Birthe Mousten, University of Aarhus, DK
Gunta Ločmele, University of Latvia, LV
”If the designations are not correct the language does
not correspond with the true nature of things. If the
language does not correspond with the true nature of
things, activities cannot be completed successfully.
(Konfutse, 2500 years ago).
KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION IN TEXTS
ACROSS BORDERS, PROFESSIONS AND
LANGUAGE
B.
Birthe Mousten, University of Aarhus, DK
Gunta Ločmele, University of Latvia, LV
”If the designations are not correct the language does
not correspond with the true nature of things. If the
language does not correspond with the true nature of
things, activities cannot be completed successfully.
(Konfutse, 2500 years ago).
KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION IN TEXTS
ACROSS BORDERS, PROFESSIONS AND
LANGUAGE
B.
Birthe Mousten, University of Aarhus, DK
Gunta Ločmele, University of Latvia, LV
”If the designations are not correct the language does
not correspond with the true nature of things. If the
language does not correspond with the true nature of
things, activities cannot be completed successfully.
(Konfutse, 2500 years ago).
KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION IN TEXTS
ACROSS BORDERS, PROFESSIONS AND
LANGUAGE
B.
The Danish experiment
• Overall idea:
• How is the transfer of the other performed at
varying levels?
• “Foreignization and domestication” theory –
transfer of system-bound ideas to a new
locale.
B.
Knowledge representation – model for
localisation
• The text travelling model – a sorting model for text and graphics
•
•
•
•
•
Translation
Adaptation
Replacement
Omission
Creation of Content
Full text travel
Text travel, but changed
Idea travel, new text
Text and idea discarded
New text idea
• Oo0oo
• Note also:
• Central and peripheral strategies – change over time
• Hybridity
B. + G
Influence from the locale:
• The system-bound changes and knowledge
representation realized through…
•
•
•
•
- socio-cultural components
- politico-legal components
- technico-cultural components
- marketing-cultural components
B.
Knowledge representation
— the reality perspective
• ”We cannot foreground reality in discourse unless
we have unmediated access to it, and we never do.
Our perceptions are always mediated by our
assumptions, our beliefs, and in fact, by the
language we speak.”
•
(Reddick, R.J. 1992. p. 103)
B.
Knowledge representation
—the interdisciplinarity perspective
• ”The tendency towards the end of the century, and
not only in Translation Studies, was clearly away
from strict compartmentalization and towards
interdisciplinary cooperation, away from rigid
ideology and towards real-life experience.”
•
(Snell-Hornby, 2006, p. 150)
B.
Knowledge representation
— the power perspective
•
• ”Scholars who have taken the power turn,
however, have come to realize that in
polyvalent and multicultural environments,
knowledge does not necessarily precede the
translation activity, and that the act of
translation is itself very much involved in the
creation of knowledge.”
• (Tymoczko and Gentzler, 2002:xxi)
B.
Knowledge representation
—the language bridge/barrier to
contextual relevance
• ”..an awareness needs to be created more
generally that translation is confronted not only
with one barrier – the all too familiar language
barrier – but also with the distinct second
barrier of contextual differences.”
• (Gutt, Ernst-August, 2000:231)
B.
Model of knowledge representation in locales
Interdisciplinarity
perspective
Reality
perspective
System-bound
changes and
knowledge
representation
Power
perspective
Language
bridge
/barrier
B.
Advertising adaptation and creation:
Live Riga
Combination of:
• Text
• Symbols
• Images
G.
LIVE RIGA
Four-letter words:
- LIVE
- LOVE
- LIFE
- FEEL
- SING
- TRIP
- WORK
- MEET
- DINE
- SHOP
- ARTS
- STAY
G.
G.
Selection of key words from pool:
Latvia
The keys words which speak to the
consumers of whiskey in Latvia of all ages are
related to:
dominance and sensuality
(a weapon, to attack, nudity and to seduce)
G.
Jameson Whiskey
“Tu varbūt vēlētos šeit ieraudzīt īstu īru
skaistuli ugunīgi liesmojošiem matiem
zaļā tērpā spēlējam arfu āboliņa pļavā.
Bet mums šķiet, ka tas būtu pārāk...
acīm redzami.
Aiz acīmredzamā” G.
Jameson Whiskey
“Maybe you would like to
see a real, handsome
Irishman here, with
flaming hair, dressed in
green, playing a harp in
the clover meadow. But
we think – it would have
been too obvious”
“Beyond the obvious”
(back-translation from
Latvian)
“Tu varbūt vēlētos šeit
ieraudzīt īstu īru skaistuli
ugunīgi liesmojošiem
matiem zaļā tērpā spēlējam
arfu āboliņa pļavā. Bet
mums šķiet, ka tas būtu
pārāk... acīm redzami.”
Aiz acīmredzamā”
(created Latvian text)
G.
Clash of locales:
Hybridity of text
G.
Danish and English:
The case of technico-cultural writing
• Text: Computer Assembly
• This is a text where you would not think that any cultural or systembound references could be found, but look at this:
• Computer World was one of the first repair shops in Fargo, ND…
• What would the purpose be of this information in the Danish text?
What is, by the way, the purpose in the English text, given that it is
a text about computer assembly?
•
•
•
•
Solutions
Omission:
Leave it out
Replacement: Find something similar in Danish
Translation: Leave the information and translate it
B.
Danish and English:
The case of technico-cultural writing
• Explanation and some examples of English and Danish…
• Tools needed: A set of small Philips screw drivers (highly
recommend that you magnetize them).
• References to online instructions in (native culture) English
can be so full of tricky expressions and system-bound and
culture-bound expressions.
• English is a global language
– the contents are not.
B
Technico-cultural writing and
knowledge representation
• Pre-localisation
• ‘Forensic photography can be
traced back in Denmark to the
early 1800s when inmates were
documented through pictures.
• Mark-up for localisation (part of
internationalisation)
• Forensic photography can be
traced back in [locale] to the
[locale-period] when
inmates were documented through
pictures.
B.
Knowledge representation through
language
• Pivot pin, bolt catch, slip ring, upper receiver,
buttplate assembly, takedown pin, buttstock.
• Established words: pivot, pin, bolt, ring,
assembly
• Descriptive words: receiver, buttplate,
takedown, carrying, buttstock
• What can a translator do?
B.
Knowledge representation through
language
• - Combine the two with a given context and start
finding terminology in another language
• - Parallel texts may be a big help, but slow and
troublesome
• - Google pictures may sometimes be a great help and
may even help with suggested terminology in
embedded text
• - Combining words from dictionaries into
new constellations
• - Corpus-linguistics
• - Inventing new descriptive words in the local
language
B.
Knowledge representation through
language
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Text: Erosion control maintenance
Interpretation possibilities:
- Control of the maintenance of erosion
- Maintaining control of the erosion
- Controlling the erosion by maintenance
- Maintenance of the control of erosion
….
•
•
•
•
US: Erosion control maintenance
DK: Kontrol ved byggearbejde – vedligeholdelse
(~ control during construction jobs – maintenance)
So please go ahead and translate!
B.
Knowledge representation
• Text: Erosion control maintenance
• US: In order to protect the existing rainwater
sewer system, protection must be placed at the
inlet to the pipe line, commonly known as a catch
basin.
• DK: For at beskytte det eksisterende kloaksystem
til afledning af regnvand skal man placere en
beskyttende, såkaldt ”vandafløbspose” ved
åbningen af rørledningen til vandafløbet.
• Back translation: …pipe line, a so-called waterdrainage bag.
B.
Knowledge representation – dogmas!
• Passive versus active form
• You will start by taking the motherboard and
laying it on the work surface.
(US active)
• Bundkortet lægges på et arbejdsbord.
(DK passive)
• The motherboard is placed on a work surface
(US passive)
B.
Learning knowledge
representation
Foreignization
vs.
Domestication
Mirror
vs.
Mold
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Challenges:
Locales
Genres
English vs English as a lingua franca
English vs local languages
English as knowledge transfer itself
Globalisation – Glocalisation Localization
G.+B.
Sources
• Eisend, Martin (2010). A Meta-analysis of Gender Roles in
Advertising. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Vol. 38,
No. 4.
• Jettmarowa, Z. (2009). Contexts of/in Translativity. Prague:
Univerzita Karlova v Praze.
• Konfutse, 2500 years ago!
• Reddick, R.J. (1992). English Expository Discourse, in Language in
Context: Essays for Robert E. Klongacre. University of Texas.
• Snell-Hornby, Mary (2006). The Turns of Translation Studies. John
Benjamins Publishing Company.
• Tymoczko, Maria and Gentzler, Edwin (2002). Translation and
Power. Amherst and Boston: University of Massachusetts Press.