. Translation is a heavily subjective art, especially when it deals with matters outside
the realm of science where precisely defined concepts are more often expressed by certain
generally accepted terms.

In the final analysis, translation is a science, an art, and a skill. It is a science in the sense that it
necessitates complete knowledge of the structure and make-up of the two languages concerned.
It is an art since it requires artistic talent to reconstruct the original text in the form of a product
that is presentable to the reader who is not supposed to be familiar with the original. It is also a
skill because it entails the ability to smooth over any difficulty in the translation, and the ability
to provide the translation of something that has no equal in the target language.

In translation, the richness of vocabulary, depth of culture, and vision of the translator could
certainly have very conspicuous effects on his/her work. Another translator might produce a
reasonably acceptable version of the same text, which, however, may very well reflect a
completely different background, culture, sensitivity, and temperament. Such differences cannot,
in Chabban's view (1984), detract from the merit of either translator. This is simply because
translation is decidedly a more difficult job than creation.
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2. Criteria for a Good Translation

A good translation is one that carries all the ideas of the original as well as its structural and
cultural features. Massoud (1988) sets criteria for a good translation as follows.

1. A good translation is easily understood.

2. A good translation is fluent and smooth.
3. A good translation is idiomatic.
4. A good translation conveys, to some extent, the literary subtleties of the original.
5. A good translation distinguishes between the metaphorical and the literal.
6. A good translation reconstructs the cultural/historical context of the original.
7. A good translation makes explicit what is implicit in abbreviations, and in allusions to sayings,
songs, and nursery rhymes.
8. A good translation will convey, as much as possible, the meaning of the original text.

El Shafey (1985) suggests other criteria for a good translation; these include three main
principles:

1. The knowledge of the grammar of the source language plus the knowledge of vocabulary, as
well as good understanding of the text to be translated.
2. The ability of the translator to reconstitute the given text (source-language text) into the target
language.
3. The translation should capture the style or atmosphere of the original text; it should have all
the ease of an original composition.

From a different perspective, El Touny (2001) focused on differentiating between different types
of translation. He indicated that there are eight types of translation: word-for-word translation,
literal translation, faithful translation, semantic translation, adaptive translation, free translation,
idiomatic translation, and communicative translation. He advocated the last type as the one
which transmits the meaning from the context, respecting the form and structure of the original
and which is easily comprehensible by the readers of the target language.

El Zeini (1994) didn't seem satisfied with such criteria for assessing the quality of translation.
Hence she suggested a pragmatic and stylistic model for evaluating quality in translation. She
explains that the model "places equal emphasis on the pragmatic component as well on the
stylistic component in translation. This model covers a set of criteria, which are divided into two
main categories: content-related criteria and form-related criteria" and expected that by following
these criteria, "translators will be able to minimize the chance of producing errors or losses, as
well as eliminate problems of unacceptability".
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3. Translation Skills for Novice Translators

The present study suggests four main macro-skills for any translator who begins his/her work in
the field of translation. These are: reading comprehension, researching, analytical, and
composing skills. These macro-skills include many sub- or micro-skills that need to be mastered.

3.1. Reading comprehension

While we are translating, we do not think of our activity as being broken down into phases. After
doing our first translations, many automatic mechanisms come into play that allow us to translate
more quickly; at the same time, we are less and less conscious of our activity.

Osimo (2001) indicates that  in order to think about the translation process and to describe it, our
essential task consists of analyzing its phases, even if we are aware of the fact that they do not
always coincide with perceptibly different or distinguishable moments. If we want to describe a
process that often is beyond the translator's own consciousness, we are forced to divide the
process into different phases which, in the everyday practice of translation, can reveal the inter-
twining, almost entangling, of these phases.  The first phase of the translation process consists of
reading the text. The reading act, first, falls under the competence of psychology, because it
concerns our perceptive system. Reading, like translation, is, for the most part, an unconscious
process. If it were conscious, we would be forced to consume much more time in the act. Most
mental processes involved in the reading act are automatic and unconscious. Owing to such a
nature-common and little-known in the same time-in our opinion it is important to analyze the
reading process as precisely as possible. The works of some perception psychologists will be
helpful to widen our knowledge of this first phase of the translation process.

When a person reads, his brain deals with many tasks in such rapid sequences that everything
seems to be happening simultaneously. The eye examines (from left to right as far as many
Western languages are concerned, or from right to left or from top to bottom in some other
languages) a series of graphic signs (graphemes) in succession, which give life to syllables,
words, sentences, paragraphs, sections, chapters, and texts.

Simply reading a text is, in itself, an act of translation. When we read, we do not store the words
we have read in our minds as happens with data entered using a keyboard or scanner into a
computer. After reading, we do not have the photographic or auditory recording in our minds of
the text read. We have a set of impressions instead. We remember a few words or sentences
precisely, while all the remaining text is translated from the verbal language into a language
belonging to another sign system, which is still mostly unknown: the mental language.

The mental processing of the read verbal material is of a syntactical nature when we try to
reconstruct the possible structure of the sentence, i.e. the relations among its elements. In
contrast, it is of a semantic nature when we identify the relevant areas within the semantic field
of any single word or sentence; and it is of a pragmatic nature when we deal with the logical
match of the possible meanings with the general context and the verbal co-text.
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The difference between a reader and a critic is negligible: the reader trying to understand has the
same attitude as the critic, who is a systematic, methodical, and self-aware reader. While reading,
the individual reads, and perceives what he reads, drawing interpretations and inferences about
the possible intentions of the author of the message.

Holmes (1988) suggested that the translation process is actually a multi-level process; while we
are translating sentences, we have a map of the original text in our minds and, at the same time, a
map of the kind of text we want to produce in the target language. Even as we translate serially,
we have this structural concept so that each sentence in our translation is determined not only by
the original sentence, but also by the two maps—of the original text and of the translated text—
which we carry along as we translate.

 The translation process should, therefore, be considered a complex system in which

understanding, processing, and projection of the translated text are interdependent portions of
one structure. We can therefore put forward, as does Hnig (1991), the existence of a sort of
"central processing unit" supervising the coordination of the different mental processes (those
connected to reading, interpretation, and writing) and at the same time projecting a map of the
text to be.

Novice translators as well as student translators are advised to master the following basic reading
comprehension skills.

- Read for gist and main ideas.

- Read for details.
- Identify the meaning of new words and expressions using one or more components of the
structural analysis clause; prefixes, suffixes, roots, word order, punctuation, sentence pattern, etc.
- Identify the meaning of new words and expressions using one ore more of the contextual
analysis; synonyms, antonyms, examples, etc.
- Identify the writer's style: literary, scientific, technical, informative, persuasive, argumentative.
- Identify the language level used in the text: standard, slang, religious, etc.
- Identify cultural references in the choice of words in the text. 
3.2. Researching skills

Enani (2002b) notices that "the most commonly heard advice to translators is 'if you don't know
the meaning of a word, look it up in the dictionary.' It is the commonest and the vaguest insofar
as the definite article suggest that the dictionary is known to both speaker and listener." He
indicates that there are different kinds of dictionaries that a translator should refer to; a bilingual
dictionary, a dictionary on a historical basis, dictionaries of current English, dictionaries of
idioms, specialized dictionaries (dictionaries of common errors, dictionaries of idiomatic usage,
slang dictionaries, technical dictionaries) encyclopedic dictionaries, dictionaries of neologisms,
and monolingual dictionaries.
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Despite this long list of different kinds of dictionaries, it is a single dictionary that the translator
is supposed to refer to each and every time s/he translates. The choice of the best, or the most
appropriate, dictionary depends on the style of the protext (original text, text before translation)
and on the different types of users of the translation.

Calderaro (1998) indicates two major users of the meta text (text after translation) who may use
the translated version; the specialist user and the lay user. Identifying the prospective users of the
metatext is very important in the process of researching, as this will determine which kind of
dictionaries the translator will refer to, which level of information should be presented and to
"detect the exact moments when it is necessary to establish a balance between the scientific level
of the author and the knowledge the user supposedly has."

Novice translators, as well as student translators are encouraged to use the following basic
researching tips:

- Use bilingual dictionaries for looking up meanings of new words.

- Use monolingual dictionaries to check the usage of the new words in the source language and
in the target language.
- Use related encyclopedias and glossary lists for specialized terms;
- Use software dictionaries if necessary and available.
- Refer to specialized magazines and journals to help you familiarize yourself with the text,
particularly when it is a technical text. 
3.3. Analytical skills

The translation process is characterized by an analysis stage and a synthesis stage. During
analysis, the translator refers to the prototext in order to understand it as fully as possible. The
synthesis stage is the one in which the prototext is projected onto the reader, or rather, onto the
idea that the translator forms of who will be the most likely reader of the metatext.

The text, according to Bell (1998) is analyzed in two ways: micro- and macro-analysis of the
actual text: monitoring for cohesion and coherence, and checking for coherence between the
actual text and the potential text-type of which it is a token realization. Micro-analysis has the
purpose of verifying text cohesion and inner cohesion of the single units of text. Macro-analysis
is aimed at checking for coherence and cohesion between the created text and the model in the
category to which the text belongs. For example, if the text is an instruction booklet for a
household appliance, or a story for a newspaper, often there are models for such types of text to
which we frequently (consciously or unconsciously) adhere.

Such an analytic exam was necessary in order to identify the individual mental processes
involved in the above-mentioned activities; we know, however, that such activities are actually
carried out in very short time span. During this mental work, there is a constant shift of focus
between micro-analysis and macro-analysis, between micro-expression and macro-expression,
i.e. a constant comparison between the meaning of the single utterances and the meaning of the
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text as a whole, or, on a larger scale, a constant comparison between the sense of the specific text
and the comprehensive sense of the corpus which forms the "intertext," whether or not the
translator is aware of this fact. In this context, "intertext" should be understood as the intertextual
universe in which a text is located.

Translators are advised to use the following strategies in the analysis stage:

- Identify beginnings and endings of ideas in the text and the relationships between these ideas.
- Identify the "best" meaning that fits into the context;
- Identify the structure in the Target Language that "best" represents the original;
- Identify transitions between ideas and the "best" connectors in the target language that
represent the original. 
3.4. Composing skills

At this point, the mental construction resulting from interpretation seeks an outer expression.
Osimo (2002) suggests that, in this expression stage, there are two substages. One is aimed at
expression, the other at cohesion. The translator, having finished his/her interpretative work, has
two needs: first, to externalize the set of impressions caused by the text and translate into speech
elements the impressions the mind produced by contact with the prototext; and second, to make
this product coherent within itself, i.e., transform the set of speech elements into a text (the
metatext).

 He describes the passage from mental content to written text in these terms:

- pinpointing elements useful for discrimination of the content to be expressed from similar
contents;
- pinpointing redundant elements;
- choice of words (lexicalization) and attention to their cohesion (inner links);
- choice of grammatical structure(s);
- linear order of words;
- parts of speech;
- sentence complexity;
- prepositions and other function words, and
- final form.
As a novice translator, or a student translator, you are invited to make use of the following basic
strategies:

- Use correct word order as used in the target language.

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- Use correct sentence structures as used in the target language.

- Transmit the ideas of the text in clear sentences in the target language.
- Rephrase certain sentences to convey the overall meaning translated;
- Make changes to the text as a whole to give it a sense of the original without distorting the
original ideas.
IV. Common Issues Related to a Translator

1. What is a Translator?

A translator converts written material, such as newspaper and magazine articles, books, manuals,
or documents from one language into another. This is not to be confused with an interpreter, who
converts spoken material, such as speeches, presentations, depositions, and the like, from one
language to another. Although there is some vague connection between the abilities involved in
translation and interpretation, translators cannot necessarily interpret, nor can interpreters
necessarily translate. Moreover, the best translators are not good interpreters and likewise, truly
great interpreters are not much for translation. And while many professional training programs
require interpreters to develop some skill in translation, professionally trained translators often
have no exposure to the skills of interpretation.

To be clear about the languages used by translators, I'll refer to the translator's native language as
the A language and the non-native languages as the B or C languages. A B language is one
which the translator can speak, read, and write virtually as a native speaker does. A C language is
one which the translator can read and understand like a native, but does not necessarily speak or
write so well. Obviously we all have an A language, and equally evident, all translators have a B
language. Many translators have more than one B language, and some also have C languages.
What very few people have is two A languages, and even if you are one of those who do, take
care in making the claim, as many people will be skeptical.

I'll also use the following terms. Source text or language will refer to the language which the
material first appears in, usually the translator's B language. Target text and language refer to the
language that the material is translated into, usually the translator's A language. In general,
translators work from their B or C languages into their A languages, though an individual's skills
and the market's needs may alter this principle.

2. The Education of a Translator

Translators come from all backgrounds. Some have Masters degrees in translation from the
Monterey Institute of International Studies or Kent State University, some have certificates from
Georgetown University or other programs in the United States, others have degrees from schools
in Europe (such as the ones in London, Paris, or Geneva) or Asia (such as Simul Academy in
Tokyo or Winzao in Taiwan) and many have a degree in a general field such as literature or
history. While a specialized degree in translation is useful, it is far from necessary. What counts
more than anything else is ability. So where does this ability come from?
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Perhaps it is nature, but I suspect that nurture helps immensely. Most translators are very well-
read in their languages, and can write well. Some are writers who use translation as a way to
write for a living. Others are fascinated by language and use translation as a way to be close to
their favorite subject. Still others are experts in certain fields and use their language skills to
work in that field.

Almost all professional translators in the United States have at least a college degree. Some even
have advanced degrees either in translation or in the field they specialize in (a few even have
both). Most translators have university-level language training in their B and C languages. Some
started their languages earlier, others later, but very few translators have no language training at
all. Of course, language training might mean specialized courses from a variety of schools.

Translators also generally have lived in the countries where their languages are spoken. I know
of translators who have spent seven or even ten years in the countries of their B language. Some
translators have spent more time in the country of their B language than in the country of their A
language. The notable exception to this is Spanish in the United States and English abroad.
Because Spanish is used so widely and is as common as English in many parts of the U.S., some
translators learn and then work in the language without ever leaving the U.S. As well, translators
in other countries often work from English into their native language with just the language
training they received in school.

Above all, translators must have a deep interest and dedication to the languages they work with.
The only exception to this rule is people who translate very specialized material. I know an
individual with a Ph.D. in mathematics who translated a book on topology from French to
English. His French skills are dubious, but since few people in the world understand the material,
he was suitable. In almost all cases, however, translators have to be committed to honing and
polishing their language skills throughout their professional life.

The knowledge of the field the translator is working in is often overlooked by translators and
those that hire them. Translators are by definition language professionals, but they also have to
cultivate knowledge of the areas they work in. Few translators claim to be able to translate
anything written in their languages, just as few people can claim to be experts in everything.
Most translators have to specialize, working with one or a few related categories of material:
legal, financial, medical, computers, or electrical engineering, to name a few. Each field has its
own vocabulary, syntax, and style; the translator has to work hard to develop the knowledge
necessary to deal with such material.

The knowledge also includes two other important factors. First, the translator should have the
background knowledge to work in the field. This does not mean that a medical translator should
have an M.D. or that a translator of software manuals should be a programmer. But some
background, experience, or education (or all three) is essential. This can be obtained through
coursework, on-the-job experience, or self-study. No one seems too concerned with exactly how
translators develop their subject knowledge, as long as they truly have. And though translators do
have degrees in their specialization, most do not.
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Second, the translator should have the necessary resources to deal with the material. This means
dictionaries, glossaries, and any other resources. Such resources can include web sites devoted to
translation or terminology, Usenet discussion groups concerning translation, friends or
colleagues who work in the profession, and magazines and journals. And translators have to
work tirelessly to maintain if not improve their knowledge of the fields they work in by reading
related material. They also have to invest the time and money in maintaining their reference
library.

In other words, professional translators are always learning. You don't just put your hand on a
rock and say: "I am a translator." Nor do you simply acquire a language in a few months by
living somewhere and then begin translating. Heinrich Schliemann may have learned to read
each of his languages in six weeks, but he couldn't write or speak them (nor did he need to).
Moreover, at that time, languages had considerably more limited vocabularies than now. And of
course, reading and translating are two separate things.

So at what point are you ready to begin translating? Simple. When you feel that your abilities of
expression and comprehension in your A and B languages are strong enough that you can do the
job properly by the client's deadline. The length of time to cultivate these abilities depends on the
person and the language. Native speakers of English have an easier time with the Romance and
Germanic languages because their grammars, syntax, and vocabulary are relatively familiar. A
language like Chinese or Japanese takes a long time simply because you have to learn to read
and understand thousands of characters, as well as deal with grammar, syntax, and structure
wholly unrelated to that seen in English.

Finally, you have to be able to prove that you have the skills you claim to have. Experience
living, working, and studying in the country of your B language is one form of proof. A degree
in your language or in translation is another. Taking a test such as the ones given by the ATA,
the State Department, or the United Nations is another. But I'll leave the discussion of
accreditation for a separate article.

3. In-house Versus Freelance

Translators either work for themselves as freelance translators or in-house as the employees of, a
translation agency. The former are typically called freelance translators, or freelancers, and the
latter in-house translators. If you are just entering the profession, or if you are considering
translation as a career, you have to look closely at these two options to decide which is right for
you.

As a freelance translator, you are a business owner. You will take care of marketing, invoicing,
accounts payable and receivable, taxes, equipment purchases and maintenance, and so forth.
Freelance translators may make more per year on average than in-house translators, but their
income is far more variable, and they have to cover all their own expenses, including all taxes,
retirement funds, medical and other forms of insurance, and business/operating costs.

As an in-house translator, you work for someone else. You go to your office in the morning, sit
in your cubicle during the day translating whatever the company needs, attend meetings to
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discuss large-scale translation projects, terminology, or equipment, go to training sessions to

learn to use the new LAN system or MAT software, and then go home in the evening. Like most
jobs, you get paid vacation, insurance, half of your Social Security and FICA taxes paid, and a
retirement plan of some sort.

Although the remaining articles will discuss the above differences between freelance and in-
house translation in detail, and even offer suggestions as to which people might be suited for, I
will say here that often questions of personality and work style are irrelevant. The first and most
important question is money. Can you afford to be a freelance translator? To start as a freelance
translator, you will need a several thousand dollars to get the computer hardware and software
you need, to do some marketing, and to wait out the first few months during which time you will
likely have little work, and you will be patiently waiting for that first invoice to be paid. So if
you are single with few financial responsibilities, some money saved, and don't mind a bit of a
risk, the answer to the money question is affirmative: you can have a go at freelance translation.
If however you are married with a couple of children, have the usual expenses of a mortgage,
medical costs, and so forth, then you should think very carefully before starting up as a freelance
translator.

There is also a strong argument for getting your feet wet in the industry by working for someone
else. You can think of it as paid on-the-job training. You will learn more about translating by
translating than by doing anything else. And you will also acquire not only all that secondary
know-how, such as word processing, negotiating, or filing tax forms, but also lots of practical
knowledge of the industry, such as rates, which language pairs or subject areas are in demand, or
what technologies are likely to affect translation in the near future. You might even develop
relationships that can be turned into clients for a freelance business. So consider starting off as an
in-house translator, especially if you are uncomfortable with the financial aspects of working for
yourself, or are uncertain as to how you will feel about working at home alone.

4. What is a Professional Translator?

A professional translator is:

- Educated in both source and target languages
- Translating only into his/her native language and is proficient/bilingual in the source language
- Specialized in a few specific subject areas, that usually are closely related to the translator’s
background
- Someone with several years of experience in transferring messages from one language to
another, either through education and/or work experience
- A good writer
- Experienced in both cultures of the target and source languages
- Passionate about his/her profession and loves to convey the content and intent of the text as
exactly as possible to the target language, with appropriate style and terminology.
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- Giving attention to detail

- Courteous, reliable, respectful, honest, responsible and competent.
5. Myths about Translation and Translators

5.1. Translators are just people who can speak two or more languages. This is one of the most
prolific myths circulating outside the translation industry. Merely knowing two languages does
not mean that a person can translate with those languages. Translation is so much more and non-
translators are often perplexed by this fact.

5.2. Translators can translate any subject matter as long as the material is in a language they
know.
Good translators will specialize in only a few different (but oftentimes) but related areas. This
allows them to keep up-to-date on changes in their industry and keeps them abreast of current
trends. Inexperienced (or bad translators) will often say they can translate anything thrown at
them.

5.3. Translating from one language to another (i.e. Spanish to English) is the same as translating
in the reverse direction (i.e. English to Spanish).

There are translators that can do a good job translating in both directions; however, the number
of translators that can do this is not very high. Clients often think that translating is the same no
matter which direction the translator is going. Translators have dominant languages and it is
usually in the best interest of the translator and client for the translator to translate into his/her
dominant language.

5.4. Translators can produce any translation with little or no turn-around time.
Once again, clients often believe that translation is a simple task that can be accomplished
quickly. A good translator will educate the client and let them know that translators need
sufficient time to produce a quality product.

5.5. A native speaker is always a better translator than a non-native one. This is a myth equal in
error to that of 7.1. Merely being a native speaker of a language does not ensure or guarantee that
that person will be able to translate adequately. Translation requires discipline, study, and
continual practice. A native speaker of a language does not inherently possess all (or even any)
of these qualities. Clients for some reason don't seem to understand this.

5.6. Translators like it when the client changes their translation after it has been delivered.
After a translator has edited, revised, retranslated, and perfected a translation, do you think
he/she wants it to be changed after it's delivered it to the client? Many times, a well-meaning
person on the client end will think that the translator has incorrectly translated something in the
translation. Nearly 99% of the time, however, their good intentions are ill founded. Not only
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does the translation quality decrease, but the translator's reputation can also be called into
questioned.

5.7. Only translators who are members of a professional translation organization can translate
well.
There are many translators that do an excellent job without ever being members of any
organization. These so-called professional organizations are not governing bodies over the
worldwide translation industry. They might have a single measure for evaluating translators, but
it is what it is: a single evaluation metric. I'd say that a list of satisfied clients from a translator is
a far better indication of a translator's competency.

5.8. Translators can also interpret.

Translation is not interpretation and interpretation is not translation. They are not synonymous.
Translation is written material; interpretation is speaking. These are two very different skill sets.

5.9. Translators like to do free translation work.

Most translators are willing to do pro bono work every once in a while. However, translators are
professionals who need to make a living doing their profession. Translation is not a hobby for
most translators and it is not right for people to ask translators to freely translate something for
them.

5.10. A good translator will take whatever payment the client is willing to give.
Good translators will have a set price and will not very often deviate from this price. Clients will
often try to have translators bid against each other for the lowest price; however, when the price
gets too low, a good translator will choose not to take the translation because it will not be worth
his/her time. An inexperienced translator (and one that might not be that good) will take
whatever the client is willing to pay. In that case, clients get what they pay for.

6. Personality Traits of Translators

6.1. Curious

We translators are curious, we want to learn and find out, not only things in a specific area, but in
general. I recently received a translation project dealing with research in peace and conflict
resolution. I was thrilled to learn more about this through translating and researching. Many
translators are as a result of this also well educated.

6.2. Detail oriented

We want to find just the right word and just the right way to say something, and we usually dig
deep until we find this. This is also an important trait for proofreading. We read the whole
sentence, not skipping one single word, and find the things that ought to be adjusted.
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6.3. Disciplined

Many of us work independently as freelancers and have to manage our own time and work
schedule. Deadlines help, but it takes discipline to sit by the computer to finish a project when
your family or friends are calling you to get out and “play”. It also takes discipline to allocate
those extra hours in your day to marketing, upkeep etc.

6.4. Business savvy

Part of our discipline ties into our business knowledge. We know that we run our own little
business and that we have to be responsible to our customers and treat them right in order to
make them come back. We know that each interaction is part of our long term marketing and we
try to be as professional and service oriented as possible.

6.5. Technical

I know, translation is an art, but in today’s world most translator have to be at least a little
technical in order to survive. We work on computers, communicate through email, use different
computer tools in our daily work and we have to be able to back up our work, solve minor
technical issues and communicate electronically.

6.6. Self-confident and driven

It takes hard work and time to find customers; especially the ideal customer, and we need to be
able to trust our competence in order to keep going sometimes. We need to be able to handle a
few rejections, set goals and work towards them.

V. Ethics and Professionalism in Translation

1. The True Professional

I am going to make a hazy but important distinction here. I believe there are translators and then
there are professional translators. The former are people who translate on the side, using their
knowledge of a particular field to translation work. For instance, in a previous article, I referred
to a mathematician who translated a book on advanced mathematics from French to English. I do
not consider him a professional translator.

Professional translators are applied linguists whose ability to work with language, write well, and
for free-lancers, to operate a business, represents their source of income. Professional translators
are people who are dedicated to their languages and the nations, societies, and cultures which
come with them. They are devoted to improving their ability to understand their source language
and write in their target language. They recognize that translation is both an art and a skill. As
such, they are also committed to deepening their knowledge of the fields they translate in, and to
cultivating greater facility for writing about such matters. They also have nurtured a deep respect
for business ethics, aware that they are in many instances the communications conduit for a
product or service, for information or opinion, and so must consider the consequences of their
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linguistic decisions. Finally, professional translators know that they can always improve and
polish their translation ability.

Professional translators are also distinguished by certain attitudes and approaches to their work.
In this article, I want to take a close look at these attitudes and approaches and help clarify what
a professional translator is and how we can all become more professional about being a
translator.

Unlike the medical or legal professions, there are no precise academic or professional
prerequisites to be a translator. This is a boon for those talented individuals who want to get
started in the translation industry and a bane for those people trying to identify true professionals.
The only requirement a translator must fulfill is knowing two or more languages. Anything less
is rather hard to accept.

Virtually all professional translators in the United States have at least a Bachelor's degree, and
translation vendors will rarely if ever work with a translator who does not have an undergraduate
education. Often these degrees are in language studies, or some related field. However, some
translators have degrees in their field of specialization and have academic language training as a
college minor. Others have advanced degrees in translation itself. Still others have little if any
formal academic language training, instead having learned their languages either in the home or
while living abroad.

Translators have to be able to write, so you might assume that translators have formal academic
training as writers and professional writing experience. I have found little evidence for this. Few
translators I know truly love writing; to most it seems to be merely an essential aspect of
translation. However, most professional translators do have a deep interest in writing, be it as a
necessary tool or an art form.

Finally, virtually all translators have a well developed knowledge of one or more specialized
fields, such as finance, law, including in particular patent and corporate law, computer science,
medicine, pharmaceuticals, and so on. This is not to say that translators are experts per se in such
fields, but they do have enough knowledge to read, understand, and then translate common
material in the field. And very few translators will ever develop such in-depth knowledge in
more than a few fields.

2. Ethics

I have said virtually nothing about professional ethics in the previous articles, except to make
suggestions as to how translators might better approach their business endeavors. There are,
however, ethical considerations in translation, including decisions on how to charge clients,
when to refuse to do a translation job, or how to respond when clients treat you poorly. What
follows is a series of general observations that I hope will provide some ideas as to how and why
ethical business behavior is advantageous, particularly in the long run.

Translators are often privy to secret information, be that the financial plans of a company, a
pharmaceutical patent, or the specifications for a new computer chip. If it hasn't occurred to you
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that there are people who would pay a lot of money for this information, then you shouldn't take
up writing espionage thrillers. If it hasn't occurred to you that you could use financial
information to make money, then Ivan Bosky probably isn't your hero or idol. Translators have
to keep this kind of information to themselves, regardless of whether or not they are asked to
sign a nondisclosure or confidentiality agreement.

Occasionally the desire for secrecy goes so far as to require the translator not to talk about the
job at all. I have at least two larger jobs like this per year, and while doing such work I say
nothing to anyone about it other than that I currently have work (much as the Chinese greet each
other with a phrase that literally translates as "did you eat rice?", freelance translators often greet
each other with a question like "have enough work these day?"). This probably irritates some of
my friends and colleagues, who may arrive at the incorrect assumption that I am translating
design specifications for a UFO hyper-drive being reverse-engineered at Area 51 in Nevada, but
I do feel bound to honor the agreements I enter into.

You may be wondering, so what? It won't matter if I tell me spouse, my friend, my fellow
translator, that I am working on documents related to a major international lawsuit that won't
become public for the next three months. Please trust me when I tell you it will. The translation
industry is very small and tightly knit; it is composed of people who know how to communicate
and are used to doing so via the Internet and the Web, and of people who generally like to talk
about work if only because they tend to work alone. So anything you say could end up being
mentioned in a Usenet group or chat room, at which point it would be public knowledge. And if
you can't figure out why leaking the preparation for a major, multi-billion dollar lawsuit
regarding illegal trade practices six months before it becomes public would be a problem, then
you probably shouldn't be a translator.

In a similar vein, translators have to honor the agreements they make. If you agree to do a job,
then you have to do it. You can't just farm out your work and take a percentage without telling
your clients that you do this. They have a right to know who is actually doing the work. If they
decide to hire you, then they want you, not someone you know, to do the job. Moreover, you
have to do the job the way you say you will, which often means doing what the client asks. If the
client provides a glossary or style sheet, follow it, regardless of your personal opinion of their
word choice or formatting ideas. If they request a particular file format, provide it. If you really
think something is wrong with their terminology or format choices, tell them. The client always
has the final word on such matters, but at the same time will usually appreciate your observations
or suggestions.

In the same vein, translators should not accept assignments they don't have the time or
qualifications to do. I regularly turn down work because I am too busy with other jobs or because
I don't have the expertise to do the job justice. Remember, the easiest way to lose a client is to do
a bad job. Don't.
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3. Efficient Ethics

All right, enough of the lecture. I realize most readers don't want a polemic, so let me see if I
can't motivate you through a simple strategy and a few basic facts about the translation industry
to be an ethical, professional translator.

There is a well-established idea for the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma in Game Theory called the
Tit-for-Tat Strategy. The Prisoner's Dilemma may be familiar, but for those to whom it is new, it
goes like this: Two criminals who together committed a crime are brought in by the police for
questioning. The police think they both did it, but would have a much easier time if one ratted
out the other. So they separate the two criminals and make the following offer to each: If you rat
out your partner, we'll get the district attorney to give you only six months. If you stay quiet and
your partner rats you out, you get ten years. And though the police say nothing, there is of course
the possibility that the criminals could go free (but only if they both keep quiet). Under such
circumstances, most criminals will rat out their partner. Now to generalize this idea a bit for the
Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma. In this version, a group of individuals of any size are all set to
interact with each other repeatedly over the same issue. In any given interaction, an individual
can cooperate or defect. In other words, you can be nice to the other members of the group, or
you can screw them. It can be shown mathematically, and has been shown many times, that the
best strategy in this Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma is Tit-for-Tat, or to be specific: cooperate (be
nice) when interacting with another member of the group for the first time, then reciprocate their
behavior thereafter. In other words, after you're nice to this other individual, if that individual is
nice back, be nice; if that individual defects (screws you), defect back (screw 'em back). This is
the best long-term strategy because it is simple and effective.

Why? you ask. The answer is in thinking about the situation overall. Always start off nice. Easy
enough to understand that, since goodwill generally begets goodwill, and you know that you will
be interacting with these other individuals in the future (no sense in making enemies right away).
After the initial encounter, be nice only if the others are nice to you. Again, easy enough to
understand because you want to reward good behavior and encourage it to continue, and you
want to punish bad behavior and discourage it in the future. The only requirement for this
strategy to work is that you keep track of what others are doing to you. Fortunately, the human
brain is well-designed for this task, and there is computer software, such as Personal Information
Managers (PIMs) to further simplify the task.

So how to apply this to freelance translation? Again, simple. Always start off with a nice, polite,
cooperative attitude toward any new client. Don't be automatically suspicious; just be careful.
You can find out a lot about a potential new client by asking colleagues and doing web searches.
Unless there is sound reason to reject work from the new client, do the work properly (your form
of cooperation), then monitor what happens. If you are treated well, paid promptly, and offered
more work (the client's form of cooperation), of course you accept it. You cooperated, the client
reciprocated, everyone is happy. If the client screws you, screw them back (so to speak) by not
accepting any more work and by reporting their behavior to everyone else in the group. Cheats
cannot succeed in the long run unless the group in question is infinitely large; since there is a
finite number of translators, no client can screw translators forever. Conversely, no translator can
translate for very long while screwing clients, because there are a finite number of clients
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available. Cheats may be able to succeed in the short run, but only if the rest of the group lets
them. We can talk to each other about bad client experiences, just as clients talk amongst
themselves about bad experiences with particular translators. We can post accurate, precise
information regarding bad behavior from clients on web sites dedicated to such matters. In
essence, we can help each other keep track of everyone's behavior, encouraging good behavior
and punishing bad behavior. A translator will not last any longer without clients than a
translation vendor will last without translators.

Recently in the journal Science there appeared the latest in a long series of studies on Game
Theory and altruistic behavior. Once again researchers clearly showed that those individuals who
are known to be open, generous, and honest benefit the most in the long run. The Golden Rule
applies here, in other words. Not only will people do unto you as you do to them, or are likely to
do to them, but these people are keeping track, as should you.

To sum up, the translation industry is a small, tightly-integrated industry in which people tend to
talk a lot. We can use this to our advantage by adopting the Tit-for-Tat strategy in our business
efforts and helping each other keep track of who has done what. Good behavior, whether it is a
translator doing quality work and delivering it on time or a client offering respectable rates and
paying promptly, should be recognized and rewarded. Bad behavior, for instance a translator
consistently and without reason delivering work late or an agency regularly withholding or
failing to pay translators, should be acknowledged and punished. If each of us does even a little
of this, the industry itself will automatically improve rapidly and dramatically.

All that said, now we'll look at some specific recommendations and suggestions as to how we
can all become more professional in our translation endeavors.

4. Handling Clients

The true professional knows how to conduct business, including the art of negotiation, providing
necessary information, and making agreements for each job.

I've discussed the importance of negotiation in previous articles. The only point I want to raise
here is that sounding confident and definite when you negotiate is important. You won't impress
anyone if you hem and haw when asked questions about price or terms of delivery. Know your
rates by heart, know your hardware and software by heart, and know what you can do. Give this
information freely and firmly, and then watch and wait. Remember, the heart of negotiation is
compromise; if the client doesn't like your terms, they'll make a counter offer. Then it's up to you
to accept or make yet another counter offer.

One word of advice about negotiation: dickering and bickering is not the way to cultivate clients.
Often a slightly lower rate in the short run leads to more work and higher rates in the future. I
have started at slightly lower rates with agencies and then found in short order that they were
feeding me large assignments regularly. Conversely, I've turned down rates which I thought were
too low and then found that the agency later offered me work at a higher rate. If you provide
quality work at a fair price, you will have clients.
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Providing information is an essential part of being a professional translator. Clients have to know
who you are, where you work, what you can do, and what you charge. When you receive a
request for information from a client, be it a new client who has sent you a contractor's
employment form or an old client requesting updated information, give it willingly and in detail.
Your clients have to know you.

You also have to be accessible. Make sure you are in your office, or at least near your phone,
during the workday. Just because no one calls you in the morning doesn't mean you have the
afternoon off. You should still be in your office. Sure, you're saying to yourself, that's important,
but I can still go out and do things. Yes, you can. But remember that if a client can't reach you
they'll send the job to someone else. At the very least, get an answering machine which lets you
call in and collect your messages from another phone. I have one and it's helped me
considerably, especially when I'm out on business and I want to know what's going on back in
my office. Also check your email many times per day. Some clients are now sending out job
offers via email and expect prompt responses. In particular, if you participate in any of the Web-
based translation exchanges, such as Proz (www.proz.com) or Aquarius (aquarius.net), then you
should check your email regularly to see if someone is soliciting your services, or if your bid for
a job has been successful.

Making agreements refers to setting the rules for each job. By rules I mean terms which include
how the job is to be done, how much you will be paid, and when and how it will be delivered.
Establish all of this before you accept the job. You might even want to get the terms in writing,
though I don't bother doing this with clients I know well. Just make sure you know what you are
supposed to translate, what file format the client wants, when and how you are to deliver the job,
and what you'll be paid for it. Accepting a job without this information is foolish and can lead to
numerous problems.

Sometimes an agency will say that they don't really care when you finish a job, what file format
you use or how you deliver it. What they mean is that they don't need it fast, they have the
hardware and software to handle common file formats, and they aren't concerned with the
delivery method. Regardless of their level of interest, you should establish how you are going to
do the job, and then do it that way.

5. After-service

I love this word, whose origin is found in Japanese business culture but exists in one form or
another all over the world. The notion that a translation job ends the moment you push the Send
File button in your email software, fire off the fax, deposit the papers in an envelope, or complete
the upload of the translated file to an FTP site is both unprofessional and irresponsible. Don't
leave your home for the beach right after you finish a translation assignment; numerous things
can go wrong after you send the job.

What can possibly happen that requires my involvement? you ask. Here's the list: the agency's
fax machine doesn't print your transmission clearly enough (this happens often when sending
hand-written work, such as an editing job); the BBS or FTP site doesn't receive the modem
transmission; the agency can't open or convert your file; the agency opens your file but gets mere
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gibberish (affectionately known among hackers as baud barf); the agency loses your file; or the
agency has questions about what you did.

You have to stick around after you send the job, just in case. I've sent jobs in to agencies on the
East Coast on Friday morning and then received calls at 6:00 p.m. my time. If you know you are
going out (or away for the weekend), tell the agency beforehand, preferably when you deliver the
job. Make sure they know you won't be around after a particular hour and ask them to confirm
that the file you sent was received and can be processed. It takes a little more effort but is well
worth it; the agency will love you.

Professionals solve problems. This also means that you should try to help your clients with
problems. I have helped numerous clients troubleshoot a computer network, BBS, or software
incompatibility over the phone while negotiating or discussing a job. Always be useful and
helpful; it will make them remember you and think well of you.

Translators must stand by their work. Eventually, a client will call you and tell you that your
translation sucks, that their bilingual five-year-old niece could have done a better job, that a
colubus monkey has superior spelling skills. Regardless of how offended or angered you are by
such claims, take the time to work through the problem with the client. Ask for specific
comments, such as where the errors are, what kind they are, and how many there are. If the errors
are in fact your responsibility, offer to fix them immediately at no extra charge. If the errors fall
into that nebulous area of style or proofreading, offer to participate in the clean-up process but
stand by your work if you did what you were told. The most important thing is to service the
client. They have the work and the money, so it behooves you to make a positive impression no
matter how negative the situation might be.

Even after the job is finished and the agency confirms receipt of it, keep the file on your hard
drive for weeks to come. I usually keep the file on my hard drive until after I am paid for the job,
and then I remove , though it is still available on an archival disc. Why? For one, I worked with a
translation vendor which lost my translated file some five weeks after I submitted it. They were
in a panic and called me, praying that I had kept the file. To their delight, I said I had it and
would upload it immediately. Of course, this won't happen five years later, but five years seems
to be the current statute of limitations on law suits involving translated materials as well as most
other suits in which translated materials could be subpoenaed. So keep everything you translate
for at least five years and remember to deduct the cost of the disks and the space used to store
them.

As an aside, I recycle printed material after three to five years since completion of a job, but I
retain electronic copies of all material I have ever worked on. Data storage is so cheap and
efficient that deleting files seems pointless. I may not be able to open some of those files
eventually, but with the right tool in the right hands the textual content could be extracted.

Upon finishing a large job such as a book or computer manual (I've done many of both), I
usually send the agency a letter along with the finished translation and keep in contact with them
as they edit my work and prepare it for publication. I also make clear that I am willing to remain
involved in the process, that the agency may call me for clarifications on my work, such as
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choices about style or terminology, and that I am genuinely interested in the final outcome. It's
always good business to be involved in the entire process, not just the small part of it which
represents your work.

In sum, you should treat your clients like puppy dogs. They are very curious, very busy, easily
distracted, always rushing from one thing to the next, and not necessarily willing or able to
understand everything you ask of them or report to them. I don't mean you should not respect
your clients, or that you should look down on them. Quite the opposite. Know their limitations
and work with them. Don't assume they already know (much like a new owner of a puppy might
do), but instead check, double-check, and then check once more. There is an aphorism in
Japanese that goes: to question and ask is a moment's shame; to question and not ask is a lifetime
of shame. If you fail to ask, the shame will be doubly yours, because not only will you often look
and feel silly, but you may well also lose a client.

6. The Suit Does not Make the Translator

Translators are among those fortunate few who do not have to dress up for work. I won't go into
the details of what I have worn or where exactly I was in my home when talking to clients on the
phone, but suffice it to say that those were not conditions under which I would have wanted to be
face to face with a business contact. Conversely, translators have to sound professional at all
times, regardless of the situation.

In many businesses, a visual impression is the most important. A good suit, a proper haircut, a
clean shave (of the legs or face), and the other professional amenities are essential to success.
Translators don't have to endure this unless they work in-house or meet with their clients in
person. Instead, we have to rely on what we say, how we say it, and how we sound in order to
create and maintain business relations. So good spoken English, or any other language you use
professionally, a confident, polished manner, and a strong sense of professionalism in what you
say is vital.

7. General Ethics Principles

Although the codes of ethics mentioned above may differ in some parts, they are generally
concerned with similar underlying ethical principles.
The general principles contained in the different codes of ethics require translators and
interpreters to:

• respect their clients’ right to privacy and confidentiality

• disclose any real or perceived conflicts of interest
• decline to undertake work beyond their competence or accreditation levels
• relay information accurately and impartially between parties
• maintain professional detachment and refrain from inappropriate self-promotion
• guard against misuse of inside information for personal gain.
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VI. Further Reading

1. Reading 1:

Cross-Cultural Context Ambiguities Case Study: Polish and English Commercial

Advertisement Translation

By Joanna Rek-Harrop,

1. Introduction

Grand marketers and advertisers are nowadays the biggest practitioners of intercultural
communications, since aggressive commercial promotions are on a quest to reach even the most
secluded communities if are perceived as potential new markets. Brand marketing of commercial
products requires transfer of meaning in order to win overseas consumers. Translation is
expected to restate in the target language (TL), in the best possible way, the meaning embedded
in the source language (SL). Culture is a strong governing aspect of this restatement. The major
obstacle to transferring the original meaning in translation process is that there are no two
identical cultures, which would have the same values, history, systems, and social norms;
therefore, it is impossible for the effects of the ST and TT to be the same (Venuti 1995: 31-3). In
dealings with cultural implications, emphasis is therefore given to finding the best possible way
of transferring the original concept of the ST into the culture of the TT using the domestic
system of referencing. Empirical studies have confirmed that the cultural background has an
increasing effect on the behavior of local national markets as economic development and
homogenization proceed due to globalization (e.g. de Mooij 1998:76).

This paper on intercultural transfer of meaning between the English and Polish languages, is a
practical case study that assesses the impact of cultural implications in marketing translation of a
commercial advertisement on its international audiences. It further assesses the transfer of
culture-bound concepts, the techniques used to transfer these cultural concepts from the SL into
the TL, variations in meanings, and variations in tone.

2. Cultural considerations in translation

2.1. Culture

Culture is described as 'the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievements
regarded collectively... and the customs, institutions and achievements of a particular nation,
people, or group' (Concise Oxford English Dictionary 2002), which means that there is a
collective cultural relationship between members of any given nation or community, which
reflects their social norms. The way of life of any such community or nation 'uses a peculiar
language as its means of expression' (Newmark 1988: 94). This statement is further supported by
a hypothesis of Linguistic Determinism formulated by the linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf (1956).
The hypothesis states that a language and its structural differences from other languages
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determine the way how an individual thinks. The hypothesis maintains that 'language itself
shapes a man's basic ideas' (Myers 2005:308).

2.2. Representation of the ST culture in the target oriented framework—theoretical background

Advertising is a form of social communication that represents a society's culture, as well as the
values and norms associated with it. As target markets vary, so does its cultural context. This
poses a need for variations of the advertising message in the international setting. The
importance of culture as a part of an effective advertising message has been acknowledged in
international advertising literature (e.g. Hite and Fraser 1990, Melewar and Saunders 1999, de
Mooij 2004). Thus, the appropriate method to transfer cultural context is chosen depending on
the TT readership, TT type, importance of the cultural word in the text and in a commercial text
on requirements from the client. Translators when talking about translations of cultural meaning
often use among others terms: 'cultural equivalence,' 'cultural transposition,' 'cultural transfer,'
'translational relationships,' and 'cultural adequacy.' The degree to which the original cultural
perspective of the ST is translated faithfully into the TT varies depends on the method chosen by
a translator. Harvey, Higgins and Haywood (1995: 20) suggest a scale of translation techniques
for culture specific concepts:

a) Exoticism or cultural borrowing is when the TT retains the original cultural and linguistic
features of the SL and is therefore the most faithful to the ST cultural background. The TT might
be difficult to understand for public unfamiliar with the ST culture.

b) Calque is a literally translated fixed expression which often either does not make logical sense
in the TT or its sense is different from the one the ST author had in mind.

c) Communicative translation uses communicative equivalents predominantly in terms of fixed

expressions.

d) Cultural transplantation is when the ST is fully adapted to the TT audience often beyond
recognition of being a translation itself.

Schleiermacher distinguishes foreignization and domestication of the TT terms as possible

strategies for translating the ST meaning given by a cultural context:

The translator can either leave the writer in peace as much as possible and bring the reader to
him, or he can leave the reader in peace as much as possible and bring the writer to him.
(Friedrich von Schleiermacher, 1838: 47, as translated in Wilss 1982: 33)

'Bringing the reader' to the ST would require the TT reader to process the translation in its
original foreign context, which might serve to promote the ST culture. This approach seems to be
predominant in the globalization of markets. While 'bringing the writer to the reader' would mean
domesticating the ST to the context familiar to the TT reader.

While dealing with problems caused by cultural differences and culture specific words in
translating, Eugene Nida suggests two methods, which he describes as 'dynamic and formal
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equivalences.' Dynamic equivalence is the aforementioned domestication of the ST, which aims
to bring all 'foreign' and archaic concepts to the TT reader's social and cultural context. Formal
equivalence, for Nida, should focus on 'gloss translation' and resolving all lexical and
grammatical differences between the ST and the TT (1964:159). In translation of cultural terms
Newmark suggests using two completely opposite methods: componential analysis or
transference. The TT reader, the TT genre, the importance of a cultural word in the text and the
requirements from the client affect the delicacy of the componential analysis, which also might
be accompanied by a translation of the cultural term (Newmark 1988:119). Componential
analysis focuses on message and is regarded by Newmark as 'the most accurate translation
procedure' (1988:96). The transference, on the other hand, which is a concise celebration of local
culture, tends to exclude the message by introducing a foreign word into the TT. Baker's
approach is similar to the Newmark's, as she suggests translation of the culture-specific item
using a loan word or a loan word plus explanation (Baker 1992:34). She suggests that the
explanation is particularly useful if the word is repeated several times in the text and 'once
explained, the loan word can be used on its own' (ibid.).

Another technique of translating a culture-specific word is cultural substitution. This involves

'replacing a culture-specific item or expression' of the SL with a TL item 'which does not have
the same prepositional meaning but it is likely to have a similar impact on the target reader'
(Baker 1992:31). Footnotes in the TT can also serve as explanations of complex cultural
concepts, which are not present in the TL culture. This method is however recommended as the
last resort when the explanation cannot be included within the body of the main text.

Many linguists, including Toury, favor any form of communicative translation or cultural
transplantation, where it is functionally possible. 'Translations have been regarded as facts of the
culture which hosts them' (Toury 1995:24). However, it has to be borne in mind that any form of
cultural communicative equivalent is always approximate and thus very relative. Therefore,
based on my experience, in commercial translation where the cultural replacement does not have
the same effect on the target audience, it should be replaced by another local cultural aspect that
better fits to the target consumer's system of reference.

The detailed cultural implications, analysis, and methods used to translate them are presented in
point 5 of this paper.

2.3. The Source Text

Advertising is used by a company to increase the sales of its products or services or to promote a
brand name. Advertising can also be used to communicate an idea or image. The manufacturer of
the product. which is analyzed here operates in two different national markets; therefore the
company in its branding message faces contradicting forces of homogenization and divergence.
International interdependence and international trade increase the importance of understanding
and communicating effectively with people of other cultural backgrounds (Gudykunst and Kim
1984). Globally standardized advertising can therefore be seen as an alternative to the high costs
of localized advertising for different markets, as well as means to maintain a coherent global
corporate image (e.g. Agrawal 1995, Laroche, Kirpalani and Zhou 2001). Nonetheless,
standardization carries the risk of not corresponding to the values of these diverse markets
 136

(Watson, Lysonski, Gillan and Raymore 2002). With respect to the methodology used in the case
study analyzed here it is also held by researchers that the global-local paradigm is a paradox
since one cannot think globally. Every human being thinks according to his own culturally
defined thinking pattern. For global communication however, the way of thinking must be
immersed in local reality in order to be effective and must focus "on the particular, not on the
universal" (de Mooij 1998: 11).

The role of commercial advertising is the same in Poland and in England. It involves commercial
interests. In this study, the advertisement refers to Scotch Whiskey. The attitudes in Poland and
in England towards alcohol are similar. Poles, across different customer segments, like alcohol
and are not ashamed of consuming it. In fact, a moderate amount of alcohol is widely considered
to be good for health. Therefore, the functional equivalent of English "cheers" is the Polish "Na
zdrowie" ("to health") followed by joining full glasses of all drinkers. Alcohol is thus not a taboo
subject, neither is it prohibited by religion or law, and its advertisements are widely distributed
without restrictions to the content of the text. There is therefore no need for culturally enforced
adjustments in terms of cultural values, perceptual sensitivity, or social rules.

The chosen text originates from a commercial advertising brochure of the Macallan Highland
Scotch Whiskey. The advertisement presents the history and production of the traditional
Scottish malt whiskey to those willing to purchase the product and it is deeply immersed in the
Scottish culture. Apart from the Scottish culture the content of the advertisement also refers to
the English cultural heritage. This is a commercial text and the purpose of its translation is to
reach new international markets and to increase the company's profits. All cultural implications
have to be considered accordingly.

2.4. The Readership

'The relationship between the receiver and TL message should aim at being the same as between
the original receivers and the SL message' (Nida in Bassnett-McGuire 1991:26). In order to try to
achieve this as much as it is possible within different cultural frameworks, it is required to define
the readership first. According to Coulthard, defining an ideal reader is 'translator's first and
major difficulty because all other decisions follow from it' (1992:12). The TT's ideal reader will
most likely never fit the profile of the original ST reader as 'even if he has the same academic,
professional and intellectual level as the original ideal reader, will have significantly different
textual expectations and cultural knowledge' (ibid.).

At this point, it should be emphasized that the whiskey advertisement has been written for the
ideal drinker i.e. the consumer, who for the purpose of this paper will be referred to as a reader.
There are three types of readership: the expert, the educated generalist and the uninformed, and
they usually require different types of translation (Newmark 1988:102). In the original text of the
advertisement analyzed here, the author writes for a reader familiar with Scotland i.e. its
geography, history and culture, who likes to drink whiskey and is interested in its production.
The ideal reader also has a good level of linguistic competence and education, but most
importantly s/he must be able to afford the whiskey.
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The price of the the Macallan Highland Scotch Whiskey is currently £34 per bottle for 10-12
years old single malt (and can increase to £360 for the 80 year old scotch). In comparison to
other whiskies on the market, it is not a product which a person with limited funds could easily
afford on a regular basis. It is therefore safe to assume that although the advertisement is
published for the general public, the producer has rather at least a middle-class buyer with a
comfortable income in mind. This is reflected in the evoked meaning of the ST. Also the cultural
references indicate a reader of more of an educated generalist background. However, it has to be
remembered that this is a commercial advertisement and therefore it aims to seduce all who can
afford the whiskey, regardless of their background or standard of education.

The target reader knows very little about the original message, as well as about the culture of the
SL. The commercial brochure is predominantly addressed to those who are new to the Macallan
market. Because of the price, it is assumed that the whiskey is more likely to attract the middle-
class buyer with generally good income and relevant level of education but it should not
discourage other buyers. The advertisement can also be read by connoisseurs. The translation
therefore has to be precise and technically correct to satisfy experts and educated generalists, but
most of all interesting and understandable to attract uninformed readers.

3. Cultural implications analysis

There is little cultural overlap between the English and Polish languages and their readerships.
Additionally, the text contains references to the Scottish cultural background. In the proposed
translation, These references are hidden in the lexis, grammar, customs, history, social norms,
material items, natural phenomena and complex semantic connotations. The Macallan Distillers
requested to translate the content of the advertisement in an interesting and widely
comprehensible manner with a hint of sophistication and recognition of its Scottish background.
All of the cultural implications have been dealt with considering the TT reader, the character of
the translated text, and the requirements from the client.

3.1. Foreign cultural words

For the purpose of this paper I used Newmark's cultural categories (1988: 94-103), who adapted
Nida to classify 'foreign' cultural words.

3.1.1. Ecology
Geographical and ecological features are perceived as cultural items if they are unique to their
country of origin and have a degree of uniqueness (Newmark, 1988: 96). In translating this group
of items, Nida points out that certain geographical and ecological features 'where they are
irregular or unknown may not be understood denotatively or figuratively' by the TT reader
(ibid.).

Scottish Highlands

The TT reader would not know that the Scottish Highlands is the mountainous part of Scotland
to the north of Glasgow and Stirling. The above term is very familiar to the ST reader and it is
unique to Scotland. Because the advertisement refers to the term frequently and the whiskey
 138

labels have always written on 'The Macallan Highland Scotch Whiskey,' the name was translated
using componential analysis 'Scottish Highlands, górski region północnej Szkocji,' which in
English means 'Scottish Highlands, the mountainous region of the north of Scotland.'

3.1.2. Material culture

3.1.2.1. Food

'Food terms are subject to the widest variety of translation procedures and the way a particular
item is translated is flexible and most likely to change over time.
Whiskey, sherry and bourbon

It is safe to assume that the Polish person who reaches for a text about whiskey in most cases
drinks alcohol and therefore knows what whiskey, sherry, or bourbon are, although perhaps s/he
is not familiar with their production. Dictionaries explain that sherry's Polish equivalent is 'białe
wino hiszpańskie' back translated into the SL as 'white Spanish wine,' or 'winiak hiszpański' back
translated into the SL as 'fortified Spanish wine.' Bourbon's name is sometimes in general texts
naturalized to a more familiar Polish spelling 'burbon,' and whiskey remains in its original name,
although sometimes it is referred to as 'whisky.' However, the above Polish terms are rarely used
nowadays. They have been replaced by anglicisms, which are well established, especially among
Polish alcohol drinkers for whom the text was written. These cultural concepts would therefore
be the best conveyed in the TT by using the original names without explanations.

3.1.2.2. Clothes

The translation method depends mainly on the importance of the clothing item in the text,
however, 'national costumes, when distinctive, are not translated' (Newmark 1988: 97).

Kilt

Kilt is unique to Scotland and forms part of its national costume. The cultural word is easily
recognized by the ST reader, but it would not be recognized by the TT reader. The aforesaid term
has been translated by a loan word adding an explanation consisting of two components: one
descriptive and one functional 'męska, plisowana spódnica, strój narodowy Szkotów' which
translated into English means 'pleated skirt worn by men, the Scottish national costume.' It also
helps the TT reader to understand what kilt is and why forbidding Highlanders from wearing it
was a punishment and therefore makes the text transparent. Using the loan word also adds 'an air
of sophistication' (Baker 1992: 25) to the TT, which is perhaps welcome in advertising a luxury
product.

3.1.2.3. Flora and Fauna

Local species of flora and fauna are cultural items. 'They are not translated unless they appear in
the SL and the TL environment' (Newmark 1988:98).
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Grouse

The text mentions grouse, which is a game bird of many species. The term grouse could be
translated into Polish as 'kuropatwa,' which is the general name of order of the game bird which
inhabits many countries. Although the text is not specific to what species it is referring to, the ST
native reader would have known that the ST talks about the red grouse, a particular specie
characteristic to the heathery moors of the Speyside region, frequently referred to as Scotland's
national game bird and often depicted on the whiskey's label. The translation into Polish should
therefore be hyponym 'parwa.'

Red deer

The red deer is Britain's largest native land mammal and lives mainly in Scotland. Although it is
not a zoological translation the animal is characteristic to Scotland and therefore the text could
lose on its Scottish cultural uniqueness if it is not translated precisely. The specific local specie
of red deer has been translated (via Latin language) as 'jeleń szlachetny.'

3.1.3. Social Culture

'In considering social culture one has to distinguish between denotative and connotative
problems of translation' (ibid.).

Hoi polloi

The aforementioned collocation needs further explanation as it has cultural connotation in the
original SL. The term comes from the Greek language meaning 'the many,' 'the most of the
people.' The ST cultural term meaning is the common people or plebs and it is recognized by the
educated ST reader. Therefore my assumption is that the writer of the original advertisement had
more in mind at least the middle class buyer with the relevant level of education). The cultural
connotation is not recognized by the TT reader. In this case the translation used a descriptive
equivalent 'plebs' in order to represent in the TL the cultural concept of the SL.

3.1.4. Social Organisation

3.1.4.1. Historical terms

Newmark suggests that historical terms should be transferred unless they have generally
accepted translations. However, 'in popular texts, the transferred word can be replaced by the
functional or descriptive equivalent' (1988:101).

Redcoats

This term has historical connotations and is easily recognized by the ST reader. The redcoat was
a British soldier so called of the scarlet uniform of most regiments during the late 17th, 18th and
19th centuries. The word is unlikely to be understood by the Polish readership. To transfer the
term would render the text opaque. The use of componential analysis would be inappropriate as
 140

the text type is an advertisement and the cultural word does not have much significance to the
text. The proposed translation used a descriptive equivalent 'angielska armia' which back
translated into English means 'English army.' This method allows the TT to convey the same
message as the ST implication.

3.1.5. Gestures and habits

While dealing with the above category of items, translation should make a distinction between
description and function (Newmark, 1988:102).
To pull/tear hair out
This gesture shows in the SL a great degree of exasperation, vexation or fretfulness. It is
however understandable in the TL as it shares the same connotations. The literal translation is
therefore possible in this case allowing the TT cultural message to be the same as the ST cultural
meaning.

3.2. ST cultural references

'But the Scottish temperament being what it is'

This is an example of an opaque cultural reference for the TT reader. For the ST reader this
reference promotes a stereotyped behavior which supports Scottish morality and cultural values.
The Polish reader is unfamiliar with the local history, which in many ways influenced and
shaped the Scottish character. In the above statement the author is referring to the stubborn and
courageous nature of Scottish people and in particular the one of the Scottish Highlanders, who
despite very hard living conditions and by invading armies, had an independent spirit and
undauntedly continued distilling whiskey. To enable the TT reader to understand what the
original author wanted to say, the above reference was explained and translated indirectly
'Jednak dzięki nieugiętemu szkockiemu temperamentowi,' which translated back into English
means 'But thanks to the relentlessness of the Scottish temper.'

3.3. TT cultural context not envisaged by the SL original communicator

'...as punishment for the temerity of their uprising (of the rebel highlanders) and to rub salt in the
wounds inflicted at Culloden'

The above clauses have a hidden cultural connotation which although is not a topic of the
translation it has direct emotional significance to the TT reader and therefore it is useful for the
purpose of the advertisement. Between the end of the eighteenth century and the year 1989,
which was significant, not only for Poland, but for the entire former Soviet countries block, there
were approximately 93 national or regional uprisings in Poland, which in most cases were
severely punished by the government or invader (which sometimes were the same). The
willingness to fight for independence is therefore well understood and held in high regard in the
Polish culture. This is certainly a very good point for the commercial aspect of the Macallan
whiskey advertisement.

'...without a Government license..., hundreds of illicit stills were silently operating'

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These clauses have similar hidden cultural connotation as the paragraph above. The concept of
operating illegally was well known in Poland, especially from the communist period, when high-
quality luxury products were available only from the illegal market. This connotation has
associated positive emotional meaning deeply rooted in the Polish culture that might support
sales of whiskey.

Polish folk hero—highlander 'Janosik'

It is worth mentioning that the cultural equivalent of the highlanders' way of life portrayed in the
advertisement is familiar to most Poles and has very positive cultural connotations due to the
popular legend of the Polish folk hero, the highlander called 'Janosik,' from the Tatra Mountains.
The legend was adapted to the television series for family viewing and broadcast several times in
the recent three decades. This cultural connotation is helpful for the purpose of the TT, because
the TT reader will react more quickly to an advertisement that has a familiar cultural
background.

4. Lexis and cultural connotations

Different societies have different cultural perceptions in labeling words. An inaccurate lexical
choice can seriously influence the cultural context or change the register of the TT which can
easily make the translation misleading.

Challenge

In the clause '...they have never challenged the mystique of its production,' the author is praising
the Macallan's managers for not changing and commercializing the production of whiskey and
therefore retaining its traditional and very unique character. By doing so, the author underlines
how important it is in production of the best quality whiskey not to skimp on the finest
ingredients and labor and also indirectly justifies the high price of the final product. As this is a
translation of an advertisement, the price justification is a significant aspect. The word challenge
has in the Polish language a very positive connotation. Polish people like a challenge and have a
long history of challenging systems, governments, and science. They are also a rather pragmatic
nation and have a tendency to save rather than spend money and therefore they do not like to pay
for unjustifiably expensive products. To convey the original message, the aforementioned term
was replaced in the TT by its functional equivalent but of more relevant implication 'podważyli,'
which translated back into English means 'impair.'

Custodian

In the English language this word has a positive overtone. It describes someone who is a
guardian or keeper and takes protective care of something and/or someone. A direct translation
of the word into Polish is 'nadzorca.' This Polish word with the same denotation has negative
connotation, as it is usually used with relation to prison guards or security guards. In order to
transfer the original meaning of '...a handful of unconventional custodians...' the TT used Polish
word 'dozorca' which translated back into English means 'caretaker.'
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Highlander

This term is unique to Scotland and it describes a person who lives in the Scottish Highlands.
Since the name Scottish Highlands was previously explained in the TT (and the way it was done
is presented in the category of Ecology), a Polish descriptive equivalent 'góral' was used in the
proposed translation. From the context the TT reader understands that the text talks about a
person who lives in the Scottish Highlands. By using this method the TT retains its original SL
cultural effect.

4. Conclusion

Cultures have their own particular ways in perceiving and naming the world and it is a
translator's task to consider measures to bring these worlds closer together. These various
measures have been analyzed and used in the proposed translation of the Macallan's
advertisement. The technique used to transfer cultural concepts in the commercial translation
analyzed here focuses on the TT being fully culturally adjusted to its readership and therefore
very easy to assimilate by the TT audience. Because of the change in cultural context between
the SL and the TL and most importantly a change in the readership, the transfer of culture-bound
concepts had a certain degree of variation in meaning and also in tone. Sometimes in order to
avoid jeopardizing the original message of the ST, it was necessary to add certain information to
the TT. As the TT shows, even in the commercial advertisement cultural implications can make a
paramount difference in impact they have on the ST and the TT readers. The in-depth knowledge
of the SL and the TL cultural backgrounds and the ability to use appropriate methods in
conveying the message in secondary communication situations proves to be the most important
aspect of this type of intercultural communication since, as it was presented, the way of thinking
must be immersed in local reality in order to be effective and must focus on domesticating the
detail, rather than referring to global universal meanings. In addition, the translator must be
commercially astute since the advertisement, let's not forget, is about marketing a product.

2. Reading 2

Translation of Proper Names

By Alireza Sadeghi Ghadi,

MA in Translation, Great Translation Theoretician,
Mazandaran Province, Ghaemshar City, Iran

“Proper names are never translated” seems to be a rule deeply rooted in many people’s minds.
Yet looking at translated texts we find that translators do all sorts of things with proper names:
non-translation, non-translation that leads to a different pronunciation in the target language,
transcription or transliteration from non-Latin alphabets, morphological adaptation to the target
language, cultural adaptation, substitution, and so on. It is interesting to note, moreover, that
translators do not always use the same techniques with all the proper names of a particular text
they are translating.
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Unlike generic nouns, proper names are mono-referential, but they are by no means mono-
functional. Their main function is to identify an individual referent. It has often been claimed
that proper names lack descriptive meaning:

"An ordinary personal name is, roughly, a word, used referring, of which the use is not dictated
by any descriptive meaning the word may have.” (Strawson 1971)

In the real world, proper names may be non-descriptive, but they are obviously not non-
informative: If we are familiar with the culture in question, a proper name can tell us whether the
referent is a female or male person (Alice – Bill), maybe even about their age or their
geographical origin within the same language community or from another country, a pet (there
are “typical” names for dogs, cats, horses, canaries, etc., like Pussy or Fury), a place (Mount
Everest), etc. Such indicators may lead us astray in real life, but they can be assumed to be
intentional in fiction.  Titles and forms of address can also be problematic in translation. The
translation of proper names has often been considered as a simple automatic process of
transference from one language into another, due to the view that proper names are mere labels
used to identify a person or a thing. This is exactly what Vendler purports when he writes that
“proper names have no meaning (in the sense of ‘sense’ and not of ‘reference’), which is borne
out by the fact that they do not require translation into another language” (Vendler1975).

In his view, proper names are to be treated as labels, which are attached to persons or objects and
the only task of the translator is to carry them over, or transfer them, from the source language
text to the target language text.

Basically the same is maintained by Sciarone, who argues, in a much similar vein, that the view
that proper names have no meaning (from the point of view of the language system) is
corroborated by the general practice of leaving them unchanged in translation (Sciarone
1967:86). It has been shown, however, by authors like Searle (1975) or Strawson (1975) that this
view is mistaken: proper names, beyond their identifying function, may also carry ‘senses’. The
fallacy of this view thus lies in the incorrectness of the background assumption: not all proper
names are mere identifying labels – in fact, most of them turning out to carry meaning of one
sort or another. This will entail, then, that the translation of proper names is not a trivial issue
but, on the contrary, may involve a rather delicate decision-making process, requiring on the part
of the translator careful consideration of the meanings the name has before deciding how best to
render it in the target language.

Basically, nouns are classified as common or proper. Common nouns refer to a class of entities
(e.g. squirrel), while proper nouns have a unique referent (John, London).

Grammatically, proper nouns behave very much in the same way in the sentence as common
nouns. There are, however, well-known co-occurrence restrictions that distinguish them from
common nouns. The most important among them are:

1. Proper nouns (PN) do not accept demonstrative pronouns as determiners. One would not
normally say this John just bought a car. However, supposing there are several Johns out of
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whom you wish to single out a particular one, you are already using John as a common noun
meaning 'any person called John.'

2. PNs do not accept restrictive adjectives or restrictive relative clauses. In the sentence the Old
Shakespeare felt the closeness of his death one is implicitly comparing one of several
manifestations in time of the person called Shakespeare with the rest, therefore, one is using the
word as a common noun in the grammatical sense. The same applies to sentences such as she is
no longer the Eve she used to be. One may deny this only at the price of more or less ad hoc
explanations about the character of the noun in question. Another way of putting this would be to
say that we have to do with two homonymous words John or Shakespeare respectively, one of
which is a proper noun, the other a common noun. When in a given speech situation we have a
unique reference, we are dealing with a proper noun, otherwise with a common noun.

3. Opposition between definite and indefinite is neutralized in PNs (a given PN either invariably
takes zero articles as in John, London, or invariably takes the definite article as in the Strand, the
Haymarket, and the Queen Elizabeth). A seeming counterexample such as that is not the John I
was talking about is an instance of John being used as a common noun as seen above. In other
words, a noun's status as either common or proper is ultimately determined by situational factors.
If in a given speech situation, there is a possibility of what looks like a proper noun having
multiple referents (this John, two Johns) we have to do with a common noun homonymous with
a proper noun.

All of the above features derive directly from the fact that PNs refer to unique referents. In
Randolph was a true Churchill the surname is being used in the sense 'a member of the Churchill
family', that is, as a common noun.

Whether a given noun is common or proper is not always easy to decide. There are borderline
cases that could be classified either way. Also, a given noun may change category depending on
how it is used. For instance, a common noun referring to a given landscape feature may turn into
a proper noun with a unique referent. Examples include names such as Saari 'island', Kymi 'large
river' etc.

Personal proper names used metaphorically may turn into common names: He thinks he is a
Napoleon. On the other hand, surnames such as Smith, Fletcher and Seppä 'smith' have their
origin in the trade of the first bearer or rather that of the father of the first bearer. Proper names
(used here interchangeably with the expression 'proper nouns') can be dealt with in a number of
ways in translations. First, a PN can be transported wholesale from the target text (allowance
being made for possible transliteration or transcription depending on the languages concerned).
Second, it can be partly transported from the source language (SL) and partly translated. Thirdly,
it can be replaced with more or less different names in the target language (TL). Finally, it can be
dispensed with altogether.

In a relevance-theoretic framework, the meaning of a concept is made up of a truth-functional

logical entry, which may be empty, partially filled or fully definitional and an encyclopaedic
entry, containing various kinds of (propositional and non-propositional) representational
information about the denotation and, as I understand it, possible connotations of the concept
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(e.g., cultural or personal beliefs), stored in memory. The concept may also be associated with a
lexical entry, which contains linguistic (phonological, morphological, semantic and categorial)
information about the natural language item related to it (Sperber and Wilson 1986:83–93). The
three different types of information (lexical, logical and encyclopedic) are stored in different
places in memory. It is suggested that the content of an assumption, defined as a structured set of
concepts, is the function of the logical entries of the concepts that it contains and the context in
which it is processed is, at least partly, drawn from the encyclopedic entries of these concepts
(Sperber and Wilson 1986:89).

Prototypical proper names (that is, names without a descriptive content) are handled by
associating with them empty logical entries. In other (less prototypical) cases a name may also
have a logical entry (or, in the case of a composite name, it may include several logical entries
which combine to make up the logical content of the name) which is partly or fully definitional
(Sperber and Wilson 1986:91–2). Thus proper names seem to be not essentially unlike any other
kinds of expression in terms of the structure of their meaning. Rather, what we find here is a
continuum of various sorts of proper names. At one end of the scale we find the most
prototypical names, proper nouns, which supposedly lack any logical content but may carry
several assumptions in their encyclopedic entries. At the other extreme we have composite
names, which are no different in terms of logical content from any ordinary phrasal expression.

What makes them names, eventually, is that they are used as such in the given context. Names of
countries seldom pose a problem to the translator. There are lists of the official names of
countries in Persian and English that should be consulted. In a few cases, variation does occur
depending on the degree of formality involved. The basic rule concerning personal names is that
they are left untranslated. In some cases, transliteration or transcription may be needed
depending on the language. There are however, exceptions to this basic rule. A trivial one is that
in certain languages (Chinese and Japanese, for instance) the order of a person's first and last
name is the opposite to the most common Western order of first name + last name. In Europe,
Hungarian last names come before first names. Names of musicals, operas and ballets are
sometimes retained in translation. My Fair Lady, West Side Story and Così fan tutte are known
all over the world by the original names, a notable exception being Russia, where only translated
name are used. Names of international organizations normally have translation equivalents in the
member countries. Looking at the number of translation errors actually occurring in texts, a more
frequent problem is that of the translator not paying attention to transliteration rules. 

In spite of the “translation rule” quoted above, there are no rules for the translation of proper
names. In non-fictional texts, it seems to be a convention to use the target-culture eponyms of a
source-culture name, if there is one, but if a translator prefers to use the source-culture form,
nobody will mind as long as it is clear what place the name refers to. Perhaps the audience will
think that the translator is showing off her knowledge too much. Wherever the function of the
proper name is limited to identifying an individual referent, the main criterion for translation will
be to make this identifying function work for the target audience.

In fiction, things are not quite as simple as that. We have assumed that in fictional texts there is
no name that has no informative function at all, however subtle it may be. If this information is
explicit, as in a descriptive name, it can be translated – although a translation may interfere with
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the function of culture marker. If the information is implicit, however, or if the marker function
has priority over the informative function of the proper name, this aspect will be lost in the
translation, unless the translator decides to compensate for the loss by providing the information
in the context. Of course, there are proper names that exist in the same form both in the source
and the target culture.

Names of towns, municipalities and villages are examples of settlement names. There is no
problem with names of relatively unimportant settlements that are carried over unchanged in
translation. The town of Rauma does not change its name, nor does London, Ontario. With
smaller places, however, a gloss is often in place to give the reader an indication of the type of
place concerned. To sum up, PNs can be treated in a number of ways in translation:

1. They can be imported unchanged from the SL text;

2. They can be modified to fit the phonological/graphological system of the TL. This, of course,
is something that has or has not been done for the translator by his/her speech community in the
case of conventional place names like Prague, the Hague, Rome etc.;

3. They can be expanded with a gloss to make up for the TL reader's lack of world knowledge in
the target culture;

4. On occasion, they might be omitted altogether (perhaps replaced with a paraphrase) if

considered peripheral in terms of the central message of the text or if retaining them would be
more likely to cause the reader to pause in puzzlement. True, this would be more likely to
happen in interpretation, but could not be ruled out altogether in translation, either;

5. In rare cases, they might even be introduced in the TL text where, instead of a proper name,
the SL text contains a cultural allusion unlikely to be understood by the TL reader.

3. Reading 3

Translation procedures, strategies and methods

By Mahmoud Ordudari,
English translator, University of Esfahan

1. Introduction

Translation typically has been used to transfer written or spoken SL texts to equivalent written or
spoken TL texts. In general, the purpose of translation is to reproduce various kinds of texts—
including religious, literary, scientific, and philosophical texts—in another language and thus
making them available to wider readers.

If language were just a classification for a set of general or universal concepts, it would be easy
to translate from an SL to a TL; furthermore, under the circumstances the process of learning an
L2 would be much easier than it actually is. In this regard, Culler (1976) believes that languages
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are not nomenclatures and the concepts of one language may differ radically from those of
another, since each language articulates or organizes the world differently, and languages do not
simply name categories; they articulate their own. The conclusion likely to be drawn from what
Culler (1976) writes is that one of the troublesome problems of translation is the disparity among
languages. The bigger the gap between the SL and the TL, the more difficult the transfer of
message from the former to the latter will be.

The difference between an SL and a TL and the variation in their cultures make the process of
translating a real challenge. Among the problematic factors involved in translation such as form,
meaning, style, proverbs, idioms, etc., the present paper is going to concentrate mainly on the
procedures of translating CSCs in general and on the strategies of rendering allusions in
particular.

2. Translation procedures, strategies and methods

The translating procedures, as depicted by Nida (1964) are as follow:

Technical procedures:
A. Analysis of the source and target languages;
B. A thorough study of the source language text before making attempts translate it;
C. Making judgments of the semantic and syntactic approximations.
Organizational procedures:
Constant reevaluation of the attempt made; contrasting it with the existing available translations
of the same text done by other translators, and checking the text's communicative effectiveness
by asking the target language readers to evaluate its accuracy and effectiveness and studying
their reactions.

Krings (1986) defines translation strategy as "translator's potentially conscious plans for solving
concrete translation problems in the framework of a concrete translation task," and Seguinot
(1989) believes that there are at least three global strategies employed by the translators: (i)
translating without interruption for as long as possible; (ii) correcting surface errors immediately;
(iii) leaving the monitoring for qualitative or stylistic errors in the text to the revision stage.

Moreover, Loescher (1991:8) defines translation strategy as "a potentially conscious procedure
for solving a problem faced in translating a text, or any segment of it." As it is stated in this
definition, the notion of consciousness is significant in distinguishing strategies which are used
by the learners or translators. In this regard, Cohen (1998) asserts that "the element of
consciousness is what distinguishes strategies from these processes that are not strategic."

Furthermore, Bell (1998) differentiates between global (those dealing with whole texts) and local
(those dealing with text segments) strategies and confirms that this distinction results from
various kinds of translation problems.
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Venuti (1998) indicates that translation strategies "involve the basic tasks of choosing the foreign
text to be translated and developing a method to translate it." He employs the concepts of
domesticating and foreignizing to refer to translation strategies.

Jaaskelainen (1999) considers strategy as, "a series of competencies, a set of steps or processes
that favor the acquisition, storage, and/or utilization of information." He maintains that strategies
are "heuristic and flexible in nature, and their adoption implies a decision influenced by
amendments in the translator's objectives."

Taking into account the process and product of translation, Jaaskelainen (2005) divides strategies
into two major categories: some strategies relate to what happens to texts, while other strategies
relate to what happens in the process.

Product-related strategies, as Jaaskelainen (2005) writes, involves the basic tasks of choosing the
SL text and developing a method to translate it. However, she maintains that process-related
strategies "are a set of (loosely formulated) rules or principles which a translator uses to reach
the goals determined by the translating situation". Moreover, Jaaskelainen (2005) divides this
into two types, namely global strategies and local strategies: "global strategies refer to general
principles and modes of action and local strategies refer to specific activities in relation to the
translator's problem-solving and decision-making."

Newmark (1988) mentions the difference between translation methods and translation
procedures. He writes that, "While translation methods relate to whole texts, translation
procedures are used for sentences and the smaller units of language". He goes on to refer to the
following methods of translation:

 Word-for-word translation: in which the SL word order is preserved and the words
translated singly by their most common meanings, out of context.
 Literal translation: in which the SL grammatical constructions are converted to their
nearest TL equivalents, but the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context.
 Faithful translation: it attempts to produce the precise contextual meaning of the original
within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures.
 Semantic translation: which differs from 'faithful translation' only in as far as it must take
more account of the aesthetic value of the SL text.
 Adaptation: which is the freest form of translation, and is used mainly for plays
(comedies) and poetry; the themes, characters, plots are usually preserved, the SL culture
is converted to the TL culture and the text is rewritten.
 Free translation: it produces the TL text without the style, form, or content of the
original.
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 Idiomatic translation: it reproduces the 'message' of the original but tends to distort
nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialisms and idioms where these do not exist in
the original.
 Communicative translation: it attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the
original in such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and
comprehensible to the readership (1988).

Newmark (1991) writes of a continuum existing between "semantic" and "communicative"

translation. Any translation can be "more, or less semantic-more, or less, communicative-even a
particular section or sentence can be treated more communicatively or less semantically." Both
seek an "equivalent effect." Zhongying (1994), who prefers literal translation to free translation,
writes that, "In China, it is agreed by many that one should translate literally, if possible, or
appeal to free translation."

In order to clarify the distinction between procedure and strategy, the forthcoming section is
allotted to discussing the procedures of translating culture-specific terms, and strategies for
rendering allusions will be explained in detail.

2.1. Procedures of translating culture-specific concepts (CSCs)

Graedler (2000) puts forth some procedures of translating CSCs:

1. Making up a new word.

2. Explaining the meaning of the SL expression in lieu of translating it.
3. Preserving the SL term intact.
4. Opting for a word in the TL which seems similar to or has the same "relevance" as the SL
term.

Defining culture-bound terms (CBTs) as the terms which "refer to concepts, institutions and
personnel which are specific to the SL culture", Harvey (2000) puts forward the following four
major techniques for translating CBTs:

1. Functional Equivalence: It means using a referent in the TL culture whose function is similar
to that of the source language (SL) referent. As Harvey (2000) writes, authors are divided over
the merits of this technique: Weston (1991) describes it as "the ideal method of translation,"
while Sarcevic (1985) asserts that it is "misleading and should be avoided."

2. Formal Equivalence or 'linguistic equivalence': It means a 'word-for-word' translation.

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3. Transcription or 'borrowing' (i.e. reproducing or, where necessary, transliterating the original
term): It stands at the far end of SL-oriented strategies. If the term is formally transparent or is
explained in the context, it may be used alone. In other cases, particularly where no knowledge
of the SL by the reader is presumed, transcription is accompanied by an explanation or a
translator's note.

4. Descriptive or self-explanatory translation: It uses generic terms (not CBTs) to convey the
meaning. It is appropriate in a wide variety of contexts where formal equivalence is considered
insufficiently clear. In a text aimed at a specialized reader, it can be helpful to add the original
SL term to avoid ambiguity.

The following are the different translation procedures that Newmark (1988) proposes:

- Transference: it is the process of transferring an SL word to a TL text. It includes transliteration

and is the same as what Harvey (2000) named "transcription."
- Naturalization: it adapts the SL word first to the normal pronunciation, then to the normal
morphology of the TL. (Newmark, 1988)
- Cultural equivalent: it means replacing a cultural word in the SL with a TL one. however, "they
are not accurate" (Newmark, 1988)
- Functional equivalent: it requires the use of a culture-neutral word. (Newmark, 1988)
- Descriptive equivalent: in this procedure the meaning of the CBT is explained in several words.
(Newmark, 1988)
- Componential analysis: it means "comparing an SL word with a TL word which has a similar
meaning but is not an obvious one-to-one equivalent, by demonstrating first their common and
then their differing sense components." (Newmark, 1988)
- Synonymy: it is a "near TL equivalent." Here economy trumps accuracy. (Newmark, 1988)
- Through-translation: it is the literal translation of common collocations, names of organizations
and components of compounds. It can also be called: calque or loan translation. (Newmark,
1988)
- Shifts or transpositions: it involves a change in the grammar from SL to TL, for instance, (i)
change from singular to plural, (ii) the change required when a specific SL structure does not
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exist in the TL, (iii) change of an SL verb to a TL word, change of an SL noun group to a TL
noun and so forth. (Newmark, 1988)
- Modulation: it occurs when the translator reproduces the message of the original text in the TL
text in conformity with the current norms of the TL, since the SL and the TL may appear
dissimilar in terms of perspective.
- Recognized translation: it occurs when the translator "normally uses the official or the
generally accepted translation of any institutional term."
- Compensation: it occurs when loss of meaning in one part of a sentence is compensated in
another part.
- Paraphrase: in this procedure the meaning of the CBT is explained. Here the explanation is
much more detailed than that of descriptive equivalent.
- Couplets: it occurs when the translator combines two different procedures.
- Notes: notes are additional information in a translation. (Newmark, 1988)

Notes can appear in the form of 'footnotes.' Although some stylists consider a translation
sprinkled with footnotes terrible with regard to appearance, nonetheless, their use can assist the
TT readers to make better judgments of the ST contents. Nida (1964) advocates the use of
footnotes to fulfill at least the two following functions: (i) to provide supplementary information,
and (ii) to call attention to the original's discrepancies.

A really troublesome area in the field of translation appears to be the occurrence of allusions,
which seem to be culture-specific portions of a SL. All kinds of allusions, especially cultural and
historical allusions, bestow a specific density on the original language and need to be explicated
in the translation to bring forth the richness of the SL text for the TL audience.

Appearing abundantly in literary translations, allusions, as Albakry (2004) points out, "are part
of the prior cultural knowledge taken for granted by the author writing for a predominantly
Moslem Arab [SL] audience. To give the closest approximation of the source language,
therefore, it was necessary to opt for 'glossing' or using explanatory footnotes." However,
somewhere else he claims that, "footnotes ... can be rather intrusive, and therefore, their uses
were minimized as much as possible" (Albakry, 2004).

2.2. Strategies of translating allusions

Proper names, which are defined by Richards (1985) as "names of a particular person, place or
thing" and are spelled "with a capital letter," play an essential role in a literary work. For instance
let us consider personal PNs. They may refer to the setting, social status and nationality of
characters, and really demand attention when rendered into a foreign language.
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There are some models for rendering PNs in translations. One of these models is presented by
Hervey and Higgins (1986) who believe that there exist two strategies for translating PNs. They
point out: "either the name can be taken over unchanged from the ST to the TT, or it can be
adopted to conform to the phonic/graphic conventions of the TL".

Hervey and Higgins (1986) refer to the former as exotism which "is tantamount to literal
translation, and involves no cultural transposition", and the latter as transliteration. However,
they propose another procedure or alternative, as they put it, namely cultural transplantation.
Being considered as "the extreme degree of cultural transposition," cultural transplantation is
considered to be a procedure in which "SL names are replaced by indigenous TL names that are
not their literal equivalents, but have similar cultural connotations" (Hervey & Higgins, 1986).

Regarding the translation of PNs, Newmark (1988) asserts that, "normally, people's first and sure
names are transferred, thus preserving nationality and assuming that their names have no
connotations in the text."

The procedure of transference cannot be asserted to be effective where connotations and implied
meanings are significant. Indeed, there are some names in the Persian poet Sa'di's work Gulestan,
which bear connotations and require a specific strategy for being translated. Newmark's (1988)
solution of the mentioned problem is as follows: "first translate the word that underlies the SL
proper name into the TL, and then naturalize the translated word back into a new SL proper
name." However, there is a shortcoming in the strategy in question. As it seems it is only useful
for personal PNs, since as Newmark (1988), ignoring the right of not educated readers to enjoy a
translated text, states, it can be utilized merely "when the character's name is not yet current
amongst an educated TL readership."

Leppihalme (1997) proposes another set of strategies for translating the proper name allusions:

i. Retention of the name:

a. using the name as such.
b.using the name, adding some guidance.
c. using the name, adding a detailed explanation, for instance, a footnote.
ii. Replacement of the name by another:
a. replacing the name by another SL name.
b. replacing the name by a TL name
iii. Omission of the name
a. omitting the name, but transferring the sense by other means, for instance by a
common noun.
b. omitting the name and the allusion together.
Moreover, nine strategies for the translation of key-phrase allusions are proposed by Leppihalme.
 153

1. Use of a standard translation,

2. Minimum change, that is, a literal translation, without regard to connotative or
contextual meaning,
3. Extra allusive guidance added in the text,
4. The use of footnotes, endnotes, translator's notes and other explicit explanations not
supplied in the text but explicitly given as additional information,
5. Stimulated familiarity or internal marking, that is, the addition of intra-allusive
allusion,
6. Replacement by a TL item,
7. Reduction of the allusion to sense by rephrasing,
8. Re-creation, using a fusion of techniques: creative construction of a passage which
hints at the connotations of the allusion or other special effects created by it,
9. Omission of the allusion.

3. Conclusion

Although some stylists consider translation "sprinkled with footnotes" undesirable, their uses can
assist the TT readers to make better judgment of the ST contents. In general, it seems that the
procedures 'functional equivalent' and 'notes' would have a higher potential for conveying the
concepts underlying the CSCs embedded in a text; moreover, it can be claimed that a
combination of these strategies would result in a more accurate understanding of the CSCs than
other procedures.

Various strategies opted for by translators in rendering allusions seem to play a crucial role in
recognition and perception of connotations carried by them. If a novice translator renders a
literary text without paying adequate attention to the allusions, the connotations are likely not to
be transferred as a result of the translator's failure to acknowledge them. They will be entirely
lost to the majority of the TL readers; consequently, the translation will be ineffective.

It seems necessary for an acceptable translation to produce the same (or at least similar) effects
on the TT readers as those created by the original work on its readers. This paper may show that
a translator does not appear to be successful in his challenging task of efficiently rendering the
CSCs and PNs when he sacrifices, or at least minimizes, the effect of allusions in favor of
preserving graphical or lexical forms of source language PNs. In other words, a competent
translator is wll-advised not to deprive the TL reader of enjoying, or even recognizing, the
allusions either in the name of fidelity or brevity.
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VII. Questions for Discussion

1. What is a translator?
2. What are the thoughts for translators and translation service?
3. What are the criteria for a good translation according to Massoud?
4. What are the translation skills for the novice translators?
5. What is a professional translator?
6. What are the myths about translation and translators?
7. What personality traits should translators have?
8. What are the ethics for a translator?
9. What are the general ethics principles for translators?
10. What are the procedures of translating culture-specific concepts?
11. What are the translating procedures mentioned by Nida?
12. What are the ways of translating proper names?
13. What are the cultural considerations in translation?
14. What level of education should a translator have?
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Chapter 3: Interpreting and Interpreter

I. What is Interpreting?

Interpreting happens whenever two people or two groups of people do not share a common
language but need to or want to communicate with each other in order to conduct business or
share information and ideas. When people who are deaf (and who use sign language) and people
who are not deaf (and who use a spoken language) want or need to talk to one another, that is
when interpreters do their work.

Interpreters must understand the meanings and intentions expressed in one language (the source
language) and then express those meanings and intentions in the other language (the target
language). In order to do this, interpreters have to have a high level of fluency in each language.
Most of the time interpreters work simultaneously, which means expressing what someone just
said while at the same time focusing on what someone is saying right now. Sometimes
interpreters work consecutively, which means listening until someone has completed an idea and
then interpreting that idea. Interpreters also have to follow a professional Code of Conduct; one
of its most important tenets is to maintain confidentiality. This means keeping private whatever
happens in the interactions that are interpreted.

Interpreting is a very challenging and rewarding career especially for those who enjoy the way
languages work, enjoy the way that people use language to get things done and enjoy playing an
important role in helping people interact with each other.

Language interpretation is the facilitating of oral or sign-language communication, either

simultaneously or consecutively, between users of different languages. The process is described
by both the words interpreting and interpretation.

In professional parlance, interpreting denotes the facilitating of communication from one

language form into its equivalent, or approximate equivalent, in another language form; while
interpretation denotes the actual product of this work, that is, the message thus rendered into
speech, sign language, writing, non-manual signals, or other language form. This important
distinction is observed in order to avoid confusion.

An interpreter is a person who converts a thought or expression in a source language into an

expression with a comparable meaning in a target language in "real time". The interpreter's
function is to convey every semantic element (tone and register) and every intention and feeling
of the message that the source-language speaker is directing to target-language recipients.

II. Modes of Interpretation

1. Simultaneous Interpretation

In simultaneous interpretation (SI), the interpreter renders the message in the target-language as
quickly as he or she can formulate it from the source language, while the source-language
speaker continuously speaks; a spoken language SI interpreter, sitting in a sound-proof booth,
 156

speaks into a microphone, while clearly seeing and hearing the source-language speaker via
earphones. The simultaneous interpretation is rendered to the target-language listeners via their
earphones. Moreover, SI is the common mode used by sign language interpreters, although the
person using the source language, the interpreter and the target language recipient (since either
the hearing person or the deaf person may be delivering the message) must necessarily be in
close proximity.

Simultaneous Interpretation (SI): The source-language speaker speaks continuously while the
interpreter renders the message in the target-language as quickly as he/she can process the
information. The SI interpreter sits in a sound-proof booth and speaks into a microphone. A
screen and earphones enables the SI interpreter to see and hear the source-language speaker. The
target-language listeners hear the interpreter via their earphones. Naturally there is a small delay
between the message of the source-language speaker and that of the interpreter. This type of
interpreting is used more in conferences and tele/video conferences. Special equipments are
required for SI. If SI interpreters are needed for a whole day, it is necessary to source at least two
SI interpreters due to the mental fatigue experienced by such work.

2. Consecutive Interpretation

In consecutive interpreting (CI), the interpreter speaks after the source-language speaker has
finished speaking. The speech is divided into segments, and the interpreter sits or stands beside
the source-language speaker, listening and taking notes as the speaker progresses through the
message. When the speaker pauses or finishes speaking, the interpreter then renders a portion of
the message or the entire message in the target language.

Consecutive interpretation is rendered as "short CI" or "long CI". In short CI, the interpreter
relies on memory, each message segment being brief enough to memorize. In long CI, the
interpreter takes notes of the message to aid rendering long passages. These informal divisions
are established with the client before the interpretation is effected, depending upon the subject,
its complexity, and the purpose of the interpretation.

On occasion, document sight translation is required of the interpreter during consecutive

interpretation work. Sight translation combines interpretation and translation; the interpreter
must render the source-language document to the target-language as if it were written in the
target language. Sight translation occurs usually, but not exclusively, in judicial and medical
work.

Consecutively-interpreted speeches, or segments of them, tend to be short. Fifty years ago, the CI
interpreter would render speeches of 20 or 30 minutes; today, 10 or 15 minutes is considered too
long, particularly since audiences usually prefer not to sit through 20 minutes of speech they
cannot understand.

Often, if not previously advised, the source-language speaker is unaware that he or she may
speak more than a single sentence before the CI interpretation is rendered and might stop after
each sentence to await its target-language rendering. Sometimes, however, depending upon the
setting or subject matter, and upon the interpreter's capacity to memorize, the interpreter may ask
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the speaker to pause after each sentence or after each clause. Sentence-by-sentence interpreting
requires less memorization and therefore lower likelihood for omissions, yet its disadvantage is
in the interpreter's not having heard the entire speech or its gist, and the overall message is
sometimes harder to render both because of lack of context and because of interrupted delivery
(for example, imagine a joke told in bits and pieces, with breaks for translation in between). This
method is often used in rendering speeches, depositions, recorded statements, court witness
testimony, and medical and job interviews, but it is usually best to complete a whole idea before
it is interpreted.

Full consecutive interpreting of whole thoughts allows for the full meaning of the source-
language message to be understood before the interpreter renders it in the target language. This
affords a truer, more accurate, and more accessible interpretation than does simultaneous
interpretation.

Consecutive Interpretation: here the interpreter listens to a section of speech then either
summarizes it or relays the gist. This is more useful for one-to-one meetings and small groups.

3. Whispered Interpretation

In whispered interpreting, the interpreter sits or stands next to the small target-language audience
whilst whispering a simultaneous interpretation of the matter to hand; this method requires no
equipment, but may be done via a microphone and headphones if the participants prefer.

Whispered Interpretation: The interpreter sits or stands next to the target-language audience
whilst whispering a simultaneous interpretation of the message in question. This method is more
cost-efficient because it requires no equipment and a single interpreter can be used for a whole
day for a small audience. This method is used when the majority of a group understands the
source language and only a minority (ideally no more than three persons) need the help of an
interpreter.

4. Relay Interpretation

Relay interpreting is usually used when there are several target languages. A source-language
interpreter interprets the text to a language common to every interpreter, who then render the
message to their respective target languages. For example, a Japanese source message first is
rendered to English to a group of interpreters, who listen to the English and render the message
into Arabic, French, and Russian, the other target languages. In heavily multilingual meetings,
there may be more than one "intermediate" language, i.e. a Greek source language could be
interpreted into English and then from English to other languages, and, at the same time, it may
also be directly interpreted into French, and from French into yet more languages. This solution
is most often used in the multilingual meetings of the EU institutions. Relay Interpreting Relay
Interpreting is a specialist service for Deaf people who may have additional communication
problems. This might be a Deaf person who has a learning difficulty or a mental health problem
which affects their ability to communicate well. A Relay Interpreter will act as an intermediary
between a qualified sign language interpreter and a Deaf person above. This could be in a Police
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Station, Court or Mental Health Tribunal for example. They will ensure that all parties as well as
the Deaf person has full access to the information provided.

5. Liaison Interpretation

Liaison interpreting involves relaying what is spoken to one, between two, or among many
people. This can be done after a short speech, or consecutively, sentence-by-sentence, or as
chuchotage (whispering); aside from notes taken at the time, no equipment is used.

Liaison Interpretation (LI): Form of consecutive interpretation, LI is used mainly to mediate

between two or more people who do not speak the same language on a more informal and
personal basis. LI can be useful in different settings: work site visits in overseas plants, business
and diplomatic meetings, one-to-one interviews, sight-seeing and educational tours, casual
events and even parties. The qualified liaison interpreter works through both languages with a
perfect degree of fluency.

III. Types of Interpretation

1. Conference Interpretation

Conference interpreting is the interpretation of a conference, either simultaneously or

consecutively, although the advent of multi-lingual meetings has consequently reduced the
consecutive interpretation in the last 20 years.

Conference interpretation is divided between two markets: the institutional and private.
International institutions (EU, UN, EPO, et cetera), holding multi-lingual meetings, often favour
interpreting several foreign languages to the interpreters' mother tongues. Local private markets
tend to bi-lingual meetings (the local language plus another) and the interpreters work both into
and out of their mother tongues; the markets are not mutually exclusive. The International
Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) is the only worldwide association of conference
interpreters. Founded in 1953, it assembles more than 2,800 professional conference interpreters
in more than 90 countries.

2. Judicial Interpretation

Judicial interpreting occurs in courts of justice, administrative tribunals, and wherever a legal
proceeding is held (i.e. a police station for an interrogation, a conference room for a deposition
or the locale for taking a sworn statement). Legal interpreting can be the consecutive
interpretation of witnesses' testimony for example, or the simultaneous interpretation of entire
proceedings, by electronic means, for one person, or all of the people attending.

The right to a competent interpreter for anyone who does not understand the language of the
court (especially for the accused in a criminal trial) is usually considered a fundamental rule of
justice. Therefore, this right is often guaranteed in national constitutions, declarations of rights,
fundamental laws establishing the justice system or by precedents set by the highest courts.
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However, it is not a constitutionally required procedure (in the United States) that a certified
interpreter be present at police interrogation.

Depending upon the regulations and standards adhered to per state and venue, court interpreters
usually work alone when interpreting consecutively, or as a team, when interpreting
simultaneously. In addition to practical mastery of the source and target languages, thorough
knowledge of law and legal and court procedures is required of court interpreters. They often are
required to have formal authorisation from the State to work in the Courts — and then are called
certified court interpreters. In many jurisdictions, the interpretation is considered an essential part
of the evidence. Incompetent interpretation, or simply failure to swear in the interpreter, can lead
to a mistrial.

3. Escort Interpretation

In escort interpreting, an interpreter accompanies a person or a delegation on a tour, on a visit, or

to a meeting or interview. An interpreter in this role is called an escort interpreter or an escorting
interpreter. This is liaison interpreting.

4. Public Sector Interpretation

Also known as community interpreting, is the type of interpreting occurring in fields such as
legal, health, and local government, social, housing, environmental health, education, and
welfare services. In community interpreting, factors exist which determine and affect language
and communication production, such as speech's emotional content, hostile or polarized social
surroundings, its created stress, the power relationships among participants, and the interpreter's
degree of responsibility — in many cases more than extreme; in some cases, even the life of the
other person depends upon the interpreter's work.

5. Medical Interpretation

Medical interpreting is a subset of public service interpreting, consisting of communication

among medical personnel and the patient and his or her family, facilitated by an interpreter,
usually formally educated and qualified to provide such interpretation services. In some
situations medical employees who are multilingual may participate part-time as members of
internal language banks.[4] The medical interpreter must have a strong knowledge of medicine,
common medical procedures, the patient interview, the medical examination processes, ethics,
and the daily workings of the hospital or clinic where he or she works, in order to effectively
serve both the patient and the medical personnel. Moreover, and very important, medical
interpreters often are cultural liaisons for people (regardless of language) who are unfamiliar
with or uncomfortable in hospital, clinical, or medical settings.

6. Sign Language Interpretation

When a hearing person speaks, an interpreter will render the speaker's meaning into the sign
language used by the deaf party. When a deaf person signs, an interpreter will render the
meaning expressed in the signs into the spoken language for the hearing party, which is
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sometimes referred to as voice interpreting or voicing. This may be performed either as

simultaneous or consecutive interpreting. Skilled sign language interpreters will position
themselves in a room or space that allows them both to be seen by deaf participants and heard by
hearing participants clearly and to see and hear participants clearly. In some circumstances, an
interpreter may interpret from one sign language into an alternate sign language.

Deaf people also work as interpreters. They team with hearing counterparts to provide
interpretation for deaf individuals who may not share the standard sign language used in that
country, who have minimal language skills, are developmentally delayed or have other mental
and/or physical disabilities which make communication a unique challenge. In other cases the
hearing interpreter may interpret in one language then the Deaf interpreter might interpret it into
another form of that language (pidgins). They also relay information from one medium of
language into another — for example, when a person is signing visually, the deaf interpreter
could be hired to copy those signs into a deaf-blind person's hand and add visual information.

In the United States, Sign Language Interpreters have National and State level associations. The
Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID), a non-profit national certifying body. In addition to
training requirements and stringent certification testing, the RID members must abide by a Code
of Professional Conduct, Grievance Process and Continuing Education Requirement.

In Europe each country has their own national association of sign language interpreters. Some
countries have more than one national association due to regional or language differences. The
European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters is the umbrella organization of sign language
interpreters in Europe.

Sign Language Interpreters can be found in all types of interpreting situations, as listed in this
article. Most interpreters have had formal training, in an Interpreter Training Program (ITP). ITP
lengths vary, being available as a two-year or four-year degree or certificate. There are graduate
programs available as well.

7. Media Interpretation

By its very nature, media interpreting has to be conducted in the simultaneous mode. It is
provided particularly for live television coverages such as press conferences, live or taped
interviews with political figures, musicians, artists, sportsmen or people from the business circle.
In this type of interpreting, the interpreter has to sit in a sound-proof booth where ideally he/she
can see the speakers on a monitor and the set. All equipment should be checked before recording
begins. In particular, satellite connections have to be double-checked to ensure that the
interpreter's voice is not sent back and the interpreter gets to hear only one channel at a time. In
the case of interviews recorded outside the studio and some current affairs programme, the
interpreter interprets what he or she hears on a TV monitor. Background noise can be a serious
problem. The interpreter working for the media has to sound as slick and confident as a
television presenter.

Media interpreting has gained more visibility and presence especially after the Gulf War.
Television channels have begun to hire staff simultaneous interpreters. The interpreter renders
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the press conferences, telephone beepers, interviews and similar live coverage for the viewers. It
is more stressful than other types of interpreting as the interpreter has to deal with a wide range
of technical problems coupled with the control room's hassle and wrangling during live
coverage.

8. On-site Interpretation

Also called "in-person interpreting," this delivery method requires the interpreter to be physically
present in order for the interpretation to take place. In on-site interpreting settings, all of the
parties who wish to speak to one another are usually located in the same place. This is by far the
most common modality used for most public and social service settings.

9. Telephone Interpretation

Also referred to as "over-the-phone interpreting," "telephonic interpreting," and "tele-

interpreting," telephone interpreting enables the interpreter to deliver interpretation via
telephones. The interpreter is added to a conference call. Telephone interpreting may be used in
place of on-site interpreting in some cases, especially when no on-site interpreter is readily
available at the location where services are needed. However, telephone interpreting is more
commonly used for situations in which all parties who wish to communicate are already speaking
to one another via telephone (e.g. applications for insurance or credit cards that are taken over
the phone, inquiries from consumers to businesses that take place via telephone, etc.)

10. Video Interpretation

Interpretation services via Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) or a Video Relay Service (VRS) are
useful where one of the parties is deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-impaired (mute). In such cases
the interpretation flow is normally within the same principal language, such as French Sign
Language (FSL) to spoken French, Spanish Sign Language (SSL) to spoken Spanish, British
Sign Language (BSL) to spoken English, and American Sign Language (ASL) also to spoken
English (since BSL and ASL are completely distinct), etc.... Multilingual sign language
interpreters, who can also translate as well across principal languages (such as to and from SSL,
to and from spoken English), are also available, albeit less frequently. Such activities involve
considerable effort on the part of the translator, since sign languages are distinct natural
languages with their own construction and syntax, different from the aural version of the same
principal language.

With video interpreting, sign language interpreters work remotely with live video and audio
feeds, so that the interpreter can see the deaf or mute party, converse with the hearing party and
vice versa. Much like telephone interpreting, video interpreting can be used for situations in
which no on-site interpreters are available. However, video interpreting cannot be used for
situations in which all parties are speaking via telephone alone. VRI and VRS interpretation
requires all parties to have the necessary equipment. Some advanced equipment enables
interpreters to control the video camera, in order to zoom in and out, and to point the camera
toward the party that is signing.
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11. Venues Interpretation

The majority of professional full-time conference interpreters work for phone interpreting
agencies, health care institutions, courts, school systems and international organisations like the
United Nations, the European Union, or the African Union.

The world's largest employer of interpreters is currently the European Commission,[5] which
employs hundreds of staff and freelance interpreters working into the official languages of the
European Union. The European Union's other institutions (the European Parliament and the
European Court of Justice) have smaller interpreting services.

The United Nations employs interpreters at almost all its sites throughout the world. Because it
has only six official languages, however, it is a smaller employer than the European Union.
Interpreters may also work as freelance operators in their local, regional and national
communities, or may take on contract work under an interpreting business or service. They
would typically take on work as described above.

IV. Memory Training in Interpreting

1. Why Memory is Training?

Interpreting is defined as "oral translation of a written text". Mahmoodzadeh gives a more

detailed definition of interpreting:

“Interpreting consists of presenting in the target language, the exact meaning of what is uttered in
the source language either simultaneously or consecutively, preserving the tone of the speaker.”

Whether novice or experienced, all interpreters find this profession demanding and challenging.
Phelan says that "when an interpreter is working, he or she cannot afford to have a bad day. One
bad interpreter can ruin a conference". In discussing the qualifications required for an interpreter,
Phelan argues that:

"The interpreter needs a good short-term memory to retain what he or she has just heard and a
good long-term memory to put the information into context. Ability to concentrate is a factor as
is the ability to analyze and process what is heard".

Mahmoodzadeh also emphasizes that a skillful interpreter is expected to "have a powerful

memory." Daniel Gile emphasizes the difficulties and efforts involved in interpreting tasks and
strategies needed to overcome them, observing that many failures occur in the absence of any
visible difficulty. He then proposes his Effort Models for interpreting. He says that "The Effort
Models are designed to help them understand these difficulties of interpreting and select
appropriate strategies and tactics. They are based on the concept of Processing Capacity and on
the fact that some mental operations in interpreting require much Processing Capacity."
According to Gile, consecutive interpreting consists of two phases: a listening and reformulation
phrase and a reconstruction phase:
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Phase One: I=L+M+N

I=Interpreting, L=listening and analyzing the source language speech, M=short-term memory
required between the time information is heard and the time it is written down in the notes, and
N=note-taking.

Phase Two: I= Rem+Read+P

In this Phase Two of Consecutive Interpreting, interpreters retrieve messages from their short-
term memory and reconstruct the speech (Rem), read the notes (N), and produce the Target
Language Speech (P). Gile's Effort Model for Simultaneous Interpreting is:

SI=L+M+P
SI=Simultaneous Interpreting.
L=Listening and Analysis, which includes "all the mental operations between perception of a
discourse by auditory mechanisms and the moment at which the interpreter either assigns, or
decides not to assign, a meaning (or several potential meanings) to the segment which he has
heard."
M=Short-term Memory, which includes "all the mental operations related to storage in memory
of heard segments of discourse until either their restitution in the target language, their loss if
they vanish from memory, or a decision by the interpreter not to interpret them."
P=Production, which includes "all the mental operations between the moment at which the
interpreter decides to convey a datum or an idea and the moment at which he articulates (overtly
produces) the form he has prepared to articulate".
Gile emphasizes that the memory effort is assumed to stem form the need to store the words of a
proposition until the hearer receives the end of that proposition. The storage of information is
claimed to be particularly demanding in SI, since both the volume of information and the pace of
storage and retrieval are imposed by the speaker.

In both models, Gile emphasizes the significance of Short-term Memory. It is actually one of the
specific skills which should be imparted to trainees in the first stage of training. Among all the
skills and techniques which are required for a good interpreter, memory skill is the first one
which should be introduced to trainee interpreters.

2. Memory in Interpreting

2.1 Short-term vs. long-term memory

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Psychological studies of human memory make a distinction between Short-Term Memory

(STM) and Long-Term Memory (LTM). The idea of short-term memory simply means that you
are retaining information for a short period of time without creating the neural mechanisms for
later recall. Long-Term Memory occurs when you have created neural pathways for storing ideas
and information which can then be recalled weeks, months, or even years later. To create these
pathways, you must make a deliberate attempt to encode the information in the way you intend
to recall it later. Long-term memory is a learning process. And it is essentially an important part
of the interpreter's acquisition of knowledge, because information stored in LTM may last for
minutes to weeks, months, or even an entire life. The duration of STM is very short. It is up to 30
seconds. Peterson (1959) found it to be 6 - 12 seconds, while Atkinson and Shiffrin and Hebb
state it is 30 seconds. Memory in interpreting only lasts for a short time. Once the interpreting
assignment is over, the interpreter moves on to another one, often with different context, subject
and speakers. Therefore, the memory skills which need to be imparted to trainee interpreters are
STM skills.

2.2 Major characteristics of STM

Input of information: It is generally held that information enters the STM as a result of
applying attention to the stimulus, which is about a quarter of a second according to the findings
of both Sperling and Crowden. However, McKay is, in Radford and Govier, findings do not fully
support this, asserting that unattended information may enter the STM.

Capacity: As mentioned in the previous section, the capacity of STM is limited and small.
Atkinson and Shiffrin propose that it is seven items of information (give or take two). Miller says
it is seven "chunks." Another possibility may be that the limiting factor is not the STM's storage
capacity, but its processing capacity.

Modality: To store information in STM, it must be encoded, and there is a variety of

possibilities as to how this operates. There are three main possibilities in STM: (1) Acoustic
(Phonemic) coding is rehearsing through sub-vocal sounds. (2) Visual coding is, as implied,
storing information as pictures rather than sounds. This applies especially to nonverbal items,
particularly if they are difficult to describe using words. In very rare cases some people may
have a "photographic memory," but for the vast majority, the visual code is much less effective
than this. (3) Semantic coding is applying meaning to information, relating it to something
abstract.

Information Loss: There are three main theories as to why we forget from our STM: (1)
Displacement—existing information is replaced by newly received information when the
storage capacity is full (2) Decay—information decays over time. (3) Interference—other
information present in the storage at the same time distorts the original information.

Retrieval: There are modes of retrieval of information from STM: (1) Serial search—items in
STM are examined one at a time until the desired information is retrieved. (2) Activation—
dependence on activation of the particular item reaching a critical point.
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3. Memory Training

The purpose of memory (STM) training in interpreting is to achieve a better understanding of the
source language, which will lead to adequate interpreting. As Lin Yuru put it, "Memory in
consecutive interpreting consists of nothing more than understanding the meaning, which is
conveyed by the words". Understanding is the first step in successful interpreting; therefore,
memory training is to be provided in the early stage of interpreter training. Memory functions
differently in consecutive and simultaneous interpreting because the duration of memory is
longer in CI than in SI. There are different methods of training STM for CI and SI respectively.
Interpreting starts with the encoding of the information from the original speaker. According to
Gile's Effort Model, interpreting is an STM-centered activity; the process of interpreting could
be re-postulated into:

Encoding of information from the Source Language + Storing Information + Retrieval of

Information + Decoding Information into the Target language.

In Consecutive Interpreting, there is probably up to 15 minutes (depending on the speaker's

segments) for the interpreter to encode and then store the information. This is the first phase of
Gile's Effort Model for CI. In the second phase of Gile's Model, the interpreter starts to retrieve
information and decode it into the target language. In SI, encoding and decoding of information
happen almost at the same time. The duration for storing the information is very limited.
Therefore, in the first step of interpreting, encoding (understanding) information uttered in the
SL is the key to memory training.

According to the previous description, there are three main possibilities of storing information in
STM: (1) Acoustic Coding; (2) Visual Coding and (3) Semantic Coding. Visual coding may be
used by interpreters in conference situations with multimedia. Notes in interpreting are to assist
in such visual coding of information. But in most interpreting contexts, interpreters will depend
on acoustic and semantic coding. Therefore, exercises should be designed for this purpose. The
following methods are recommended:

Retelling in the Source Language: The instructor either reads or plays a recording of a text of
about 200 words for the trainees to retell in the same language. The trainees should not be
allowed to take any notes. In the first instance, trainees should be encouraged to retell the text in
the same words of the original to the largest possible extent. The following tactics should be used
by the trainees after a certain time of training on retelling:

- Categorization: Grouping items of the same properties;

- Generalization: Drawing general conclusions from particular examples or message from the
provided text;
- Comparison: Noticing the differences and similarities between different things, facts and
events;
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- Description: Describing a scene, a shape, or size of an object, etc. Trainees are encouraged to
describe, summarize, and abstract the original to a large extent in their own words;.
- Shadowing Exercise: Which is defined as "a paced, auditory tracking task which involves the
immediate vocalization of auditorily presented stimuli, i.e., word-for-word repetition in the same
language, parrot-style, of a message presented through a headphone". This kind of exercise is
recommended for training of Simultaneous Interpreting, especially the splitting of attention skills
and the short-term memory in SI.

There is another tool which is effective in memory training: Mnemonic to Memory. Mnemonic is
a device, such as a formula or rhyme, used as an aid in remembering. Mnemonics are methods
for remembering information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall. A very simple example of
a mnemonic is the '30 days hath September' rhyme. The basic principle of Mnemonics is to use
as many of the best functions of the human brain as possible to encode information.

The human brain has evolved to encode and interpret complex stimuli—images, color, structure,
sounds, smells, tastes, touch, spatial awareness, emotion, and language—using them to make
sophisticated interpretations of the environment. Human memory is made up of all these
features.

Typically, however, information presented to be remembered is from one source—normally

words on a page. While reading words on a page reflects one of the most important aspects of
human evolution, it is only one of the many skills and resources available to the human mind.
Mnemonics seek to use all of these resources. By encoding language and numbers in
sophisticated, striking images which flow into other strong images, we can accurately and
reliably encode both information and the structure of information to be easily recalled later.

It is also advisable that Exercises with Interference (e.g. noises) be provided in order to prevent
information loss in the Short-Term Memory, since the environment and other information
present in the storage may reduce the information encoded. Recording speeches with specially
'inserted' noises as a background is a recommended classroom practice, since this is a very
effective method to enable the students to concentrate and thus strengthen their STM duration.

In summary, short-term memory is an essential part of interpreting, but memory training has long
been ignored by professional trainers. From the above analysis, we can conclude that memory
skills in interpreting could be acquired by effectively designed exercises. With a well-'trained'
short-term memory, interpreters are actually equipped with an effective tool for the encoding and
decoding information. It is, therefore, advised that institutions of interpreter training include
"memory training" in the design of their courses.

V. Note-taking in Consecutive Interpreting

During the interpretation process, both memory and notes should be cultivated. While memory
is of crucial to interpreters, notes can be of certain support.
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The importance of note-taking in consecutive interpreting had not been well recognized until
Rozan laid down fundamental principles of note-taking in 1956 and Seleskovitch solidified the
benefits of the skill in 1975. Experience has shown that the consecutive interpretation of
speeches that are longer than two or three minutes requires at least some form of note-taking, of
course, this also depends on the interpreter’s personal need, expertise and familiarity with the
subject.

Note taking has been proved to be very useful for the interpreter working consecutively. Firstly,
notes improve concentration; prevent distraction, thus facilitating the reception and analysis of
the speech. Secondly, notes help the interpreter relieve the memory. Although the interpreter
may have understood the ideas of a speech, he or she cannot remember every point in the speech
because one characteristic of short-term memory is that it only keeps information for a limited
amount of time, cognitive scientists also show that for nearly all speakers of all languages, list
retention peaks at around seven items, plus or minus two. By recording the specific details and
data such as proper names, numbers, figures, lists of things, or specialized terms, technical
expressions, etc, notes release the interpreter from bearing the whole thing in mind. Thirdly, as
mnemonic, notes activate the memory of the interpreter with cues or signals that call up the
information in the speech. With notes, the main ideas, the secondary elements and the links
among them become clear and easier for the interpreter to visualize. Finally, notes can also be
used to highlight missing details, inconsistencies within the speech and anything implausible that
needs attention latter. Conspicuously, the skill of note-taking is very helpful to interpreters, the
content and structure of a speech are reflected in notes, and the notes in turn are used as a path to
verbalize the speech.

Thus notes play an important part in consecutive interpreting. However, taking proper notes
needs a lot of practice, and the gap between the “theory of note-taking” and “actual notes” can be
very large. In order to bridge the gap, first, an understanding of note-taking process is required.

1. Note-taking Process in Consecutive Interpreting

According to Jones (2002, p.39), note-taking is part of the whole process of consecutive
interpreting including: understanding, analysis and re-expression, and if these activities “are not
done correctly, the best notes in the world will not make a good interpreter”. If the speech has
not been fully understood, all efforts to take notes are just in vain. In this case, the interpreter
may only write down individual words which are put together forming a meaningless chunk of
information. And if note-taking is separated from the activity of analyzing the speech, the
interpreter may be lost in the information overload. The interpreter cannot identify what are the
main ideas, what are the secondary elements, and what are the connections between them in
order to decide what should be noted and what should not. Inevitably the notes become nothing
more than a mess, which will definitely push the interpreter in a very difficult situation later.
When looking back notes, the interpreter cannot have a clear review of the speech content. And
this obviously goes against one of the basic functions of notes.
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2. What to Note

Notes taken by students have shown that they tend to stick to words. They hesitate to free
themselves to concentrate on meaning by throwing away the lexical form like words and
structures etc. They try to retain each word of the source utterance, consequently, their short-
term memory will be quickly overloaded with individual lexical items, which may not even form
a meaningful sentence. Moreover, their attention will be wasted on finding equivalent lexical
items in the target language rather than the meaning of incoming message. Clearly, these
students may not have recognized that things to be noted are logically related to “the mental
analysis of the speech”. Notes are not expected to be complete or organized exactly the same
way as in the original speech. Instead they are expected to provide the cues necessary to
remember the information in the speech. Notes can be compared to the skeleton outline of the
speech shaped with main ideas and the links between them.

2.1. Main ideas

The first thing to be noted should be main ideas. For the fact that the writing speed is always
slower than speaking speed, it is impossible for the interpreter to write down everything spoken
by the speaker. The interpreter is required to have the ability to identify, select and retain
important ideas but omit anything which is not relevant to the understanding of the original
speech. Furthermore, by recording the main ideas in notes, the interpreter easily traces back the
structure of the speech; hardly misses out important ideas; and always keeps fidelity to the
original content.

2.2. The Links

The second thing the interpreter should consider to take notes is the links between ideas. The
connections between individual ideas determine the overall meaning of the speech. Thus it is
necessary for the interpreter to realize and render the such links. The ways in which ideas may be
linked together are (i) the logical consequence which is expressed clearly with words such as
consequently, as a result, accordingly or therefore; (ii) the logical cause which can be recognized
with the words because, due to, as, or since; and (iii) opposition which often goes with but, yet,
however or nevertheless (Jones, 2002, p.28-29). Hardly does the interpreter get confused, if he
or she notes links systematically. It is just liken to the act of marking road for each turn. Thanks
to logical connections, the interpreter can follow every movement and direction change made by
the speaker without any difficulty.

2.3. Non-contextualized information

Numbers, proper names, lists of things and terminologies are some in the group of the elements
that cannot be recalled on the basis of analytical and logical thinking in a given context. If the
interpreter wants to remember these elements, he or she has no choice but keeps repeating them
over and over again. Clearly this is not a preferable manner because if the interpreter’s mind is
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too preoccupied with rehearsing such “non-contextualized information”, in all likelihood, the
interpreter will be distracted from listening comprehension and target language production. In
addition, unlike “main ideas” which have strongly impressed themselves on the interpreter’s
mind in the form of either specific images or general concepts and tightly linked with each other,
most of these elements are not tagged with any kind of mental images and they independently
stand on their own. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that numbers, proper names, lists of
things and terminologies most deserve to be the priority of the interpreter’s note-taking.

2.4. Verb tenses

According to Jones, it is also important to note down tenses of verbs. That means “when noting
verbs, interpreters should thus take care to note the tense correctly, and if appropriate the mode,
in particular conditional”. The modes and tenses of verbs have decisive influence on the meaning
of a sentence.

To sum up, in the notes of consecutive interpreter, at least main ideas and the links between them
must appear in order to help the interpreter visualize the structure of the speech. Besides, to
relieve the memory, the interpreter should also note down “non-contextualized elements”
including numbers, proper names, lists of things and terminologies, etc. Other things like tenses
of verbs and points of view of the speaker may be or may not be noted down, depending on the
decision made by each individual interpreter under certain circumstances. Some interpreters
prefer the notes with very little detail while others prefer taking advantage of the notes with as
much detail as possible. Both attitudes are justifiable provided that notes are not allowed to be
counterproductive, harming the interpreter’s listening comprehension and target language
production.

3. How to Note

In order to take notes effectively, the most important thing the interpreter must do is to decide
what to note. However, according to experienced interpreters, how to note is also very important.
Conspicuously, notes that are clearly separated and logically organized help the interpreter avoid
all confusion when reading back notes. And notes using abbreviations and symbols are very
helpful in activating the most information with the least effort.

3.1. Abbreviations and symbols

First and foremost, notes should be as economical as possible in order to save the interpreter’s
effort on writing. In this case, abbreviations and symbols appear to be efficient tools. So far,
several attempts have been made to create complete system of abbreviations and symbols used in
notes for consecutive interpreting. The first of these is Becker system. Becker was a conference
interpreter and interpreter trainer and he created special cues for note-taking. His Notizenschift
and Symbolschrift offers many tips for inventing symbols and abbreviations. The other note-
taking system was created by Matyssek who deviced the similar system with sophisticated rules
 170

so that complex symbols could be derived from basic one in his Sprachunabhangige Notation.
However both note-taking systems can never be as effective as the one intended to supplement
the memory of consecutive interpreter for the reason that they are used to encode all information
in systematic way for wider use not just for interpreters only (Láng, n.d).

The use of symbols and abbreviations should be automatic because any new one created in the
process of interpreting may require so much attention. It is not advisable for the interpreter to be
distracted from his work by whatever causes. Only by developing his own system of
abbreviations and symbols beforehand, can the interpreter make them come to his pen
automatically.

3.1.1. Abbreviations

Abbreviations help the interpreter take notes quickly, saving time spent on other activities in the
process of interpreting. The abbreviations used in the notes for consecutive interpreting are not
wholly identical to those used in the student’ notes or secretary’s reminders. These abbreviations
must be unequivocal and unambiguous enough for the interpreter to understand immediately
when reading back notes because under time pressure the interpreter has no chance to reconsider
the meaning of abbreviations. An abbreviation may be meaningless to others, but must be
meaningful to the interpreter using it.

There are many principles and rules for the use of abbreviations. However the most important
one is that abbreviations must be consistent, if an interpreter has chosen “pop” standing for
“popular” then he should find another abbreviation for “population”, for example, “popon”. The
following suggestions about creating abbreviations are based on the truth that the fewer strokes
are written; the more time can be saved.

- Write what is heard: The interpreter can write a word by recording its sound only.

For example: high- hi; know- no; free- fre; fee- fe; night- nite; etc.

- Drop medial vowels:

For example: build- bld; legal- lgl; bulletin- bltn; save- sv; budget- bjt; etc.

- Write initial and final vowels:

For example: office- ofs; easy- ez; follow- flo; value- vlu; open- opn; etc.

The rules of abbreviations set up by Rozan are classified into three categories: (i) abbreviation
of words; (ii) abbreviation to indicate verb tenses and (iii) abbreviating the register.

- According to the first rule, “unless a word is short (4-5 letters), the interpreter should note it in
an abbreviated form” and “write some of the first and last letters rather than trying to write as
many letters as possible from the start onwards” (Rozan, n.d). For example, Prod. could be read
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as “production”, “producer”, “product” or “productivity” while Pron, Prer, Prct, Prvity are
unambiguous.

- The second rule reads that “to indicate tense we add ll for the future and d for the past”

- The third one is applied to abbreviate expressions which are too long, for example, “In order to
arrive at some conclusion” can be noted “to end”; or “Taking into account the situation at the
present time” can be noted “as sit on now”; “with the intention of/ with the purpose of” can be
noted “to”. The rule here is “wherever possible we must abbreviate by using a word which
conveys the same meaning but is much shorter”

Abbreviation of common international organization should be remembered by the interpreter.

The working environment of the interpreter is varied, and he or she mostly often finds himself or
herself at conferences on a wide range of topics with many representatives coming from different
international and/ or local organizations, agencies and corporations, etc. It is possible to say that
the interpreter must have some background knowledge about those groups. It is the duty of the
interpreter to remember their names in abbreviation as part of the required knowledge.

3.1.2. Symbols

Although the abbreviation is commonly used in notes, its most prominent drawback is that it
tends to entice the interpreter to stick to the word level instead of meaning level. In other words,
it easily leads the interpreter to think in terms of words rather than ideas, which could harm the
interpretation. Therefore symbols are more preferable for their capacity of representing ideas and
eliminating source language interference.

A "symbol" is anything, a mark, sign or letter used to represent a thing or a concept. Symbols
are quicker and easier to write than words. Similar to abbreviations, firstly symbols need to be
prepared in advance. Any symbol improvised in the middle of interpretation could drive the
interpreter into a difficult and intense situation. One basic rule for the interpreter: only use the
symbols which are already stuck in the mind. Secondly, symbols must be consistent. That means
symbols are instantly associated for the interpreter himself with the meaning he gives them.
Attending to this point, the interpreter can avoid mistakenly “deciphering” the meaning of the
symbols he or she uses.

Some could say that symbols clearly help the interpreter take notes more quickly and effectively,
and then it is wise to use as many symbols as possible. However, it would not seem rational to
set up a rigidly unchanged rule for a degree of symbolization, each interpreter through practice
would find their own balance. For some, symbolizing as much information as possible is good.
For others, it is not necessary to do so.

To sum up, abbreviations and symbols are, like other elements in notes, “a means to an end, not
an end in themselves” (Jones, 2002, p. 39). What is the use of abbreviations and symbols, if they
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do not help the interpreter to do his work better? For the interpreter to fully get benefits from
note-taking, a system of abbreviations and symbols that is logical, connected and unequivocal
should be developed on his or her own.

3.2. Note arrangement

3.2.1. Diagonal Layout

It would seem that whenever the question of how to take notes arises, a technique named
“diagonal presentation” would come up. Diagonal presentation was introduced by Rozan in
1956. Also regarded as vertical arrangement, diagonal has been widely used by professional
interpreters. The creation of diagonal layout is based on the fact that subject, verb and object are
the most important elements of a sentence which contain nearly all information or meaning of
the sentence, then they should be clearly represented in notes. Applying this technique, the
subject, verb and object are arranged diagonally, from left to right and from top to bottom of a
page. However it does not mean that the interpreter only notes the subject, verb and object
elements. Based on the structure, the interpreter can add other details in the notes if he or she
wants. Diagonal layout is highly recommended because of its clear presentation of notes. Notes
in diagonal arrangement are concise and succinct; focusing on ideas rather than words, unlike
notes in horizontal form which often tempt the interpreter to write as many words as possible.

Diagonal layout is also called- “décalage” which is translated into English as “shifting”,
figuratively referring to “gap” or “discrepancy”. According to Rozan, “shift means writing notes
in the place on a lower line where they would have appeared had the text on the line above been
repeated”.

3.2.2. Left-hand margin

The way in which ideas are connected to each other is as important as the ideas themselves. In
terms of meaning, idea is a single unit. It is only when they are linked together that a complete
message is formed. Thus the crucial role of the links between ideas is never denied. As
mentioned above, one of the most major elements that must be reflected in notes is the link. In
other words, the interpreter when taking notes cannot afford to ignore “link words”, for instance:
therefore, consequently, nevertheless, as a result, on the other hand, however, but, or, and, yet
etc.

There is already diagonal layout for ideas to be put in logical order, then there should be some
spaces “dedicated to” the links only. It is best to leave a left-hand margin of one or two
centimetres for links to make sure that they are not confused with the other parts in notes.
Obviously left-hand margin will make links stand out and easy to identify. That is the reason
why a left-hand margin is frequently found in the notes of professional consecutive interpreters.
Furthermore, a left-hand column is ideal for marking missing ideas or denoting any change in the
flow of speech.
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4. Which Language Used in Notes

The question of consecutive interpreters’ choice of language for their notes is still open for
debate. A large volume of literature and research papers have been written on the issue. There
are diverse opinions about which language should be used in notes by the interpreter: the source
language or the target language. The source language means the language in which a speech is
made in the original, and from which an interpretation is to be made. The target language is the
language into which a speech spoken in another language is to be interpreted.

An ideal “language-independent system” for note-taking was proposed by Matyssek. However,

up to now, this suggestion has not come into reality for the reason that such “complicated system
of ciphers” would definitely place a big burden on the interpreter’s memory. Except for
Matyssek, most writers about note-taking in consecutive interpreting tend to adopt one of two
contrasting positions: some advocate the use of the target language, e.g. Herbert 1952; Rozan
1956; Seleskovitch 1957; Déjean Le Féal 1981; Laplace 1990 while others like Ilg 1988;
Alexieva 1993; Gile 1995 argue that the source language may be a better choice (as cited in
Dam,). Those who recommend using the target language basically have two reasons: first, the
target language logically forces the interpreter to put aside the surface form of the incoming
speech, instead, to concentrate on the meaning layer, that means the interpreter can avoid
“intellectual laziness”, following the speaker and noting their words passively; second, taking
notes in the target language is thought to effectively facilitate the re-expression phase. For others
who doubt the benefits of using the target language for taking notes defend their point of view
that writing notes in the target language, the interpreter has more activities to deal with during
listening, understanding and analyzing phase. The activity of language transformation from the
source into the target makes the interpreter’s concentration divided. Moreover, taking notes in
the target language, the interpreter cannot have “a full set of notes at the end of a speech” as he
takes notes in the source language.

However, some recent findings from a research paper conducted by Hellen V. Dam have showed
that “the choice of language in note-taking is governed by mainly the status of the language in
the interpreters’ language combination, i.e. whether it is an A-language or B-language (A-
language is also called mother tongue and B-language is the language of which the interpreter
has perfect mastery), and much less than by its status in the interpreting task, i.e. whether it
functions as the source language or the target language”. This would seem to be true because in
an attempt to save processing capacity for other requirements throughout the whole process of
note-taking, the interpreter is likely to take notes in whichever language is easier. Obviously,
writing in the first language (A-language) is always faster and easier than writing in another
language (B-language) which is not mother tongue.
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5. When to Note

In the process of note-taking, the interpreter is burden with making decisions all the time. When
to take notes is a very important and also tough decision that requires the interpreter to arrive at
properly and wisely. Interpreters should start the notes as soon as possible without having to wait
for a complete “unit of meaning”. If he or she waits too long, there is danger of not being able to
jot down sufficiently what has come earlier. Therefore, when the interpreter can sense the
meaning of a sentence which has not been completed, he or she should note it down. Here the
interpreter has the ability to “forecast” or “feel” upcoming things. Besides the interpreter is not
required to take everything exactly the same way as the speaker, his or her notes are not
presented in exact order as they were said by the speaker, so there is no need for the interpreter to
wait until the speaker finishes an utterance to take note.

It is also worth mentioning that as soon as speakers finish their utterance(s), the interpreter
should stop taking notes instantly and start reproducing ideas. If the interpreter is too
preoccupied with notes, he or she will delay the interpretation, which is not wanted. The
interpreter cannot afford to take longer than the speaker. He or she is expected to react
immediately after the speaker has finished.

In conclusion, it can be seen that interpreters’ notes are different from the notes taken by
students for study, secretaries for drafting memoranda and minutes or by shorthand typists who
record everything almost word for word, without critically analyzing the meaning. For
interpreters, they need the notes that can help them reproduce the full message content with the
speaker’ intention or point of view as faithfully as possible. Interpreters’ notes are for short-term
use only, unlike students’ notes for later review or long-term use. A good note should give the
main ideas of a speech, the links between those ideas, tenses of verbs figures, and numbers, lists
of things, proper names, if mentioned, so as to relieve interpreters’ memory. A good note should
also be as economical as possible with abbreviations and graphic symbols; then should be
unequivocal and logical with diagonal layout, separating lines between ideas, and an useful left-
hand margin. Which language used in notes and when to note are also important issues that
should be taken into consideration by interpreters.

VI. Further reading

1. Reading 1

The Differences between Translation and Interpretation

Many people think that translation and interpretation refer to the same thing, but there are
differences between the two. The general purpose of translation and interpretation is the same,
and that is to make the meaning of a message in one language comprehensible in another
language. However, the methods of communication used are different. Translation involves
translating written texts and documents, while interpretation deals with oral communication.
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Both translators and interpreters need to have a good command of the languages that they
specialize in, as well as a profound understanding of the cultures of the people who use those
languages. Since their primary objective is to convey the meaning of messages, they have to be
able to communicate clearly and accurately, so that the messages will be appealing and
beneficial to the recipients. Nonetheless, the specific skills that they need to perform their tasks
effectively, as well as their working environments, are different.

Translators can work on a wide variety of texts and documents, including articles, essays, books,
reports, business documents, medical records, legal documents, instruction manuals, subtitles,
web content, or any other kind of written information. They are not required to be physically
present when their translations are delivered to clients. As such, they can choose to work from
home and email their completed translations to their clients, or in the office of a translation
agency.

Translators need to possess excellent reading and writing skills, so that they can fully
comprehend the information that is presented in original texts and documents, and translate it
accurately to other languages. Good translators are usually perfectionists, and they will pay
particular attention to the tone and style of the source documents as well as the terminologies that
are used. By doing so, they do not only convey information correctly, but also the personalities
and writing styles of the writers of the original documents. They have to be able to translate texts
and documents in such a way that they are appealing to specific audiences. There are many
different specializations in the field of translation, and they include administrative translation,
business translation, technical translation, medical translation, legal translation, literary
translation, and others.

Interpreters, on the other hand, perform their work in real-time environments, and they are in
direct contact with speakers and audiences, mediating between the two. They are required to
convey oral messages from one language to another, with great accuracy and spontaneity without
access to reference material or time for research (it is very important for the interpreter to prepare
for each assignment). They need to have a very strong voice, as well as excellent reflexes and
memory. Unlike translators, they do not relate the meaning of the source message word-for-
word. Usually, they have to render sentences in a completely different way without changing
their meanings. As such, they need to have a very strong grasp of both the source and target
languages, and feel equally comfortable communicating in either language. There are lots of
events that require the services of interpreters, including business meetings, conferences,
intergovernmental meetings, sports events, charitable events, religious meetings and crusades,
and others. Interpreters who work for governments and large corporations need to have very
good diplomatic skills.

Interpreters and translators facilitate the cross-cultural communication necessary in today's

society by converting one language into another. However, these language specialists do more
than simply translate words—they relay concepts and ideas between languages. They must
thoroughly understand the subject matter in which they work in order to accurately convey
information from one language into another. In addition, they must be sensitive to the cultures
associated with their languages of expertise.
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Although some people do both, interpreting and translation are different professions. Interpreters
deal with spoken words, translators with written words. Each task requires a distinct set of skills
and aptitudes, and most people are better suited for one or the other. While interpreters often
interpret into and from both languages, translators generally translate only into their native
language.

Interpreters convert one spoken language into another—or, in the case of sign-language
interpreters, between spoken communication and sign language. Interpreting requires that one
pay attention carefully, understand what is communicated in both languages, and express
thoughts and ideas clearly. Strong research and analytical skills, mental dexterity, and an
exceptional memory also are important.

There are two modes of interpreting: simultaneous, and consecutive. Simultaneous interpreting
requires interpreters to listen and speak (or sign) at the same time someone is speaking or
signing. Ideally, simultaneous interpreters should be so familiar with a subject that they are able
to anticipate the end of the speaker's sentence. Because they need a high degree of concentration,
simultaneous interpreters work in pairs, with each interpreting for 20-minute to 30-minute
periods. This type of interpreting is required at international conferences and is sometimes used
in the courts.

In contrast to the immediacy of simultaneous interpreting, consecutive interpreting begins only

after the speaker has verbalized a group of words or sentences. Consecutive interpreters often
take notes while listening to the speakers, so they must develop some type of note-taking or
shorthand system. This form of interpreting is used most often for person-to-person
communication, during which the interpreter is positioned near both parties.

Translators convert written materials from one language into another. They must have excellent
writing and analytical ability, and because the translations that they produce must be accurate,
they also need good editing skills.

Translating involves more than replacing a word with its equivalent in another language;
sentences and ideas must be manipulated to flow with the same coherence as those in the source
document so that the translation reads as though it originated in the target language. Translators
also must bear in mind any cultural references that may need to be explained to the intended
audience, such as colloquialisms, slang, and other expressions that do not translate literally.
Some subjects may be more difficult than others to translate because words or passages may
have multiple meanings that make several translations possible. Not surprisingly, translated work
often goes through multiple revisions before final text is submitted.

Nearly all translation work is done on a computer, and most assignments are received and
submitted electronically. This enables translators to work from almost anywhere, and a large
percentage of them work from home. The Internet provides advanced research capabilities and
valuable language resources, such as specialized dictionaries and glossaries. In some cases, use
of computer-assisted translation—including memory tools that provide comparisons of previous
translations with current work—helps save time and reduce repetition.
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The services of interpreters and translators are needed in a number of subject areas. While these
workers may not completely specialize in a particular field or industry, many do focus on one
area of expertise. Some of the most common areas are described below; however, interpreters
and translators may work in a variety of other areas also, including business, education, social
services, and entertainment.

Judiciary interpreters and translators facilitate communication for people with limited English
proficiency who find it challenging to communicate in a legal setting. Legal translators must be
thoroughly familiar with the language and functions of the U.S. judicial system, as well as other
countries' legal systems. Court interpreters work in a variety of legal settings, such as attorney-
client meetings, preliminary hearings, arraignments, depositions, and trials. Success as a court
interpreter requires an understanding of both legal terminology and colloquial language. In
addition to interpreting what is said, court interpreters also may be required to read written
documents aloud in a language other than that in which they were written, a task known as sight
translation.

Medical interpreters and translator, sometimes referred to as healthcare interpreters and

translators, provide language services to healthcare patients with limited English proficiency.
Medical interpreters help patients to communicate with doctors, nurses, and other medical staff.
Translators working in this specialty primarily convert patient materials and informational
brochures issued by hospitals and medical facilities into the desired language. Interpreters in this
field need a strong grasp of medical and colloquial terminology in both languages, along with
cultural sensitivity to help the patient receive the information.

Sign-language interpreters facilitate communication between people who are deaf or hard of
hearing and people who can hear. Sign-language interpreters must be fluent in English and in
American Sign Language (ASL), which combines signing, finger spelling, and specific body
language. Most sign-language interpreters either interpret, aiding communication between
English and ASL, or transliterate, facilitating communication between English and contact
signing—a form of signing that uses a more English language-based word order. Some
interpreters specialize in oral interpreting for people who are deaf or hard of hearing and lip-read
instead of sign. Other specialties include tactile signing, which is interpreting for people who are
blind as well as deaf by making manual signs into their hands, using cued speech, and signing
exact English.

Conference interpreters work at conferences that have non-English-speaking attendees. The

work is often in the field of international business or diplomacy, although conference interpreters
can interpret for any organization that works with speakers of foreign languages. Employers
prefer high-level interpreters who have the ability to translate from at least two languages into
one native language—for example, the ability to interpret from Spanish and French into English.
For some positions, such as those with the United Nations, this qualification is mandatory.

Guide or escort interpreters accompany either U.S. visitors abroad or foreign visitors in the
United States to ensure that they are able to communicate during their stay. These specialists
interpret on a variety of subjects, both on an informal basis and on a professional level. Most of
their interpreting is consecutive, and work is generally shared by two interpreters when the
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assignment requires more than an 8-hour day. Frequent travel, often for days or weeks at a time,
is common, and it is an aspect of the job that some find particularly appealing.

Literary translators adapt written literature from one language into another. They may translate
any number of documents, including journal articles, books, poetry, and short stories. Literary
translation is related to creative writing; literary translators must create a new text in the target
language that reproduces the content and style of the original. Whenever possible, literary
translators work closely with authors to best capture their intended meanings and literary
characteristics.

Localization translators completely adapt a product or service for use in a different language and
culture. The goal of these specialists is to make it appear as though a product originated in the
country where it will be sold and supported. At its earlier stages, this work dealt primarily with
software localization, but the specialty has expanded to include the adaptation of Internet sites,
marketing, publications, and products and services in manufacturing and other business sectors.

In terms of work environment, interpreters work in a wide variety of settings, such as schools,
hospitals, courtrooms, and conference centers. Translators usually work alone, and they must
frequently perform under pressure of deadlines and tight schedules. Technology allows
translators to work from almost anywhere, and many choose to work from home.

Because many interpreters and translators freelance, their schedules often vary, with periods of
limited work interspersed with periods requiring long, irregular hours. For those who freelance, a
significant amount of time must be dedicated to looking for jobs. Interpreters who work over the
telephone or through videoconferencing generally work in call centers in urban areas and keep to
a standard 5-day, 40-hour workweek.

Interpreters and translators must be fluent in at least two languages. Their educational
backgrounds may vary widely, but many need a bachelor's degree. Many also complete job-
specific training programs.

Concerning education and training, the educational backgrounds of interpreters and translators
vary. Knowing at least two languages is essential. Although it is not necessary to have been
raised bilingual to succeed, many interpreters and translators grew up speaking two languages.

In high school, students can prepare for these careers by taking a broad range of courses that
include English writing and comprehension, foreign languages, and basic computer proficiency.
Other helpful pursuits include spending time abroad, engaging in direct contact with foreign
cultures, and reading extensively on a variety of subjects in English and at least one other
language.

Beyond high school, there are many educational options. Although a bachelor's degree is often
required for jobs, majoring in a language is not always necessary. An educational background in
a particular field of study can provide a natural area of subject-matter expertise. However,
specialized training in how to do the work is generally required. Formal programs in interpreting
and translation are available at colleges nationwide and through non-university training
 179

programs, conferences, and courses. Many people who work as conference interpreters or in
more technical areas—such as localization, engineering, or finance—have master's degrees,
while those working in the community as court or medical interpreters or translators are more
likely to complete job-specific training programs.

Experience is an essential part of a successful career in either interpreting or translation. In fact,

many agencies or companies use only the services of people who have worked in the field for 3
to 5 years or who have a degree in translation studies, or both.

A good way for translators to learn firsthand about the profession is to start out working in-house
for a translation company; however, such jobs are not very numerous. People seeking to enter
interpreter or translator jobs should begin by getting experience whatever way possible—even if
it means doing informal or volunteer work.

Volunteer opportunities are available through community organizations, hospitals, and sporting
events, such as marathons, that involve international competitors. The American Translators
Association works with the Red Cross to provide volunteer interpreters in crisis situations. Any
translation can be used as an example for potential clients, even translation done as practice.

Paid or unpaid internships and apprenticeships are other ways for interpreters and translators to
get started. Escort interpreting may offer an opportunity for inexperienced candidates to work
alongside a more seasoned interpreter. Interpreters might also find it easier to break into areas
with particularly high demand for language services, such as court or medical interpreting.

No matter what path of entry they pursue, new interpreters and translators should establish
mentoring relationships to build their skills, confidence, and professional network. Mentoring
may be formal, such as through a professional association, or informal with a coworker or an
acquaintance who has experience as an interpreter or translator. Both the American Translators
Association and the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf offer formal mentoring programs.

Translators working in localization need a solid grasp of the languages to be translated, a

thorough understanding of technical concepts and vocabulary, and a high degree of knowledge
about the intended target audience or users of the product. Because software often is involved, it
is not uncommon for people who work in this area of translation to have a strong background in
computer science or to have computer-related work experience.

VII. Questions for Discussion

1. What is interpreting? What is an interpreter?
2. What are the requirements for an interpreter?
3. What is simultaneous interpretation?
4. What is consecutive interpretation?
5. What is whispered interpretation?
6. What is relay interpretation?
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7. What is liaison interpretation?

8. What is judicial interpretation?
9. What is conference interpretation?
10. What is escort interpretation?
11. What is sign language interpretation?
12. What is on-site interpretation?
13. According to Gile, how many phases does interpreting consist of?
14. What is short-term memory? What is long-term memory?
15. What are the major characteristics of short-term memory?
16. How is short-term memory trained?
17. Why is note-taking useful for consecutive interpreter?
18. What is the process of note-taking in consecutive interpretation?
19. What are the rules of abbreviations set up by Rozan?
20. What is diagonal layout?
21. What is left-hand margin in note-taking?
22. What are the differences between a translator and an interpreter in terms of skills?
23. What are the differences between a translator and an interpreter in terms of education and
training?
24. What are the differences between a translator and an interpreter in terms of work
environment?
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