Theoretical and methodological aspects of translation
Plan
Translation as a notion and
subject
Significance of translation and
interpreting
Translation in teaching of
foreign languages
Descriptive and Antonymic
Translating
Conclusions
Translating as a notion and
subject
Translation as
a notion is a polysemantic nature. It may imply the process of
conveying the meaning of a word, word- group or sentence/ text from
one language into another and also the result of the conveying.
“Translation” may also denote the subject taught at
school.
Translation can
be performed either in writing or in viva voice (orally). Hence the
people whose office is to convey some written or spoken/ recorded
matter in writing are referred to as translators and the people whose
office is to render the meaning of any matter in viva voice are
referred to as interpreters. Both the activities are equally
important though the aims pursued by each of them are somewhat
different. Say, an oral “interpretation” can not ba done
otherwise than in writing. As a result the process of a written
translation has always a materialized expression in the form of a
word, word- group, sentence or passage which is left behind as a
testimony to some work performed. The translated matter can sometimes
become rather important for a country and enrich its history,
literature and culture ( the translation of the Iliad an the Odyssey
into Latin by Livius Andronicus in the 3rd century B.C. or Martin
Luther’s translations of the Old and the news Testament into
German in the 16th century).
There are some
terms and notions which are frequently used in the theory and
practice of translation and should be clearly distinguished. Since
some of them have a different wording in English and Ukrainian it is
expedient to give them here in either of the two languages: exact/
accurate translation / interpretation точний
переклад; faithful
translation / interpretation адекватний
переклад;
faithfulness of translation /
interpretation адекватність
перекладу; free
adaptation/ free interpretation перелицювання;
free interpretation/ interpreting вільний
переказ; free
translation/ interpretation вільний
переклад, consecutive
translating/ interpreting послідовний
переклад; descriptive
translation/ translating описовий
перклад; good
/ successful translation вдалий
переклад ( тексту,
книжки); interlinear
translating/ translation підрядковий
переклад/ підрядник;
interpreting/ interpreter тлумачення/
тлумач; interpretation/
oral translation усний
переклад; literal
translation/ translating буквальний
переклад, verbal
translating/ translation дослівний
переклад; literary
translation/ translating літературний
перклад; literary
artistic translation / translating художній
переклад, off-hand
translation / interpreting, переклад
без підготовки;
rehash вільна
переробка твору
( в перекладі);
sight translation/ interpreting at sight
переклад
з аркуша; the
source language мова
оригіналу( з
якої перекладається),
the target language мова,
на яку здійснюється
переклад, synchronous
interpreting/ interpretation синхроннний
переклад;
versification віршовий
( поетичний
переклад); rough
translation/ translating робочий
варіант перекладу.
There can be
noticed a certain ambiguity in the meaning of some terms above
concerning translation (cf. “free translation” вільний
переклад, вільний
переказ). It
should be added that the meaning of the seemingly common term
“translation” itself is far from monosemantic either. It
may denote any sense-to-sense substitution of a source languages unit
for its semantic equivalent in the target language: brotherhood
братство,
to study вчити,
quickly швидко,
red flowers червоні
квіти, to
fight for peace боротися
за мир, His
brother lives in Kiev Його
брат живе у
Києві.
“Translation”
is also referred to any sense-to-sense conveying even if the lexical
meanings of the componential parts which make up the language units
are not substituted for their equivalents lexical meanings in the
target language: penny-in-the slot прилад/
пристрій автомат
(торгівля); the
land of the golden fleece Австралія;
red blood мужність;
Let George do it Іван
киває на Петра;
agonic що
не утворює кута
(геометрія).
Functional
substitution performed at the text level (as in puns) are often
treated as “translation” too: There is the tree in the
middle…It could bark…It says “Boughwouhg”…
“That’s why it is branches are called boughs.”
(Carol? Alice in Wonderland). – Он
Фікус стоїть!..
Ми тому й прозвали
його Фікус, що
він кусається.
It goes without
saying that the lexical meaning of “tree” is not “Фікус”
and “Bough-wough” or “boughs” do not mean
“кусатися”
which they were substituted for in the Ukrainian translation.
Similarly with the term
“interpretation” which can among others denote “the
way of presentation” the social or aesthetic, moral etc.
background, i.c.the trend of the source language work in the target
language.
No less
ambiguous remains the term “free interpretation” which is
employed to denote any rendering of the essentials of content of some
written or oral / recorded matter. Besides, “free
interpretation” is used to denote a strongly subjective
conveying of the sense, the structural, stylistic or artistic
peculiarities characteristic of a source language work/text (i.e.
вільний
переклад, вільний
переказ).
Finally “free
interpretation” may denote a free adaptation of foreign
literatures works to other national literatures like that of I. P.
Kotlyarevsky’s Eneid which has very little in common with
Vergil’s work.
Significance of translation
and interpreting
The importance
of translating and interpreting in modern society has long been
recognized. Practically not a single contact at the international
level or even between two persons speaking different languages can be
established or maintained without the help of translators or
interpreters.
Equally
important is translating and interpreting for the functioning of
different international bodies (conferences, symposia, congresses
etc.) to say nothing about bodies like the World Piece Council or the
United Nations Organizations with its councils, assemblies,
commissions, committees, sub-committees. These can function smoothly
only thanks to an army of translation and interpreters representing
different states and working in many different national languages.
Numerous
branches of national economies too can keep up with the up-to-date
development and progress in the modern world thanks to everyday
translating/ interpreting of scientific and technical matter covering
various fields of human knowledge and activities. The latter comprise
nuclear sciences, exploration of outer space, ecological environment,
plastics, mining, chemistry, biology, medicine, machine building,
electronics linguistics, etc. Nowadays translation of scientific and
technical matter has become a most significant and reliable source of
obtaining all-round and up-to-date information on the progress in
various fields of science and technology.
The social and
political role of translation/ interpreting has probably been most
strongly felt for the last hundred years or so. Since the birth of
Marxism in the second half of the 19th century and Leninism in the
20th century translation has acquired an extraordinary significance
providing for the dissemination of revolutionary materialistic ideas
and philosophy in the minds of proletarian and working masses
throughout the world.
Translating is
also a perfect means of sharing achievements and enriching national
literatures and cultures. The many translations of the best prose,
poetry and drama works of world’s famous authors into different
national languages provide a vivid illustration of this permanent
process. Due to masterly translations the works by W. Shakespeare, W.
Scott, G. G. Byron, P. B. Shelley, C. Dickens, W. Theckeray, H.W.
Longfellow, Mark Twain, J. London, T. Dreiser and many other authors
have become part of many national literatures. The works by Ukrainian
authors have also been translated into English and some other
languages, the process being increasingly intensified with each
passing decade after the Great Revolution. As a result when before
1917 a few poems by Taras Shevchenko were translated and published in
English outside our country. Brilliant works by Lesya Ukrainka, Ivan
Franko, Mykhailo Kotsyubinskiy, Vasyl Stefanyk, Andrii Holovko, Oles
Honchar became available for foreign readers.
But whatever
the kind of the matter (belles–lettres, scientific or
technical, didactic, etc.) and irrespective of the form in which it
is performed (written or oral) the linguistic significance of
translation remains unchanged. It promotes enriching the lexicon of
the target language. As a result of the unceasing translating /
interpreting throughout the world the wordstock of national languages
is constantly increasingly. Thousands of words being originally
specific national notions only have become an integral part of
practically each language’s lexicon. Hence one one can speak of
translating/ interpreting as a means of enriching the lexicon of
national languages too. But it is not only the wordstock of languages
that is constantly (and most evidently) enlarged due to translating/
interpreting. Many stylistic figures of speech, ways of saying and
even (though rather rarely) syntactic structures are brought to
target languages through translating/ interpreting. It can be proved
by the existence of a lot of words and word-combinations having in
different languages the same or similar lingual form and identical
lexical meaning: leader лідер,
box бокс,
boycott бойкот,
sport спорт,
borshch борщ,
borzoi борзой,
deep gratitude глибока
вдячність,
black ingratitude чорна
вдячність.
Whole sentence
structures have been adopted in the process of translating/
interpreting. He laughs best who laughs last
– Той сміється
найкраще, хто
сміється останнім;
Strike the iron while it is hot
- Куй залізо,
доки гаряче.
All that can also be a testimony
to the versatile influence of language contrasts. But whatever the
origin, the structural identify of word – groups and sentences
facilities their translation from English into Ukrainian or vice
versa.
Translation in teaching of
foreign languages
Translation as means of teaching
foreign languages has no independent means of translating only. Still
translating in a foreign language teacher’s arsenal should not
be ignored completely since in many a case it remains not only the
most effective but also the only teaching means for achieving the
necessary aim. That is why translating is often resorted to in the
following cases:
1. When introducing abstract
lexical notions which cannot easily be explained in a descriptive way
or by actions (gestures): think, hate, love, actual, invincible,
generally, peace, turn, etc.
2. In order to save time and avoid
diverting the attention of students by lengthily explanation of the
meaning of words, word-combinations or sentences in the process of
reading or listening to an unfamiliar passage.
3. When checking the comprehension
of the lexical material (new words, expressions) and in order to
avoid the unnecessary ambiguity which may arise in the process of
teaching through pictures since a picture of a tree, for example, may
be understood as “a tree” or a kind of tree (oak-tree,
birch-tree, pine-tree, etc.).
4. To explain while introducing
(usually at the initial stage of learning) the new grammar/
phonetical material especially the phenomena which do not exist in
the native tongue (e.g. the continuous or the perfect forms of the
verb, the tunes in questions, etc.).
5. When revising the lexical or
grammar material studied at the lesson/ at previous lessons in
answering questions like “What is the Ukrainian/ English for
the “gerund,” the “continuous/ the perfect forms of
the verb?”
6. While discriminating the
meaning of synonyms or antonyms of the foreign languages.
7. To control the knowledge of
students in written and oral tests on lexical or grammar material.
8. When introducing phraseology
which is quite impossible to teach and learn otherwise than on the
basis of translating.
9. Before learning any text by
heart (poems, excerpts of prose, the roles of characters in plays).
10. When dealing with the figures
of speech like metaphors, epithets, similes, hyperboles, etc. in the
process of reading or translating the belles-lettres passages at the
advanced stage.
11. When comparing the expressive
means in the source language to those in the target language, etc.
Translating helps the student to
master the expressive means in the source language and the
corresponding means in the target language. In the process of
translating the students establish sets of equivalent substitutes in
the target language for the corresponding lexical, grammatical or
stylistic phenomena of the source language. No wonder that the
students at any stage of learning a foreign language when not
understanding some word, word-combination or sentence always resorts
to intuitive translating of it.
4
Descriptive and Antonymic Translating
One must bear
in mind that it is the notional meaning of the source language unit
and not its morphological nature or structural form that is to be
conveyed in the target language. As a result the target language unit
which equivalently / faithfully conveys the denotative/ connotative
meaning of the corresponding source language unit may not necessarily
belong to the same stratification level. Depending on the notion
expressed by the source language word/ lexeme it may be conveyed in
the target language sometimes through a word-combination or even
through a sentence i.e. descriptively: indulge робити
собі приємність
у чомусь, віддаватися
втіхам; infamous
той (та, те),
що має ганебну
славу; inessentials
предмети
не першої
необхідності,
предмети роскоші;
вщерть up
to the brim, full to the brim, в’язи
the nape of one’s head, the back of
the head; окраєць
crust of a loaf, hunk of a bread;
окривіти(осліпнути)
to become lame (grow blind).
Therefore the
descriptive way of conveying the sense of language units implies
their structural transformation which is necessary to explain their
meaning with the help of hierarchically different target language
units.
Descriptive
translating/interpreting is very often employed to render the content
of idioms/phraseologism which has no equivalents in the target
language. In English: as(mad) as a hatter цілком
божевільний;
All my eye and Betty Martin! нісенітниці
( дурниці); like one
(twelve) o’clock
миттю, вмить,
прожогом;
In Ukrainian: зуб на
зуб не
попадати to
feel very cold ( to feel freezing); навчить
біда коржі з
маком їсти
hard times make one intentive; наговорити
сім кіп/мішків
гречаної вовни
to say much nonsence.
Descriptive
transtating is also often employed when dealing with the notions of
specific national lexicon: haggisrerric (запечений
вівсяний кендюх,
начинений
вівсяними
крупами впереміш
з січений овечим
потрухом); porrige
порідж, густа
вівсяна каша,
зварена на воді
чи молоці); Senate
сенат ( рада
університету
в Англії; складається
переважно з
професорів);
sweet-meat солодка страва,
приготовлена
на цукрі чи
медові.
Alongside the
literal translating the explication of the meaning of specific
necessary: вареники
varenyky, middle-sized dumplings with curd,
cherries; дума, duma, Ukrainian historic epic
song; кобзар kobzar, a performer
of Dumas to the accompaniment of the bandore or kobza.
Descriptive translating is also
made use of in foot-notes to explain obscure places in narration.
The antonymic
translating is employed for the sake of achieving faithfulness in
conveying the content or expressiveness when an affirmative in sense
or structure language unit (word, word-combination or sentence) is
conveyed as a negative in a sense or structure but identical in
content language unit or vice versa: to have quite a few friends мати
багато друзів;
mind your own business не
втручайся
не в свої справи;
take it easy не хвилюйся,
не переживай;
not infrequently часто;
no time like the present лови
момент ( використовуй
нагоду);
не спитавши
броду, не лізь
у воду look before you leap; немає
лиха без добра
every dark cloud has a silver