Comparing types of interlingual transfer

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Comparing types ofinterlingual transferDorthe Stage aa Copenhagen, DenmarkPublished online: 28 Apr 2010.

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119

COMPARING TYPES OF INTERLINGUAL TRANSFER

Dorthe Stage, Copenhagen, Denmark

AbstractThis article posits that Translations in different types of interlingual transfer can be

compared. This is demonstrated by an analysis of a speech given by the then Americanpresident Bill Clinton in Copenhagen in July 1997. This speech was (a) interpreted si-multaneously, (b) subtitled for television, and (c) translated for newspapers. It thereforeserves as a fine case study. The article first examines potentials and constraints in thethree types of interlingual transfer represented, then the target texts are analysed, andfinally they are compared and assessed in order to determine whether differences aredue to limitations specific to one type of interlingual transfer or to choices and decisionsmade by individual interpreters, subtitlers or translators. It is concluded that compari-sons can, in fact, be made.

IntroductionIn modem society, there are many types of interlingual transfer. They are usu-

ally employed in different situations and they tend to be discussed separately inTranslation Studies. The most obvious distinction is between oral and writtenrendition, and another one is made between translation, interpreting, and screentranslation.

To my knowledge, the 'Translations', the products of different types of inter-lingual transfer, are rarely compared, possibly because the differences betweenthe potentials and constraints of each medium seem too great.' It is definitely aproblem that it is very rare for a source language text - oral or written - to berendered into another language by more than one type of transfer. By a uniquechance, the same source text was Translated into Danish on Saturday 12 July1997 when Bill Clinton, the then American president, addressed the Danish peo-ple on Nytorv, a square in Copenhagen. In this case, the source text was trans-ferred by means of three types, namely interpreting, subtitling and newspapertranslation. This offers an exceptional opportunity for comparing the resultingtarget texts.

I succeeded in obtaining six target texts: the national television channel,Danmarks Radio, telecast the speech live with simultaneous interpreting, whichis hardly ever done in Danish television. Most foreign-language material on Dan-ish television, including speeches like Clinton's is subtitled, and his speech wasno exception in that it was telecast later in the day with subtitles. The next day,

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120 2002. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 10:2

the speech was published in translation in the three largest national newspapers:Berlingske Tidende, Politiken, and Jyllands-Posten. On Monday, a translationappeared in Kristeligt Dagblad which had no Sunday edition.2

It is a drawback that President Clinton spoke for only ten minutes whichmeans that there is fairly little source- and target-language material, but on theother hand, short as it is, it is still valid for a study.

Since the speech was conveyed by three types of interlingual transfer, thequestion is not whether the resulting target texts can be compared but rather howone should carry out the comparison.

Gottlieb states that "the best Translation is only attained on the terms of themedium" (1994: 45. My translation), and, in a similar vein, Gile argues that"professional Translation is essentially a service activity with a communicationfunction, performed in a professional setting with a professional aim in mind,and constrained by this setting." (1995:21)

In this article, I shall discuss the potentials and constraints of the types ofTranslation used to convey President Clinton's speech into Danish and thus whatvariations we should expect and accept in the target texts. Once these have beenidentified, I shall analyse the six target texts to determine whether differences aretype-specific or introduced by the Translators.

The source textIn this particular case, a definition of the source text is called for. This is due

to the fact that in the course of the delivery, the source text undergoes a processof change which is intra- or monolingual.

Politicians and other high-ranking officials do not always write their ownspeeches. The usual practice is that staff first will draw up a schedule, in thiscase, the president's. Then they consider places for public speeches and whatpoints the speech should address. Subsequently, a speech-writer will prepare adraft, which may then be revised by others, and, finally, the president will begiven the speech in order approve it, make emendations and familiarise himselfwith it.

It is rare for a speaker to read a script aloud verbatim, which means that dur-ing the speech there may be minor deviations from the manuscript. When Clin-ton addressed the Danish public, he did not use a teleprompter or an autocue buta script.

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Stage: Comparing types of interlingual transfer 121

The fact that there is thus both a written and ah oral source text gives rise tothe question: which of the two was the source text for the six target texts?

This question can only be partially answered. Even when allowing for slipsand omissions, it was the oral target text alone which was used by the interpreter;in all likelihood, the subtitler also exclusively referred to the speech since thesubtitles were prepared immediately after the speech in order to be telecast in theevening news. This does not necessarily hold true for the newspaper translatorswho would have a few more hours before their deadlines. In the case of Berling-ske Tidende the translators were not given an official source text and thereforebased their translation on a tape-recording of the oral source text (Bie-Olsen Ma-gaard 2000). As far as Politiken and Jyllands-Posten are concerned it was notpossible to obtain any information. Conversely, the translator at Kristeligt Dag-blad used a text sent by a news agency, Ritzau, which she adjusted to the oralsource text (Storm 2000).

President Clinton's script cannot be obtained, but an official version of thespeech was released on the Internet by The White House Office of the Press Sec-retary two days later. Apart from the odd slip, this is an exact rendition of theoral source text. It was not possible to obtain an official US government transla-tion of the speech (Schwensen 2000).

Consequently, the source text I have used for my analysis of President Clin-ton's speech is the one published by The White House, but I combined this withmy own transcription of his few slips. The target texts are (a) my own transcrip-tion of the interpreted version (with commas where the interpreter paused), (b)the subtitled version and (c) the four newspaper translations as published.

Types of TranslationEach of the three different types of Translation leads to type-specific expecta-

tions about the target texts.In simultaneous interpreting, interpreters must follow the speaker's speed of

delivery and must have done their research, if any, beforehand. It is based on aprocess of instantaneous decision-making so as not to miss anything, and there-fore, we may expect slight oddities in word order and phrases, general ratherthan specialist terms, anticipation as well as imperfect syntax and self-correction.No interpreter can possibly know every word, phrase and feature in the sourcelanguage and culture or know where the speaker may be heading next; neverthe-

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less, guessing or uttering something which is different from and wrong in rela-tion to the source text cannot be condoned.

In Denmark, subtitles are placed at the bottom of the television screen in oneor two horizontal lines with a maximum of c. 35 characters per line. One-linesubtitles are usually displayed on the screen for at least three seconds and twolines for four to six seconds to enable the viewers to read the text. Consequently,it is rarely possible to render the entire semantic and stylistic contents of the ut-terances in the source text, which leads to a quantitative reduction of 20 to 50 percent (Gottlieb 1994: 72-126). The subtitler must therefore distinguish betweenwhat is essential and what is not. It is an advantage that spoken language is mostoften characterised by redundancy since this means that some segments ofspeech can be omitted without loss of information.3

Some scholars do not consider subtitling a type of Translation because of thisreduction factor. Thus Herbst claims that "In this respect, it would probably beinadequate to speak of Translational equivalence in the case of subtitling."(1994: 21. My translation). And Hjernager Pedersen argues that the "depend-ence of meaning and hence of translatability on the extralinguistic situation isimmediately obvious in the case of subtitles in films, which are usually accept-able as translation only because they can draw heavily on the [source language]situation, i.e. on the screen action and the accompanying sound track which theyhelp to explicate" (1988:13). I find this argument doubtful as the ideal of one-to-one correspondence has long been abandoned. Identity between source and targettexts is impossible, but the fact remains that no matter whether audienceswatched the film the Titanic in the original, in a subtitled or in a synchronisedversion, many cried. It is more fruitful to consider reduction in subtitling a type-specific feature which has both advantages and disadvantages and to exploitthem to achieve an adequate target text from the process of interlingual transfer.As Newmark puts it "a translator has to account for every SL word, not to trans-late it" (1995: 80) - and a skilled subtitler will.

In President Clinton's speech, we must therefore expect reduction in the subti-tles. However, there should not be loss of important information or mistakes,since the subtitler has had the time to listen repeatedly to difficult passages andto consult dictionaries.

The newspaper translators have had the most favourable working conditions.Even though they had a short deadline since their translations had to go to press

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that very night in order to be in next day's paper, or, in the case of KristeligtDagblad the Monday paper, it was far more than the simultaneous interpreter'stime lag of 4-7 seconds and the subtitler's few hours. Like the subtitler, theywould have had the time to look up unfamiliar words, and, at least at BerlingskeTidende, a proofreader would have checked the translation for blatant mistakes inDanish (Wilkins 1997).4 Consequently, serious mistakes are unacceptable. Minormistakes in lexical equivalents, spelling and punctuation could perhaps be as-cribed to stress but should obviously not occur.

Textual examplesI shall now discuss a few illuminating passages from the six target texts.

EXAMPLE 1Clinton

Interpreter

Subtitler

BerlingskeTidende

Politiken

Jyllands-Posten

KristeligtDagblad

NATO has succeeded beyond any expectations.

NATO har klaret sig langt bedre end man kunne have forventet...

Nato har vasret en storre succesend nogen havde ventet.

NATO har vasret succesrig ud over al forventning...

NATO har haft sterre succes, end nogen havde kunnet forvente.

NATO har klaret sig langt bedre end forventet.

NATO har haft succes hinsides alle forventninger.

This segment is straightforward. I have included it to show a passage whereall Translations are adequate and there is no loss of information. Style and vo-cabulary vary, but no Translation contains mistakes.

EXAMPLE 2(Previous passage which is not discussed:In Poland, one of three nations invited to join the Alliance, wesaw the joy of a people at last secure in their freedom andsure of their place in Europe — people who seized their mo-ment and changed the course of their history, and who nowsound ready to guarantee a future of freedom to others.)

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Interpreter

Subtitler

Berlingske

Tidende

Politiken

Jyllands-Posten

Yesterday in Bucharest, Romania, a nation we believe thatwill soon be ready to join our Alliance, we saw the faces of apeople — over 100,000 of them — who freed themselves fromyesterday's tyranny and are just as determined to seize thepromise of tomorrow.

I Bukarest i Rumaenien i gar, skete der det, at en nation som visnart tror vil vasre klar til at ga med i alliancen, der kunne vi seansigterne, der var mere end 100.000 personer til stede, som harbefriet sig fra garsdagens tyranni, og som er fast besluttede pa, atg0re brug af morgendagens lofter.

I gar i Bukarest i Rumaenien, -

- et land, som snart vil vasrei stand til at tilslutte sig Nato -

-saviover 100.000ansigter af et folk -

- der havde gjort sig friaf garsdagens tyranni —

- og som er lige sa besluttede paat gribe morgendagens lofte.

I gar i Bukarest, Rumasnien, en nation, vi tror snart vil vasre parattil at blive medlem af NATO, sa vi mere end 100.000 menneskersansigter, der har befriet sig selv for garsdagens tyranni, og som erlige sa fast besluttede pa at gribe morgendagens lofter.

I gar i Bukarest i Rumasnien, et land vi tror snart vil vasre parat tilat tilslutte sig vores alliance, sa vi ansigterne hos et folk - over100.000 af dem - som gjorde sig fri af garsdagens tyranni og erlige sa besluttede pa at gribe morgendagens lefte.

1 gar i Bukarest i Rumasnien, en nation, som vi tror snart vil vasreklar til at ga med i vores alliance, sa vi ansigterne hos folk - dervar over 100.000 til stede - som har befriet sig fra garsdagenstyranni, og som er fast besluttede pa at gribe morgendagens mu-ligheder.

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I Polen, et af de tre lande, vi har indbudt til at slutte sig til voresallaiance, sa vi glasden hos et folk, der har befriet sig selv fragarsdagens tyranni og er lige sa besluttede pa at bema?gtige sigmorgendagens tefte.

President Clinton's inelegant "Yesterday in Bucharest, Romania, a nation webelieve that will soon be ready to join our Alliance, we saw the faces of a people- over 100,000 of them - who freed themselves from yesterday's tyranny and arejust as determined to seize the promise of tomorrow" is a striking case of post-modification confusion.

The interpreter solves the problem by opting for relative clauses: 'who haveliberated' ("som har befriet...") and 'and who are determined' ("og som er fastbesluttede ..."). The latter refers to 'the faces' ("ansigterne") which sounds pecu-liar, but in view of the impossibility of revision, her Translation is good and co-herent. This solution is also used in the translation in Berlingske Tidende, eventhough 'faces that have liberated' ("ansigter, der har befriet ...") also soundsodd.

The subtitler omits "we believe", presumably because of the need for reduc-tion, and 'faces of a people' ("ansigter af et folk") is just as unidiomatic in Dan-ish as it is in the back-translation, but the Translation is coherent.

Jyllands-Posteri's translation 'more than 100,000 were present' ("der var over100.000 til stede") works well syntactically whereas the rendition 'of people'("hos folk") is inaccurate. It was all Romanians who freed themselves, not onlythe 100,000 people present when President Clinton made his speech.

Politikeri's translation is adequate.This is more than can be said for Kristeligt Dagblad's. First, the translator

makes a spelling error ("allaiance"), second Poland - from the previous passageof the speech - and Romania are mixed up which constitutes an unacceptablemistake - and third, she omits the information about the size of the audience.

EXAMPLE 3Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank youvery much, Mr. Prime Minister, and Lone, Madam Vice PrimeMinister and Mr. Jelved, Lord Mayor, Madam Chair of theCouncil. Ladies and gentlemen of Denmark, thank you for the

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126 2002. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 10: 2

Interpreter

Subtitler

BerlingskeTidende

Politiken

Jyllcmds-Posten

KristeligtDagblad

wonderful welcome.

Tak. Tak. Mange tak. Tak for det. Mange tak. Mange tak hr.statsminister og Lone ogsa, fru vicestatsminister, hr. overborg-mester, formand for bystyret, mine damer og herrer her i Danmark,tusind tak for den pragtfulde velkomst I har givet mig.

Tak.

Tak.

Tak, hr. statsminister og Lone -

- fru vicestatsministerog hr. Jelved —

- hr. overborgmester og fru formandfor borgerrepreesentationen -

- mine damer og herrerher i Danmark -

- tak for

den vidunderlige modtagelse.Mange tak. Tak. Tak. Mange tak til statsministeren og Lone, vices-tatsministeren, Kobenhavns borgmester og formanden for KJaben-havns Bystyre, og jeg takker hele det danske folk for jeres vidun-derlige velkomst.

Tak, mange tak, hr. statsminister og Lone, fru vicestatsminister oghr. Jelved, overborgmester og frue, mine damer og herrer her iDanmark, tak for den pragtfulde modtagelse.

Tak, mange tak, tusind tak.Hr. statsminister og Lone, fru vicestatsminister, hr. overborg-mester, formanden for Kobenhavns Borgerreprassentation, minedamer og herrer i Danmark, tusind tak for den pragtfulde velkomst,I har givet mig.USAs president, Bill Clinton, indledte sin tale pa Nytorv terdagmed at takke statsminister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, hans hustru,Lone (Dybkjser), vicestatsminister (Marianne Jelved) og hendes

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mand, Kebenhavns overborgmester, (Jens Kramer Mikkelsen] ogformanden for Kcbenhavns Borgerrepreesentation, (Bodil Jersen),som alle var med pa tribunen.

The interpreter, Berlingske Tidende and Jyllands-Posten all leave out the ref-erence to "Mr. Jelved", the husband of the deputy prime minister. Clinton's de-livery and the sound quality are both fine on the video cassette I obtained fromthe national channel (Danmarks Radio). Nevertheless, the most likely reason forthe omission of his name seems to be poor auditory conditions.

Kristeligt Dagblad did not translate the sequence but used paraphrase in orderto insert the full names of the people referred to only by title or first name. In it-self, clarification is commendable. However, the commas and parentheses willleave readers confused about the relations, notably as to whether they are facedwith new persons or merely appositions. This goes especially for 'Deputy PrimeMinister (Marianne Jelved) and her husband, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, (JensKramer Mikkelsen)' ("vicestatsminister (Marianne Jelved) og hendes mand, K0-benhavns overborgmester, (Jens Kramer Mikkelsen)"). Since everyone else ismentioned by name in the newspaper rendition, it is odd that "Mr. Jelved",whose surname President Clinton even supplies himself, is rendered as 'her hus-band' ("hendes mand"). This may well cause the reader to assume that MsJelved's 'husband' and the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen are one and the sameperson.

All Translators refer to the latter as 'Lord Mayor' ("overborgmester"), whichindeed he is, except for Berlingske Tidende which makes him the 'mayor of Co-penhagen' ("K0benhavns borgmester"). This is misleading since Greater Copen-hagen has several mayors, but only one Lord Mayor. Danish Translators shouldknow this.

The Translations of the subsequent "Madam Chair of the Council" are equallyinteresting. The interpreter and Berlingske Tidende opt for 'Chairman of...' and'the Chairman of ("formand for bystyret" and "formanden for Kobenhavns By-styre"). The subtitler, Jyllands-Posten, and Kristeligt Dagblad choose 'MsChairman of or 'The Chairman of ("fru formand for borgerreprajsentationen","formanden for K0benhavns Borgerreprassentation" and "formanden for K0-benhavns Borgerreprsesentation, (Bodil Jersen)". The correct term for the gov-erning body of the city of Copenhagen is 'IGabenhavns Borgerrepra;sentation'

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128 2002 Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 10:2

whereas 'bystyre' is the elected assembly in Danish towns rather than cities. I donot consider the use of "bystyre" a grave error on the interpreter's part. Con-versely, Berlingske Tidende's translator did have the time to look up the termand failed to do so which is serious. And although Kristeligt Dagblad's spelling,'Bodil Jersen', instead of "Bodil Jensen" is probably only a slip, it is a grave er-ror, notably since it has been added by the translator or editor without any corre-sponding information in Clinton's speech. Added clarifications should be cor-rect, otherwise they cause confusion.

Politiken's translation is yet another example of confusion - once again mari-tal - in the rendition 'Lord Mayor and wife' ("overborgmester og frue") since allreaders will assume that the Lord Mayor and the woman referred to - the chair ofthe city council - are married to one another which they are not. It also impliesthat Bodil Jensen is present because she is the Lord Mayor's wife and not be-cause of her own official position.

Interestingly, none of the Translators has opted for the politically correct term'Chairwoman' ("forkvinde" instead of "formand"). The subtitler is close by us-ing 'Madam Chairman' ("fru formand") and Kristeligt Dagblad does give hername.

In this passage, then, only the subtitler delivers an entirely adequate Transla-tion. The interpreter, Berlingske Tidende, Jyllands-Posten, and Politiken all omitone person, Berlingske Tidende makes two mistakes, and Kristeligt Dagbladsummarises rather than Translates and is ambiguous.

EXAMPLE 4Clinton

Interpreter

Let me say I am delighted to be the first sitting AmericanPresident ever to visit Denmark. I had planned to come earlier,as some of you know, but I injured my leg. And I thank you forallowing me to wait until my leg healed, so the first sittingAmerican President could also be a standing American Presi-dent.Lad mig sige, at det er en stor glasde for mig, at vaere den ferstefungerende amerikanske president, der nogensinde har aflagtbesBg i Danmark. Jeg havde faktisk planlagt at komme lidt for,som I ved, men jeg - oh - kom til skade med benet, og jeg vilgerne sige tak for, at I gav mig lov til at vente, indtil mit ben var iorden igen, sadan at den ferste siddende president ogsa kan vaere

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Subtitler

Berlingske

Tidende

Politiken

Jyllands-Posten

den forste staende president, der kommer til landet.

Det glasder mig at vasre den forste

siddende amerikanske prassident -

- der besoger Danmark.

Det var min planat komme tidligere -

- men jeg kom til skademed mit ben.

Jeg er glad for at jeg matte ventetil mit ben var rask —

- sa den fiarstesiddende prassident -

- ogsa kunne vasreen staende prassident.

Lad mig sige, at jeg er meget taknemmelig for at vasre den forsteregerende amerikanske prassident, der har besogt Danmark. Jeghavde egentlig planlagt, at besoget skulle finde sted tidligere - somI allercde ved - men jeg skadede mit ben, og jeg takker jer for atkunne komme, sa snart min knasskade var helet. Sa den forste sid-dende amerikanske prassident ogsa kan vasre en staende.

Lad mig sige, at jeg er glad for at blive den forste siddende presi-dent, der nogen sinde har besogt Danmark. Jeg havde planlagt atkomme tidligere, som nogen af jer maske ved, men jeg kom tilskade med mit ben. Og jeg takker jer for at give mig lov til atvente, indtil mit ben var lasgt, sa den forste siddende amerikanskeprassident ogsa kunne blive en staende amerikanske prassident.

Lad mig sige, at jeg er meget glad for at vasre den forste siddendeamerikanske prassident, der aflasgger bes0g i Danmark. Jeg havdefaktisk planlagt at komme lidt for, men jeg beskadigede mit ben, ogjeg vil gerne sige jer tak, fordi I gav mig lov til at vente, indtil mitben var i orden igen, sa den forste siddende prassident ogsi kunnevasre den f0rste staende prassident, der kommer til landet.

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Jeg er meget glad over at vasre den farste regerende (eng.: sid-dende) president, der beseger Danmark. Jeg havde planlagt atkomme tidligere, som I ved, men jeg kom til skade med mit ben.Tak fordi I kunne vente til mit ben blev rask - si Jeres ferste sid-dende amerikanske president ogsa kunne blive en staende presi-dent.

In this passage, at the beginning of the speech, President Clinton strikes alight-hearted note: he thanks the audience and makes a pun before he proceeds toserious, political topics.

The pun exploits the two meanings of "sitting". At first President Clinton usesthe word in the figurative sense of "being in office" or "present" and subse-quently in the literal sense in juxtaposition to the antonym "standing". The prob-lem for Translators is whether this pun can be transferred into Danish as "sid-dende". Berlingske Tidende and Kristeligt Dagblad appear not to believe sosince they opt for, respectively, 'in office' ("regerende") and the Danish wordwith a translator's note "regerende (eng.: siddende)". But the word 'siddende'can actually be used in Danish in the same sense as in English according to suchauthoritative sources as the largest English-Danish dictionary and the most re-cent dictionary of Danish (Engelsk-Dansk Ordbog (1998) and Nudansk Ordbog(1999)).5

These dictionaries are standard tools in newspaper offices concerned with in-ternational news, so one would definitely expect Translators to consult them if indoubt. The interpreter started her Translation before President Clinton said "sit-ting" the second time round and since there was no way of knowing that a jokewas intended, she cannot be blamed for not recognising it. Conversely, there isno excuse for the carelessness of Berlingske Tidende. In Clinton's delivery therewere a mere sixteen seconds between the first and the second use of "sitting"and, surely, anyone would notice the recurrence of a word after that short an in-terval. Furthermore, this rendition is not simultaneous, and it would therefore beeasy to quickly correct the first rendition - "regerende" - into "siddende". In thecase of Kristeligt Dagblad, one can infer from the parenthesis "(eng.: siddende)"that the translator was in no doubt that "sitting" was not transferable. Even so,the solution is inelegant.

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In sum, the subtitler, Politiken and Jyllands-Posten all convey the joke; the in-terpreter cannot because of the communicative context, and Berlingske Tidendeand Kristeligt Dagblad show a lack of attention to detail.

FindingsBrief as they are, the above examples show that comparison between Transla-

tions in different types of interlingual transfer is indeed possible.The approach that I suggested and adhered to includes type-specific parame-

ters in the evaluation of a Translation. Only then can one determine whether adeviation is due to type-specific constraints. If it is inevitable, the irregularityshould not be classified as a Translation error. Subsequently, one can evaluatethe Translation or compare several Translations, independent of type, and in thisway be able to assess quality - although I concede that subjectivity cannot be en-tirely avoided when one person assesses the work of another.

In my analysis of President Clinton's speech, I found that the Translationmade by the subtitler was best. As was to be expected, there are a few omissions,but none that results in the omission of important details. In the entire renditionof the ten-minute speech, there is only one typographical error, the joke is con-veyed well and titles and names are rendered accurately and consistently. A falsefriend and figurative language is transferred successfully as are the of structures.On the whole, the language is idiomatic.

At the other end of the spectrum we find Kristeligt Dagblad's Translation. Ithas the highest number of typographical errors and omissions, there is inconsis-tency in the use of titles and names, the joke is not only lost unnecessarily buteven rendered inelegantly, and there is considerable ambiguity. Although mostof the figurative language and of structures work well, the style is often unidio-matic.

These errors may be due to the fact that the Translator was an editor, not atranslator (Storm 2000); but they cannot be excused since the Translation wasprepared and printed.

It is less clear how one should rate the remaining four Translations; yet itseems that the interpreter and Berlingske Tidende had more problems than Poli-tiken and Jyllands-Posten.

In view of the interpreter's omissions, her imperfect syntax, and wrong choiceof words, one might be tempted to place her Translation at the bottom, but in the

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paradigm of type-specific equivalence, it is evident that most of these irregulari-ties are caused by the communicative context, not by a lack of skills. If this hadbeen so, she would certainly not have been able to render into Danish a politicalspeech lasting ten minutes without making grave errors.

In Berlingske Tidende 's rendition, there are too many errors which could havebeen avoided. This is most notable in a segment not presented in this article inwhich Clinton's reference to "weapons of mass destruction" is rendered as 'de-struction of weapons' ("destruktion af vaben"). Titles and names are rendered in-accurately, the joke is lost, some segments are unidiomatic, figurative expres-sions are not rendered adequately, and of structures are misunderstood.

Politiken does rather well. Nothing important is omitted, titles and names aremostly rendered accurately, and the pun is communicated. However, there are sixtypographical errors, a false friend, only some of structures are Translated suc-cessfully, but the figurative language works quite well.

Overall, Jyllands-Posten is also successful. Titles and names are at times am-biguous. There are six typographical errors, a false friend and also omissions thatresult in loss and distortion of information. However, figurative language isTranslated successfully, the Translation of of structures varies in accuracy, andthere is some unidiomatic Danish.

ConclusionAll things considered, I find that the subtitler's rendition is the best Transla-

tion, those of Politiken and Jyllands-Posten come in second, the interpreter's andBerlingske Tidende's versions make third place, and Kristeligt Dagblad providesthe poorest rendition.

The point of this comparative evaluation is to show, first, that Translationsoccurring in different types of transfer can in fact be compared, and second that,contrary to common belief, the written mode is no guarantee of quality. The mostfavourable working conditions do not necessarily make for the best Translation.After all, a gifted Translator can provide a much more accurate and type-specificequivalent Translation in a medium that poses constraints, or in a difficult com-municative context, than one provided by an inattentive or sloppy Translator inthe most propitious circumstances.

Finally, it should also be noted that since President Clinton's speech was amedia event that received extensive coverage, it is most likely that experienced

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Translators were chosen for this particular assignment. Since this cannot be the

case with every text Translated, my analysis may not be representative of Trans-

lated texts as a whole. In other words, it might well be that if other texts were ex-

amined even more mistakes might be found. It could also be argued that perhaps

some of the Translators involved in this situation were not 'professionals' in that

they had not undergone formal training. This I consider beside the point, for in

the context discussed, they acted as Translators and they were all remunerated

for their efforts.

NotesThe present article is based on my MA thesis (Stage 2000). This thesis is for public loan.I would like to thank Malene Bie-Olsen Magaard, Laise Henriksen, Dorte Karst, TineOlsen, Hanne Schwensen and Lisbeth Storm for kindly providing me with backgroundinformation, mostly by e-mail. I have chosen to credit them by referring to the yearwhen I contacted them.1. In this article, I employ Daniel Gile's system of capitalising 'Translation' to denoteall types of interlingual transfer, and the terms translation, subtitling or interpreting todenote a specific type (Gile 1995: 2). Correspondingly, the term 'Translator' denotesany interlingual mediator, whereas translator, subtitler, etc. will refer to specific media-tors.2. The television station TV2 broadcast excerpts of the speech in the afternoon and thewhole speech in the evening, but I could not obtain these versions (Karst 2000). Theonly other television station to televise the speech, Kanal2, broadcast only 40 seconds ofthe speech in their Monday news broadcast (Olsen 2000). This material was discardedbecause of its incompleteness. This criterion also applied to the Danish newspaperswhich published only short excerpts or summaries of the speech.3. In some cases, the action may allow a subtitler to omit speech segments whose mean-ing is expressed through the action. Of course this does not apply to Clinton's speech.4. Wilkins, Jenny. Information given in the editorial offices of the newspaper BerlingskeTidende, March 13, 1997.5. Under the head word sitting Engelsk-Dansk Ordbog (1998: 1467) cites the meaning"2. (parl etc.) siddende (fx the ~ member)" [(Parliamentary etc.) sitting]. Nudansk Ord-bog (1999: 956) gives the meaning "2. være placeret et bestemt sted el. i en bestemtfunktion el. situation" [be in a certain position or in a certain function or situation] underthe head word sidde, and under the head word sidde Dansk Sprogbrug gives "a. kom-missionen/udvalget -r (på tredje år)" [the commission/committee is sitting (in its thirdyear)] and "d. det —nde ministerium" [the sitting ministry].

Works citedBerlingske Tidende. Clintons tale til nationen. Translated by Pernille Holm & Malene

Bie-Olsen. July 13, 1997.

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Clinton, Bill. 1997. Remarks by the President to the People of Denmark. July 12, TheWhite House, Office of the Press Secretary (Copenhagen, Denmark), http://www.white-house.gov/WH/New/Spain/19970714-15015.html

Dansk Sprogbrug. 1995. Bruun, Erik. Copenhagen: Gyldendals røde ordbøger.Engelsk-Dansk Ordbog. 1998. Kjærulff Nielsen, B. (ed.). Copenhagen: Gyldendals store

røde ordbøger.Gile, Daniel. 1995. Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training.

Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Gottlieb, Henrik. 1994. Tekstning - Synkron Billedmedieoversættelse. Copenhagen:

Center for Oversættelse, Københavns Universitet.Herbst, Thomas. 1994. Linguistische Aspekte der Synchronisation von Fernsehserien -

Phonetik, Textlinguistik, Übersetzungstheorie. Berlin: Niemeyer.Hjørnager Pedersen, Viggo. 1988. Essays on Translation. Copenhagen: Nyt Nordisk

Forlag, Arnold Busck.Interpreter. Simultaneous interpreting of President Clinton's 'Remarks by the President

to the People of Denmark'. Lena Fluger, Danmarks Radio, July 12, 1997. My tran-scription.

Jyllands-Posten. Præident Clintons tale på Nytorv den 12. Juli 1997. Morgenavisen Jyl-lands-Posten, July 13, 1997.

Kristeligt Dagblad. Clintons tak til Danmark. Translated by Lisbeth Storm in KristeligtDagblad, July 14, 1997.

Newmark, Peter. 1995. A Textbook of Translation. Phoenix ELT.Nudansk Ordbog. 1999. Hørvring, Erik (ed.). Copenhagen. Politikens Forlag.Olsen, Tine. TVDanmark, telephone conversation, July, 2000.Politiken. President Clintons tale på Nytorv. Politiken, July 13, 1997.Stage, Dorthe. 2000. Aspects of Interlingual Transfer. MA thesis. Copenhagen Univer-

sity.Subtitler. TV-subtitling of President Clinton's Remarks by the President to the People of

Denmark. Danmarks Radio, July 12, 1997.

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Documents

Comparing types of interlingual transfer