Lecture 3-Areas of Difficulties

7/21/2019 Lecture 3-Areas of Difficulties

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Rida Wahyuningrum

AREAS OF DIFFICULTIES

IN TRANSLATION

English Department

Wijaya Kusuma University, Surabaya


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By the end of this lecture, you will be able

to answer questions about:

1. What requirements a translator shouldmeet

2. Some difficulties a translator mightencounter during translating a text

3. Innacuracies and accurateness oftranslation


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WHAT IS

ATRANSLATOR?


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A translator can be defined as a person or

machine that translates speech or writing.


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In a broader sense, he is the oneemployed to render written works intoanother language or a tool (a

computer program or application) thatrenders one language or data formatinto another.


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WHAT DOESA TRANSLATOR

DO?

To create conditions under

which the source language

author and the target

language reader can interact

with one another

To become the agents

for transferring

messages from one

language to another,

while preserving the

underlying cultural anddiscoursal ideas and

values

To use the core

meaning present in the

source text to create a

new whole, namely,

the target text


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WHAT CHARACTERIZEA GOOD TRANSLATOR?

GOODCOMPETENCE

IN BOTHSL AND TL

GOODREFERENCES

ANDUSE OF THEM


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A TRANSLATOR

SHOULD

- employ an extensive

reading of differenttranslations ofdifferent kinds oftexts.

- develop receptiveskills before theproductive ones.


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A TRANSLATOR SHOULD

- have a good ear for both source andtarget languages; i.e. he should be alertto pick up various expressions, idioms,

and specific vocabulary and their uses,and store them in their minds to be usedlater.


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A TRANSLATOR SHOULD

- understand the value of the source textwithin the framework of the source-

language discourse.- be aware of the cultural differences andthe various discoursal strategies in thesource and target languages.


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A TRANSLATOR SHOULD

- have socio-cultural awareness toimprove the quality of thetranslations to a great extent

- be familiar with the culture,customs, and social settings ofthe source and target languagespeakers

- be familiar with differentregisters, styles of speaking, andsocial stratification of bothlanguages


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Successful translatorsusually choose one

specific kind of textsfor translating andcontinue to work onlyin that area.


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Why does EnglishCause TranslationDifficulties?


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English translation is known to beone of the most difficult translations

when needing consistency.


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THE VERB-ADVERB COMBINATION

(unique to English)

This is shown by combinations such asturn on, turn off, mark up, or mark

down.

Other languages use single specific verbsinstead of the English verb-adverbcombinations.


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THE USE OF ARTICLES

Although almost all Western Europeanlanguages use articles, many otherlanguages do not.

The Slavic languages do not use articles atall, which causes great difficulties whentranslating English to a Slavic language.

Bahasa Indonesia also has articles, but thedistribution is not similar to that of inEnglish.


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THREE TYPES OF

TRANSLATION DIFFICULTY

1. Distinguishing between general vocabulary andspecialized terms

2. Distinguishing between various meanings of aword of general vocabulary

3. Taking into account the total context, includingthe intended audience and important details such

as regionalisms


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Distinguishing betweenGeneral Vocabulary andSpecialized Terms

a vehicle carrying many passengers;used for public transport

an electrical

conductor thatmakes a commonconnection betweenseveral circuits


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a financial institution that acceptsdeposits and channels the moneyinto lending activities

a slope in the turn of a road ortrack or river


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Distinguishing betweenVarious Meanings of a Wordof General Vocabulary

The English word 'fish' can be used to referto either a live fish swimming in a river, or adead fish that has been cleaned and is readyfor the frying pan.

Spanish makes the distinction obligatory. Forthe swimming fish, one would use pez and forthe fish ready for the frying pan one woulduse pescado.


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Taking into account the totalcontext, including the intended

audience and important detailssuch as regionalisms

Translating an English Thank you into Japaneseneeds a translators understanding about the

meaning intended when it is applied in thelanguage and its culture.


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Translation

andAccurateness


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The idealtranslation will beaccurate as tomeaning andnatural as to thereceptorlanguage forms

used.


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The success of a translation ismeasured by how closely itmeasures up to those ideals.


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The idealtranslation,

therefore, should beaccurate, natural,and communicative.


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ACCURATE

reproducingas exactly as

possible themeaning ofthe source

text


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NATURAL

using naturalforms of thereceptor

language in away that is

appropriateto the kind of

text beingtranslated


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COMMUNICATIVE

expressingall aspects ofthe meaningin a way that

is readilyunderstand-able to the

intendedaudience


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TRANSLATING FILM DIALOGUES

Film dialogues havecharacteristics whichset them apart fromother kinds of texts ordocuments to be

translated.


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TRANSLATING FILM DIALOGUES

Spoken forms of moviescripts


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Adaptations of other literary forms (novels, short stories, even poems)or original scripts especially written for films or plays


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The following is the data gathered betweenthe early 2001 and August 2003

(see Retmono: 2003)


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LABELS/CODES USED


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Rida Wahyuningrum

English Department

Wijaya Kusuma University, Surabaya

Documents

Lecture 3-Areas of Difficulties