The Appraisal framework and evaluative meanings under translation
Session 1: worksheet
Activity 1
1. Text extract 1
Perfectly positioned at the cusp of the year, Ang Lee's latest film proves to be a bit of a Janus
itself. On the one hand Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon points forward, with its state-of-theart stunt work and seamless weave of special effects. On the other it faces the past - dusting
off a mythic adventure plotline that could have sprung from the pen of some 12th century
calligrapher. What we have here, then, is a sublime piece of work; a marriage of old and new
so perfectly managed that it results in something altogether rich, strange and unusual. All hail
the first great film of 2001.
Text extract 2
Look! I like a foreign film! I'm intelligent!
People seem to like subtitled films. Perhaps it justifies their intelligence if they can claim that
they enjoyed a movie in another language. Personally, I dislike subtitled films because you
always end up looking at the bottom of the screen, trying to decipher the plot, when
something important happens. Someone always ends up walking in front of you in the middle
of an important conversation between the two key characters.
Questions
1. Which of the two extracts do you anticipate posing the most challenges/difficulties for
translation?
2. Indicate your reasons for concluding this.
3. Identify a word, phrase in either of the text extracts which you anticipate being particularly
difficult to translate into Korean.
Activity 2
Underline all the words or phrases in the following text extract which explicitly convey a
positive or negative assessment (i.e. “inscribe” an “attitude”)
[Commentary article from the Birmingham Post newspaper]
The behaviour of the Government and the police during the visit of Chinese President Jiang
Zemin was nothing short of disgraceful.
To see police brutally manhandling demonstrators was not only shocking but representative
of more repressive regimes, such as China.
As for Labour's "ethical foreign policy" the visit exposed that as a sham. The message from
Labour is clear: ethics, morals and ideals are not a consideration in foreign policy when
exports have to be contemplated
P.R.R. White. UNSW Appraisal workshop – February 2014
p. 1
Having behaved so dishonourably, one would have thought the Government would decide to
keep its head down, if not to avoid the flak then at least in shame.
Activity 3
extract 1.
(from The Sun)
RIFLES RAISED BY GUARDSMEN TO STOP RIOT OVER HATED PRESIDENT
Queen's China crisis as coach is charged
Bayonet fixed and rifle raised, a solider comes to the rescue of his Queen yesterday. The
trooper went into action when human rights protesters charged at her carriage as she travelled
towards Buckingham Palace with the Chinese president
extract 2.
(from The Daily Telegraph)
Anti-China protests brushed aside
The first Chinese state visit in British history began yesterday with a lone, Tiananmen
Square-style attempt to disrupt the royal procession in the Mall and muted protests elsewhere.
As the Queen and President Jiang Zemin travelled to Buckingham Palace, a 34 year-old-man
jumped over the barriers and attempted to unfurl the Tibetan flag in front of their coach
Questions
1. Which of the above two extracts from news reports is, in your view, the most subjective or
obviously attitudinal?
2. Indicate the reasons for your decision.
3. Underline all instances of words or phrases in the two extracts which you feel are explicitly
attitudinal (i.e. use positive or negative lexis to overtly convey a positive or negative
assessment)
Activity 4
1. Text extract 1
Perfectly positioned at the cusp of the year, Ang Lee's latest film proves to be a bit of a Janus
itself. On the one hand Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon points forward, with its state-of-theart stunt work and seamless weave of special effects. On the other it faces the past - dusting
off a mythic adventure plotline that could have sprung from the pen of some 12th century
calligrapher. What we have here, then, is a sublime piece of work; a marriage of old and new
so perfectly managed that it results in something altogether rich, strange and unusual. All hail
P.R.R. White. UNSW Appraisal workshop – February 2014
p. 2
the first great film of 2001.
Text extract 2
People seem to like subtitled films. Perhaps it justifies their intelligence if they can claim that
they enjoyed a movie in another language. Personally, I dislike subtitled films because you
always end up looking at the bottom of the screen, trying to decipher the plot, when
something important happens. Someone always ends up walking in front of you in the middle
of an important conversation between the two key characters.
Questions
How would you characterise the stance the two writers of these text extracts adopt towards
their material and their audiences? What type of person do they present themselves as being?
What types of “persona” do they present through their words.
Consider for example such questions as:
1. the degree to which they come as across as experts in the field of cinema and movie
reviewing
2. the degree to which they present as assertive, dogmatic, confident or assertive or,
alternatively as not so certain or as more cautious and qualified in what they write
3. the degree which they assume the reader will necessarily accept their assertions and
evaluations or, alternatively, the degree to which they allow for the possibility that the
reader may not accept what they have asserted?
Identify particular words/phrases which you think are significant with respect the two writer’s
stances and textual “personae”.
Activity 5
Text extract
Countryside campaigners say government should reconsider 200 miles of overhead
pylons in wake of report
By John Vidal
Countryside campaigners fighting hundreds of miles of 50-metre tall electricity pylons said
on Tuesday that they have been vindicated by an independent report, which says burying
cables is far cheaper than has been claimed by the National Grid.
The report by engineering consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff into the comparative costs of
routing transmission lines was commissioned by government planning body the Infrastructure
Planning Commission (IPC). It found that underground cabling was 4.5-5.7 times more
expensive than traditional overhead pylons. This compares with the claim of being 10-20
times more expensive, which is often made by the National Grid company in planning
applications. The National Grid has been the monopoly supplier of UK pylons for 60 years....
[The Guardian, February 1, 2012]
Questions
The perspectives of the two sides in a debate have been referenced in this report – specifically
the views and assertion of the “countryside campaigners” who are opposed to the erection of
the pylons and the views and assertions of the “National Grid”, in instrumentality seeking to
have the pylons erected. In your view, does the report favour one or other of these
P.R.R. White. UNSW Appraisal workshop – February 2014
p. 3
perspectives – i.e. is the reader positioned to see the view of one or other of these interested
parties as more credible, reliable or worthwhile?
If so, which perspective is favoured and what are the linguistic indicators of these (i.e. the
words or phrases which act to present one or other side in this debate as more credible)?
Activity 6 – homework
By way of preparation for Thursday’s session on translation and evaluative language, please
prepare in advance and bring with you to the workshop a translation into Korean of the
following two text extracts.
1. Text extract 1
Perfectly positioned at the cusp of the year, Ang Lee's latest film proves to be a bit of a Janus
itself. On the one hand Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon points forward, with its state-of-theart stunt work and seamless weave of special effects. On the other it faces the past - dusting
off a mythic adventure plotline that could have sprung from the pen of some 12th century
calligrapher. What we have here, then, is a sublime piece of work; a marriage of old and new
so perfectly managed that it results in something altogether rich, strange and unusual. All hail
the first great film of 2001.
Text extract 2
Look! I like a foreign film! I'm intelligent!
People seem to like subtitled films. Perhaps it justifies their intelligence if they can claim that
they enjoyed a movie in another language. Personally, I dislike subtitled films because you
always end up looking at the bottom of the screen, trying to decipher the plot, when
something important happens. Someone always ends up walking in front of you in the middle
of an important conversation between the two key characters.
P.R.R. White. UNSW Appraisal workshop – February 2014
p. 4