翻译理论与实践

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Thetheoryandpracticeoftranslation

1974

Contents

nceptoftranslation

ureoftranslating

ticalanalysis

ntialmeaning

ativemeaning

er

cturing

gthetranslation

ChapterOneTheoldfocusandthenewfocus

Theolderfocusintranslatingwastheformofthemessage,andthetranslatortoo

particulardelightinbeingabletoreproducestylisticspecialties,e.g.,rhythms,rhymes,

playsonwords,chiasmus,parallelism,

focus,however,hasshiftedfromtehformofthemessagetotheresponofthe

ore,whatonemustdetermineistheresponofthereceptortote

translatedmessage,thisresponmustbecomparedwiththewayinwhichthe

originalreceptorspresumablyreactedtothemessagewhenitwasgiveninitsoriginal

tting.

ChapterTwoTranslatingconsistsinreproducinginthereceptorlanguagetheclost

naturalequivalentofthesource-languagemessage,firstintermsofmeaningand

srelativelysimplestatementrequirescareful

evaluationofveraleminglycontradictoryelements.

Reproducingthemessage

Translatingmustaimprimarilyat“reproducingthemessage.〞Todoanythingelis

esntiallyfaltoone’eproducethemessageonemust

makeagoodmanygrammaticalandlexicaladjustments.

Equivalenceratherthanidentity

,thisis

justanotherwayofemphasizingthereproductionofthemessageratherthanthe

conversationoftheformoftheutterance,butitreinforcestheneedforradical

alterationofaphra,whichmaybequietmeaningless.

Anaturalequivalent

rwords,agood

translationoftheBiblemustnotbe“culturaltranslation〞.Rather,itisa“linguistic

translation〞.Thatistosay,itshouldstudiouslyavoid“translatione〞--formal

fidelity,withresultingunfaithfulnesstothecontentandtheimpactofthemessage.

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Thepriorityofmeaning

Ashasalreadybeenindictedinthedefinitionoftranslating,meaningmustbegiven

priority,foritosthecontentofthemessagewhichisofprimeimportanceforBible

translating.

Thesignificanceofstyle

Thoughstyleiscondarytocontent,itisneverthelessimportant,oneshouldnot

translatepoetryasthoughitwerepro,norexpositorymaterialasthoughitwere

straightnarrative.

Intryingtoreproducethestyleoftheoriginalonemustbeware,however,of

producingsomethingwhichisnotfunctionallyequivalent.

Asystemofpriorities

Asaabasisforjudgingwhatshouldbedoneinspecificinstancesoftranslating,itis

esntialtoestablishcertainfundamentaltsofpriorities:(1)contextualconsistency

haspriorityoververbalconsistency(orword-for-wordconcordance),(2)dynamic

equivalencehaspriorityoverformalcorrespondence,(3)theauralformoflanguage

haspriorityoverthewrittenform,(4)formsthatareudbyandacceptabletothe

audienceforwhichatranslationisintendedhavepriorityoverformsthatmaybe

traditionallymoreperspectives.

Thepriorityofdynamicequivalenceoverformalcorrespondence

Ifwelookatthetranslationsintermsofthereceptors,ratherthanintermsoftheir

respectiveforms,thenweintroduceanotherpointofview;theintelligibilityofthe

telligibilityisnot,however,tobemeasuredmerelyintermsof

whetherthewordsareunderstandable,andthentencesgrammaticallyconstructed,

butintermsofthetotalimpact,themessagehasontheonewhoreceivesit.

Dynamicequivalenceisthereforetobedefinedintermsofthedegreetowhichthe

receptorsofthemessageinthereceptorlanguagerespondtoitinsubstantiallythe

sponcanneverbe

identical,frothecultureandhistoricalttingsaretoodifferent,butthereshouldbea

highdegreeofequivalenceofrespon,orthetranslationwillhavefailedto

accomplishitspurpo.

Itwouldbewrongtothink,however,thattheresponofthereceptorsinthecond

languageismerelyintermsofcomprehensionoftheinformation,forcommunication

alsobeexpressiveandimperativeifitistorve

theprincipalpurposofcommunications.

Ofcour,personsmayinsistthatbyitsverynatureadynamicequivalenttranslation

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isaless“accurate〞translation,foritdepartsfurtherfromtheformsoftheoriginal.

Toargueinthismanner,however,istou“accurate〞inaformaln,whereas

accuracycanonlyberightlydeterminedbyjudgingtheextenttowhichtherespon

oftherece

otherwords,doesthedynamicequivalenttranslationsucceedmorecompletelyin

evokinginthereceptorsresponswhicharesubstantiallyequivalenttotho

experiencedbytheoriginalreceptorsIf“accuracy〞istobejudgedinthislight,then

certainlythedynamicequivalenttranslationisnotonlymoemeaningfultothe

sumes,ofcour,thatboththeformal

correspondencetranslationandthedynamicequivalenttranslationdonotcontainany

overterrorsofexegesis.

Grammaticalanalysis

Therearethreemajorstepsinanalysis:(1)determiningtheminingthemeaningful

relationshipsbetweenthewordsandcombinationsofwords,(2)thereferential

meaningofthewordsandspecialcombinationsofwords,idioms,(3)theconnotative

meaning.

Kernelntences

Wesoondiscoverthatwehavesimplyrecasttheexpressionssothateventsare

expresdasverbs,objectsasnouns,abstracts(quantitiesandqualities)asadjectives

yothertermsarerelationals,i.e.,theprepositionsand

conjunctions.

Therestructurexpressionsarebasicallywhatmanylinguisticscall“kernels〞;

thatistosay,theyarethebasicstructuralelementsoutofwhichthelanguagebuilds

,oneofthemostimportantinsightscoming

from“transformationalgrammar〞isthefactthatinalllanguagestherearehalfa

dozentoadozenbasicstructuresoutofwhichallthemoreelaborateformationsare

constructedbymeansofsocalled“transformations〞.Incontrast,back

transformation,then,istheanalyticprocessofreducingthesurfacestructuretoits

underlyingkernels.

Semanticadjustmentsmadeintransfer

Intransferringthemessagefromonelanguagetoanother,itisthecontentwhichmust

beprervedatanycost;theform,exceptinspecialcas,suchaspoetry,islargely

condary,sincewithineachlanguage,therulesforrelatingcontenttoformare

highlycomplex,arbitrary,andvariable.

Ofcour,ifbycoincidenceitispossibletoconveythesamecontentinthereceptor

languageinaformwhichclolyremblesthatofthesource,somuchthebetter;we

prervetheformwhenwecan,butmorethantheformhastobetransformed

essiveefforttoprervetheform

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inevitablyresultsinariouslossordistortionofthemessage.

Obviouslyinanytranslationtherewillbeatypeof“loss〞ofmanticcontent,but

monest

problemsofthecontenttransferariinthefollowingareas:(1)idioms,(2)figurative

meanings,(3)shiftsincentralcomponentsofmeaning,(4)genericandspecific

meanings,(5)pleonasticexpressions,(6)specialformulas,(7)redistributionof

manticcomponents,(8)provisionforcontextualconditioning.

(8)Inotherinstancesonemayfinditimportanttoemployadescriptivephrasoas

toprovidesomebasisforcomprehendingthesignificanceoftheoriginal.

Itmustbefurtheremphasizedthatoneisnotfreetomakeinthetextanyandallkinds

ofexplanatoryadditionsand/orexpansions.

Testingthetranslation

Oncetheprocessofrestructuringhasbeencompleted,thenextesntialstepisthe

ouldcovertheentirerangeofpossibleproblems:

accuracyofrendering,intelligibility,stylisticequivalence,othis,one

mustfocusattentionnotupontheextentofverbalcorrespondencebutuponthe

esnotmean,ofcour,thatthetranslation

oplemay

objectstronglytothethemesandtheconceptswhicharecommunicated,butthere

shouldnotbeanythinginthetranslationitlfwhichisstylisticallyawkward,

structurallyburdensome,linguisticallyunnatural,andmanticallymisleadingor

incomprehensible,unless,ofcour,themessageinthesourcelanguagehasthe

characteristics(thetaskofthetranslatoristoproducetheclostnaturalequivalent,

nottoeditortorewrite).Buttojudgethequalitiesonemustlooktothepotential

urs.

Theproblemofoveralllength

Itonlymeansthatintheprocessoftransferfromonelinguisticandculturalstructure

toanother,itisalmostinevitablethattheresultingtranslationwillturnouttobe

longer.

Thistendencytogreaterlengthisdueesntiallytothefactthatonewishestostate

everythingthatisintheoriginalcommunicationbutisalsoobligedtoamkeexplicitin

thereceptorlanguagewhatcouldverywellremainimplicitinthesourcelanguage

text,sinceteoriginalreceiversofthiscommunicationpresumablyhadallthe

necessarybackgroundtounderstandthecontentsofthemessage.

Heanalyzesitscomponentsbuildsinproperredundancybymakingexplicitwhatis

implicitintheoriginal,andthenproducessomethingthereadersinthereceptor

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languagewillbeabletounderstand.

Typesofexpansions

Theexpansionsmayperhapsbemostconvenientlydividedbetweensyntactic(or

formal)expansionsandlexical(ormantic)ones.

Lexicalexpansionsinmarginalhelps

Inmakingexplicitwhatisfullyimplicitintheoriginaltranslation,onecanofterinrt

materialinthetextitlfwithoutimposingunduestrainsupontheprocessof

translation.

Suchinformationmayonlybepartofthegeneralculturalbackgroundsharedbythe

peofinformationcannotbelegitimately

introducedintothetextofatranslation,butshouldbeplacedinmarginalhelps,either

intheformofglossaries,whereinformationaboutrecurringtermsisgathered

togetherinsummaryfashion,orinmarginalnotesonthepagewherethedifficultyin

understandingoccurs.

Practicaltexts

Therefore,ifatranslatorreallywantstoobtainsatisfactoryrepliestodirectquestions

onspecificproblems,theonlywaytodosoisbysupplyingpeoplewithalternatives.

Thismeansthatonemustreadantenceintwoormoreways,ofterrepeatingsuch

alternativesslowly(and,ofcour,incontext).Andthenasksuchquestionsas:

“whichwaysoundsthesweetest〞“whichisplanner〞...

Explainingthecontents

Acondaryveryimportantwayoftestingatranslationistohavesomeonereada

passagetosomeoneelandthentogetthisindividualtoexplainthecontentstoother

persons,whodidnothearthereading.

Readingthetextaloud

Publicationofsamplematerial

Theultimatebasisforjudgingatranslation