Intellectual Contexts: Introduction and Skills Session 5 October 2011 Dr Georgina Collins Overview • Aims and objectives of the module • Methods of assessment • Relation to optional modules • Translating between French and English • Translation strategies and methodologies • Comparing and editing translations Aims and Objectives • to demonstrate appropriate factual knowledge and good understanding of key theoretical concepts • to present material and analyses orally and in a scholarly written format • to apply relevant theoretical concepts and use the appropriate technical vocabulary • to undertake further advanced study of materials Methods of Assessment For this particular module there are three choices of assessment: • 5000-7000-word essay • translation with a commentary • commentary on the publication history/reception of a translated text Course Director: Dr Oliver Davis Relation to Optional Modules • Language specific (texts and theories) • Bringing theory and practice together • Translating and translation • Broad range of text types Translation Strategies: Newmark Introduction • being a translator • the impact of mistranslation • transmitting culture • the translator’s choices – a puzzle • translation today Translation Strategies: Newmark The Analysis of a Text • reading the text – 2 purposes: • understanding and analysis • intention of the text and translator? • style of the text? • readership? • the register? • multiple layers of meaning? • culturally embedded words? Translation Strategies: Newmark The Process of Translating • translating for exams/translating for real • two methods: • sentence by sentence, add features later • translate when you have your bearings • dictionaries / encyclopedias / forums • ‘naturalness’ • collaborative exercise • give yourself time • read aloud Translation Methodologies: Vinay et Darbelnet Direct or oblique translation methods 1. Direct translation methods: • l’emprunt - borrowing • le calque - calque • la traduction littérale – literal translation Translation Methodologies: Vinay et Darbelnet 2. Oblique translation methods • la transposition - transposition • la modulation - modulation • l’équivalence - equivalence • l’adaptation - adaptation What is a ‘relevant’ translation? (Derrida) • a ‘good’ translation • does what you expect of it • performs its mission, honours its debt, does its job/duty • inscribes the most relevant equivalent • uses language that’s the most: right, appropriate, pertinent, adequate, opportune, pointed, univocal, idiomatic (p24) What is a ‘relevant’ translation? (Derrida) • Nothing can be either untranslatable or translatable (p25) • Most pieces of work sit between the two (p26) • To know what a ‘relevant’ translation can mean and be, we need to know its mission and goal (p29) • Translation allows a text to ‘live on’ (p46) Common terms and abbreviations • SL / TL • ST / TT • Skopos • Domestication / appropriation • Foreignisation • Norms and conventions (Toury) • Equivalence (Nida) • loss and gain • interlingual/intralingual/intersemiotic (Jakobson) • adequacy / quality Comparing and Editing Translations Analysing, discussing, comparing and ‘improving’ your translations: • Funk Upon A Time • (Re)Play Analysing and critiquing published translations • Martyrs Questions and Comments?