can theory help translators - ed

Can Theory Help Translators? A Seminar - 2013

April 17, 2023Shaimaa Suleiman, Pre-MA, Written Translation

Paint My Room!


You have just been assigned the job of painting that extra room in my apartment … for a GOOD amount of money. (Yaaaay!)


Which of the following are you more likely to do?

Now, to the job!

Read up on theories of painting.

Just paint !

Ask me about how I want my room to be painted .


Reading up on theory is: Time-consuming. Plagued with jargon and technical language. More than likely not helpful when it comes to guessing or

deciding the needs of the client (my needs, in this case) on behalf of her.

To “just paint” is: A completely unprofessional behavior, even if I happen to like it. Let’s face it, I won’t like it! To ask me is: To save time and effort. To ensure the quality of the service you provide. To show that you respect my needs as a client.

Consider each option carefully!


Translate My Stuff! (Now that you’ve finally painted my room.)


Like painting, translation is an industry, a business and a profession; it involves a transaction: money for service.

Normally, translators are required to ensure that the

quality of their service perfectly caters for market needs.

Therefore, like painting professionals, they are confronted with the same three options: to study translation theory, to just translate, or to ask clients and then translate accordingly.

Translation Industry and the Painting Analogy


In order to figure out the “how” of translation, you need to find out the “why” and the “who”.

Now, (again) to the job!

Purpose of Translation

[the why]

Types of Translation Readers

[the who]

Types of Translation

[the how]

Reading Translation Theory (Or Why Translation Theory Can’t help)


There have been several theoretical contributions aiming at providing classifications of translation purposes, types of readers and types of translation.

However, for a myriad of reasons, none of these

attempts has managed in its own right to produce one comprehensive, clear and accessible methodology that could help in the professional realm of translation.

Theoretical Shortcomings


Complex Terminology •Theoreticians use terms that are complex and inaccessible for clients and translators. •They seem to be more concerned with designating, rather than solving, the problems of professional translation.

Concern with Lit Texts •Interest in lit. texts has led theoreticians to focus on abstract concepts (like “intention”) when accounting for the purposes of the translation. •This interest has also led them to ignore tech. texts which come across as radically different from lit. texts, thus requiring a different typology of purposes.

Overlooking Translator-Client Relationship •None of the available theoretical accounts suggests direct communication with the client. •Instead, they relegate the full responsibility of finding out the why, the who and the how to the translator – mainly through tedious textual analysis that more often than not proves useless in this regard.



Lack of Uniform Terminology •Because theoreticians come from different disciplines, they usually end up inventing new terms for the same things. (Consider existing typologies of trans. types.) •This lack of clearly defined terms brings more confusion and causes more breakdowns in communication.

Unnecessarily Exhaustive Typologies •The criteria suggested for deciding the right type of translation according to the type of text is unnecessarily long and detailed (p. 50-51). Some suggested types overlap to the point that they become mutually cancellable. •The typology helps theoreticians describe finished translations more than it helps translators choose the right type of translation.

Scattered Material •Up to this moment, translators who choose to depend on theory for answers to their professional problems will have to assemble material from different theoretical references, which is highly impractical. •There is a noticeable lack of consensus when it comes to establishing step-by-step methodology for finding out the why, the who and the how .



It’s Not Just Me …

Just Translate! (Or Why You Can’t Just Do It)


It is a universally acknowledged fact that embarking on the process of translation without knowing the purpose and the audience of the translation yields catastrophic results.

Evidence? It didn’t work for the EDF translator!

Don’t Just Translate!

Asking Clients (Or Why Professional Solutions Simply Rock!)


Knowing the purpose and the audience of the translation decides how you translate.

Getting this type of information from your clients is a mixture of two things:

What Do Clients Want?

Pure Comm

on Sense

Basic Busine

ss Administrati

on


• Intended for one user or a small group of users who need to know what the ST says and will probably discard the translation once they’ve found out.

• Speed, correct rendering of info, style and quality unimportant.

For information, not for publication

• The reputation of the author/organization depends on the translation. • Utmost accuracy, maximum revision, attention to style and formatting

specs. For publication

•Preserving the persuasive effect comes before faithful reproduction. • Knowledge of marketing methods and strategies in the T culture,

plus creativity.

For advertising and marketing

• Used as evidence in court. • Responsibility and quality control.

For use as a legal document

• Partial translation; the translator reads through the text and extracts relevant info.

• Summary.

For text scanning and abstracting

Translation Purposes


•Word-for-word Translation: A very basic type of translation, one you could you use when helping a tourist in a local supermarket to tell if that white powder is sugar, salt, detergent or rat poison.

Bottom of the Range

(not normally provided by pros)

•Straight Translation: Nothing corrected or adapted. •Tidied Translation: Author’s mistakes corrected, but the translation is not adapted. •Naturalized Translation: Author’s mistakes corrected, form and style adapted so that it feels like an original text in the target culture. •Reduced Translation: Just the basic information or ‘message’ is translated.

Trans. Types Most Commonly

Supplied

•Artistic Translation: Literary translation produced by the likes of Ted Hughes.

Top of the Range

Translation Types


Translation Types Purposes - Straight (if authors mistakes must be reproduced) - Tidied (if author’s mistakes to be corrected)

For information, not publication

- Naturalized (for national audience)- Internationalized (for international audience)

For publication

- Naturalized - Artistic

For advertising and marketing

- Straight (if the text is to be used as evidence)- Tidied (with permission, if the text is a contract or other legal act)

For use as a legal document

- Reduced For text scanning and abstracting

Matching Purposes to Types


•In-house colleagues, who don’t mind exclusive jargon and may even prefer it.

In-house Readers (‘Family’)

•‘Friends’ are outside the organization, but kindly disposed to it, willing to make a few concessions.

Informal Outsiders (‘Friends’)

• ‘Foreigners’ are outsiders who may be skeptical, even hostile, and need

to be addressed differently.

Public Foreigners (individual,

specialist and general readers)

Types of Readers


Two Stages for Communication

Briefing

• At this stage, the translator makes use of every communication channel available to get info from the client (author or commissioner of the translation) about the purpose and audience of the translation.

Getting Down to Work

• That being done, the translator will be able to choose how to communicate the ST content (via translation) to the specified audience in accordance with the specified purpose.


• Wrote the ST in their mother tongue: want it translated for others to understand.

• Wrote the ST in a foreign language: want it translated into their mother tongue. (Difficult client)

Authors(wrote the

ST)

•Good Clients: know the purpose of the translation, understand SL & TL. •Bad Clients: know nothing (purpose & langs.), care only about deadlines and fees. (Difficult client!)

Middlemen(between readers &

authors: trans. agencies, secretaries instructed to ‘get this translated’)

• The sole reader. • One of many potential readers.

Readers (don’t

understand the SL)

Knowing Your Client


Getting Your BriefThe Original The Translation

What was it written for?

To inform To persuade To express the author's

feelings/ideas Who was it written

for? Insiders Specialists General Public

What is it being translated for?

To inform To persuade To express the

author's feelings/ideas Who is it being

translated for? Insiders Specialists General Public

A Compromise?


Although theory and practice are often at odds, the possibility of reconciling the two remains feasible; the translation standards we have at hand provide ample evidence.

What translators need, however, is one international standard that can stand on its own as a universal reference for both practitioners and learners.

Reconciling Theory with Practice

can theory help translators - ed

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