ADVANCED TRANSLATION 2024-2025 Fall

NOTE 1

TRANSLATION STUDIES: BACKGROUND

Translation studies is the new academic discipline related to the study of the
theory and phenomena of translation. its nature it is multilingual and also
interdisciplinary, encompassing languages, linguistics, communication studies,
philosophy and a range of types of cultural studies. Because of this diversity, one
of the biggest problems in teaching and learning about translation studies is that
much of it is dispersed across such a wide range of books and journals. The term
translation itself refers three basic meanings: it can refer to the general subject
field, the product (the text that has been translated) and the process
St = Second text

What is translation studies?

The process of translation between two different written languages involves the
translator changing an original written text (the source text or ST) in the original
verbal language (the source language or SL) into a written text (the target text or
TT)in a different verbal language (the target language or TL). This type
corresponds to ‘interlingual translation’ and is one of the three categories of
translation.Translation studies are divided into 3 principal categories in terms of
interlingual translation.

1 intralingual translation, or ‘rewording’: ‘an interpretation of verbal signs by

means of other signs of the same language’;
2 interlingual translation, or ‘translation proper’: ‘an interpretation of verbal signs
by means of some other language’;
3 intersemiotic translation, or ‘transmutation’: ‘an interpretation of verbal signs
by means of signs of non-verbal sign systems’).
Sem!st!c Sc!ence
: of sc!ence .

Intralingual translation would occur, for example, when we rephrase an

expression or text in the same language to explain or clarify something we might
have said or written.

It is interlingual translation which is the traditional, although by no means

exclusive, focus of translation studies.Interlanguage is the type of language or
linguistic system used by second- and foreign-language learners who are in the
process of learning a target language.

Intersemiotic translation would occur if a written text were translated, for

example, into music, film or painting.
Throughout history, written and spoken translations have played a crucial role in
interhuman communication, not least in providing access to important texts for
scholarship and religious purposes. Yet the study of translation as an academic
subject has only really begun in the past 70 years. In the English-speaking world,
this discipline is now generally known as ‘translation studies’, thanks to the
Dutch-based US scholar James S. Holmes. In his key defining paper delivered in
1972, but not widely available until 1988. Holmes describes it then as a discipline
as being concerned with ‘the complex of problems clustered round the
phenomenon of translating and translations’.

By 1990, Hornby, in the first edition of her Translation Studies: An Integrated

Aphoach, was writing that ‘the demand that translation studies should be viewed
as an independent discipline has come from several quarters in recent years.By
2020, the time of the second, revised, edition of her work, Hornby is able to talk
in the preface of ‘the breathtaking development of translation studies as an
independent discipline’ and the ‘prolific international discussion’ on the subject.
Mona Baker, in her introduction to The Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation,
talks effusively of the richness of the ‘exciting new discipline, perhaps the
discipline of the 2000s’, bringing together scholars from a wide variety of often
more traditional disciplines. Now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the
discipline of translation studies continues to develop from strength to strength
across the globe.

Translation Studies in the UK and some particular countries

There are two very visible ways in which translation studies in the UK now. They
have become more prominent nowadays. There have been a proliferation of
specialized translating and interpreting courses at both undergraduate and
postgraduate level in UK.

In the UK, the first specialized university postgraduate courses in interpreting and
translating were set up in the 1960s. In the recent academic years , there have been
at least eighty postgraduate translation courses in the UK and several designated
‘Centres of Translation’. Caminade and Pym list at least 250 university-level
bodies in over sixty countries offering four-year undergraduate degrees and or
postgraduate courses in translation. These courses, which attract thousands of
students, are mainly oriented towards training future professional commercial
translators and,interpreters and serve as highly valued entry-level qualifications
for the translating and interpreting professions.

Other courses, in smaller numbers, focus on the practice of literary translation. In

the UK, these include major courses at Middlesex University and the University
of East Anglia (Norwich), the latter of which also houses the British Centre for
Literary Translation. In Europe, there is now a network of centres where literary
translation is studied, practised and promoted. Apart from Norwich, these include
Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Arles (France), Bratislava (Slovakia), Dublin
(Ireland), Rhodes (Greece), Sineffe (Belgium), Stralen (Germany), Tarazona
(Spain) and Visby (Sweden).

The 1990s also saw a proliferation of conferences, books and journals on

translation in many languages. Long-standing international translation studies
journals such as Babel (the Netherlands), Meta (Canada), ParallPles
(Switzerland)and Traduire (France)have now been joined by, amongst others,
Across Languages and The IT1 Bulletin of the Institute for Translating and
Interpreting and in other words, the literary oriented publication of the
Translators’ Association. Other smaller periodicals such as TRANSST and BET
(Spain), now disseminated through the internet, give details of forthcoming
events, conferences and translation prizes. In the year 2000-2020 , for instance,
international translation conferences were held in a large number of countries and
on a wide variety of key themes, including: aproaches.

A Preliminary Outline of Translation studies

Writings on the subject of translating go far back in recorded history. The practice
of translation was discussed by, for example, Cicero and Horace (first century
BCE) and St Jerome (fourth century CE) , their writings were to exert an important
influence up until the twentieth century. In St Jerome’s case, his approach to
translating the Greek Septuagint Bible into Latin would affect later translations of
the Scriptures.

Indeed, the translation of the Bible was to be - for well over a thousand years and
especially during the Reformation in the sixteenth century - the battleground of
conflicting ideologies in western Europe. However, although the practice of
translating is long established, the study of the field developed into an academic
discipline only in the second half of the twentieth century. Before that, translation
had normally been merely an element of language learning in modern language
courses. In fact, from the late eighteenth century to the 1960s, language learning
in secondary schools in many countries had come to be dominated by what was
known as the grammar-translation method . In 1960s we can see first usage
translation as an educational method.

In addition, various translation events were held in India, and an on-line

translation symposium was organized by Anthony Pym from Spain in January
2020. The fact that such events are now attempting to narrow their focus is
indicative of the richness and abundance of the activity being undertaken in the
field as a whole. From being a little-established field a relatively short time ago,
translation studies has now become one of the most active and dynamic new areas
of research encompassing an exciting mix of approaches
Writings on the subject of translating go far back in recorded history. According
to recorded history the practice of translation was first discussed by Cicero and
Horace (first century BCE)

However, although the practice of translating is long established, the study of the
translation developed into an academic discipline only in the second half of the
twentieth century. Before that, translation had normally been merely an element
of language learning in modern language courses. In fact, from the late eighteenth
century to the 1960s, language learning in secondary schools in many countries
had come to be dominated by what was known as the grammar-translation
method.

This method, which was applied to classical Latin and Greek and then to modern
foreign languages, centred on the rote study of the grammatical rules and
structures of the foreign language. These rules were both practised and tested by
the translation of a series of usually unconnected and artificially constructed
sentences exemplifying the structure(s) being studied, an approach that persists
even nowadays in certain countries and contexts. Typical of this is the following
rather bizarre and decontextualized collection of sentences to translate into
Spanish, for the practice of Spanish tense use. They appear in K. Mason’s
Advanced Spanish Course, still to be found on some secondary school courses in
the UK:

1 The castle stood out against the cloudless sky.

2 The peasants enjoyed their weekly visits to the market.
3 She usually dusted the bedrooms after breakfast.
4 Mrs Evans taught French at the local grammar school.

The gearing of translation to language teaching and learning may partly explain
why academia considered it to be of secondary status. Translation exercises were
regarded as a means of learning a new language or of reading a foreign language
text until one had the linguistic ability to read the original.

Study of a work in translation was generally frowned upon once the student had
acquired the necessary skills to read the original. However, the grammar
translation method fell into increasing disrepute, particularly in many English-
language countries, with the rise of the direct method or communicative approach
to English language teaching in the 1960s and 1970s. This approach places stress
on students’ natural capacity to learn language and attempts to replicate
‘authentic’ language learning conditions in the classroom. It often privileges
spoken over written forms, at least initially, and tends to shun the use of the
students’ mother tongue. This focus led to the abandoning of translation in
language learning.

As far as teaching was concerned, translation then tended to become restricted to

higher-level and university language courses and professional translator training,
to the extent that present first-year undergraduates in the UK are unlikely to have
had any real practice in the skill In the USA, translation - specifically literary
translation - was promoted in universities in the 1960s by the translation workshop
concept.

Richards’s reading workshops and practical criticism approach for translation

began in the 1920s. Creative writing workshops, of these translation workshops
were first established in the universities of Iowa and Princeton. They were
intended as a platform for the introduction of new translations into the target
culture and for the discussion of the finer principles of the translation process and
of understanding a text . Running parallel to this approach was that of comparative
literature, where literature is studied and compared transnationally and
transculturally, necessitating the reading of some literature in translation. This
would later link into the growth of This more systematic and ‘scientific’ approach
in many ways began to mark out the territory of the academic investigation of
translation. The word ‘science’ was used by Nida in the title of his 1964 book the
German equivalent was taken up by Wolfram Wilss in his teaching and research
at the Universitiit des Saarlandes at Saarbriicken, by Koller in Heidelberg and by
the Leipzig courses of the cultural studies type (these are described below).

Another area in which translation became the main subject of research was
Contrastive analysis. The Contrastive analysis in translation studies was very
famous in 1930s. This is the study of two languages in contrast in an attempt to
identify general and specific differences between them. It developed into a
systematic area of research in the USA from the 1930s and onwards and came to
the fore in the 1960s and 1970s. Translations and translated examples provided
much of the data in these studies.

The consequent years contrastive approach heavily influenced other studies, such
as Vinay and Darbelnet’s (1958) and Catford’s (1965), which overtly stated their
aim of assisting translation research. Although useful, contrastive analysis does
not, however, incorporate sociocultural and pragmatic factors, nor the role of
translation as a communicative act. Nevertheless, the continued application of a
linguistic approach in general, and specific linguistic models such as generative
grammar or functional grammar, has demonstrated an inherent and gut link with
translation.
While, in some universities, translation continues to be studied as a module on
applied linguistics courses, the evolving field of translation studies can point to
its own systematic models that have incorporated other linguistic models and
developed them for its own purposes. At the same time, the construction of the
new discipline has involved moving away from considering translation as
primarily connected to language teaching and learning. Instead, the new focus is
the specific study of what happens in and around translating and translation.

The more systematic, and mostly linguistic-oriented, approach to the study of

translation began to emerge in the 1950s and 1960s. There are a number of now
classic examples:
In France and England. Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet produced their
Stylistiqztr comparie du franFaiset de l’anglais (1958), a contrastive approach
that categorized what they saw happening in the practice of translation between
French and English; Alfred Malblanc (1963) did the same for translation between
French and German; Georges Mounin’s Les problimes thioriques de la
traction(1963) examined linguistic issues of translation; Eugene Nida (1964)
incorporated elements of Chomsky’s then fashionable generative grammar as a
theoretical underpinning of his books, which were initially designed to be
practical manuals for Bible translators.

INTERPRETING VS TRANSLATION
Interpreting and Translation is an indispensable part of human interaction since it
enables people to communicate and speak in their own languages in every field
of this rapidly globalizing and shrinking world.

Translation and interpretation are two ways to transfer speech from one language
to another, and both of them are similar in activities, different as a process. Many
people do not distinguish between translation and interpretation, use the word
“translation” on both translation and interpretation and use it interchangeably.

To know both “translation” and “interpretation”, the most important differences

must be highlighted. First of all, the translator deal with documents and written
materials in “source language” and then rewrites them “in the target language”,
while the interpreter listens to the “ source language” and transmits them to the
“target language” orally, either simultaneously or consecutively. This work
requires deep knowledge in two different languages, many skills, talent, and
training in each field (Nosratzadegan,2019). The translator should know what his
/ her job requires, from master the “Target language” and a perfect understanding
of the “source language”. Furthermore, the time factor represents a significant
difference between two disciplines of the translation.
 The translator takes sufficient time to coordinate the speech and select the
appropriate expression, while the interpreter translates directly and requires a
great speed in conveying ideas and choosing the appropriate expression. The
interpretation is like a painting, to convey the ideas, messages, and meanings to
the counterpart in a manner identical to that discourse in ideas and messages. The
interpretation is transferred to the target language with the closest meaning to
utterances the source language. In addition, requires transferred the information
to the same way as the discourse .The content of the previous discourse is that
there is no translation “ideal” because the difference in cultures and languages
affects the way translation. The perfect translation is the process of conveying the
idea of discourse to the listener “clearly meaning” and “fewer words”.
① Interpreting is traditionally regarded as a form of translation, and, therefore
O
considered as a sub-branch. There has always been a need for interpreters since
the Ancient times for building communication between communities. In such a
globalized world, the need for interpreters has increased with the parallel increase
in the international interactions. Understanding and being understood, and
consequently communicating with people around the world have gained much
more importance.

What is Translation?
From the illustration of any dictionary, the phenomenon of translation is first of
all a problem of everyday language. Without knowledge of the concepts, we may
be trapped from the beginning if we simply assume that our own discourse can
be viewed as neutral and scientific (Biel 2008). Until recently, in most translation
theories and research, the concept of translation was defined as the transfer from
one place to another, but transferring may be used as a metaphor that does not
exclude the heterogeneity of space as well (Lambert, 2006). Actually, we are
always translating and interpreting when we speak, and “our ability to read
between the lines, as it were, depends upon a cultural continuity in which language
is embedded, and which is not open to all” (Edward, 2019).
How many period
There are four periods in terms of interpretation research. sorusu gelebilir! 4
The fifties: The papers written on interpretation in fifties were mainly based on
personal experience and did not yield much scientific study.
The experimental psychology period: During this period, the sixties and early
seventies, a few experimental studies were carried out by psychologists and
psycholinguistics;
The practitioner’s period: From the early seventies to the mid-eighties, more
interpreters became interested in interpreting research.
The ‘Renaissance’ period: Most of the research is carried out by practising
interpreters, but they utilize from cognitive sciences and other related fields. There
are also cooperative projects with researchers from other disciplines
According to Edward (2019), words themselves are only indicators; the real
meaning of a word is not only the linguistic adequacy, but also the conceptual
advancement. Languages are considered to be systems reflecting different
varieties of the human condition, although they may be unequal in complexity at
given points. In this case, environments differ and the things detailed in the
language differ, too.

Tanrıkulu (2021) defines translation as an “irreplaceable activity which brings

societies and individuals together and which helps them have dialogue and
communicate with each other” . By the second half of the 20th century, the opinion
of source text importance had prevailed. With this understanding, the translator
should make a translation depending on the source text. During translation, a
translator should follow 5 items. As in the following;

1) The relations between two sides in the past and present,

2) Similarities and differences between cultures,
3) The adaptation of the theme of the book to the cultural and social situation of
the target country,
4) What are the beliefs of both sides about each other,
5) Political, cultural or social occurances.

Armstrong (2019) believes that the translation difficulty seems to be due to the
fact that language change tracks social change. To overcome difficulties and to
produce a successful translation of cultural terms, the translator’s role is to rely
on several devices to solve the problem of bridging the gap across cultures (Eris
& Arifin, 2019). Translation is a kind of bidirectional cultural activity where
“difficulty lies not only in conversion between two languages but also in how to
keep the source cultural characteristics in the conversion” (Liu, 2017).

Despite the obligation to have a good command of the target language, the
translator should be familiarized with the culture and sociallanguage of the target
receivers for an appropriate translation. When the translator is not able to perceive
the cultural elements, the target text will lose its meaning and function. Cultural
elements are important constituents of translation, which is defined as an
intercultural communication activity (Eryılmaz, 2020; ). Since language is the
element that makes cultural interaction and intercultural communication possible,
and since intercultural interaction is formed when different cultures make contact
with each other, it is inevitable that this contact happens through translation.
Translation, in this case, is the bridge that connects foreign languages and cultures.

According to Sakai (2006), translation means transferring a text in a source

language to another by relating the translation with culture when customs,
traditions, and lifestyles are taken into consideration. The problems when
translating texts that include such cultural elements are therefore not only of a
purely lexical character but also of an equally fundamental nature, which means
the understanding of a social, economic, political, and cultural context as well as
connotative aspects of a more semantic character
Translation Strategies
Different approaches and perspectives are given by translation scholars toward
the strategies of foreign language translation. However, there are eight main
categories, in translation strategies:, Which are the following is not one of the
translation strategies sorusu gelir!
1) Word-for-word translation: in which the SL word order is preserved and the
words translated are translated out of context,
2) Literal translation: in which the SL grammatical constructions are converted to
TL equivalents, but the lexical words are again translated out of context.
3) Faithful translation: in which the precise contextual meaning remains original,
4) Semantic translation: which is similar to faithful translation but takes more
account of the aesthetic value of the SL text.
5) Adaptation: which is commonly used for plays (comedies) and poetry, allows
the rewriting of the whole text saving the meaning,
6) Free translation: which produces the TL text without the style, form, or content
of the original.
7) Idiomatic translation: which reproduces the message of the original by
preferring colloquialisms,
8) Communicative translation: which attempts to render the exact contextual
meaning of the original in both, content and language.

A GENERAL OVERVIEW FOR TRANSLATION STUDIES FROM THE

PAST

Prior to the second half of the 20th century, translation theorists in the West
evaluated translated texts as either literal or free. The distinction between word-
for -word (literal) and sense-for-sense (free) translation can be traced back to the
era of Cicero in the 1st century BC.

Early transmission of important texts and ideas are mainly from religious and
cultural traditions. They were heavily depended heavily on the process of
translation . Cicero who translated Greek texts into Latin summarized his
approach to good translation as translating as an orator rather than an
interpreter. While the later remains utterly faithful to the source text, the former
keeps the style and forms consistent with the target usage .

Cicero favoured the reader-oriented (sense-for-sense) method over the source text
oriented (word-for-word) method, to put it another way.
Before the advent of the printing press in 15th century Europe, texts were
painstakingly copied by hand. During the Reformation Period, the Bible was
translated into other languages. However, any shift from the Catholic Church’s
interpretation of the sacred texts ended up in death William Tyndale ( 1490-1536)
in England.
Which of the following not
There are five principles to do a qualified translation one of qualified translation
1.To preserve the beauty of the language, the translator must be an expert in both
theAnat!ve
target language (SL) and the target language (TL).
2.The translator should not opt for a word-for-word approach.
3.The translator should stay away from odd and Latinized forms.
4.To minimize awkwardness, the translator should eloquently combine and link
words
5.The translator is allowed to clarify any potential ambiguities in the original text
but must have a full understanding of the author’s intend of meaning and content.

The ancient Greek word for translator-interpreter is Hermêneus, related to

Hermes, the messenger of the Gods, the God that presided over travel, trade, and
communications. 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
(Adams, 2020).

The invention of writing is considered as the dawn of science and information

revolution and played a big role on development of science. Like all inventions,
writing occurred because there was a need for it. Besides, it included picture
writing by which humans conveyed thoughts, feelings and the other social facts.
They developed systematized symbols from the drawings on the cave walls
represented words and sentences that were universally recognized for meaning.

With the discovery of clay it became possible for the early merchants to use clay
tokens with pictograms for trade or shipment. These tokens date back to 8,500
B.C. Gradually, the alphabet replaced pictographs and appeared to have derived
from the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet. Proto-Sinaitic first appeared in Sinai and Egypt
 during the Middle Bronze Age, and was adapted from Egyptian hieroglyphs and
dated back 1500 B.C. in the Sinaitic world. Finally, cuneiform script was used to
produce some of the greatest literary works in recorded history (Alphabet, 2022).

· The first usage of Public Libraries on the other hand came into being during the
era of the Roman Empire. It can be said that there were 26 libraries including the
Roman Emperor’s library where he established near the Apollon temple. People
were entitled to make free of the libraries around the country. These books in the
libraries were classified into two as Greek and Latin to preserve the existence of
the previous culture. At that time knowing Greek was regarded and accepted as a
prior condition for achieving knowledge and for the better education that was to
be attained.

But while it was supposed that the libraries were opened for the usage of people,
it became difficult for the people to understand the knowledge as they were
produced in Latin. Hence people became unaware of the knowledge that was
produced in Latin and the libraries served for a specific group of educated people
. Undoubtedly the scholars were brought up with the Ancient Greek original
resources one of whom was Cicero, renowned as philosopher, linguist and
translator who translated philosophical works. With his translations from Greek
into Latin, he invented new Latin words which were not regarded as Greek
concepts such as moral, property, individual, science, image and appetite. First
Christian libraries came into being by the church in order to spread religion.

These libraries kept the tradition of keeping record of the civilization dated back
to Aristotle in Ancient Greek. The translation of Bible began with the opening of
the libraries. The First Bible translations were made from BC.200 to AC.700
during the dominant times of Greek-Roman culture. As a result, the translation of
Bible in the libraries of Ancient Christianity had the opportunity to address a wider
audience (Yazıcı, 2004).

Translation In The Middle Ages

In this context, the ancient time translation activities mainly focused on the
religious text in accordance with the dissemination of religion among the people.
This situation went on until middle age, however translation types began to
change from religious text to the scientific text and this situation peaked up in
12th century. The best example of translation activities can be seen in the school
of Toledo in Middle ages. These schools were founded in 12th and 13th century
by taking example of its predecessor Bayt al-Hikma and became a center of
translation which founded one of the sources of Renaissance to happen in the
West.
These schools generated the sources of knowledge and activated the effectiveness
of translation in the West. When Umayyads captured the Iberian Peninsula, they
carried the civilization to the Andalusia which they founded. Granada became a
very important science and culture center, Elhamra palace still stands as an
epitome of culture and civilization in that region. During this period the translation
facilities took place under the rule of Halid b.Yezid b. Muaviye generally as
personal initiatives (Yazıcı 2004).

It was not until the twelfth century that the first college of translators from Arabic
into Latin was set up in Spain, in the city of Toledo. It was founded by Don
Raimundo, archbishop of Toledo from 1126 to 1151. A Benedictine monk who
had been born at Agen in south-western France, Raimundo was convinced of the
importance of the Arab philosophers for an understanding of Aristotle, and he
decided to make their works available in Latin. Domingo Gundisalvo, archdeacon
of Segovia, was one of the most eminent of the scholars recruited by Raimundo.
He translated much of the encyclopedic Kitab al Shifa’ (“Book of Healing”) by
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) as well as al-Ghazali’s Maqasid al-falasifah (“The Aims of
the Philosophers”) and al-Farabi’s Ihsa ‘al-ulum (“Catalogue of the Sciences”).
But Gundisalvo knew no Arabic. He used a Jewish or Muslim intermediary to
translate from Arabic into Castilian, and then put the Castilian into Latin.

The most important of the Toledan translators was undoubtedly Gerard of

Cremona (1114-1187). Thanks to a brief notice left by his pupils on his life and
work, we know that Gerard came to Toledo after finishing his studies in Italy, in
order to learn more about the Almagest. This vast astronomical treatise by
Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy), the celebrated second-century-AD Greek
astronomer, mathematician and geographer, was then only available in Arabic. In
fact Gerard discovered a multitude of scientific works in Arabic in Toledo, and
immediately began to learn the language so as to read them and, later, to render
them into Latin. He eventually translated more than seventy of them, including
the Almagest, which he completed in 1175 (Ptolemy or Claudius Ptolemaeus).

Schools of Toledo had great contribution to the dissemination of scientific and

philosophical knowledge in Central Europe. Especially the reference made to
Aristotle by Ibn-i Rust and Ibn-i Sina on medicine, mathematics and astronomy
contributed to the establishment of knowledge in the Scholastic thinking in newly
founded universities. The effectiveness of these schools in 12th and 13th centuries
can be divided into two linguistically. In the12th century Arabic translations were
made into Latin. The translators in this period were translating for the church in
order to convey the cultural heritage of Greek and Arab world.

In the light of these studies, the Western world recognizes Hippocrates and Galen
in the field of medicine and also reach to the Ptolemy’s works on the order of
universe. They also had an access to the knowledge on medicine from the Arab
world as well as on arithmetic and algebra. At the beginning, these translation
activities were conducted only by religious men and scientists related to church,
and from Arabic to Latin for the exchange of knowledge (Yazıcı 2004).

During the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century) the dissemination of
Christianity became a driving force on the development of translation. It was
believed that the spread of Christianity would be possible by the intensive
translation activity. According to this point, during the 8th century the Roman
Catholic Church and during the 10th century the King Alfred and later on Aelfric
encouraged translation activities. In Ireland translation activities carried out by
the priests in the monasteries. During the 9th century, many translations were
made in the field of literature from Latin into the Roman languages. In the year of
883, the first literary text ‘ Eulalisequenz’ was adopted to the public language.
Another literary text was ‘Alexius’ legend which was translated to the Roman
languages from Latin (Aktaş, 1996).

The famous translation of Josephat’s “Liber gestorum Barlaam” which was

published in Toledo was translated into many European languages and gained
wide readership. Although it was a complete fabrication, Barlaam had major
impact on Christianists and had to be recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic
Church. At these times, the Catholic Church opposed to the translation of the Bible
however the first translation of Bible was made by John Wycliffle in 1330-1384.
And this was followed by Tyndale and Coverdale’s translations. But their
translations cannot be compared with the Bible that the Martin Luter translated
into German. Because Luter translated the simplest way a person could
understand so he caused to the birth of German literary language (Aktaş, 1996).
Another person who engaged in translation was an Italian Poet Dante during this
period. Dante did not adapt to word for word translation like most of the scholars
did. In order to show how the meaning lost in word for word translation, he
advised people to look at the translation of Homer’s word for word translation
into Latin. Word for word translation continued after the death of Dante. An Italian
priest Leonzio Pilato translated Nicolas Siaeras’ manuscript of Iliad from Greek
into Latin with word for word translation method he could not give the original
meaning. In Middle Ages, translation movement reached its peak in the twelve
century with which many of the scientific works conveyed in this way and
professor Haskin gave the century the name ‘Renaissance of the Middle Age’.
James from Venice was the first person who translated Organon, the work of
Aristo, from Greek into Latin (Aktaş,2006).

Raymond the Archbishop of Toledo School of Translators and he also mentored

three important translators, also Archbishops, who were Johannes, Dominicus,
and Ghenardus. Johannes Avendehut Hispanus was a Hispanic Jew, translator and
compilerauthor (also called Johannes Hyspalensis). It’s not totally certain that
Juan Hispano (Ibn Dawud) and Juan Hispalense are one and the same; several
critics have insisted they are not. With Mose Sefardí (Petrus Alphonsus), and Rabi
bar Hiyya of Barcelona, Juan Hispano is one of the three Hispanic Jews who
salvage much of the Arabic scientific learning that was in danger of disappearing
with the fall of the Taifa Kingdoms.

One of the most important translators, his fields include astrology, philosophy,
mathematics and medicine. In astrology he translated Masallah, al-Fargani, Aby
`Ali al Haiyal, Abu Mashar, al-Kindi, ‘Umar ibn al-Farruhan, Ahmad ibn Yusuf
ibn al-Daya, al-Battani, Tabit ibn Qurra, al-Qabisi, etc. In philosophy he produced
Latin translations of Pseudoaristotle, Ibn Sina (Avicena), Qusta ben Luqa, Al-
Farabi, Ibn Gabirol (Avicebron), al-Gazali, etc.

As an author, his works have the virtue of being intelligent syntheses, combined
with his own observations and interpretations (the latter, particularly in astrology).
He collaborated closely in Toledo with Domingo Gundisalvo from 1130-1150,
although he continued to translate up until his death in 1180 (The School of
Translators of Toledo, n.d.).

Consequently, the translators listed above not only helped to dissemination and
distribution of the texts, but they contributed to the spread of the Islamic
experimental method consisting of experience, observation and analogy; which
would prove to be crucial for the later development of modern science and
European Renaissance. The translations, methods and in short the philosophy of
The School of Translators of Toledo laid the foundations for the Renaissance,
which, helped by the invention of the press, appeared two centuries later (The
School of Translators of Toledo, n.d.).

Translation Activities in the Islam World

The first Arab-Islamic state was established by the Prophet Muhammed in 622.
The Prophet started the message of Islam in Mecca and Medina and later on tried
to spread the Qur’an message to the neighbor countries. The first phases of the
conquest united the ancient civilizations in the area of the Nile, Tigris and
Euphrates (Fırat). In this area Islamic civilization arose in history, developed and
reached its Golden Age during the 9th century. The Islamic Science mainly
emerged in South-West Asia and Egypt where these areas were regarded as the
scientific centers of the whole world. With the rise of Islam and under the
Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphates, the area remained as the scientific center of
the world (Yavuz, n.d.).

The dates from about the 9th and 14th centuries are considered as the Arab golden
ages by many historians all over the world the Umayyads possessed during the
first century of Islam the lands which were the learning centers of ancient Greek.
The Arabs established their culture and methods of ruling on these centers and
these centers of learning had already moved from Athens to Alexandria later on
to the Antioch.

The culture they established was constituted with the synthesis of ideas from
diverse cultures such as the Greek, Persian, Egyptian, Indian, and Chinese while
on the other hand the new Islamic state expanded geographically in the 7th and
8th centuries. They were interested in translating scientific books from other
cultures into Arabic and utilized them in developing Muslim knowledge. Within
this context in the medieval period of Islam, extensive libraries established in
Cordoba and Bagdad which consisted over 400.000 books such as Hippocrates’
medicine, Ptolemy’s geography, Aristotle’s philosophy, as well as Persian and
Indian works on astronomy and mathematics and they contributed to new
improvements in science and technology (Yazıcı, 2014).

During Umayyad and Abbasid times, Islamic civilization reached its peak and
brought up many thinkers such as Farabi and Ibn-i Sina. Baghdad became one of
the biggest scientific centers through 8th and 9th century where intensive
translation facilities were carried out in the Bayt al-Hikma institutions. These
constitutions also acted like a library which consisted works of mathematics,
astronomy, medicine and philosophy.

After the conquest of Alexandria by the Arabs, the scientific activities shifted from
Christian world to the Islam world. This conquest played a big role in transferring
the studies especially moral sciences to the Islam world. At the beginning, the
translation movement had taken place in the biggest libraries of Alexandria, the
highest education center of Greece, such as the Musaion library (BC 304-300). In
early times many scientific studies had been translated from Persian and Greek in
Alexandria and in Baghdad libraries. Unfortunately, the majority of the resources
in Alexandria were destroyed during the war and invasions. The people who
studied medicine and philosophy fled from Alexandria and settled in Antioch,
Harran and Syria to carry out the tradition of translation and research (Eruz 2010).

Translation Activities In The Later Years Until The 20th Century

Middle Ages, especially the 13rd, 14th centuries are known as the centuries which
introduced East to the West. Translation activities increased gradually up to the
period of Renaissance (16th century). 16th century was a century where ancient
culture was revived and spreaded though out Europe from Italy. As compared with
translation activities with the 12th century movements of Middle age, a
considerable change occurred in terms of quality and quantity. It is known that the
religious works consisted of almost all translated works ratio and always word for
word translation method was used for the respect of Holly. There was always
restriction on the translation of Bible and the number of words were protected.
Therefore a really meaningful translation of Bible could not be made because of
such circumstances (Aktaş, 2016).

The translation movement during the time of Renaissance went on with the
reformation movement in the Catholic Church by Luter, Zwingli and Calvin who
managed to translate the Bible out of its word for word structure and by Martin
Luter (1522) translated Bible into German and later other translators translated
into other languages with the equivalent meaning . In his translation of Bible,
Luter didn’t translate the words, but he tried to give the meaning and used the
vernacular language the people spoke and understood.

In England, the period of Queen Elizabeth I was regarded as the revolution in

translation. The interpreters worked hard to obtain the cultural treasures remained
in the past by the way of translation. They emphasized on the literary skills of the
author rather than the meaning they wrote. Some famous translators were: Sir
Thomas Nort, Laurentius Vallon, Thomas Nicholls, Phileman Holland,
Kaenophon, Livius, Suetenus and Plinius.
There were also famous French Interpreters who also leaded the Renaissance
movement; one of whom was Calvin, translated the Bible into French from
Hebrew and Greek in 1535 even though there was another translated version.

Both of them were on the point to serve for the people as their counterpart Luter
did and put forward an understandable version of Bible. Another French
interpreter was Etienne Dolet who was also known with his article about 5 pillars
of translation theory which comes down to today and maintains its validity.
Another prominent work which was translated by Pelletier du Mans was Odyssee
by Homer in 16th century.

In the 17th century, dating back to Cicero, the perception of freedom became
dominant. The supporter of this perception was carried out by Denham, Cowley,
George, Chapman who also contributed to the development of theory of
translation. They claimed that the translation should be made in a free style
method especially for the literary texts but should be avoided from the excessive
freedom as Chapman reminded during the translation of Iliad. In France, XIV
Ludvig attached great importance to translation and established a translation
school ‘Enfants de Langue’ in 1669 where also intensive translation activities
were carried out.

There was also a previous example of this school established 1535 to carry out
the diplomatic relations with the Turks. In England the most important person who
engaged in translation was John Dreyden, translated Juvenalis (1693) and
Vergilius (1697) and accepted the translation as an art and put forward the rules
and pillars of this art. In Germany Martin Opitz made intensive translations he
translated Sophokles’s Antigone and Seneca’s Truva and Sidney’s Arcadia .
In the 18th century, a considerable study of translation was carried out on the
method of translation and consequently the translators came to a consensus to end
the discussions. Lord Woodhouselee wrote his book “trials on the principles of
translation” and emphasized three main principles in translation. Like
Woodhouselee, William Cowper was also engaged in translation (1732-17800) in
England during these years.
Cowper translated Homer’s Odysseia into English in 1791. Likewise the famous
poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744) translated Homer’s Iliad (1720) as well as
Odysseia into English. In Germany on the other hand, Johann Heinrich Voss
translated Homer’s Odysseia into German in 1781 and Iliad in 1793 (Aktaş 1996:
28).

In the 19th century, studies on translation focused on the issue of how this art
should be carried out. Among those who were interested in this topic, the
prominent translator Mathew Arnold argued that the source text should be
translated the way how it affects its own readers, while translating it should arose
the same effect on the target readers. Hence he supported the free style translating
instead of word for word translating. He had many supporters in all over Europe,
Edward Fitzgerald from Spain (1809-1883) was one of them who translated
Aiskhylos’s and Sophokles’s works into English and in 1859 translated Ömer
Hayyam’s Rubaiyat from Persian into English by following the new translation
method.

Newmann on the other hand opposed to the Arnold’s translation method and
argued that the translated texts are not an original work and thus the impression
of translation should be given to the readers. Within this context, these two
contrasting views were discussed between the translators. Among these, one of
them was Thomas Carlyle who translated Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister in 1824.

It is seen that the translation activities in Europe accelerated and spreaded

gradually throughout the centuries. On the other hand in a substantial and serious
research on translation was not carried out in the Ottomans until the 19th century.
After the Tanzimat Edict, turning to the West brought new understanding in
culture and technology. Westernization efforts in the 19th century brought a
necessity to accelerate translation in the fields of military, medicine, engineering
and other technical fields.
 ADVANCED TRANSLATION 2024-2025 Fall
NOTE 2

Translation Activities In Turkish Republic After The Ottoman Empire

The Turkish Republic was established in 1923 following the World War I defeat
of the Ottoman Empire. After the constitution of the new Republic, the new
government under the leadership of Government carried out drastic reforms to
attain modern civilization that could develop the society. These reforms were
intended to open a new world for Turkish people and to bring the society closer
to the contemporary.

Atatürk did his best to establish democratic institutions for the people who had
been ruled by an absolute monarch for 600 years. For the integration and
communication with the West, the Arabic Alphabet was replaced with the Latin
alphabet for written Turkish. This reform opened a new way through West on the
transfer and production of Science and Technology (Yalçın, 1999).

Within this context, for the purpose of opening new modern universities, Atatürk
planned to take advices of foreign experts and wanted to receive a report including
the possible framework of the new higher education institute. ‘Darülfünun’
remained from the Ottomans had still been operating at that time. Darülfünun,
was the first and unique higher education institute during the Ottoman period and
the first ten years of Turkish Republic.

The 2252 Code aimed at building a modern university in 1933. In accordance with
Malche’s report and Atatürk’s reform, European model of administration and
education was accepted in the Turkish universities (Namal, Y. & Karakök, T.
2011).

Based on the report by invited Swiss Professor Albert Malche and by Atatürk’s
Consequently, universities became an excellent venue for the transfer, expansion
and circulation of technical and scientific knowledge and laid the foundations for
the establishment of technical innovations and advances throughout the country
by way of translations such as the following in various fields depending on
Istanbul University Library records as the source :

The translation of Prof. Dr. E.Finlay Freundlich and Dr. W. Gleissberg’s

Astronomy by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fahir Yeniçay in 1937, Istanbul University
Publication

The translation of Weiland Gattermann’s book Organik Kimya Laboratuvarı ( The

original title does not exist) by Dr. Naci Bekir Ortabaşı-Assoc.Prof.Dr. Cemil
DikmenLütfi Ergener in 1940, Istanbul University Publication,
1
The translation of Prof. Maunice Gignoux’s Stratigrafik Jeoloji ( no original
title)by Prof.Dr. Hamit Nafiz Pamir in 194, Istanbul University Publication.

The translated works of science and technology which paved the way for the
development of similar sciences in Türkiye are concrete examples of the
enormous weight played by translations in recording the history of the
development of science and technology in Türkiye. Another important feature that
comes to the fore about the role played by translations in this direction is the
translation manuals prepared by Istanbul University in various subjects.

Technical translation activities in Türkiye developed and accelerated along with

the developments in science and technology in the country. With the establishment
of institutions of science and technology and the opening of the universities, the
formation of disciplines and the applications and production in industry
necessitated vast amounts of translations for the transference of information and
knowledge; as well as for having an access to the innovations in the west.
Universities and institutions such as TÜBİTAK, Atom Enerjisi Kurumu and all
the state run industry offices (MKE, SÜMERBANK, etc.) carried out extensive
translation activities which were either published or not published in their own
domain.

The present state of translation activities in technical field is prosperous and an

immense amount of publications are available in that respect. Nowadays
translations of such kind are being carried out mainly in private companies. The
abundance of technical translation in Türkiye in the present times and initiatives
in the fields of towards setting down standards in technical writing and technical
translation promise the future researcher in the field of technical translation
history a large number of data for studying an account of the accumulation of
scientific and technical knowledge in Türkiye and will bring the study of a general
history of translation a step forward.

THE CONCEPT OF INTERPRETATON

According to Gile (2018), interpreting was conceived in the early 1920s through
the development of the telephonic interpreting equipment that was made by
Edward Filene and Gordon Finlay. However, it made its first televised appearance
at the Nuremberg Trials. Before this, interpreters at multilingual events had to take
notes when the speech was being made and then, reconstructed the information
into another language when the speaker was done .

SI involves the interpretation from one language to another at the same time with
the speaker. Russell (2015) defines simultaneous interpretation as the practice of

2
interpreting the message into another language at the same time with the other
one.

Simultaneous interpretation can be conducted with the use of electronic

equipment, computer and etc., or sometimes with no at all. In conference
interpreting, the speaker’s microphone is usually electronically transferred to an
interpreter’s booth. The interpreter can see the speaker through clear views and
then hears the source message through earphones and renders her or his
interpretation of the target audience. The interpretation is then electronically
transferred to the headsets of the listeners.

The Interpretation Process

The interpretation process has some basic procedures. An interpreter can identify
a message through the means of audio and visual means. The listening capability
of the interpreter and the surroundings such as noisy listening conditions affect
the quality of the interpretation. Listening while interpreting is also very complex.
For example, in situations where limited time is allocated to the speaker, the
speaker has to deliver their speech rapidly hence making listening difficult.

TYPES OF INTERPRETING
There are different various types of interpretation that are thought to be essential
to show and mention. There are 4 types of interperting;

1.Conference interpreting
Which one is the type of interpreting /or not? !
As Munday (2019) mentions, conference interpreting thrived after the Second
World War and as an outcome of the growth of the societies. It takes place in a
particular format of interaction such as a conference speech or a high-level
governmental meeting, where a highly polished paper, full of information, is read
out non- stop and the interpreter is not allowed to interact with the speaker .

2 Business interpreting
According to Pöchhacker (2014), this type is implemented in business
negotiations and management meetings. In any situation, interpreters are required
to have a broad knowledge base in addition to mastery of the languages they work
in.

This is especially true for business situations. Interpreters should be equipped with
a good understanding of the economy and business practices as well as cross-
cultural communication in order to be successful facilitators of business.
Interpreters are generally evaluated on their accuracy, speed, and delivery.
Besides, the interpersonal skills of interpreters play a major role in business
meetings, since interpreters are directly involved in the proceedings.

3
3.Court interpreting.
It is said that trials, discoveries, witness preparation at law firms are involved in
this type. Accuracy and completeness are the most important attributes for
interpreters working with the law. Training and experience are crucial since court
procedures are formal and the language is specialized. Generally speaking, only
those interpreters who have obtained a court interpreting certificate can work in
court .

4 Community interpreting.
Scholars highlights that no technical expertise is required in this type of
interpreting, and the interpreter is welcome to have free interactions to facilitate
communication. Community interpreting includes a variety of situations, such as
personal interpreting for visits to a family doctor or dentist, driver exam’s tests,
and meeting with immigration officers.

INTERPRETİNG MODES
Interpreting is traditionally regarded as a form of translation, and, therefore
considered as a sub-branch. When we look back at Holmes’s “map” (1975) in
which interpreting is examined under the category of “medium-restricted” form
of human/machine translation or to Toury’s DTS (1995), it is possible to see that
interpreting itself is not “described” as a category of its own but as a mode of
translation, which falls into a category.

However, as the profession evolved and as more scholars started to work in the
field of interpreting studies, it can now be understood that interpreting itself has
different modes each of which has different challenges of its own and therefore
requires different solutions whether these are different theories, strategies or
training methods. In this sub-section, three main interpreting modes are.
Sayısını veya başlık olarak sorabilir
1.Sight Interpreting
Sight interpreting is the mode in which the interpreter delivers the target text
verbally while reading the source text silently. Due to its “hybrid” nature, it may
also be called “sight translation” in some sources; the reason why the term
“interpreting” is preferred in the present study is its oral output. Sight interpreting
can also be integrated into simultaneous interpreting, which Gile (1995) calls
“simultaneous interpreting with text”, as the speeches delivered by the speakers
in conferences are generally written beforehand which enables the interpreters to
access the texts prior to the interpreting sessions and follow the speech by both
listening and looking at the text they have in hand.

2.Consecutive Interpreting
Consecutive interpreting is regarded to be in existence since the ancient Egypt,
where the interpreters served the political, religious or military authorities, due to

4
their position between two parties; however, the first example of ‘classic’
consecutive interpreting as it is accepted as different from “dialogue interpreting
or “liaison interpreting” today was the one conducted in the League of Nations
(Andres, 2015). Consecutive interpreting was one of the most commonly used
interpreting mode until the Nuremberg Trials, which led to the rise of
simultaneous interpreting, and is still a preferred way if the nature of the
interpreting does not require more than one translator or language pair at a time.

3.Simultaneous Interpreting (SI)

In a broader perspective, simultaneous interpreting can be divided into two
categories: SI without equipment and SI with equipment. The former can be
practiced as “whispered interpreting” when the target audience is composed of
just a few listeners, or sign language interpreters can simultaneously transfer a
message in source language into a sign language system, which can also be
rendered as simultaneous interpreting. The second, is to be referred as
“simultaneous interpreting” throughout the study, requires the interpreter to be in
a soundproof booth with headphones and a microphone. In today’s intertwined
world resorting to simultaneous interpreting in multilingual conferences or
regarding international affairs have provided us with ease.

It can be concluded from here that there is a mismatch between two languages
which causes one of the important problems in idiom translation. The greater
mismatch between source and target languages is, the more difficult transference
of a message is. Differences between the source and target languages and
variations between the cultures they belong are a great challenge in translation
procedure. Cultural featured idioms have to be considered not in the context of
source text and culture but target culture.

Translator should interpret the idiom belonging to the source language carefully
before transfering it to the target language. When idiom in the source language is
similar to idiom in the target language as a form, there is a risk of interpretation.

ENGLISH VS TURKISH MORPHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES FOR

TRANLATON STUDIES

In a comparing and contrasting Turkish and English, even though their alphabets
are both based on the Latin alphabet, their morphology, syntax, and vocabulary
differ to a great extent. On the other hand, the consonants of both sound systems
are similar except English has consonants that do not exist in Turkish. For
example, the Turkish consonant inventory lacks interdental [Ө]as in ‘thanks’and
[ð]as in ‘this’.The lack of these two sounds usually leads Turkish speakers of
English to perceive and produce these sounds as [t]and [d].
I Önemli full
italik !
5
Another consonant that does not occur in Turkish is [w]. The sound [w] is usually
substituted with the nearest Turkish sound [v]by Turkish speakers. For example,
Turkish speakers are likely to pronounce ‘when’as ‘ven’due to the absence of this
sound in Turkish consonant inventory. Although there may not be major
differences between these two languages’ consonant inventories, it is mainly the
differences between Turkish and English vowels that create difficulty for Turkish
speakers in English pronunciation .

Turkish vowels are categorized into three main groups as rounded-unrounded,

high-low, and front-back. On the other hand, English has additional classification
for its vowels such as tense-lax.

Even though Turkish lacks this discrimination in its vowel list, it should be
pointed out that because some vowels that are categorized in English as tense also
occur in Turkish, they do not pose a difficulty in pronunciation. For example,
while the vowel sound [a]exists in both sound systems, it is specified as tense in
English in addition to low and unrounded.

Similarly, it is categorized as low and unrounded in Turkish. On the contrary, some

of the lax vowels of English are among the most problematic areas in terms of
pronunciation of English by Turkish speakers.

The vowel [æ]does not exist in Turkish vowel inventory. As a result of the absence
of this sound, most Turkish speakers pronounce this vowel either [e]or [a]. For
example, “pack”is usually pronounced as “peck”by Turkish speakers. Finally, the
D

English sounds that do not occur in Turkish are diphthongs: [aı], [aυ], and [oi]
*

3D
(Varol, 2012).

Among these only [ai]occurs in Turkish although it is not classified as a distinct

sound. For example, the diphthong [ai] occurs in the first syllable of the Turkish
words ‘ayna’(mirror) and ‘aynı’(identical). Additionally a similar sound to
[oı]also occurs in Turkish. For instance, it occurs in the word ‘koy’(put) although
its pronunciation differs slightly than that of [oı].Because there is not any similar
sound for the diphthong [au] in Turkish, when Turkish speakers encounter words
that contain this sound they usually pronounce [au]as [a]. For example, ‘how’is
usually pronounced as ‘hav’by Turkish speakers.

On the contrary, there are sounds of Turkish, which cause problems for English
speakers. Another sound that seems to be problematic is the consonant sound
[γ]which corresponds to the letter ‘ğ’ also called as soft g. There has been a debate
over it. Some consider it a letter rather than a sound. However, International
Phonetics Association treats it as a velar fricative consonant sound. The main
function of soft ‘g’in pronunciation is that it lengthens the preceding vowel sound.

6
For example, in the Turkish word ‘yoğurt’, ‘ğ’ lengthens the vowel ‘o’and
pronunciation of the word almost sounds like ‘yoourt’. Though the letter ‘ğ’does
not exist in English, the word ‘yoghurt’is presented in the language and, as a result
of this simultaneous similarity and difference English speakers tend to pronounce
it the same way as in English without consideration of lengthening effect of ‘ğ’.

There are some Turkish vowels which are not shown in English, such as ü, ö, ı,
and apparently not all of them have corresponding sounds. Their pronunciation
can be an obstacle for English native speakers. The most difficult characteristic of
Turkish language is that being an orthographic language, words in Turkish are
“written the way they are pronounced and pronounced the way they are written
“(Balpinar, 2011).

This type of relationship between letters and sounds does not exist in English, for
example, and, therefore, learners with English background as mother tongue find
it hard to get used to such way of pronouncing words. The same as Turkish
learners have a tendency to pronounce words in English the way they are written.
Finally, phonology is affected by mother tongue in many ways. Mother tongue
influences not only pronunciation of the words, but also stress, intonation, pauses.

Thus, Turkish and English share some similarities in systems, and it causes
problems for their learners. However, problematic issues can be reconsidered and
solved when the sources of errors are defined. Acquisition of phonological aspects
of second language is a disputable area, where theoretical investigation is on, and
at the same time scholars are trying to work out the best approaches and
techniques to ease the process of acquiring sound systems.

When speaking about impact of learners’ L1 upon syntax and morphology of L2,
researcher would like to review Turkish and English language systems, and
concentrate attention on particular parts of language, which seem to be most
significant in terms of this study as they allow tracing mother tongue influence.
First thought that comes to one’s mind when the word syntax is mentioned is word
order (Haznedar, 1997). The underlying word order in English is
SubjectVerbObject (SVO):

a. He comes home late every Monday.

b. We know that he comes home late every Monday.

This word order is the most common besides cases of inversion. Unlike English,
Turkish language has a different word order with a verb-final: SubjectObjectVerb
(SOV) (Haznedar, 1997). Consider the following examples provided in the
research of Haznedar :

7
a. Ersin şiir-i sev-er.
Ersin poetry-Acc like.
‘Ersin likes poetry’

b. (Siz) Ersin-in şiiri sev-digi-ni bil-iyor-sunuz.

(You) Ersin-Gen poetry like-Gerund-Acc know-PresProg-2SG
‘You know that Ersin likes poetry’

The verb of the main clause and the embedded verb are positioned at the end of
the sentence. These examples also show the agglutinative nature of the
morphology (Haznedar, 1997). It is obvious when the verb bil-iyor-sunuz(know)
is analyzed. It has a main root and the added morphemes -iy or /and –sunuz.

First morpheme refers to present tense, whereas the second one is related to 2SG
form (Haznedar, 1997). These morphemes are organized in a strict sequence.
There is another issue in regard to the word order. It has somewhat free sequence
of words (Haznedar, 1997). Some examples are given:

a. Ersin çiçek-ler-i Nilay-a ver-di.

‘Esin gave the flowers to Nilay’

b. Esin Nilay’a çiçekleri verdi.

c. Çiçekleri Nilay’a Esin verdi.

Change of word order is more of colloquial language rather than formal. Word
order is what confuses learners when they acquire language. Turkish native
speakers tend to put the verb at the end of the sentences.

TRANSLATION FROM TURKISH TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE

As the present study focuses specifically on simultaneous interpreting in English
and Turkish language pair, the present section is prepared to shed light on the
syntax of each language and the challenges faced while interpreting between them
with regard to their syntactic structures. Looking at the etymology of the word
“syntax”, it can be seen that the word originates from two words in Latin: “sun-”
meaning “together” and “tassein” meaning “arrange” in English. By looking at
how the words are arranged together to form sentences in English and in Turkish,
it is possible to have an insight of one of the main problems that an interpreter
operating between these two languages face.

While studying a language, all of its characteristics (i.e. its phonology,

morphology, syntax, vocabulary and orthography) are taken into consideration.
However, this section isolates the syntactic features of English and Turkish and

8
focuses on the notion of “verb” and the word order. Even when we do not know
the meaning of the words in a sentence, the grammar and order used in a sentence
can give us clues to understand what is being said. Here is an example taken from
the Little, Brown Handbook of Fowler and Aaron (2020)

Looking at the sentences from the perspective of an interpreter, it would not be

possible to transfer them in another language when either of them is given in an
isolated way, as they both lack meaningful units. If each word was attributed a
meaning or one of the example sentences was to be given in a context (i.e.
imitating a little child in a speech), the interpreter could create a similar effect in
the correct grammatical form.

However, regardless of the arguments that can be generated regarding the words
or their meanings, these two examples signify a major challenge while
interpreting between English and Turkish language pair: the “word order” or the
“sequence” regarding the sentence constituent “verb”. In the following two
subsections, the sentence categories of each language are going to be presented
with examples and their respective translations and in the last subsection the
problems and discrepancies that may arise while interpreting are going to be
discussed.

Syntax

1.1 English Syntax

In the present subsection, providing a general understanding of the syntactic
features of English language is targeted. First of all, the sentence types and
sequences in English are going to be touched upon with examples and their
translations, respectively.

Then, negations and questions are going to be introduced in short.

English language is located under the West Germanic branch of the Indo-
European family of Languages and the sentences in English can be grouped in
two: simple sentences or multiple sentences. The former is composed of a single
independent clause. The second, on the other hand, can either be a compound
sentence with two or more independent clauses or a complex sentence with a
subordinate clause (Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, &Startvik, 1985).

Example 1 (Simple Sentences):

Koray waited for the bus.
(Koray otobüsü bekledi.)

Example 2 (Compound Sentences):