teaching translation and intepreting 3

TEACHING TRANSLATIONAND INTERPRETING 3

NEW HORIZONS

PAPERS FROM THE THIRDLANGUAGE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

ELSINORE, DENMARK 9-11 JUNE 1995

Edited by

CAY DOLLERUP

VIBEKE APPEL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cay Dollerup and Vibeke Appel:Editors' foreword ........................................................................................................1Acknowledgements .....................................................................................................6

TEACHING, HISTORY AND SOCIETIES

Judith Woodsworth:

Teaching the history of translation ..........................................................9 Cay Dollerup:

The emergence of the teaching of translation .............................................19 Eva Hung:Translation curricula development in Chinese communities ........................................31

TEACHING THEORY AND CULTURE

Christopher Larkosh:

Teaching - translation - theory: communicative horizons ..........................................47 Adolfo Gentile:

Translation theory teaching: connecting theory and practice V ....................................................................55 Andrew Chesterman:

Teaching translation theory: the significance of memes ............................................63 Heidrun Witte:

Contrastive culture learning in translator training ....................................................73 Alexander Krouglov:

Teaching social and cultural differences ..................................................................81 Antonina Badan:Ethnocultural peculiarities in translation for special purposes .................................89

Teaching Translation and Interpreting 3 Vi

TEACHING AND STUDENTS

Rosemary Arrojo:

Postmodernism and the teaching of translation ........................................................97 frena Kovacic

Reinforcing or changing norms in subtitling ...........................................................105 Li Yunxing:

The sentence group: the key discoursal unit ............................................................111 Leong Ko:

Teaching dialogue interpreting ................................................................................119 Silvana Orel:

Teaching literary translation: "The translation happens when you read it" 129 María Julia Sainz:

Awareness and responsibility: our students as partners ...........................................137 Riitta Oittinen:

Victory over fear: literary translation as a carnivalistic teaching tool .. 145 Martha Cheung:Descriptive translation studies and translation teaching ..........................................153

Stella Tagnin: _

Students' research for translation ..............................................................................163 Attila Barcsák:

Teaching literary translation - a student's point of view ...........................................171 Heulwen James, Ian Roffe and

David Thorne:

Assessment and skills in screen translation ..............................................................177 Anne Schjoldager:

Assessment of simultaneous interpreting .................................................................187 Kinga Klaudy:Quality assessment in school vs professiónal translation .........................................197

STUDENTS AND PROFESSIONAL REALITY

Courtney Searls-Ridge:

A translation programme for a unique population ..................................................207 Alessandra Riccardi:Language-specific strategies in simultaneous interpreting ......................................213

Table of Contents vii

Ghelly Chernov:

Taking care of the sense in simultaneous interpreting ............................................223 Deborah D. K.

Ruuskanen:

Creating the 'Other': a pragmatic translation tool ....................................................233 Janet Fraser:

Professional versus student behaviour ....................................................................243 Margherita Ulrych:, Real-world criteria in translation pedagogy ............................................................251

TEACHING AND TECHNOLOGY

Janet Ann DeCesaris:

Computerized translation managers as teaching aids ..............................................263 José Lambert:

Language and translation as general management problems ..................................271 Geoffrey Kingscott:

The impact of technology and the implications for teaching ..................................295

WORKS CITED

Works Cited .................................................................................................................303

INDEX

Index .............................................................................................................................321

EDITORS' FOREWORD

This volume contains selected papers from the conference 'Teaching Translation and Interpreting: New Horizons'

held in June 1995. Like the two previous conferences (1991, 1993) it took place at Elsinore, Denmark, and the

presence of over one hundred participants from more than thirty countries reflects the growing awareness of the

importance of pedagogics in the academic world of Translation Studies.

Within the strict time limits of the meeting, the conference participants visited places as diverse as: the Kronborg

Castle, which is forever linked with the name of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; the favourite cliff-top seat of the

philosopher Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) from which he could watch the sea merge with the distant horizon; and

the private home of one of the organisers, thus spanning Danish culture and society from the mythical past to the

present day. In the same fashion, only at the global level, the thirty-one contributions in this volume represent an

international exploration of success and defeat in the teaching of translation, interpreting and subtitling.

Rather than adopting a traditional approach, like our own in previous volumes, according to which we should

have listed translation, interpreting, and subtitling under separate headings, we have here mixed a new cocktail and

arranged contributions in an order determined by their common concerns with teaching, assessment, evaluation and

other issues in translation studies.

The first three articles illustrate the ways in which the teaching of translation is gradually establishing its own

identity in interaction with developments in societies and the ways in which societal perspectives promote

understanding of translation and its realisations in various countries. Judith Woodsworth (Canada) describes a course

in which her students concentrate on the history of translation, particularly focusing on the Western and Arab world.

Cay Dollerup (Denmark) discusses the emergence of the teaching of translation as a profession in its own right

within a European context and, in a stylised form, suggests various stages and concomitant attitudes to, for example,

teaching material, translators' tools, and teachers' views of studcntti. Eva Hung (Hong Kong) describes how, both in

the past and in the present, historical and societal developments have called for

2 Teaching Translation and Interpreting 3

systematic translator training in Chinese contexts and ways in which these needs are now met in different ways by

'Chinese communities' such as the People's Republic, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The next group of articles addresses problems concerned with culture and theory. Christopher Larkosh (USA)

argues that the present-day multiethnic and multilingual scene incorporating mass migrations means that 'minor'

language representatives are found all over the world and many students will therefore have acquired a first-hand

knowledge of translation before they enter the academic world; this fact should be taken into account in teaching and

in theory. The background of students who have had practical translation experience before they enter a formal course

and who are therefore wary of theory also looms large in the next contribution, in which Adolfo Gentile (Australia)

discusses the pros and cons of separating or integrating theory and practice. Andrew Chesterman (Finland) discusses

central issues in translation theory in terms of memes which, properly handled, may enable students to survive - or

perish - in the world of translation. Heidrun Witte (Spain) underlines the point that the cultural side is an important

factor in translation as intercultural mediation and must therefore be highlighted in teaching. Alexander Krouglov

(New Zealand) deals with problems in teaching translation at a beginner's level, where language acquisition is still

very much part of the curriculum and shows how translation can be used for demonstrating linguistic and cultural

differences. This is also the topic of Antonina Badan's (Ukraine) article which discusses such differences in the

specific context of business English.

The third group of contributions focuses on teaching and the relations between teachers and students. Rosemary

Arrojo (Brazil) argues that a postmodernist approach to teaching translation demands that teachers question their own

authority in order to more effectively foster critical thinking in their students (a view shared by many contributors to

this volume). Citing examples from subtitling, Irena Kova6~ (Slovenia), discusses whether teachers should

uncritically take over existing norms or whether they should accept that norms change with time and include this fact

in their teaching. Referring to different views on discourse analysis, Li Yunxing (P.R. China) argues that, in teaching

translation between Chinese and English, cogent and consistent approaches with a main focus on sen tence groups in

discourse analysis will improve student comprehension and consequently translation of texts. Leong Ko (Australia)

details a number of scenarios, including role play, which encourage students to participate actively in inter

Cay Dollerup and Vibeke Appel, Denmark 3

preting classes, and presents us with the pros and cons of each procedure described. Silvana Orel (Slovenia)

describes the ways in which she uses published literary translations as a means to make students aware that there is

no 'perfect translation' and learn to balance between loyalty to source language authors and a regard for target

language readers. Students are also in focus in Marfa Julia Sainz' (Uruguay) contribution; she argues that teachers

should heighten the students' awareness of their own need to contribute actively to improved teaching, so that they

are trained for later self-instruction. Riitta Oittinen (Finland) describes the ways in which she uses Bahktin's concept

of irreverent 'carnivalism' to make her students overcome the awe with which they have been told to consider the

source text, in a continuous dialogic process of vesting and divesting texts of authority in interpretation and

translation. It is also literary translation, this time specifically from the point of view of 'Descriptive Translation

Studies', that is discussed by Martha Cheung (Hong Kong); she uses Chinese translations of Orwell's 1984 for a three-

stage approach to discussing features in translations at increasingly complex levels, finally to use the outcomes for

problematising literary translation. Given the fact that texts for translation often represent a blend of types and thus

demand that translators be able to obtain information on a~ multiplicity of subjects, Stella Tagnin (Brazil) proposes

that, early in their training, students should be introduced to the tools for research, such as quotation dictionaries,

reference books, specialist subjects and the like, in order to enable them to tackle textual cruxes and information

searches. Drawing on his own experience both as a student and a teacher, Attila Barscák (Hungary) discusses the

history as well as the problems of the literary translation programme at his home institution in Budapest. Heulwen

James, Ian Roffe and David Thorne (Wales) present the screen translation programme in Lampeter, the main focus

of which is the training of student subtitlers from a minority language; they discuss the skills needed for subtitling,

the factors on both the sending and the receiving side which must be tested, and the way in which success - or failure

- is assessed. Assessment, but in her case in interpreting, is similarly in focus in Anne Schjoldager's (Denmark)

contribution; she argues that it is necessary for teachers to present students with transparent criteria for assessment

and then describes the feedback form she uses in her own classes. Kinga Klaudy (Hungary) takes issue with a

number of suggestions by teachers about means for making class-work more realistic, for, she argues, no matter what

endeavours teachers make to establish real situations, e.g. by introducing specific procedures, real


texts, and the like, and no matter how they go about feedback to their students, the only realistic method is for the

teacher to respond as directly and critically as an editorial reviser in the target culture.

The fourth group of articles examines the relationship between teaching and professional work. Courtney

Searls-Ridge (USA) describes a brief course she set up for public health translators from minority languages; she

presents the problems and the material used, and evaluates the outcome of the programme. The next contribution,

by Alessandra Riccardi (Italy), focuses on interpreting; comparing the performance of three different groups of

interpreters, from students to experienced professionals, she demonstrates the ways in which interpreting strategies,

including anticipation, become increasingly automatised with experience. Ghelly V. Chernov (Russia) opens with a

discussion of the communication models and contexts of conference interpreting, then describes the former UN

training programme for conference interpreters in Moscow and finally lists the features which, in his experience,

should be incorporated into future training programmes in which would-be interpreters could concentrate on new

specialities. Interviews with practising translators inspired Deborah D. K. Ruuskanen (Finland) to set up the

'CATLEGS' model as a mnemotechnical acronym covering the aspects a professional translator should take into

account when (s)he is about to accept a commission, a model, which she argues, is highly relevant in teaching.

Janet Fraser (UK) questions the wisdom of using students in studies of translation strategies and instead presents

the results of her 'think-aloud' interviews with professionals; these show that professionals focus on translation as

communication, approach assignments with confidence and use dictionariAonly for refining phrasing, thus once

again demonstrating the increasing automatisation which accompanies professional experience. Margherita Ulrych

(Italy) posits that the skills demanded by students in academic training programmes should be ass essed by real-

world criteria so that students learn how to continue acquiring new knowledge in their professional careers;

accordingly the full translational situation, for example, as well as information about the purpose of a translation,

should form part of assignments in translation training programmes: these should also emphasise transfer of

learning and a combination of theory and practice in order to promote students' awareness of the process, and

consequently their selfconfidence.

The last articles address the challenges for translation studies brought about by rapid developments in

technology. Janet Ann DeCesaris (Spain) describes the

Cay Dollerup and Vibeke Appel, Denmark 5

translation memory programmes available and the problems and the advantages of their uses in general; she then

discusses the relevance of these programmes for teaching purposes and concludes with a convincing demonstration of

their usefulness for translation classes in today's world. The enormous changes in patterns of communication are

presented by José Lambert (Belgium), who argues that it is necessary to abandon a static approach to translation and

instead to take a global view which makes allowance for the dynamics of translation; he discusses ' the way in which

private and public discourse, and their respective directionalities, are undergoing constant change, and the way in

which multilateral discourse, exemplified in multinational firms, may be undermined unless language management is

taken into account early in planning, a feature which, once properly understood, will also affect teaching which must

then emphasise adaptability. The volume is brought to a close by Geoffrey Kingscott (UK) who, as editor-in-chief of

Language International, was one of the initiators of the Elsinore conferences, and who appropriately considers the

implications of new development in technology and communication which will create new challenges and totally

different horizons for today's students in their future careers.

TRANSLATION IN HISTORY AND SOCIETY

TEACHING THE HISTORY OF TRANSLATION ,

Judith Woodsworth, Concordia University, Canada ,

In many disciplines, training includes a good dose of history. Some knowledge of history is a requirement for

obtaining a certificate or degree in most areas of expertise. There is a history of music, history of science, history of

medicine, even a history of accounting. Academic programmes or even entire university departments have grown

out of interest in the history of a particular field. What about translator training? History of translation is on the

curriculum in some translation schools as a distinct and separate course; if not, a historical approach is often

integrated into translation studies courses.

Interest in the history of translation has grown in recent years. Since the 1980s, in particular, translation

scholars have been aware of the importance of historical research and have begun to define appropriate methods

and theoretical models for the new subdiscipline. The boundaries of history and the parameters of historical

research have shifted and evolved as the subject of history has been addressed from an ever-broader range of

perspectives.

There is now a wealth of material on translation history, along with increasing efforts to build a historiography

of translation. Yet there has been little discussion of how to introduce the findings of historical research to students

of translation who might find this immense body of knowledge complex, overwhelming, or even irrelevant. This

article seeks to address this question. The following aspects will be considered: identifying the objectives of a

history of translation course; defining history and historical research; presenting the various approaches to history

of translation; taking account of existing histories of translation in the construction of a course; and assigning work

to students.

Background

At Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, 'History of Translation' is given as part of a three-year Bachelor

of Arts programme designed to prepare students for a career as a professional translator. Students must take either

Translation Theory or History of Translation in their final year. In the winter semester of 1995, I had a class of fifty-

three students, about half of whom were Anglophone and the other half Francophone. The mix of English and

French speakers


reflects the Canadian situation (officia) bilingualism) and accounts for my focus on the English- and French-

speaking worlds in the course content and readings.

My thoughts on teaching the history of translation stem from a series of recent experiences. I have been

involved in a large-scale history of translation project since 1990, which has resulted in the publication of

Translators through History.' Until the 1994-1995 academic year, however, I had not taught history, but rather

courses in translation theory and other subjects. Then I decided to take the plunge and try teaching history myself.

I found myself with a enormous amount of material and the challenge of organizing it in a form that would be

suitable for my students. As I set about preparing and teaching the history course, a second project emerged:

writing a textbook that could present translation history in a comprehensive yet accessible manner and 'guide'

students through the material that had already been published on the subject of history of translation.'

Objectives

The first task in any course is to identify its objectives. In this case, it was important for students to

understand why we were 'making them' study history. Although personally convinced of the value of history, as I

had previously been of studying translation theory, I realized that many students question the relevance of

theoretical courses and are critical of programmes that they consider too far removed from the so-called 'real

world'.

During the first class, I asked students to write a short statement outlining what they knew about history of

translation and what they expected to learn in the course. The results were revealing: students were unabashedly

ignorant; yet optimistic and eager to learn. Here is one typical response:Even though I am studying to become a translator, I really do not know anything about thehistory of translations. I have never even thought about it until now.In general, students did recognize the importance of studying history, and

made a direct link between the past and present of the profession:I hope to gain a better understanding of the past of our profession, which will help me toadapt more easily to changes in the future.Studying history will help to understand why this is a difficult profession but one that isessential to communication in the world.

An occasional student expressed the desire to learn about history in general: "I hope that this course will

provide a survey of general history". Others indic

Judith Woodsworth, Canada 11

ated that they were interested in the course because they saw its relevance to what they were doing: "I like learning

about history that I can relate to myself'.

These remarks raise some questions about the place of a history course in a translator training curriculum,

which I wish to address briefly. Our students are attracted to translation because they are considered 'good in

languages'. This is often the result of their family situation, which has given them an opportunity to speak French

and English, and frequently another language of origin (Italian, Greek and so on). Generally, they have

concentrated on languages and literature in their pre-university education, without much in the way of history or

the social sciences. If they have studied history in school, it has probably been restricted to history of Quebec or

Canada. One objective of a 'History of Translation' course, therefore, would be to fill some of the gaps in general

knowledge. A second one would be to instill curiosity and teach research skills so that students can develop a

capacity for life-long learning, which is fundamental to the practice of translation.

Why study history?

Many well-known thinkers have stressed the importance of studying the past. Their writings contain useful

arguments, from which students can benefit.

The past is thought to contain 'lessons'. Some believe that what we learn from the past will help us avoid

making the same mistakes in the future. By studying the past we can understand the present and even predict the

future. Confucius said, "Study the past if you would divine the future" (as quoted in Bradley et al 1969: 543). And

in the words of Cicero,History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illuminates reality, vitalizesmemory, provides guidance in daily life, and brings us tidings of antiquity (De Oratore R,

62, as quoted in Bartlett 1968: 110).

Whether or not the study of history has any immediate or discernible practical value, it is a key to the

understanding of society and humanity in general. As Tolstoy wrote, the object of the science of history is the

"self-knowledge of nations and of humanity" (as quoted in Bradley et al 1969: 363).

Why study the history of translation?

As linguistic theories of translation have been extended, supplemented or even replaced by cultural ones,

translation has come to be considered in its sociological and cultural context. This 'cultural turn' in translation

studies has opened


the door for histories of translation, which reveal the extent to which translation activities are linked to intellectual,

religious or ideological projects and are tied to major historical events or movements.

With the emergence of an increasingly autonomous and rigorous discipline of translation studies, scholars have

begun to turn their attention to its history. In 1984, Antoine Berman called the constitution of a history the most

pressing task of a modern theory of translation (1984: 12). More than a decade has passed and scholars continue to

call for more work on the subject. "Historians are needed more than ever before", according to José Lambert

(1992: 22).

If scholars of translation want to spend their time looking at the past and writing history, that is all well and

good. Why should translators-in-training, or even professional translators, who are concerned with the practical

problems of today and tomorrow, study history? Quite simply because history books exist: the past is there in all its

glory and historians are there to tell the story. Or, for those whose primary goal is professional practice, because one

ought to be familiar with the history of one's discipline in order to practice efficiently. Or, for those who intend to

teach translation, because a grounding in the past is essential for a comprehensive understanding of the discipline.

To quote Lieven D'hulst:History is virtually the only means by which the discipline of translation studies can achieve some measure of coherence - by showing how divergent traditions of thought and activity are in fact similar or interconnected, by linking the past to the present (1994: 12. My translation).

Historiography of translation

Before reading what historians of translation have to say, students must understand the myriad aspects of

translation-related activities on which historians can choose to shed light. How is 'translation' defined? Does the

term include both written and oral forms, subdisciplines such as terminology or lexicography, and related activities

such as adaptation or pseudo-translation?

When we speak of history of translation, what is the object of study? Do we mean history of the practice or

history of the theory, or both? A history of the practice would focus on who translated what: who were the

translators, what texts did they translate and under what circumstances? A history focusing primarily on theory of

translation would raise the following kinds of questions: how have translators conceptualized their work; what have

they written in their prefaces and


treatises, for example; and how have translations been evaluated at different periods of history.

It is also possible to reflect on both theory and practice at once.' If so, what are the relations between the ideas

and the practice of translation? Is a translator's theoretical stance necessarily reflected in his or her actual

translations? How can the 'reliability' or 'relevance' of theoretical texts be determined?

Although history of translation appears to be a new, emerging subdiscipline, there is already a rather large body

of literature on the subject. For the purposes of my course, I provided a select bibliography of some sixty titles, many

of which were available for consultation in the university library. Students also had access to the bibliography of

Translators through History, which contains around 600 titles. Thus, it was important to 'guide' the students and to make

them aware of the various approaches taken by historians, so that they could find what they were looking for when

they set out to do their research.

History no longer means starting at the beginning and moving chronologically down through the centuries to the

present. In modern historiography, there has been a departure from straight encyclopedic narrative and an acceptance

of multiple historical models. The vast field of translation is necessarily divided into segments which are as

dissimilar in their size or configuration as they are in the perspective taken by the individual historian.

What are these dividing lines? Time and space are obvious categories that can be used in any history.4 History

can be broken down along spacial or geographic lines (history of translation in a given country, or continent), or

along temporal ones (history of translation during a given period such as the Middle Ages). Types of translation can

be studied: Bible translation, literary translation or scientific translation. Some works of history have highlighted the

great moments of translation history: the Baghdad School, which grouped together translators of the Abbasid period

around the person of Hunayn ibn Ishâq (809-875); the Toledo School, which operated in twelfth- and thirteenth-

century Spain; and the Vadstena Monastery, described as the 'cradle of translation' in medieval Scandinavia. Some

historians have chosen to emphasize translation theories, collecting them in anthologies, classifying them and

commenting on them.


Constructing a course

In organizing the course, I tried to reflect different ways of dividing up translation history, without deluging students with too much material. The outline indicates the topics week by week, along with the required readings (in italics)

Course Outline

1 - Introduction. The concept of 'history'. Course objectives.A Translator's Guide to the Past: Reading the Pages of History

2- Historiography: different approaches to history of translation.History of translation [entry for Encyclopaedia of Translation Studies]; Translators through History: Preface &

Introduction

3- Classical Antiquity : Greece and Rome.Translators through History: Translators and the Invention of Alphabets

4- The Middle Ages: Baghdad, Toledo, Great Britain and France.Translators through History: Translators and the Development of National Languages

5 - The Renaissance, Humanism and the Reformation.Translators through History: Translators and the Spread of Religions

6- Bible Translation: Wycliffe, Erasmus, Luther and Tyndale. The translation of sacred texts in other religious traditions.

7 - Mid-term exam

8 - Visiting speaker and slide show: Jean Delisle

9- Theories of translation: 'belles infid8les' (17th century); the Enlightenment (18th century); Romanticism (19th century).

10- Exploration and conquest: interpreters at work in colonial contexts.Translators through History: Interpreters and the Making of History.

11 - Translation in Canada: interpreters under the French régime; translation under the

British régime.The Canadian Tradition [J.Delisle. In: Encyclopaedia of Translation Studies]

12- The organization of the profession in Canada since 1867: the impact of language policy and legislation; the language industry and professional associations; research and

teaching in translation; machine translation.

13 - Review and conclusions.


The first two weeks were devoted to theoretical considerations, including the course objectives and historiographical concepts presented above. Over the following three weeks I took three approaches at the same time. I presented history ' chronologically, using the periodization traditional in Western scholarship: classical antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance. This enabled me to fill some of those gaps I referred to earlier; I gave dates and characteristics for each of the periods and examined the main translation activities.

While covering the Middle Ages, I discussed some of the 'great moments' or particularly productive periods of translation history that occurred in Baghdad, Toledo and medieval France and England. Parallel to these lectures, the students read three chapters from Translators through History. Each chapter introduced a specific theme, or area in which translators played a particularly significant role. While the thematic chapters of our book dealt with material across history, each of them was particularly well suited to the period of time discussed. For example, the invention of alphabets (Ulfila, Mesrop Mashtots, Cyril and Methodius) was primarily a phenomenon of ancient times while the development of national languages owed much to the great medieval translation projects mentioned above.

Following the class on the Renaissance, in which it was shown how the Reformation was linked to the spread of humanist ideas throughout Europe, the topic of Bible translation was taken up. This was accompanied by a discussion of translation in other religious traditions, with which our students tend to be unfamiliar.

After a mid-term examination and a slide show presented by Jean Delisle,5 I devoted one lecture to the development of translation theories, with special emphasis on the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in France and England.

The next topic was translation and interpreting from colonization to modern times. The focus became increasingly narrow and close to home, moving from the North American context as a whole to translation in Canada and Quebec. A final lecture covered developments over the past hundred years in Canada, particularly the impact of language legislation on the growth of the translation industry, and the implications of that growth for the development of translation research and teaching.


The iconography of translation

The representation of translators though history can be revealing. Many translators have been punished, even

executed (Jan Hus, William Tyndale and Étienne Dolet, all burned at the stake). Translators, including those put to

death in another era, have also been amply honoured. Homage has been paid in the form of monuments, paintings,

holidays, even postage stamps. Images of translators and the various monuments to their work make useful

pedagogical materials. Today's students, after all, are very much part of a visual generation, accustomed to tele- .

vision, cinema, information provided on CD-ROM and so on. Visual images, presented in the form of slides or

illustrations, reinforce information acquired from print sources and are hence an important element in a history of

translation course.

Assignments

Students were evaluated on the basis of two tests - a relatively factual midterm examination and a final essay-

type one - and two papers, which involved going beyond the compulsory readings and exploring sources

available in the library. The first assignment was quite short and focused. Students were asked to write a portrait

of a translator.' This was to include biographical information, as well as a description of the period, the

translator's view of translation if known, and the importance of his or her work. Students could choose from a list

of subjects, which included John Wycliffe, John Florio, Madame Dacier, Mary Herbert and others. They were

expected to consult materials other than books on translation. The second assignment was a research paper,

requiring more thought and more advanced research skills. The following are two examples of the subjects the

students could choose from:• Show the links between religious conversion, conquest or colonization, and the development of languages. Illustrate your remarks with examples drawn from at least three different countries.

Cultural politics in the Canadian context, past and present.

Conclusion

The success of any course is relative and varies tremendously from one student to another. While some

students found history just as far removed from their personal concerns at the end of the thirteen weeks as they

had at the beginning, most found the experience stimulating. One student, about to graduate and enter


the workplace, even let me know that learning about the accomplishments of past translators had made her proud of her chosen profession and had given her the confidence to go on. A few others, who had found the research particularly interesting, were motivated to pursue further studies in translation. Some of them, it is to be hoped, will carry on and add to the growing body of knowledge in translation history.

Notes1. I have served as vice-chair of the Committee for the History of Translation of the Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs and co-editor of Translators through History /Les Traducteurs dans l'histoire.2. This textbook is entitled A Translator's Guide to the Past: Reading the Pages of History. It will be published by St. Jerome Publishing Co.3. The subtitle of Louis Kelly's well-known book, The True Interpreter, is "A History of Translation Theory and Practice in the West".

4. Examples of each of these categories, with authors and titles, are given in Woodsworth 1996. 5. Jean Delisle has collected over

1000 slides depicting translators from around the world. He has put together different slide shows, some giving an overview of

translation history and others presenting more specific subjects such as St. Jerome. His guest presentation in my course was

much appreciated.

6. I am indebted to Jean Delisle, who teaches a Master's seminar in 'History of Translation' at University of Ottawa, for this

suggestion.

THE EMERGENCE OF THE TEACHING OF TRANSLATION

Cay Dollerup, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Introduction

This article is a first attempt to examine the emergence of the profession of teaching translation in Europe. One

should be cautious about generalising, and the pattern may not apply to, for instance, Chinese translation history as

discussed by Eva Hung in this book (p. 31 ff). But in Europe the emergence of translation teaching is, to some

extent, based on social factors, as well as being a process in individual teachers towards increased consciousness of

their role in society. I also suggest that a discussion of these factors sheds some light on the emergence of

'translation theory'.

The founding fathers of translation studies had no classroom and essentially no students they could address: their

pronouncements are musings based on their own work, possibly developed into precepts to be followed by those

who translate texts (implicitly) of the same type. The thinking has nearly always used one major, but limited,

approach to the complex communicational system involved in the act of translation. Hence the shifting loyalties

from 'author' to 'word' or to 'taste', hence the erratic jumping from 'objectivity' to 'subjectivity', in a 'theory' which, it

is claimed, started with St Jerome and which has evolved over centuries. Rather than affecting the actual practice of

translation work by translators (most of whom were blissfully unaware of the existence of incipient theory), these

forefathers prompted critics and other translators of a philosophical ilk to agree with or gainsay them. This led only

to isolated strings of thought, rather than interchanges of ideas and a consistent development towards a collective in-

sight. Quite different are those people, bilinguals for instance, who have always been around and have (normally

unsystematically) assessed the work of translators; thus also applying criteria of quality.

Professional translation activity did not appear out of the blue, but was the outcome of numerous developments:

the beginnings of professional translation in Europe date back to the 17th century; but I posit that the profession

became important when, in late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century Europe, developments made it

necessary to teach foreign languages on a large scale. The first factor was the French Revolution, the aftermath of

which was indeed equality for more people and the introduction of merit as an important factor for social


advancement. Education became a common good. Industrialisation, with massproduction and improved

infrastructures in terms of better road systems, steam ferries, and railways, made international communication and

travel easier. Accordingly, the importance of mastering foreign languages became eminently clear to the rising

middle classes. The new reading masses craved something to consume, including books for education and

entertainment, and translation from foreign languages was an obvious means of adding to home-grown products

in order to acquire such material.

A stylised picture of language acquisition vs teaching of translation

We are in no way dealing with a clear-cut picture. We are dealing with trends, strands, developments and

movements which I isolate and on which I impose some order, and a figurative, stylised one at that: yet, although

this has no oneto-one correspondence to real life, in which conditions are never the same in different institutions,

countries and cultures, there is still some underlying truth in my statements.

Thus even the hard evidence about the emergence of language professionals illustrates both the divergence and

variety of scenarios as well as the fact that some essence common to all can be distilled.

Maria Sainz (1992: 132) describes how in Uruguay, translations made by legal translators became mandatory for

legal work in the late 19th century after the authorisation of Public Translators was introduced in 1885. In Denmark,

the first professional translators were employed by the State in 1635:' they worked at Elsinore where they had to

translate into Danish the lading documents of foreign ships which paid the 'Sound Dues', at that time a major source

of revenue for the Danish Crown. The translators were few and translated indiscriminately from all languages, with

nautical terms and the words for export articles as their main ' area, thus indicating that normally word-for-word

translation served the purpose. The title 'autoriseret translator' was introduced in 1782. I suggest that this is the

general pattern in Europe: the professional translators appear when trade, legislation, bilingual administration and

the like demand that words and documents must be understood in more or less the same way in different cultures

and can be intersubjectively (and naively) referred to as 'the same' with the same implications for people speaking

different languages.

In the 19th century, then, foreign language acquisition and teaching gain ground and become important. It is a

problem in our context that foreign lan•

Cay Dollerup, Denmark 21

guage teaching and foreign language acquisition tie up with the ability to translate so that it is impossible to find

evidence of any translation teaching per se. It must have been an element of foreign language teaching, although

national variations were doubtless great.

The major leap forward intellectually is the introduction of a distinction between the learning of one (or more)

foreign languages, and the teaching of translation as a separate activity between specific language pairs.

In Denmark, professional translators founded a school, 'Translat0rskolen', around 1910 which operated courses

(in translation) on a commercial basis. They attracted mostly people already employed in business, trade or law. At

this particular school, where I attended a few classes back in 1960, teaching was rigidly prescriptive and carried out

by individualists. The school ceased operating around 1970 when its functions were finally transferred to a state

institution, the Copenhagen Business School? The point to note is that the decisive factor in establishing the

teaching of translation is a recognised social need for this to be done: in this case first by the professionals, whose

motivation has also been to improve the status of the profession, and, subsequently, by society at large, i.e. the

State.

So, after this brief outline, I wish to turn to some of the parameters which, in my view, are prerequisites for

discussing the teaching of translation and its dialectics with translation theory.

The ideology of teaching

Teaching has an obvious ideology: above and beyond anything else it believes fervently, ardently and intensely

in the idea of progression. Of course, we usually take a metaview of this feature and consider it as a movement

from primitive ignorance to sophisticated knowledge, although this is more often merely a movement of a few

degrees towards the desired goal.

Teaching involves a triad of pupil, teacher and subject matter. It is a dynamic and social entity, worthwhile

exploring in the context of this volume, especially as far as teachers and their own knowledge or mastery of the

field are concerned.

The four generations of teachers

As hinted, one factor crucial to translation teaching is a natural evolution of a foreign-language teaching tradition

at a national level. This evolution normally spans at least three or four generations: the pioneers must appreciate

the need to


learn the foreign language and then learn it, in order to pass on language knowledge to the next generations,

whose command becomes increasingly better. In turn, the second generation train pupils who will go to foreign

countries and learn foreign tongues to perfection. In due course, a few of their pupils will then reach the apex

where they can study in the foreign language, and only the fourth or fifth generation will go in for full-blown

research including translation studies.

A scheme illustrating this intuition and the tools teachers are most likely to use at the various stages looks as

follows:

TABLE 1

Teacher Teacher attitude to Teacher reliance onbackground language and translation

First generation Uncertain Tools (grammars, dictionaries)

Second generation Uncertain (certain) 'Tools' (dictionaries, word-lists)

Third generation Certain (uncertain) 'Tools' (dictionaries, LSP, native speakers)

Fourth generation Certain Critical use of tools

First of all, let me hasten to add that this is not meant as scathing criticism. It is merely an attempt to trace

developments which are rarely discussed, but which must be raised to the conscious level to produce meaningful

connections between individual, personal experience and professional work in societal contexts.

But then the comments: members of the first generation of foreign-language teachers will perforce sometimes

be obliged by societal circumstances to carry out translation work, even if they are aware of their own

inadequacy. They will rely on authorities for their tools, which usually means dictionaries, grammars and the

like. What is more, they will not be willing to let go of these props. This implies that they will accept only a

limited number of 'correct renditions' in the target language. Their adherence to props is evidenced by constant

reference to the mother-of-all, the source-text: I contend that teachers of the first generation tend to be

proponents of word-for-word translation.


Second generation teachers will have some of the same problems, but, thanks . to their better background and to

the fact that they have had reasonable solutions rejected by their teachers, they will accept that occasionally the

tools may not be the final word. I suggest that this would also be the generation among whom we meet most of

those practitioners who will add notes of their own to dictionaries and make their own word-lists and catalogues:

they are the first to do translation on a tolerably regular basis. Once again, the emphasis in translation proper will be

on a literal translation, but there will be more deviation from the slavish wordfor-word procedure.

The third generation will have been well trained in the foreign language and in translation and will therefore,

feel less dependent on, say, dictionary solutions and be more aware of the inadequate and weak points in relation

to actual usage in the languages involved. Translation will stress fluency, and may well be on a sentence-by-

sentence level.

These developments will, of course, continue, with the fourth, fifth and subsequent generations, never to a point

where the translator is independent of tools, but merely where the 'best' balance is found between dependence on

tools and possible target language options within a given text type, and where the translator can transfer units of

meaning into appropriate functions in the target language.

The outline I have sketched can be amplified: as a line of progression it may apply to the individual learner and

to various phases in the personal development of the individual teacher of translation. Personally, I believe (but I

may be wrong) that I have moved from what I term the second to the fourth generation. Starting as foreign-

language learners, students not only move from first or second generations and have attitudes characteristic of

these 'generations', such as demands for references to authoritative dictionaries and grammars, but, in relation to

their teachers, should ultimately end up one generation ahead.

On the other hand, this movement will never reach its ultimate goal as far as translation is concerned, because

this activity involves too many factors, such as successful decoding, encoding, background knowledge, societal

changes and the, like. In relation to a non-native language, the translator will, in terms of mastery move along an

axis from 0 to perhaps 90% proficiency.

And in relation to the native language, the mastery will, in translation, be perhaps 95-97% but, once again, never

complete, because the source text will at all levels constitute a constraint, perhaps an unconscious one, but

nevertheless a limitation in terms of the realisations in the target language, in the transiator's


mind: it is part of the awareness of translation, and hence competent teaching of translation, to be fully conscious

of the impossibility of the perfect translation.

In this particular context, I merely point out but do not discuss the inevitable dialectics between the tools at the

disposal of translators and students of translation: students' and teachers' satisfaction and disaffection with tools

must be strong forces for, respectively, preserving or improving them (such as dictionaries) as well as for the

development of new tools, methods and fields. Thus, for instance, we might point to a development in

lexicography from small generalist via large generalist dictionaries to dictionaries in Languages for Special

Purposes.

Yet the increased sophistication and degree of specialisation of the tools is an indivisible part of another axis of

development, a chronological development from amateurism to professionalism, and, in the modern world,

beyond professionalism to specialisation within all fields of human intercultural and international interchange.

Specialisation calls not only for tools, but also for fora in which matters of mutual interest can be discussed

(conferences, newsletters, journals), and for discussions of the principles underlying translational activity, 'theory'

if you wish.

The 'certainty-uncertainty' axis

There is another important parameter determining teacher attitudes to teaching translation: the teachers'

conscious or unconscious knowledge of his individual mastery of the source and target languages, which may have

some relation to the objective 'mastery axis' I just mentioned, but is not identical with it. The 'certain-uncertainty

axis' is a sensitive issue, only to be approached delicately and rarely touched. 'Uncertainty' will tie up with

individual experience and knowledge of the languages concerned. It will connect with the handling of difficulties

in decoding and encoding in the translation process, especially in the handling of tools of translation. It also relates

to the assessment of 'quality', 'correctness', and 'error identification', which fact has immense repercussions on

teaching attitudes. It influences teachers' views of colleagues and of discussions of matters pedagogical.

This part of the teacher-student-subject matter triad is, in effect, one which reaches far into what the individual

teacher will focus upon in translation classes. First generation teachers will be few and far between. They must rely

on themselves and will more often than not be unwilling to admit to weaknesses in their mastery. Such weaknesses

will result in loss of social status and, inevitably, in


loss of authority. In Danish and Norwegian literary history there is a well-known episode involving foreign-

language teaching: as a young man, the celebrated dramatist and scholar Ludvig Holberg taught French in the

Norwegian township of Kristiansstad in 1706/7. To his chagrin he found that he had a Dutch competitor. The

two men criticised one another's French, and eventually they met for a public duel of words in French, both to

realise that neither of them was very good. So, in French, they agreed to call it quits and to praise one another's

French from then on. In other words: by keeping silent, they avoided admission of personal incompetence and

consequent loss of status. But of course there was no interchange leading to an improved standard.

Another realisation of the certainty-uncertainty axis relates directly to the teacher-student-subject matter

triad: this is in terms of the explanations proffered to students concerning linguistic and cultural realisations.

First generation teachers will, mainly because they themselves are uncertain, avoid any explanations at all.

Second generation teachers will go in for explicit explanation which is often wrong. Third generation teachers

come up with explicit explanation which tends to be correct and based on thorough work. And, thanks to their

superior command of the languages, the fourth generation will most often rely on intuitive explanations which

are most often correct.' This in turn often collides with first-generation student attitudes to have things 'proved

right' by reference to external authorities.

Generations and changes in emphasis

In social terms, it requires a minimum of foreign language mastery to be willing to discuss language and

teaching problems with colleagues, and I submit that this willingness increases the more 'certain' one feels about

language and translation. It also implies that in classwork first-generation teachers will focus more on what is

indisputable and can be checked than will subsequent generations. Tentatively, we might chart the development

the way it is illustrated in Table 2 (overleaf).

In this case, I believe that variations in the focus in teaching will differ from language pair to language pair

and, as I suggest in the table, from epoch to epoch: in Russia, I notice a very strong emphasis on lexis today. It

corresponds to an approach which was on the wane when I started to learn English at Danish schools more than

forty years ago.


TABLE 2

Teacher Priority Wish to discuss Focus in teaching

background

First generation Survival None Lexis, syntax

Second generation Survival Some Syntax, lexis

Third generation Improvement More Syntax, fluency, lexis

Fourth generation Improvement Much Fluency, syntax,

Overall, the main development will be towards emphasising fluency, especially as more and more teachers come to

realise that native speakers are not perfect either.

Source texts and directionality

This parameter is often, I suggest, reflected in the materials used for translation teaching: in Denmark, I have

personally witnessed changes in terms of the texts used in translation teaching the way it is shown in Table 3 (on the

opposite page)

I must stress that this is a stylised presentation of real life. On the other hand, it does have a relationship with some of

the factors I have mentioned before. The use of back-translation as a tool for teaching and assessment connects with the

'certainty-uncertainty axis': the original source text is the perfect translation which the teacher can use as a yardstick for

assessing the students' degree of success. In the choice of texts, there is a move from literary texts to all text types. The

fact that teachers tamper with texts is, in my experience, motivated by their wish to improve the texts stylistically, and

occasionally because they find something so hard to translate themselves that they do not expect students to be able to

do so either. On the one hand, this then connects with the 'certaintyuncertainty' axis; on the other, with the gradual

acceptance of their own fallibility.

The most important step forward is, in my view, the acceptance of a double directionality in translation. Firstly, it

brings the real-life fact that most translators


actually have to work in at least two directions into the reality of the classroom (McAlester 1992).

TABLE 3

Teacher Number of books Characteristics of Source of textsbackground texts used

First generation Very few Generalist language English original in Danish. translated intoDK>UK Danish

Second generation More books Generalist language Authentic Danish Danish and English. and English texts.Often edited. All text types. DK>UK andUK>DK

Third generation Own material Generalist and spe- Authentic Danish

cialist authentic and and English texts unedited texts.DK>UK and UK>DK

The second point is fairly complex: translators make errors, but they do not make them deliberately. So, although they

may be aware that specific translations of their own are not perfect, the concrete target text is, nevertheless, the best they

can produce in the given circumstances. When they translate into a foreign language, errors in translation may cover the

whole spectrum of lexis, grammar, and style (as long as it is not revised) without the translators' knowledge. In texts

translated into the mother tongue, errors will tend to be lexical (that is semantic), whereas stylistic infelicities are rare and

grammar errors few and far between. Single directionality makes it possible to use translation exclusively as an instrument

for foreign language acquisition, for instance as grammar drills, and not as an activity distinct from language acquisition.

Conversely, double directionality brings to light a number of factors in the translation activity which were ignored in

single-directionality classes, such as the opaqueness of source texts and the importance of fluency and style in target texts;

and, especially when the target text is the mother tongue, students are in a strong position as far as assessment of 'errors'

are concerned. Teachers will have to accept that they, too, are fallible,


and provided their command of the language is good enough, they can even (occasionally) admit this without

losing status. I suggested before in my discussion of the progression in teaching and generations of teachers that

this admission of the non-existence of perfection is inherently part of translation. In class, this admission is a

prerequisite for the introduction of unedited sourcelanguage material from all text types, and for the acceptance of

several translated versions of the same source text.

The transition I am discussing here is of immense importance to the teacherstudent-subject matter triad which, as

it were, expands. This is also where translation breaks away from foreign language acquisition, and thus paves the

way for discussion of the principles of translation, sometimes called translation theory.

From secretiveness to collectivity and theory

In the last few parameters, I have begun to make the point that there are strong elements of a movement from

secretiveness, exemplified in, for instance, individual translator word-lists to dictionaries available on CD-ROMs

or translators' queries in the 'Internet', and from the dependence on what the 'authoritative dictionary' says, to the

willingness to have one's language revised, and an openness about fallibility.

The movement is therefore towards welcoming other views. It is a movement towards being challenged, as it

were, to open combat. It is a willingness to have views tested and rejected. It is a consciousness-raising process.

This is where the development in the teaching corresponds with theory: the intellectualising which makes it

obvious that - if not a theory - at least principles open to discussion are needed for a deepening understanding of

the procedures, methods and goals of translation. This interplay is illustrated in Table 4 (overleaf).

This, then, points towards another axis, a chronological development going from individualism to collectivism,

from one secretive person who has to defend individual territory to collective bodies defending status and, one

hopes, professional standards.

And at yet another level there is the axis spanning from amateurism via professionalism to specialisation. This

axis will apply to a considerable amount of theoretical thinking about translation and where professionalism is

largely connected with Eugene Nida (1964), and specialisation (in my view) with developments in language for

special purposes translation.


TABLE 4

Teacher Attitude Work orientation Attitude to theory Background

First Secretiveness Practical Anti-theory generation

Second Little openness Practical Anti-theory generation

Third Openness Practical/theoretical Positivist or general generationFourth Discussion Classroom Empirical

generation practical/theoretical or specific

Concluding remarks

Teachers of translation have not invented translation theory (or, better: 'Principles for and Factors in

Translation'), but they have forced it to take a firmer stand. My point is that before there was a massive societal

need for translators, there was no need for moving beyond belletristic wanderings. It is the societal need, which

was primarily made obvious by the appearance of translation and interpreting school and their staffs, which

called for the intellectualised props that qualify as 'theory': it is no coincidence that Savory could find mutually

conflicting points on what constituted a translation in 1969, but it is a misconception to believe that any of these

conflicting views represented a theory.

At that point, things had begun to move towards other areas, for the simple reason that the existence of new

text types calling for more faceted models of understanding had become painfully obvious. Similarly, it is

becoming gradually clearer that the old translation principles and 'theories' based on binary, predominantly Indo-

European, contrasts must be supplemented to serve as explanatory models for a more internationalised world.

The era of fora for translators had also begun, but centred mostly on matters of common interest; status and

earning money.

Of course the latter also applies to teachers who have literally to survive, but they also need to understand

what they do and why, perhaps not always for them-


selves but in order to explain better to their pupils. They are part of the intellectualisation process important for the

creation of systematic sets of principles.

As far as such a set of principles is concerned, I personally find the views of Karl Popper as applied to translation

theory by Andrew Chesterman (1994) a most satisfying approach. But here we are once more back to teacher

personality. And finally let me stress here that this overview is also part of the consciousnessraising leading to

theory: if nothing else, this article has, hopefully, contributed to a meta-understanding which makes it possible for

each of us to define our roles in relation to both our students and to our preferred theories a little better.

Notes1. I am indebted to Flemming Koue and to a special anniversary issue of Translatoren (47 # 3 (1985)) - for

information about the appearance of 'translatorer' (Public translators) in Denmark. 2. Information from Flemming Koue.3. These fine observations on changes in teacher explanations were originally made by Tjasa Miklic of the

University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

TRANSLATION CURRICULA DEVELOPMENT

IN CHINESE COMMUNITIES

Eva Hung, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Like all multilingual societies throughout the world, Chinese communities have seen translation and interpreting

activities for as long as their recorded history and beyond.' Those who are not familiar with the Chinese language

may not be aware of the fact that for the majority of Chinese people, the written language , differs substantially from

their spoken tongues? The language situation is further; complicated by the recent history of these communities,

which accounts for the prominence of English in Singapore and Hong Kong, and that of Japanese in, Taiwan.3 These

and other factors play a significant part in the varying stages of, development of translation and interpreting training

as an academic discipline in, these communities.

Historical cases

Education is invariably linked to the political, economic and/or military needs of a nation or region. In looking at

the development of one particular discipline - in this case translation and interpreting - one sees how such forces

work for or, against it. It is significant that all known pre-twentieth century attempts to train translators and

interpreters in China were initiated by the central government.' in China official posts of translators (xiang) and

interpreters (she ren) were established as early as the l lth century B.C., and mention is made of the gathering of

translators from various feudal states for training in the central government at seven-year intervals (Zhou li: 401).

However, the duration and the nature of the, training is unknown.

The first extant record of systematic translator-training in China dates back to the tenth century. It occurred on

the crest of the wave of a Buddhist scripture translation movement which lasted nine centuries.' In the year 983 the

monktranslator Tianxizai petitioned the Emperor to select fifty children in the capital to be schooled in Sanskrit,

Chinese and Buddhist doctrines so that scriptural translation would not have to be so heavily dependent on foreign

monks. This is the first proposed syllabus for translator-training. The proposal was put into action, and a dozen

children were selected for the course and later initiated as monks (Ma Zuyi 1984: 72). However, it was a once-off

effort and there was no


further development. As the state's perceived need for translators was highly specific and therefore limited, the

demand for training was not kept up.

The first sustained training course for translators and interpreters in China was developed in the thirteenth

century by the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty which found that its extensive trade and military activities outside China

called for the use of Persian. In 1289 the government set up the National Academy of Persian (Huihui guozi xue).

There are no extant records of the academy's syllabus except a reference to its courses as being structured in the

same way as Chinese courses (Fu Ke 1986: 7-8).

The first multi-lingual national academy for translator and interpreter training in western languages was the

College of Languages (Tongwen guan). The aim of the college was to produce linguists for the government's

dealings with foreign countries at a time when China was threatened politically as well as territorially by

aggressive foreign powers. Established in 1862 in Peking, the College offered an eight-year curriculum which

included instruction in foreign languages (English, French and Russian, followed by German in 1888 and

Japanese in 1898), world history and geography, mathematics, international law, astronomy and economic

studies.' In 1902 the College was incorporated into the National Capital University (the forerunner of Peking

University) which offered degrees in foreign languages but no professional training. Whereas the training of

translators and interpreters was taken over by the College of Interpreters (Yixue guan) which had a five-year

curriculum modelled on that of the former College of Languages.

In the Republican era (1911-1949) the urgency of translator and interpreter training lessened for two major

reasons: 1) the number of foreign-trained or missionary school-trained students increased,' supplying a pool of

people with foreign language ability for government and commerce; and, 2) the Republican era was never

politically or militarily stable, and since the major threats to nationhood were perceived to be internal rather than

external, the priority of translator and interpreter training declined significantly.

The People's Republic of China

In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party established a Socialist government in China. For ideological reasons as

well as political, economic and military needs, the favoured foreign language was Russian, and consequently the

greatest needs for linguistic transfers were Russian-Chinese.' The Chinese government's sus

Eva Hung, Hong Kong 33

picion of the non-Communist world also meant that foreign language learning became a sensitive area. However,

the necessity to carry on with instruction in all major foreign languages continued to a greater or lesser extent (with

the exception of the ten years of the Cultural Revolution when higher education came to a standstill), for it is also

essential to know the languages of one's adversaries.

Education in the Peoples Republic, like all other aspects of life, was centrally organized until recently.

Translation courses offered in the universities follow guidelines laid down by the Ministry of Education, and each

foreign language has its own guidelines.' My discussion will be based on the situation of English, for in China it

now boasts the largest number of students and the greatest demand for translation and interpreting.

Universities in China are based on a four-year system. English-Chinese translation courses are offered in the

third and/or fourth years as part of English language acquisition. The English Teaching Guidelines list seven

learning categories: listening, speaking, reading, writing, translation, use of reference books, and cultural

knowledge. Translation, though a compulsory element, is only allocated two teaching hours per week for a

minimum of two and a maximum of four terms (i. e. 1-2 years, or 80-160 teaching hours). There are also two text

books which are commonly available, one for English-Chinese translation and the other for Chinese-English

translation. Now let us look at the actual instruction carried out in universities.10 The two weekly hours allocated to

translation include all the theoretical and practical work related to translation and interpreting, so on average

students are given weekly one-hour assignments (150-200 words). Though the Teaching Guidelines mention

interpreting (the ability to interpret daily conversation at third year level, and to interpret general statements on

political, economic and cultural subjects at fourth year level), the universities I have surveyed do not actually offer

training in interpreting. The variation between two to four terms of academic instruction depends on two factors: 1)

the language standard of the students; and 2) the availability of teachers.

Though there are two standard text books available, both from the early 1980s, and some universities (but not all)

which prescribe them, these books (Lu Ruichang 1983; Zhang Peiji 1993) are perceived to be outdated, and all the

Chinese teachers surveyed stressed that they find it necessary to compile their own teaching material, particularly

short pieces for translation exercises. This testifies to the rapid changes which have taken place in China within the

last ten years. It ' also shows the teacher's awareness of the real needs for translation and inter-


preting which their students should be trained to fulfil." In the teachers' desire to equip students with the necessary

basic skills of a translator, and to provide them with the exposure to the kind of material they will be asked to

translate in their future jobs, we see the first move towards the idea of professional training.

The basic problem of translation instruction in China lies in its subordinate status. Translation is not the favourite

subject of the foreign languages teaching staff because it involves too much homework. Most of the courses are

assigned to junior members of staff, making the job both unattractive and unprestigious. Until now China has not seen

the need for translation and interpreting courses at the postgraduate level because until the early 1990s all university

graduates were assigned jobs by the government, and those given specialist translation employment would have been

provided with on-the-job training by their work-units. Now graduates look for jobs independently, and an increasing

number are employed in international commerce and tourism-related service industries. Whatever their job description,

because of their foreign language know-how they will be called upon to assume professional duties in the field at

various levels. How should higher education deal with this situation? Though there are now some M.A. courses

specializing in translation offered by foreign languages departments, most have a decided literary slant. What are the

possible steps which can be taken to enhance the training of translators and interpreters? Our colleagues in the People's

Republic may find it useful to study how translation courses have been developing in other Chinese communities and

the problems they are faced with.

Singapore

In Singapore, English-Chinese translation has been part of the programmes offered by the Department of Chinese

at the National University of Singapore since the 1960s as an elective leading to a degree in Chinese (a 3-year

system). There is also the possibility of opting for a fourth year translation specialization which leads to an Honours

degree in English-Chinese translation, but the percentage of students who qualify for specialization has remained

small." Compared with courses in China, the structure of these Singapore translation courses is more strictly defined

in that there is a clear demarcation between theoretical and practical work, as shown in Chart 1 (on the opposite

page). However, that is only a reflection of the structural conception; actually only 2 or 3 teaching hours per week are

devoted to translation practice, but since most practical work takes the


form of home assignments, this effectively increases the students' practical work hours. We can see from the

chart that all non-practicum aspects come under the heading of translation theory, which may strike some of us

as lacking in sophistication but which, given the restriction of functioning in a language and literature

department, may be the best one can do. The additional year of optional specialization reflects the dilemma of

recognizing the need for more intensive training and not being able to provide truly professional courses.

Though the scope of courses offered at the university is limited, it has clear objectives in the training of its

students, most of whom will seek employment in relevant government departments and the mass media if they

are interested in a career in translation. Because of the language situation in Singapore, and because of its size,

demand for translation and interpreting work is not comparable to other Chinese communities. On the other

hand, professional training in translation (including conference interpreting) calls for significant investment in

terms of funding and manpower which may not be deemed cost effective by the government. Given the linguistic

advantages of a multilingual society like Singapore, the natural development would be in the direction of a multi-

lingual translation and interpreting school or department which encompasses at least all Singapore's


official languages. Should such a department be established, it may in time be developed into a professional

training centre to fulfil South East Asia's needs for translation and interpreting. However, at the moment

translation remains overshadowed by other language and literature courses, and interpreting courses are not

offered at the undergraduate level.

Hong KongHong Kong is the first among the four Chinese communities under discussion to teach translation as an

academic discipline rather than as an element of foreign language acquisition. At the moment there are five B.A. level programmes and three M.A. courses. The language situation in Hong Kong since its cession to Britain in 1842 has been dictated by its status as a colony. Until twenty-one years ago, there had just been one official language - English. And yet the majority of the population are native Cantonese speakers, so the necessity for translation work has always existed. In an article entitled 'Education of the Nation', Lancelot Forster wrote in 1938:

Here in Hong Kong, the first need was for a group of people who were familiar with both theChinese and the English language, young men who could serve in commercial firms, govern

ment offices and in banks; hence the rise of numerous secondary schools which could furnish the necessary

supply. (Forster 1938: 39)Almost fifty years later, except for two minor amendments which need to be made, Forster's statement still holds true. Amendment No.1, for "young men", read "young women and a small number of young men"; amendment No.2, for "secondary schools", read "university courses". These two minor amendments speak volumes about the changes which have taken place in Hong Kong in the last fifty years. The changed status of women falls outside of the scope of our discussion, so we will concentrate on university-level courses in translation and interpreting.

Translation (but not interpreting) courses started as a minor subject at the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University in the 1960s. It was not until the mid 1970s that an effort was made to structure it as an academic discipline. The effort coincided with the recognition of Chinese as the second official language in Hong Kong, which resulted in a sudden increase in translation and interpreting work within the government. Not only were more translators needed, but because of the equal status given to Chinese and English, the quality of

translators also had to be upgraded." This largely political need was magnified in the


early 1980s by an explosion in China trade as a result of China's new policies, thus creating an overwhelming

economic need for translators and interpreters. This second wave of sustained demand changed not just the

quantity but the basic conception of the training programmes in Hong Kong.The first course with a professional orientation was the Higher Diploma in Translation and Interpretation

offered by the Hong Kong Polytechnic." Its structure is illustrated in Chart 2.

Unlike the university courses, the training was much more intensive and career-oriented. It was also the first

course of its kind in Hong Kong to make Mandarin a compulsory element. Starting from the mid 1980s Mandarin

has gained a foothold in all university-level courses. It is now a compulsory element


in most of the translation and interpreting programmes offered in Hong Kong, and its economic importance

has in turn been enhanced by the political changes in Hong Kong in the run-up to 1997.

Hong Kong university-level translation and interpreting courses of the same period, on the other hand, were

primarily academic rather than professional; this is reflected in the conception and orientation of these courses.

Let us look at these historical models in Charts 3 and 4.


I would suggest that the literary model constituted an academic course of studies because it offered a coherent

vision which embraced elements other than practicum. It did not aim at teaching a skill, but rather at the

enhancement of perceptual and analytical powers within the parameters of the course structure. However, it was

not a professional course because it did not prepare its students for the demands of the profession. After all, few

career translators would ever be asked to translate twelfth-century poetry or second-century philosophical works.

The practical model, which is the early prototype of some of the current degree courses, offers considerably more

exposure to practical work and is closer in conception to the professional models at institutions such as Monterey

in the US. In terms of student calibre, however, the Hong Kong courses are at a considerable disadvantage. One

interesting and rather significant point is that the majority of university teachers who themselves studied

translation and interpreting as undergraduates have come from the literary branch.

This leads us to the many problems which face the development of professional translation and interpreting

courses in Hong Kong. The first concerns teachers. Many Hong Kong courses have evolved from minor and

elective programmes offered within the parameters of a traditional language and literature department. This has a

direct impact on the course structure for two reasons:

1) teachers assigned to the courses were initially all scholars of literature with

little knowledge of the practical world inhabited by professional translators and '

interpreters; in exploiting their own strengths, they inevitably pushed the

courses in a literary direction.

2) The university authorities have often failed to recognize the different needs

of a professional course of studies as opposed to literature degrees. To give a

concrete example, they would put up immense obstacles to the hiring of pro

fessionals as full-time lecturers because, however experienced the translators

or interpreters, they do not have a PhD. The impact of this bureaucratic mind

set is being increasingly felt because of the recent changes in Hong Kong's

tertiary education system: polytechnics, which in the 1970s pioneered a profes

sional approach towards translator and interpreter training, have now all been

'upgraded' to universities. As a result, they too are demanding from their

teaching staff members a PhD and a long list of publications.

The second problem concerns the language situation in Hong Kong. The majority of students are native

Cantonese speakers, and Cantonese is significantly different from standard written Chinese. Students are thus

immensely disadvan-


taged linguistically, for as soon as they attend school, they are faced with the task of learning not one, but two

foreign languages. The situation is worsened by a refusal to face up to the facts. Since English is taught from

kindergarten upwárds, there has been the claim that Hong Kong students are bilingual. That is, unfórtunately, far

from the case. The decline in language standards is a world-wide phenomenon, but its impact on what should have

been a bilingual society is doubly strong. It is perhaps time that we examine our goals of teaching translation and

interpreting at the undergraduate level and face up to the very obvious objective limitations.

The third problem concerns the admission and graduation requirements of professional courses. Ideally both

processes should be under the complete control of the course teachers and administrators, but in Hong Kong this is

not practicable at the undergraduate level. Undergraduates are admitted on the results of their A levels, a government-

administered examination. ls Once students are enrolled, it is difficult to fail them. While a screening test was used to

establish a minimum standard in the days when translation courses were offered as a minor or elective subject, now

that it has been established as a major subject, ironically this control mechanism cannot be applied for technical

reasons. '

The dramatic expansion of university education in the last five years has led to a lowering of the average

standard of students. Hong Kong academics are keenly aware of the problems and of the fact that not everyone who

http://examination.ls/

has gone through the undergraduate courses is qualified to become a translator or inter- , preter. There is a

continuing search for ways to improve the situation. Unlike its parallels in China, the Hong Kong tertiary education

system encourages individuality in programme design, and the majority of the programmes try to find their own

niche. To give an example, while B.A. programmes in Hong Kong are based on a three-year system, one translation

and interpreting programme is a four-year course with the third year being a compulsory internship designed to

tackle the problem of the professional gap. 16 Another programme offers the only combinedmajor available in Hong

Kong, allowing students cross-departmental as well as

cross-faculty options." Yet another translation and interpreting course realistically

describes its goals as producing "bilingual generalists and/or translation ex

perts",18 thus stating that not all their graduates have the necessary expertise for

professional work.

The funding and administration structure of universities in Hong Kong, and the declining average language

abilities of undergraduates are highly restrictive to the

Eva Hung, Hong Kong - 41

development of truly professional courses at the undergraduate level. The way forward would be to develop

professional courses at the graduate level (current translation and interpreting M.A. degrees in Hong Kong are

again more academically than professionally oriented), perhaps along the lines of the two-tier system ' at Vienna's

School of Translation and Interpreting. There will always be the top

15-20% of Hong Kong undergraduates who will acquire enough linguistic and professional know-how to work in

translation and interpreting; then there will be

those who will benefit from further intensive professional training; finally, there will be those who will have

learned that their career lies outside of this field.

Taiwan ,

Since we are on the subject of a professional M.A. translation and interpreting degree, we must turn our

attention to Taiwan, specifically to the Graduate Institute of Translation and Interpreting Studies (GITIS) at

Fujen University." Started in 1988, this is still the only professional translation and interpreting course offered by

a university in a Chinese community. What differentiates this course from those mentioned earlier in this article

are: 1) a division between translation and interpreting streams according the practice and standards of

professional schools; 2) a tight control in the student selection process; and 3) multi-language options.

Since the programme is a post-graduate degree with a tight selection process, the need for basic knowledge

and language acquisition (as in the case of China) and for remedial measures (as in the case of Hong Kong and

Singapore) is relatively small. In terms of training facilities (particularly in conference interpreting) it is way

ahead of programmes offered by other Chinese communities.

This does not mean that the course does not face its share of problems. One major hurdle in the provision of

professional translator and interpreter training in any country is the demand for cost-effectiveness from the

authorities. The low student intake naturally leads to challenges from the university administrative bodies. In

order to ensure that admission standards will not be lowered because of pressure from number-crunchers, a

translation stream has been developed in the last two years, thus substantially increasing the annual student

intake. This of course puts pressure on the teaching staff. The course is heavily reliant on part-time staff

members, a fact which has its advantages as well as its drawbacks: the advantage being experience and contact

with the professional translation and


interpreting world, while two of the major drawbacks are difficulty in coordination as well as the part-timers' lack of promotional prospects.

Towards a conclusion

Among the four Chinese communities under discussion, one can map out fourstages of development in university-level translation and interpreting training: 1) as part of foreign language acquisition; 2) as a minor but independent programme in a language and literature department; 3) as a recognized academic degree; and 4) as a fully professional degree.

It must be pointed out that these four stages do not necessarily follow one upon another. Significantly, Taiwan did not go through stages two and three to arrive at the professional programme. Similarly, it is doubtful whether China needs to (it may actually be ill-advised to) cover stages two and three.

What this reflects is the difference in the nature of the four Chinese societies: Singapore and Hong Kong are conceived to be bilingual or multi-lingual, China and Taiwan are not. In the former case, entry-level university students presumably have enough bilingual linguistic ability to study translation as an independent subject; in the latter case, it is assumed that students are in need of basic language instruction and are not capable of handling translation and interpreting training at the undergraduate level. This basic difference, coupled with the differing priorities and needs of the four governments, have led to the four kinds of courses we have just looked at, all with their inherent problems. In some cases, notably in universities in Hong Kong, the problems are compounded by the issue of changing student and society expectations of university education. Present day students and employers tend to demand skills-oriented translation and interpreting courses to fulfil an immediate career need, perhaps to the detriment of the ultraskills aspects of university education. At a time when translation and interpreting studies as an independent discipline is gathering rapid momentum, the experience of Chinese communities may be a useful point of reference for our colleagues in other language groups."

Notes1. In this article, 'translation curricula' refers specifically to translation and interpreting degree courses offered at the university, level in recognized tertiary education institutes; the U.N. Programme in Beijing and the courses offered by commercial schools in Hong Kong and Taiwan are not included here. The 'Chinese communities' under discussion are four geographical/political entities: the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China on Taiwan, Hong Kong and


Singapore. They are defined loosely as 'Chinese communities' because the majority of their population is Chinese. However, in terms of the recent history of languages used in these

communities, they show significant differences from each other. 2. There are about eighty Chinese dialects and minority languages in active use in China. Some of the minority languages belong to language families different from standard Chinese; even regional Chinese dialects can be as different from each other as the more closely-related European languages (See Huang Changzhu 1993).A small number of these dialects are also in active use in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Barring some stylistic differences and the use of simplified characters in China and Singapore vs. traditional characters in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the written language is the same.3. English is one of the four official languages in Singapore and the one most commonly used. In Hong Kong it was the only official language until 1974 when Chinese was given official status by the government. Taiwan was under Japanese occupation from 1895 to 1945. Mandarin, the Chinese national language, was not introduced in Taiwan until after 1945. 4. One may argue that non-state-sponsored attempts would most probably have gone unrecorded. Nevertheless, given the fact that the state controlled the only desirable career outlet for aspiring students - a career in officialdom - it is doubtful that there could have been any sustained nonstate effort to provide foreign language training. On at least one occasion, the government decreed all private tuition in foreign languages to be illegal (Fu Ke 1986: 9-10). 5. 148-1110. Some put the date of the first translation as early as A.D. 70. 6. The College of Languages' syllabus and list of teachers can be found in Xiong Yuezhi (1994). 7. A census carried out in November 1921 records that there were 13,637 schools (ranging from kindergarten to university) founded and run by Protestant and Catholic missionaries in China (Fu Ke 1986: 60-61).8. China and the USSR broke off their friendly relations in the early 1960s, after which China went into a period of almost complete isolation. In the late 1970s and early 80s a large number of university teachers of Russian were 'retrained' to teach English. 9. For this paper I have used the 1990 edition of the Ministry of Education's English Language Teaching Guidelines (Gaodeng 1990).10. Data used here are based on methods of actual instruction carried out in the following People's Republic of China universities: Peking University, Beijing Foreign Languages University, Shandong University, Suzhou University, Tianjin Normal University, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai Foreign Languages University and Sichuan University. M.A. courses which have been launched recently at Chinese universities are not covered here (For a brief introduction to their syllabus see Caminade and Pym 1995: 55; 57). 11. Teachers of translation in China have published articles detailing the problems of translation instruction in its current form and proposing possible changes (Suiran and Zhao Hua 1993; Mu 1993).

12. In the academic year 1994-95 no one took the specialization.13. Up to the early 1970s the minimum education requirement for Chinese Language Officers (the title for government translators) was A levels, and a large percentage of new recruits were nongraduates. That has long ceased to be the case.The government also started its own Simultaneous Interpreting training programme in the late 1970s to supply professional interpreters for its own bilingual conference needs. 14. This was upgraded to B.A. in 1989. The Hong Kong Polytechnic became the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1995.15. The pass rate for A-level Use of English has dropped consistently in the last few years:

85% in 1992, 76.5%'o in 1994, and 76.1% in 1995 (South China Morning Post, 24 May 1995).


Significantly, the universities are lowering their minimum entrance requirements from D to E in response to the dwindling percentage of eligible candidates.16. This is the B.A. offered by Baptist University since 1990. This highly successful element in the course takes so much effort on the part of the staff that no other translation and interpreting course offers anything similar to it.17. At the University of Hong Kong students can combine translation with subjects in the arts, the sciences and the social sciences. It has the largest number of translation students among Hong Kong tertiary institutions.18. General Information on Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Translation, Dept. of Translation, Lingnan College, February 1995.19. The school's original curriculum design is described in Arjona-Tseng (1993). For its first year enrolment in 1988 (interpreting only), only three students were admitted. Since then there have been changes, the most significant being the introduction of a translation stream.20. In gathering information for this article I have been assisted by colleagues in various universities in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and the US. I am especially indebted to Mr Liu Shusen, Mr Xie Tianzheng and Dr C.Y. Lee. I am also grateful to Ms Alena Chow who helped me produce the charts. In addition, the following sources have been used. [Hong Kong] Translation course descriptions of Baptist University, City University, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. [Taiwan] Curriculum of the Graduate Institute of Translation and Interpreting Studies, Fujen University, Taiwan.[Singapore] Translation course outline, Department of Chinese. National University of Singapore. [China] Course outlines or Description for translation classes in Peking University, Beijing Foreign Languages University, Shandong University, Suzhou University, Tianjin Normal University, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai Foreign Languages University, and Sichuan University.

TEACHING THEORY AND CULTURE

TEACHING - TRANSLATION - THEORY: COMMUNICATIVE HORIZONS FOR

CRITICAL PRACTICES 9

Christopher Larkosh,

University of California at Berkeley, US

It is impossible to fix, with any degree of certitude, a single place of theory1 in the teaching of literary

translation; there can be no doubt, however, that theo-` ries of literary translation cannot be reduced merely to

yardsticks brought in to be applied to translations of literary texts in order to judge their quality. It is rather the

translated literary text which already holds out the possibility for' theory, and in its passage from source to target

language simultaneously calls forth a reading of the act of translation as well; it offers its own theories and

possibilities for thinking about its transformation, as it continues to traverse the' already problematized boundaries

of languages and national cultures. If one proceeds from the assumption that translation studies is an "emergent"

discipline which must fight for territory with other disciplines (l efevere 1980), one might find an explanation for

the discursive strategies by which those invested in the institutionalization of Translation Studies have attempted to

establish it more firmly as a separate discipline in the university. Such thinking about translation has often also been

prefaced with impatience with the naïveté of non-experts in attempting to theorize about translation and with

dismay over the repetition of commonplaces (Even-Zohar 1980). The critical posture of cliché seeking, however, is

perhaps in itself the commonplace par excellence of literary and translation studies; the idea I begin with, that the

limits of theory cannot be determined by a supposed applicability, could also be considered cliché, but in literaryy

and translation studies, much of our work is that of returning to the well-known and in rereading to find something

there that perhaps escaped us the first time, finding the horizon of the unknown in what we presume to know best. s

It is significant that comparative literature, the study of literary relations among national language traditions, is

often seen as some sort of monolithic "quasidiscipline" which threatens the ever-emergent discipline of Translation

Studies (Lefevere and Bassnett 1990). Bassnett-McGuire (1991) goes as far as to say that "the revised view of the

translation studies-comparative literature position makes Translation Studies the principle [sic] discipline, with

comparative literature as an important branch of that discipline." But must studies on trans-' lation assume a

consolidated institutional space, or is it even possible to limit a


study of translation to any program or department dedicated solely to it? Squabbling over the legitimate boundaries

for the study of translation is a poor excuse for translation theory. If we stop to think about translation, one might

recognize that it has always been an activity which problematizes the tenuous boundaries between national

cultures and their literary traditions, institutions and disciplines, and that teaching literature in translation is and

always has been implicitly an act of theorizing on literary translation, one in which both teachers and students can

and do collaborate. One might go so far as to ask whether it is possible to theor ize on translation when one comes

to the project not so much as a theorist, but first and foremost as the standard-bearing representative of an

institutional discipline, one which, like its bearer, must be either in emergence or in decline.

These debates over institutional borders seem especially insignificant when one recognizes that in many

countries the university is in a continual state of emergency across the board, regardless of discipline, one subject

to censorship, cuts in funding, etc. Yet it remains, along with commercial publishing houses, the primary 'common

place' of literary translation. The academic institution, however, has yet to be called into question by translation

theorists to the extent that it has by thinkers such as Jacques Derrida and Pierre Bourdieu (Tavor Bannet

1992). Thus one can see that fidelity, that much-discussed preoccupation of translation theory, is not only an issue

which concerns the relationship between author and translator: teachers, when they emerge as institutional officials

of translation, are nonetheless hesitant to theorize on their relationship with the common places within which they

teach and translate. Is it possible for translators to think outside of these institutional boundaries as well, indeed, to

imagine new spaces for work in translation, to say nothing of 'new horizons'?Given the common notion of linguistic uniformity and lack of familiarity

with translation in media which, according to translators from so-called 'minor'

language countries (Gottlieb 1991), is supposed to characterize those from 'major

language' societies, how might translation in such societies begin to uncover

minor language registers? Some theorists of translation seem to favor specific

historical locales as privileged multilingual environments, as does Berman when

he asserts that "a person walking the streets of Paris or Antwerp must have heard

more languages than are heard today in New York City: His language was only

one among many, which relativized the meaning of the mother tongue" (1981).

This relativization of the mother tongue, however, is precisely what has always

characterized the relationship to language in migrant communities such as those

Christopher Larkosh, USA 49

which characterize the 20th-century metropolis, and a relationship which the teacher of translation might take a few

lessons from.

The challenge to the 'major' language speaker could also be what Deleuze describes in Dialogues:We must be bilingual even in a single language. We must have a minor language inside our own language. We must create a minor

use of our language. Multilingualism is not merely the property of several systems, each of which would be homogeneous in itself: it

is primarily the line of flight or variation which affects each system by stopping it from being homogeneous. Not speaking ... in a

language other than one's own, but on the contrary

speaking in one's own language like a foreigner (Deleuze 1977: 4-5).

Contrary to the images in the mass media which too often form the basis for notions of a majoritarian 'American' culture at home and models for it abroad (especially on those levels of cultural and intellectual exchange which aspire to be 'international'), English is still incapable of establishing any sort of totalizing linguistic hegemony. Print, video and other media are continue to operate on minor frequencies, especially as translators and other cultural workers explore registers more resistant to hegemonic control, such as alternative presses, desktop publishing, contraband and home videotape, and other elusive sites on the information landscape which has come to be known as cyberspace. It is perhaps for this reason that teachers, educated in elite institutions and taught the languages of a polyglot, yet nonetheless classical Continental curriculum, are faced with what is lacking in their own education when they witness the arrival of children from a different and unfamiliar cultural milieu, one which is often distinctly non-Western, or one which Lefevere might call one of "beauticians, cooks and secretaries" (198 1). This background, nonetheless, has already trained them from an early age to interpret and translate for their parents and peers, and whose vision before literature is not always like that of "most translators," who "prefer Shakespeare to soap operas" (Delabastita 1990). In this future place for translation theory, common for some, uncommon for others, that the 'minor,' i. e., the delegitimized language of the immigrant and the refugee, is already at work within the major linguistic registers of institutional power.

The study of translation not only problematizes borders between languages, but also those of identity, especially that which some intellectuals have staked out for themselves in institutional print culture as an established literary and cultural vanguard, and like it or not, it is the study of translation which will ensure that translators from the old school cannot limit themselves to the institution, but must


dare to consult with their students in any thinking of translation which points towards its horizons.The students are already representative of the 'unheard of' within the univer

sity; they arrive with varying levels of identification with their racial or ethnolinguistic background, thereby

suggesting what many teachers of translation have perhaps chosen to ignore: that there is still much work to be

done in exploring the relationship between translation theory and other 'emergent disciplines' such as theories of

gender, race and ethnicity (Khatibi 1983; Niranjana 1992).` These students are bilingual in languages that our

institutions cannot offer further education in, and they often come to the act of translation with projects already in

mind, ones which attempt to communicate their cultural experiences as immigrants and active cultural

participants in U. S. society and its subcultures. So perhaps the Argentine pedagogue Emilia Ferreiro (1986)

would agree with me when I say that many of my students in California already possess extensive experience in

translation and interpreting when they enter the university, as their multilingual media environment, from their

immigrant parents and siblings to the subtitled foreign movies which enter their homes on television programs,

has already prepared them for further work in translation. The more compelling question, however, remains: is

the academic institution prepared to respond to the children of these immigrant families who may wish to

continue the study of those languages in which they are already proficient when they enter the university?

The continuing flow of millions of immigrants throughout the world is emblematic of the often arbitrary

nature of regimes of government, information and education, and the ways in which we are often subjected to a

number of conflicting institutional indoctrinations in a single lifetime. In a class on theories of literary

translation, it is not necessary to duplicate the lessons which students have already been taught by their native or

adopted cultural milieu, for example, that they have no choice of language beyond the one which is officialized,

and that mass media not only provides them with a full fare of cultural products foi consumption but also with

the officially correct interpretation of them (Ferreiro 1986). What is left to be taught, then, is not always

explicitly curricular, but a result of a classroom structure which has been subjected to revision by the teacher, one

which encourages intellectual inquiry and challenges what students may have already been taught about

education as they pass through its institutions.

Teaching translation theory, then, might begin with an invitation to critical reading: on the part of the

teacher, choosing a corpus of translated works of lite


rature and subtitled films which thematize unique scenes of translation, and those relationships between author

and translator which are legible in the translated text. Many of the works of Jorge Luis Borges', for example, have

been read frequently as points of reference towards theories of literary translation ('Pierre Ménard, autor del

Quijote' is perhaps the most often cited example). In his other works, however, as in the rest of Argentine

literature (as what culture is not dependent upon translation to negotiate its tenuous cultural relationship with the

rest of the world?), there are many more works which allow a rethinking of translation. Much lesser known are

those of the translator and short story writer José Bianco; two of his novellas, Las ratas (1943) and Sombras suele

vestir (1941) provide a more extensive perspective on translation within the tenuous rela tionship called literary

community, especially when read with those of their other Buenos Aires contemporaries. In proposing an

introduction to authors no doubt unfamiliar to a general audience, it becomes clear that in order to demonstrate

how one might begin teaching literary translation theory, one must at some point begin reading, even though, in

this space dedicated to the teaching, I may have no alternative but to give short shrift to literary translation's

greatest teacher: literature itself. Too often on the way to teaching translation one loses sight of, reading, the sort

of shared, critical reading which is the point of departure for those epochal projects which point out and test

literary translation's horizon, yet which have become all too uncommon in teaching translation theory. One such

uncommon place for reading as a point of departure towards translation might be the chess salon of the Café Rex

in Buenos Aires, where in 1946-47 the Polish author Witold Gombrowicz translated his novel Ferdydurke from

Polish into Spanish with the help of the Cuban writers Virgilio Piñera and Humberto Rodríguez Tomeu, along

with others who frequented the café? To teach Ferdydurke and Gombrowicz's other works in Polish in a course

on Polish literature, allows' readings which critique the ideological stances of interwar Europe and Polish literary traditions. Translation reminds us that Gombrowicz is more than that, that he attempts to transcend facile

readings based on a nation's canonical determinism in which the work of one great national author continually

teaches us how to read his progeny. To introduce this work in Spanish translation, however, can offer a new

position from which to read, that of the literary newcomer who struggles with translation of his ideas into a new

cultural and linguistic milieu: The act of translation becomes a narrative in itself: one of immigration, the loss of

national identity, and negotiation with new and foreign cultural and literary in-


stitutions not unlike those he mentions in the original, such as the educational in-stitution, and the teaching of languages, literature and translation. Gombrowicz's classroom presents us with two untenable positions as the students begin to translate: that of the one who faithfully submits to the farcical limits of the curriculum, continuing to retranslate within the limits of the Great Masters of national culture, and that of the one who rebels, seeing nothing but the uselessness of attempting to submit to the pedagogical project of the preceding generation. The horizon in this teaching of translation lies beyond these two extremes: the students' intervention results from a

dialogue with the teacher, and is ultimately their first step in the attempt to negotiate with the institution.

Perhaps it is in response to such a classroom scene of translation as the one in Ferdydurke that I leave open a space for individual and collaborative projects in translation in my class.' One of the projects which resulted from consultations with students was interviewing a parent or family member on tape, and translating it into English. Not only were the interviews a translation exercise which allowed the students to posit their own experience as bilinguals as the starting point for work in translation, they became an oral history which were often of publishable quality, but more importantly they had a personal value for their translators, so that they were able to experience what it was like to translate when more was at stake than just money or a grade. There were also many students who translated poetry and short prose of their own choice into English, thereby intervening in what might be viewed as the literary culture of a community of translators. The translations were distributed anonymously, and the class was able to read and comment upon the translations, not focusing upon comparisons with the source text, but rather upon a reading of these texts as poems or stories in the target language; if they read "like translations," one might even ask the class what exactly that meant, whether "a foreign sound" was desirable for the text they were working on, and what changes that might entail upon rewriting. Each rewriting may be a departure from the frequent initial attempt at word-for-word 'fidelity,' but perhaps one step closer to literature, and it is in rewriting that the main body of work in literary translation often consists. The students can analyze through their own work in translation what their own limitations are, where their vocabularies do not overlap, and where individual work needs to be done in order to meet the challenge of translation on the edge of what is visible, visible for the very reason that it is personal.


But then again, when seeking 'new horizons' in the teaching of literary translation, one might simply have begun and ended in the same place, on the horizon, by examining it both as a continually elusive topographical commonplace and as a metaphor for translation in a reading of other works on translation, such as Abdelkebir Khatibi's novel Amour bilingue (1986) or Nicole Brossard's Le désert mauve (1987). What might we learn and pass on from this movement over seemingly endless landscapes? The sensuality of language and bodies in contact both point to ways of theorizing on translation that are intensely personal. Each reading of a text, its images and landscapes may suggest any number of theories of translation, and as the task of translation is taken on, be it of oneself or of another, by oneself or by another, new horizons are not only discovered, but continually crossed like one more invisible border, and reinvented as our positions continue to change.

NotesL To this list we may wish to add sexual orientation; but we are, as translators in

dialogue, truly prepared to explore this horizon, one which examines the relationship between our craft and our, desire, indeed, how our sexuality, like our other identities, informs what we as translators wish to translate? Hopefully future research in translation studies will pay greater attention to the role of sexuality in the theory and practice of literary translation, especially given the fact that both translation studies and the also 'emergent' field of gender and sexuality studies attempt to encourage discussions of marginal identities often at the margins of intellectural dialogue, but which in fact may represent the very thing which we as teachers of translation claim to be searching for: one of the new horizons of this dialogue. 2. Many of the testimonies

which tell the story of this translation are included in the book by Rita Gombrowicz. 1984. Gombrowicz en Argentine. Paris: Denoël. 3. Much of my inspiration in adopting this approach came from my seminars in poetic translation at the University of California conducted by Florence Verducci.

TRANSLATION THEORY TEACHING:

CONNECTING THEORY AND PRACTICE

Adolfo Gentile, Deakin University, Australia

IntroductionLa Nature est un temple où de vivants piliersLaissent parfois sortir de confuses paroles; L'homme y passe à travers des forêts de symbolesQui l'observent avec des regards familiers. ,.

(C. Baudelaire, Correspondances) '

The title of Baudelaire's poem and the first stanza which I have reproduced here seem to me to encapsulate some of the issues which I am trying to present in this article. It is an allegory of the diaphanous nature of translation theory from the point of view of practitioners; occasionally, confused mutterings emanate from it and the translator walks through it, now and then snatching some implication for the real world of translation practice. Yet there is some familiar feel to it, a realisation that there is a correspondance between the two. One could proceed with the allegory and remark on the pronouncements of the pillars of translation theory and the forest of symbols which have a life of their own etc. but I do not wish to do Baudelaire any further disservice!

In this article I would like to explore a pedagogical difficulty, or at least that which is for us a pedagogical

difficulty in Australia, namely, the relationship between the teaching of translation theory and the impact of this

teaching on the practice of translation on our students, as students, and as future professionals in the field. I do not,

however, believe that this difficulty is peculiar to the Australian situation. In order to proceed with the analysis of

this issue I need to make a number of assumptions and provide sufficient information about our teaching

programme at Deakin University.

I am firstly assuming that most courses which train translators have a component which can be regarded as

'theoretical'. Whether this component is taught in one or several particular units is immaterial and will only become

an issue for the conclusions which I wish to draw. Secondly, by referring to this curriculum element as 'translation

theory' I am not assuming that there is such a thing as translation theory, nor indeed that there is a translation theory.

I am using this rubric simply to cover those elements of the curriculum which have as aims the


consideration of translation as a phenomenon and an object of study, rather than translation as a product of a

particular process carried out on a particular source text.

This teaching takes place in a one year course for graduates. The course is designed to train persons, who have

a first degree in any discipline and who pass an entrance test, to become first level professional translators or

interpreters. The largest proportion of students are coordinate bilinguals, whose second language is English.

Currently the language streams offered are Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and Spanish.

The average age of the students is approximately 30 years. The student body in general would see themselves as

'natural translators' or 'native translators'. I use the terms as defined by Harris (1977) and Toury (1980). These

terms indicate some of the attitudes with which the students are likely to approach translation theory. Since they

have often already had experience with translation work, they believe that they already know what translation is

about and therefore consider the time spent on theoretical considerations as time taken away from the actual task of

translation, an activity which they see as contributing directly to their future employment. Mercenary as it might

sound, it is not unlike Kussmaul's description of practising translators' views on linguistics and translation theory

(1986). However, this student attitude seems to manifest itself only during the course. Anecdotal evidence from

former graduates indicates that the benefit of such theoretical considerations only becomes obvious later in their

professional life.

I believe that this is an actual issue related to the development of the profession. It is still trying to define a

body of knowledge which it can call its own. The definition of the relevant body of knowledge has been the work

of academics from their own disciplines' point of view, including philosophy, literary theory, semiotics, linguistics,

psychology, neurology, etc. In my view practising translators have begun to bring their experiences to bear on the

writings about translation in the last few years. In a course of study teachers must go beyond training, to the

education of future practitioners. This cannot be done by means of descriptive and prescriptive approaches to

individual translation texts, for they only produce a series of separate experiences for students. Better students can

connect these experiences into a coherent structure; however motivating and challenging this process can be, I

believe courses must provide an overview of the phenomenon of translation and thus develop critical skills which

will then be used for

Adolfo Gentile, Australia 57

addressing translation problems. Critical thinking on translation in general will make for further research and

refining of the theoretical underpinnings of the practice of translation.

Basis of the curriculum

It is for the above reasons that we do not talk about 'translation theory' or 'a theory of translation' but

'theoretical bases of translation'.

In introducing the students to the thinking on translation we assume that there is no such thing as a 'theory

of translation' for the same reasons as Chesterman:an adequate theory would not be content merely to describe or explain why; it would also attempt to predict what a translator ...will do, in given circumstances.. .But because translation is a probabilistic activity, predictions can (usually) only be probabilistic ...The challenge is to establish principles, strategies or rules that will enable predictions to be made with the highestprobability possible (Chesterman 1989: 5).

If the elements of explanation are at best idiosyncratic (each teacher works on his/her own on a different

text), the elements of prediction are few and far between.One of the consequences of this approach is that, in treating the theoretical bases, greater emphasis tends to

be placed on translation as a process, whereas, the translation practice tends to concentrate on translation as a product.

It follows that the objectives of the curriculum should be constructed with the time frame of courses and the student intake and exit levels in mind. This affects the curriculum design in terms of selection of material, its presentation and the degree of emphasis given to some aspects over others in order to cater for the learning stage at which the students are thought to be at the beginning of the course; the curriculum is also further modified to deal with the reality and pace of learning of individual classes.

The 'choice of elements in our course for would-be practitioners is in itself a statement and an attempt to bridge the gap between theory and practice. We do not allocate time to discussions on philosophical writings about translation by people such as Quine, Wittgenstein and others. This is, of course, important literature in the field, but given the course objectives, the student body and the time available, it is not central to our curriculum. In our curriculum design we have selected the elements we believe to be most appropriate and most likely to connect with the students' actual practice, although such a connection is not made by all students, nor is it made necessarily at the point when it is needed.


The problems of transfer of training

Ideally notions treated in class should have a direct impact on and applicability to the production of a translation.

Students must recognize schemas and apply them to the micro-problems of specific expression. This ability can be

defined as the 'transfer of training'.A large number of circumstances complicate this deceptively simple process:

Firstly, assessment requirements will relate to the students' ability to analyse and critically evaluate theoretical

elements; assessment tasks consisting of seminar presentations or written papers are reflective in nature and relate

more to the student's ability to evaluate arguments, distinguish between different theoretical perspectives, and even

discuss the applicability of specific approaches to their work as translators. Valuable as these exercises may be, they

achieve objectives different from the units of translation practice primarily aimed at the improvement of actual

translation skills. From the students' point of view the outcome for both elements should result in improved practice.

Secondly, these units are taught monolingually, usually in English, to students with three or four language

combinations. This limits the possibility of immediate exemplification, although this would be pedagogically sound.

Lecturers cannot check on the comprehension of certain concepts except by allusion rather than real examples. The

only other avenues for teachers are (a) to use examples from their own language pairs (which are understandable to

only some of the students), or (b) to ask students to find examples of their own, which implies open-ended feedback

and possibly incomplete exemplification.

Thirdly, since we have to train both interpreters and translators in this relatively brief course, we must deal with

the theoretical aspects of both interpreting and translating within the same unit. The brevity of the course means that

required reading must be limited, but on the other hand, an exposure to theoretical considerations for interpreting

and translation is justified because students have not yet decided which discipline they will specialise in.

Fourthly, given our language combinations, it is difficult to provide a comprehensive reading list which all

students should read. English is of course no problem, French and German are beyond most students, and Spanish,

Italian and other languages can be used by small minorities only. This difficulty also applies to the teachers.

Secondary sources are not always representative. There are actually not very many works on translation which have

been translated into English.


Fifthly, the practitioners who teach translation practice have a different attitude to the teachers who are in

charge of the theoretical bases. The practitioners have rarely been exposed to theoretical courses and will rarely

audit theoretical bases courses. Accordingly, the connection between theory and practice only discussed in the

theoretical bases course is seen as a shortcoming. Therefore students are unlikely to meet with a consistent and

considered approach to issues in translation.

Finally, in considering the problem of transfer of training, the issue of what ' to teach and what to omit becomes

important. Given the limits of time, we are here treading a delicate balance between practical translation work and

the stage at which theoretical considerations begin to become even vaguely interesting to students. I do not believe

we have found this point of equilibrium.

Towards some possible approaches

I wish to outline approaches which could be used to counter, if not solve, some of the problems in this state of

affairs. The first would be (a) to derive practice from theory, the second (b), to integrate theory and practice, and

the third (c) to derive practice from theory. Each approach involves some risks and, in addition, is predicated

upon certain features among staff, students and the overall time scheme of the course.

It seems that, generally speaking, it is the possibility of deriving practice from theory which we have

implicitly discussed. Thus there is no need for further discussion and the sole reason for bringing this up as an

issue is merely a symptom of my personal misgivings about the usefulness of this method.

The approach which integrates the teaching of theory with practice, does not solve the problem of identifying

elements for inclusion and exclusion. It would seem that the selection of elements would have to be agreed upon

by all staff in all language combinations. In principle this teaching could then be done individually with each

group. This might be seen as an advantage as it would provide a closer link between exemplifications and real

translation problems. Within the overall course structure, however, this would create problems with

comparability across language groups and lead to coordination difficulties. It would be a prerequisite that all

language combination groups agreed upon the theoretical approaches and standpoints which are important and

would therefore be used to present the students with a coherent picture. This approach requires, therefore, a

certain concurrence between the teachers about the concepts and viewpoints to


be included. This concurrence may not exist and indeed may not be useful. And, for all the coordination, students

would still be exposed to certain idiosyncratic views on translation, not necessarily as one teacher's interpretation of

the literature, but because theoretical considerations would connect intimately with particular texts; so there would

still not be any guarantee that the whole spectrum of comparative and contrastive approaches arising with different

language combinations would be covered.

In summary, the apparent benefits from an approach based on an integration of the teaching of theory and practice

may be difficult to achieve: it may be difficult to give the students a coherent picture when the analysis of translation

is based on different language combinations and may not go beyond traditional contrastive analysis.

The third approach presents real challenges as well as advantages. Deriving theory from practice is essentially a

re-creation of the phases which theorists go through in the development of hypotheses. It relies on the teachers'

ability to use examples and exercises which elicit a response which then illustrates theoretical standpoints; in a given

language combination, a series of exercises may demonstrate how the perlocutionary force of utterances is conveyed

in the two languages, leading to an analysis of the utterances in terms of the predictive value which such an analysis

would have for a translator. This means setting students on a path to utilising, not grammatical, but translation-

specific comparisons between language systems. The level of abstraction and generalisation which these

observations might produce and the discussion which would lead up to them, would, in my opinion, constitute the

learning outcomes. Indeed, in many respects, this approach mirrors the development of a translator's competence,

during which a period of experience (which in our case corresponds to the observation of a sufficient number of

instances) increases the practitioner's ability to generalise and therefore approach the next task with a more acute

sense of discrimination and hence increased competence.

This approach relies on some elements-which may not be readily available. It assumes a certain competence on

the students' part and the time for such activities. The latter problem might be solved by combining it with the time

devoted to translation practice. It would also presuppose that syllabi are divided into two elements (a) the students'

familiarisation with the literature on translation and (b) the students' own exploration of the principles which are

useful to them and to their particular language combinations. This approach demands an accurate as


sessment of the student's competence at entry, thus allowing for a tailor-made curriculum for particular groups in

so far as exercises could take into account the students' level of knowledge.

A discussion of approaches like those, cannot be complete without paying attention to the issue of measuring

whether the objectives have been achieved. It seems to me that a measurement of translation performance is

really the acid test for students who are going to earn a living as translators. Accordingly, the assess ment for the

latter approach should also include a test of the student's ability to generalise from observations. This process-

oriented aspect is missing in traditional translation assessment, which focuses on the product in correction and

comment. A balance is called for. Furthermore, a different relationship is set up between translation assessment

and translation practice since the process is augmentative.

Conclusions

The starting point of this discussion was the difficulty students have in relating what is generally taught as

'translation theory' to practice. In my experience, it seems that general descriptions of what constitutes translation

are not regarded as relevant by practitioners and students. There is, however, a great need to develop a corpus of

knowledge which would set apart translation from other fields. This development, as well as the contributions

from the past, must be communicated to students within a context of preparing them for practice. In generalised

approaches to the teaching of what is often termed 'translation theory', the students must often make a

considerable leap in order to relate many and conflicting points of view about translation to their everyday

problems in carrying out the process. This article has explored some of these issues and suggested some ap -

proaches which could help in bridging the gap. Teachers of translation must be cognisant of the fact that the

connection between general considerations about translation must be brought to life within the context of two

language systems. One way of achieving this connection might be to design a series of structured experiences

which would allow students to discover principles which are then reinforced with further practice. This involves

dividing 'theory' courses into, on the one hand, courses which introduce the thinking in the field of translation in

a broad brush fashion and, on the other hand, courses which bridge the gap between thinking on translation and

the purely practical approach. The purely pract


ical approach also leaves the students to make the connections necessary to obtain a coherent view of 'translation'.

TEACHING TRANSLATION THEORY:

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MEMES

Andrew Chesterman, University of Helsinki, Finland

MemesThe concept of the meme comes from genetics; it is the cultural equivalent' of a gene.The term was introduced by Dawkins in his best-seller The Selfish Gene (1976). In one of the chapters he

discusses how cultural phenomena can be studied in the same way as genetic ones, in that both are subject to the same Darwinian laws of natural selection. He proposes "meme" as a term to describe the evolution of cultural phenomena. A meme is

a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation ... Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes, fashions,

ways of making pots or building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body

via sperm or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in

the broad sense, can be called imitation. If a scientist hears, or reads about, a good idea, he passes it on to his colleagues and

students. He mentions it in his articles and lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate itself, spreading from

brain to brain (Dawkins 1976: 206. Original emphasis).

Dawkins' term itself is a good example of a meme. Since 1976 memes have appeared all over the place in research on cultural evolution (see Hull 1982; Plotkin 1993). Some scientists have even looked for direct neurological correlates of memes in the brain itself, where they are seen as "constellations of activated and non-activated synapses within neural memory networks" and as "competing for synaptic space" (Delius 1989). Others have acknowledged the power of the concept with some discomfort. In his book on consciousness, Dennett (1991:

202) writes:I don't know about you, but I'm not initially attracted by the idea of my brain as a sort of dung heap in which the larvae of

other people's ideas renew themselves, before sending out copies of themselves in an informational Diaspora.

Dawkins argues that organic bodies are in effect no more than survival machines for genes. Correspondingly,

we might suggest that translations are one kind of survival machine for memes - at least for memes that can be

expressed and transferred verbally.

Memes that promote the survival of their carriers (i.e., mostly, people) tend themselves to survive; being

'good' ideas, they benefit their hosts, and are known


as mutualist memes. 'Bad' ideas, in the long run at least, do not last, as they tend eventually to kill their hosts; they

are parasitic memes.

Now recall Popper's theory of the three Worlds: World 1 is the physical world of objects; World 2 is the

subjective mental world of personal thoughts and feelings; World 3 is that of objective knowledge, of ideas,

theories, arguments etc., that are in the public domain. Each of these worlds interacts and affects the others through

what Popper calls "plastic control" (e.g. 1972: 239). For instance, ideas affect behaviour, behaviour affects the

physical world, which in turn inspires new ideas; and so on. As forms of objective knowledge, memes exist prim-

arily in World 3: they affect World 2 directly (what I read affects the way I think), and World 1 indirectly (what I

think affects the way I impinge on my environment).

Some memes consist of ideas about translation itself, its theory and practice (for a fuller discussion of this, see

Chesterman (forthcoming b)). These "received ideas" are passed on from generation to generation, from teacher to

trainee, from one professional to another. At any given moment in history, in a given culture, there thus exists a

meme pool of translatorial concepts of all kinds, all fighting for acceptance and survival. And it is in this pool that

the trainee translator learns to swim.

The way trainees are exposed to this translation-meme pool will affect the way they think about translation and

the way they conceive of the role of the translator, and this in turn will influence the way they themselves translate,

the kinds of physical texts they produce.

The rest of this article addresses two questions: (a) What are the main risks of drowning in the translation-

meme pool? (b) What can be done about minimizing these risks? Both questions have to do with the explicit

teaching of translation theory.

Risks

First, the risks. I will select four for discussion.

(i) Atheoretical attitudes. By this I mean the belief among some translators that one "does not need" a translation

theory in order to be able to translate. This is pure self-deception: a theory is basically a view of something, a

conception. To translate with no theory would be impossible. Holders of this belief probably mean only that their

theory is common sense, or instinct, or gut feeling, and that they think nothing more is needed. Such wilful

blindness suggests a fear of

Andrew Chesterman, Finland 65

knowledge (including self-knowledge), and also intellectual arrogance: one suspects that neither of these

characteristics will be conducive to the survival of a professional translator.

A course in translation theory might do well to get rid of this fallacy right at the start, to ensure that motivation

is maintained. It might start by encouraging self-awareness of the theories that trainees bring to class from their

own previous experience (see e.g. Mossop 1994). The whole of the present article is obviously an argument

against this fallacy.

(ii) Parasitic memes. The belief in the non-necessity of a theory is a good example of a parasitic meme. It is not

hard to identity other examples in the total pool. One likely candidate for parasitic (and hence risk-increasing)

status is the idea of untranslatability, or perhaps I should say the myth of untranslatability. This idea has been

discussed at enormous length in the literature from a great many angles, and I shall not go into it here. But as a

meme, it is extremely parasitic to its hosts, since if all translators believed it there would soon be no translators.

Less absolutely, it breeds a pessimistic and defeatist attitude, a willingness to give up trying. It also affects the

professional self-image of translators: "Ah well, translations inevitably lose something, so what the hell... Poetry

can't be translated, so why bother..."

The partner parasite to this meme is that of equivalence. Texts are untranslatable because equivalence (in

some absolute sense of 'sameness') is impossible. Yet many people still talk about equivalence as the aim of

translation. No wonder trainees get frustrated with theory! True, equivalence is less in the news nowadays; it

seems to be a meme in decline, a meme that will not survive precisely because it is increasingly perceived to be

parasitic.

A third example of a parasitic meme is the belief that the only decision translators have to make (or even can

make) is "free or literal?" This issue has held sway for centuries in writings about translation, and thus been a

rather long-lived meme; but I think it is parasitic because in the past it has tended to inhibit discussion of other

parameters, and because pronouncements about translating literally or freely have often been divorced from

contexts of history, culture and text type. The 'literal' end of this parameter is clearly linked to the equivalence

meme: they form a meme complex (technically, a memome).

The moral seems to be that trainees should be aware of the existence of such parasitic memes, but also be

aware of their parasitic nature.


(iii) The converse accident fallacy. This is a well-known informal fallacy, which consists in generalizing over-

hastily from a non-typical particular to a general, from a special case to all cases. In other words, it is manifested in

the way some memes are taken to represent the whole picture, rather than only a part of it.

Typical instances of this fallacy occur when an idea pertaining to a particular text type (and even within a

particular culture at a particular time) is taken to apply universally to all kinds of texts. The fallacy is especially

prevalent in the way concepts in literary translation are taken more generally than is warranted. Theories of literary

translation are often implied to be theories of translation as a whole (see e.g. the collection of literary essays edited

by Schulte and Biguenet (1992) entitled Theories of translation).

Or consider the way Nida's demand of dynamic equivalence ("same effect") in biblical translation, where the

effect of the message is presumably somewhat easier to specify, has been taken as being valid for translation types

(literary translation, for example) in which "effect" is much harder to define and other criteria may well be more

relevant.

Or again, consider the long-standing idea that translations are directional, going from source to target. In one

sense, granted, they are, but this is not the whole picture, and a blind focus on this metaphor prevents us from seeing

its limitations. For translations themselves do not in fact move, they do not 'go' from somewhere to somewhere else.

They are constructed in that somewhere else. What gets transferred, if you like, is the message, the content; but even

this does not 'move' (as a train moves) in the sense that it is absent at point A when it arrives at point B. Rather, we

might think of alternative metaphors, such as that of propagation or diffusion: ideas contained in a source text are

spread, they 'multiply'; they may even evolve during the translation process. But in so doing they do not

automatically disappear from the source culture, as if they had indeed 'moved' away from it. Here again, we can

think genetically: what happens in translation is that memes are propagated, in such a way that they come to exist in

new environments and adapt themselves to these, hence enhancing their chances of survival. Translation is thus a

way of affecting the developmental history, the evolution, of memes.

(iv) Ahistoricism. Memes of translation, too, have their own developmental histories. Trainee translators are not

entering a brand new profession which is


starting from scratch. The profession itself, the memes that it has given rise to and that help to shape it, and the roles

played by its professionals, all have historical roots and have evolved over time, like other forms of human activity.

In order to be aware of their own roles as professionals in the future, trainees would do well to take a historical

perspective. Such a view may also contribute to enhancing the social status of the profession.

The risk of an ahistorical attitude is that trainees do not realize that translator roles and strategies are determined

by historical, cultural and situational context, not by random or by some god-given commandment.

Remedies

To counter these risks, the teaching of translation theory can adopt a number of strategies. I will outline four

remedies.

(i) Exploiting the growth of expertise. The growth of expertise is described by the Dreyfus brothers (1986) in

terms of five steps from novice to expert. Stage one is that of the novice, who learns to recognize relevant facts and

situational features and acquires objective rules for determining actions based on these. At stage two, the advanced

beginner begins to recognize relevant facts and situational features that have not been previously defined and

presented, by perceiving their similarity with others experienced earlier. Stage three is that of competence; this

involves the ability to develop a sense of priorities between all the relevant situational features, in order to reach a

decision-making capability, a conscious problem-solving skill. Stage four they call proficiency; intuition begins to

play more of a role here, as the learner reacts more holistically, without consciously analysing, unless the situation

turns out to be exceptional. At the last stage, that of expertise, this non-reflective involvement is dominant: intuition

becomes the driving force, but 'deliberative rationality' plays a part as a way of testing and fine-tuning intuitions when

necessary.

These steps illustrate how rules and strategies for action are first consciously recognized by the novice and

beginner; then internalized and applied consciously, analytically, at stages of competence and proficiency; and

finally used automatically, unconsciously. At the highest stage of expertise, action is shaped by intuition but is

always accessible to monitoring by deliberative rationality: strategies and principles can be recalled to consciousness

if required.

This view of the development of expertise illustrates the significance of memes rather well. Memes are, after all,

our conceptual tools of the trade. At ini-


tial stages of training, they can be presented and discussed overtly. Of particular relevance here are memes

concerning translation norms, and concerning the typical strategies that professionals tend to use.

Trainees should be aware of fundamental translation norms right from the start, and of the way they are

interpreted by contemporary professionals in the culture concerned. Four basic norm types (following Chesterman

1993) are: (a) expectancy norms, governing the expectations of readers about what texts of various kinds should

look like; (b) the relation norm, governing the expected relation between source and target texts of different kinds

(it is part of the translator's task to decide what this relation should be); (c) the communication norm, governing the

achievement of optimal communication between all parties concerned (client, writer, translator, publisher, readers);

and (d) the accountability norm, governing the ethical behaviour of translators (such as the duty to check terms, to

inform the writer in cases of error, sometimes to improve the style for the sake of the readers, and in general to

balance the loyalties due to the various parties concerned).

Trainees should also be aware of professional translation strategies, i.e., ways in which translation problems

tend to get solved. Sets of strategies can be presented and practised quite overtly. For instance: (a) syntactic

strategies such as shifting the word-class, changing the clause or sentence structure, adding or changing cohesion;

(b) semantic strategies such as using hyponyms or superordinates, altering the level of abstraction, redistributing the

information over more or fewer elements; (c) pragmatic strategies such as naturalizing or exoticizing, altering the

level of explicitness, adding or omitting information (These are discussed in much more detail in Chesterman

(forthcoming b).).

At later stages of training, when such memes have become familiar, they become useful as part of deliberative

rationality at various levels. For the competent or proficient translator they furnish means whereby decisions can

be justified and explained, perhaps to a suspicious client. For experts they are resources that can be recalled at will

from memory to help solve specific problems, or to fine-tune solutions initially based on intuition. For teachers,

too, they are useful, as conceptual tools in assessment and in the discussion of translation as a whole.(ü) Mutualist memes. Obviously, I thus take norms and strategies to be useful, mutualist memes. At a more

general level, another mutualist meme that deserves to be introduced at an early stage is the idea that all writing is

translating. This meme too has a long pedigree, emerging in many differelit contexts ranging


from semiotics (most recently in Gorlde 1994) to hermeneutics (e.g. Steiner 1975)' and the deconstructionist view of

intertextuality (discussed e.g. in Gentzler 1993).

This meme is made good use of in the suggestion by Jakobsen (1994) that' the teaching of translation should

start "from the other end", i.e., with practice in target language writing per se, rather than from a source text.

Another mutualist meme is the idea of translators as experts in their own right, not servile slaves of a source-

text master (among many others, e.g. HolzMänttäri 1984). Such a meme has an obvious effect on the image which

translators have of their professional role, hence on their own self-image, and hence (I would argue) on the quality

of their work.

(iii) A holistic view. To counteract the risk of a partial and blinkered view of translation, one should clearly aim

at a holistic view which is as wide as possible, seeking to cover the whole field from a bird's eye perspective. This

means balancing ideas from literary translators with those of technical ones, or of people working on machine

translation, for instance. Something like the integrated approach advocated by Snell-Homby (1988), or even wider,

is called for.

And this can be done precisely by introducing and discussing a whole range of memes. In so doing, one can

also show how the same memes can emerge (in different variants) in the most unlikely places. An example is the

mystical notion held by Benjamin (1923) and others of the "pure language" underlying all natural languages; on this

view, it is the task of the translator to seek contact with this language, to aim at a kind of deliberately marked hybrid

form, somewhere between and beneath the actual source and target languages and thus closer to the pure language.

This idea has been made much of by some literary scholars, but it is interesting that a very similar idea underlies the kind of approach to machine translation that uses an 'artificial' interlanguage into which the source text is decoded

before transfer.

It has been claimed, e.g., by Steiner (1975), that the number of worthwhile theoretical ideas that have been

proposed about translation (in the West) is actually rather limited: scholars have tended to repeat the ideas of

others, and much energy has been expended re-inventing the wheel. To the extent that there is some truth in this, a

meme-based approach would seem to be most fruitful.

(iv) The evolution of translation memes. One aspect of such a holistic approach to the teaching of translation

theory is of course the historical one, drawing attention to the way memes have evolved over history, perhaps

moving in and out of fashion, submerging in one culture only to re-emerge in another.


An early form of the equivalence meme, for example, turns up in classical attitudes to the translation of

sacred texts; it then mostly lies latent through the Renaissance, when other ideas were dominant, but re-

emerges with the first attempts to apply linguistic models to translation, and the concomitant launching of the

machine translation project, in the 1940s and 50s.

Or again, consider the meme embodying the idea that the source culture is superior and the target inferior

or peripheral, so that translation is a way of building up this target culture, bringing infusions of new blood.

This attitude recurs again and again in the history of the West: the Romans importing from the Greeks,

Renaissance translations plundering the classics, and nowadays post-modernists talking about cannibalism.

The same meme, in different variants. (There is also, of course, the reverse meme, where the target is superior

and the source inferior.)

A different reason for teaching translation memes from a historical angle comes from Darwin's idea that

the development of an individual recapitulates that of the species as a whole. If this is generally true, we might

expect that individual translators, as they become increasingly proficient, in some way also trace the path

which the profession as a whole has trod, for example, from servile submission to the original to a pride in

one's own expertise and an interest in the inner workings of one's own mind.

A sketch along these lines is to be found in Chesterman (forthcoming a), in which eight stages are

distinguished in the development of translation theory in the West, and it is suggested that these stages can

also be seen in the development of an individual's translational expertise. Briefly, the stages proposed are:Words: a concern with individual words as carriers of meaning;The Word of God: a concern with formal structure, with a stress on literaltranslation;Rhetoric: in reaction, a concern for expanding the target language, freertranslation;Logos: the Romantics' interest in language as a culture-creating force;

Linguistics: the focus on translating as decoding and encoding; Communication: the idea of the translator

as a mediator, as communicationexpert;Target: taking the target text and its manipulated place in the target cultureas the starting point;Cognition: trying to see what goes in the translator's head.


If there are indeed parallels between the development of the individual and that of the profession (or the theory

as a whole), a historical approach may well reinforce and encourage the gradual development of trainees' own

professional self-image.

The ultimate aim of teaching translation memes can be set high. After all, our aim is not simply to train people

who can translate well: we all have ulterior motives too, perhaps quite idealistic ones. Pym (1992: 169), for instance,

proposes that, "from the perspective of translators, the ultimate aim of translation is to improve the intercultural

relations with which they are concerned." In so doing, they seek to advance the quality of human life on this planet.

This implies that the survival of translation memes is not only a matter of their immediate effectiveness: in the last

analysis, the survival criterion is an ethical one.

CONTRASTIVE CULTURE LEARNING . IN TRANSLATOR

TRAINING

Heidrun Witte, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

Introduction

In accordance with modern target-function oriented translation theory (Vermeer 1983; Reiss and Vermeer

1984; Holz-Mänttäri 1984) this article considers translation and interpreting special kinds of intercultural

communication. Translators are regarded as experts in the field and their bicultural competence deemed a

necessary prerequisite for their work (Witte 1994).

Despite the increasing acceptance of bicultural competence in translation studies, there are few attempts

towards a concrete definition of the concept. However, a definition becomes indispensable when training

programs intend to incorporate bicultural competence as a key objective.

The following observations aim at a synthesis between Intercultural Communication Studies and those

approaches in translation theory that have put special emphasis on translation as cultural transfer, as we see it at

my university in Spain.

The main question arising for translation teaching is "How can we teach culture-specific behaviour

patterns?" Although this leads to the problem of how to describe culture-specificities, I cannot here discuss the

possibilities of systematically analyzing a culture and of working out a 'culture grammar'. As a preliminary step I

shall, however, in the following propose a definition of 'translationoriented bicultural competence' and present a

working model for teaching strategies.

The concept of 'translation-oriented bicultural competence'

Starting from a rather broad concept of culture (defined as the sum total of a social community's behaviour

patterns, including the 'rules' of behaviour and its - material or immaterial - 'results'; Göhring 1978 and 1980;

Vermeer 1992), translators' bicultural competence may be described asthe ability to interpret and produce behaviour in a culturally and situationally adequate way

for the (interaction) purposes and needs of (at least) two members of two different cultural communities.

As a first step towards a definition of translators' bicultural competence, we may differentiate between two

'subcategories', namely (a) General Cultural


Competence and (b) Specific Cultural Competence. However, as we shall see later, this distinction is purely

theoretical and will - at least in part - be overcome in actual teaching.

By General Cultural Competence I mean a general awareness of the problems of intra- and intercultural

communication. This will include notions like socialization and its influence on the individual; the culture-

specific character of behaviour patterns; culture-bound perception and its effect on the interpretation and

evaluation of other cultures, etc.

The development of such a basic awareness of how people communicate within their own social community,

and of what happens when they get into contact with a foreign culture, seems a prerequisite for acquiring Specific

Cultural Competence. By this I refer to the students' knowledge of their two working cultures.

If we take the development of bicultural competence (comprising the components mentioned) as the final

objective of translation-oriented culture learning, we may distinguish between various phases leading up to that

aim (Witte 1993: 164):(a) The development of an awareness of culture-specific differences in behaviour and in the evaluation of

behaviour;(b) the development of the ability to accept - in the sense of cognitive toleration of - these

differences;(c) the development of the ability to modify one's own ways of reception (interpretation

and evaluation) of behaviour with regard to other cultures;(d) the development of the ability to modify one's own active behaviour with regard to

other cultures;(e) the development of the ability to interpret and produce behaviour for the (interaction) needs of others in order to

establish communication between members of (at least) two different cultures (one of which will usually be the translator's own culture).

The teaching of translation-oriented cultural competence has to comprise two 'levels' of behaviour (compare

also the notions of 'competence-in- [cultures]' and

competence-between- [cultures]' in Witte 1987):(a) an 'object-level' of behaviour: from the very beginning trainee translators acquire cultural competence with

regard to their future role as translators (this orientation clearly distinguishes translator training from foreign language learning);

(b) as an integral part of (a): trainee translators also need to acquire knowledge on a 'metalevel', that is, they need to have a'Imowledge-about-the-behaviour-of-0thers'. Future translators have to learn how to anticipate or compensate the behaviour of their clients since these normally have not received any special intercultural training and, thus, in the (direct or indirect) intercultural situation will act in accordance with their own

Heidrun Witte, Spain 75

cultural frame of reference, which may turn out to be inadequate for the purposes of the interaction (Müller 1991).

A contrastive approach

In the following we will concentrate on what we have called 'Specific Cultural Competence'. With regard to

teaching strategies we shall propose a contrastive approach, namely teaching based on comparisons of behaviour

patterns of two working cultures.

There are, however, two main problems to be taken into account in contrastive culture learning:

(1) Intercultural Communication Studies has convincingly claimed that the teaching of cultural traits or culture

specificities must no longer limit itself to supposedly static 'facts' or 'units'. The traditional, 'content-oriented'

approach to the teaching of culture, where cultural phenomena used to be treated as separ able elements that could

easily be extracted from their cultural embedding, has proved inadequate for the development of cultural

competence. Firstly, because such an approach usually leads to a dangerous illusion on the learners' part, namely

that once they have learnt all the 'contents' there remains nothing that might hinder successful intercultural

communication. Secondly, content-orientation in culture learning is insufficient because it concentrates on

presumed 'contents', thus neglecting people's relation towards them. It does not take into account that it is not

'contents' that make intercultural communication difficult, but people's different understanding of them.

Thus, if we regard translation as intercultural communication and want students-to develop a satisfying

bicultural competence, we must not merely consider certain cultural traits independently from their surrounding

frame of reference, but have to take into account people's behaviour patterns as related to their situational

functions within an overall cultural system.

(2) The second point regards our concept of contrastive culture learning: It is not sufficient merely to substitute

situation-bound behaviour patterns (normally considered 'culture-specific') for the traditionally taught 'contents'.

This would be an erroneous conclusion from the above argument.

The obsolete 'static' approach to the teaching of culture has not much of a chance to be replaced as long as it is

postulated that certain phenomena are 'culture-specific traits', i. e., are claimed to be 'distinctive features' of a

given social community: Culture specificities do not 'exist' per se, but are attributed to a cul-


ture from a certain perspective. This, however, necessarily is a perspective based on comparison: The culture

specificity of a phenomenon obviously cannot be determined in relation to the phenomenon itself, but only with

regard to another phenomenon.

This is why the endeavour, claimed over and again in translation, to 'maintain the foreignness' of the original can

actually be no more than an illusion based on 'wishful exoticizing': The source culture will not be 'foreign' to itself,

will it? It becomes foreign for us when we are perceiving (interpreting/evaluating) it from our cultural viewpoint. We

ourselves are creating its foreignness through our observing it. (Similar arguments are found in Robinson 1991;

Arrojo 1993; Grosman 1994.)

This does not mean, however, that we may not try to transmit this created otherness to our target recipients. But

we should bear in mind that we are 'maintaining' something we ourselves have 'created' in our reception of the

foreign culture - not something inherent in that culture.

Comparison necessarily involves at least two points of reference. This also goes for our own culture: We can

only 'see' its 'specificities' if we assume an observer's point of view, and see it from the 'outside' (Vermeer and Witte

1990).

Thus, a phenomenon may be perceived as culture-specific from viewpoint A but not from perspective B.

In pedagogical terms this means that we cannot teach culture 'as such' but only culture X with regard to or as

compared with culture Y. (This goes for paradia- and idiocultural levels.) Consequently, our contrastive approach is

not a mere juxtaposition of two working cultures but their interrelation for specifically translational purposes.

Towards a pedagogical application

Our concept of 'contrasting' or 'interrelating', then, is making conscious and purposeful use of a process which

inevitably occurs each time we get to know (parts of) a foreign culture: we compare it with our own.

In our perception we can only assimilate new phenomena when we are able to relate them to or to compare them

with something we already know. In coming into contact with a new, foreign culture we also have to orientate

ourselves by what we already know. In this process, our 'orientation instrument' usually is our own culture.


Perceiving a phenomenon necessarily involves interpreting and, at the same time, evaluating it. Therefore,

whenever we perceive a foreign culture we inevitably interpret and evaluate it from our own cultural point of view,

i. e., we measure it by the yardstick of our own culture's frame of reference. (See also Berger and Luckmann 1989;

Matthes 1992.)

In translation-oriented culture teaching we do not vainly attempt to avoid such. culture-bound comparison but

make students aware of it. In this way, they will become self-aware of their own culture-boundedness and its

influence on their perception of other cultures. Only then can they learn to relativize and (at least partly) control

culture-specific interpretation and evaluation.

That is, by contrasting two cultures, students learn about the foreign culture at the same time as they begin to

develop a self-awareness of their own (intuitively known) culture. If students do not learn to contrast their working

cultures consciously they risk falling into the trap of projecting their own cultural frame of reference, including its

value schemes, onto the foreign culture and judging foreign phenomena by the standards of their own culture.

In professional translation - and thus in the training of future professional translators - subconscious projection

has to be avoided as far as possible.

In a second stage students have to be made aware of the (potential) unawareness of their future clients: As

mentioned, translators' clients will usually have received no special intercultural training. They will, nevertheless,

have formed a certain 'image' of the respective foreign culture they are dealing with. Translators have to know

about these mutual ideas of their partners in order to be able to establish successful intercultural communication

between them.

Teaching methods

It is obviously impossible to teach students each and every aspect of a given cultural community, so one must

decide what aspects to transmit and how.

If for reasons of convenience we assume that students already have a basic knowledge of language and everyday

culture, we could in a first attempt at systematizing our pedagogical material distinguish between - areas of special

translational interest/relevance (e.g. economics, law, industry); - situations of special translational interest/relevance

(e.g. negotiations, clientconsulting); and


- social roles and functions of special translational interest/relevance (e.g. executive vs subordinate; client -

translator).

As far as teaching methods are concerned, Intercultural Communication Studies, especially approaches in

Intercultural Management Training (e.g. Bergemann and Sourisseaux 1992), can again serve as a useful starting

point. Academic literature usually distinguishes between

information-oriented (or as we said above 'content-oriented') training; interaction-oriented training (which

offers students the possibility of directly communicating with members of the foreign culture ['field trips']);

and cultural (self-)awareness training. (Thomas and Hagemann 1992: 185; Beneke 1992.)

As far as we can see, it is primarily the last type that can be helpful for translation-oriented culture teaching, for

this approach simultaneously creates the students' awareness of their own culture and of the foreign culture as

opposed to their own. Applying the concept of cultural (self-)awareness training to translation training we could

summarize our objectives as follows:- to develop an awareness of culture-specific differences in behaviour and their

potential importance for intercultural situations;

- to reflect upon the students' own culture-bound conditions of perception (interpretation, evaluation);- to reflect upon the other culture's conditions of perception (interpretation,

evaluation) as opposed to those of the students' own;- to reflect upon the clients' conditions of perception (interpretation, evaluation).

Cultural (self-) awareness training normally focuses on the simulation of situations and on role play.In our view, situations chosen in class may well focus on the students' own interests. On the Canary Islands, for example, tourism

is a major socio-economical field and, thus, is also a main working area for translators and interpreters. Therefore, in our classes

in Las Palmas we concentrate on negotiations between, e.g., hbtel owners and tour operators or on situations in court involving

tourists, etc.

Conclusion

We have to bear in mind, however, that the areas, situations and social roles we choose for teaching are no

more than examples. Later on, students have to apply their knowledge learnt there to other areas in accordance

with the requirements of their job.


This means that in class, students have to learn first and foremost strategies and skills (including, e.g., the

gathering of background information, consultation of translation aids, research skills in general) transferable to

other situations.

And it means, in turn, that just as we cannot teach culture 'as such', we cannot teach 'bicultural competence' 'as

such' either. Translators' bicultural competence must not be considered a 'culture-neutral' ability, hovering

independently somewhere above the working cultures in question. The teaching of 'translationoriented bicultural

competence' necessarily has to draw on the trainees' own cultural background as the ultimate basis for

comparison, which serves as a starting point in any attempt to acquire knowledge about foreign cultures.

Translators' bicultural competence can be no more than a relative notion.

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

Alexandr Krouglov, University of Otago, New Zealand

Introduction

In this article I evaluate the use of translation and interpreting in teaching a foreign language while focusing on

problems of social and cultural differences which instructors face in everyday teaching. Translation and interpreting

are taught at my university in New Zealand at the third and fourth year levels when our students have acquired

practical knowledge of grammar. During the first two years of university studies translation is mostly used for

grammar exercises and, unfortunately, this practice often leads the students to have such distorted ideas of

translation that at higher stages of language learning it is necessary to intervene with remedial retraining. This

system has often been an obstacle in teaching at advanced levels. Last year we adopted a new system of language

learning, in which translation and interpreting were gradually introduced within the framework of language

teaching.

My aim is to demonstrate that a proper approach to teaching translation and interpreting at the earliest stages of

language learning will play a valuable role in foreign language classes and develop students' communicative skills

alongside with reading, writing, speaking and understanding.

Social and cultural differences in translation teaching

Students of foreign languages face 'translation' from the very beginning of second language learning. As

mentioned translation exercises are widely used in grammar classes at secondary schools and universities and

students usually "have got the impression that translation is a kind of disguised grammar drill, and, accordingly, that

the main point is to figure out where the teacher set the traps" (Dollerup 1994: 125). Using a Danish-English

example of students' attitudes to translation, Dollerup showed that translation in language classes is practically

understood as word-by-word rendering (Dollerup 1994). This distorted approach to translation and interpreting is

found at many institutions. When students come to formal translation courses they suddenly realise that they do not

fully understand simple communicative acts and are therefore unable to create the target text which would provoke

the closest communicative response in a target language audience.


In teaching foreign languages it is a major problem that the notions of 'trans lation' and 'interpreting' are poorly

defined. An awareness (even in the most simple communicative events) that language is an integral part of

culture and society will facilitate the learning of translation and interpreting. If differences between cultures are

not taught, students may "fail to recognise some of the crucial factors which may totally distort the understanding

of a text, unless the distinctive roles of the participants in the translating process are carefully considered" (Nida

1986: 472).

In the teaching of languages, and of translation and interpreting in particular, it is important to emphasise that

languages employ a number of features to mark social and cultural differences and which may not necessarily be

universal. Social and cultural differences are not only found between language-groups, but also within one

language; translators will have to cope with them.

Students have to be taught to identify those social and cultural differences as well as various markers in order

to develop their ability to draw the appropriate meaning from the source language text and culture into natural

target language text and culture.

Teaching translation at the initial stages of language learning Communicative equivalence

At the initial stages of language learning it is fundamental that students understand differences in the function

and use of various lexical items and speech acts. As a vivid example from Russian, I can cite a description given

for 'translation' as an assignment to our first year students. It takes place in Moscow where the guide of a group of

Russian students on a tour of the city greets them:IIoporxe cTynexTx![Literal translation: Dear students!]

All our students gave a word-by-word translation, but when asked if an English-speaking guide would use this

formula of address the answer was no. They agreed that the normal target language form would be "Hello!" The

advantage of a]iteral translation is often its exoticism, but this advantage may be nonexistent when it is

incongruous due to target language norms. If this is the case it should be either paraphrased or omitted. The same

point is illustrated in a telephone conversation which runs as follows:Anno! 3TO rocnouxa IIeTpoB?[Literal translation: Hello! Is this Mr Petrov?]

Alexandr Krouglov, New Zealand 83

CnYmaio![Literal translation: Listening][Communicative equivalent: Speaking]

In this case the literal translation "Listening" is incongruous and must be replaced by the communicative

equivalent "Speaking". My primary concern at the first year level is therefore to teach the students not to

mechanically substitute lexical items but to make them aware of the social and cultural significance of various

situations, and hence predict the responses of target audiences to the message and to the way in which source

language text must be transformed, so as to achieve the highest communicative approximation.

Sociocultural factors

At this stage I introduce sociocultural factors. They are first illustrated by examples in the native language

and gradually move into the foreign language where they may produce a result that differs from the one in the

students' native language. When one teaches French, Italian, Russian or other Indo-European languages to

English speakers (especially people with no experience in foreign language learning) it is important to make

them aware of the relative social status of collocutors and to identify verbal differences in one's addresses to

collocutors of lower, equal or higher levels. Students usually like this type of activity and readily provide

examples.

Of course translation does not depend on a simple summing up of all sociocultural factors. Students have to

develop the ability to differentiate between main and secondary factors in all situations. The choice of specific

translation variants may be influenced by one, a few or all factors.

The importance of sociocultural differences in translation and interpreting within the grammar course at the

first year level can be illustrated by an example from Ukrainian. In Ukrainian the address form "IIax/IIaxil"

[Literal translation: Mr/Mrs] may be used in combination with the first name and is usually introduced in the

language course without an adequate explanation of the way in which it can actually be interpreted. Students

may find an explanation about its use and function in the Ukrainian language course but it is next to impossible

to find an equivalent for this form of address in other languages. Accordingly my students have first to specify

the setting of the conversation, and then to analyse the collocutor's relative social status before they can arrive at

the following four ways of translating it into a target language:


1) First Name + additional element, for example, in the form of a polite phrase; 2) Mr/Mrs + Last Name, if the target language situation dictates the introduction of a more formal form of address;3) partial exoticism: by using Mr/Mrs + First Name;4) full exoticism: preserving the Ukrainian form in English, e.g. Pani Halya. The students then realize that partial and full exoticisms are possible only when the target language audience knows the exotic source culture and can easily assimilate the culturally different form, (such as an international organisation or a city with mixed population, as is often the case in Canada, Britain or the United States).

By means of this and other examples, the students see that the function of politeness formulae does not fully coincide in different languages. I then call the students' attention to the fact that Russian students of English may find it equally difficult to find an appropriate translation of a Russian greeting formula in different variants of English. This is another area in which different methods of translation can be explored by students at this stage.

When teaching translation it is important to subdivide the analysis of a source language and the translation process by performing the translation exercise in two stages: (a) analysis of the source text and (b) the translation process. The first stage consists of the following steps:

1. reading and comprehension of the source text, that is students must fully understand the meaning of all lexical and grammatical items;2. sociocultural analysis of the source text. In this phase students must identify the situation, setting, gender, age, relative social status of collocutors, geographical and temporaldimensions.The second stage covers the translation process:1. identification and examination of target language structures which would describe the source text situation. The main concern at this stage is to show the transposition/matching of the source text social and cultural structures in the target text.2. identification of a target language audience. The students are taught to analyse the ways in which a target text may be changed according to the target language users. This type of analysis is introduced by the end of the first year and the examples are very simple, e.g. the students must alter an English translation of a foreign text with some culture-bound information to the specific needs of a target language audience.The order of these stages may vary from text to text, but gradually students

will start to understand the complexity of the translation process. The time spent on analysis of sociocultural factors will definitely be rewarded in their future work.

Alexandr Krouglov, New Zealand g$

Interpreting

Situational interpreting can also be introduced at this stage by means of role play. This focuses on the active use of lexical and phraseological units and the ability to produce grammatically correct sentences. These interpreting exercises enable students to comprehend and identify the notions which have to be explained in the target language due to cultural differences. In New Zealand and Australia the seasons serve as an example of cultural notions, as they do not coincide with those in the Northern hemisphere. A variety of topics can be practised at the first year level, e.g.: introductions, telephone conversations, asking for directions, holidays, travelling, etc. One must ensure that participants have roles of both different and equal social status, educational and cultural background, age and gender, but at this stage of language learning it is even more important to make situations interesting and humorous and to

allow students to have some freedom.Interpreting exercises usually comprise the following stages:I. description of a situation (e.g., cafe, library, university, etc.);2. distribution of roles (e.g., one student is a Russian engineer, the other is a New Zealand farmer, the third is an interpreter);3. communicative goals (e.g., introduction, invitation, etc.); 4. actual production of a dialogue and its rendition; 5. analysis and discussion.Students are taught not only to analyse grammatical and lexical information but also

to identify the applicability of foreign notions to the target language environment. Student feedback emphasises the usefulness of introducing sociocultural aspects of translation and interpreting at the initial stages of language teaching.

Compromise and compensationThe gradual introduction to translation tools should continue at later stages of

language learning and translation and should be incorporated into the students' ability to differentiate social and cultural phenomena in increasingly more complex texts and text types. Cultural transpositions from exoticism to cultural transplantation can be used in classes involving both translation and interpreting.

Translation would be impossible without compromise and therefore compromise and compensation must be part of translation analysis. Translation losses are due to the expressiveness of the source text, so the comparative analysis of a source text and target text is, on the one hand, a productive means of understanding why the losses occurred while, on the other hand, it helps find appropri

ag( Teaching Translation and Interpreting 3

ate ways of minimising them. The first steps in a contrastive source and target text analysis must therefore

determine: the nature of the source text, its orientation and relationship to source language audiences, the purpose

of the target text, its 'putative audience', etc. (Hervey and Higgins 1992: 34). Not until they have identified all these

factors, may the students proceed to the actual analysis of translation. I can illustrate the procedure with the

following example:Source text: Moscow, founded in the 12th century, is actually pronounced "Moskwa", thought to be after Mos and Kwa, a prince and his girl.

Before students started the analysis they were told that the source text was an article in the Australian edition of

The Bulletin targeted at Australian readers, whereas the Russian target text is directed towards Russians. This

contextual information is very important for an assessment of the following target text-. CuxTaeTCA, TITO MocxHa, ocxosaxxaA

B XII sexe, óxna xasBaxa s uecTb xxR3A Moca x ero soanao6nexxoff Ksa.

[Literal translation: It is believed that Moscow, founded in the 12th century, was named after prince Mos and his beloved Kwa.]

The difference in terms of target audience results in a significant change in the information sequence. Target

text omission of the phrase "is actually pronounced Moskwa" was identified as appropriate since the Russian

readers know how to pronounce the name of their capital. Reductions, expansions and the like are widely applied

in translation of information sequences with sociocultural elements. Reduction is primarily used in order to do

away with sociocultural notions which make understanding difficult or with irrelevant explanations, whereas ex-

pansion of the information structure is necessary when the targeted audience is not familiar with sociocultural

notions or where an explanation is needed. But again, the concept of the source text realisation may differ

depending on the target language audience, e.g. "Bonbluoil TeaTp" [Literal translation: Bolshoi Theatre] may

simply be translated as the 'Bolshoi' for an American or British audience, but as 'Bolshoi Theatre' plus the

additional explanation 'the famous Russian Opera and Ballet company' in some other countries.

Unacceptability versus acceptability of a compromise is one of the central issues in translation. By means of the

factors listed above the students learn how to avoid unacceptable compromise (which is identical with low quality

translation). In teaching translation and interpreting it is pedagogically useful to distinguish between different types

of compensation as suggested by Sandor Hervey and Ian Higgins (1992):

Alexandr Krouglov, New Zealand $7

1. compensation in kind;

2. compensation in place;

3. compensation by merging; 4. compensation by splitting.

Yet, practical translation work and translation analysis in class sometimes show that this system of

compensation techniques needs further elaboration.

Concluding remarks

Languages represent an integral part of culture, and therefore lexical items cannot be clearly understood without

familiarity with the original cultural phenomena for which they are symbols. A deep understanding of the ways in

which social and cultural features are combined in a language is indispensable in teach ing translation and

interpreting.

I firmly believe that, for this reason, teachers must introduce exercises in translation and interpreting which

illustrate to students that translation is not to be understood as word-by-word rendering but should be aimed at the

achievement of the closest communicative response of a target language speaker to the communicative intent of a

source language speaker. In so doing it is imperative that they take into account the sociocultural factors which

govern the choice of each lexical item.

In this article I have tried to illustrate how crucial it is to provide background material for the adequate

understanding of the source text and hence the adequate creation of the target text in translation and interpreting.

My teaching experience at the University of Otago has shown that some elements and methods of translation and

interpreting should be introduced at the earliest stages of language teaching and should be further developed at

intermediate and advanced levels when translation is taught as a special subject.

ETHNOCULTURAL PECULIARITIES

IN TRANSLATION FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES

Antonina Badan, Kharkov Polytechnic University, Ukraine

In this article I shall consider translation in the context of cross-cultural communication studies. Cross-cultural

communication is viewed as a self-governing system of rules which overcomes the communicative barriers set up

by national languages. This system largely involves interdisciplinary approaches, including world culture studies,

psycholinguistics, pragmatics and sociolinguistics.

According to Spolsky (1986) the efficiency of communication depends on four major spheres shared by the

two interacting cultures:

1) grammar and lexicon;

2) the pragmatic system;

3) the physical context; and

4) the shared world knowledge.

If 'communicative competence' is considered as an umbrella term for speech competence and sociocultural

competence, we have to include the domain of sociocultural aspects in teaching specific languages to students. In

order to achieve efficient communication we have to bypass the barriers of national differences in 'speech

behaviour', by which term I mean a system of speech actions and operations in a particular communication

situation.

Thus speech behaviour must be based on teaching both language competence and the shared world knowledge

which, in combination, form the communicative competence in a particular language.

A study of educational systems in foreign countries shows that the way to success in any society, and

especially in a multinational one, depends largely upon a knowledge of the culture's systems of communication.

The individuals' linguistic and general culture are fully dependent on their inner culture, education and upbringing

(choice of words and gestures, sense of appropriateness etc.).

Despite the variety of terms used for linguistic studies of communicative competence, they nevertheless all

focus on the importance of teaching extralinguistic differences. In other words, efficient communication is

impossible unless there is some shared general background knowledge between the communicants.

Hirsh (1992) stresses that cultural literacy cannot be disentangled from a language since it is based on the

language's cultural baggage. Therefore cultural li-


teracy is not part of the communicants' general background knowledge, but fits one language only. In their work,

translators and interpreters deal with at least two cultural literacies: that of the sender and that of the addressee.

So for them, the appropriate background knowledge is a prerequisite for penetrating the other culture as well as

the world at large, since no culture is separate from the world community and its material and spiritual values.

Therefore, I shall address the term 'communicative competence' which, then, comprises all the spheres of

language competence, cultural literacy and background knowledge as the necessary elements of the mental

baggage of interpreters and translators. Within this area, I shall focus on the teaching of ethnocultural peculiarities

for business communication. This calls for a clarification of the difference between teaching communicative

competence and teaching ethnocultural peculiarities in translation for special purposes.

The former is more general, the latter is relatively narrow and specific: teaching translation in general is based

on the whole system of cross-cultural activities including cultural literacy, whereas teaching ethnocultural

peculiarities for business communication might, in principle, be reduced to a set of rules for trans lation and

interpreting in business contexts (although communicative competence in business is also the reflection of

general communicative competence).

National languages may differ considerably in terms of norms for speech and writing. The problem is how to

match the national norms of two languages in translation; what should be disregarded and what should be

retained? This is particularly important for translators and interpreters, since they act as channels between

cultures and assume the responsibility for efficient communication.

My practical experience is based on comparative studies of business communication between Russian and

English, languages which are wide apart in terms of their traditions in business communication. There are

numerous reasons for these differences: firstly, the languages belong to different groups (namely Slavonic and

Germanic); secondly, they reflect different systems of social organization. They may therefore be viewed as

contrasts in a number of respects. This means that there are many communicative barriers which interpreters and

translators have to overcome; in addition, these barriers are, to some extent, different in translation and

interpreting.

Translators of business correspondence must be taught that English business style is different from Russian in

terms of formalities. Otherwise, the routine formulas of greetings, openings, addresses and closures may trap

translators. In a

Antonina Badan, Ukraine- ; „ 91

letter, the opening address is important because it sets the tone of the letter: if the addressee, one "I. Smith", is a

woman, and the translator does not make allowance for this eventuality, "I. Smith" may be offended by being

addressed as "Mr. Smith". Yet the absence of information about the marital status of a woman does not allow for

randomly addressing her either as "Miss" or "Mrs". In this clear-cut case, the sensible approach is to omit the "Mr"

or "Ms" and use the first name or initials.

However there are other situations in which neophyte interpreters might find it difficult to decide whether to

simply follow the initial source utterance or to use their background knowledge and consequently introduce an

etiquette phrase: in Russian there is no etiquette address to the chair of a meeting as opposed to English etiquette

requirements. In practice, the beginner is best served by following the example of experienced colleagues.

English and Russian also differ in presenting the complimentary closure. Some Russian business letters may not

include any kind of complimentary closure at all, while this is a must in English (Londo 1990). Once again the

question arises: should the translator disregard the difference and follow the Russian pattern? I am convinced

translators and interpreters should take the pragmatic meaning as their lead in deciding how to render it to the

addressee. But, as stylistics and pragmatics are different fields, they must also be differentiated by a translator in

order to retain both the tone and meaning of the letter.

The difference at the ethnocultural level is even more obvious in the business correspondence style of the two

languages. The lengthy totalitarian rule in the former Soviet Union has left its imprint on a categorical style in

correspondence, which is alien to the diplomatic and often courteous English. We might say that stylistic norms are

different and they still remain different, though there is now some transition to Western European norms (as the

result of the rapprochement with Western culture).

In this respect special instruction in business grammar is helpful. It eliminates categorical statements by

changing their grammatical structure. Thus the normal Russian business style statement "I think it will be useless

for you", can easily be substituted by "I don't think it will be useful for you" in English and will be appropriate in a

given situation.

Even minor peculiarities, such as word order in a person's first and last names, may be of importance in order to

avoid confusion. The Russian norm of presenting the last name first is easily explained by the Russian community-

cen-


tred rather than individual-centred psyche. In Western culture the individual is most important. The same difference

is found in the rules of writing addresses: in English the name comes first, to be followed by place of residence. In

Russian the more general data are presented at the beginning: the name of the country fol lowed by the name of the

city, street, house number, apartment and then, finally, the person's name.

There are even more stumbling blocks for interpreters unless they have been specifically taught these

differences. It is obvious that the closer the cultures the fewer the obstacles in translation or interpreting.

Conclusion

The substantial shift towards a notion of communicative competence noted by Brumfit (1995) has facilitated the

teaching of translation in terms of meanings which constitute cultures. Communication in this sense is defined by

the capacity of individuals in different cultures to interact. According to this view the ability to communicate

successfully depends only partially on one's knowledge of grammatical rules. The ability to integrate these rules

into an overall pragmatic competence and to use this effectively in face-to-face communication is more important.

Teaching business communication should therefore in no way overlook the necessity to bring together and

compare cultures, let alone translation of business correspondence and documentation of business, in which strict

rules govern every type of document.

Undoubtedly Russian and English can serve as examples of diametrically different languages. Consequently the

problems which translators and interpreters will have be taught to overcome are more complex than between closely

related languages. In studies of the relationship between Russian and English, there is an added complication that

nowadays English is also used as the foremost language for international communication. In other words, when we

translate from Russian into English we present and compare Russian culture not only with British and American

cultures, but with those of the rest of the world. So, teaching translation for special purposes, in my case teaching

translation for business communication, is no different from the general trend of studying a foreign cul ture by doing

away with the domination of textbooks and instead basing it on the learner's own experiences in everyday

situations. The role of the teacher in this

Antonina Badan, Ukraine 93

context is that of intercultural interpreter and navigator assisting the students to overcome the foreign language barriers.

TEACHING AND STUDENTS

POSTMODERNISM AND THE TEACHING OF TRANSLATION

Rosemary Arrojo

Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil

In traditional terms, both translation and pedagogics have been understood as instances of meaning transferral.' Based

on the essentialist presupposition that meaning (or truth) could be a neutral, stable entity that is not dependent on con-

textual circumstances and on ideological interests, our modern tradition' has described translation in terms of an attempt

to transfer meaning from one language, and culture to another, while it has expected teachers to transfer a supposedly

ready-made body of knowledge inherited by their generation to the next. Since; such transferrals should take place under

the sign of objectivity, and allegedly universal values, both translation and teaching, and, particularly, the teaching of

translation, have been keen to devise models or methods that could systematize once and for all some practices that have

always failed to fit into the limited scope of the theories produced to explain them.

The notion of a method conceived as an attempt to systematize knowledge and applying a certain theory to a certain

practice is compatible with what we might: consider as an eminently modern world view which is based, in general

terms, on the possibility of reaching a level of objectivity that could be protected from the limits of prejudice and

ideology and acquire a universal status. From a perspective informed by the jargon and the critique of postmodernism,

we might say that a method is, in general, a form of master narrative which is presented as a definite alternative to what

is supposedly purely practical and devoid of a scientific basis. The dream of an impossible modernity expressed in the

search for models of systematization which could help the study of translation attain a scientific status is still an

important tendency in the area. It was particularly stimulated by the establishment of linguistics as the science of

language in the 1960s and the 1970s. Since then, the implicit promise of the development of a scientific method for

translation that could finally be freed from the translator's undesirable interference has attracted several scholars. Juliane

House, for example, declares that her work intends to overcome an allegedly pre-scientific stage, constituted by "pre-

linguistic studies," inscribed within a"long tradition" of "anecdotal reflections" on translation and on its evaluation

brought forth by, professional translators, philologists and poets. In opposition to this tradition, House intends to offer

"some light" to the area of translation assessment by deve-


loping an "eclectic model" that could bring objective criteria to the ways we compare and evaluate originals and

their translations (1977: 5, 2).

The rejection of what is purely practical and of any pre-scientific reflection on the translator's task is also the rejection of difference and of any factor that might be associated with subjectivism in the production and in the evaluation of translations. In a typically modern attitude, Theodore H. Savory, for instance, attributes the lack of universally accepted principles for translation to a certain lack of discipline shared by translators in general:

The truth is that there are no universally accepted principles of translation, because the only people who are qualified to

formulate them have never agreed among themselves, but have so often and for so long contradicted each other that they have

bequeathed to us a volume of confused thought which must be hard to parallel in other fields of literature (1968: 49-50).

In a book that intends to help teachers find an "alternative" to the impasse of an "empiricism" that has gone

nowhere, Jean Delisle expresses his disappointment with literary translators who "never learned to use their

experience as a basis for constructing theories" and "sought to justify their personal notions of translation as an

art, instead of studying translation as a practice in order to identify theoretical hypotheses and general principles

and rules. In this sense, their approach was not scientific" (1988: 32).

The search for general laws and principles has stimulated the search for a pedagogical model that could transfer

such principles, rules and criteria to the training of professionals. If we take such an ideal of objectivity and

universalism to its extreme, we will certainly end up with surreal fiction, such as Stephen Straight's claims that to

do their job adequately translators should ideally know all there is to know, not only about "the linguistic system

and cultural context of the author of the original", but also the language and culture of "the intended audience of

the translation". In a table entitled "outline of knowledge translators must have", which is "largely based on Nida,"

Straight attempts to divide all there is to know into five categories: ecology; material culture, technology; social

organization; mythic patterns; and linguistic structures. Even a cursory glance at these categories makes one realize

the absurdity of such a classification, as well as the impossible mission devised by any essentialist project for the

translator to handle. Taking Straight's case as an extreme illustration, we might say that in the end the elaboration

of any successful method with universalizing expectations would necessarily entail the control of every fact and

every event as well as the exhaustion of all the information that there could ever be.'

Rosemary Arrojo, Brazil 99

Postmodern thinkers have tried to point precisely, not only to the irrationalism inherent in such a search for

the strictly rational, but, most of all, to the underlying violence involved in it. Jean-François Lyotard, for

instance, has argued that the great master narratives about alleged human emancipation, built in the name of the

search for the rational and the universal, necessarily disregard and disfigure whatever is regional and specific. As

various trends of contemporary thought - deconstruction, poststructuralism, feminism - have attempted to show,

all essentialist projects necessarily reveal a desire that a certain brand of reason, always related to a certain group

and to certain interests, may overcome and engulf all the other 'reasons'. Any essentialist philosophy, like every

universalizing enterprise, is nothing more than a totalitarian, "white mythology" which, instead of formulating

universal truths, simply reflects its own culture: "the white man takes his own mythology, Indo-European

mythology, his own logos, that is, the mythos of his idiom, for the universal form of that he must still wish to call

Reason" (Derrida 1982: 213).

As they reveal the complex relationship that directly links power, reason, and knowledge, postmodern theories

of knowledge and the subject do not alienate difference (nor that which Derrida has called différance), and thus

take every practice and every experience quite seriously, at the same time that they abandon all unattainable

theoretical ideals and all the totalitarian master narratives which have always rejected the local and the different

in the name of a supposedly universal reason. The implications of these conclusions are particularly clear in

education. For the school idealized by essentialism, knowledge is basically a form of transferrable heritage which

should be ideally transmitted to the next generation without the 'subjective' interference of those who take part in

the process. ° This conception of knowledge could be associated with what Michel Foucault has called

"connaissance" (the process which allegedly allows for the multiplication of objects of knowledge while the

subject/researcher remains the same) and to which he opposes the notion of "savoir", i.e., the process by means

of which the subject is modified by whatever he comes to know (1991: 69-70). As they attempt to protect

canonized forms of knowledge, essentialist brands of pedagogy actually stimulate and promote the training of

conservative, passive teachers, researchers and students who remain obedient to an authority which they imagine

to be outside ideology and free from political, regional interests.

Any teaching project inspired by knowledge as "connaissance" establishes a form of disciplinary power in

order to homogenize individual differences and


characteristics (Jacques 1991: 344, note 16). This type of teaching does not allow learners to explore and strengthen

their own perspectives, communities and cultural roots and ends up 'teaching', in the name of allegedly universal,

objective truths, only the perspective of the group that has the power to determine what has to be taught and to

exclude "the voices, the histories and the experience" of those who happen to be "subject" to such a group

(Aronowitz and Giroux 1991: 94). In translation teaching, and in the name of what is 'objectively' correct and ade-

quate, this kind of pedagogy ends up imposing one authoritarian reading of the text to be translated, a certain

conception of what translating is, as well as a certain 'correct' way of doing it, in an attempt to do away with all

disagreements and divergences.

The postmodern critique of essentialism is particularly useful for the deconstruction of rationalist pretensions in

traditional pedagogics because we can use the critical body on reading and writing developed by certain trends in

contemporary thought which explicitly revise the traditional relationship which has generally been established

between subjects. For the essentialist conception of reading, basically conceived as an instance of reception and

protection of meaning, the authority about what has to be recovered is concentrated in the author. In a pe dagogical

context, the learner is therefore supposed to passively receive what is determined by the teacher's authority,

legitimized by the educational institution and by the system that supports it. The political implications of this

hierarchical distinction between the one who teaches and the one who learns, the one who determines what is true

and desirable and the one who is expected to follow it, are clear and far-reaching. Thus, the dominant conceptions

of reading and writing necessarily serve the goal of "silencing" students, at the same time that they attempt to

transform them into subjects that blindly obey authority. As students learn to faithfully "follow" what they think to

be the author's instructions, they also learn to follow authority and established meanings without questioning them

(Morton and Zavarzadeh 1988-89: 158).

At the same time that the reading of a text cannot be politically naive, any kind of teaching founded on

logocentrism always involves power relations that are masked in the name of an alleged neutrality which, in reality,

merely defends and canonizes certain interests. The means by which teachers use power in order to legitimize the

reading and the writing of "certain histories", which Aronowitz and Giroux call "textual authority", must be

questioned in the "partiality" of their own "histories", and understood in terms which may clarify their interests and


goals in the "construction of the students' voices" and the subjective positions that they impose (1991: 103).

Instead of simply attempting to transmit and protect canonized forms of knowledge, postmodern teachers

deconstruct this knowledge by means of an examination of the political and ideological interests as well as the

compromises that inspire and conduct their own work. As they deconstruct this knowledge, that is, as they try to

establish the motivations and the power relations hidden behind such knowledge, these teachers also deconstruct

their own role, exposing the interests and the perspective that constitute the options and the readings that they are

willing 'to teach'. In their practice, such teachers also implement the subversion of the traditional distinctions

between writing and reading, between author and reader, and exercise a form of politics of "resistance" which,

for Lyotard, is the truly political task of our age (as quoted in Van Reijen and Verman 1988: 302).

For postmodern teachers, the relentless scrutiny of what they intend to teach, how and why they intend to do it,

the questioning and the political implications of the readings they propose and accept and, also, of those they

exclude, become part of their basic work, not merely before and after classes but, first and foremost, within the

limits of their own classroom. Such teachers must be constantly alert to the effects and the reach of the leadership

which they exercise and of the influence they project in the training of their students. In brief, they take the re-

sponsibility for the essentially political, social and ideological role they play as they exercise their teaching, no

longer reduced to a mere technique or to the simple application of a method. Their "textual authority" has to be

analyzed not only for the ways in which it allows "certain forms of empowerment" but also for the ways in which

it excludes "certain voices, histories and experiences" of specific groups, due to "race, class, ethnicity and gender"

(Aronowitz and Giroux 1991: 103).

Returning to my initial question, it is now possible to say that, from the perspective of a postmodern critique of

allegedly universal values and rationality, the basic goal of any teaching project is the education of individuals

who are conscious of their place, their roots and their social context, and who are able to deconstruct (and,

therefore, also to exercise) power and authority within the groups to which they belong and in which they find the

meanings they accept to be 'true'. From such a stance, what would be the role of a pedagogical model within

postmodernism? Could there be a postmodern method for teaching? As it deconstructs the notion of a universal

truth, of a single rationality for all human


beings and of metanarratives that propose to encompass and transcend the local and the individual, postmodernism

also deconstructs the notion of a model as a theoretical recipe for the practice of translation or for its teaching. As it

deconstructs the notion of a pedagogical model as a ready-made metanarrative that teachers simply accept and use

in their classrooms, without a critical perspective, postmodernism perhaps proposes an anti-model, a constantly

critical practice which distrusts any project of systematization with universal pretensions.

Postmodern teachers of translation practice will attempt to become conscious of their "textual authority", of their

responsibility for the interpretations they produce and of their essentially political role, not only inside the classroom

but, most importantly, in the community to which they belong. Armed with such an awareness and with their

compromise to unmask the power relations that determine the meanings and the hierarchies that constitute the 'truths'

which shape their classroom, community and, ultimately, also their own history, postmodern teachers will start their

courses by the very deconstruction of the practices and contents to be taught, as well as of the 'official' goals to be

met. They will listen to their students' interests and motivations and will try to show them how such motivations and

interests can be linked to the institutions which originated them. With their students, they will examine the

professional, financial and social position of translators and, together, they will attempt to organize strategies which

may improve working conditions and their societal context. They will not teach their students to follow 'universal',

'objective' translation rules. Instead, they will show them how 'rules' are always local and unstable, at the same time

that they will help them discover which rules they should follow and how this should be done most effectively in

order to meet professional goals. Together with their students, they will examine the translations they consider

adequate and, in particular, what makes them successful in the specific context of the classroom. In other words,

postmodern teachers will not give up their "textual authority", but will make an effort to make it as transparent as

possible, showing their students that this kind of authority, like any other, both inside and outside the school, is a

form of power that can be overcome.

Conversely, for traditional, 'modern' teachers of translation practice, in search of the definite technique or method

that will allow them to translate and to teach how to translate in an objectively 'correct' way, the main focus is

precisely such a method. Such teachers will consider their own translations as 'indisputably' correct and adequate

and, as they ignore their own relationships with the inter


pretations they produce and their own "textual authority", they will be teaching their students that they should

ignore themselves as meaning producing agents and that, like their teacher, they should also ignore the essentially

political character of both translation and teaching. Since such teachers have 'indisputably' correct readings and,

consequently, a universal method to be implemented, they tend to ignore the their immediate context and their

students' backgrounds and goals. .

Finally, we could say that, while the modern teaching model is essentially totalitarian, racist and androcentric,

a postmodern anti-model for the teaching practice is opposed to any form of authoritarian homogenization, in

which the relationships between theory and practice, researcher and teacher, teacher and student, scientist and

layperson, original and translation, the University and the community, and many other similar dichotomies, are

determined by a hierarchy in which the first element exercises a certain superiority, a certain form of power over

the second which is simply taken for granted. Even though it is utopian, the transformation of this blindness into a

clear vision is, perhaps, the great revolution that every teaching project should have as a goal.

Notes1. This paper is part of a research project sponsored by Brazil's National Council for Research (CNPq), reference number

304543/89-6NV.

2. The term 'modern' is probably one of the most ambiguous key words of contemporary discourse. In the context of this article,

'modem' refers to what, for Jean-François Lyotard, designates "any science that legitimates itself with reference to a[totalizing]

metadiscourse making an explicit appeal to some grand narrative, such as the dialectics of Spirit, the hermeneutics of meaning, the

emancipation of the rational or working subject, or the creation of wealth" (1984: xxüi).

3. For a more detailed discussion on Straight's categories and approach, see also Arrojo 1993 and 1994.

4. For a specific discussion on the interference of the subjective in the process of teaching and learning, see Arrojo 1993.


by introducing changes? Changing norms is by definition a disruptive activity and as such normally socially

undesirable.

However, norms are not stable. They are always related to a given society at a given time. We can therefore

expect them to change, and sometimes we can anticipate, on the basis of more general trends in society and new

knowledge, the lines along which they are going to change. Toury (1995: 62) points out that it is possible to find

three types of coexisting (and competing) norms: mainstream norms, remnants of previous ones and rudiments of

new ones. He observes that adherence to one of these types of norms should not be regarded as associated with a

particular generation or age group, and that young translators, in particular,tend to perform according to dated, but still existing norms, the more so if they receive

reinforcement from agents holding to dated norms, be they language teachers, editors, or even teachers of

translation (Toury 1995: 63).

In the case of subtitles, present-day norms very obviously reflect an attitude towards language and especially

towards language registers which ignore many findings in modern linguistics, particularly in the domain of

differences between written and spoken language or functional values of various linguistic structures. The

reasons for this are not difficult to see: subtitles are rendered in written form, and written language is by nature

more organized, more condensed than speech, and as such ideal for subtitling, in which reduction of form is one

of the basic demands. Written language is reliably standardized while spoken language is not, and in Western

societies written discourse is valued more highly than spoken discourse.

Subtitling has not managed to emancipate itself from literary translation, and (despite occasional claims to

represent the original dialogue as faithfully as possible) it gives priority to norms of the written discourse over

the original - oral - discourse, into which norms of everyday conversation have mostly found their way. Lambert

(1993: 234) raises two important issues: first, that translated texts are never based only on the original text, but

also on the competitive influences of the original and target language systems; and secondly, that preference for

written over spoken may reflect a hierarchical priority of values from the past over values of the present.

Although we can accept that subtitles, as a"support text" (Lambert 1993: 234), will never totally reject the norms

ol written language in favour of those of spoken communication, there are several reasons for trying to bring

them closer together.

Irena Kova&l; Slovenia 107

Probably the strongest argument against 'smoothed out' dialogue, characteristic of subtitles designed in accordance with norms of written, rather than spoken discourse, is that it distorts the relative weight of the informative (propositional) and interpersonal content of discourse. While written discourse typically foregrounds informative content, spoken discourse contains more personal and interpersonal elements. When films, dramas or comedies, in which personal and interpersonal components are fundamental dramatic devices, are subtitled according to the priorities of written discourse (with the disappearance of characteristics of spontaneous speech, such as false starts, incomplete sentences, gradual construction of conversation, corrections, explanations, persuasive interpersonal elements, one message broken into two or more parts, etc.), the shift may have significant consequences for the comprehension of the dramatic or comic development of the story, the relationships between characters, and their psychological states (Cf. Mason 1989; Kovairit (forthcoming)). When

(1) Remember Brian? He's got... You know, Jenny's cousin. Well, he's got killed in a car crash.

becomes(2) Jenny's cousin Brian

was killed in a car accident.

the viewer (as the eavesdropper) is denied insight into the actual construction of the message: the speaker first

treats Brian as an entity familiar to the listener, but then realizes this may not be the case, so uses 'a repair

technique' and specifies Brian's identity, and only then provides info.-mation on what happened to Brian.

A frequent argument against preserving the original dialogue structure is time and space constraint. However,

a shorter text does not always mean that the viewer will need less time to read the subtitle and will be able to

focus more onvisual information. Thus, example (2) can be reduced even further to (3) Brian was killed

in a car accident.

At first sight it seems that (3), being shorter by 14 letters than (2), might demand less reading effort from the

viewer. However, if this is a passage from a series in which Brian is not a central character and has not been

mentioned at all in the current episode, the viewer will indeed need less time to recognize the word "Brian", but

he will probably spend as much or even more time decoding it, that is searching for its proper - contextualized -

interpretation as in (2). Even though the very next subtitle may explain who Brian was, at the time when the

actual subtitle is on the screen, the viewer needed at least as much time to


recover the necessary information (from his memory) about the identity of the person (or to wonder about it) as it

would have taken him to decode the struc

turally more complex "Jenny's cousin Brian". A compromise like (4) Remember Brian, Jenny's cousin? He's got killed in a car crash.

is not just information about Brian's death wrapped up in some trivial gibberish. It shows how the original

information was structured, and how it came into being. It also preserves the speaker's consideration for listeners

and the problems they might have in understanding the message: he first wants to make sure that listeners can

establish the identity of the person in question and only then, as a second stage move, does he continue to give new

information regarding Brian. However, viewers are still not told that this was not done in a straight-forward way,

that the speaker first started out differently, but then decided to change his communication strategy. If this were

relevant for the story, yet another subtitling option might be selected:(5) Brian - you know, Jenny's cousin,

has got killed in a car crash.

Considerations like this make us aware that what may appear to deserve priority in terms of written discourse

norms, may be a poor subtitling solution in terms of the context of a specific dialogue. Another typical example of

such relative importance is a choice between so-called 'objective' or 'propositional' parts of a message and

'subjective' or 'modal' parts. Modal elements are among prime candidates for elimination in subtitling (Kova6`

1992). However, if the original dialogue of (6) is subtitled as (7),

(6) You may have noticed that he didn't recognize herwhen she came in.

(7) He didn't recognize herwhen she came in.

which would, according to results of empirical research, probably be most translators' first choice, this may not be

the optimal choice in terms of story development. We can very well imagine a context in which the speaker's

hesitation would turn out to be significant later on. And if reference is to a recent scene still well present in the

second character's (and, hopefully, the viewer's) mind, the subtitler might opt for (8).(8) You may have noticed he didn't recognize

her.

Irena Kovacic; Slovenia 109

This would eliminate a part of propositional meaning which is, within the picture-text complex, redundant,

while the speaker's uncertainty about the other person's perception of the situation would be preserved.

Analysis of such examples shows that teaching cannot be based exclusively on existing norms. It is probable

that, with the persistent search for ways to 'represent the original dialogue as faithfully as possible', criteria for

selecting what to eliminate or condense will also change. Therefore it is important not so much to tell the students

what we think subtitling norms should be or what they may look like in the future, but rather to equip them with

sufficient relevant knowledge about translation, language (as part of culture and as a social semiotic system),

language functions in human communication, and social attitudes towards language and language varieties.

Today's trainees may still be in the subtitling business in thirty or forty years' time, and it is impossible to

anticipate what will be regarded as dominant norms then. We do not want to restrain our students by prescribing

the "right" or "optimal" subtitling procedures. They need knowledge which will help them to reflect creatively on

subtitling, on language and on their own use of it, and not to slavishly accept norms imposed by traditional

prejudices about language hierarchies (including those we as their teachers may feel like advocating). In this way

they will be able to participate actively in the search and contribute to a gradual evolution of subtitling norms

towards a new, more independent system, which will draw more equally on both written discourse norms and

spoken discourse norms, definitely establishing subtitles as a recognizable text type in their own right.

THE SENTENCE GROUP:

THE KEY DISCOURSAL LEVEL IN TRANSLATION TEACHING

Li Yunxing, Tianjin Normal University, China

Levels of discourse

In current translation teaching in China, attention has shifted from individual words and sentences to discourse

because the translation of words and sentences is often conditioned by the discourse unit. Definitions of discourse

vary from author to author, so that for some 'discourse' has the length of a book while others consider it as short as

one sentence or even word (Huang 1988). Accordingly, in the discussion of translation practice, 'discourse' may

be anything from a book to a sentence. This confuses students. Experience of teaching in a Chinese environment

convinces us that it is reasonable and practical to divide discourse into levels, each of which is defined and studied

in its own right. This method has led to a clearer picture of and a better approach to the application of discourse

analysis in translation teaching.

The discourse in individual translation tasks is termed the text. A text in the sense of a complete entity in its

own right may vary in length, but the main idea is that a text is the overall linguistic and communicative entity

which the translator must handle as one entity. This is the top level in the discoursal hierarchy, and below it we

can identity three more levels:

The sub-text, the sentence group and the information unit.'

The 'sub-text' is a set of functionally and rhetorically related sentence groups, which may correspond to a

section of the text. The 'sentence group' is a set of coherently and cohesively arranged sentences constituting a

comparatively complete idea or image. It may be shorter than a paragraph but sometimes comprises several

paragraphs. Below the 'sentence group' is the information unit, which presents a basic proposition or an image

element and usually takes the form of either a clause or a phrase?

Although the levels of discourse are perceived according to the semantic and communicative functions of

discourse of different lengths, they can also relate to rhetorical divisions such as sections or paragraphs, and to

syntactic structures such as clauses or phrases, since both rhetorical and syntactic structures are car riers and

manifestations of communicative functions.


This model of discourse based on levels can serve as an easy-to-operate model in translator training courses.

The attention of the student is first directed to the top level, the text, for a brief analysis of field, tenor, mode and

style. The author and general background are also discussed. It is essential for students to have an comprehensive

view of what they are going to translate and to keep this in mind throughout the whole translation process. At the

level of the sub-text, field, tenor; mode and style are again analysed, but the teacher should make sure that these

analyses are a supplement only, since the whole is made up of the parts and there may be hybridisation within a

text (Hatim 1990). Up to this point students have been led through a macro-analysis of the discourse while the next

two levels open themselves up to micro-analysis. The sentence group level offers students perspectives of

cohesion, coherence and functional types of discourse. Furthermore, at the information unit level the teacher may

lead students through a mental process of 'breaking up' the target language message into manipulatable units: this

facilitates the transfer to the target language discourse.

The analysis of these discourse levels can draw upon findings in discourse research. But, in the context of

translation teaching, discourse analysis also has its own characteristics. First, translation involves two texts, the

source language text and the target language text. While each text can be studied separately, one goal in translation

teaching is to compare the source language text and the target language text. Such comparison can be made either

at the text, the sub-text, or at the sentence group level, each with its own focus. Comparisons of this kind heighten

students' awareness of the distance between their versions and the source language text and thus enable them to

work out revisions closer in meaning as well as in function to the source language text. Secondly, the source lan-

guage text is seen as a manifestation of the author's ideology and intention while the target language text is a

dynamic representation of the source language textual functions in the light of the translator's understanding of it in

negotiation with the author. Thirdly, among the four levels of discourse, the sentence group is the mainstay

because this is the level at which sentences begin to function as selfcontained wholes and at which translation

strategy (i.e. the translator's decisions regarding the transfer of functions of the source language text) is realized in

down-to-earth skills and manipulation. Fourthly, the information unit level is comparable with Nida's deep

structure transfer in which basic ideas are rearranged for target language presentation (Nida 1969).

Li Yunxing, China 113

The sentence group is, in our view, the key level in this discoursal hierarchy. The following are the major

aspects we dwell upon in translation classes: ,

Types of sentence groups

Many scholars have pointed out that one would find a mixture of functions in , most texts (e.g. Beaugrande and

Dressler 1981). The hybrid nature of discourse (Hatim 1990) renders it less practical and rewarding to discuss

types of discourse at the level of the text for the purpose of translation teaching. However, the degree of

hybridisation decreases as we move into the lower levels in the discourse hierarchy, and at the sentence group it

dwindles to a minimum, offering the teacher the best opportunities to analyse discourse types related to translation

strategies. Roughly, four types of discourse emerge from the samples we collect- ' ed for teaching. (a) narrative-

dominant, (b) descriptive-dominant, (c) expository, and (d) instructional ones.

The narrative-dominant group conveys dynamic images, actions and movements; the descriptive-dominant

sentence group presents static images, appearances and shapes. (The word 'dominant' is used to highlight the fact

that narration and description are often fused even within a sentence group.)Temporal order is an important frame of reference in the arrangement of dynamic images while spatial order is

essential to an orderly presentation of static ' images. In English-Chinese translation, both languages use time and

space relations to set up order. However, showing a stronger tendency towards iconicity, Chinese usually follows

the real-life time order more closely than English does.

The function of the expository sentence group is to present concepts, ideas and logical relationships. In

order to ensure faithful transmission of the source language functions, students must develop the ability to

identify concepts and relationships and to recognize them in accordance with the norms of different linguistic

structures. The information units in an expository sentence group are the constituent elements of a concept or an

idea, and may be equated with a clause, a phrase or a single word.The argumentative function is a much-discussed type of discourse, but we do not perceive such a function as

distinct at the sentence group level, at which argumentation breaks down into concepts just as exposition does. It is only at the higher levels, the sub-text or the text, that argumentation is clearly distinct from exposition.


The function of the instructional sentence group is to tell the reader what to do. It has a more direct perlocutionary force than the other types of sentence groups. Samples of instructional sentence groups abound in operation manuals and consumer advice, and are also found in expository texts. The information u nits in instructional sentence groups have values related to steps in a procedure and they are usually clauses or phrases. In handling such sentence groups, students must have a heightened awareness of the steps or stages in progression and make sure that the desired perlocutionary force is effected on the target language reader.

Cohesion in the sentence group

Cohesion is one of the major concerns of discourse analysts. In fact it is a feature which can best be studied at

the sentence group level, because cohesion is in essence a micro-structural phenomenon. Major cohesive

devices often include reference, substitution, ellipsis, repetition, synonymy and collocation (Halliday 1985). A

translation course must help students develop two abilities: first, they should be able to identify cohesion as a

phenomenon in the source language sentence group; secondly, they should be able to establish functionally-

equivalent cohesion in the target language sentence group: in English-Chinese translation, this is often achieved

through cohesive devices different from those in the source language sentence group.

Here is one of the sentence groups once used in our class:Unlike U.S. carriers with fixed-wing, high-performance jets that are catapulted into the air and require about 600 feet of deck to land, the Brezhnev will be just a bigger version of the Kiev [aircraft carrier]. Its jump jets take off by racing up its uptilted nose. They land almost vertically.

In this sentence group there are two cohesive bonds: "the Brezhnev...its...its" and "jump jets ...they." In both bonds pronouns are used to refer back to corresponding nouns, a device which is termed reference. A student's Chinese version reads: -

...wl. qlkl*)4 -ft*Nf~ I0

AAA i,+. >Z 0A -tAt4iAr'-7Pf.1.

The cohesive bond in the Chinese sentence group is: *_Akl~ik ---$--- (#JApfj,~vjump jets --- their --- [jump jets]

It is clear that the cohesion in the target language sentence group is so confusing that it may give a reader the

erroneous impression that a jet plane has an

Li Yunxing, China 115

uptilted nose and that this nose plays a key role in taking off. Teacher-directed discussion among the students led

to the following revised version: ...

*ilk -k, 0 -1 4_1) r0A11 0).

This translation has two cohesive bonds:

the Brezhnev --- ship's --- nose

and4Ak*B ~t, --- t.} Ak Pf lpn.) jump jets --- [jump jets]

Obviously, these two bonds are different from the English ones in that they employ synonymy and ellipsis

instead of reference. However, they fulfill the same function as their English counterparts.

Discussions of such samples make students realize that cohesion is an indispensable parameter for translation

equivalence. In order to guarantee equivalent cohesion in the target language sentence group, the teacher must

familiarize his students with the similarity and differences between the source language and the target language in

the use of cohesive devices. In the case of English-Chinese translation it is widely assumed that both languages

share more or less the same cohesive devices although they are distributed differently. Preliminary contrastive

studies have shown that Chinese uses more repetition and ellipsis whereas reference and substitution are more

common in English (Zuo 1994).

Coherence in the sentence group

If cohesion is concerned with the lexical and grammatical aspect of texture, coherence calls attention to the

logical arrangements of structural elements in the creation of texture. In English, logical arrangements are made by

means of conjunctions ('therefore' ,'but', 'as a result', etc.), by syntactical coordination and by subordination which

indicates such relationships as reason, result, condition, supposition, purpose, restriction, etc.' In general, Chinese

employs both means to maintain coherence. In English-Chinese translation, conjunctions are usually translated

literally with only occasional inversion in the logical sequence, but the re-establishment of syntactic relationships

often leads to changes along the following lines: 1. hypotactical structures are replaced by paratactical structures

and


2. logical relationships are altered to meet the Chinese norms of logical sequence. The following is a sample

used in class:Under Eisenhower, the United States enjoyed a virtual monopoly on nuclear weapons largely because of its superior delivery system, the B-52 bomber still in use. As a consequence, U.S. nuclear doctrine was based on the threat of "massive retaliation" to punish Russian adventurism in areas deemed vital to the West.The logical sequence in this sentence group can be shown as follows:

- because of - - - as a consequence - - - to punish - - - deemed - - -

[result] [reason] [result] [restriction] [restriction]A published translation of the above sentence group reads:

"Fho, A A-%-1 I h. A k&O mke$~9111_. ES .JALUAA, tslj~l A2 4~ 0, -A A,2.

The logical sequence in the translation can be formulated as:

Eft --- fij --- --- kfk--- A—Because [reason] [result] as a consequence [result] if [supposition] [consequence]

A glance at the two logical-sequences will reveal that the first three relationships are largely kept with only a

linear inversion of the first two, but the last two relationships, which are syntactically expressed, have gone

through substantial changes. A new logical sequence 'supposition ... consequence' has been created in the

Chinese sentence group.

Samples of this kind have been proved to be most conducive to students' competence in maintaining

coherence in target language sentence groups. Strategies such as the inversion of logical sequence and the

creation of new logical relationships must be practiced in class and examples of erroneous or awkward repre-

sentation of logical relationships should also be discussed to heighten vigilance against possible pitfalls.

Concluding remarks

The application of discourse analysis in translation teaching discussed so far has followed three basic

principles. First, discourse should be regarded as a hierarchical scale. The teacher directs his students from the

top to the bottom, making the necessary analysis of relevant aspects at each level, and concludes by making the

students work with the sentence groups. Secondly, discourse should be regarded as one entity and an integrated

whole. Each level interacts with the level above or below in the same way as entities at the same level interact

with

Li Yunxing, China 117 one another. So, although students concentrate mostly on the

sentence group, this does not mean they can neglect the other levels. They must make sure that all the

messages at the bottom level are transferred faithfully and they must refer to higher levels to ensure overall functional equivalence. Thirdly, in the context of translation teaching, discourse analysis involves comparative studies of levels in the source language and the target language texts. In the process of translation students frequently compare their translations with the source language text at every level, especially at that of the sentence group, in order to introduce whatever revisions they deem necessary to bring their translation as close as possible to the source language text in both content and style.

Notes1. Throughout this article, 'discourse' is used as a general and abstract term. When discourse of specific lengths is discussed, 'text', 'sub-text', etc. are used. 2. The information unit should not be confused with the unit of translation. The latter is concerned with the structural match between the target language discourse and the source language discourse whereas the former refers to the basic constituent element of an idea or image which the translator considers the most appropriate to use.3. Coherence is usually regarded as the conceptual and logical continuity underlying cohesion (Hatim 1990) and conjunctions serve as a cohesive device (Halliday 1976). In this article adaptations are made for translation teaching.

TEACHING DIALOGUE INTERPRETING

Leong Ko, Deakin University, Australia

Dialogue interpreting is a popular and sophisticated form of interpreting which requires not only linguistic

competence but also paralinguistic skills. However, it is often taken to be the easiest form of interpreting by

students and some teachers. Therefore, students often neglect the essential prerequisites and fail to achieve a

well-balanced performance. However, dialogue interpreting is important and is worth examining in terms of

teaching methods that fully develop students' potential ability in interpreting and improve their interpreting

skills.

The course that I am teaching at Deakin University, Australia, is the Graduate Diploma in Interpreting and

Translating.` The majority of students are of Chinese speaking background: English is their second language.

There are 12 to 18 students in each class.

In teaching dialogue interpreting, it is impossible to put students in real work situations throughout the

course, so practice in the classroom environment is an important component of their training. There are

several ways of arranging classroom practice. For instance, students can interpret by listening to pre-recorded

dialogues; two teachers can have a conversation in front of the class and have one student interpret their

dialogue; a teacher and a student may have a discussion, which is interpreted by another student. All these

arrangements, however, do not make all students participate. I believe that, in the teaching of dialogue

interpreting, we should involve as many students as possible in practice, either as actors or as interpreters,

because an improvement in their oral delivery will complement their interpreting skills. This conviction is the

principle behind the studies I shall discuss.

The exercise begins with the setting up of groups, each comprising three students: one student acting as an

English speaker, the second as a Chinese speaker and the third as an interpreter. This allows for four modes of

practice:

Mode 1. Students are given a topic for discussion, and the 'interpreter' interprets the conversation between

the two 'actors.'

Mode 2. The two 'actors' are given a scenario outline (but the 'interpreter' is not). The 'actors' follow the

scenario and the 'interpreter' interprets their conversation.


Mode 3. All three students are given a brief outline which will form the basis of a future discussion. They are

also given relevant materials and asked to do some research in the area.

Mode 4. All students in a group are given the same topic which will be discussed at a future meeting. The two

'actors' - but not the 'interpreter' - are given some additional materials. The 'interpreter' is asked to research the topic.

I shall here describe the four modes and analyse their advantages and disadvantages. This is done in order to

organise interpreting practice in classroom environments effectively, to stimulate students' interest, to encourage

their voluntary participation, to develop their potential, to expose them to complicated and demanding interpreting

situations, and to improve their interpreting skills. It is also my intention to identify an appropriate level of teacher

involvement in the teaching practice. In addition to the observation and analysis from a teaching per spective, the

study also draws on students' feedback during and after their participation in this course.The requirement for all classroom sessions is that students should act and interpret as in a real situation; if the

'interpreters' come across anything that they do not understand, they should seek clarification from the 'senders' directly rather than start a discussion; during the process of communication, the 'recipients' should respond to the messages conveyed by the 'interpreters', rather than directly to those of the 'senders'. All problems arising from the process of interpreting are to be discussed at the end. Each role play lasts for 15 to 20 minutes. Then the students

swap roles and start a different scenario so that all of them will have a chance to interpret. Students spend two to three months practising in only one mode.

Case studies and analyses

Mode 1: only the topic is given

EXAMPLETopic: The establishment of a sister city relationshipParticipants: a. The mayor of a city in China

b. The mayor of a city in Australiac. An interpreter

Venue: The meeting room of a city council in Australia

Teacher's instruction .The teacher introduces the topic and either conducts a brainstorm about the issues that may be discussed at the

meeting, or allow the students a few minutes to prepare their talk.

Leong Ko, Australia 121

Findings concerning the 'actors': Some 'actors' can talk freely and the dialogue flows smoothly. More than half of the 'actors' run out of ideas, the dialogue breaks down and lasts less than

10 minutes. If an 'actor' cracks a joke, all will burst out laughing right away, before the 'interpreter' starts

interpreting. If the 'interpreter' does not know a word, one of the 'actors' will often step in and provide

what is missing in the target language; or all will start a discussion. Both 'actors' respond to the 'interpreter' instead of directly to each other. There are a good body language and eye contact with the 'interpreter' and between the

'actors'.

Findings concerning the 'interpreters': The interpreting is accurate. The 'interpreter' is confident, at ease and rarely asks for clarification or repetition. There are a good body language and eye contact. The 'interpreter' takes few notes, if any.

AnalysisMore than half of the 'actors' find it hard to perform because of a shortage of ideas on any given topic. For this

reason deliveries are often short and simple in terms of language. The 'interpreters' therefore find it easy to interpret. Their interpreting skills improve slowly over 2 to 3 months of practice. They also demonstrate a good body language and eye contact.

This is a handy interpreting exercise, calling only for a good topic. But the , result is not satisfactory due to the

'actors" poor performance. The briefing before the exercise needs to be structured and comprehensive. In addition,

it is important that the teacher also participates as an actor in order to serve as a good model for the students, e.g.

suggesting ways to explore the topic.Topics must be general and argumentative so that the ' actors' can use their contextual knowledge and have

balanced dialogues. Interviews are usually not suitable, as they tend to make for one-sided speeches.

Mode 2: written scenarios are given to the 'actors', but not to the 'interpreter' EXAMPLETopic: Negotiating a housing loanParticipants: a. The Loans Officer of a bank

b. A couplec. An interpreter

Venue: The meeting room of a bank


The written scenario

A couple have an appointment with a Loans Officer at the bank to discuss whether they qualify for a housing loan. They have heard

that banks these days are all willing to lend people money.

The officer explains that, yes, it is a lot easier nowadays to negotiate loans, especially personal ones, because many women have

entered the workforce and are in a better position to contribute towards a mortgage repayment.

The clients are particularly interested in a housing loan. The couple have been married for about four years and have no children;

they have been saving to buy a house. They have a joint account at this bank and so far they have saved about 15,000 dollars.

The officer explains that in order to qualify for a housing loan, one needs to have savings amounting to at least 10% of the value of

the house. So with 15,000 dollars> they should be looking for a property worth about 150,000 dollars. However, conveyancing and

lawyer's fees and stamp duty must also be taken into account. So if they need to borrow money for those as well, they should look for

a house which is worth less than 150,000 dollars.

The couple ask about interest rates and repayments.

This bank will lend about 120,000 dollars at the current rate of 8.75% for a housing loan and the rest of the money can be borrowed

at a higher interest rate as a personal loan. Repayments are calculated on the husband's gross monthly salary and are to be repaid

over a 25 year period.

What else do they have to do to apply for a loan?

The bank needs their income details. The couple work for the husband's brother who has a wholesale fruit and vegetable business.

He is doing well and will act as a guarantor for them. They earn about 50,000 dollars a year jointly.

Do they have any other assets and any other debts?

They own all their furniture and a 2-year-old Datsun, on which they still owe about 4,000 dollars. But the couple stress that their

credit rating is excellent and that they have paid off the loan on their furniture before the expiry date.

The Loans Officer will prepare a report and will issue an official statement to the couple about the maximum amount they can

borrow. They can use the bank statement as tentative financial approval to bid at an auction or to make an offer if a property they like

becomes available.

Teacher's instruction

The 'actors' are given a few minutes to read the scenario but are told to use it as a guideline rather than reading it.

Findings concerning the 'actors': The scenario restricts the 'actors', who become passive, and the dialogue does not flow smoothly. The 'actors' respond directly to each other, especially when the 'interpreter' makes a mistake

If the 'interpreter' does not know a word, one of the 'actors' will often give the missing word in the target language, or they will

start a discussion.

The 'actors' can employ appropriate terminology. They have poor body language and eye contact with the 'interpreter' and with one another.


Findings concerning the 'interpreter':* The interpreting is accurate.

The 'interpreter' is confident but has some terminology problems.

There is a good body language and eye contact.

The 'interpreter' takes only a few notes but more than in Mode 1.

Analysis

This mode is frequently used by teachers as a classroom exercise. The written scenario helps the 'actors'. It is

expected that the 'actors' will have a structured dialogue. However, this purpose is defeated if the 'actors' are not

familiar with the scenario or are reading it while acting. For this very reason, many 'interpreters' find it easy to

work in this situation. But their interpreting skills improve only slowly.

In this mode, the teacher's participation is also important for showing how to use the scenario. The 'actors'

must be given enough time to comprehend the scenario so that they can talk freely and the 'interpreters' must

handle a great variety of ideas as well as terminologies.

The 'actors' can be given the scenario a few days in advance. In this case, the teacher has to set up the group

and, furthermore, ensure that the 'interpreter' does not see the scenario since the purpose of the preparation will

otherwise be compromised.

The design of a scenario also influences the 'actors" performance. A description is harder to act out than a

script which includes key words or a detailed outline.

The findings in Modes 1 and 2 reveal many good points, e.g. accurate interpreting, the 'interpreter' being

confident and working with ease, little clarification being needed, good body language and eye contact, the

'interpreter' taking very few notes, etc. However, these points should not lead us to assume that these are the

most appropriate forms of practice for the students.

During a simulated examination in the recording studio, where two teachers used a written scenario as a

guideline; I had all the students' performances recorded. When I played these tapes, a different picture emerged.

Most students took too many notes, had poor body language and eye contact, poor control of the situation and

were not at all confident. When I asked them why they performed so differently in the studio, they told me that

classroom practice was easier while the studio environment was stressful and that, as 'actors', other students only

spoke one or two sentences at a time and could help them if they


did not understand a word or could not find its equivalent in the target language. I observed that in the classroom

the students were too relaxed. They cracked jokes and discussed problems in both languages during the sessions.

They did not establish a professional attitude towards interpreting. Classroom practice is already artificial, but this

artificiality was compounded by their casual attitude. In a simulated real situation, they therefore became nervous

and their performance was unsatisfactory.

In these modes (1 and 2), the 'interpreters' are not adequately challenged, due to the 'actors" poor performance.

This holds back progress in interpreting skills. Accordingly, the 'interpreters' may gain the erroneous impression

that dialogue interpreting is simple and does not require much skill. The teacher must therefore take measures to

improve the 'actors" performance in order to achieve more satisfactory results.

Mode 3: all students in the group are given the same topic and materials one week in advance and are asked to do

some research in the area EXAMPLETopic: Joint venture brewery

Briefing:

Fosters Australia has made a preliminary agreement to set up a joint venture brewery in Shandong Province, China, which will

use barley from New South Wales (Australia). Chinese technical staff are coming to Australia to investigate malting and brewing

technology. You are to interpret the proceedings. The issues that will be discussed include malting and brewing processes and, if

time allows, training of Chinese brewers as well as technical support after the joint venture has started operating.

For background information, the students are given several chapters from a manual issued by the New South Wales Grains

Board. They are also told that they must do further research on the topic.


Nil (the teacher's participation is optional).

Findings concerning the 'actors': The 'actors' are prepared, the dialogue flows smoothly and the in-depth discussion comprises much technical terminology.

The 'actors' are generally serious and do not crack jokes.

The 'actors' can intentionally create both linguistic and paralinguistic difficulties for the 'interpreter'. -

The 'actors' are in control of the situation.

Both 'actors' respond to the 'interpreter' instead of directly to each other.


If an 'actor' uses a word which the 'interpreter' does not understand, the other 'actor' rarely,

helps him by supplying the equivalent language, nor will the group start a discussion.

They have reasonably good body language and eye contact with the 'interpreter', but better

with each other.

Findings concerning the 'interpreter': The 'interpreter' is prepared and confident

The interpreting is accurate, with appropriate terminology being used in the target language.

The 'interpreter' is keen on seeking clarification when needed.

The 'interpreter' uses good body language and eye contact.

The 'interpreter' takes only a few notes.

Analysis

The objective of this mode is to enable the students to have an in-depth discussion of the topic. If the 'actors' and

the 'interpreter' are prepared, they are able to talk extensively. The 'actors' can concentrate on delivery and paralin -

guistic aspects rather than on looking for ideas. Both 'actors' and 'interpreter' feel that they have learnt a lot from their

research and that they can use the relevant materials. They can therefore evaluate their own progress. In two to three

months of training, especially after the first month, the students' interpreting skills have improved significantly.

However, the problem with this mode of practice is that if one student in a group does not prepare adequately,

the conversation will become stifled. In addition, after a few sessions, the students may become lazy and their

performance becomes less satisfactory. For this reason their interpreting skills improve most significantly during the

first month.

Mode 4: all students are given the same topic with a brief outline (usually one week in advance). The two 'actors' are

given additional materials and the 'interpreter' is asked to research the topic EXAMPLE:The scenario is the same as in Mode 3. The 'interpreter' receives 'briefings' only.


Nil (the teacher's participation is optional).

126 Teaching Translation and Interpreting 3 "

Findings concerning the 'actors': The 'actors' are prepared and the discussion can go into depth with much specialist terminology, but the exchanges often come to a

standstill when the 'actors' need to give explanations to the 'interpreter'.

The 'actors' are generally serious and do not crack jokes.

The 'actors' can intentionally create both linguistic and paralinguistic difficulties for the 'interpreter'. The 'actors' are in control of the situation. Both 'actors' respond to the 'interpreter' instead of directly to each other.

If an 'actor' says a word which the 'interpreter' does not know, the other 'actor' rarely intervenes to help, nor do they start a

discussion.

They have good body language and eye contact with the 'interpreter'.

Findings concerning the 'interpreter': ` The 'interpreter' is prepared but not very confident.

The 'interpreter' is keen on seeking clarification whenever in doubt, but some technical words are not correctly interpreted.

Body language and eye contact ranges from poor to reasonable.

The 'interpreter' takes many notes.

Analysis

Exercises in Mode 4 are more difficult and demanding for the 'interpreters' than in Mode 3. They have to

prepare much more, but not all of their preparation is actually called into use by the 'actors' in the conversation. A

debriefing is essential to help the 'interpreters' solve problems that arise from the practice session. The students'

interpreting skills improve fairly quickly, especially in the first month. It is also a very good exercise for helping

students develop research abilities which are valuable in their future professional work.

The 'interpreters', however, complain that it is exhausting. As their load of assignments from other units

increases, they feel that they cannot spend so much time on research. The conversation thus becomes superficial

and the interpreting performance less satisfactory.

Both Modes 3 and 4 are excellent exercises. They not only help students develop research abilities, but also

enable them to assess their progress so that they can gain confidence. The key factor in successful practice is the

students' preparation rather than the teachers' arrangements. The teacher must therefore ensure that all students do

their homework.


Feedback from students and graduatesFeedback from the students consists of two parts: feedback from the 'actors' and feedback from the

'interpreters'. As 'actors', most students prefer Mode 2, because there is not much work involved, and they would like to receive the written scenario a couple of days before the practice session. They do not like taking part in Modes 3 and 4 too frequently because the preparation takes too much time. Mode 1 is acceptable, provided they are familiar with the topic.

As 'interpreters', students prefer Mode 3, because they find they can quickly improve their interpreting skills.

Their next preferences are Modes 2 and 1, provided the 'actors' have sufficient ideas to talk about. They do not

mind having some practice in Mode 4, but not too much.

Former graduates who are currently working as interpreters feel that practice sessions offered in Mode 3, and

particularly in Mode 4, are useful. They have found that most of the work they do in Australia is of the nature of

Modes 1 and 2. They have only encountered a few jobs in Modes 3 and 4. However, these jobs are often more

difficult and require higher skills. They would have felt lost if they had not known the strategies of preparation

and research.

Conclusion

In sum, it is hard to say which mode is preferable to the others for classroom interpreting practice. Each mode

has its advantages and disadvantages and requires different strategies in its usage in order to achieve a satisfactory

result.It should be kept in mind that although the objective of an interpreting course is to train interpreters, the

importance of the 'actors' cannot be overlooked. Their performance has a great impact on the performance of 'interpreters' and consequently on the improvement of interpreting skills. We should try to make the 'interpreters' work at a level which is a little higher than the one they feel comfortable with, or else they will not be adequately challenged and their interpreting skills will fail to show a significant and sustained improvement.

Notes1. Deakin University offers interpreting and translating courses in a variety of languages at both Bachelor and Graduate Diploma

levels: the former is a three-year course and the latter a one-year course. The courses are designed to train interpreters and

translators in diplomatic, business, legal, tourism and community areas rather than for conferences.


TEACHING LITERARY TRANSLATION:

"THE TRANSLATION HAPPENS WHEN YOU READ IT"

Silvana Orel, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Introduction

This article discusses ways in which one can highlight to students of translation the fact that translations

depend on particular readings and interpretations of specific texts. It is based on my experience of using literary

texts in my introductory translation classes for third-year students of English at the University of Ljubljana who

have not yet received any formal translation instruction. I focus on the importance of text interpretation in

translation and on the students' role in the translational process: their self-awareness and responsibility for their

translational decisions. The article also presents two techniques aimed at helping university students of

translation to develop their sense of self-awareness and responsibility. This is achieved by means of students'

empathy with both the target text reader and the source text author and the needs of both. By shaking their naive

belief in the myths of the perfect translation and the notion of equivalence; I hope to make students aware that

the source text can be observed from various points of view, and that the translator creates one concrete version

out of numerous possibilities.

The focus: Newtonian apples gravitate towards the translator's mind

The world's phenomena and mental ideas are processed by using the progression principle from the known to

the unknown and from concrete objects to the abstract. The shift from solid or definite entities towards floating

or indefinite notions is present in a number of research fields: for example in the shift from Newtonian classical

physics to quantum physics in the natural sciences, or from traditional realism to post-modernism and

deconstruction in literature. People's understanding of reality does not depend on the mere presence of objects,

but on their attitudes towards the objects and on the relationships between the people themselves.

The same general idea of progression can be observed in the development of translation studies (Stolze 1994:

230): from fairly static studies of language systems (grammar, contrastive analysis), via texts (text analysis), to

dynamic human factors and their relationships in translational communicative situations (Skopos theory), that is,

the roles of the initiator, the recipient, and, particularly

Silvana Orel, Slovenia 131

in the hermeneutic approach, of the translator. A similar shift in the focus from non-human to human factors in

translation has happened in translation teaching: Cay Dollerup (p. 19 et seq. above) discusses the role of the

teacher of translation, Marfa Julia Sainz (p. 137 et seq. below) the relationship between the teacher of translation

and her students, while in the present article I concentrate on students of translation and their transladonal

competence.

"Give me somewhere to stand, and I will move the Earth" (Archimedes)

University students' translational competence comprises their proficiency in both languages and cultures.

Translational competence is the students' reference point for their translational performance; students need a

firm referential basis in order to be able to translate a text in a satisfactory way.

Before they start practising actual translation, students now learn about dif ferent approaches to translation,

text types, writing skills, etc. This article does not deal with the acquisition of a particular translational skill, but

rather the development of students' attitudes towards other translations and, accordingly, to their own translations

as well. The attitude involves students' self-awareness and responsibility for their translational actions. Christiane

Nord (1991: 29) speaks' about responsibility to both the source target text and its sender, as well as the target text

and its recipient. She terms this responsibility "loyalty", that is, a "moral principle indispensable in the

relationship between human beings". Here, the translator's responsibility is associated not so much with the

translator's loyalty towards the author and the reader, as with loyalty towards himself. It is about the translator's

responsibility for his concrete actions: his translational decisions. Translation is seen in terms of Sartrian

existentialism, in which the individual person is considered as the reference point for all his actions.

Notwithstanding the constraints of the sender's intention, the subject matter or the recipientcentred translation

purpose, the translator has to take full responsibility for his self-created and freely-accepted translational actions.

In introductory translation classes aimed at developing students' translational self-awareness and

responsibility, I use existing translations of literary works for several reasons: initially, students have hazy ideas

and feel bombarded by new translation-related knowledge. Bearing in mind the progression from the known to

the unknown, teachers can help their students a great deal by activating their existing knowledge. In awareness-

raising exercises one can choose texts that the majority of the students know from their own reading. This will

stimulate lively


discussions as well as empathy with the reader. Elements demanding the translator's greatest responsibility in making

decisions are those associated with culture-bound and individual-specific notions, that is, those that present new or

different reality interpretations to the reader. In this respect, literary texts offer a multitude of possibilities for discussion.

"Reality happens when we look at it" (Danah Zohar)

Many students who are only just starting translation believe that translators are imitators or passive observers of the

source text and, as such, impersonal channels for the production of the target text: they aspire towards an objective

interpretation of the source text which is to be reflected in the target text. However, an interpretation is a particular way

of understanding something, and as such it introduces differences. I believe it is this notion of difference that students of

translation find particularly hard to accept.

There are several types of interpretational difference:

1. Interpretational differences in translation appear as linguistic or factual mistakes when the hermeneutic circle has

not yet reached its final point. An interpretation is formed when we think we have reached the most relevant reference

point at which the studied subject can be monitored in its entirety. A misinterpretation occurs when we or others realize

that the reference point from which the subject has been observed has shifted and enabled a more accurate under-

standing. When such a difference is analysed, it proves to be linguistically and factually wrong.

Interpretations at this level apply to generally accepted notions in the form of facts: for example, grammatical forms

and so-called universal truths. Their 'wrong' developmental phases lend themselves to both criticism and correction,

because they appear as small, identifiable parts of a greater textual whole. This type of interpretational difference is

usually dealt with in error analysis and relates to students' inability to function properly within a particular system of

interpretation.

2. Interpretational differences in translation also appear as alternative ways of understanding something. The reader

becomes aware of the fact that the observed system of interpretation differs from his own. Other people's interpretations

will be perceived as either a misunderstanding of the subject matter or a particular interpretation chosen out of a number

of probable interpretations.


In translation, this is the level at which the impossibility of the quest for a single and perfect translation is discussed.

Such interpretational differences arise from different sets of values, needs and expectations. The translator has to decide,

for example, whether to retain the source-target cultural elements or to transform them into those of the target culture.

Interpretational differences of this kind are fairly easy to detect, but they usually affect greater parts of the textual whole

than the first type of difference. The translator's decisions cannot be criticized without taking into consideration the role of

either the general or the ideal intended reader.

3. Interpretational differences which reach almost transcendental dimensions are connected with the translator's wish

to recreate the source author's style in the target text. We are dealing here with the impossibility of the quest for equiva -

lence. Whichever translational decision is taken, it does not seem to be commensurable with the original interpretation

of the author's style. The translator may move towards a satisfactory rendition, but he can never reach a fully identical

interpretation. Interpretational differences of this kind are not easy to pinpoint, because they mostly involve the

translator's or the reader's comprehensive perception of the author's work as an indivisible whole.

Responsibility: the apple of knowledge in the student's mind

The interpretational differences of the second and third types are used in the discussion of existing translations in

introductory translation classes. The aim of such discussions is to develop the translator's attitude towards the target text

reader and the source text author. In trying to understand the needs of the ideal intended reader and the source text author,

the translator enters a chain of intersubjective relationships based on a sense of responsibility and empathy. .

I would like to discuss this in terms of prospective seeing (prospection) and retrospective seeing (retrospection). By

taking into account the target-text reader's needs, the translator uses prospective seeing, while by reconstructing the

author's style and the text's intention, retrospective seeing is activated. These techniques teach students to assess the

elements of difference in translation: in the case of translation from a foreign language into the mother tongue the dif-

ference usually concerns those elements that have been added to the original by a particular interpretation produced by

the translator's understanding of the original and his wish to comply with the needs of the recipient. In the case of trans-


lation from their own language into a foreign language, students learn to accept the elements that have been taken

away from the original.

Prospection: the myth of a perfect translation

In order to make them emphathise with the ideal target text reader, I ask students to discuss the existing

translation(s) of a literary text. It is important that these translations have been carried out a foreign language into

their native tongue, since students' (extra)linguistic sensitivity is highest in their first language. As they are better and

more confident judges of their own language and the needs of the reader in their own culture, they can respond more

empathically. In prospection, students are asked to act as the intended reader and to compare the original with the

translation(s). They establish differences between the expected interpretation of the intended reader and the one they

themselves have as actual readers. This multitude of subjective interpretations of the source text causes a feeling of

dispersal with respect to the oneness of the original which, however, harbours a number of potential readings.

We must bear in mind that there will always be a discrepancy between the in tended reader and the actual reader

because of the simple fact that individuals have different intellectual, social and cultural backgrounds, and hence

different needs and expectations. A child's understanding of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll differs from that

of a psychoanalyst. Would we there say that one of them misunderstands, that is, misinterprets the book?

Translations of well-known children's books, for example those (frequently discussed) of Alice in Wonderland,

are effective in classroom discussion. Most of the students have already been acquainted with the work as children.

In addition, ten or fifteen years after the first experience, they find it interesting to discuss the 'same' work at another

level of understanding. If a children's book is translated according to communicative principles, the unintended

reader (an adult or a person familiar with the original text) will have to empathise with the ideal target text reader:

the child.

It is important that students are given texts which they (can) understand. It would be a waste of energy to start the

discussion of a translator's responsibility using a comparison of a literary text which they do not understand and its

translation. However, the discussion of such a text may prove useful if the teacher wishes to call the students'

attention to the contrast between the impact of a


familiar text about which the students have already formed an interpretation, and that of an unprocessed text.

Retrospection: the myth of equivalence

The second technique has students focus on the source text author, preferably a well-known author writing

in their own language. The aim is to acquaint the students with the myth of equivalence, especially in terms of

style. It tries to make them aware of the impossibility of 'complete equivalence' of the source and target texts.

In retrospection, students project themselves into the role of the author. The impact of this technique

depends on the extent to which students are familiar with the author's personality and style of writing. Students

are first given a translated passage and asked to identify the writer. If they cannot decide who the author is,

they are told and subsequently given the original text. They will often find it impossible to accept the style in

the translation: they experience a painful estrangement from something familiar. Instead of equivalence, they

are faced with alienation, a Verfremdungseffekt. This feeling of distress is increased if they discuss the

translation of passages which they know almost by heart.

Familiarity with a text means that students understand the text according to a particular interpretation. If it is

a literary work which constitutes a part of the cultural heritage, this interpretation is usually based on the

commonly accepted interpretation. Accordingly, this makes students respond to the text in quite a unitary way.

Knowing the style of the author, they do not translate the text semantically when they are asked to back-

translate it, but they rather try to recreate it in the source language so that it meets the needs of the author. In

classroom translation, students will often make comments such as, "Now, what would the author say here?"

This shows that the students use their awareness of the author's personality and see him as the ideal 'recipient'

of their translation: this awareness is based on memorised sections of the author's work and their conscious

endeavour to recreate the style that they feel is characteristic of him.

Conclusion

We have come to that familiar question in translation, "Who is this translation meant for?", or rather, "Who

needs my translation?" Are children's books translated for children or adults? The source book hardly exists for

a child who cannot speak the foreign language. Children rely on what they read in their own lan-


guage: so let them derive as much literary pleasure by reading the translation. Students of English literature, on

the other hand, should derive their literary pleasure by reading works in the original language, especially if they

discuss them in English and refer to secondary sources based on the source text readings. In the case of children,

a translation functions as a bridge, in the second, it is often perceived as a stumbling block.

The importance of translation thus depends on the reader's bilingualism and biculturalism. The less bilingual

and bicultural the recipient is, the more important the role of translation. And similarly, the more bilingual and

bicultural the recipient is, the more important the source text, so that, taken to the extreme, there is no need for

him to read a translation at all. In other words, the more readers are aware of the existence and identity of the

source text, the more difficult it is to produce a satisfactory translation for them.

The above procedures serve as a shock therapy to students. They destroy the students' facile beliefs in a

perfect translation and equivalence and make them aware of the extreme difficulties in translation. The two

techniques do not make translation easier for students. On the contrary, students feel even more responsible in

the early days of their translation instruction. However, their awareness of responsibility to the author and the

reader forces them think more about their translational decisions and thus to translate at a more conscious level

from the very beginning of their careers as translators.

AWARENESS AND RESPONSIBILITY: OUR STUDENTS AS PARTNERS

María Julia Sainz, University of the Republic of Uruguay

The road towards autonomous learning is paved with difficulties. As students start to move away from the

more conventional, teacher-centred classroom, they find obstacles in their way which can make "arrival" at their

destination seem a distant (perhaps unobtainable) aim. Progress is slow.

One of the obstacles that may be encountered is the background culture of ~ both students and teachers and their

deep-rooted habits. The western world may see matters in a completely different light from countries in other parts.

As well as this, all students are individuals with their own ways of learning and processing knowledge. However, I

believe there is always an opportunity for change, particularly if such change is to bring about an improvement of

some sort.

I shall place this article within the framework of my own small university in Montevideo, Uruguay. In doing

so, I hope I can also touch upon reality as some of you see it, too.

Some terms need to be defined from the beginning in order for us to agree about their meaning.

Awareness is a word much used in the terminology of language teaching at present. According to Webster's

New Collegiate Dictionary, aware means "Having or showing realization, perception or knowledge; having

knowledge of something and especially of something not generally known or apparent". What 'knowledge' do our

students have or show which would suggest they are aware? And in what way would that knowledge be 'something

not generally known'?

Another term that should be defined before we continue is responsibility. The same dictionary tells us that

responsible means "Liable to be called on to answer; able to answer for one's conduct or obligations; able to

choose for oneself between right or wrong". Again some questions come to mind as we read through these

definitions: what is right and what is wrong? What are our students' liabilities and what do they have to answer to?

The first question refers to what students have to know. A possible answer may be that they have to know they

are students, they have to know they have a certain role to play as students which makes them different from their

teachers and from other members of the community where they live. As simple as it may seem, this knowledge is

not shared by many students; they are "unaware" of the


true dimension of such a role. They cannot tell right from wrong, they are not 'liable to be called on to answer' to

their duties and therefore, they cannot be held 'responsible' for something they do not know.

When requesting responsibility from their students, teachers sometimes encounter blank faces, since the

students' obvious answer is that their teachers have not told them what they expect from them. They have not told

them about their duties, obligations and, for that matter, their rights. Teachers have failed to be clear about what it

means to be a student.

When something goes wrong in class, teachers are to blame. It is the teachers' role to teach students their role.

This sounds like a bad pun or at least a vicious circle. In fact, teachers should show and lead the way. Teachers

should be able to raise students' awareness of the active nature of learning and acquiring knowledge. It is not just

a simple matter of passive fact-absorption, but a constant give and take, with the "energy" flowing in both

directions.

Having all this clear from the outset will certainly make the learning process much easier and smoother,

paving the way for further learning. The time has come to consider that every individual in a class is an active

subject and that the responsibility for the learning process lies not exclusively with teachers but is shared by both

teachers and students, as well as by students among themselves.

This is not an easy task for teachers, perhaps because they are used to taking for granted that students

understand their role as students, perhaps because there is a syllabus to comply with, and time is always too

short, and anyway, why waste time raising issues as abstract as awareness or as obvious as responsibility?

It seems to me that a change in attitude and methodology is absolutely vital if teachers are to bring both

sides of the teacher-student equation into play for the benefit of students. If this can be achieved the result should

be greater student motivation, which could help lead to the skills of self-instruction and self-assessment that are

necessary if real autonomy is to be attained.

Talking about English for Special Purpose courses, Hutchinson and Waters (1987) stated that "What

distinguishes an ESP course from a General English course is not the existence of a need as such but rather an

awareness of the need". If the term ESP course is replaced by "translation" the sentence can be applied to our

courses. Translation students at the university have to be made aware of what their specific needs are and how to

cater for them.

María Julia Sainz, Uruguay 139

To illustrate what can be done to raise awareness in a class, I would like to refer to my own translation class. I

teach translation (English-Spanish) to a group of first-year students who are mainly Uruguayans with Spanish as

their mother tongue, a very homogenous cultural group. They have an average of only 4 contact hours a week in any

translation course. Although they have written assignments for their class, at the beginning of the year they did not

seem to be doing much more than this on their own. They did not seem to understand or compre

hend the scope of their task as students, so they behaved as if limited exclusively by the work they had to carry out for

their translation class.

In previous articles I have discussed activities students can carry out autonomously thereby cutting the life-line

to their teachers (Sainz, 1991 and 1993). These include back-translation, comparison of their own translations with a

published translation, translation done in pairs, peer discussion and analysis of translation, etc. As students start

controlling their own learning, they become aware of the many resources that the university and their environment

can offer them and thereby make the most of them.

As this process of cutting the life-line continues, the students' awareness of the scope of their task will grow:

they will start to recognise their needs as students and future professional translators, and simultaneously start to

satisfy those requirements better, thanks to their new appreciation of the available resources.

This is where learning-training plays an important role, so that students can derive the maximum benefit from

their position as students in order to cater for their own needs. These needs are not only those they have as students.

Analysis should show a deeper view into the needs students will have when they become professional translators.

Teachers' expertise in both fields can prove very useful in guiding students towards autonomous learning. I agree

with those who think that the most adequate and competent teachers at university are those who, apart from their

teaching position, are also practising professionals in the subject they are teaching.

The learning process involves both students and teachers. However, the relationship between both should be

such that it tends towards a pari passu situation in which both actors have an active role to play. This is where the

idea of partners rowing in the same boat comes to mind.

,140 Teaching Translation and Interpreting 3

What about setting this process in motion by listening to what students think their role is? This could be the first question to ask in a

questionnaire devised for

such a purpose.

The more questions students are asked, the more the questionnaire can help

teachers to process the information it contains. This questionnaire can be the starting point of teacher-student negotiations.

QUESTIONNAIRE

1. What do you think is your role as a student in this translation class? (Explain what you mean by role).2. What are your studying strategies for this class? (Explain what you mean by strategies). 3. What do you think of your past learning

experiences? Did you enjoy/benefit from them? 4. How could you improve your performance?

5. Have you put any of these ideas into practice? If not, why? If yes, how successful were they?

6. How do you monitor your work in the course? (Only through the monthly tests? On a daily basis? etc.).

7. Which items would you like to see included in the course? What changes would you make? Now ask yourseff the following

questions:I. Have you ever been asked to assess your own work? Have you ever done any selfassessment?

2. What is your opinion about self-assessment? How useful do you think it is?

3. Think how your work has been assessed so far. (Teacher correcting your mistakes in red; writing the correct answer in between lines, marking in the margin, etc.). How useful do you find these assessment methods?

4. How did your teacher arrive at the marks she gave you? (Subjectively - looking at your work as a whole? Objectively - considering the number and type of mistakes?)

5. How far do your own ideas about your performance match your teacher's idea? In other words, do you agree with the marks given?

Marta Julia Sainz, Uruguay 141

If both terms of the equation are to have the same weight and standing, another thought-provoking questionnaire that may throw

light as to what students think their and the teachers' role is, can be devised as follows, using sentences for students to mark 'True' or

'False':

1. Teachers are the core of the class.2. Teachers should have a clear understanding of all the strengths and weaknesses of all their

students on the translation course.3. When in doubt about a translation, ask the teacher first.

4. Teachers should always plan their lessons carefully and never improvise. 5. If teachers make a mistake, they

should admit it.

An alternative to the above True or False form is to ask students to work individually making a list of what they think should be

their teachers' role. Later they can draw a final list working in pairs or in small groups and finally they can present their conclusions to the

whole class.

However, it is not enough to ask students to fill in questionnaires, answer questions and state what they think their teachers' role

should be, if such , feedback is not processed.

In order to analyze and then use this type of feedback, it is necessary that teachers accept their students' conclusions and try to

implement their ideas, as far as possible and to a reasonable extent, so as to cater for the expectations of that particular group.

Feedback from students is one of the elements that may be used to enhance the quality of the teaching-learning process. If both

teachers and students are rowing in the same boat towards the same destination, they should agree on the fact that it is through a clear

understanding of their roles and an 'obsession' for improving the quality of their roles and tasks that the burden of rowing will be come

more effective, making the "arrival" safer.

The concept of quality and quality service should therefore be analyzed more in depth. It may be difficult for teachers to think in

terms of customers and suppliers because those words belong to marketing terminology. There seems to be no room for them in the pure,

immaculate and certainly non-profit world of teaching.


However, a customer can be defined as anyone who receives a service from a supplier (and it is a well-known

fact that no organization can be so blind as to think that it will succeed if its customers are dissatisfied). If teachers

start thinking along those lines when they deal with their students, they may be on the right track.

Experts in quality state that 80% of an enterprise's success lies in its attitude and only 20°lo in its skills.

Attitude is a posture in life. If teachers abandon their students to their luck, if they do not take into account the

quality of their teaching nor the emotional side of it, they may soon witness the collapse of their business. Attitude

cannot be taught or learnt, it spreads by osmosis generating a culture of service. Students will behave like sea

sponges, learning by osmosis. When dealing with a group, a warm and easy-going atmosphere has to be generated

and the teacher is responsible for creating this.

The supplier-customer relationship does not always have one same supplier and one same customer. Sometimes

it is reversed. Most of the time the teacher is the student's supplier but when students have to hand in an assignment,

for example, they become their teacher's supplier and their teacher turns into their customer. Thus, this becomes a

two-way road. That is why the concept of quality also has to be well understood by students because they are also

suppliers, depending on the role they play in a particular class situation.

Both teachers and students have to be aware of their attitude and even more so of their service attitude. They

should try to satisfy their negotiated needs and expectations to the maximum possible, trying to do things well the

first time, and all the time, involving themselves as teachers or students with the tasks to be carried out and

identifying themselves with the objectives in an on-going upgrading attitude.

What can be done to improve the quality of service then? Taken for granted that the product sold by teachers

(teaching translation here) is good, that it is the "core value", teachers should try and maximize the "value added

dimension", the halo surrounding the core value.

Such a dimension may be built up of various ingredients. Communication should certainly add value to the core.

It can be broken down into three components. Body language (any non-verbal message) and tone of voice account

for most of this total and only a fraction for the words chosen. It is possible to lie with words; it is far more difficult

to lie with the body or the voice. Therefore, teachers have to know how to manipulate their body language and tone

of voice first so that the message can get across well.

Maria Julia Sainz, Uruguay 143

When teaching languages, and even more so when teaching translation, teachers have an invaluable tool in

their hands because, apart from the core value (teaching languages/teaching translation), teachers can teach how to

think, how to compare, how to enrich another person; teachers should teach certain values, a teaching-learning

pedagogics. Lastly, they teach their subject (translation).

The generation of language has to do with the generation of thinking, a cul ture of thinking. Human interaction

is an opportunity to generate learning. By giving the correct stimuli, teachers can make their students aware of the

tool they have at hand.

Teachers are extremely powerful individuals who frequently ignore their power and what exactly they can do

with it. Students trust their teachers when the quality of the product they receive deserves respect. Of course, they

do not come out of a class saying:

"What a good quality product I have just received! My supplier is a first class facilitator whose service is

tuned up to my perception system!"

However, it is the teachers' role, obligation and responsibility to know the above, to know that the rapport

established in a class depends to a large extent on the group but it also depends on the power teachers have in order

to use that rapport to encourage and motivate the students. It is also the students' responsibility to understand that

the 'captain' of the boat needs the help of the crew to steer the boat because they share the same objective.

Therefore, shifting the weight of the responsibility for the teaching-learning ° process and making students

participate in and voice their opinion about what they think and expect from their course, from the teacher and

above all from themselves, is also a way of arriving at a satisfactory quality level.

Conclusion

Feedback is not only given through questionnaires or the like. By mutually interpreting the attitude, body

language and tone of voice, for instance, by hearing, accepting and understanding what students say, both teachers

and students can discover tell-tale signs of how the teaching-learning process is developing. This process will

certainly translate into better quality work done by the potential professionals teachers are dealing with in their

classes.

The feedback given by students every single day in class is an element to be carefully considered. As much as

teachers monitor their students to see any progress, students will closely follow any changes that their feedback

may cause in the teaching process. After all, what is the purpose of making students aware of


their role and of their teachers' role if nothing they do or say will be taken into account?

Quality management is the antithesis of authoritarian rule. If there is only one ruler to do the thinking and

there are fifty who obey and do not think, the whole business collapses. The scope of the value-added dimension

given to the core value of what is taught has a ripple effect. It expands beyond the four walls of the classroom,

raising awareness and creating higher responsibility for the task that each traveller on the road of autonomous

learning has to accomplish.

However, the fact of knowing that they are not alone in carrying the burden on their shoulders should give

teachers even more energy to either start or continue implementing any changes that will certainly arise along the

way.

VICTORY OVER FEAR: , LITERARY

TRANSLATION AS A CARNIVALISTIC TEACHING TOOL

Rütta Oittinen, University of Tampere, Finland

The theoretical basis of this article is the Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin's dialogism and carnivalism,

and the concepts of situation and manipulation in translation. I address the fundamental assumptions in literary

translation, in which a translator always translates whole situations, words and pictures, as well as their different

readers, writers, and users in a specific time, place, and culture. I discuss the teaching of literary translation,

dialogics and reading and, last but not least, carnivalism. Finally, I show how my students defeat their fear of the

original text through carnivalistic laughter.

Teaching literary translation

Throughout my teaching career I have taken a great interest in literary translation as such. The problems of

literary translation are not so far from those concerning "other" kinds of translation. All translation involves issues

like situation and function, reading and interpretation, part and whole, culture and individual viewpoints.

Therefore it is important for all students of translation to have experience in literary translation: literary translation

can be an important teaching tool.

Literary translation adds to the students' sensitivity to language. When students translate texts within a literary

context they learn about the processes of interpretation in a profound way, as they take very deep dives into

themselves as individual readers of source-language texts. As writers of target-language literary texts, they learn

how to polish texts and give them the finishing touch. Through writing translator's prefaces and reviews of

translations they gain valuable knowledge about themselves as individual translators, as well as learning about the

process of translation on a more general level. Extensive originals also confront students with the problem of

keeping a text together, of creating a living and credible target-language entity in which parts support the whole.

In addition, literary texts deal with different aspects and areas of life, from history, architecture and geography to

psychology, philosophy and religion, to mention only a few.

It is also interesting to compare different text types and find similarities. Through comparison, students learn

how to detect and identify different factors in different situations. In all cases we have the receiver, the sender, the

function,


To give life to texts, translators need to approach them closely; to approach them closely, translators need to be

fearless. This is where carnivalism enters into the picture. Through carnival and laughter, the translator loses the

"fear, mystic, terror and guilt" she/he may have felt toward the original (Morson and Emerson 1990: 453).

Carnivalism

Mikhail Bakhtin describes carnivalism as a classical and medieval culture of laughter that ridicules everything

that is official, immovable, finished, pompous, ready-made, abstract. Carnivalism has ritual, even rude features. It is

universal,: free, bodily, grotesque and undeniably idealistic.

Carnivalistic speech is not authoritarian, but is an internally persuasive, dialogic discourse, in which every word

consists of the "I" and the "you."As I see it, dialogue and carnival always go together: carnivalism complements

dialogism.2 Carnivalism is a culture of laughter outside the establishment and is described by Bakhtin in his book

Rabelais and His World. It is a historical phenomenon: it originated in Antiquity and had its golden age in the folk

cultures of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is also a philosophical issue: it is ambivalent, grotesque, and

triumphant laughter, in which everyone can join (Bakhtin 1984: 7). Carnivalism is "the lowering of all that is high,

spiritual, ideal, abstract." It is a continuous process of re-creation and metamorphosis (Bakhtin 1984: 19-20, 24-

25).

In literature, carnivalism and laughter belong "to the low genres, showing the life of private individuals and the

inferior social level." (Bakhtin 1987: 67).3 It deviates from ordinary language (1984: 320). Our relationship with our

language is dialogic. This relationship is unique and private: a work written is not the same as the work rewritten.

Similarly, in a new language, in a new culture, with new readers, a text is given a new life and new meanings

(Bakhtin 1987: 49). But where does this combination of carnivalism, translation, and teaching take us? I believe that

it gives us a new outlook on the teaching of translation, literary translation in particular. This unofficial culture - we

could also call it a strategy - encourages us to acknowledge the value of the other, the value of Bakhtin's "surplus of

vision." It is a duplicating of understanding, a"'live entering' or a 'living into' another," an interaction of

perspectives, in which one both uses and surrenders one's own "surplus." We need the surplus of the others, and the

others need our surplus. We give and take as human beings.

Rütta 0ittinen, Finland 149

The combination of translation and carnivalistic laughter is essentially victory over fear. In addition to breaking

absolute and unchanging norms, carnivalism includes love of the grotesque and ridicule of that which creates fear.

Rabelais' devils are funny and hell is a comical place. In the Middle Ages, anything frightening was made

grotesque and ridiculous. "The people play with terror and laugh at it; the awesome becomes a'comic

monster'...Victory over fear is not its abstract elimination; it is simultaneous uncrowning and renewal, a gay

transformation." (Bakhtin 1984: 91)

Carnivalism is radical: through victory over fear it reveals the mysteries of power. Laughter is directed against

hypocrisy and adulation, and it liberates a human being from any internal censorship: "[I]t liberates from the fear

that developed in man over thousands of years: fear of the sacred, of prohibitions, of the past, of power." (Bakhtin

1984: 94) Carnivalistic laughter is also philosophical and has a"true open seriousness." The translator laughs, not

just at the original, but also at her/himself (Morson and Emerson 1990: 454, 436). Carnivalism functions "in

fundamentally positive and value-generating ways" (Morson and Emerson 1990: 452).

In a very positive sense, carnivalism is bodily, since it is universal and dialogic. Like carnivalism, translating is

also physical: every reader and writer, every translator, has a'gut' connection, a'gut' response to words (Robinson

1991: 3-64.). The primal response to words is something we most strongly experience in our own mother tongue. It

follows that every word has an emotional charge, that every word is unique. Every text, every translation, is

different and reflects not only the original text, but also each translator's own personality, epoch, place, culture, and

the norms within the culture.

In my opinion, translation is a carnivalistic action. It is a continuous fight against fear of the original. It is also a

benevolent action: we need to take a positive stand toward what we translate, we need to respect the original. This

is close to the ideas of cannibalistic translation presented by the Brazilian de Campos brothers: the translator shows

respect by devouring the original. As Augusto de Campos once pointed out, his way of loving original texts is

translating, that is, devouring them (Vieira 1994: 67). There are many ways of showing respect.

Victory over fear

Like carnival, translation represents continuous, never-ending change. So does the teaching of it. It involves and

requires many abilities on many levels: reading,


writing, visualization, imagination, even courage and honesty. All this makes teaching literary translation both

fascinating and difficult.

I believe that the main problem in teaching literary translation to new students is their tendency to take the

word of the original as authoritarian. They stick to the literal meaning and dare not understand actively. The

students are usually careful, conscientious readers, a quality that is good in itself. Yet, in writing their own

interpretations of the original, they find it very difficult to turn away and start rewriting. The original is an

authority beyond dispute. The students do not know of any other way of showing their respect and loyalty for the

original than to keep close to the original. In my book Kääntäjän karnevaali [= The Translator's Carnival], I

deal with this issue and suggest the remedy: carnivalism, which invariably accompanies dialogism.

To learn to translate well, students must draw near to the original and understand it actively. This nearness

presupposes lack of fear. In my classes students are learning to be fearless, or at least to have less fear. They try

out different ways of combining careful reading, diving into the original, and, finally, moving away from it.

The first stage is the easier part: as I said above, the students tend to be care ful readers, since they have a

natural fear of the original. But during subsequent stages they encounter difficulties and frustration when they try

to reproduce the original in the target language and find this impossible. When this happens I encourage my

students to profanize the original and thus fully to show their love and respect toward it. Gradually they learn to

adopt "a free and familiar attitude" that "spreads over everything: over all values, thoughts, phenomena, and

things," as Bakhtin describes carnival (1987: 123).

The students' attitudes change through discussion, dialogics, and through exercises. They try out different

strategies, they create different versions and adaptations. They have different kinds of assignments, in which they

either produce or review all sorts of adaptations and vërsions in the form of a book, picture book, play, short

story, poem, song, and so on. Through imagining their prospective future readers they also adopt a new kind of

responsibility.

Carnivalism entails freedom and victory over fear. Carnival is ephemeral, for as Bakhtin points out, carnival

includes "the mock crowning and subsequent decrowning of the carnival king" or queen. It is a dualistic act, in

which a carnival queen or king is crowned and given the "symbols of authority." It symbolizes

Rütta Oittinen, Finland 151

the joyful relativity of all structure and order." Yet, "from the very beginning, a decrowning glimmers through the

crowning." (Bakhtin 1987: 124-125)

This is how I see literary translation: today the author is the queen or king, tomorrow she/he is decrowned and

the translator seizes the crown; the day after tomorrow the translator loses her/his crown and the target-language

reader receives "the symbols of authority." The ritual of decrowning always completes the crowning in a never-

ending process; interpretation is unfinalizable and fearless(Bakhtin 1987: 124-125).

My students learn to crown and to decrown, to contribute in full measure to a dialogue. As translators they

must recognize and synthesize the components in each translation situation. They must be able to hold all the

strings in their hands and weave the strings together into a text which can be well received and active ly understood

by target-language readers.

That is the reason why I fiad literary translation a useful tool in helping students to find out what translation

really entails and who they really are. They have to invest themselves in the process as human beings.

NotesL We are translating all kinds of literature. In 1995, we finished the Finnish translation of SusanBassnett's Translation Studies.2. See, for example, "socratic dialogue" and "the Menippeiá" in Bakhtin 1987: 106-122 and Morson and Emerson 1990: 452.3. During the 1980s in the universities in Finland, there was, and still is, a growing interest in and awareness of 'non-appreciated' literature, such as children's literature, popular literature, and books written by women authors.4. In his book The Translator's Invisibility, Lawrence Venuti describes the translator's benevolence as simpatico, in other words, "possessing an underlying sympathy." (Venuti 1995: 273).

DESCRIPTIVE TRANSLATION STUDIES

AND THE TEACHING OF LITERARY TRANSLATION

Cheung Pui Yiu Martha,

Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong

A major development in translation as an academic discipline in the last few decades has certainly been the

growth of the descriptive branch of this discipline, commonly known as 'Descriptive Translation Studies'. Scholars

in this field have carried out illuminating studies on the historical, social, political, ideological and cultural factors

influencing the translational activities of various cultures at different periods of their evolution. These studies have,

in turn, led to important theoretical discussions about translation. The result is that traditional assertions about what

translation is and what a translator should do and should aim to achieve (faithfulness, for example, or felicity, or

equivalence, formal or dynamic), have been historicized and contextualized. That is to say, they are seen as his-

torical notions subject to change, as some assertions amongst the plethora of as- ' sertions prevailing in the

polysystem of a country's culture. Rather than a priori, static, normative and prescriptive assertions, they are treated

as hypothetical constructs the usefulness of which must be vigorously tested. In so doing, theoretical discussions on

translation have become substantially enriched, thus opening up new possibilities of development in Translation

Studies.

These, of course, have great implications for the teaching of translation.

In the following sections, I shall describe the attempt I have made to incorporate a descriptive approach into the

teaching of literary translation to MA students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The course

The course I was responsible for was called 'Selected Reading in Translated Works'. It involved critical

comparisons of Chinese translations of English writings and English translations of Chinese writings, covering

literary works of different genres and from different periods. We met once a week for two hours. The first term

was devoted to English to Chinese translations and the second term to Chinese to English translations. Students

were asked to give one presentation each term (i.e. an oral commentary on the translations of a literary text of their

own choice) and to submit a paper on their presentation.


The students

Students who select this course usually come with certain expectations. They want to know ways in which to

handle perennial translation problems like puns, word play, jokes and allusions, as well as concepts, forms and

genres that have no equivalents in the target culture. They want to explore questions like 'untranslatability' and how

to deal with elements of 'untranslatability' in a text. Above all, they want to know how works of translation are to

be assessed. They are particularly concerned with the question of evaluation because they are either practising

translators, whose works have to be corrected and assessed by their superiors and clients, or they are teachers of

translation whose, job is to correct and assess the work of their own students.

My approach

Experience has taught me that when students are given a number of translated texts for comparison with the

source text and are asked to comment critically on them, they almost invariably focus on negative aspects, such as

mistranslations, misinterpretations, undertranslation, overtranslation, failure to retain stylistic features of the

original, failure to attain equivalence, etc. The descriptive approach can, I believe, help them break away from this

mode of operation. However, the MA programme does not allow the teacher to assume any prior knowledge of

translation theory on the part of the students. Nor is there time for the introduction of particular theories to the

students. Moreover, the descriptive approach is not concerned with evaluation, and would therefore almost

certainly be treated with suspicion by students for whom the question of evaluation is of prime importance. Given

these pedagogic constraints, how can one incorporate the descriptive approach into the teaching of literary

translation?

The method of incorporation I eventually opted for was covert rather than overt, selective rather than

comprehensive, performance-oriented rather than system-oriented, and always directed towards the needs of the

students. That is to say, I made no mention of any theoretical works in my opening lectures, but instead offered the

students a working model that was designed in accordance with some of the postulates made by Gideon Toury, and

which I accept as theoretically sound. These are:

(1) Since modern translation theorists have generally agreed that the concept of translation must necessarily

rest upon the existence of "some relationship between the two messages (or texts) involved, the source (ST) and the

translation

Martha Cheung, Hong Kong 155>

(TIP)", and since "this relationship is now usually designated 'equivalence' " (Toury 1980: 89), it follows that "the

basic question to be asked while comparing ST and TT should not be whether the texts ...are equivalent to other texts

in another language/textual tradition", but "in what manner this equivalence manifests itself" (90), and "what type

and/or degree of equivalence do the texts compared show" (113. Italics original).

(2) If the source text is a literary text, then it is "structured on the basis of two codes: a primary, linguistic one,

and a secondary code, which could be termed 'textual' or 'literary' [and which is] pertinent to the requirements of

some literary system" (Toury 1980: 114). It follows, then, that the "basic units for an actual TT-ST comparison will

be textemes (that is, linguistic units of any type and level, participating in textual relationships and, as a result,

carrying textual functions in the text in question)" (108).

(3) In comparing a source text and a target text, "ST's status with regard to TT is 'primary', both

chronologically ...and logically (independent vs. dependent, original vs. derived texts)" (Toury 1980: 113), therefore,

the textemes selected for comparison should be source text based.

As for procedures, my working model was derived from the three-stage operation method proposed by Gideon

Toury for "the comparison of one TT with its ST" (Toury 1980: 117). Toury's three-stage operation involves: (1) "a

textemic analysis of ST, leading to...the identification of ST textemes"; (2) "comparing TT units corresponding to

these ST textemes and noting their shifts (deviations) from the latter";

(3) "making generalizations about the distance between target text-source text equivalence and adequate translation,'

on the basis of many (partial) comparisons of separate textemes balancing each other" (117-118).

Working model devised for the students

Since most of my students have received little formal training in literary cri ticism, they could not simply be

instructed to conduct a textemic analysis of the source text without specific guidance. The working model addresses

this problem. Moreover, it can be used not only for analysis of the source text and for comparison of the source text

with its translations, but as a means of tackling the question of evaluation.' Translations provided with a preface,

however, require a set of evaluative criteria different from those adopted in this working model, a point stated clearly

to the students at the very beginning.'


The working model involves a three-stage operation:

1. A cursory reading of the translations to gain a general appreciation of the way the target language is used,

that is, whether the translations read well as texts written in the target language or whether they are convoluted in

syntax and characterized by heavy translationese.

2. A detailed analysis of specific points in the source text and comparison of the treatment of these points in the

target texts.° The source text chosen for analysis was Animal Farm. The target texts were four translations published

within the last fifty years.s The specific points analyzed include:

The title

The students' attention was drawn to the significance of the title in a literary text, that is, its fulfilling not simply

a linguistic referential function but also a major function in conveying the message of the text (a 'theme' in literary

critical jargon) and in directing the reader's attention to a particular character or a particular aspect of the novel. The

significance of "Animal Farm" as a title and its functions in the source text were then analyzed. This was followed

by a discussion of how effectively the translated titles performed the functions already specified, and what type

andlor degree of equivalence with the source text title they had.

Crucial word(s) and phrase(s)

To sharpen the students' awareness that words in a literary text are not equally important but fit into a

hierarchical order of importance, the concept of "crucial word(s) and phrase(s)" was introduced, along with a

working definition: "Crucial word(s) and phrase(s) in a literary text are words and phrases which the source text

writer uses repeatedly, for the purpose of highlighting a particular personality trait in the character(s), or for plot

development, or for revelation and/or development of theme." As an illustration, the textual functions of the word

"rebellion" in Animal Farm were analyzed. The reasons for its selection were also explained: in addition to having a

high frequency occurrence in the text (some thirty times), this word appears, intriguingly, in two different forms - as

"Rebellion", and as "rebellion". A reading was then provided to show that the word takes on different ideological

connotations when it appears in different

Martha Cheung, Hong Kong 157

forms ("Rebellion" is positive and "rebellion" negative), and that a character's shift from the use of

"Rebellion" to "rebellion" actually indicates a shift of attitude towards this type of political action, thus

resulting in the use of irony against this character. This, in turn, was followed by a discussion of the ways in

which this word was rendered in the target texts. The critical questions were the same as those raised in the

discussion of the translated title.

Crucial junctures in the thematic development of the novel

Again, a preliminary question will have to be addressed. How can we identify the theme of the novel?

While stressing that answers to this question will always vary, I nevertheless offered the students a starting

point for consideration. I posited that most novels deal with 'change': change in a person's character (from

good to bad, for example, or from bad to good, or from good to bad to good again or vice versa), in human

fortunes, in attitudes, in vision of life, etc. The surface realizations of 'change' may be infinite, but within the

deep structure of the novel, 'change' remains the invariant. And, invariably, 'change' is revealed by the

technique of contrast, that is, the description of "before" and "after". By paying attention to the writer's use

of the technique of contrast, the decisive moments of change can be identified and their significance in the

thematic development of the novel can be assessed.

With reference to Animal Farm, the example selected for discussion was "The Seven Commandments"

(in particular, the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh Commandments) as they were first inscribed on the wall and

after they had been tactfully amended by the pigs, tactfully because all that the pigs did was to in scribe a

few more words at the end of each of these Commandments, so that no trace was left of these

Commandments having been tampered with. We then discussed ways in which these amended

Commandments were rendered in the Chinese texts in order to ascertain the position each Commandment

occupied along the maximal-minimal scale of equivalence.

The genre of novel in the source text and the writer's style

The students were reminded that with writers well-known for their distinctive style of writing (for

example, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, or Virginia Woolf), the specific elements of style of that

writer can be identified and an analysis can be made of the ways in which these stylistic features are

rendered in the translation(s). However, since the tendency of many writers is to adapt style to


substance, the two topics could well be discussed together. It was also pointed out that different genres of novel

have different writing conventions, and a writer's style can usually be described as typical of that convention,

excelling within that convention, or, conversely, as innovative or experimental.

An analysis was then carried out on Animal Farm as a political fable and on Orwell's style as being typical of a

fable. Two distinctive stylistic features received special attention for their textual functions. One was irony, the

other the names of the characters - for example, "Boxer" and "Squealer", which vividly describe their respective

personalities. This was followed by a contrastive comparison.

Translational problems due to differences between source and target culture

Being practising translators themselves, most of my students were alert to these problems. Examples from the

text could, therefore, be discussed right away, followed by comparison and evaluation.

Overall treatment of the source text by the translators

Students were urged to pay attention to the following questions. Are there additions or omissions in the

translated texts? How frequently do they occur? On what scale? Did the translators rewrite any part of the source

text and for what purpose? How substantial is the rewriting?

The 1972 translation by Geng Yu, published in Taiwan, illustrates the importance of these questions

particularly well. In this translation, a number of details have been inserted and crucial incidents are commented

on for their moral significance. What is more, the translator has added several paragraphs to the end of the novel.

In these paragraphs, readers of the translated text learn that the oppressed animals rise in rebellion again; the

rebellion is put down almost at once but their leader, though fatally wounded, still asserts that truth will prevail

and reiterates his belief that for as long as there are animals, there will be rebellion against oppression. There is

no preface or afterword to explain these changes. However, the overall pattern shows that they are there for two

easily-identified purposes: details are inserted to enhance the vividness of the narrative while comments and

incidents are added for a moralistic and didactic purpose.

The students' attention was then drawn to the question of evaluation posed by such translation. When it is

obvious that the additions are not haphazard, or that they are necessitated by the essential differences between the

two languages,


English and Chinese, there is little point in saying that such translation is not effective in conveying the source

text message, although the traditional source text oriented method of evaluation, with its emphasis on adequacy

and maximum equivalence, might lead us to this conclusion. The critic would first have to deal with theoretical

questions, like the relationship between translation and literature, and the role and function of literary

translation in the society of the target culture at that time: there must have been historical, political, ideological,

literary and social reasons for the translator to have translated the way he/she did.' In a situation like this,

therefore, evaluation should be deferred until further research has been carried out. The students were also

reminded that if, due to time constraint - a very real consideration - such research could not be carried out, they

should still point out where the target text deviates from the source text and bracket off the deviations as

translational phenomena that await further study, instead of dismissing them outright. Furthermore, to make the

discussion relevant to the students' experience as translators, the additional point was made that translation of a

literary text should be accompanied by a preface or an afterword, unless circumstances dictate otherwise.

3. Making an overall conclusion

Students were reminded that the many partial conclusions reached at stage two should be compared to the

preliminary impression of the target texts they obtained at stage one before an overall conclusion can be drawn.

If the conclusions at stage two match the impression obtained at stage one, evaluation should not, be a problem.

If they do not, differences will have to be identified and reasons sought so that finer evaluative distinctions can

be made between the different translations. Furthermore, if the reasons discovered suggest that evaluation

should be delayed until after research has been carried out on the historical context for the production of the

translated text(s) - as exemplified by Geng Yu's translation - the point should be stated in the conclusion.

Discussion

The working model I devised for my students is only a basic model and the textemes identified for

analysis in stage two will have to be selectively replaced and additional ones included when other genres of

literary texts like poetry and drama are analyzed. The model functions well as an introduction to Descriptive

Translation Studies and it reinforces a major emphasis of this discipline: the need


for comprehensive research.' However, regarding the claim made at the beginning of this article, that the model can go

some way towards tackling the question of evaluation, the criticism can be made that for translations with a preface and

for those characterized by deliberate deviations from the source text, the model does not deal conclusively with the

question of evaluation but simply defers it.

This is the limitation, and perhaps also the strength, of my model. It does not offer the students a yardstick by which

they can assess all works of translation. Instead, it problematizes the question of evaluation. If, after careful and critical

deliberation, the students conclude that standards of evaluation are relative rather than absolute, that the existence of

ahistorical, universally applicable criteria for evaluation is only a myth, and that it is important to take into account the

translational norms of the time in the evaluation of a translation, then I consider this working model to have served its

purpose.

Of course, several important theoretical questions still remain. Would the use of different sets of evaluative criteria

lead to an infinite variety of criteria, thus rendering evaluation impossible, or irrelevant? How, for instance, can one rank

four translations of a single text using four different sets of criteria? There is an even more basic question. Is the job of

evaluation really compatible with the job of historical contextualization, that is, the construction or reconstruction of

translational norms?' Would it not be better to dispense with, or displace, the work of evaluation and concentrate on

research into translational norms instead? However, even if my students were to arrive at such a conclusion (and they did

not, as described below), I would still consider my effort, which was to find a way of incorporating the descriptive

approach into the teaching of literary translation, to have been worthwhile. At the very least, I would have convinced the

students that the research activities of the scholars of the descriptive school are necessary and important, not activities

carried out in the splendid isolation of an academic ivory tower.

Student feedback

Students found that the usefulness of the working model varied according to the different genres they analyzed in

their presentation. They also said that I could have explained the theoretical premises of the working model at the begin -

ning of term rather than during their presentations, when theoretical questions arose. I think they were right. But they all

admitted that the model influenced very considerably their selection of translated texts for their presentations. They


became open to translations which they normally would have dismissed, on the grounds that they were not 'serious'

translations. One interesting text they, selected for discussion was a translation of "Jiang Jin Jiu", a poem by the famous

poet, Li Po (A.D. 701-762), which a student chanced upon on the first page of a menu in a hotel restaurant. Another

was a translation of Xixiang Ji, one of the most famous dramatic scripts of the Yuan dynasty (A.D. 1279 - 1368), which

was meant for leisure and holiday reading. A third was the translation of a chapter from Wenxin Diaolong by Liu Xie,

a canonical work of Chinese classical literary criticism. The translation is used as an appendix in a work giving a trans-

lation and a study of Lu Chi's 'Wen Fu' (literally "The Art of letters", which was written in A.D. 302, some two

centuries earlier than Wenxin Diaolong) and the purpose is to enable Western readers ignorant of Chinese belles-lèttres

to gain a better appreciation of the style of this particular tradition of writing . 9 Clearly, the students had become more

appreciative of the translator's pursuit of an acceptable, rather than adequate, translation.

Moreover, all students showed a greater awareness of the need to pay critical attention to the preface whenever

there was one, and to the translational norms when comparison of the target text(s) with the source text showed that the

translator's concern was not with the pursuit of an adequate translation. In addition, they were more ready to base their

evaluation on the extent to which the translation had succeeded in achieving the aims set out in the preface rather than

subjecting the translation to one rigid set of criteria for evaluation. They could identify the points at which they

disagreed with those aims, explain why, and set forth their personal views on the way in which the source text should be

treated. This seems to me a highly satisfactory way of dealing with the thorny question raised at the end of the last

section: whether the use of different evaluative criteria for different translations would not render the work of evaluation

impossible, or irrelevant. What prefaces reveal are the translators' intentions, that is, their priorities and values. What the

translational norms of a time reveal are also priorities and values: of a certain group of people, a certain society, or a

certain culture. It is possible to accept these priorities and values as legitimate without identifying with them. One could,

therefore, incorporate these factors into one's' evaluative scheme, make an evaluation based on it, and still declare one's

own preferences. In other words, ranking is still possible; evaluation will not be rendered irrelevant, although 'relevance'

is now seen in terms of ways in which attempts at evaluation will help the students acquire a sharper awareness of their

162 Teaching Translation and Interpreting 3'

own priorities and values, which are also historically located and ideologically motivated.10

The crucial thing is not to pass off something that is personal, subjective, and therefore relative, i.e. one's own preferences, as objective, absolute, and non-negotiable. From the performance of my students, I could see they were developing a finer sense of discrimination in their perception of what is involved in the job of evaluation.

But the most heart-lifting response from the students is that they all agreed that they must reconsider the entire nature of translation. This, I believe, is also the aim of Descriptive Translation Studies.

Notes1. Adequate translation here is to be understood as a theoretical or ideal notion - as

denoting the maximal equivalence which in theory is obtainable between target text and source text on a textemic level. (See Toury 1980: 116J2. This is the major difference between Toury's model and mine. Toury's is intended for the formulation of hypotheses about the norms regulating or even governing the production of translations, mine can facilitate that too, but it is intended also to help the students think critically about the question of evaluation.3. Students were reminded that translation preface, or, for that matter, publicity or critical material about the translated text, should be treated with a measure of healthy skepticism and that the job of evaluation lies in deciding whether the translation actually measures up to the claims made in such extra-textual material.4. Readers interested in the actual analysis are referred to Cheung Pui Yiu Martha (1996). 5. See Geng (1972), Kong (1977), Li (1956), and Orwell (1968). 6. These are the 'translational norms', a major focus in Descriptive Translation Studies. 7. This is the comment made by José Lambert. I think it is a fair assessment. 8. I owe this very provocative question to Larry Rosenwald.9. I am grateful to Gloria Lau, Patricia Chan and S.W. Shing for providing me with these three interesting examples.10. The question of the relevance (or otherwise) of evaluation seems to me to deserve more attention (from both the pedagogical and the theoretical angle) than what it has so far been accorded.

STUDENTS' RESEARCH FOR TRANSLATION

Stella E. O. Tagnin, University of Silo Paulo, Brazil

Although most curricula in translation courses seem to concentrate on the translation of one specialized text at a time, in subjects like Scientific Translation, -i Technical Translation, Literary Translation, Legal Translation and so on, I will argue that it is more productive to offer students, before they move on to those more specialized areas, a subject which, as it were, integrates them all.`

I have found that a text can rarely be classified simply as technical or literary. Most texts combine different genres and styles, though one usually prevails. This combination will then pose problems for the translators, as they will have to switch back and forth between different types. Also, each part may require a certain type of knowledge and information.

A scientific text may be written in highly technical language if it is meant for peer presentation, or in very colloquial language if it is aimed at a lay public. A literary text may use creative language throughout, but may also contain such mundane topics as a baseball game, as is the case in one of the crucial chapters of Philip Roth's autobiographical novel Patrimony (1991). In fact, that particular novel requires specialized knowledge not only of baseball but also of aspects of American and Jewish cultures. Where can translators find such information if they are not members of these cultures?

And what about Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities (1988), in which terms related to architecture and interior decoration, the stock market, legal language and courtroom procedures abound? Besides it portrays characters that speak various dialects and have different accents (Black, Hispanic, Jewish). Again, where should a translator turn for the information needed?

Translation beginners usually do not know where to find this type of information, that is, they are rarely aware of a11 the research involved in the act of translating. In actual fact, this is not surprising, as many people lack this same awareness. I am sure most of us have had the experience of a friend or colleague asking us to "translate just this little thing. You know English" - or whatever language they are interested in -"you can do it easily! It won't take you long." But when we take a look at the text, it is not that easy and will certainly take longer than expected. And that is my point!

It seems then that one of the first steps in the right direction is to make the translators themselves aware of it, so why not start with first year translation stu-


dents? Rather than giving students a quantity of information, the syllabus should impart the awareness referred to

above, in terms of I. diversity of genres, •IIL research involved, andIII. translator's decision-making process. •

The overall goal then is to overturn the fallacy that, in order to translate you "just sit down and do it."

In line with my discussion up to this point, the focus of this subject should be on the research involved in our

profession and the reference sources available: thus it may be named 'Research for Translation'.

First, texts should be graded according to the level of research required. Students would then work on texts

requiring research that ranged from basic reference sources, like mono- and bilingual dictionaries, through

specialized sources, like glossaries, manuals, parallel texts, up to the indispensable native and special ized

informants.

A journalistic text on a general topic is usually a good starting point, as its problems will lie mostly on a lexical

level. This genre, as a rule, employs colloquial language interspersed with some idiomatic and slang expressions.

The usual mono- and bilingual dictionaries should solve most problems, although bilingual idiomatic and slang

dictionaries are hard to come by. In that case students will have to look up the meaning of such expressions in

monolingual dictionaries and then resort to their knowledge of idioms and slang words in their native language.

A problem that may arise immediately is the students' ignorance of or lack of dictionaries. It might be a good

idea to have them carry out a survey in the institution library to make them acquainted with the bibliographical

resources at their immediate disposal.

The next text could deal with a specific topic, for instance, religion. An argumentative religious text would

present a great number of references to religious works as well as quotations, but most of these would have to be

rendered as accepted translations in the target language. However, to locate the quotation, students would have to

resort to Bible dictionaries, concordances or even quotation dictionaries and then look for the equivalent in a Bible

in the target language. There would also be many conventional religious expressions, which might have different

translations according to the religious denominations using them. A class of students with different religious

backgrounds might produce a variety of

Stella Tagnin, Brazil 165

reference sources. However, if the expressions are not to be found in these sources, students will have to resort to an

informant, for, as opposed to technical glossaries, there are usually no written sources for conventionalized

expressions in the humanities.

Sharing the information obtained will soon turn classes into workshops and students will feel free to bring up their

options for group discussion instead of expecting a'correct' answer from the teacher.

Still on the level of linguistic knowledge, literature may serve with texts por traying different geographical or social

dialects. Black English is a case in point. Although there are Negroes in many countries, most of them have not

developed a dialect of their own, unlike Afro-Americans in the United States. So when students have to translate

American Black language there is probably no equivalent in the target language. A survey of translated texts

portraying Black characters might help to establish whether there are rules for rendering Black English as a marked

dialect. A convenient step would be to study the dialect as a system in order to depict its peculiarities and then to

'create' some linguistic marks to identify characters by their speech, which must be consistent throughout the

translation.

Social dialects or jargon also pose linguistic problems, especially with taboo terms. Students may find it useful to

resort to parallel texts in the target language, e.g., literary pieces involving similar characters (bums, prostitutes, poli-

ticians, etc.). Dictionaries of slang, jargon, taboo and vulgar language will certainly be a major source of reference.

For the introduction of technical areas, informative texts are a good choice. Articles from encyclopedias provide a

good starting point. Similar articles in target-language encyclopedias will obviously prove helpful but might not

solve all problems. Students have to become acquainted with the subject they are translating by means of other texts

on the topic. In the case of a text on wine, for instance, further information may have to be sought in libraries of

liquor producers, or in brochures distributed by these companies. A few sources may even include short glossaries.

This exercise will show students that the more acquainted they are with a subject, the easier it will be to translate

texts dealing with it.

An article from a specialized publication, such as an Art or Architecture magazine, raises other technical problems.

Reference to a certain technique or style will make students read specialized manuals, as well as consult artists and

architects. In case professionals are mentioned, students may have to resort to second-


ary texts such as biographies, catalogues of exhibitions, etc. Different students will certainly resort to different

sources, thus giving them all a good opportunity to exchange information on reference sources available.

At this point students should be ready to move into more specialized areas like finances or computer science.

Newspapers and weekly magazines provide good texts because they refer to current news.

Computer texts will certainly raise the problem of standardization of terminology. As computing is still a rather

new field, some professionals prefer to use the terms in English and some in the target language. But even then

terms may be rendered in two forms: as actual translations (such as gravar for save, and imprimir for print in

Portuguese); or as borrowings, that is, the original English term with a target-language 'coating' (e.g. salvar for

save or deletar for delete, even though there would be an acceptable translation). This terminological confusionn

demands not only that the translator take sides, but that he or she also checks for reliable sources, be they

informants or glossaries put out by terminological associations.

Sports represent another technical field which may pose very specific problems, particularly if a certain

modality is not well known by the receiving public. Baseball, for example, is little known and practiced outside the

United States. Therefore, reference sources are usually quite scarce. Students will have to consult encyclopedias,

specific sports books, and manuals to acquire an overall knowledge of the game but may still have to fall back on a

local baseball association, if there is any, for specific details. It might be a good idea to invite a coach or an officer

from the association to give a talk on the game and the terminology used. This will give students a chance to

resolve their doubts and discuss all their translation problems with an expert in the area, though the same

terminological confusion may reign there too, some terms being used in English (infielder, balk, bunt), some in

their translated forms (e.g. in Portuguese batedor, taco) and some in both versions side by side (pitcher and

arremessador, dead ball and bola morta). Again, the translator must take sides.

The last stage should present texts in which the translation problems are cultural rather than technical and lexical.

An interesting source of such problems is provided by real estate ads in which abbreviations abound. First because,

with very few exceptions, like LR for living-room or LIB for library, they are not easy to guess, and, second,

because quite often the set-up of a home in the foreign

Stella Tagnin, Brazil ',- 167

culture is unknown to the target public, like EIK for eat-in-kitchen or 2.5 baths. For this kind of problem there are no written reference sources whatsoever. Another handicap might be the translator's lack of knowledge of the legal procedures involved in buying or renting real estate in the foreign country, which might make it difficult to understand what is meant by "A steal at $460K" or "CC. $669, RET. $460." One would expect a native speaker to qualify as an informant to solve such cultural problems but apparently in this case it is not enough. An essential requirement is familiarity with such ads and acquaintance with the legal procedures.

Another type of cultural problem has to do with aspects of everyday life. American brand-names, concepts and

institutions, such as Heinz baked beans, Jell-O, Popsicle, Phi Beta Kappa, day camp, CD, Eddie Cantor, and two-

and-ahalf family houses are cases in point. Aspects of Judaism and of Jews in New York City, for instance, are

other such cases. These may include linguistic aspects ranging from vocabulary (Yiddish expressions like alte

kockers, zaftig) to peculiar syntax, which Leo Rosten calls Yinglish, as in "It's like in my mouth a radio is

playing", as well as customs and religious observances (Shabbes, yeshiva, matzoh).2

There are certainly many other types of reference sources, like Fact-Finders, maps, or picture dictionaries,

among others. Each text will require certain sources, depending on its genre and on its subject. But once the

students have worked their way through a selection like the one described in this article, they will know enough

to venture into finding other sources of information.

To ensure registration of the information collected, students should be encouraged to prepare their own

glossaries, drawing up lists of technical and problematic words and their translations for each one of the texts

they work on.

To conclude their work students could be asked, for their final paper, toIV. choose one of the texts to submit as a 'final' translation: what they probably have at this point are translations with several

solutions to the problems raised;V. translate it in full, commenting on decisions made;VI. a) retrace the sources consulted to solve comprehension/translation problems, and

b) increase the original glossary to up to 50 items, depending on the topic, with terms extracted from related texts, mentioning the sources;

VII. state, in a short paragraph, the ways in which the course has affected their translation practice. This should provide all-important student feedback to allow the teacher to evaluate whether the course's goals have been attained.


In line with the collective work students have been developing, it might be advantageous to suggest that they exchange

their enlarged glossaries so all could have a good collection on which to build.

As has been pointed out, a class composed of students with different backgrounds will enable many of them to function as

informants in areas they are well versed in. This, together with sharing the information all will be collecting, will bring out the

richness of their collective work. They should also be made aware that, if they review their work at some time in the future,

they may well feel like redoing everything.

The proposal outlined above has been put into practice and the students' feedback confirmed the adequacy of the initial

proposition in that they claimed that the course had helped them to:I. become aware of the complexity of translating; , II. realize that translating cannot be carried out by "just sitting down and doing it"; IIL perceive how much research is involved in the activity;IV. learn where to look for the information needed;V. become acquainted with various reference sources;VI. be aware of the decision-making process present throughout; VII, realize how important it is to 'sleep on' the text;VIII.understand that responsibility and translating go hand-in-hand.

As stated at the beginning,.such a course is aimed at 'forming' rather than 'in

forming' students, at giving them the tools and raw material needed for their profession rather than a finished product, at

showing them the way rather than giving them a solution. Students will not become experts in any one type of trans lation nor

specialists in any field of knowledge, but they will acquire some of the building blocks of a reliable translator. Let us hope

they use them to build a fruitful career.

Notes1. Presentation of this paper at the Elsinore Conference was made possible by travel grant no. 95/0718-9 from FAPESP (Sao

Paulo, Brazil), for which I am greatly indebted. 2. Excellent reference sources for these problems are Stuart Berg Flexner's I Hear America Talking and Listening to America, both illustrated histories of American words and phrases. For sayings and catch phrases, Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Catch Phrases is a must.

Stella Tagnin, Brazil 169 APPENDIX: Some reference

sources which I have found useful:BARTLETT, JOHN. 1992 (16th ed. [orig. 1855]]. Familiar Quotations. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.BOYD, JAMES P. 1958: Bible Dictionary. New York: Ottenheimer Publishers.Computer Dictionary, 1991. Redmond, Wash.: Microsoft Press.COWIE, A.P., R. MACKIN & LR. MCCAIG. 1983. Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English, volume 2: Phrase, Clause & Sentence Idioms. Oxford: Oxford University Press. FLEXNER, STUART BERG. 1979. 1 Hear America Talking. New York: Simon and Schuster. FLEXNER, STUART BERG. 1982. Listening to America. New York: Simon and Schuster. GREEN, JONATHAN. 1987. Dictionary of Jargon. London & New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.LASS, ARAHAM H. et al. 1989. The Dictionary of Classical, Biblical & Literary Allusions. New York: Fawcett Gold Mead.

Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, The. 1979 [3rd ed orig. 1941]]. Oxford: Oxford University Press.PARTRIDGE, ERIC. 1985 [2nd ed. [orig. 1977]]. A Dictionary of Catch Phrases: British and American from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ROSTEN, LEO. 1982. Hooray for Yiddish. New York: Simon and Schuster. ROSTEN, LEO. 1979. The Joys of Yiddish. New York: Pocket Books.SPEARS, RICHARD A. 1988. NTC's American Idioms Dictionary. Lincolnwood, Illinois: National Textbook Company.SPEARS, RICHARD A. 1991. Forbidden American English. Lincolnwood, Illinois: NTC Publishing Group.SPEARS, RICHARD A. 1989. M'C's Dictionary ofAmerican Slang and Colloquial Expressions. Lincolnwood, Illinois: National Textbook Company.

TEACHING LITERARY TRANSLATION - A STUDENT'S POINT OF VIEW

Attila Barcsák, Eötvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary

Background information

The formal teaching of literary translation has a very short history at my university: only in 1991 was the

'Literary Translation Independent Programme' formed under the supervision of the Department of Comparative

Literary Studies. The very fact that our programme is so recent means that, by applying the double perspective

of a (former) student and a teacher, I can call attention to features in the establishment which are interesting in a

broader context.

There had been a small number of literary translation classes at ELTE University before 1991, but these

were not coordinated and lacked a general concept. The name 'Literary Translation Independent Programme'

indicates that we deal only with literary texts, and at the same time makes clear that it comprises more than just

a single course.

The programme was brought into being by popular demand from both students and teachers and was

established founded by instructors who initially faced institutional as well as financial problems. Whereas the

former have been solved the latter remain.

The programme today

At all events, the programme has enjoyed increasing popularity with students, as shown in Table

1(overleaf).

The figures demonstrate that although the course is popular with students and has trebled in intake, there is

no corresponding -increase in the number of teachers. This is due to financial constraints, for since the directors

of the Programme try to ensure the quality of the instruction many of the instructors are renowned practicing

literary translators who naturally demand fairly high wages which the Department of Comparative Literary

Studies finds it difficult to pay. Consequently there are many classes with more than thirty students. This leads

to disaffection among students as well as teachers, and teaching also suffers since it is almost impossible to

thoroughly evaluate translations, let alone practice translating, in these oversized classes.


TABLE 1

Number of students Number of teachers

1991 73 9Spring 1993 153 11

Autumn 1994 232 13

The educational framework

Nearly all students major in the foreign language they study at the 'Literary Translation Programme'. In all

four semesters there are four forty-five minute lessons per week. Half of these deal with translation practice and

the other half with either translation criticism or translation theory. There are also special semi nars, for example,

on translation of Hungarian literature into English and seminars that deal exclusively with the translation of

poetry, etc. There is no final examination at the end of the course, but the students are given a certificate of

attendance. Most students are satisfied with this framework but some instructors are not.

The languages

At the moment six languages are offered: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Russian. This

selection is not likely to widen although there would probably be an interest in other languages, too (e.g. the

Scandinavian languages, Dutch, Portuguese, etc.). The figures are shown in Table 2 on the opposite page.

The reason for these great differences is not that Germanic languages are easier to learn for Hungarians than

Latin or Slavonic ones. It will be remembered that, as a member of the Finno-Ugric language family, Hungarian is

equally different from all Indo-European languages. Accordingly, the leading position of English only indicates

that, no matter whether we like it or not, English is the most important and influential language in the world

today. The prominent position of German is most probably due to the fact that during the last seven hundred years

Hungary has been a 'cultural province' or even a part of certain German-speaking countries (the Holy Roman

Empire and Austria). The impact of French culture has also been felt in Hungary but considerably less so than in

Attila Barcsdk, Hungary 173

TABLE 2

Language Number of students autumn 94English 69

German 51

French 27

Spanish 12

Italian 9

Russian 3

Russia, for instance. The unpopularity of Russian is easy to understand if we consider that for nearly forty years

(i.e. until 1989) Russian was compulsory in Hungary from primary school to university, whereas other foreign

languages were optionals at best. If a language is imposed on a society (as Russian was in Hungary) it is not very

likely to become popular.

Teaching methods

The selection of literature for translation and translations for discussion is wide; although in most of our

classes the teacher chooses the texts, the students also have a say, so in this respect the programme is generally

fairly liberal. For example, as a student, I translated drama, short fiction, poems and aphorisms. Students have to

translate the same text for specific classses, however. I personally believe that a more individualised assignment

system would be more appropriate as well as more popular among students.

I also feel that there is still room for improvement in the teaching methods: in class we go through the pre-

assigned texts sentence by sentence and everybody is free to contribute to the discussion. The instructor usually

only directs the debate. Many students believe that there are better ways of dealing with translated texts and that

alternative ways of translation criticism should be used as well.

As I have already mentioned, many of the instructors are practicing translators. They often complain that

they find the teaching of translation very boring and exhausting. In addition they usually have no experience in

teaching translation. This naturally raises a crucial question: is it enough to be a good translator


to teach translating efficiently and professionally? The example of our Programme indicates that it is not. It seems

that teachers must also be trained in teaching translation. However, as yet such training does not exist in Hungary.

Theory vs practice

There is an ongoing debate about the need for a theoretical approach. It connects with the fact that a great

number of our instructors are practitioners who doubt the importance of translation theory. Their argument is that

only individual talent and plenty of practice can make a good translator. Conversely, other teachers do not deny the

importance of these obvious factors but believe that translation theory is equally important. At the moment two out

of the eight classes deal with the theory of translation and include writings by the most eminent authorities in this

relatively new field.

I have carried out a study of student attitudes which indicates that most students recognize the importance of

translation theory. Therefore I believe that in the long run theory will prevail, for no applied or descriptive

discipline can continue to be taken seriously without a theoretical background. This also applies to our

programme although it deals only with literary translation, a very small and specialized element of the field of

translation studies.

Future plans

Our dearest and most daring plan for the future is to enhance the 'Literary Translation Independent

Programme' and set up an independent department, in which the main focus of attention would remain literary

translation. In this future department we would at the same time like to establish a certain synthesis of applied,

descriptive and theoretical translation studies and to give each of these fields as much attention as they demand

and deserve.

ASSESSMENT AND SKILLS IN SCREEN TRANSLATION

Heulwen James, Ian Roffe and David Thorne, University of Wales, Lampeter

At first sight a perspective on teaching screen translation gained from a minority language on the periphery of

Western Europe might appear irrelevant in the context of a volume concerned with translation and interpreting

globally. But it is germane. It is relevant because in moving towards greater European unification, the regions of

Europe are expressing their unique cultures and languages with growing certainty. In support of this cause, screen

translation is playing a practical and influential role in revitalising the use of the minority Welsh language. It is

also illuminating because the standard of translation is tied to the standard of teaching. In this article three key

contemporary influences on a learning programme for screen translation are examined: the European situation,

assessment methods and skills.

New European horizons

The moves toward European integration are creating economic, political and cultural change. The steady

transfer of power in Europe to new, powerful regional authorities has started to generate a phenomenon described

by Harvie (1994) as intra-European integration. In this context the regions of Europe are expressing their

distinctive cultures with growing self-confidence. Indeed, culture is perceived as a central resource in the

construction of a more democratic and united Europe with greater social and territorial cohesion.

Television originating from the regions has the potential to contribute to the cultural diversity of Europe. It can

compensate for the trend towards uniformity encouraged by both the trans-nationalization of broadcasts by major

television networks and the internationalization of programmes by production studios. In this respect, the role of

the European audio-visual industry creating original productions in the lesser-used, as well as better-known,

languages of Europe is crucial. It has been perceived to make an irreplaceable contribution to cultural and

linguistic identity, especially for communities with less-widely-used languages.

Subtitling is becoming an increasingly cost-effective way of communicating across linguistic barriers due to

the impact of technology on TV receivers, broadcasting techniques and caption-making equipment. As such it is

particularly suited to cable and satellite television and digital broadcasting. As television channels have

proliferated, so have the applications of subtitles. In particular,


pivot subtitling is proving to be a financially attractive method of subtitling for Europe's multilingual satellite

channels.

An impact of this growth in subtitling is likely to be new language transfer opportunities in the future. For

teachers of translation, this is likely to mean new forms of opportunity for student career placement in the audio-

visual industry. By way of illustration of this trend, Channel 33 in Catalonia will broadcast a week's selection of

Channel 4 Wales's Welsh-language television programmes, with subtitles in Catalan. The subtitles will be created in

the Catalan language directly from the original Welsh, without transfer via a pivot language.

With such unusual language requirements emerging, it is a logical step for teachers and institutions with

distinctive skills and expertise to collaborate together in meeting commercial needs. In essence, this is part of the

wider need for lifelong learning in this field in which we share experience and knowledge with one another.

A European dimension to teaching screen translation

One facet of this European co-operation has been the promotion of the teaching of screen translation in lesser-

used European languages. Regional TV broadcasts are often produced in lesser-used languages and consequently

receive small audiences. Nonetheless the content is often an important source of information on culture, language,

customs, life-styles etc. Such attributes are worthy of sharing with wider audiences through subtitles. In this context

a three-year pilot project initiated by the University of Wales, Lampeter to promote the teaching of screen translation

in lesser-used languages is about to begin. This will involve the development, in association with Channel 4 Wales,

of new screen translation course material for adaptation into other language combinations.

Another development in co-operation has been the formation of the European Association for Studies in Screen

Translation.

This association aims to: (a) promote higher education training and professional standards in the subject, (b)

explore the potential of a core European training programme and other forms of curriculum development such as

open and distance learning, and (c) develop a dialogue between teachers and practitioners and stimulate new

research in the field.

The study and teaching of screen translation is still a relatively uncommon academic pursuit, but interest is

growing rapidly. To assist in this growth an information network to exchange knowledge between teachers,

researchers and stu

Heulwen James, Ian Roffe and David Thorne, Wales 179

dents and stimulate joint academic ventures and projects has been initiated. A Screen Translation Bulletin

Board on the World Wide Web to facilitate and stimulate information exchange is now hosted at University of

Wales, Lampeter.

A further step in European co-operation is a university network created for the exchange of students in

Translation Studies and Languages for Business. The academic world is becoming increasingly mobile, with

students being able to carry out part of their studies at another university in another European member state. The

inclusion of student exchanges in screen, as well as written, translation is thus a natural extension to this

network, and will naturally have implications for teaching methods and assessment.

The benefit of a study period abroad for students of screen translation is that it enables them to diversify

their knowledge. It also obliges teachers to look critically at all aspects of the course programme, from course

content and teaching methods to assessment procedures and examination techniques. Moreover, since subtitling

is a hands-on experience, the prospect of student exchanges in the subject will compel universities to consider

the implications of different subtitling equipment and software, numerous subtitling regulations and a variety of

national standards.

In terms of assessment, increasing importance is attached by universities to credit transfer systems in

Europe. The recognition of studies at a partner institution in the European Community as corresponding to

studies at home, is considered to be an important element of student mobility arrangements. Thus a European

credit transfer system is emerging and with it an accreditation framework for screen translation changes from

being desirable into a necessity. The Association intends to facilitate an open discussion on the implications of

study abroad in the field of screen translation, credit transfer and the potential of a core European training

programme.

There have been collaborative and curriculum developments within Wales which have European

implications. In 1995 a university-enterprise partnership was created in the form of an all-Wales professional

Screen Translation Forum for an exchange of information and experience between Channel 4 Wales and other

commissioning bodies, subtitling agencies, media production companies, and teachers and students of

subtitling in Wales. The aims of the Forum are to exchange information on developments in screen translation

in Wales; to exchange experience relating to difficulties which confront teachers and students of subtitling as

well as practitioners in Wales; and to inform members of European


activities and of developments taking place in screen translation in other countries and regions of Europe. This

Forum may prove to be an interesting model for other universities, regions and countries.

In terms of curriculum development, the Screen Translation Course in Lampeter is now firmly established and

attracting increasing numbers of students. This has provided the platform for a Screen Translation module within

a new postgraduate degree: an "MA in Bilingual Studies: a European Dimension". This new one-year

postgraduate course by a consortium of European universities has created the opportunity to explore the

theoretical bases of translation in general, and of screen translation in particular. This progression is important in

_the contemporary Welsh context because there is no designated school of translation studies within the

University of Wales. Thus this new postgraduate course complements the practical training with the possibility of

studying the language of the media as well as the theoretical foundations of the subject.

Assessment developments

The University of Wales, Lampeter, Certificate in Screen Translation is externally examined by the Head of

Teletext and Subtitling at Channel 4 Wales. It is recognised to be of a professional commercial standard by screen

translation agencies for the media industry in Britain and further afield. The course is of a highly practical nature,

and by the end of the course students are required to have completed up to 120 hours of subtitling tasks. The

University reviews the course in association with Channel 4 Wales with regard to course content and methods of

assessment so that professional standards are maintained. In a recent review the assessment procedure was

revised. The new parameters which we now apply are presented here with a view to possibly offering a model for

a wider context, generating discussion and constructive comment and -criticism.

The table on the opposite page presents an overview of the assignments. Students can obtain a maximum of

ten marks for each of the assignments indicated.

The final assessment examines both linguistic and technical skills: both skills are equally weighted. Fifty per

cent of the final mark is based on an Assessment Portfolio comprising a fifteen-minute tape of four pieces from

different programme genres, each of up to four minutes' duration, to be subtitled and timecoded and submitted for

moderation within six weeks of receipt of the tasks. The other fifty per cent is based on a three-hour Examination

comprising a six-minute tape of two pieces from different programme genres, each of three minutes' dur

Heulwen James, Ian Roffe and David Thorne, Wales 181

ation: these must be subtitled and time-coded within the allotted period of three hours. The time constraint

imposed on the examinee is intended to reflect the pressure under which professional subtitlers are required

to work in Wales. A minimum mark of sixty per cent must be achieved to be awarded the University of

Wales Certificate in Screen Translation.

Assessment procedure

LINGUISTIC SKILLS TECHNICAL SKILLS Portrayal * Time-coding• Language quality * Synchronisation* Grammar * Positioning Spelling * Colour Punctuation * Breaks between subtitles

Linguistic skills

The initial purpose of the course was to meet the increasing demand in Wales for a pool of skilled and

competent subtitlers. This is why our students are required to generate subtitles for up to ten television

programmes across a wide range of programme genres - soap opera, drama, documentaries, plays, films,

children's programmes, satire, current affairs, comedy, etc.

Successful portrayal implies that the student has produced an authentic subtitled portrayal of the

programme genre. In addition to delivering an accurate and coherent interpretation of what is said in the

source language, the message must be conveyed in an effective and natural manner in the target language.

Different characters and elements in particular programme genre can legitimately demand a different

linguistic style and analytical approach. In Plant y Stryd, a documentary on Mexico's street children, some

sections of the programme were scripted while others were not. The students who scored well in the portrayal

test were sensitive to the delicacy of register and style necessary to present effective subtitled portrayals of

the four different speakers who figured in the programme: the Welsh-speaking narrator journalist; a Mexico-

based Welsh-speaking social worker; a Welsh-language broadcaster, poet and novelist who had herself

researched and written on the subject of Mexican street children; and a Spanish-speaking Mexican peasant

farmer. To assist students to complete their tasks successfully, they are encouraged to adopt the role of the

speaker (as opposed to the role of


programme director). An effective portrayal of the narrator-journalist involved adopting a journalistic style so that

the subtitles appeared to be presenting facts, bullet-fashion, as in 1 - 3 below:

,.f

1. Genaro's education is progressing.

2. Food parcels are always a joy!

3. The scheme helps the whole family. °

Students do not work from a script and the course requires that they gain experience of creating subtitles

directly on screen on the basis of the sound-track alone, as is normal for professional subtitlers in Wales. The

absence of a script means that students have to cope with dialectal variation, accents, localisms, lexical

interference, etc. Non-scripted speech as opposed to scripted speech adds to the challenge since the structure and

contents of a non-scripted source is invariably more complex and may appear to be less coherent in comparison to

an original which has been carefully scripted and edited. Students are given credit not only for fully

comprehending and interpreting the original meaning but also for producing an imaginative or creative solution to

a problem demanding delicate translation.

The interview with the Welsh-speaking social worker in Mexico was problematic. Her Welsh-language base

had eroded: person-number concord, for example, was absent from her on-screen oral contribution noted in 4a, 5a.

It has been restored (by us) in 4b, 5b:4a. Mae'n bwysig iawn iddyn ni i ddatblygu4b. (Mae'n bwysig iawn i ni ddatblygu)

[literally: It is very important for us to develop] ,

5a. Mae'r plentyn yma...Mae angen aruthrol o hunan barch arnyn nhw5b. (Mae'r plant yma...Mae angen mawr iddyn nhw ddathlygu hunan barch) [literally: These children...There is a great

need for them to develop self-respect]

On screen, however, the social worker's presence, manner and tone of voice projected self-assurance, and

confidence. Her actual responses on screen in Welsh, however, failed to convey this image. The student who had

the perception to idealise her language for the purpose of the subtitle was rewarded.

The Mexican farmer responded in Spanish. Welsh subtitles were already on screen; credit was given for

effective positioning of the additional tier of subtitles in the revised target language.The fourth contributor was obviously reading a previously prepared script behind camera: she did so in a

highly formal literary register. It was necessary to reflect this abrupt change of register in the subtitles

When the Welsh film Hedd Wyn was subtitled for an Oscar nomination, local

Heutwen James, Ian Ro,/je and David Thorne, Wales 183

Welsh place names, present in the source text, were omitted. They did not contribute to the target viewer's

understanding and appreciation of the story. But when Welsh-language television programmes are subtitled for

an Anglo-Welsh audience, the issue is not only whether the place name in question is retained or not, but in

which form will it appear in the subtitle. In an extract from a documentary series on country pursuits, Gwlad

Moc, most students preferred to retain Pen Ll¥n, the Welsh name of the region which was visited, rather than

selecting the English form, 'Lleyn Peninsula'. In complete contrast, most students chose to translate the name of

Ynys Enlli, the small, venerated holy island off the coast of the Lleyn Peninsula. It appeared subtitled on screen

as 'Bardsey Island'.

We will note one example where it would be clearly inappropriate to include a place name in the target

language, although it was an essential element in the source text and is a common expression in varieties of north

Wales Welsh:6. Watchia di dy hun neu mi gei di dy yrru i Ddimbach! [literally: 'You watch out or, you'll be

sent to Denbigh']

By including the place name in the target text, however, the whole thrust of the threat is annulled since the

name of the town in Welsh (but not in English) is inexorably and unambiguously linked to the psychiatric hospital

located there. The accurate English rendering would be: 'You watch out, or they'll put you in the madhouse!'

Forms and concepts which do not have equivalents in the target language are always problematic. The Welsh phrase YPethe [a pE6e]literally: 'The Things'], denotes the amalgam of values and interests which make up

traditional Welsh culture. The literal translation would have failed to transfer this source language concept.

The inability to interpret a juncture boundary (*) in the oral source text will nullify the screen translation.

One example from the Welsh-language drama series Pengelli will suffice:

Source text:7. [i fart' il

ei phart hi[literally: 'her part' (in a supportive sense)]

Student interpretation:8. [i farti * i]

ei pharti hi 'her party'

Students who have digressed from the original in an attempt to camouflage carelessness or incompetence are

penalised.


Sound grammar is essential to ensure easy reading of subtitles. Correct syntax in the target language is a

fundamental requirement. However, there are occasions when an unusual or non-standard syntactical construction

can be allowed in order to preserve dialectal integrity. For example, the syntax of one sub-set of emphatic clauses

in Welsh may be stated,Verb noun + Complement (Adverbial) + Auxiliary Verb + Subject (Adverbial)9. Palu'r ardd yr oedd ef pan elwais i.

'Digging the garden he was, when I called'.10. Eistedd yn y ffenestr y bydd hi ar brynhawn Sul.

'Sitting in the window she will on Sunday afternoons'.11. Mynd i Gaerdydd a wnaeth hi.

'Go to Cardiff she did'.12. Aros gartref a wnaf i.

'Stay at home I will'.

This type of clause has been taken over into the English of Wales, and is a common characteristic of the

syntax of Welsh English.

Spelling mistakes cannot be excused. The subtitler must also ensure that reduction does not adversely affect

the morphology and syntax of the subtitle.

Subtitlers are responsible for creating subtitles which the viewer can assimilate as easily and as rapidly as

technological and psychological constraints allow. This obliges the subtitler to adopt a style of punctuation that

enables the viewer to absorb the message as effortlessly as possible and ensure total comprehension.

Inadequate punctuation, the way it is found in, for instance,13. Go on Mart.

14. You're much too nice, friend this, friend that.

adversely affects the viewer's reading speed and may even cause loss of meaning. Frequently, failure to note the

intonation or stress pattern of the oral source text results in the absence of punctuation or in unhelpful /

unsatisfactory punctuation.

Technical skills

Credit is given to students who persevere and attempt to solve the intricacies of successful time-coding.

Students must ensure that each subtitle remains on screen for an adequate time to enable the viewer to

accommodate it comfortably. Difficulties frequently arise as a result of a conflict of priorities between accurate

and effective subtitles, the constraints of time-coding and viewers' expectations. The minimum on-screen time for

a short one-line subtitle is two seconds and a

Heutwen James, Ian Roffe and David Thorne, Wales 185

maximum of six seconds on screen is recommended for a long two-line subtitle. This is considered normal

practice, but flexibility to deal with difficult situations is often necessary and the student who achieves a successful

compromise is rewarded.

With regard to synchronisation, the appearance of subtitles on screen and disappearance from screen normally

coincides with the presence or absence of voice on the soundtrack. Difficult situations can arise, such as when a

producer has completed the take with an unkind cut, namely so that the cut occurs before the speaker has finished

speaking. Students are penalised if they have not succeeded in creating a balance between the time-in code and the

time-out code of a subtitle which exceptionally crosses a cut between two takes. It is recommended that the subtitle

should appear on the screen for a minimum of one second before and one second following the cut. Readability,

however, is never sacrificed for the sake of synchronisation, and credit is given for subtitles which do not disappear

from the screen too soon, as this practice inevitably leaves the viewer with a sense of frustration.

Channel 4 Wales's subtitling service is accessed through Teletext and serves the needs of the deaf and hard of

hearing, learners of Welsh and non-Welsh speakers. The correct use of colour and the positioning of the subtitle are

two criteria which aid the former's appreciation of the translation on screen. Credit is given for choice of colour.

White and yellow appear brighter against the standard black background and are often allocated to characters who

do most of the talking; cyan and green are allocated to those who play a lesser role within any one particular scene.

Students are expected to faithfully change the colour of a subtitle with each change of a character. Credit is given

for use of colour for special purposes, for example, a change of colour for emphasis; different colour for the

orthographic representation of a programme title. Although other colours are available on the palette, namely, red,

magenta and dark blue, these colours are not regarded as user-friendly but can be used creatively, for instance, to

produce, if desired, special effects in a rock music programme.

In addition to the effective use of colour, correct positioning of the subtitle, e.g. left, centre or right, also adds to

the deaf and hard of hearing's appreciation of the programme. Likewise, the use of chevrons to signify that the

speaker is off-screen. Wherever possible, subtitles should be positioned to correspond with the position of the

character on the screen. Ensuring left justification of all subtitles (in accord with Teletext procedures) including

subtitles which form part of


add-ons, increases the student's credit, as does careful positioning of a line break within a subtitle. In 16 below the

subtitler has managed to avoided the line-break by creating a one-line subtitle and gained credit as its overall

presentation makes for ease of reading:15. Have you seen the newspaper today?

16. Have you seen today's paper?

Finally, credit is given for allowing adequate breaks between the appearance of subtitles on screen and their

disappearance from screen. Students are required to leave a minimum of seven frames (according to the DOS-based

Softel subtitling units which we currently operate) between each subtitle but flexibility is important here because in

this area, theory and practice are frequently in conflict.

Although some students may gain more marks initially on technical ability rather than on their linguistic

expertise, the structure of the course does not allow a student to succeed in the final examination on technical ability

alone as the time constraints imposed by the examination exercise will not allow it. So even if a student has

achieved a high standard of technical competence, this alone does not produce the professional standard required if

the subtitled target texts are invalid.

Conclusion

The assessment model presented in this article was created and tested in a Welsh source -> English target

language situation. The experience of providing intensive training courses for teachers of screen translation in other

lesser-used languages, within a pilot project designed to promote the teaching of subtitling in Europe's lesser-used

languages under the auspices of the European Commission, will encourage us to refine the model further.

The only meaningful yardstick of success in the field of subtitling is the ingenuity to completely satisfy the target

viewer's appetite for subtitled programmes. In partnership with students, practitioners and the broadcasting authority

we have sought to devise a code which fosters good practice. We offer it to our partners and colleagues in the hope

that they may also find it useful. We hope that by continuing the discussion, a European, possibly a global code, of

good practice in the field of interlingual subtitling will soon become a reality. These assessment procedures

developed at The University of Wales, Lampeter are offered as a tentative step in that direction.

ASSESSMENT OF SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETING Anne Schjoldager, the Aarhus

School of Business, Denmark

Introduction

Though a detailed explication of assessment criteria seems to be a prerequisite for teaching, I know of no such

explication in the field of interpreting. In this article, I shall therefore discuss some explicit criteria which I use for

the teaching of simultaneous interpreting. They are particularly relevant for simultaneous conference interpreting,

but I assume that some elements may also be relevant for other types of interpreting.

When my students repeatedly asked me about the nature of the criteria used at the final exam in interpreting, I

decided to explicate my own criteria on a hand-out, which I discussed in class: what was a 'good' performance?

As I found this explication was insufficient, I added a supplementary series of specific questions for further

discussion. These questions are now contained in the feedback sheet which I present in this article.'

The students

I teach interpreting at the Aarhus School of Business. The programme is a master's programme which mainly

offers translation-relevant courses, but also includes a two-term compulsory interpreting course. The techniques

taught during this course are (1) dialogue interpreting (mainly court interviews), (2) long consecutive, and (3)

simultaneous interpreting. The setting of the two latter are simulated conferences. This relatively short course

does not turn students into fullyfledged interpreters overnight, but after graduation some may work as free-lance

interpreters, for instance in Danish courts, and others may acquire additional training, for instance at European

Union institutions (See Heynold 1994).

The objectives of the feedback sheet

The main objective of the feedback sheet is to function as a diagnostic tool. There are at least four situations in

which this is relevant. (1) In class, the sheet functions as a starting point for criticism of individual student

performances. However, as the class situation is potentially face-threatening to the individual, it is only the

general outline of the feedback sheet which is used and only salient points which are discussed in detail. (2) After

class, when I listen to tape record-


ings of student performances, the sheet is used for thorough analysis of strengths and weaknesses, and the student

is given individual advice accordingly, although this is a very time-consuming way of giving feedback.

Furthermore, this critique is a welcome opportunity for me to warn students that they may not pass the exam

unless they improve. (3) When students listen to a recording of their own performances, they use the feedback

sheet for self-criticism, following the same procedure, and concentrating on assessing areas previously diagnosed

as weak. (4) Students may listen to peer performances, either to offer constructive criticism or to gain insight into

the nature of interpreting.

Another objective of the feedback sheet is to facilitate constructive criticism, as it is a well-known fact that to

be helpful, criticism should be constructive rather than destructive. According to Nicholson (1993: 61),

constructive criticism is best if combined with an egalitarian, interactive principle, in which, rather than acting as

authoritative judge, the teacher encourages class participation. My feedback sheet is intended to facilitate this in

at least two ways. Firstly, the sheet gives equal emphasis to strengths and weaknesses, which means that students

can be praised as well as obliged to concentrate on improving specific points. Without the feedback sheet,

critique might tend to concentrate on negative points. Secondly, as the sheet provides an important tool, students

become confident and more skilled at offering and receiving criticism. Without the sheet, students would be

more inclined to let the teacher act as the unquestioned authority.

A third objective of the feedback sheet is to explicate the assessment criteria used in class and at the final

exam. I am convinced that an explication of assessment criteria is an important aid in the learning process.

Firstly, explicit criteria are more easily understood and internalized than criteria which learners have to find out

on their own. Secondly, an explication encourages a critical attitude towards assessment in general, and enables

students, teachers, and external examiners to suggest emendations. Thirdly, an explication ensures some

consistency in class assessments and exam evaluations. Fourthly, it enables students and teachers to concentrate

on the assessment of one skill at a time.

Assessment criteria

Gile emphasizes that professional translation/interpreting is a "service activity with a communication

function" (1995: 21). So, whereas school translations may be carried out in order to test the translator's

knowledge of a language, profes

Anne Schjoldager, Denmark 189

sional translation and interpreting are always carried out to aid communication. On the basis of this, I conclude

that, at least in interpreter training, a performance should be assessed according to the trainee's skill in

communicating the speaker's message in an appropriate way. There are various ways of assessing whether an

interpreter has acquired this skill, and assessors may disagree on the importance of the criteria. Bühler's (1986)

and Kurz's (1993) findings show, respectively, that interpreters (Bühler's informants),2 seem to rate linguistic

criteria, such as native accent, pleasant voice, and correct usage of language, much higher than users do (Kurz's

informants).

For the purpose of this article, I assess quality from the user's perspective: the speaker's and the listener's.3

The speaker emphasizes the interpreter's loyalty to him/her. The listener emphasizes the interpreter's skills as

speaker, though s/he, too, is interested in receiving a true rendition of the message.

The speaker's perspective

Quality from the speaker's perspective is often discussed under headings such as 'interpreting ethics' or

'professional conduct'. In court and police interpreting, a code of ethics is often given an official status. In

Denmark, for instance, a document, entitled "Instructions for interpreters" (Instruks for tolke) and issued by the

National Commissioner of the Danish Police (Rigspolitichefen), was recently sent to all registered court

interpreters.4 This document spells out the fact that Danish court and police interpreters are obliged impartially

to interpret everything as said. Other countries have similar codes of ethics, for instance Sweden (e.g., Wadensjö

1992: 51) and the US and Canada (e.g. Nicholson 1994).

To my knowledge, there are no comparable guidelines for conference interpreters. The closest equivalent is

probably AIIC's "Code of professional ethics", ; which specifies that one must "never add [one's] own comments

or alter the em- ' phasis of what is said" (AIIC 1990: 7). Scholars seem to take a similar view. Harris, for

instance, refers to the norm of the honest spokesperson (1990: 118). According to this, interpreters should: "re-

express the original speakers' ideas and the manner of expressing them as accurately as possible and without

significant omission, and not mix them up with their own ideas and expressions". I therefore assume that the

basic code of ethics for professional interpreting can be formulated as follows: an interpreter should be loyal to

the speaker and should endeav-


our not to delete information, not to change information, and not to add information. In the feedback sheet, this code of ethics is referred to as loyalty.

The listener's perspective

From a listener's perspective, quality is not codified in the same way. However, there is a general agreement that an interpreting performance should be comprehensible, pleasant to listen to, linguistically and terminologically acceptable, as well as coherent and plausible. AIIC (1990: 2) even warns its members to pay particular attention to voice and delivery, because: "Less able, less accurate colleagues have been preferred because of a pleasant voice and reassuring delivery". In the feedback sheet, quality criteria from the listener's perspective are mentioned before criteria from the speaker's, simply because it is much more obvious to listeners than to the speaker that a given interpreting performance is poor.

The feedback sheetIn the feedback sheet, I assume that the ideal interpreter is successful in at least four

ways. (1) The listener can understand what the interpreter is saying and can bear to listen to the interpreter. (2) The interpreter's language is adequate. (3) The interpreter's rendition is coherent and plausible s(4) The interpreter is a loyal communicator of the speaker's message. The first three criteria are seen from the listener's perspective. The fourth criterion is seen from the speaker's, though poor quality in this respect may also be obvious to the listeners (points 4.1 and 4.2). Though all four criteria are equally important in the end, the basic idea is that the fulfilment of the fourth criterion is useless if the three others are not met.

In the feedback sheet, the left-hand column gives the four criteria and, as subgroups, specific questions. If something is assessed as acceptable, the answer to these questions is 'no', if unacceptable 'yes'. In the latter case, the assessor must assume that communication is seriously flawed: this explains why all questions contain rather strong wordings (e.g. "irritating"

, "exaggerated", "strange", excessive", "significant", "unjustified"). The right-hand column gives arguments (in bold print) and typical examples. Figures in parentheses refer to sentences in the source speech discussed below.


Assessment of simultaneous interpreting

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Arguments/Examples1. Comprehensibility and delivery If a listener cannot understand or

bear to listen to an interpreter, theinterpreter's other qualities areirrelevant.

1.1 Is anything incomprehensible? the interpreter does not talk into the

microphone1.2 Is the articulation bad? "KBB" instead of "KGB" (2.)

1.3 Are there irritating outbursts? ah!, gv!, nej!, shit!

1.4 Are there exaggerated fillers? ermmmmm grmmmm

1.5 Are there strange noises? coughing, sighing, rustling, clicking I

1.6 Is the intonation unnatural? upwards in declarative sentences

1.7 Are there excessive repairs? seems to think aloud1.8 Are there irritating unfinished sentences? "He's accusing them of .." (4.)

1.9 Is the voice unpleasant? squeaky, hoarse, weepy

1.10 Is the voice unconvincing? gives the interpreter's doubts away

2. Language If an interpreter's choice of lan-

guage is inadequate, the listener getsirritated and the interpreter's otherqualities become less relevant.

2.1 Are there irritating mispronunciations?2.2 Are there irritating grammatical mistakes?

2.3 Is there interference? the interpreter incorrectly uses the

syntactic structure or lexical choice of

the source speech2.4 Is the language unidiomatic? "The power apparatus is recontrolled~,

by the conservative powers" (1.)2.5 Does it sound odd in the context? uses inappropriate register


ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Arguments/Examples

3. Coherence and plausibility If an interpreter's performancelacks coherence, the listener losesinterest in the message.

3.1 Are there abrupt beginnings? the listener feels that a premise is leftout

3.2 Are there abrupt endings? the listener feels that a concludingpoint is left out

3.3 Is the performance incoherent? the message does not make sense

3.4 Is the message implausible? the message is illogical

4. Loyalty A disloyal interpreter is unpro

fessional.

4.1 Does the interpreter mock the speaker? laughs in inappropriate places; showscontempt

4.2 Does the interpreter mock the message? laughs in inappropriate places; showscontempt

4.3 Are there significant omissions?

4.4 Are there unjustified changes?

4.5 Are there unjustified additions? __________________________.

Procedure for individual assessment after class

As mentioned, the feedback sheet may be used as a diagnostic tool. For the assessment after class, I write comments to

all questions for individual discussion. My strategies vary according to the acceptability of a given performance. If

generally unacceptable, I do not hand over the written assessment but merely summarize some typical examples. Students

are then advised to concentrate on improving comprehensibility and delivery, the first criterion, and then work their way

downwards in the feedback sheet, for, as mentioned, there is no use in point ing out grammatical mistakes, incoherence,

and translational mismatches, if the listener has difficulty in understanding what the interpreter is saying. If a per-

formance is assessed as unacceptable in some areas only, I start by praising what is good and then proceed to give advice

about the unacceptable parts. As most


points in the feedback sheet are relevant in these cases, I hand over the written assessment. Finally, if a performance is

generally acceptable, I tell the student why I think so and briefly discuss a few of the mistakes.

Exemplification

In order to illustrate how the feedback sheet works in practice, I shall analyze an extract from a simultaneous

interpreting performance by a student. In the source speech, the speaker, a Danish lady journalist, discusses the situation in

the Soviet Union, a topical issue in January 1991. The extract is from the last part of the speech. After each sentence, there

is a close translation in italics and brackets. Sentences are numbered, pauses are indicated by two dots, and almost-

inaudible syllables are marked by parentheses.

Source-speech extract

1. Magtens apparat kontrolleres nu igen af de konservative kra;fter i samfundet. ..

[The apparatus of power is now again controlled by the conservative powers in society. ..] 2. KGB-chefen Vladimir Krutjkov ..

genopliver nu verdensbillede(t) fra den kolde krig. ..

[The head of the KGB Vladimir Kryuchkev .. is now reviving (the) world view from the cold war. ..]3. Han raser mod amerikanske radiostationer. ..

[He is raging against American radio stations. ..]

4. Han anklager emigrantorganisationer i vesten for at ville undergrave Sovjetunios Sovjetunionen [sic]. ..

[He is accusing emigrant organizations in the west of wanting to undermine the Soviet Unios Soviet Union. .. ]

The interpreter is a student at the Aarhus School of Business, where she has nearly completed her interpreting course. It

should be noted that students of English interpret from English into Danish and vice versa.'

Extract of simultaneous interpreting by a student1. The power apparatus is (1.7)controlled (2.4)recontrolled by the conservative forces in society

1.4.err err2. The leader of the (1.2)KBB Mr Vladimir Kruchev .. is (' ) erm .. returning to the image of the

cold war. 3. (°.')..4. He (")he (``)challenges (I `)erm the (`') ca.a>institutions of the west saying that they want to (1')ring (44)ruin (`S)what's

happened in the USSR.

Superscribed figures in parentheses correspond to relevant questions in the

feedback sheet. Certain features marked in the extract (1.2, 1.7, and 4.5) are not

194, Teaching Translation and Interpreting 3

considered significant in the overall assessment. Intonation (1.6) and voice (1.9 and 1.10) are significant, but are

not marked in the transcript.Although I only cite an extract, the performance was assessed as a whole: everything is understandable (1.1) and

articulation is generally acceptable (1.2). There are no irritating outbursts (1.3), no strange noises (1.5), few excessive repairs (1.7), and no irritating unfinished sentences (1.8). There are no irritating mispronunciations (2.1), few irritating grammatical mistakes (2.2), little interference (2.3), and the performance is generally coherent and plausible (3.). The interpreter is never overtly disloyal (4.1 and 4.2), and she makes few unjustified additions (4.5). However, there are excessive fillers (1.4), the intonation is sometimes unnatural (1.6), and the voice sounds nervous and strained (1.9) and accordingly does not carry conviction (1.10). Furthermore, the language is sometimes unidiomatic (2.4), the register is sometimes inappropriate (2.5) and, most alarmingly, there are many significant omissions (4.3) and unjustified changes (4.4). These findings made me conclude that the performance was partially acceptable. The student needed to work on making her voice sound more convincing, on suppressing her urge to supply fillers, and, especially, on improving source-speech accuracy.

Concluding remarks

I hope this article has demonstrated that an explication of assessment criteria may be both useful and

enlightening to teachers and students alike. I would like to emphasize that the feedback sheet is intended as a

teaching tool only and may not necessarily reflect relevant assessment criteria in the world of professional in-

terpreting. My intention is merely to offer an explicit, systematic alternative to intuitive assessment procedures,

whose criteria are not only implicit but also, I feel, arbitrary. Only explicit assessment criteria can be useful to

learners.

Notes1. The basic idea behind this sheet resembles that of Dollerup's feedback form for written translation (Dollerup 1994).2. Bühler's (1986) informants were experienced interpreters who functioned as assessors in the screening system set up by the Association of International Conference Interpreters (AIIC). 3. According to Gile (e.g. 1995: 31), quality may also be assessed from the client's point of view. However, since this is a difficult parameter in a teaching situation, quality from the client's point of view is left out of the present analysis.4. Cf. Nicholson and Martinsen (manuscript).


5. Gile points out that the interpreter is only "instrumental" in the process (1995: 32). Of course, lack of perceived coherence may be due to factors other than the interpreter, for instance lack of source-speech coherence and the listeners' lack of background knowledge. However, though this is a valid point, I do not take it into account and simply assume that the source speech is coherent and that the listener is reasonably well-informed about the subject matter. 6. This performance was also used in an exploratory study of translational norms in simultaneous interpreting (See Schjoldager 1995).

QUALITY ASSESSMENT IN SCHOOL VS PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATION

Kinga Klaudy, University of Budapest, Hungary

To the vital question of how to connect academic training and the requirements of the market, I will suggest in

this article yet one more solution, perhaps controversial in many aspects, but certainly successful in my own

practice at the Training Center for Translators and Interpreters at the Faculty of Humanities, Eötvös Loránd

University, Budapest, where I have been teaching translation theory and practice for twenty years.

Our school was established in 1973 as an independent teaching center. We offer one year postgraduate courses

in translation and interpreting with the objective of training professional translators and consecutive interpreters.

Applicants are required to hold a university degree or college diploma - not necessarily in language teaching - and

a Certificate of Proficiency in their first foreign language. Like other high level trainees, our students are

supposed to have the required thematic knowledge and linguistic skills at admission and our one year

postgraduate training concentrates only on the development of their translation and interpreting skills.

I teach translation from a foreign language into the mother tongue, for which reason my training practice

clearly differs from both that of language teaching institutions, where translation is one method of foreign

language acquisition, and equally differs from undergraduate translator training institutions, where translation is

taught parallel to and in combination with the foreign language. Nevertheless the question remains: should we

teach (a) school translation or (b) a subclass of professional translation at our institutions? Where does

professional translation begin? How should we classify the translation practiced in postgraduate training schools

for translators? Is it school translation or professional translation?

The traditional definition of the difference between school and professional translation is that in school

translation the translator's objective is to inform the receiver (teacher) about his/her knowledge of the foreign

language, whereas the translator's aim in professional translation is to inform the receiver (the reader) about the

contents of the original.

We therefore have to admit that, independent of the academic level, it is not justifiable to speak about

professional translation when the translation chain begins and ends with the teacher. What we teach may be at a

very high level, but


because of the presence of the teacher it is still necessarily a pedagogical exercise rather than an activity resembling

real life situations.

How can translation teaching be brought closer to real-life situations? This subject has been widely discussed in

previous volumes of this series and elsewhere. Authors provide different suggestions about ways in which this could

be done.

Claim for real situations, real texts and real readers

Jean Vienne has argued for a pedagogy of 'translation in situation'(Vienne 1994). It is his tenet that we should

replace the teacher by a 'requester', and the student by a trainee translator. A translation begins with the analysis of

the translational situation. The texts presented to the students have all been translated by the teacher in an actual

translational situation, which means that the teacher has already carried out a real-life situational analysis and is

therefore able to provide proper answers to the trainee translators when they 'negotiate with the requester' (whose

role is acted out by the teacher). In Jean Vienne's article we find a detailed list of questions to be asked by the

translators and answered by the requesters, such as: "Who wrote the source text?", "Who are the target group?",

"What is the context of use?", "Has the source text been translated into other languages?", "What is the status of

these translations?" etc., and Vienne also proposes actions and strategies arising from the answers (Vienne 1994: 55).

Another method of making training more pragmatic would be a more realistic selection of the texts to be

translated. According to this view, the teacher would give students only real-life texts for translation, which means

that texts should not be adapted or shortened, and should fulfil a realistic communicative task. As Dollerup describes

his own practice: "All texts are authentic and unedited texts, selected because they present real-life translation

problems" (Dollerup 1994: 124).

Another suggestion for bringing classroom work closer to real life has been made by Adriana Pagano (1994). She

criticizes teacher-centered practice. She sees ineffectivity of classroom practice as the outcome of the fact that the

teacher is the only reader of the students' translations. "...the mere fact that the teacher was the one who would read

and judge their translations led students to dismiss any consideration of normal readers and to concentrate

exclusively on equivalence rendition" (1994: 215). The teacher-centered practice, writes Pagano, "reinforces the

traditional emphasis on the adequacy between the target text and the source text, and disregards the 'acceptability'

which a translated text is required to have in the new context of reception" (1994: 214). She describes an experi

Kinga Klaudy, Hungary - 199

ment in which the role of reader was transferred to students. The class was divided into two groups, all students

handed their translation over to a member of the other group, and they were asked to behave as a casual

readers, and to disregard the existence of an original text.

Translation teacher vs editorial reviser

In my opinion, neither real-life situational analysis, nor real-life text choice, nor occasional replacement of

the teacher by the students can change the fact that, if the end user of the translation is the teacher, we cannot

speak of professional translation in teaching: that is, unless the teacher plays the role of an editor or an editorial

reviser. Unlike the teacher, the reviser has a natural place in the reallife translation chain: at the final stage

before the end user. The main difference between a teacher and a reviser springs from the different aims of their

errorcorrection strategies.- the aim of the teacher's error-correction strategies is to develop the translation

skills of would-be translators,

- the aim of the reviser's error-correction strategies is to facilitate the under

standing between the source language writer and the target language audience.

Consequently, the reviser has no other choice but to correct all the translation errors. Conversely the teacher

has a wide range of choices. He or she can invent an entirely new philosophy of quality assessment and error

correction in order to reach the desired pedagogical goal. While revisers should be inevitably productoriented,

teachers have a right to choose between the product-oriented and process-oriented approaches, and we may

consider more closely a few which are actually used and described in scholarly publications.

Process and product-oriented approaches

The "process-oriented approach", for example, radically denies the importance of error corrections in

translation teaching. Thus Daniel Gile (1994) compares traditional translation training, "based on translation

assignments which are corrected in class, with teachers criticizing or approving the students' choices and

presenting their own solution" (1994: 107), with the process-oriented system, in which "Trainees are

considered as students of translation methods rather than as producers of finished products", "target language

texts essentially serve as a looking glass revealing their methods", and teachers "put questions to the students

whenever possible rather than criticize them" (1994: 108).


The "product-oriented approach" does not deny the importance of error corrections, so quality assessment and

error correction are widely discussed in articles on translation training. There are three basic principles to be

traced throughout this discussion: (1) the principle of systematic feedback, (2) the principle of student-centered

corrections, and (3) the principle of a humanistic approach to students errors.

One of the common characteristics of these articles is that all the authors would like to give a more systematic

feedback on student's translations. In an article Cay Dollerup (1994) gives a detailed description of his feedback.

It consists of three components: 1. " corrections in the translations which the students have handed in", 2. "oral

discussion in the class covering adequate as well as inadequate renditions" 3. "feedback form assessing strengths

and weaknesses with each student" (1994: 125).

In Dollerup's article we also find illustrations: two student translations with correction marks, excerpts of a

model translation, and the feedback form with 42 problem areas to be filled in by the teacher. Along the same

lines as Dollerup's feedback form, Marfa Julia Sainz proposes to use a 'Correction Card' divided into four

columns: 'Mistakes', 'Possible Correction', 'Source', 'Type of mistake', to be filled in by the students (Sainz 1994:

139). The effort to make the feedback more systematic is also reflected in other articles, which list possible errors

and mistakes and propose to attach these lists to corrected translations.

The central idea in the student-centered approach, developed by María Julia Sainz, is that students "learn best

when they are involved in developing learning objectives for themselves which are congruent with their current

and idealized self-concept" (1994: 135). The student-centered approach to translation teaching means two things.

First, a human-rights based approach to correction of translations. Students have the right to know the evaluation

system used to evaluate their translation, they have the right to know who is judging their work etc. Second, it

entails, as the author puts it, "a non-aggressive way of giving students feedback on their errors" (1994: 138).

According to Sainz "The traditional method of re-writing the correct version on the student's sheet is...very

disruptive, frustrating and stressful for students..." (1994: 138). Instead, she suggests that the 'Correction Card' be

filled in by the students for self-assessment.

The humanistic approach to the study of translation errors is described by Candace Sdguinot (1989). Séguinot

does not consider errors as violations of translational or language norms but as "surface manifestation of

phenomena

Kinga Klaudy, Hungary 201

which are the object of study" (1989: 74). Errors "can give interesting insights into the normal processes of

translation, and make possible better predictions about what kind of errors are likely to occur in translation"

(1989: 74). There are errors which arise because the translator does not understand the source language or

cannot manipulate the target language well enough, while other errors "are a normal by-product of the

translation process" and are "normal in learning to translate" (1989: 80).

Teachers' strategies vs revisers' strategies

After this short overview of different error-correction principles, I would like to return to my previous

statement that, unlike teachers, revisers have no other choice but to concentrate on the end product and correct

all errors made by translators. My suggestion for bringing school closer to life is therefore that we apply real-life

error-correction strategies in professional translator training. This implies that a number of traditional correction

practices are obviously inapplicable to professional translator training. These practices are found in advice to the

effect that:

(1) The teacher should not use red ink, because it can frustrate the students and give rise to a negative

atmosphere in the classroom.

(2) The teacher should not correct the text itself, but only make remarks in the margin.

(3) The teacher should indicate his or her remarks about the translation on a separate sheet.

(4) The teacher should make a list of common errors and mistakes in translation, attach a copy of this list to

the translation and tick the appropriate types.

(5) The teacher should not correct the mistakes, errors etc., but rather give points for the good solutions, and

no points for the bad ones. (6) The teacher should not write in a correct solution, because then the students

believe it is the correct solution, and in translation there is never one single correct solution.In my view these methods should not be applied in professional training. The

reason is that translation students who have been treated so tactfully, whose

errors and mistakes have only been regarded as a good starting point for an inter

esting discussion in the classroom, will be shocked to see their revised translation

corrected by a professional, as illustrated by the genuine sample shown on the


opposite page.

It is my conviction that in professional training teacher's work should emulate the real-life circumstances of a

translation bureau or of a publishing house as closely as it is possible. What follows from this?

(1) The teacher's work should be similar to the work of an editorial reviser. (2) The trainer-trainee relationship

should be different from the traditional teacher-student relationship and should be similar to the relationship

between

an experienced translator and a neophyte professional translator.

(3) Text revision for classroom purposes should be similar to revision for editorial purposes.(4) Teachers of translation should have experience in editorial work.

(5) The school correction should look like real life correction, because trainees should be aware of the degree

of work a reviser has to do make a translation ready for print.

(6) All errors and mistakes should be corrected, not only pedagogically interesting ones.(7) The correct solutions should be written into the text.

(8) Corrections should be made, not only at sentence level, but also at the text level, as they have to result in a

coherent text submittable to the publisher. (9) Corrections need not follow a pattern but may differ from each

other if necessary from translation to translation, and their aim should be to make each translation perfect in

itself.

Conclusions and suggestions for further research

This professional approach to error-correction also offers a clue to the quality assessment of translations. In my

view, the only correct criterion for quality assessment of students' translations is the amount of time required to

transform them into print-ready texts. If the revision takes more time than the translation itself, the translation is

bad.

But there are, inevitably, also disadvantages in this method:

(1) It is very time consuming to prepare a submittable or print-ready text for each translation assignment,

(2) The method cannot be applied in classes with more than 8 to 10 translation trainees.

(3) It is very difficult to find trainers who are teachers and revisers at the same time or have experience both

with teaching and editorial work.


A professional approach to error-corrections may also reveal new fields for translation research. A corpus

consisting of revised versions of students' translations may provide good material for empirical research. The daily

routine of editorial revisers is an interesting bilingual activity never systematically investigated so far.

Within this framework it can be very useful:

(1) To compare the editing strategies of different editorial revisers,

(2) To compare correction strategies of teachers and editing strategies of editorial revisers.

STUDENTS AND PROFESSIONAL REALITY

A TRANSLATION PROGRAM FOR A UNIQUE POPULATION

Courtney Searls-Ridge, Washington Academy of Languages,

Seattle, USA

IntroductionThere are 85 languages spoken in the greater Seattle area. One local university

hospital logs up to 1700 hours of interpreting for patients a month. Until recently, the only translator or interpreter training courses available in the Seattle area were an orientation class for medical interpreters, random workshops offered by local volunteer translator and interpreter organizations, and court interpreter certification training in a few languages. The Translation and Interpreting Institute at the Washington Academy of Languages was founded in 1994 to meet the need for training.

I shall discuss a pilot program developed by this Institute for translators already working for public health services in Seattle. The translators are responsible for translating health education materials from English into Amharic, Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Laotian, Russian, Spanish, Tigrinya, and Vietnamese. The pilot course was funded by a grant.` Classes met for ten three-hour sessions in the evenings and on weekends. Thirty students registered, and they were divided into two sections based on their language pairs and schedules. Five students dropped out or did not attend regularly.

The objective of the course was to teach the basic process of translation. Classroom materials consisted primarily of low-literacy health education documents being translated by the Department of Public Health and disseminated in the community. Reading material and handouts included articles from translation journals and style books about various aspects of translation, editing, and proofreading.

By the end of the course, participants were expected to understand the stepsnecessary to produce an adequate translation:

1) How to analyze a source text from the perspective of a translator (predicting problems) 2) Basic research techniques;3) The importance of glossary management;4) The importance of editing for content, accuracy and style; 5) Proofreading techniques;6) The importance of presentation;7) The importance of meeting deadlines; and8) How to ask for and utilize feedback from the translation user or client.


Upon completion of the course students were expected to apply this knowledge and the skills they had learned in order to improve their performance in the workplace.

The course was graded as pass or fail. Students whose written English was weak were given an opportunity to test orally. The instructor prepared a short written evaluation of each student. Students who completed the course received a letter of participation.

The student populationThe students varied from full-time interpreters to those contracted as interpreters and

translators on a project basis. Several had been hired because they said they were multilingual (Cambodian, Laotian, Thai), and a few had been chosen because they had experience in the medical field. As far as I have been able to determine, nobody had ever tested their written or oral language skills in the source language (English) or their target languages. Even those who were experienced interpreters had had no formal training as translators or interpreters.

The students had begun working in teams a few months before taking the course. Some students took the course because they were pressured by their employers to do so. Others hoped that the course would improve their marketability as freelance translators.

Entry evaluationNo minimum educational requirements were set for participation, so the educational

levels ranged from high school graduate in the native country to master's degree in the USA. All but one were non-native English speakers.

Although I was not able to screen students out of the program, the Institute did test their English skills to ensure that they would be able to follow instructions in English and thus understand the materials they were asked to translate at work. This evaluation enabled me to plan course content and pedagogies.

The English skills evaluation consisted of:

1. Grammar (by means of a multiple choice test);2. Reading comprehension (a Department of Public Health brochure about lead poisoning); 3. Listening comprehension (a taped Public Radio interview about a child with cancer); and

4. A personal interviewThe evaluation showed that six students did not have adequate English skills, but they

were nevertheless allowed to participate. The other 24 students tested

Courtney Searls-Ridge, USA 209

very high in listening and reading comprehension whereas their written English skills varied.

Evaluation of writing skills in the dominant languageAt the start of the course, students were asked to submit a one-page translation sample

into their dominant language. They were also required to submit a translation sample as a final project. These translations were to be evaluated for accuracy, grammar, and acceptability by a professional translator. A checklist was developed to facilitate this process. Unfortunately, qualified evaluators in all language pairs were not available for

this part of the pilot project.Obviously, students should have excellent writing skills in their target languages and

near-native listening and reading comprehension in the source language (English) if they aspire to careers as professional translators. In this case, the Institute was not able to evaluate the target language skills of all participants.

The challenges

The wide range of English comprehension skillsSkills in English ranged from "very poor abilities in all areas; should not be in class" to

the other extreme, "very fluent; writing could use fine tuning." I decided to teach to the highest skill level, and I did not adapt my materials to accommodate the lower level students. However, I consciously used more repetition and paraphrasing than I would have otherwise. In an effort to compensate for the low reading comprehension scores of several students, I discussed important handouts in class rather than assigning them as required reading. This turned out to be beneficial to other students as well, because several students who had tested very high in reading comprehension found the reading materials quite difficult.

Many language pairs in one classroom - one bilingual instructorThe classes were structured so that each class had at least two students with each

language pair for group work and peer evaluation. However, when work: schedules and family obligations threatened to keep students away from class, I allowed them to attend class on another day thereby effectively undermining substantial work with language pairs. I also diverged from the lesson plan several times to work with materials students were translating (under tight deadlines) for


their employers. In their final evaluations, students expressed disappointment that we had not had more small group work.

One exercise borrowed from Baker, which was successful in the first few weeks, was to have students bring lists of

words that they found difficult to translate on a word level (Baker 1992:43). In class they broke up into language groups,

shared their difficult words, and helped each other work out solutions. These exercises demonstrated the efficiency of

teamwork and brainstorming. They also helped students to overcome the fear of peers finding out that there was something

they did not know.

Complex, culturally-loaded material for translation exercises

I spent much more time on source text analysis in these classes than in other basic translation skills classes. This was time

well-spent since many students did not recognize their limitations and were not aware that they did not fully understand the

source text until it was discussed in detail.

The source texts had been written by public health educators who are not necessarily skilled writers. Although these

materials are supposed to be written for low-literacy readers, this is not always the case. Students learned to read very

carefully in order to understand the nuances.

The subject matter was often 'culturally loaded'. For example: One student was insistent in wanting to tone down the

urgency expressed in a brochure about Hepatitis B because, she said, hepatitis B is "not a big deal" in Ethiopia. All three

Ethiopians in the class agreed that hepatitis B is common in Ethiopia, and that people do not take it seriously since there is

a folk remedy that cures it 100%. They had also misunderstood the source text, thinking it said that hepatitis B is incurable

whereas it actually said that it causes incurable liver diseases. They felt that the brochure would needlessly frighten

Ethiopians in the community. The students agreed that one appropriate solution would be to call the employer's attention to

this in a cover note. Reluctantly, they agreed that they could not change the tone of the text without consulting the authors.

Similar issues were raised, of course, by source texts about sexually transmitted diseases and the use of condoms. Some

material was so offensive to the students that they felt people in their communities would not read the brochures if they

were translated faithfully.

I found it difficult to convey the balance between fidelity to the source text and the necessary effectiveness in translation.

The reason is that many of the stu

Courtney Searls-Ridge, USA . 211

dents had been working as medical interpreters for years although they had never been trained in the role of the

interpreter. Therefore many were accustomed to filtering bad news and material they deemed "culturally inappropriate".

I believe that they were carrying this misconception of the interpreter's role over into translation. It is not easy to undo

bad habits.

On the other hand, the students had a valid point because a 'faithful' rendering of the register of this type of material

is not always appropriate for getting the message across. There is no one right answer. I found though that students

tended to stray too far from the content of the source text and actually really wanted to rewrite the message.

Many class exercises analyzing source text and seeking solutions to the problems as the students perceived them were

intended to develop the analytical skills and the judgment necessary to be a good translator.

Fostering teamwork in the classroom and in the workplace

At first, several students were resistant to working in teams. Eventually, they cooperated in the classroom, but I do

not know whether this continued in the professional arena.

Instilling a sense of professionalism

At the beginning of the course, no one (translator, editor, proofreader, translation coordinator) felt responsible for the

finished translation. By the end of the course students understood that, even though their work would usually be edited

and proofread by someone else, it is the responsibly of translators to deliver near-finished products to their editors,

proofreaders, or clients, and that translators are obliged to edit and proofread each translation as though they were the

final person in the chain.

By the end of the course most students also understood the difference between proofreading and editing for style and

content.

Students found it difficult to pose questions to the client regarding terminology and meaning. They seemed to benefit

greatly from analyzing texts at home and coming up with a list of questions which were than used to role-play dialogues

between the client and the translator. This was fun and also built confidence. The final test indicated marked

improvement in this area.

Another tool for building up a sense of professionalism was a five-page selfevaluation questionnaire called "Becoming

a more professional independent


translator and interpreter". The questions included, for example, "What would I say to politely refuse a request for a

job with an unreasonable deadline or fee?" and "Am I aware of my limitations?", "Do I refuse projects which I

cannot do well?" These questions set the stage for discussion about issues these beginning translators had never

thought about.

Conclusion

It could be argued that we should not be training groups such as this one to be translators until their source and

target language skills are greatly improved. However, in this particular case, Seattle public health services was

already using and will continue to use these translators no matter whether they are trained or not.

After the course, all but the few who had tested low in the initial evaluation showed a much better

understanding of the translation process than before. Several expressed interest in other courses to continue to

improve their skills.

Obviously, a 30-hour course cannot solve all translation problems. I believe, however, that as a direct result of

this course, the translations distributed by Seattle public health services are more effective than previously. My goal

as a translator trainer in this unique setting - with this wonderfully unique student population - was to provide my

students with the necessary tools and skills for them to produce better translations. I believe I accomplished this.

Notes

1. Health Education Low Literacy and Language Project (HELLLP).

LANGUAGE-SPECIFIC STRATEGIES IN SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETING

Alessandra Riccardi, University of Trieste, Italy

Simultaneous interpreting is achieved through the concurrent application of cognitive and linguistic skills which

are so closely intertwined that it is difficult to state whether and when one prevails over the other. Conference

interpreting in general and simultaneous interpreting in particular have been investigated by different disciplines and

various models have been elaborated and applied to describe the processes involved (Gerver 1976; Massaro 1978;

Moser 1978).

From the point of view of cognitive sciences, simultaneous interpreting involves the decoding, storage, retrieval,

transformation and re-encoding of verbal information. Particular attention has been devoted to the role of memory

(shortand long-term memory) and to attention and its distribution to the different components of simultaneous

interpreting.

In the Translationstheorie (Holz-Mänttäri 1984) and the Skopostheorie of Reiß and Vermeer (1984), translation

and interpreting have been treated as if they were one and the same. It is true that in both activities, a source-

language text must be translated into a target-language text. There is, however, one important, macroscopic

difference and this is the spatio-temporal unity within which the text or speech is delivered and the simultaneous interpreting performed, compared to a written translation which is always carried out after a temporal delay and in a different environment from the one which produced the source-text. Even though the two tasks are comparable in

their objectives, the information-processing load is greater and the possibility of corrections reduced in the

simultaneous mode. Furthermore, the unitary spatio-temporal setting allows direct reference to the situation and the

event, a greater use of deictic elements and often the clarification of otherwise confusing text elements. The

strategies used in translation and interpreting will thus differ in this specific respect.

Syntactic restructuring from source-text to target-text is one of the processes that places extremely heavy stress on

short-term memory. Personal experience has led me to the conviction that interpreting from English into Italian is far

less fatiguing than from German into Italian because the syntactic structures of German differ more than those of

English from Italian. To overcome the specific syntactic difficulties of simultaneous interpreting from German into

Italian inter-


preters with this language combination have to apply anticipation strategies to a greater extent than with other

language-pairs.'

Wilss (1978) points out that the interpreter has various cues for syntactic and/or semantic anticipation at his

disposal. "It is clear that syntactic anticipation normally is something quite different from blind textual

hypothesizing. It is rather the result of intelligent textual prediction triggered by linguistic units (mor phemes,

lexemes or lexeme combinations) which, within the framework of specific communication situations, serve as

important cues for the achievement of high-quality SI performance" (Wilss 1978: 349). Cues may be intralingual,

providing important contextual information on the further semantic development of the text. They may be

extralinguistic and situational or linguistically and situationally standardized phrases, such as thanking and

welcoming. Wilss concludes that "the development of a subtle syntactic and semantic anticipatory ability is a useful

goal for the linguistically and psychologically based teaching of SI" (1978: 350). When Wilss wrote his article there

were no data and studies on which such systematized teaching could be based. Specific language-pair studies of

simultaneous interpreting are few and investigations of anticipation strategies, semantic and/or synctactic, are

mostly very general.

To evaluate strategies and difficulties in simultaneous interpreting from German into Italian, I carried out a

comparative analysis in which the interpreting performance of three groups, namely (a) students, (b) graduates and

(c) experienced interpreters was compared and contrasted.

Description of the study

The first and most general aim of the study was to verify whether certain elements labelled as difficulties -

rendering of disturbed signal, overcoming lexical and morpho-semantic difficulties, rendition of verb-final

constructions and generally of structures with different word order, integration of encyclopedic knowledge, storing

of long chunks in short-term memory - were really obstacles to interpreting performance, and if so, whether this

was true for all participants in the study or whether some elements (and which ones) represented a greater prob lem

for students than for interpreters or vice-versa. The second and specific aim of the investigation was the

recognition of anticipation strategies applied, triggered by top-down and/or bottom-up factors, that is by

intratextual linguistic elements and/or extratextual, knowledge-bound information. Experienced interpreters might

be expected to rely more on top-down strategies which make use

Alessandra Riccardi, Italy , 215

of their encyclopedic knowledge and work experience, whereas students might be expected to resort more often to

linguistic cues in order to extract as much information as possible from the text. Lastly, the comparison between

the performance of students and interpreters would show differences in strategies and examples of successful

anticipation so as to indicate what skills students need for a good interpreting performance.

The participants in the study were 12 interpreting students at the end of their university course in interpreting

training.2 The second group comprised 6 interpreters who had recently passed their final examination in

interpreting.' The third group consisted of 6 professional interpreters with at least 12 or more years interpreting

experience.

The participants had to interpret two speeches by the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl from German into

Italian. The first speech was delivered in Berlin on the 9 November 1992 to the Reichstag when the Chancellor

was awarded the freedom of the city of Berlin. He is addressing Members of the Bundestag, of the Berliner

Abgeordnetenhaus and distinguished German and foreign guests. In his speech he thanks the city representatives

and stresses the importance of Berlin as the capital of a reunified Germany. He then goes on to thank foreign

countries and their representatives for their interest in and assistance to Berlin. Finally, he addresses all Germans,

asking them to work even harder to overcome the problems that still exist between the East and the West of

Germany. The speech lasts 9'57" and is introduced briefly by the Mayor of Berlin. This part (1'40") has not been

translated and was used for adjusting the volume and setting the context.

The second text (6'S0"), translated immediately afterwards, was the recorded speech of Kohl's message to the

nation on 31 December 1994. The German Chancellor is talking to his fellow citizens and briefly summarizes the

accomplishments of the previous year in the field of the economy and employment. He then goes on to list what

is still to be done in the economy as well as in the fields of security, research, technology and family policy. 1995

will mark 50 years of peace since the end of the Second World War. The conflict in former Yugoslavia indicates

that many problems remain unresolved in Europe and that (besides Germany's engagement) there is a need for

the European Union to grow stronger together in order to overcome possible conflict situations. In 1995 Kohl

will direct his efforts in two directions: towards the further development of Germany's internal unity and towards

a closer European integration.


Both speeches were written for very formal occasions but conceived for oral delivery. They are the kind of

text interpreters working with politicians often have to translate and which students often use for practice. They

differ from impromptu speeches in presenting less hesitation, fewer repetitions or false starts and a higher lexical

density. The speaker does not develop a train of thought while he is speaking. The text is fixed and therefore the

pace is different from an impromptu speech and not too fast (105 and 130 words per minute respectively).

It is superfluous to add that the interpreting conditions were artificial compared to the normal setting of such

an event, but in fact there are few opportunities for using real working conditions in a comparative study. In any

case, the conditions were identical for all three groups, who were informed in advance of the theme of the

speeches, the situation and the type of text.

In the following sections, some portions of the text have been chosen to highlight the differences in the

interpreting performances of the students and of the interpreters as regards standardized expressions, verb

anticipation, short-term memory overload, influences of top-down and bottom-up procedures, sentence re-

structuring and rendition of adjectives without one-to-one correspondence.

Standard expression - verb-final structureIch freue mich, daß ich heute hier die Ehrenbürgerwürde Berlins, der Hauptstadt des wiedervereinigten Deutschland, entgegennehmen darf.

[It is a pleasure for me to receive here today the freedom of the city of Berlin, the capital of reunified

Germany.]°

This sentence presents two elements to be tested, namely a standardized expression at the beginning and the

verb in the end position. As to the first, with only one exception all graduates and experienced interpreters used a

highly standardized Italian expression (sono lieto di, sono molto lieto di) for Ich freue mich. Students (9 out of

12) produced a variety of different expressions ranging from è un onore per me [it is an honour] through vorrei

esprimere la mia gioia [I would like to express my joy] to esprimo le mie felicitazioni [I express my con-

gratulations] and mi rallegro di [I am delighted]. It is therefore apparent that at this stage of their training

students have not yet automatized the interpreting of standard expressions and therefore direct too much effort

into what should be routine interpreting.

7 students had problems with the verb entgegennehmen [to receive] which they could either not anticipate or

which they rendered in the past tense, thus distort

Alessandra Riccardi, Italy 217

ing the given temporal-spatial factor. With the exception of one of the graduates, both graduates and

experienced interpreters translated the verb correctly.

The results show that students could not anticipate the right verb even though they had been informed about

the event. They could not activate their specific knowledge and even after hearing the word Ehrenbürgerwürde

they could not work out the correct verb and, in their confusion about the situation, used the wrong tense. Two

students added to their first sentence [to be here today] the verbal phrase [and to receive...]. The delayed

addition of another verb to complete the neutral one used when it cannot be exactly anticipated is a good

strategy to prevent short-term memory overload. This strategy has been developed during lessons and has

proved useful as an intermediate step towards a better anticipatory capacity.

Short-term memory overload - verb-final structureGerade am heutigen Tag, nach manchem was gesagt und berichtet wird, möchte ich in dieser Stunde den Berlinerinnen und Berlinern meine ganz besonders herzliche Zuneigung und Sympathie versichern.[On this very day, after what has been said and reported, at this moment I wish to assure the 'people of Berlin of all my affection and regard.]

This sentence contains an embedded clause (nach manchem was gesagt und berichtet wird) and the verb

comes at the end. 9 students, 2 graduates and 2 experienced interpreters did not translate the embedded clause.

This is probably

the consequence of short-term memory overload, owing to the position of the verb and to the consequent dislocation of the clause. The verb versichern was

translated as esprimere or assicurare [express, make sure] by all junior and experienced interpreters, thus

implying a certain degree of anticipation. 5 of the students used this translation as well. The remaining 7 students

used general verbs such as dire, rivolgere, trasmettere, [say, address, transmit] but 4 of them then completed the

sentence with the verb esprimere. Again the use of a neutral verb, 'saying', was noted as a way of avoiding a

wrong translation, followed then by the translation of the correct verb once it had been heard. Graduates and ex-

perienced interpreters showed a greater capacity both of verb anticipation and of coping with short-term memory

overload.


Encyclopedic knowledgeUnd wir sahen gerade das Bild als am 12. Juni 1987 Ronald Reagan hier in der Nachbarschaft vor dem Brandenburger Tor seine

Rede hielt und der damals Michail Gorbatschow aufforderte, das Tor zu öffnen und die Mauer niederzureißen.[We have just seen the image as Ronald Reagan on the 12th July 1987 gave a speech here in

the neighbourhood before the Brandenburg Gate and urged Gorbachev to throw open the gate and to pull down

the wall.]This is a typical case of the significance of encyclopedic knowledge. It must also be noted that the recording

was rather poor at this point and that Kohl pronounced 'Ronald Reagan' with a strong German accent. Only 3 students attributed the speech to Kohl, 6 believed it was Gorbachev, one that it was the Mayor of Berlin who had made the speech and, not knowing whom Reagan was urging, 2 hesitated and avoided giving any name. Conversely, among the interpreters only one of the graduates was wrong, while one experienced interpreter said that it was Gorbachev who made the speech, but also transformed the meaning in such a way that this was plausible. 2 of the graduates did not pronounce Gorbachev's name, while the others rendered it correctly. The results indicate clearly that the students were relying heavily on bottom-up cues. In this case, as even the phonological level was disturbed, they failed to interpret correctly because of insufficient world knowledge to enable them to understand the unlikely nature of their own interpretations. Experienced interpreters relied on their top-down knowledge and overcame the difficulties in spite of the auditory problems. They did not expose themselves to a risky or illogical interpretation.

Different word order of the phrasesDie Welt hat sich nach dem Fall der Berliner Mauer vor fünf Jahren und seit Vollendung der deutschen Einheit dramatisch

verändert.(The world has changed dramatically since the fall of the Wall five years ago and since the reunification of Germany.]This sentence requires a different word order in the Italian rendition. As it is awkward to begin with the noun

phrase (die Welt) thus having to wait so long for the finite verb, a better solution would be to begin with the

prepositional phrase.

7 students kept the German phrasal order in Italian. 5 waited, beginning with nach dem Fall der Berliner

Mauer [after the fall, with the fall of the Wall] which meant a heavier load on short-term memory but a better

performance. 4 of the graduates and all experienced interpreters chose the second solution, so that it


may be concluded that this strategy (which means a finer capacity to reformulate the sentence in the target-

language) develops with experience.

Lexical and morpho-semantic aspects1. Junge Familien brauchen bezahlbaren Wohnraum.2. Wir werden hier spürbar helfen.3. Es geht nicht an, daß wohnungssuchende junge Familien abgewiesen werden, weil Kinder da sind.[Young families need living space that they can afford to pay for.] [We will grant considerable support in this sense.][We can't possibly allow that young families looking for accommodation be turned away because they have

children.]

These three contiguous sentences contain three adjectives which are not easy to translate, or rather, which cannot

be translated with a one-to-one equivalent as may often be the case with adjectives. In the first sentence bezahlbar

and pagabile [payable] have a different semantic-pragmatic value and therefore the adjective must be changed in the

Italian version either into a general substitute, adeguato, [suitable], or into a phrase, a prezzi accessibili, [at

affordable prices], che possono essere pagati, [which may be paid]. It seems that, as interpreting this sentence

required greater concentration, the next sentence was often not translated. One student skipped the first sentence, 8

failed to translate it correctly, 2 were correct and 1 incompletely so. Only 6 translated bezahlbar. Of these only 2

were correct, 3 were wrong and one incompletely correct, agevolazioni abitative [accommodation subsidies]. 4 of

the graduates produced a correct translation of bezahlbar while 2 omitted the sentence. One experienced interpreter

left it out, 5 got it right and 3 translated the adjective.

Spürbar in the second sentence [perceptible] has no one-to-one correspondence in Italian either. So sentence 2

was not translated by 7 students, 2 gave wrong translations, one an incomplete translation and only 2 a correct

rendition. 4 of the graduates omitted the sentence and the remaining 2 gave a partially incorrect translation. 5 of the

experienced interpreters translated sentence 2 and one left it out. 4 of them gave a correct interpretation without

spürbar, which was rendered only by 2 experienced interpreters, once as per migliorare ció che lo stato puó fare

per le famiglie con dei bambini [to improve what the state may do for families with children], but in this case the

interpreter had omitted the previous sentence, while the other interpreter tackled both sentences and translated sen -

tence 2 with noi faremo sentire il nostro aiuto, [we will make our help felt].


Sentence 3 presented another 'problem' adjective, wohnungssuchend [in search of accommodation]. The

difficulty is amply illustrated by the fact that 5 students omitted the sentence, 4 translated it wrongly and only 3

rendered it adequately. 3 succeeded in giving a correct translation of the lexical item wohnungssuchend and 4

transformed the sentence into something like che le giovani famiglie non trovino alloggio perché hanno dei figli

[that young families do not find housing because they have children], che tante famiglie non trovino abitazioni,

[that many families don't find housing] and the like. The latter is interesting because it fuses two concepts, a

strategy adopted by all the experienced interpreters. Graduates had 3 correct and 3 incorrect translations. They

interpreted wohnungssuchend correctly in 2 cases, in one case with a transposition, possano trovare un alloggio

[may find accommodation], and one incorrectly. Experienced interpreters had 3 correct translations, one wrong and

2 omissions, but all opted for the transformation of the adjective into a more complex phrase.

These three sentences proved difficult to students and interpreters alike. It is not easy to understand why, as they

seemed neither lexically nor syntactically more difficult than the other segments of the text. Interestingly, some of

the translations followed a very peculiar logic. Students: non si deve negare alle famiglie uno spazio abitativo, né

posti negli asili [you can't refuse families either housing or places in kindergardens], le nuove famiglie hanno

bisogno di sussidi e quindi delle famiglie in cerca di una casa non possono non ricevere dei sussidi e non trovare

delle case [new families need subsidies and therefore families looking for a house cannot but receive subsidies and

find houses]. Graduates: non possiamo impedire che queste persone possano trovare un alloggio [we can't prevent

people from finding accommodation], dobbiamo aiutare le famiglie a ricercare gli appartamenti [we must help

families to look for a flat]. Although they had an intrinsic personal logic the translations of the experienced

interpreters were very peculiar in two cases: le famiglie giovani hanno bisogno di spazio e dobbiamo aiutarle, se ci

sono dei bambini devono esserci case per le famiglie [young families need room and we must help them, if there

are children there must be houses for the families], queste famiglie hanno bisogno di alloggi, non è possibile che la

ricerca di alloggi per le nuove famiglie sia cosi difficile, di conseguenza le famiglie non possono più avere figli

[these families need flats, it is not possible that looking for housing be so difficult, therefore families have no more

children].


Concluding remarks

The results of the study have indicated some lines along which research may progress. The study has identified

certain problems and tentatively suggested solutions to overcome them. It corroborated the hypothesis that, in

interpreting from German into Italian, verb anticipation is a greater problem for students than for professional

interpreters, who use context and their feeling for the language to anticipate correctly. Students' results showed,

however, that for verb anticipation. they resorted to a strategy they had learnt, i.e., before hearing the verb at the end

of the sentence, to introduce a more generic verb before completing it with the correct one if the meaning was

different.

Cognitive processes are employed by experienced interpreters in order to better enable them to translate greater

portions of the text. They also have greater lexical flexibility, which results in a better output. Students are subject

to short-term memory overload which blocks a correct interpreting performance or leads to omission of parts of the

source-text.

Sentence restructuring is one of the strategies interpreters use in order to better adapt the source-text to the

target-language.

Standardized expressions are largely assimilated by interpreters, while students need to achieve automatic

reactions in this respect.

Encyclopedic knowledge and world knowledge are of great advantage and both graduates and experienced

interpreters are able to resort to it more readily than students are.

Exercises conceived for activating top-down and bottom-up strategies may help students to recognize more

effectively the role played by linguistic cues and encyclopedic knowledge. Thus, the right interplay of the two

strategies, essential for a good interpreting performance, may be achieved by a conscious introduction of the two in

teaching.

There are language specific difficulties which may still be a problem for interpreters too, such as adjectives that

have no one-to-one translation.

The study has highlighted some of the differences between the interpreting performances of students and

interpreters based on cognitive and language specific elements. It shows some of the strategies that students must

develop in order to cope with specific difficulties. To this end, problem-oriented training should be given greater

importance, as it helps interpreters to recognize, separate and focus on single difficulties thus facilitating and

fostering a conscious development of diverstfied simultaneous interpreting strategies.


Notes1. The same may also be true for interpreting from German into English, French and Spanish. 2. Most had already succeeded in

their first-year interpreting examination and had to undergo their second-year interpreting examination (after which, upon

completion of all examinations envisaged by the course, they are admitted to the final examination).

3. 3 or 6 months previously and therefore had not much working experience.

4. In this and subsequent examples the English translation of the German and Italian parts is very literal so as to illustrate more

clearly the topics under discussion.

TAKING CARE OF THE SENSE

IN SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETING

Ghelly V. Chernov,

Moscow International School of Translation and Interpreting, Russia

The essence of the psycholinguistic mechanism of simultaneous interpreting is aptly described by Lewis

Carroll's Duchess in her adage "take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves". However the

Duchess failed to explain what she meant by sense.

It can be demonstrated that understanding (comprehension), or getting the sense of the message, may be defined

as drawing inferences about the actual meaning of what is being said. I do not claim to be original in that

statement, since the idea underlies the speech act theory. Suffice it to recall that John Searle (Searle 1979: 30-35)

differentiates between the speaker's utterance meaning and the sentence meaning: "In indirect speech acts the

speaker communicates to the hearer more than he actually says by way of relying on their mutually shared

background information, both linguistic and nonlinguistic, together with the general powers of rationality and

inference on the part of the hearer." I claim that Searle's ideas have a direct bearing on the theory of translation and

have been largely overlooked in translation theory.

What happens when we translate? At first glance, we receive a message, B, in a language from the sender and

we produce a certain message, D, in another language for the recipient. If D corresponds to B, or may be regarded

as a substitute for it, the translation is successful.

But, in order for this to be the case, certain conditions must be met: the explicit plicit message B can only make

sense if the speaker has certain presuppositions in mind: humans (and human interpreters) receive a message, B,

which makes sense provided the speaker has implied A, while the recipients of the message B take in the literal

meaning of B plus whatever they infer as C (which combination constitutes the subjective sense of the message for

the recipient, or, in our case, the interpreter). This can be reduced to a simple logic formula: if (A), then B; if B,

then (C), where the explicit B is a consequent of the implicit (A), while the inference of (C) is a consequent of the

explicit B. Now, on the basis of our understanding, (C), we produce an explicit message of D in the target language

from which the recipient makes an inference of (E). This is basically the whole process of translation, whether

written or oral.


The picture is more complicated since the speaker usually relies on the mutually shared background

information, both linguistic and nonlinguistic of the addressee (the listener) and himself.

Any act of communication may be schematically described in the following way: the Speaker produces a

message for the benefit of the Listener (the Hearer or Recipient):

S1>H2

Accordingly, a bilingual act of communication via the interpreter may be described as follows:

S1>H2<=>S2>H3,

where 2 is both the Recipient and the Speaker at the same time. The condition of mutually shared background

information /(A) and (C)/ as a success condition is available for S 1 to H 2 and for S 2 to H 3, but not for the

linguistic part of S 1 and H 3. As evidenced in international bi- and multilingual conferencing, this communicative

act is complicated further by the fact that the Primary Speaker is usually not aware of the necessity of shared

background information in order to obtain communicative success. Primary Speakers tend to take the addressees

for their equals in all respects, assuming that their audience is of the quality of a fictive H 4 (with the same

language and cultural origin as themselves (S 1)) in specific situations:

S 1 > H 2 <=> S 2 > H 3,

while S 1 intends the message for an imaginary addressee (H 4) (who is not the actual Recipient, or even a

participant in the communicative act). S 1 > .... H 4.

Usually there is no shared background information in bilingual communication, at least none in terms of

language and normally not enough in terms of the extralinguistic (cultural) field. Although the utterance is

intended for a target-language addressee, the speaker has erroneous assumptions about the degree of information

shared with the addressee. The addressee and the recipient are, in fact, two different persons. The speaker has the

interpreter as the actual recipient, but disregards him/her as an addressee. Thus the act of communication is really

two different communicative acts, and the entire general power of rationality and the ability of inferencing are all

vested with the interpreter, although he was not meant to be the addressee.

The two steps in an act of bilingual communication can be schematized as follows:

Ghelly V. Chernov, Russia 225

Step I in Interlingual Communication:Source to Interpreter

if (A) (implicit), then B (explicit)(A) > B ...

if B (explicit), then (C) (implicit)... B > (C) ...

Step II in Interlingual CommunicationInterpreter to Recipient

if (C) (implicit), then D (explicit) ... (C) > D ...if D (explicit), then (E) (implicit sense for target recipient) ... D > (E)

Inferences depend on the hearer's (I) knowledge of the language spoken, (II) world knowledge, (III)

acquaintance with the extralinguistic situation, and (IV)knowledge of the speaker. There are different types of inference, namely: I - linguistic inference

II - cognitive inferenceIII - situational inference, comprising

a) extralinguistic context of the communication, andb) the material situation described (frame or script); and

IV - pragmatic inferenceFactors III and IV are beyond the control of those who train interpreters. Fac

tors I and II can be taught at school. When used systematically as a part of an interpreters' training course this can

produce quite remarkable results.

The underlying philosophy of the model for the psycholinguistic mechanism of simultaneous interpreting

which I have proposed (Chernov 1987; 1994) supplies the theoretical basis for the practical training course that

we used to give in Moscow. Methods of training and the results obtained may be illustrated by means of my

experience with teaching at the UN Language Training Course in Moscow (1961-91) and the Simultaneous

Interpreters' Refresher Course at the Moscow International School of Translation and Interpreting (1992-93).

The UN Language Training Course in Moscow

First, I shall briefly deal with the UN Language Training Course in Moscow, which was conducted for about 30

years and trained conference interpreters for the United Nations. This ten-month course produced about 250

interpreters for the Russian booth of the United Nations Secretariat, all of whom subsequently underwent two or

three year terms of interpreting service either in New York or Geneva.-In my view the most remarkable feature was

the low failure rate of


about 10 per cent (meaning that only one out of ten candidates did not succeed in passing the UN examination).

Debates taped at the UN meetings in the General Assembly, the Security Council and in the General Assembly

Committees of the United Nations were used for training.

One specific feature of the course was that, in addition to purely linguistic requirements (with a heavy emphasis

on specific UN terminology), the course stressed extralinguistic background knowledge for ensuring "the mutually

shared background information" of a typical UN speaker and the interpreter. The following list illustrates briefly

those extralinguistic subjects studied during the course.- The UN Charter and the history of the United Nations - Elements of international law of treaties- World economic geography and economic problems of the developing countries - The main problems discussed in committees, and - UN procedural rules

Let me illustrate the importance of a seemingly obvious piece of background knowledge: that of the procedural

standard rules. The United Nations use a wellknown and logical Anglo-Saxon way of adopting a resolution: an

amendment of the order farthest removed from the draft is the first to be put to the vote, i.e. an amendment to an

amendment to the draft resolution. Unfortunately the old Soviet rules were retained in the Perestroika era's new

Congress of Deputies, in the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., and in the Russian Federation. It is radically different:

when a resolution is adopted, one of the drafts is chosen "as a basis" for further discussion, and not until then are the

amendments discussed (thus giving the chair ample opportunities for manipulation). Thus even a simple procedural

rule must be properly appreciated in order to be correctly translated.

Intercultural differences were also evident in matters of protocol, where examples of intercultural lacunae

resulted in serious translation errors (Chemov 1991: 27-34).

Another problem concerns the awareness of present-day international relations, as distinct from proposals, plans

and projects for the future. In the semantic structure of communication, among other components (Chernov 1987:

71-78), the propositional content should be clearly separated from its modal framework, or factivity (Lyons 1977:

793-796), i. e. the relation of proposition to reality: whether whatever the speaker says is a fact, or something to be

expected in the


future as desirable, or undesirable, or a necessity, or an utter impossibility, is important in order to grasp whether

something mentioned is a fact, or merely meant as a proposal for the future. I have witnessed cases when,

unaware of the situation described, interpreters erroneously rendered facts as if they were proposals for the future

and vice versa. Hence the course in Moscow paid attention to the most typical international situations at the

United Nations. The very fact that the Moscow interpreters were being trained specifically for the UN Secretariat

al. lowed us to take this fully into account.

Discussion

It may be more difficult to predict topics which the student of to-day will have to deal with in professional

work. We have found that this can be dealt with by a more generalised structure in the curriculum for

conference interpreting so that it comprises more than a command of language and terminology.

The wider the range of topics the interpreters-to-be are trained for, the broader the knowledge that is required

of interpreters. I suggest that the nature of thesauri depends neither on specific language combinations of

trainees, nor on whether they interpret from or into their mother tongue. Unable to become experts in all fields

of knowledge, or keepers of all possible information in the world of to-day,

interpreters should be trained 1) in the fundamentals of sciences, and 2) in me

thods needed to prepare for a conference. Even when these conditions are met,

students should be aware that they are incapable of interpreting at all kinds of

conference. I believe that it is necessary to have a stricter thematic specialization

for interpreters than exists today. I suggest that at least three specialities be

established:1) a socio-political and socio-economic speciality focused on business and financial matters, 2) a speciality based on the natural sciences, engineering and technological subjects, and3) one concentrating on all areas broadly covered by life sciences (biology, agriculture, etc.). Sometimes the areas of knowledge would be combined as in chemistry: interpreter-biologists should know enough of chemistry to be able to understand the ideas of macromolecular chemistry. Similarly agriculture may be linked with agronomy and mechanical engineering, etc.

Interpreter-trainees specializing in socio-political and socio-economic areas would need a thorough historical

and linguistic background, fundamentals of law and economics, and a broad understanding of those problems

arising from interdisciplinary developments which pose new problems, as well as the dialectics of societM and

scientific developments in general. They should be able to compre-


hend the significance of ecological problems for economic development and the economic role and potential of

new technologies, and have a thorough grasp of the political, social and economic problems discussed.

Otherwise even well-educated persons will fail to understand the problem being discussed, let alone the

speaker's underlying motives. In this case the rendition will, in the words of Pearl (1995), supply only "the 'raw

material' to the listener". I also agree with Pearl that it is better to do this than "to deliver neither the 'finished

product" nor the 'raw material"'. Yet it is infinitely better to teach interpreters to deliver the finished product

while they are still trainees.

There is no doubt that it is extremely difficult to choose subjects to be taught at a general purpose school (I

favor, as a matter of principle, conference interpreter training at the post-graduate level), yet experience shows

that it is not impossible.

Our knowledge of the future areas of employment for our candidates will enable us to set up a curriculum to

cover these needs.

The following list specifies elements in cognition which future interpreters must be familiar with (not as

experts but at a generalized level, as persons with a broad liberal education).

'FACTS OF LIFE'

(with reference to the countrylies of the passive (active) language(s))1) Political (Administrative) System2) Socioeconomic Situation 3) Legal System 4) Geography5) History (Names of historical personalities, names of events: those facts that may be referred

to as 'Historical Labels')6) Facts of everyday life7) Popular allusions .

I would like to give several examples of the importance of familiarity with some of these elements (inbuilt

interpreter's thesaurus): Historical facts.The Official Presidential Interpreter of President Clinton's speech at the Fiftieth Victory Day Celebration of the Second World

War in Moscow committed the following blunder: among other things, President Clinton referred to the Battles of Stalingrad and of Berlin. In connection with the latter be mentioned Russian losses of 300,000 men, which the interpreter, however, associated with the Battle of Stalingrad. This understandably baffled Russians: at the Battle of Stalingrad losses were significantly higher, whereas the Berlin losses were particularly tragic since they happened only a few days before the end of the war.


Historical labels.There was another example of mistranslation in the same speech: President Clinton spoke about the Second World War, using the

official Russian label, "The Great Patriotic War", as a friendly gesture to the Russians, in particular to the hundreds of war veterans attending the celebration. This the interpreter rendered as "the Second World War". The blunder turned out to be significant later on the same day where President Yeltsin used the "Second World War" label in his address as a similar gesture to foreign guests attending the official reception.

Legal System."Capital punishment"/capital offence, defined as an offence for which the criminal is dtie to receive capital punishment, has no

direct equivalent in Russian, only a descriptive one. Thus a term has to be invented, just as lawyers have already invented legal terms that do not exist' in the Russian law, such as "#noxxx" ('fe LO ni ya') and "~,txcnHMxxop" ('mis di MI nor') (for "felony" and "misdemeanor"). Similarly, a Russian allusion to "Article 58" (an article of the Criminal Code meaning "high treason" (in most cases a trumped-up charge)) would not signify anything for an interpreter unaware of the Russian legal system in the 1930s (the peak' of Stalinist terror in Russia), although the mere mentioning of that article would have once' made any Russian shudder, because it meant a bullet in one's head or life-long incarceration ; in a concentration camp on the Kolyma River (a fact of both Russian History and Geography).

The refresher course for conference interpreters at MISTI

The above considerations were put to use in the MISTI refresher course, which?h lasted 2 to 6 weeks and

comprised linguistic and extralinguistic problems discussed in class using videotapes of debates at the Congress of

Deputies and the',, Supreme Soviet of Russia (1992-1993) and of the Economic Geography Map of Russia and

Highlights of Russian History.

Two of our graduates have successfully passed a Russian-into-English test at the European Community, others

have fared well as free-lance interpreters. Unfortunately fortunately the course has now been discontinued for

financial and management reasons, but the results so far convince me of the validity of my main thesis: any course

on simultaneous interpreting should be based on a thoroughly planned curriculum containing a balanced proportion

of linguistic and professional training plus education in selected extralinguistic subjects. On the basis of the model

above and my experience in training simultaneous interpreters, I suggest that the emphasis in training conference

interpreters be laid on the aspects of language training illustrated in the chart 'Proposed Contents of a Syllabus'

which is given overleaf.

The interpreters should be taught to be always attentive to linguo-cultural developments in the leading countries

of their language combination.

Let me cite but one example. "White collar" and "blue collar" workers are


multiplying, so that today we come across "pink collar" workers. The latest and the newest formation, "new

collars", is taken to mean different things by different people. Some people believe that "new collars" signify

those who are employed in the service sector. Others use the expression of "people employed in the com puter

industry" (a possible reference to the founding father of the IBM Corporation, who demanded that all employees

should wear ties). And there is also a third definition of a "new collar worker", namely, "a person ...belonging to

a supposed socioeconomic group made up of white-collar workers who are more affluent and better educated

than their parents" (Tulloch 1991). Interpreters should be in a position to see in which sense speakers use the

expression.

Concluding remarks

A wise man once said that the difference between a modern scientist and a layman is that the scientist learns

as much as possible about a narrower and narrower field until he ends up with knowing almost everything about

nothing, while a layman learns a little about everything until he ends up with knowing almost nothing about

everything.

As the balancing mediator in intepational communication the interpreter should find a place somewhere in

between.

CREATING THE 'OTHER': A PRAGMATIC TRANSLATION TOOL

Deborah D.K. Ruuskanen, University of Vaasa, Finland

Discussions of the ways in which equivalence is constructed in translation inspired me to begin work on the

questionnaire and interview study that resulted in the creation of the model presented here (Ruuskanen 1995).'

The purpose of the model is to construct the ideal reader to whom the translation is addressed, after which a

variable definition of equivalence can be constructed for that particular text which is being translated. The

present article only presents the model and its application for teaching translation, as the work of constructing

the model will be presented elsewhere (Ruuskanen 1995).

The model represents a condensation of several hundred man-and-woman years of professional translating

experience, that of the author and of the dozens of translators who contributed descriptions of their daily

working practice (Ruuskanen 1995). The model presented here is based on that experience, and as such has been

proven reliable under real working conditions. When first asked directly if they addressed their translations to an

imagined reader or audience, most professional translators replied in the negative. When questioned more close-

ly about their working practices, however, it became apparent that they did in fact construct such an audience.

Finally, when this was pointed out to them, they were often surprised to realise that they had evidently been

doing this all of their working lives. Many of them remarked that, if this practice had earlier been made

available to their conscious processes, rather than remaining unconscious, it would have made their work as

translators easier. It is in this light that the model is presented for use by teachers of translation to pass on to

their students.

As a teaching aide, the model can be very useful in pointing out to students that translations do not exist in a

vacuum. What the model does best is help students create a context for a translation; it also shows them why

different translations of the same lexical item in the original text will be chosen in different contexts, and helps

them make the choice. Furthermore, the model helps create a hierarchy for judging which level is most

important for this translation: depending on the answers to the questions in the model, the most important

criteria for evaluating the translation could be the overall aim of the text (e.g. advertising), the grammar (e.g.

rhetorical speeches), the vocabulary (e.g. literature), or perhaps the printed style (e.g. various journals). The

model is also useful for showing students why the purpose of the translation may not be the purpose of the ori-


ginal, and what effects this change of purpose has on the choices made in translation. Ultimately, the best

translation is thus that which meets the needs of the party judged most important in a particular translation

situation: the client, the translator, the author, the original audience, or the implied readers of the trans lation; and

the model helps in making this judgement.

A pragmatic tool for translation

The model presented here is pragmatic in both senses of the word: it is pragmatic in that it is based on extra-

linguistic and extra-textual factors; and it is pragmatic in that it is based on the actual work of professional

translators and has been found to function well under daily working conditions. As a pragmatic tool it ultimately

derives from the work of Bolinger (1981/1968) who saw language as existing in many aspects simultaneously, not

all of them textual or linguistic. Similarly, translation involves many aspects simultaneously, not all of them to do

directly with the actual printed words of the text being translated.

By asking translators what questions they put to commissioners of texts before they accepted the commission,

it was possible to arrive at those factors which the translators then used in constructing their 'ideal reader'. All of

these factors had an influence on the definition of equivalence to be used in translating the actual text. In addition,

the two related, very pragmatic factors of time and money had a profound influence on equivalence in the text.

Evidently very little has been written in translation studies regarding these two factors, possibly because

academics do not work completely in the world of professional translation and are not so much affected by the

pressures of translation deadlines and office rents and overheads.

In the presentation of the model that follows, the questions are listed in more or less the order in which the

translator puts them to the client. In an agency, it will be the secretary who asks the actual questions, but the

information thus obtained is then passed on to the translator who does the actual translation. In some cases the

translator is not allowed to liaise directly with the client, but all the translators asked were unanimous in their

opinion that if they did not have access to the information discussed below, they were unable to do their best

(Ruuskanen 1995). The model being presented here would explain this in terms of some factors being missing

from the model, with the result that the 'ideal reader' created would be deficient, concomitantly producing a

deficient translation.

Deborah D. K. Ruuskanen, Finland 235

The model

In what follows, the questions that form the basis of the model are presented first, then each is discussed in detail

along with its implications for the creation of the ideal reader and the establishment of the definition of equivalence

for that particular text. These questions have been compiled from those actually asked potential clients by

professional translators. In Section 3, use of the answers to construct the 'Other', and possible applications of the

model to teaching and computer translation will be discussed.

The questions that are asked by the translator before accepting the commission are listed below:

Table 1. Questions asked by translators before accepting a commission1. Who is commissioning the text? Who is the author of the text? Client2. Who is the text for? Audience3. When is the text due and where is it to be delivered? Deadline? Time4. What is the subject and exact field of the text? Lexicon/Register5. What is the purpose of the text? ~ Genre6. In what form and where will the text appear? Style7. Will you accept my rates? The Failsafe

The Client: Who is commissioning the translation? Who is the author of the text?

Since ultimately the fate of a professional translator depends on satisfying clients, the first question asked relates

to the commissioner of the translation: who are you and who is going to pay the bill? It is in the best interests of both

parties if the necessary contact information is obtained first. Following this, the translator enquires if the author of

the text is the same as the commissioner and if not requests the contact data for the author(s). In some cases, the

commissioner acts as liaison between the translator and the author(s).

In addition to obtaining the information needed for billing, the question of the identity of the client is important to

the translator in order to set up a good client-translator relationship. It is at this stage that the translator makes the

first steps toward determining her primary responsibility, i.e. is it to the client, to the text, to the reader of the text,

or to herself as a translator? If it is to more than one of these, she can also place herself along the continuum

between them. Should the client be a repeat customer with whom the translator has had a long professional

relationship, she will know at once how much 'liberty' she can take


with the text, and how diplomatic she has to be if she feels the source text should be rewritten.

The Audience: Who is the text for?

The question of 'who is the text for?' is the most obvious one related to the creation of the audience. The

information elicited by answers to this question should provide the translator not only with the language variant to

be used, but also with the first indications of the culture and subculture of the audience. It is extremely important

that the text be set within the frame of a culture before translation is begun, in order to assure that it will be well

received by that culture (See also Snell-Hornby 1985). Some examples of answers to this question are: a group of

lawyers at an international convention, a committee within the European Community, consumers in the United

States, and so on.

The client may also provide unsolicited information regarding the subject of the text at this point, without being

prompted by the questions listed below. For example, the reply may be, "It's an advertisement for freezers to go in

British magazines." In this case, the translator may dispense with the relevant question below, since the information

has already been obtained.

It is at this point that the languages into which the translation is to be made should be discussed. If the text is to

be put into several target languages, the translator may wish to be aware of this and to work in collaboration with

the other translators if the client allows. It may also be possible for the translator to arrange for multi-cultural

translations through sub-contracts or through a translators' cooperative. Collaboration with other translators on

terminology in particular usually results in a more accurate translation.

Time: How long is the text, when is it due, and where is it to be delivered?

The question of the amount of time the translator has to do the translation is of considerable significance in the

definition of translation. If the translator is not given sufficient time to check all the terminology or special syntax

of a given text, then the closest equivalent term available will be used, regardless of whether it is the best or not. Of

course, if the text is too long to fit into the translator's schedule, she may not even accept the commission.

It should always be remembered that a commission is not completed until the text is delivered. The amount of

time needed to deliver the text should always


be taken into consideration when calculating the amount of time available to do the translation, especially in cases

where the client demands a hardcopy delivered personally. Fortunately, with the advent of telefaxes built into desktop

PCs, translations can also be delivered as soon as the final draft is checked and corrected.

Mention of PCs raises the issue of what constitutes a page in these days of word processors replacing typewriters.

In Finland, the standard page of 26 typewritten lines of 60 spaces each has had to be replaced with a page that consists

of c. 1600 characters, i.e. the total number of characters is divided by 1600 to arrive at the number of pages. Most

translators still charge by the line or page, and time is calculated by number of pages per hour that a translator can

complete. In calculating time, it is often wise to ask to see the text to be translated before accepting the commission.

The number of pages the client estimates may be considerably smaller than the actual number of pages, and the

difficulty of the text greater than the client could know. When setting deadlines, experienced translators prefer to

overestimate the tinfe) they will need, rather than accepting a text that will have to be processed in a great hurry.

Lexicon/Register: What is the subject and exact field of the text?

After having established whether there is enough time for her to do the text and having tentatively decided to

accept the commission, the next question the translator asks is purely linguistic. In combination with the last two

questions, the question of lexicon and register provides the fine tuning to bring the 'Other' into focus. Establishing the

subject will also allow the translator to decide whether she has the requisite expertise for the translation. Although in

one study, it was found that more than half of the clients questioned were of the opinion that the trans lator did not

need any expertise in the subject being translated, the professional translators themselves felt that such expertise

would be of great benefit, if not absolutely necessary (Ruuskanen 1994). This was confirmed by the translators who

provided the questions that make up the present model (Ruuskanen 1995). Some of these translators even felt that it

was an ethical question, and refused to accept translations in subjects of which they had no previous knowledge, even

if provided with background material. The reason they gave was that they would not be able to produce an accurate

translation, and might even make considerable errors in understanding the original source text.


Genre: What is the purpose of the text?

By the time the translator has asked all of the above questions, the question of the purpose and genre of the text

may have already been answered. Some examples of answers to this question are: advertisement, scientific article,

speech, letter of intent, annual report, certificate, etc. It should be remembered that the original purpose of the

source text may not be the same purpose as that envisioned for the target text. A section of a source language report

may be intended for inclusion in a target language press release or advertisement. Particularly in the case of

'literature' the purpose may affect the translation: if the aim is to introduce the author to a reader in another culture

who otherwise has no access to the work, the responsibility of the translator will be to the author of the original, and

to the source text. If the aim of the translation is to sell as many copies of the novel as possible, the responsibility of

the translator will be to the publisher and the translation will be made as attractive as possible to potential readers in

the target language.

Style: In what form and where will the text appear?

The answer to this question establishes the exact style of the translation in its final form. Whenever possible,

style sheets or instructions to authors should be provided by the client. For research articles, if possible, an article

previously published by the author in the same journal should be supplied as both background and as providing an

example of style. At this point, such matters as whether the client requires the text on disk, and in what software

program, are also discussed. The question of form also affects the question of delivery. Levels of formality are also

decided here. It should be fairly obvious that this factor will have a significant effect on the definition of

equivalence for the translation in question.

Final Acceptance: Do we agree on the rates?

All of the professional translators were unanimous in their opinion that this question must be settled before the

commission is accepted. All negotiations of rates, questions of written contracts, definitions of what constitutes a

page, schedules and deadlines come under this question. It should not be forgotten that many clients evidently

cannot multiply: simply giving the per page rate is not enough, the estimated total cost should be mentioned in

order to avoid unpleasant shocks when the bill arrives. Most of these negotiations can be carried out over the

telephone at the initial contact, but in the case of large projects the text n must

Deborah D. K. Russinnen, Finland 239

be seen by the translator and evaluated before agreement is reached. Once the translator has the actual text, she

can confirm her original picture of the reader of the target text, or adjust it in accordance with the text she now has

in hand.

Creating the 'Other' and applications of the model

The 'Other' who is created in translation is the 'Other' in both Bakhtin's

(1981) sense and that of Cixous (1976). For Bakhtin, all language is 'dialogic' in use, requiring an 'Other' to

whom we speak, even if the 'Other' is ourself. Bakhtin also allows a multiplicity of voices, alternative voices,

alternative 'Others', if you will. The 'Other' for Cixous is the silence of the 'unconscious' which comes before

speech; before an attempt at communication, the 'Other' stands outside and may interrupt or ~t op the 'rational'

(conscious) order of speech. Cixous presents us with a 'possible' language, rather than an already existing one: we

create the language in which we speak to the 'Other' precisely because it is 'possible' but does not exist until we

create it. But before we can begin, we as translators must also create the 'Other' with whom we speak.

Unlike the interpreter, who has the 'Other' (without whom, in fact, interpreting is impossible) present at the

time of interpreting (Wadensjö 1992), it is only in rare cases that the translator has a definite 'Other' present from

the very beginning. For example, the 'Other' is clearly defined from the outset as a particular pharmaceutical

company, if the translation is of a letter requesting damages from a pharmaceutical company for loss of fertility

caused by an inter-uterine device. In most cases, the 'Other' is constructed by the translator, often unconsciously,

through the answers to the questions in the model outlined above. This 'Other' then becomes Iser's (1976) 'implied

reader' for whom we translators create our text. Even in the case of the immediately present pharmaceutical

company given above, however, the nuances and fine tuning of our focus of the 'Other' depend on the answers to

the questions in the model. It is in defining the aim and purpose of the text, in this case a letter requesting

damages, that the particular parts of the 'Other' which we wish to affect are brought into clear focus.

How are students to remember all of these questions? In fact, how do the professional translators remember

them? Some translators keep a check list by the telephone, some even have forms with versions of the questions

printed on them, with blank spaces for the answers. But one way is to employ a simple mnemonic device as an

aide memoir. Referring to Table 1(p. 235), it can be seen that the first letters of the main points covered by each

question form an acronym: Client,


Audience, Time, LExicon, Genre, Style = CATLEGS. For this reason, the model will hereafter be referred to as the CATLEGS Model.

Any translator who has worked professionally for several years becomes aware that equivalence is a variable

thing in translation. In her cross-cultural studies of translation, Snell-Hornby (1988) was already speaking of the

"illusion of equivalence" nearly a decade ago. Recent variable approaches to translation (see, for example, Hewson

and Martin 1991) have also emphasized that translation is not fixed, either in time or in language. This opens the

way to a definition of equivalence in translation that would require that equivalence vary from text to text,

depending on the answers to the questions in the CATLEGS Model.

The CATLEGS Model can be used very successfully in the classroom to explain why, inter alia, we need new

translations of the Bible, or new English translations of such 'classic' writers as Proust. In addition, it can easily be

shown that, by changing the answer to only one of the questions in the model, all of the other questions (factors)

are affected, resulting in a completely different translation. The model can thus also be used to explain at least in

part why translations of the same text by different translators can be so different: the 'Other' created by each

translator is different. This can be illustrated using children's stories (see, for example, Oittinen 1993): the

translation is completely different if it is done for the child who is listening to the story, rather than for the parent

who is reading it to the child (or for a teacher who is marking it as a translation exercise).

The strategies for translation of allusions, metaphors, puns, idioms, and other culture-bound items can also be

chosen using the requirements of the 'Other' as created by the CATLEGS Model before beginning the translation.

The use of the model makes it clearer to students why one strategy is preferred over another. Indeed, the model

may even be used to predict which strategy will be preferred.

Finally, by setting limits to the variables within each factor, the CATLEGS Model can even be applied to

computer translation. Cognitive linguistics allows for us to move the limits of meaning along a sliding scale from

one semantic pole to another. However, it was Tabaköwska (1993) who pointed out that there are limits beyond

which we may not go if we are to be understood. It is precisely the overlap of my meaning with your meaning that

allows us to understand each other. It follows then that the more I as translator am able to create 'Others' with

whom I can empathise, the better I will communicate with these 'Others' when they come to read my translated

texts. It is this final act of communication that can enable us to evaluate the translation as good or bad, first by

comparison with


other texts of the same genre and style written for the same purpose in the target language, and then by asking

the 'Other' if we have achieved our communicative aims. It is in these areas in particular that the CATLEGS

Model could be used in further studies of translation.

In the classroom, the CATLEGS Model can be used for exercises in which the teacher gives students the

answers to the questions in the model in advance. One such exercise is carried out by giving different groups of

students different answers, so that the ideal readers created are distinctly different, and then asking the groups to

compare the resulting translations and find explanations for the differences. Another exercise is to have students

themselves write texts on a given subject (e.g. "The definition of translatior~") and have another student

translate the text; then have the students work in pairs to see if the translator was able to "recreate" the author,

the other student, who is also by definition the reader of the translation. This requires a good deal of preparatory

work on the part of the teacher, but is very successful in showing the usefulness of the model, as well as in

raising the consciousness of the students as to what is actually involved in the process of translation.

Note1. Before a translator can even begin a translation, she (the pronoun reflects the predominant gender of translators in Finland) must construct a reader, the 'Other' who is outside the source text and to whom she addresses the translation. This contention grows out of a philosophical discussion initiated by Malmkja;r (1993) and from reader-based theories of literary analysis (e.g. Iser 1978; Jauss 1982); it is primarily based on theories of discourse analysis of the Birmingham School (Sinclair and Coulthard 1975; Sinclair 1983; Coulthard 1985; 1994) and the work of Hoey (e.g. 1988) in creating Isei s implied reader. It has been profoundly influenced by the work of Snell-Hornby (e.g. 1988) on cross-cultural problems and the illusion of equivalence in translation,, and by the cognitive poetics of translation as presented by Tabakowska (1993).

PROFESSIONAL VERSUS STUDENT BEHAVIOUR

Janet Fraser, University of Westminster, London, UK

Scholars, linguists and translation theorists have long been calling for better understanding of the processes

involved in translation: Steiner argues, for example, that

we know next to nothing of the generic process which has gone into the translator's practice, of the prescriptive or purely empirical principles, devices and routines which have controlled his [sic] choice of this equivalent rather than that (1975: 273).

Similar calls continue to echo through both the discipline of translation theory and the practice of translation

tearching, yet the relatively new field of 'Translation Process Analysis' has so far been only partially successful in

answering them. There are several reasons for this (see Fraser (forthcoming)), but in this article, I shall focus on

the way in which research into professional translators' behaviour can highlight differences between professional

and student behaviour that illustrate the processes involved and, in turn, can be used to inform translation

teaching.

The majority of the translation process studies carried out so far have focused solely on students of translation;

a few have taken a mixed sample of students and professionals; and fewer still have focused solely on

professional translators, although more are under way. Moreover, 'students' include both those studying

translation as a discipline and those for whom translation is only one languagelearning exercise among others.

The studies have, therefore, been based on very heterogeneous samples.

Professionals versus students as research informants

The reasons for focusing more on students than on professional translators are largely methodological. For

researchers in an academic setting, access to a student sample is easy, and student informants are more plentiful

(and, arguably, much easier to 'persuade' to co-operate) than busy professional translators. Moreover, there is a

body of psychological literature that suggests that the research method used - the 'think-aloud protocol', in which

informants give a commentary on a task they are carrying out and thereby provide access to the mental processes

involved in it - reveals only those processes of which the informant is conscious. Many highly-practised processes

operate automatically, it is argued, and no account can be given of a process which has become 'automatised' and

is therefore incapable of verbalisation. For many translation process


researchers, this has been sufficient reason to focus on learners.

Finally, there is the superficially logical argument that if we are to teach learners effectively, we need to know

what strategies learners, not professionals, use.

Such a focus has, however, not been successful in producing insight into the translation process per se, as

opposed to language-learning processes. Lörscher (1993) found, typically, that while professional translators

assessed their translations on a number of criteria, including their stylistic acceptability in the target language,

language learners assessed only their solutions to problems in the source language, usually of vocabulary or syntax;

their translations did not reflect target-language text-production norms and standards and were therefore often

"deficient and unacceptable" (1993:210).

In fact, in such studies, students have consistently been found to focus on lexical choice, grammatical

restructuring or specific (unfamiliar) idioms at the expense of real insight into the way in which, more generally,

they approach a translation task. The question then arises of how - if at all - access can be gained to broader, more

macro-level processes and whether it need always be the case that experienced professionals cannot account for their

performance.

Gaining access to mental processes

The rest of this article will describe two studies I have made of a total of 33 professional translators who produced

'think-aloud protocols' on their translation strategies. The experiments were specifically designed to provide more

data, in a more systematic way, on the processes in which professional translators engage than had previously been

elicited, by ensuring that the tasks set contained sufficient challenges to bring otherwise 'automatised' strategies into

conscious operation and thereby give rise to comment on them.

The first study (described in more detail in Fraser (1993a)) involved 12 community translators who were asked to

translate a public information leaflet on local taxation from English into a total of seven ethnic minority community

languages widely spoken in the UK. No specific brief was given, but the material was of the sort most of the

translators dealt with frequently and therefore presented a realistic challenge to them. The second study (Fraser

(1994)) involved 21 commercial translators who were asked to translate into English a French newspaper article on

recent changes in higher education. Their (explicit) brief was to translate the article for publication in the Times

Higher Education

Janet Fraser, United Kingdom 245

Supplement.

As I shall describe below, the perceived and specific assignment respectively of a brief in these two studies

proved to open up greater access to at least some of the strategies used by professional translators than is

suggested as possible by the literature on 'think-aloud protocols'. More specifically, such briefs prompted

comment on aspects of the translation process which moved beyond individual lexical or grammatical features

and shifted the focus instead on to text-level features - such as meeting the ne~ds of a target-language readership,

the handling in translations of cultural concepts, and the translators' engagement with their task - which provided

the framework for resolving lower-level difficulties.Fraser (1993a) gives an account of the community translators' very specific view of their role in relation to the

minority community for which they were translating, but here, I shall comment on the protocols of both groups together, and highlight features of their behaviour that more generally constitute 'professional' as distinct from 'student' behaviour. Comments should therefore be taken as referring to both groups, unless otherwise specified.

'Communication' versus 'translation'One of the most striking features of the protocols produced was the way the translators perceived the nature of

their task. Many observers have commented on the singular nature of 'academic' translation. I have commented, for example, that

[students] see the texts we [teachers] set as purely academic exercises, each containing a seriesof discrete linguistic difficulties to be overcome, rather than as integral pieces of authenticlanguage with real-life functions and target audiences (Fraser (1993b: 24)),

while Ladmiral (1979) elaborates on this gulf between academic and 'real' translation:[in L2 to L1 translation] the source language ... is seen merely as a code... [and] errorsmade ...[are] essentially decoding errors (My translation);[la langue-source [en version] ...n'est conçue que comme un simple code ...les erreurs qui sont faites ...[sont] essentiellement des erreurs de décodage (56-57);JLI to L2 and L2 to L1 translation are very distinct types of translation: translation as a pedagogical exercise ... which should be distinguished f.om what might be called real-life translation...which is its own end-purpose (My translation. Original emphasis.);[le thème et la version définissent un type tout à fait particulier de traduction: la traduction comme exercice pédagogique ...on devra même opposer cette opération pédagogique à ce qu'on pourrait appeler la traduction proprement dite ...[qui] est à elle-même sa propre fm (40-41. Original emphasis)].


If, in teaching translation, we do indeed view the exercise as a test of decoding performance, then the finding

that students focus on individual difficulties rather than higher-level textual considerations should hardly come as

a surprise. The professional translators in my studies, however, took a radically different approach: individual

difficulties were commented on, but were put in the broader context of producing a target-language text which

fulfilled its purpose.

The commercial translators laid great emphasis on matching the journalistic register and style and on

amplifying cultural concepts unique to the French university system; the community translators, on the other

hand, laid their emphasis on amplifying concepts central to British institutional systems but also, and more ex -

plicitly, used a lot of source-language (here, English) terms and sometimes also transliterated them into or

glossed them in the target-language, so that their translations became not only a vehicle for information but also a

means of making the minority community more autonomous in British society.Both groups, then, engaged in translation primarily as a communication exercise; the principles they

followed were pragmatic task- and reader-oriented ones rather than theoretical ones, and it was the (perceived or

actual) brief and knowledge of the readership that dictated the ways in which specific translation difficulties or

issues were resolved. Tirkkonen-Condit (1978:161) sums it up thus: "Translation is communication, and empathy

with the addressee is important. The translation has to ring a bell".

This suggests the need for translation exercises in an academic setting to always be contextualised. This would

involve giving a brief for all translation assignments and building into class exercises systematic preparatory

work on both source-language and target-language text-types, register and lexis. Students need to learn how to

analyse a source-language text for its salient stylistic features, for example, and to compare them with those of

appropriate target-language model texts, with a view to matching the model target-language text style and

register to the brief given. Lexical 'brainstorming' in the target language can provide valuable preparation for

recognising and translating accurately, especially when more specialised source-language vocabulary is involved.

Moreover, students need to be exposed to as wide a range as possible of translation material and text-types;

this broadens their stylistic repertoire in both languages and helps break the resistance to experimenting with

differing styles in their target-language translations.


The use of dictionaries and translators' self-confidenceThe "empathy with the addressee" described by Tirkkonen-Condit is, however, not only a criterion for

determining the most appropriate translation of a specific source-language text but also - as Tirkkonen-Condit points out in the same article - a crucial factor in resolving the ambiguity contained in all texts: "a translator has to live with ambiguity. Language is not logic, and all texts are ambiguous". (1978:160). L

There is, however, a substantial difference between professionals and learners in the way they tolerate and deal

with such ambiguity, a difference that is reflected in their use of dictionaries and that underlines the role of self-

confidence ~, in successful translation.As teachers, we all know how rapidly students become paralysed when faced with an unfamiliar word or

phrase and rely largely - perhaps excessively - on bilingual (source- to target-language) dictionaries. This is in marked contrast to the behaviour of the professional translators in my studies who, instead of using dict ionaries to establish meaning, used them to refine the meaning of source-language terms and/or to stimulate the search for target-language equivalents. This involved a high level of tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty, and these trans-lators were strikingly willing to let meaning emerge from the whole text rather than needing to ascertain meaning and find a translation before moving on. Moreover, it was the development of the text, rather than the limited dictionary entry, that prompted the most appropriate rendering.

Jääskeläinen (1989) comments that, in her study too,the most significant, and the most interesting differences [between beginners and more advanced translators] are not in the quantity but in the quality of dictionary use (187);the first-year students.. were clearly solving their comprehension problems with the help of a bilingual dictionary [but] ...the fifth-year students never used the bilingual dictionary to solvea comprehension problem (188-189. My italics.).I have argued (1993b: 26) that students need to suspend their disbelief in "the

universal appropriateness of the translations offered by a bilingual dictionary", and as teachers, we need to develop a range of exercises which moves students' focus away from using (only) bilingual dictionaries and helps them to develop other strategies for assessing meaning and selecting an appropriate rendering of a source-language term.

For example, making use of only monolingual (source- and target-language) dictionaries in class exercises

demonstrates to students the value of these sources


compared with bilingual dictionaries and will encourage them to expend the extra effort needed to use them in their

private study. Summarising a text as a preparatory exercise to ultimate translation of it can help wean students off

the 'security

'- blanket' of needing to know the precise meaning of every word before they can make progress with a translation

exercise. Finally, as indicated above, lexical 'brainstorming' in the target language is a valuable exercise in terms of

increasing passive recognition of source-language terms, especially in more specialised translations.

Above all, however, we need to help our students to build their self-confidence, since that is what gives

professionals their ability to tolerate ambiguity and not hold up the process of translation. Confidence comes from

some of the factors already described - exposure to a wide range of source-language text-types, contextualisation

and structured use of dictionaries - but also, however, has to do with a less easily quantifiable and teachable aspect

of translation, that of the translator's personality.

Translators' personality and involvement in their task

It is a long-standing stereotype that translators are a personality 'type' and that 'type' differs radically from the

interpreter 'type'. I believe that is less true than the less determinist hypothesis that successful translators will

demonstrate certain personality traits, and this has been borne out both in my process studies and other similar work

and in research carried out on personality and the language professions (Henderson 1987).

Both groups of translators in my studies expressed a high level of personal engagement with their task. Many of

the commercial translators voiced satisfaction with their work in emotional terms or referred to the pleasure they

gained from insight into new areas or success in bridging the cultural and linguistic gaps be tween source- and target-

language readerships. This was, perhaps, best summed up by the translator who commented that, for him, extensive

subject research"[was] the right thing to do; to understand something and then to be able to explain it clearly gives me as much pleasure in life as

almost anything".

The community translators, on the other hand, were strongly motivated by issues of equality for and

empowerment of a potentially disadvantaged minority language community. Their engagement with their task had

as much to do with


identifying with and meeting that community's needs as with linguistic or stylistic criteria. Their involvement

might be summed up in one comment made: "What matters to me is that people understand. Simple as that." A

high degree of empathy with their translation users therefore typified both groups.

Jääskeläinen (forthcoming) comments that "affective factors may be a relevant parameter in accounting for

translational behaviour" but qualifies the pedagogical implications this has by arguing that, consequently,

"different kinds of personality traits are desirable for different kinds of [translation] jobs". She further echoes my

own findings when she argues thatsince confidence and positive attitudes seem to go together with high quality in at least some translating situations, it would be

of the utmost importance to enhance translators' [for which read students'] self-esteem.

This poses a number of issues for the training of students in translation. Their selection, for example, needs to

be geared towards broader criteria than just a high level of linguistic proficiency; in-depth interviewing and

carefully-designed entrance testing of candidates could help point to those who are more likely to succeed. Then

in the course of their studies, students need to be exposed to a wide range of translation tasks so that they may be

steered towards areas in tune with their own inclinations and personalities; not all translators are equally happy

doing all kinds of translations, and it makes sense to maximise quality by enabling students to flourish in the areas

in which they feel most confident, possibly by greater differentiation in teaching programmes between different

types of specialised translation.

Finally, as teachers, we need to consider ways of foregrounding those personality traits we know to contribute

to successful translation. What, however, are those traits? My studies pinpointed curiosity about other people's

worlds, a genuine pleasure in aiding communication and a desire for equal access, whether to information or

rights. Henderson's study highlighted thatwhile differences [between translators and interpreters] are less great and fewer than anticipated ... translators are significantly more reserved and highly significantly [sic] more intelligent than interpreters...are more affected by feelings, and tend to be more practical (1987: 124).

The translators and interpreters surveyed agreed, moreover, on a general summary of translation as "associated

with application and a painstaking approach" (49). My view is that while we clearly cannot teach 'personality', we

can aim to identify it at selection, foreground and consolidate it through careful syllabus design, and build

awareness of it into our research.

250 Teaching Transtation and Interpreting 3

Conclusions

The studies described here demonstrate that 'automatisation' of processes in professional translators need not

exclude such translators from translation process analysis, provided that experiments are carefully designed and

the aims of research involving professionals are tailored to the kind of data produced - that is, macro-level

features of translation activity rather than strategies for dealing with micro-level difficulties. The strategies used

by professionals are, almost by definition, those which have proved effective in practical use and it is, therefore,

only logical to seek to gain access to them and to attempt to apply them to the teaching of translation.

The translation process studies currently available have, however, so far only scratched the surface of a host of

interesting and relevant issues in translator training. More work and greater collaboration are needed in an area

which is now opening up exciting 'new horizons' in translation teaching.

REAL-WORLD CRITERIA IN TRANSLATION PEDAGOGY

Margherita Ulrych, University of Trieste, Italy

A training programme for translators will ideally aim to develop a series of skills and competences that are

relevant to both their future profession and educational status. Transla3ors should be proficient linguists, or rather

textlinguists, in two or more languages including their mother tongue, as well as cultural mediators, competent

writers and editors. They will therefore need not only language and content knowledge but also courses

specifically designed to enhance their socio-cultural awareness and encyclopaedic knowledge. They also require

the cognitive and metacognitive skills that will enable them to evaluate their expanding competence and to monitor

their performance in relation to a broad range of texttypes and fields of discourse. Practical hands-on experience

with currently available technological aids has, besides, become an essential component of translation pedagogy

today.

All these skills and competences will, however, remain purely academic if they are not related to real-world

criteria. A professionally and educationally cogent training programme for translators should, therefore, present

translating as an activity which takes place within a social context and should be based on a care ful and up-to-date

assessment of their multifaceted future profession. It should, moreover, cater for client-related skills since a

significant part of translators' future professional lives, whether they opt for in-house or freelance translating, will

be spent in establishing sound interpersonal relations with authors, publishers and requesters.

Let us now consider these skills and competences in more detail with a view to identifying new pathways in

translation pedagogy that reflect long-term professional and educational goals and are relevant to student

translators' future work.

The status of translation pedagogy today

Despite Gile's assertion that "the scientific investigation of the nature and components of translation expertise is

only beginning, and understandably training methods are empirical and require optimization" (1995: xi), there is

already a great deal of interesting research in translation pedagogy. One area that trans lation theorists, teachers and

professional translators are looking into concerns the kinds of knowledge and qualifications trainee translators

should be expected to have acquired in the course of their studies.


The main issue is whether translators should be trained or educated: whether, that is, they should receive an

exclusively vocational training or whether vocational elements should be included within a more general liberal

education. In modern language faculties the emphasis is on all-round education and translation is seen as just one of

the activities designed to develop language competence. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule: some

university teachers are aware of their language and literature students' future prospects as "editors, authors, scholars

and professional translators" (Dollerup 1994: 121-2) and therefore set up courses in which translation is taught in its

own right. On the whole, however, any vocationally-oriented approach is discouraged. The situation in translation

and interpreting schools is rather more complex. On the one hand, they are generally university-level institutions

and therefore presumably have a vested interest in providing a general education; on the other hand, since

translation is taught as an end in itself rather than as a means of achieving language proficiency, the prime objective

is often to provide graduates with vocational training. Nevertheless, it is within translation and interpreting

institutions that the balance between training and education should be addressed and the quality and structure of the

courses seriously examined.

Trends in translation pedagogy are increasingly in favour of interfacing vocational and educational components,

based on the premise that "serious training is never divorced from long-term educational commitments" (Cortese

1990: 144). Vocational training, that is, the transmission and perpetuation of knowledge, casts too narrow a light on

translation pedagogics and is in need of a broader, more formative perspective aimed at engaging students actively

in discovering and producing knowledge. These two aspects of a translator's instruction can be concurrent or

sequential, as Gaddis Rose suggests, with professional training coming "after preparatory training and educative

experiettces" (1989: 29).

Translating is, nevertheless, an ongoing process of continuing education since

~, translators never stop learning. An important component of translation courses is, therefore, the acquisition and

development of the metacognitive skills that will enable prospective translators to go on developing their

competence and monitoring ing their performance when they get out into the real world.

Real-world criteria

I The importance of incorporating real-world criteria within a curriculum for `'translator training and education

cannot be underestimated. Trainee translators

Margherita Ulrych, Italy 253

need to be prepared for the conditions they will find in the working world and should always bear in mind that

translation is essentially a communicative activity that takes place within a socio-cultural context. As Neubert has

pointed out, "the study of translation`and, in particular, the academic institutions where the practice of translation is

taught do not exist in an intellectual ivory tower. They serve social needs" (1989: 5).

In order to deal appropriately with a text, translators need to know all the cha racteristics of the text they are

translating (its linguistic and extralinguistic context, its function both in the source language and target language, the

genre, and so on) as well as its status in the source culture and the intended audience in the target culture. Translation

does not occur in a vacuum. Student translators who are assigned a translation with no idea either of its original

context or skopos or why they have been asked to translate it cannot produce a version that is acceptable able for

anything but academic purposes. Translators in real life "work with genuine events at the level of discourse, rather

than with neat abstractions" (Baker and Kaplan 1994: 3). In a curriculum which envisages real-world criteria as an

essential component, information on the circumstances that initiated the translation process and all the relevant socio-

cultural parameters should therefore be given as an integral part of the assignment. This kind of practice will en -

courage student translators never to tackle a text until they have asked themselves questions such as: who wrote the

text? for whom? in what circumstances? with what intentions? what sort of readership was it intended for? what

adjustments ! are required to produce a text that is acceptable to the target text readership?,~ (Keith 1990: 173).

An additional factor that ensures real-world conditions, albeit within the relatively sheltered environment of an

institutional training programme, concerns the selection of texts to be translated and the assignment of an authentic

task. There should be a genuine need to have the text translated and the full context of the original, as well as the

information regarding all the above parameters, should be made explicit. The degree of difficulty will, moreover,

depend not only on the text itself but also on the type of task assigned: students may be required to sum marise the

content for a target language audience, or reformulate it in a spoken medium from a written source. This approach is

in line with real-world criteria since "texts are translated for many different purposes ranging from in-house read and

discard memo-type translations to camera-ready work for immediate publication" (Rommel 1987: 12).


Translation quality and the time allotted for students to complete an assignment should also reflect real-life

conditions. Texts that will be short-lived, like agendas for meetings and memos, will obviously not demand the high

quality rendering of documents destined for long-term consultation like books and reports. The different uses that

will be made of translated texts, and therefore the difference in readers' expectations, could be reflected in teacher

evaluation and in expected speed of execution. Teacher evaluation could, for instance, take account of the criteria

adopted by professional editorial revisors as suggested by Klaudy (above, p. 197 et seq.), while the "deadline"

formula might be usefully invoked at examinations to confer a real-world rationale on the time restrictions that are

generally academic and functional in nature, and would, therefore, at least in part "reflect the realities of future

professional needs" (Snell-Homby 1992: 19).

A text's mode of presentation will also have a bearing on the translation process: the target text may be written to

be read (e.g. documents, articles, brochures), or it may be written to be spoken or heard (e.g. lectures,

announcements and, at least in the addressee's mind, all forms of advertising). This calls into play the importance of

editing skills in a real-life approach to translation teaching (Ulrych 1992: 290-293). A translation will be judged as a

text in its own right and must therefore conform to all the conventions of a finished product in the target culture:

this includes an appropriate typographical layout or, if destined to be spoken, an appropriately readable form. The

definitive target language version will not be achieved at the first attempt; re-encoding the message of the source

text in the target text involves writing, rewriting and revising processes. Texts are the outcome of a motivated

choice on the part of the source language author and require the same kind of care and attention on the part of the

translator, especially when preparing the final draft. Furthermore, trainee translators should be aware that they will

be expected to edit not only their own texts but also texts written in English by non-native speakers and machine-

drafted translations. They will therefore need to know how to pre- and post-edit texts efficiently and costeffectively

as well as being acquainted with the most widely-used word-processing programs.

Enabling and transferable skills

The task of a training programme is not, consequently, to shape a finished product but to provide graduate

translators with the enabling (Fawcett 1987: 37)


and transferable skills that will place them in a position to deal confidently with any text, on any subject within

any situation at any time and to be able to uphold and discuss their choices if necessary. As Viaggio has pointed

out, "besides providing a communicadvely(competent text" the translator should be in a position to "deverbalise

the rationale for it, that is explain the theory behind it" (1994: 104). Translators cannot restrict themselves to

possessing procedural knowledge of the practical operational kind by which they know how to translate. If trans -

lators are to raise their profession from the status of practioners to that of qualified specialists on a par with

physicians, lawyers, achitects, then they will also need factual or declarative knowledge that "can be probed,

shared and discussed" (Bell 1991: 17). Although declarative knowledge has been termed static as opposed to the

dynamic or strategic nature of procedural knowledge (Wills 1994: 133), it is, nonetheless, essential to fostering

the metacognitive and metatextual tools that enable translators to discuss their performance with fellow

translators, supervisors and clients. It is what shapes and models translators' procedural activity and what sets their

language competence, encyclopaedic knowledge and crosscultural awareness within a systematic framework.

Moreover, declarative and procedural knowledge together enable translators to tackle the multifarious fields of

discourse that come their way without necessarily having specific content-based knowledge. According to a 1983

survey carried out within the European Community, the areas that required translation were distributed as follows:

commercial 35.4%, industrial 21%, scientific 20%, legislative 9.3%, press and current affairs 3.5%, audio-visual

2.1%, educational 1.5%, literary 0.3%, miscellaneous 6.9% (Van Slype et al 1983: 49-50). Venuti effectively

confirms this trend in current translation practice and identifies two main areas: literary translation, "mainly

poetry and fiction but also including biography, history and philosophy, among the genres and disciplines in the

human sciences", and technical translation which covers "scientific, legal, diplomatic, commercial" texts.

Although Venuti does not cite exact figures, he points out that "in sheer volume and financial worth technical

translation far exceeds the translation of literary texts" (1995: 41). An important component of translation

pedagogics is, therefore, to provide students with the metacognitive skills that will enable them to assess what

translation strategies and aids they will need to call upon to carry out their task over and above the metatextual

knowledge regarding the salient features that characterize different fields of discourse in both the source and

target cultures.


As mediators of culture and language, translators must be aware of, and be able to control, the power that is in

their hands. They cannot confine themselves to executing a translation mechanically but have to be conscious of all

the ideological, political and socio-cultural implications. The combination of declarative and procedural knowledge

will enable them to undertake the problem-predicting and problem-solving processes that constitute their day-to-day

practice with greater self-knowledge and responsibility.

Theory and practiceDeclarative and procedural knowledge are closely connected with another hotly-debated issue in translation

pedagogy: should translation theory be an integral part of translator training? If so what kind of theory is to be presented, and how much? A useful distinction has made between a theory of translation or product knowledge, which covers the body of ideas concerning the subject as a whole, and a theory of translating or process knowledge, which deals with the way the translator should proceed in dealing with translation problems and which is thus "of service to the translator" (Newmark 1987: 2). Holmes also sees the need to break with the monolithic view of Translation Theory in favour of a more flexible notion of translation theories:

"We need a theory of the translation process, that is, the theory of what happens when people decide to translate something. We need a theory of the translation product, that is to say, what is specific to the translated text as text; in what ways is it similar to and in what ways is it different from other kinds of texts, literary or other. We need a theory of the translation function, that is how the translation works in the recipient society. And we need a theory of translationdidactics. (1988: 95)

Some sort of grounding in translation theory in the traditional sense of product is essential for translators and will become more and more so as they claim greater acknowledgement for their profession. Members of all professions have a historical and theoretical component to their expertise. It is only against a theoretical background of translation that effective decision-making and production can take place and the information and strategies acquired by working on particular texts be generalized. The problem arises, therefore, of how to integrate a course on translation theory within the curriculum. A drawback of placing it within language-specific classes is that there will inevitably be a certain amount of repetition and overlapping, on the one hand, as translation theory cannot be neatly categorised within national boundaries, and seeming contradictions, on the other (Nida 1991). At my institution, the School of Modern Languages for Inter


preters and Translators (Trieste), we have been piloting a Translation Theory Module common to all languages

and which students follow in their first and third years of the degree course: the first part covers basic principles

of translation theory through the ages, while the second deals more specifically with theories concerning genre-

related issues and specialised texts, including literary ones. The format is multi-teacher, each tackling the

theories he/she is particularly familiar with within the language area taught. Students thus get an overview of

translation theory and practice in a comparative and contrastive perspective. Moreover, the common

components of the Translation Theory Module can be drawn upon by individual teachers in their translation

classes and applied to a theory of translating and to day to day practice. In this way theory and practice go hand

in hand and lead to heightened self-awareness of the translation process, since, in Neubert's words "theory

without practice is empty" in just the same way as "practice without theory is blind" (1989: 11).

Activating student translators' knowledge

A proposal for activating and monitoring the knowledge and competences outlined above within a framework

of real-life criteria is that of encouraging students to write dossiers. My third and-4)urth year students are asked

to hand in a personally-prepared dossier before they sit for the end-of-year exam, as part of their continuous

assessment schedule. The assignment consists in selecting a text for translation from English into Italian and in

motivating their choice in writing with reference to the socio-cultural contexts of the source and target

languages and market needs. The dossier must contain the selected source text with its sur rounding co-text and

the accompanying commentary. This is followed by their translations along with detailed annotations and

explanations on the solutions opted for.

A detailed description of the research methods employed is an important element of the dossier. These

include the use of translation aids, such as monolingual and bilingual reference works, dictionaries and

glossaries; model texts or parallel texts; consultations with the author, commissioner and subject and/or lan -

guage expert. The aim of the exercise is, of course, to check whether they are able to access pertinent

information effectively. In the fourth year, students are also asked to make up their own glossaries for future use

in an easily retrievable form, in accordance with the intertextual nature of the translation process: name-


ly, that each translation follows on from one already done and leads :on to a future one.

The dossiers are evaluated globally according to process- and product-oriented criteria and students are then

invited to discuss the allocated mark. This is an integral part of the assignment and those students who are able to

justify their translation options on the basis of a "coherent, systematised, weighted conceptual framework" (Viaggio 1994: 98) will have their mark reassessed. It also provides an opportunity to appraise students'

proficiency in their Italian mother-tongue since the commentaries and descriptions of the translation processes are

in Italian. It is important not to neglect native-language skills in a translation course; a major criticism of new

recruits to the European Commission is that they are not conversant with their mother tongue (McCluskey 1987: 17).

Conclusions

The feedback on dossier assignments and on the application of real-world criteria from students in the form of

anonymous questionnaires and group discussions has been extremely encouraging. The dossier assignment was

deemed a valuable and significant component of their future careers and continuing education. Students found it

enhanced their self-awareness and offered a useful means of assessing their own competence by monitoring their

performance. They also responded positively to the opportunity and motivating force the compiling of dossiers

gave them to contact authors and experts in the outside world. This was a particularly gratifying result as novice

translators are sometimes reluctant to establish such contact. Liaising with clients is a key feature of the trainee

translators' future profession since they are the ones who can provide essential information on the purpose of the

translation commissioned and can often help translators with content-related problems. Explicit guidelines and

advice on how best to handle the relationship with clients should, I feel, be given at some point of any course of

study in translation.

From a teacher's point of view the use of dossiers in translation pedagogics offers an effective means of

monitoring students' progress in relation to realworld criteria. It offers insights into students' individual

performance and sheds light on various stages of the translation process. More importantly, it provides teachers

with a tangible means of boosting students' confidence in relation to their future profession since it places students

in a position, not only of working under real-life conditions but also of producing texts that will meet market


requirements. The integration of real-world criteria within a translator training programme therefore opens up new

horizons for translation pedagogy. The criteria outlined here will, however, soon be supplemented, if they have not

been already, by the use of computer technology, and curriculum design will have to come to terms with the ever-

increasing assortment of software and machine-aided translation tools available on the market.

TEACHING AND TECHNOLOGY

COMPUTERIZED TRANSLATION MANAGERS AS TEACHING AIDS

Janet Ann DeCesaris, Universitat Pompeu Fabra,

Barcelona, Spain

This article discusses the application of newly available technology, based on translation memories, to the

teaching of translation in a university class setting. Although this type of software is not designed to be used for

pedagogical purposes, it is suggested that it can be successfully used in the classroom to improve student

performance over the short term.

Teachers of translation must tackle several tasks simultaneously, and, in addition, are working with information

and skills that are acquired over the long term whereas they deal with students over a relatively short term. In my

experience, the traditional university dynamics of weekly graded assignments over the course of a quarter or

semester rarely leads to what I believe to be the main goal of the translation class: namely, helping the students to

acquire enough knowledge of language and translation to internalize strategies and apply them to other contexts. In

other words, the objective is to enable students to produce a grammatically correct, stylistically acceptable

translation when faced with texts of a similar type. My dissatisfaction with the regular weekly assignment scenario

led me to reconsider computer aids and brought me to a relatively new type of software, the computerized

translation manager.

There are currently on the market several software packages (e.g. Translator's Workbenp~ by TRADOS,

Translation Manager by IBM) for professional translation management. Although the specific workings of the

programs obviously differ, for the purpose of this discussion they are based on the same principle: the translation

memory.' Basically, a text is stored in the program along with its aligned translation. When a new text is translated,

users can ask the program to look for similar text in the memory. If a similar text is found, the program shows it to

the user along with the translation. The translation memory grows with use: the more translations carried out by

means of the program, the larger the memory and the more likely an affirmative response when a query is made. In

addition, translation memory software of this type is used in conjunction with multilingual terminology databases.

Users can consult the terminology database without having to exit the text they are working on, so that queries are

quick and easy.

Clearly, from the professional translator's point of view the usefulness of this type of software is a direct

function of the size and nature of the translation me-


mory and of the way in which it undertakes text recognition? The user sets a fuzzy match parameter as a percentage,

so that the program knows how close a match is needed for the software to recognize a portion of text and make the

text (and its translation) available on the screen. It follows that the higher the match value, the fewer pieces of text

identified. If the memory is very large, the user can also set a maximum number of matches to be accessed, so that

time is not spent providing numerous translation matches when one or two will suffice.

This type of program can be adapted for use in a classroom setting, because translation memories can be used as

a self-learning resource to provide students with immediate access to models that they know are correct. However,

the parameter settings and the contents of the memory will be significantly different from those used in a

professional setting, precisely because the needs of students acquiring translation skills are not those of professional

translators. As stated above, professionals will only be interested in employing high percentage matches, but a low

fuzzy match setting that brings up many texts on the screen may provide students with the variety of points that

teachers want them to take into account.

In many university programs, including mine at Pompeu Fabra University, students can (and sometimes must)

enroll in classes which require them to translate into a foreign language. In an academic setting students take these

classes to improve their knowledge of the foreign language and to prepare themselves for jobs in which they may

be asked to actively use it. In these classes even very advanced students do not always find it possible to provide

answers to the grammatical or stylistic questions that arise. Despite the very good dictionaries and usage manuals

that are widely available for English, it is often difficult to locate the examples that clarify questions of

prepositions, whether a particular element is a candidate for extraposition or not (e.g. he called up a bunch of

friends from Boston vs. he called a bunch of friends from Boston up), or whether it is better to use a genitive or a

noun modifier (e.g. the university's chancellor, the chancellor of the university, or the university chancellor).

Immediate access to a controlled model which students can relate to their translation can help them to avoid mis -

takes. Access to such information may even assist native speakers unfamiliar with the terminology in specific

fields. The key is to design translation tasks that make students query the translation memory so that they access

the translation model that the teacher wants them to emulate.

Janet Ann DeCesaris, Spain 265

The idea of providing students with models to follow is not new, so we might ask what differentiates the use of

computer software from models provided in a more traditional format. Students are often given a single model for

specific translations: this has been justly criticized for furthering the view that there is only one correct translation

for a given text. The very nature of fuzzy matches in a translation memory allows teachers to provide more than

one good model for each translation. Teachers can choose: when they want to provide only one reference

translation, they make sure that only one translation has enough matches to be called up (this could be the case, for

example, with a legal contract, in which the format and language allow little flexibility); if, on the other hand,

teachers want students to see two or three good, suitable translations, they must have stored the corresponding texts

in the memory prior to giving students the assignment.

From a teacher's standpoint, there are three points about use of a translation management program as a

pedagogical device on the university level that I wish to highlight: the hardware and software requirements for the

university, the type of texts that can be used, and the implications for the teacher and the type of assignment given

to students. <~~~~

Translation memories need a lot of YZAM and a powerful processor. Although manufacturer specifications

differ, this inevitably means a significant investment on the part of the university for a program to be used in an

institutional setting. Typically the software needs at least 12, if not 16 megabytes and at least a 486 processor. The

cost of software involves more than the program itself; for example, TRADOS' Translator Workbench works with

WORD for WINDOWS, which means the university has to purchase both WINDOWS and WORD for

WINDOWS. Universities can be bureaucratic, so even when funds are available it may take a while before

everything is in place for teachers and students. Problems with infrastructure may not always be an issue for the

professional translator, but they cannot be underestimated in the university setting because of the time it takes

teachers to prepare the translation memories.

The number of text types teachers can use is constrained by the nature of translation memories. Since the

memory works on the basis of lexical match, the assignments given must have a considerable degree of lexical

overlap with texts in the memory. In practical terms this means that until the translation memory is reasonably

large, all translation assignments will deal with the same subject. Of course, this is not necessarily a disadvantage

in technical translation classes


in specialist fields. Regardless of whether the translation is into a native or nonnative language, assignments will

have to be technical rather than literary because lexical matches can hardly be used to improve literary translation.

However, information-based discourse such as that found in textbooks or instruction manuals is a good source for

assignments.

Texts must be available in a computerized format. Obviously, the aligned texts stored in the translation memory

are already in the computer. This means that model texts and translations of them have been entered in the

translation memory. In traditional translation classes students do not receive texts on computer disks or via a

centralized directory on a network, but use of a translation memory means that everything - input as well as output -

is on a computer. Software is available to align texts, and, for translations carried out on other word processors,

conversion to the word processor compatible with the translation memory program is usually a neglible problem.

However, it is a time-consuming process to create a translation memory from scratch. Many texts that teachers want

to use are not on a computer; entering the data manually takes a long time; scanners can be used, but the results must

still be checked carefully. The advantage is that once a translation memory has been created, it can only continue to

grow. The enormous investment of time required at the beginning declines as the memory comes to contain more

text, and several translation tasks can be designed for use with the same texts stored in- the memory.

We can therefore assume that most of the translation assignments students are given will be teachers' adaptations

of real texts. The translations stored in the memory can - and in most cases should comprise - authentic texts, but

the memory would have to be large to contain enough information for lexical matches with other authentic texts.

This is different from professional settings, in which a translator often deals with many extremely repetitive texts:

this is usually not the case in a pedagogical context because teachers typically have to cover many text types within

a short time span.

Finally, students must be willing to work with sophisticated software. Given the background of today's students,

this is not a major issue; what is important is for them to have acquired proficiency in using the specific word

processor package used by the translation management software before starting to work


with translation memories, because otherwise they would be faced with the daunting challenge of learning how to

use several programs at the same time (the word processor, a terminology database, the translation memory

program, and WINDOWS).

Example

To show how this might be put into practice, let us look at an example of an assignment that could be used in a

Catalan to English translation class and in which the program only provides the student with one match.

a) Original Catalan (authentic text)La dècada dels vuitanta també ha estat testimoni de significatives millores de productivitat. En els anys recessius, aquestes

millores es fonamentaren en reduccions de l'ocupació. En l'expansib de finals dels vuitanta, la recuperació de la inversib ha

estat la protagonista dels guanys de productivitat.

L'evolució positiva de la productivitat ha permès una millora en el cost laboral unitari de pràcticament tots els sectors de la

indústria catalana Que aquests guanys no hagin significat millores en la competitivitat en preus de la indústria catalana

obeeix, essencialmenG a la fortalesa de la pess,ta d'ençà de l'entrada d'Espanya en el Sistema Monetari Europeu.

(b) Translation in memoryThe 1980s also witnessed significant improvement in productivity. During the recession years these improvements were

primarily based on staff reductions. During the economic expansion at the end of the 1980s, however, investment regained

its leading position for earnings derived from productivity.

The positive evolution of productivity has resulted in improvement of the labor cost per unit in practically all Catalan

industries. The fact that these improvements have not translated into significant differences in terms of competitive prices

is essentially due to the strength of the peseta from the time Spain joined the European Monetary System.

(c) Translation task given to students (the differences with respect to the original stored in memory are italicized)

La dècada dels vuitanta també ha estat testimoni de significatives millores de productivitat. En els anys de recessió económica, aquestes millores es van fonamentar en reduccions de personal. En l'expansió de finals dels vuitanta, la inversió

ha tornat a recuperar el seu paper protagonista per als guanys de productivitat.

L'evolució positiva dels processos productius ha permès una millora en el cost laboral unitari de pràcácament tots els

sectors de la indústria a Catalunya. El fet que aquests guanys no hagin resultat en millores en la competitivitat en preus de

la indústria catalana obeeix, bàsicament, a la fortalesa de la pesseta d'ençà de l'entrada d'Espanya en el Sistema Monetari

Europeu.


Discussion

The assignment focuses on the following grammatical points, which represent potential problems for native

speakers of Catalan when they write in English:- the use of the simple past in the first clause- types of subject: the verb witness can take an inanimate subject- countable vs. uncountable: improvement can be used as an uncountable- the use of the preposition in in the phrase improvement intransitive vs. intransitive verbs- punctuation

These points are characteristic of the type of grammatical issues I believe can be addressed by use of translation

memories. Of course, this exercise concentrates on specific points that are a function of the differences between

Catalan and English. I do not suggest that students can be taught specific translation strategies by consulting a

translation memory; rather, the memory is to remind them of structures and strategies they should already know

but may not remember at a given point.

Concluding comments

Pedagogical use of a computerized translation management program has some very positive side effects. The

translator's professional workplace increasingly depends on powerful technological devices. The pedagogical

exercise I have discussed is highly technical and provides students with valuable preparation for what they will

face in the future. Today's university students are basically computer literate before they enroll in classes, and, on

the whole, are much less likely to be confounded by complex software than their older, less computer literate

translation teachers. Students typically respond favorably to being taught how to use the most sophisticated

technology. Teaching technical translation with this type of software forces students to consult computerized

terminology programs: this again is good preparation for their future careers. In order to train professionals for the

modem workplace, a university program should at least introduce students to the tools available for tackling real

world problems. Incorporating sophisticated computer technology into our academic curricula can only help us in

this endeavor.

Notes1. For example, the TRADOS program is for a WINDOWS environment, whereas the IBM program is available for either OS/2 or

WINDOWS.


2. My comments on the workings of translation memories are based on the use of a beta release of Translator's Workbench for WINDOWS by TRADOS, as this is the program available at my university. The discussion is applicable to the other programs on the market as well, based on the commercial descriptions available.


("what should be done"). It may be that the teachers' task is to indicate (a) what the possible options are under given

circumstances, and (b) the probable consequences of specific options. One of the main tasks of high-level education

in our era is probably to adapt instruction to new situations, in particular, to teach intel lectuals to adapt, not to one

given new situation, but to several successive new situations, possibly even to situations that are systematically

new. What is needed, then, is a method as well as a view on approaches rather than simple pragmatics, and this

requires research. In the vocabulary of pedagogues and business-oriented trainers this has led into the 'Learning

Society' concept. Nowadays societies have to learn and to adapt quickly to changes: only training in adaptation to

new situations offers a way to ultimate stability. This may become one of the leading principles of universities. The

academic world tends to watch societies and events from a distance, the more so since the media age has led it into

trouble ("Let's see what will happen, before we say anything!"). It will probably be an interesting test for

universities to respond immediately to the future frame of communication and its implications for language,

discourse, translation and society. Are our approaches to language and to translation flexible enough to account for

systematic and rapid changes?

Let us focus on translation. Is our traditional schematic representation of translation as equivalence still valid?

Issues beyond translation are at stake and there are few indications that scholars are aware of this.

Translation and communication: basic changesSince the end of the 1950s translation theorists have tried to chart the parameters involved in translational

activities. They have often used schemes, e.g. the "equivalence scheme", in order to demonstrate the way in which

actual translations function.4 It is striking that the trend has been (a) to multiply the number of parameters needed

and (b) to borrow the overall scheme from communication, that is from the scheme that we inevitably - but

erroneously - connect with Roman Jakobson.

There has been fluctuation in the parameters selected, but not in the tendency to multiply their number.

Translation was for a time reduced to a question of language systems (L1/ L2), whereas the langue/ parole

dichotomy has been adopted in order to account for the particular use of language systems and of texts. Hence the

necessity of also taking into consideration the intended audiences, their traditions and horizons of

José Lambert, Belgium 273

expectations, their linguistic and social norms, etc. From among the most extensive schemes that have been

proposed for the representation of translated communication, I would like to analyse my own Descriptive

Translation Studies program from 1985 (Lambert and Van Gorp 1985), simply because, as one of the authors of

the program, I am entitled to indicate where and why it should be completed and revised. When even this

sophisticated scheme - if I may term it so - should be revised, there must be even stronger reasons for revising

more stereotyped

As mentioned (in Lambert and van Gorp 1985) the first shortcoming of this scheme is that it claims to reflect

the dynamics of translation whereas all schemes that offer a visual and written representation of an activity, are,

by definition, inevitably static. Conversely, it has not been pointed out that,5 however complex it makes the

various moments and aspects of the translational process, the equivalence scheme isolates the translation process

from society (for example from decision processes, from the channels used, and from the real user, as well as

from the flow of communication (e.g. from its interaction with private or pub-


lic discourse, and from its interaction with previous translations). Theorists who discuss equivalence do so as if

translation were an autonomous and isolated phenomenon, which it is not, since it is an element of discourse as

such' and since all translations contain non-translated elements.'

My main thesis will be that, to the extent that translation is seen as communication, all equivalence discussions

in Translation Studies are too narrow, because they overlook the basic shifts in the overall frame of contemporary

communication, precisely because they take it for granted that translation is an autonomous process.

Instead of beginning by assuming that translation is a specific kind of discourse, I shall start from a general

point and analyse the way in which communication and discourse work and the way in which they continually

change in contemporary societies. The question why translation may occupy a specific position will make more

sense when placed within this general framework.

This reference to the communication frame is a much-needed reaction against the tendency to isolate

translation from real-life situations, which (strangely enough) is a rather common practice among translation

scholars. I shall demonstrate ways in which our views on translation are outdated and where our models for theory,

research and teaching need to be updated.My general thesis is that we focus on translation in an isolated, static-technical way - instead of approaching it

from a global and functional perspective! This static-universalistic view systematically overlooks the dynamics of

translation.

I have a first argument ex absurdo in favour of my thesis: if we assume that the general principles of

communication are changing quite fundamentally in our media age, it would be strange if the crucial field of

translation were not submitted to basic changes as well.

Below I shall make use of publications about the communication process and translation, although there will be

much hypothesis. Investigations have addressed most aspects of communication (e.g. mass communication vs

traditional public communication; written vs oral; audio-visual vs written), but have rarely considered their

combination and interaction (e.g. oral communication in primitive and modern societies vs written vs mass

communication). It was not until 1994 that specialists in communication and translation realized how little the

verbal component and the language component had been studied in media communication.' Established research

has failed to cover the whole range of communication areas, since most scholars tend to focus on specific topics

rather than on the pos

José Lambert, Belgium ,. 275

sible interactions and distinctions between traditional and modem societies. Traditional scholarship thus tends

to overlook new developments in the oral use of language caused by a boom in the audio-visual media. Both in

language teaching and in research, universities use only the written language." This is one of my starting

points: in our contemporary world we need new models for observation, analysis, action - and teaching.

The moment we accept that translation presupposes speakers and receivers, we have to recognize that it is

an element of private and public discourse. The rules of discourse have undergone many important shifts, so

that distinctions between public and private or individual and collective have partly lost their relevancea except

in reference to the survival of (very) traditional discourse (e.g. Ong 1990; McLuhan 1964)." Let us~ook at some

of the cases in which private discourse is matched or replaced by public discourse, by mass communication,

business communication, media communication and by the so-called Information Society.

I am well aware of the complex socio-cultural environment of these types of communication: private and

public discourse have always existed; this may also apply to mass communication but the Information Society

as well as some particular types of media communication are new. In the age of media communication, private

discourse functions within a new environment."

We can begin by focusing on private discourse, which is normally oral, and which, when it is carried out by

means of special technology (such as telephone, fax, e-mail), cannot be disconnected from mass

communication.

In private discourse different speakers/writers address their interlocutors in one-to-one situations, and

usually see their partners. Private discourse is not always closed, but it tends to be so: the conversation may

stop as soon as new partners want to participate, and new partners may even be excluded. According to

theorists of (mass) communication, public (mass) communication is in principle open (Fauconnier 1990: 21-37).

One of the new features of private discourse is that, regardless of the partners' actual location they can be

heard (and perhaps even seen). The exchange used to be local, which meant that a particular private discussion

did not interfere with other (neighbouring) private discussions. The main problem for private discourse is indeed

the relationship with neighbours. The more intimate private discourse becomes, the more it desires protection

against interference. In the age of telecommunication, possible interference from neighbours is not necessarily

local any more. Whether local or distant, whether 'telecommunicated' or not, private conversations always take

place at the


same moment and in the same environment as other private conversations: they are not protected. However, they require

minimal rules. They are not unorganized, since two (or more) individuals in conversation tend to speak in turn, but when

many people are speaking together at once - for instance at a cocktail party - they tend to split up and to behave as several

groups who ignore one another. When A addresses B, (s)he does not try to avoid disturbing D addressing F. Anyway the

delicate point is the organization and the relationships with partners and neighbours. In our media age some basic constraints

have been overcome, i.e. space and time: our private conversational partners are not necessarily living next door. -

Figure 2: Private discourseLines indicate relations; the arrows indicate the dynamics of the relationships and do not exclude feedback from the partners, nor anticipation of the expectations of the recipients. Messages are exchanged simultaneously, in an arbitrary order; two or several partners may switch roles and partners (two-/multiple-way communication). There is no strict order nor agenda. Although there is an apparent ("democratic") openness in terms of roles and rules, power relationships are part of the game (as power relationships within discourse and power relationships behind discourse (cf. Fairclough 1989: 43-76)).However the knowledge of partners and relationships with them are largely individual and interaction is real (not pre-planned).

Public discourse involves a higher degree of organization. It implies that certain people and institutions have been

given organizational power, according to


rules that are more or less (officially) established by a given society. Nations in Europe have played an active role in the

organization of public discourse ever since new technologies for communication were introduced, e.g. printing, broad-

casting, telephone, television (Ong 1990). On the one hand systems of control have been worked out every time new

technologies (such as printing) and strategies (such as subscription) have invaded communication between citizens." On

the other hand networks that were under official control were protected against competition with other networks that

looked less safe: hence the establishment of legal protection and official monopolies in favour of governmental and

private networks (e.g. records, books, broadcasting, television).

Figure 3: Public discourseExplanation of the main features of public discourse in comparison with private discourse:It hardly ever represents one-to-one exchanges, but one-to-many relations and - dominantly/in most cases - one-way relations.The sender/production center dominates the receiving unit, but interaction and anticipation are not excluded; pre-planned communication on the basis of an ideal partner, marketing strategies are not utopian at all, but they cannot be differentiated; it uses previously known and established channels and technology; there is previous knowledge of rules and agendas. The power relations function as in all kinds of discourse but they are combined or interfere with institutional power.There is competition with other types of discourses; there are protection measures against interference and competition thanks to monopoly or legislation.In translation, target-orientedness is virtually excluded, due to the parallel treatment of different partners.

Public communication calls for rules to make communication efficient and, in particular, to avoid problems with

neighbours and partners. As soon as we move into public discourse, priorities must be respected. Not all partners

involved have


the same rights (Fairclough 1989: 49); not all members of the society involved can speak and write at the same

time. Experts tend to make clear distinctions between (a) the so-called one-way communication in public (mass)

discourse, and (b) the two-way communication in private discourse (Fauconnier 1973: 21-23; Fauconnier 1990).

However, they may underestimate the anticipation process in mass communication of the traditional kind, in

which interaction with large audiences is not excluded. On the other hand, one of the revolutions in the new

generation of communication technology is precisely the growing interaction between partners (as in the

'Internet'). Generally interaction is limited and strictly rule-governed in public dialogues; changes in the rules will

always be suggested and worked out by those who own or govern the networks. Public discourse can never be

democratic because those who organize and produce communication are also those who establish the rules and

open and close the exchange of messages. The official principle of public discourse is openness, but membership

is not unlimited.

The dominance of unidirectional communication is an obvious characteristic of public discourse. Interaction

with the addressees may be required explicitly, but only along the lines indicated by the organizer(s). People and

institutions that organize public discourse always hope to increase the number of addressees, and it is true that

changes in quantitative relationships have had enormous consequences for the power relationships between the

partners involved. Networks with many members are probably stronger than networks with few members; the

greater the number of addressees in relation to the number of speakers, the weaker their own impact.

Technological progress has influenced these relationships, since it has systematically increased the number of

partners in communication, and technological progress will presumably strengthen the position of the speaker

(writer/producer) at the cost of the recipient. Writing has allowed man to overcome distance in terms of space and

time; microphones overcome space and noise barriers. But while the resources of the speakers and writers have

been strengthened, the organizing network has weakened the opportunities for symmetric interaction. Institutions

that take the initiative in organizing communication are strong compared to those that wait for the initiatives: they

can establish or change rules. Thus new communication formulas imply that new institutions (instances) are

established and that they change the rules of the game. The organizational power of European nations in public

discourse means that they have always standardized language and education, as well as organized communication


(press, broadcasting, telephone, television, etc.). However, they are now losing control of television and

telecommunication, although they are doing their best to reduce their loss of power. Public discourse in the

media age has indeed been submitted to yet new changes.

The concept of mass communication indicates an awareness of the increase in the target audience. 'Mass

communication' is also associated with new media technology. The technology at our disposal, as well as its

impact on the relationship between the sender(s) and the receiver(s), is typical of our society (McLuhan 1989).

Mass communication is not new in the history of mankind and does not presuppose modern

telecommunication, such as broadcasting, television, or video: many cultures have used book production. In

fact public discourse of the mass communication type simply makes the contrast more explicit between the

number of people on the sender (production) side and those on the receiver side, compared to previous

networks: although initiatives are, in principle, open to everybody, budgets, technology and power are needed

in order to create new networks. As soon as networks are available, communication becomes a product and a

market. Expanding the market has become a constraint, thus implying that networks need to be as global as

possible and that they are no longer directly linked with a country or a language. The individual components

are not under customs control (Negroponte 1995: 11-13), but they even penetrate countries without a market

economy and influence both the communication and the economic system.

The idea that mass communication and media communication have developed slowly over several

generations makes sense. Without stressing too strongly historical and socio-cultural factors, I would like to

mention the parameters which have influenced the conditions governing the communication framework.

The following parameters have undergone spectacular changes:

- the number of people involved;- the distance aspect: remote people all over the globe are within receiving

range;

- the time aspect: the remote target audience can be reached simultaneously

with receivers near the center of production. This means that space and timeare combined in new ways; recording and reproduction have also made it

possible for contemporary individuals to have at their disposal impressive

libraries devoted to cultures remote in space and time (books, diskettes, CD

ROM collections, etc.);


- societies and borders: messages not only reach people worldwide, but also cross linguistic and other socio-

cultural borders at the same time that they use various techniques and strategic solutions and create new

partnerships between people who did not previously know of one another's existence (Negroponte 1995);

- deterritorialization: thanks to the development of new technologies privileged people have become almost as

mobile as communication. This means that homogeneity of territory in terms of population, language and socio-

cultural norms is relative. In migrating populations there is probably an elite in a power position; mobility can

be a feature of poverty, but at the same time it also furthers power, albeit not among the same social groups; -

the monetary aspect (see below): the shift from one-to-one communication to one-to-many communication also

implies new one-to-money relationships. This means that it has become hard to distinguish between individual

and collective discourse, between public discourse, media communication and business communication: even

governmental initiatives have to cope with the explicit acknowledgment of private channels and monopolies.

Advertising in public broadcast thus challenges the borderline of what is 'public' in modern communication.


Explanation of the main features of media age public discourse compared to traditional public discourse:The main rules of public discourse remain relevant, but additional resources and constraints enter the picture:Specialized technology, large scale distribution, large scale organizations, and development of networks are put to use.There is prestige and a new type of power (new combinations of verbal and audio-visual discourse; commercial power, etc.).There is competition and a struggle for official recognition or protection (both nationally and internationally); competition with more traditional networks; market struggle. It goes beyond national, cultural and linguistic borders, hence a struggle for international status. It introduces new (international) language policies. It leads to development of interaction patterns.

From one-to-one to one-to-some to one-to-many

One-to-one communication is (still) a characteristic of private discourse; it has become rare in the public

discourse of the media age, not only because the space and time constraints have partly been overcome, but also

because multi-point (multilateral) communication and satellite communication (that is dispatching centres) have

become the standard; bilateral relationships have become oldfashioned, even between groups. Business organization

as well as the media world and political institutions systematically prefer large-scale multilateral networks; these

networks as well as multilateral distribution are colonial but their, size and their systematicity have developed in

impressive ways.One of the most fundamental shifts in the systematical and industrial use of multi-point communication is the

(implicit) substitution of a multilateral and centralized relationship to a differentiated communication system (as those of private discourse and traditional bilateral relationships). Contemporary mass communication has selected one of two extreme options:

(1) a target-oriented/differentiated one which takes into consideration the position of the target pole or partner (based on what marketeers would call "market segmentation"), or (2) a source-oriented or centralized one in which standardization and corporate identity prevail.

It is difficult to unite these two extremes, and the fact that it has rarely been done, except in Translation Studies, is symptomatic. How can a (political or private) society stress its corporate identity and its Total Quality at the same time that it is engaging in differentiated vs target- specific enterprises? A few multinationals are investigating the development of new organizational models, but governments and most international organizations seem not to be aware of the dilemma.


It is a key task for Translation Studies to establish the way in which trans lation will work in global multilateral

relationships, where target-orientedness is not excluded but where the dominance of the network principle is

obvious.

Whatever the answers, colonialism illustrates the implications of networks in the past.

Recent media communication, i. e. of the Information Society (such as the 'Internet', Digital television and

several forms of distance learning), or the telecommunications world of the 'Virtual Society', ignores the

limitations of the traditional world, as it is establishing a new world order in which the traditional organizational

rules are systematically revised.

Figure 5: Public discourse in the virtual societyExplanation of the main rules of communication compared to more traditional communication: Mobility, global organization beyond nation, space (and time), and new rules for prestige and power;Multi-point communication from an organizing center which changes location, and sophisticated patterns of interaction;Sophisticated technology, large budgets, and explicit agendas;A struggle for (legal) recognition and market power; andReformulation of the communication rules themselves (hypertext, copyright, interaction, etc.), including language policy.


It is not possible to predict accurately all the consequences of shifts in the communicational and the socio-cultural

frame. However some of these are already obvious:

The concept of peaceful coexistence between different types of public discourse is utopian. This is clear from the

competition between traditional public discourse (in, for instance, newspapers, books) and telecommunications

supported public discourse (magazines, advertising, television, etc.); the idea that the newest models will gain the

upper hand is probably naive since traditional models aré often supported by strong opposition to the

internationalization which is an integral feature of the new models.

Given the need for technology and large budgets, there is also competition between government-controlled public

discourse and privatized public discourse; there are obvious links between the most recent types on the one hand and

'privatized' public communication on the other hand (which, for strategic reasons, often avoids looking too 'public').

We find reshuffling of the links between territory (nation) and language by means of a systematic hybridization, to

the point where the language is redefined in two ways:

(a) standardization of (verbal) communication is sliding out of the control ofnational and governmental institutions;

(b) written language is imperilled by the prestigious multi-media world.

Accordingly, there is competition both between natural languages and between verbal and non-verbal

communication.

One of the most fundamental consequences is that language is dealt with as a problem of, rather than as a means

for, worldwide communication. For those who want to promote and offer worldwide communication it is an obstacle

in the production and the organization of networks that people do not use the same language and that there are so many

languages. Language differentiation is considered oldfashioned and narrow-minded. Those who oppose global

communication will use traditional language and language policy in favour of their arguments. I hope to demonstrate

that both positions are far too naive and that radically different options remain open as long as those who use

(tele)communications are willing to come to the right inferences concerning their own patterns and positions.

It is obvious that a worldwide reshuffling of power is taking place, at least if we assume that language is power, that

communication is power and that orga-


nization is power (See sociolinguistics; Bourdieu; Fairclough 1989; Boyd-Barret and Braham 1987). It is not just

the principle of intellectual property (as in the GATT discussions) or cultural identity, but the basic principles of

society which are at stake.

This is not the first time that some of these arguments are formulated. However they are rarely analyzed in

their interrelations and never from the point of view of their implications for languages and translation.

Translation and language in business communication

I have concentrated on the contemporary frame of public discourse in terms of models and hypotheses. They

derive from various traditions for redefining language and translation, an aspect that has been overlooked so far, at

least by scholars. 14 Research on media translation is still very primitive, and its prospects are not bright, partly

because academic research is ill at ease with the media phenomenon, and partly because the industrial world of the

media prefers profitoriented (applied) research to fundamental research. For this reason the role of independent

research is doubtful. This situation is well-known to those who started 'Descriptive Translation Studies' in the mid-

seventies: the idea that research is needed and the conviction that the efficient production of translations requires

more than the mere transfer from (a good) theory into practice has penetrated the professional world of translation

only step by step. But it is analogous to the ways in which medicine, engineering and economics have been

gradually transformed into something more than pragmatics of therapy, etc.

Nevertheless some research has already been carried out and the models and schemes I describe here are being

used in projects for descriptive research (Lambert 1989b; Lambert and Delabastita (forthcoming)).

I shall not embark on a discussion of the ways in which we and others have used and tested our models. Instead

I intend to report on a small, local research project that has turned out to be relevant for the international general

communications frame.

In the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium we have set up a research project about a new economic phenomenon,

namely the translation market (Jansen 1994; Hermans and Simoens 1992. The number of companies and people

involved was small, at least at the beginning, and so was the economic area. There were few questions and

hypotheses and this has not changed. However, the scope widened enormously when it appeared that, not only

translation, but rather language and


verbal communication in general were the main issues, and when it became clear that our conclusions were not

limited to the Belgian market, but applied to much international business communication. For this reason the

project is useful for discussing ways in which we should deal with translation in this age of

(tele)communications.

The report was published in Dutch (Jansen 1994). This book offers a detailed description of the problems, the

research in progress, the interviews, the analyses and bibliographical data including manuals and educational

programs.

The book tells of conflicts between translators, translation agencies and the 'initiators' who hire them, either

for a given company (in-house translators) or as free lance translators. Thanks to the representative selection of

the people contacted, we have been able to test our hypotheses about this conflict. The hypotheses were implicit

at the beginning; they have developed by means of tests and counter-tests, first during the project itself, and

afterwards in other areas (in other countries, with other partners, handbooks, teaching programs, statements by

translators and their employers, etc.). Since there is no reason to believe that the Belgian business and translation

markets rely on handbooks, principles or models made for exclusive Belgian use, the study came to investigate

international patterns as a matter of course. Observations of the international framework were not followed up

with new interviews.

The first observations were predictable, at least to experts in translation. Job dissatisfaction was a problem for

most people involved in business translation, both among employers and employees. Many initiators and

employers simply wondered: "Why (the devil) do we need all these translations? And why are they so

expensive?" The reply by the translators and their partners was different: "Why don't our companies understand

us better?" It was, indeed, possible to observe correlations between the partners' positive and negative feelings.

The key problem appeared to be the question of exactly why the market functions well in some cases and poorly

in others.

Some metaphors used by partners were quite revealing. Translators complaining of being treated "as a fax

machine" led the investigator to study some symptomatic and widespread views of language in the international

business world.

Several features in the attitude to translation in business contacts indicate that translation (and language

services in general) is considered as 'a service'. This implies that it is not part of an important principle of

communication in business society, i.e. Total Quality Control, which implies feedback or interaction. Inter-


action between all partners in the production and communication process is an accepted part of company

organisation, outside translation and language services.

Figure 6 illustrates how, in most cases the decision to translate (or not to translate) is taken at a late stage,

and not at the beginning. It is not part of a general strategy, even within large multinationals, as is illustrated

by the fact that advertising and promotion campaigns are rarely tested out in several languages. Translation is

a matter of (low-rank) execution. Feedback is not impossible, but it is not planned and seldom used.

Figure 6: The communication chain in the case of translationThe interaction takes place between (2) the translator/translation agency, (3) the revisor, and (4) the editor (within a company), but during the process there are hardly any further instructions to (1) the PR manager (or secretary); there are few briefings with him and even fewer between him and his staff. Once an order has been given, no more instructions are forwarded to the manager(s), except (sometimes) to low-ranking partners.

Verbal communication in business is often also worked out in a mechanical and multilateral way, although

the idea of market differentiation and segmentation is not unknown. With some noteworthy exceptions (Jansen

1994: 41-42; 4446), the principles underlying the use of translators and translation services are obvious: it is

the general language component, not only the translation component, in business communication that is not

integrated into the corporate identity. In fact many companies try to communicate multilaterally while their

planning is monolingual.

These general conclusions have been confirmed by many tests in business situations, by analysis of

specialist literature, including handbooks, and by the treatment of intercultural business communication. So

the conclusions of our research project, which began within a limited area of business life in a West-European

tradition, goes for may well be representative of the average treatment of verbal communication (and language

management) in international business communication. There is a crucial conflict between the question of

languages and the ques


tion of intercultural communication. It can be inferred from new research on social organization that this conflict

poses a danger to societies (Janssens and Steyaert (forthcoming); Herrlitz (forthcoming)). It is strange that private

enter

Figure 7: Mechanical multilateral communicationThere is internal and external feedback (within the company) between various centres, and with target groups in various countries (e.g. thanks to marketing research), but the external feedbackdoes not involve language.

prise appears not to use language as a resource, but views it as an obstacle, and that it excludes language questions

from its marketing and communications policies.

Our analyses make us conclude that management itself is imperilled, and this applies to political, cultural,

military as well as economic management. We have no grounds for claiming that all situations resemble the

language policy described here, but nevertheless we believe that it calls for changes in the basic principles used in

theory, in handbooks and in training. Even politicians, who stress the importance of language as an aspect of

identity, do not know how to integrate the language question into their overall policy strategies. The same applies

to managers in international businesses, who not only disregard the language question, and feel no need for

language competence, but leave it to their secretaries and other low-ranking personnel to solve the problem,

preferably after the event. The


implicit rules of language policy in international relations are not unlike the wellknown Freudian slogan: "Things

not spoken of' ["Worüber man nicht spricht"].

The shift from bilateral international communication to multilateral international communication has obviously

promoted autocentric behaviour in certain companies: the idea that partners may be different and that market

differentiation has important implications for the organization of communication (and for organization in general)

is widely accepted, but the link with language policy is virtually nonexistent. Multilateral communication is,

generally speaking, dealt with in a mechanical rather than dynamic way: for example, when a new partner is intro -

duced into a given network the implications for the other partners, in particular the language policy, are normally

not taken into account. In theory, this may happen even when a new partner takes on leadership, but in practice

some companies may revise their language policy as soon as there is a shift in the position of the partners, as

illustrated in Figures 8a (below) and 8b (on the opposite page).

To a certain extent mechanical multilateral communication is similar to colonialism: multi-point

communication is planned and organized from one central position for several target groups, often geographically

distant and subordinated to one common central partner who makes many decisions, often without consultation,

and frequently presents the decisions as universally valid (Lambert (forthcoming c)).

Figure 8b: Shifts in the positions within network 8a.There is no basis for any general normative rules, except that changes in the position may havean impact on the position of the languages involved and there are excellent reasons for the manager to investigate the matter.

It is indeed doubtful whether other options deserve to be preferred to the traditional (mechanical) one. So far I

have analysed a contemporary situation without suggesting any kind of solution. Is any other solution possible at

all? Are there different solutions? The first answer should be: all a priori answers are wrong, since independent

investigation may offer the most solid basis.

The researchers and business partners dealing with the Belgian translation market have easily found the most

efficient solution to the problems discussed. Their identity and their location is part of the solution: they happen to

represent specific economic fields and countries. The conflict situation described is not general. In which cases can

it be avoided, and how?

The answer has already been suggested, though in an abstract way: it is sufficient to extend the feedback

principle to and make it include language services and translation. The moment these are accepted as an element of

business organization they automatically become part of the general management. This can be illustrated as

follows (Figure 9, overleaf)


Figure 9 (revision of Figure 6)1 = PR manager (or secretary).2 = the translator/translation agency. 3 = the revisor.4 = the editor (within company, or within 2 or 3) This case shows continuous and double feedback.15

When business societies include language in their general planning they increase flexibility, they can anticipate problems, and they are even able to use language not only in negative terms, that is, as an obstacle, but as a strategic tool.

It is obvious that such an integration of language into management is not a simple solution: models and

research are needed.

There will be resistance as long as the necessity for enormous efforts has not been proved. There are,

furthermore, situations which do not require effort and new strategies. Even experts in translation will not

argue that translation should always be made. Thus translation is not necessarily the best solution to multilin-

gualism. When all partners in a given society agree to use one common language there is no reason for

creating a language problem. However, as a factor in differentiation, identity and conflict, the language

component is becoming stronger all over the world, whatever the success of our contemporary global lingua

franca may suggest. When market and cultural differentiation is accepted, there is no way back: the question

of languages must be faced and may become a matter of priorities. This consideration has formed the basis of

new options in research into social organization (Janssens and Steyaert (forthcoming)). Large-scale research

along these lines will soon be needed. There are indeed strong indications that in our global world and

'Virtual Societies', language differentiation is being taken much more seriously than before. Rather than

being an obstacle, the use of languages may be a key instrument in avoiding and reducing conflicts.


Consequences for the discipline and for interdisciplinarity

Language and translation will become a key issue as the new communications frame becomes an important

pattern in society and reduces the impact of (more) traditional communication. In itself, this is a naive pseudo-

prediction since it describes a situation which already applies all over the world.

Within this new framework, translators are becoming less and less individual and autonomous. They have to

rely on partners, and they offer and receive feedback as they are integrated into (worldwide) communication.

Customers and employers use their 'services' as part of large packages. In order to meet the basic requirements

that determine their efficiency (often called "quality", an inappropriate term, because the quality requirements

are established by the various partners, often implicitly), all partners need to be fully aware of each other's

roles, responsibilities and capabilities. In a world of tough competition, the very moment one partner ignores

his partners' commitments, the entire enterprise may be endangered.

The difficulty is that translators and language experts are nowadays being used by managers and customers

who view language very naively. My conclusion is that in addition to competent translators, experts will have

to train their environment, their employers and customers. In the new communications frame only

interdisciplinary competence can lead to relevant programs. Given continuous shifts in the general world

frame, the only training that has any chance to survive will need to be thoroughly interdisciplinary and, hence,

research-based. The bureaucratic protection offered by the institutionalization of diplomas, curricula and

institutes will not survive the globalization and the worldwide competition process unless it will be open to

continuous revision, adaptation, tests, research and discussion. In fact there is nothing new in such a future-

oriented definition of training and research, except the necessity to stress it at this moment in history. It is not

clear what types of institutes or universities will be able to fulfill the expectations of international companies

and societies: in the academic world interdisciplinarity is boycotted rather than promoted. Accordingly

predictions may be simple: either there will be new combinations of universities and ad hoc insti.; tutes, or

academia itself will not survive in good shape. This double prediction may again be a pseudo-prediction since

this situation already applies today.


1. Descriptive research on translation has been conceptualized since the mid-1970s by James S. Holmes, Itamar Even-Zohar and

(primarily) by Gideon Toury, then by scholars (some in the socalled Low Countries group (the Manipulation School), and some at the

Göttingen Sonderforschungsbereich "Die literarische Übersetzung"). The journal Target (1989- ) represents the most prominent

attempt to establish Translation Studies as a research discipline with a strong descriptive branch. Toury (1980) may be considered as

the programmatic basis of Descriptive Translation Studies, and Toury (1995) as an institutionalization, with important paragraphs on

the history of descriptive research since Holmes.

2. The question "Is there really such a thing like 'one' discipline dealing with translation?" is discussed in Lambert 1991.

3. It is interesting to note how different the treatment of training and pedagogics is in the various representations of the discipline(s),

and the way in which it links with "Translation Theory" (see Newmark 1981), "Translatology" or "Translation Studies": whereas

Translation Studies considers research to be the first task of the discipline, Translatology (and groups within the "Translations-

wissenschaft") tend to focus mainly on practice and teaching, though this does not exclude research. One of the consequences of this

is that "criticism" is in an ambiguous position lying somewhere between research and evaluation (Snell-Hornby 1995).

4. The distinction between "actual translations" and simply "translation" is heavily indebted to Toury's revision of normative theories,

in which translation is discussed on the basis of "ideal" representations rather than of historical-empirical evidence. The key argument is that definitions and assumptions worked out a priori by sophisticated twentieth century scholars established in particular cultural

circumstances are not necessarily relevant for translational phenomena from distant ages and countries.

5. Except perhaps within the Skopos theory and the so-called Polysystems approach (Lambert. (forthcoming b)).

6. Is translation "discourse", or is it merely "text", communication, activity ("Handlung", in Justa Holz-Mänttäri's terms)? I discuss this

issue in Lambert (forthcoming b). 7. The moment we stop trusting tradition as a sufficient basis for our concepts, we have no

justification for reducing translation to autonomous and clearly identified texts that are considered translations. Hence we have to

accept the evidence that translation can be part of everyday discourse and that, on the other hand, non-translation (zero translation)

is part of translated texts. This implies that, besides our translation concept, the distribution of translational phenomena has to be

reexamined before it is possible to set up a general translation theory. This is the key thesis of a discussion available only in Dutch

(Lambert 1995a).

8. See my discussion of functional approaches in Lambert (forthcoming b).9. See in particular the special issue of the European Union magazine Cordis Focus, Supplement 2, 15 July 1994: Europe and the Global Information Society. It is notable that political reactions to languages in global communication are very systematic, although they are

not in any way supported by research into the language component in international (verbal) communication (e.g. Lambert 1989 b;

Jansen 1994).

10. It suffices to call attention to curricula in Philology and in Communication (Media) Studies which are systematically kept apart, and

to the way in which handbooks for media/ language ignore the interaction between oral and written language/communication as part

of communication. 11. I am heavily indebted to Patrick Cattrysse for information regarding these key topics in research on

communication..

12. Hence Walter Ong's distinction between oral language of the primary type (in societies where written language is unknown) and

oral language of the secondary type (in societies where written language is dominant).


13.The most obvious start of such a policy was the establishment of the (French) "dépôt légal", the origin of copyright, in the

sixteenth century.

14. But not at all in political terms, as our newspapers inform us. See also the special issue of the European Community magazine Cordis Focus, Supplement 2, 15 July 1994: Europe and the Global Information Society.

15. I am indebted to Peter Florentsen for drawing the charts according to my sketches.

THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY

AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

Geoffrey Kingscott, United Kingdom

As the title of this volume is New Horizons, it is appropriate to look at the direction in which translation may be

heading. After all, the average student on a university translation course today can expect to spend seven-eighths of

his or her career in the 21st century. The pace of change is accelerating in almost every domain, and is certainly

doing so in translation, so it is reasonable to assume that the practice of translation in the 21st century may be very

different from the practice today.

Of course, I do realise that university courses should not simply be practice-oriented. It is the role of universities

to open up students' minds, not to tunnel them in a particular direction. I also understand that quite a number of

students who go through translation courses, subsequently follow careers other than that of translator. Nevertheless

there is a real danger that the university teaching of translation may become so remote from practice that it becomes

marginalised, that it will be widely perceived as irrelevant to the translation task.

I confine my paper to technical and business translation, partly because that is what I know most about, and partly

because that type of translation accounts for by far the biggest proportion of translation work in the world today. One

problem is that many contemporary translation courses were started from within university language departments,

and all too many reflect the somewhat literary bias of traditional university language teaching.

This brings me to the first point that I should like to make, that technical and business translation increasingly cuts

across a number of disciplines. It could be said that business and technical translation is really one aspect of

technical communication, and should be taught as such. It is not enough to bolt a few technical elements on to an

essentially linguistic course. Technical translation involves a lot more than introducing a Language for Special

Purposes element.

In traditional translation teaching there tends to be great stress on the correct rendering of the source message. In

technical communication there is much more emphasis on the target message, and the source message must, if

necessary, be reworked to suit the particular application. 'Reader-oriented writing', they call it in technical

communication. Not all source-language technical texts are produced by professional technical writers, and some fail

to be as reader-oriented as they


should be. However, it is the responsibility of the technical translator, who is a professional, to write as a

target-language technical writer would, taking into consideration the likely reading ability of the user of the

manual, the technical writing culture of the target-language country, the emphasis to be given to different

aspects (warning notices, task sequences, etc.) and so on.

If taught properly this can become quite exciting. Teaching the technical translator of the future could really

open up New Horizons. The translator becomes proactive rather than reactive, with greater freedom to shape and

create text so as to convey the intended message in the clearest way possible.

The watchwords in technical writing are clarity and readability, and these priorities must be carried over into

technical translation. It is essential that students be taught how to write clearly in their own mother tongue.

However, even today the greatest complaint from employers of translators, particularly of those coming out of

university translation courses, is not, as one might expect, the lack of domain-specific technical knowledge, but

the inability of the students to write their own language well.

In technical communication it is simply not good enough to put words on a page. What counts is whether the

message gets across. This requires not only the ability to write clearly, but also an understanding of how people

react to written information. There has been quite a lot of work on this subject, particularly in the United States,

by writers such as Flesch and Gunning, and more recently by people like William Horton (in the USA) or John

Kirkman (in the UK), or Louis Timbal (in France).

Actually there is a general trend in what might be termed the applied language professions - translation and

interpreting - towards a more multi-dimensional approach anyway. In the comparatively new discipline of

public service interpreting (sometimes called community interpreting), which is èssentially interpreting for

members of ethnic minority communities, there are two predominating areas of activity. One is medical

interpreting, which is usually carried out in hospitals, the other is in the courts and associated areas.

In medical interpreting it is necessary to provide training and testing, not just in language competence, but

also in medical ethics, techniques of diagnosis, and, above all, in how to handle differences in medico-cultural

concepts. There is an astonishing difference in concepts of illness and treatment in Britain and France, as

anyone who has ever been treated in both countries can confirm, and this dif

Geoffrey Kingscott, United Kingdom 297

ference is exacerbated when European and Asian medical cultures come into contact.

In legal interpreting it is important to provide training in legal rights concerning police interrogation, in court

procedures and rules of evidence, and in techniques of cross-examination.

In the same way translation courses in the future must be multi-dimensional, not purely linguistic. They must

marry the traditional cross-language skills (comprehension of the source language and ability to render its

message into the target language) with communication skills (ability to produce a text appropriate to the

application), and then add domain-specific linguistic knowledge, and the ability to operate within the non-

linguistic constraints of the domain. This is not translation any more: it is multilingual technical communication.

In fact in the practical world the term translation is going out of favour, for the very reason that it fails to

communicate the range of skills currently necessary. The information technology industry has come up with the

term localisation, which is now widely used. Other multinational companies, particularly in engineering, talk of

multilingual documentation. The term globalisation refers to the overall strategy for operating in world markets,

including any necessary localisation of both product and documentation.

And then, of course, we have to consider the likely impact of language technology (also now called language

engineering). This can cover everything from fully-automatic translation to paste-in terminology aids.

I have detected a certain complacency among some teachers of translation. Because they have seen that

despite 50 years of research and development the impact of automatic translation is still very small, they think

that translation will continue, by and large, to be practised in traditional ways for a long time yet.

Although over the last 25 years I have seen many forecasts and estimates about automatic translation prove

wildly optimistic, and although I have always taken a somewhat cautious, not to say cynical, approach myself to

automation of the translation process, I am now convinced that the pace of change is going to accelerate. The

reason for this is that development will now become needsdriven, rather than research-driven as in the past.

° The needs-driven impetus is based on two major trends in world industry. The first is globalisation, the

second is the information revolution.

Although talked about for many years, it is only now that the global market is becoming a reality. Industrial

companies, most of them with a strong national


base, used to think in terms of a home market and an export market. Today multinational companies are becoming

the norm, and they are all now planning their strategy on global sales. We are surely coming to the end of the era

of the nation state, which has so dominated our thinking and history these last 500 years. Political leaders such as

Chancellor Kohl and President Chirac are less important than media tycoons such as Rupert Murdoch or

information technology figures such as Bill Gates.

At one time there was a fear that globalisation would mean that the juggernaut of the English language would

crush every other language in its path. That may still happen in the long run, but at present the multinationals are

finding that product sales go up if products and documentation are localised. At the ITALICS 95 conference on

global business communication in Rotterdam in May 1995 it was stated that Microsoft had discovered that sales

tended to go up by as much as three times after localisation into the local language, and, more surprisingly, that

this appeared to be true even in countries such as Denmark where there appears to be an almost universal good

command of English. So globalisation needs are likely to drive translation forward.

But with these multinational companies, the greatest preoccupation is with "time-to-market". No time must be

lost in this highly competitive age. Where there is a need for documentation in a local language, the localisation

process must be carried out speedily and efficiently. Every assistance which computerisation can give will

therefore be harnessed to this localisation process, especially as a lot of documentation carries a large proportion

of previous documentation. This is why translation-memory systems, unheard of ten years ago and discussed in

this volume, are already having a major impact on translation production.

In the past translation was concentrated on a few languages; in England it was French-Italian-German-Spanish.

These languages were often used as working languages by residents of neighbouring countries. The new primacy

of English has had one unforeseen side-effect, that speakers of non-major languages, if they do not use English for

international communications, prefer to use their own language - Czech, Catalan, Danish - rather than resort to a

neighbour language. This means that there is a demand for translation into a far wider spread of languages than

has ever been the case before. I am not sure that university translation courses have adjusted to this.

The information revolution is also just getting under way. Much is written of the impact of the information

superhighway (Internet), but so far that impact has

Geoffrey Kingscott, United Kingdom ' 299

been comparatively small. But the rate of expansion is phenomenal, and so is the potential. Already there is

available on this superhighway a huge mass of information, and it is available at the clicking of a mouse.

Expectations will now develop that all information should be available almost immediately, and this will extend

to translation. Those of us who work in translation have been accustomed for many years to the idea that

everything is wanted yesterday, but in fact we have often had days, or weeks for big jobs, in which to complete

the task. This is fortunate, because we have done translation in a labour-intensive way, trans lating every word of

the source text into target text, everything having to pass through our thought processes as well as whatever

output device we use.

Translators of the future will be processors of text. They will not be expected to translate again anything they

have translated before, whether it be term, sentence, paragraph or page; the machine will do that for them. The

machine will do any necessary 'new-term' dictionary search, and will do it on-line, checking against text corpora

where necessary.

Automatic translation, the term I prefer to the more usual machine translation, does not work particularly well

with natural language, but can be made to be really effective if the source text is written in a 'controlled language'.

I would expect every translation student from now on to be taught the basics of 'controlled language', which will

become increasingly important in 21st century communication.

The current clear distinction between written work and spoken work will disappear, as speech-to-text and text-

to-speech (and even speech-to-text-to-speech) devices become commonplace. Commercial systems are now

available, and are in use by at least one translator. Video conferencing will become more important, and

interpreting training will have to take account of it (Singapore courts are already using video to access

interpreters who work from a central location).

Probably the most important long-term effect of the information revolution will be changes in what specialist

writers call the icon/alphabet ratio. This is difficult to explain, particularly to an audience of people who, like me,

are, by upbringing and instinct, part of a text-bound culture. Future generations will see this as ridiculously

limiting. You just have to compare a video product, as I have, produced by people of my generation, which

moves from text sequence to next logical text sequence, to one produced by the new generation, where graphics

explode all over the screen, and the message is punched home pictorially. Operating manuals, hitherto the great

standby of the technical translator, will move to video


or CD-Rom, and will convey the message in a multi-media way. Multi-media represent the future, and translation

will never be the same again.

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