Traduzione Specialistica dei Testi: Traduzione

Lingua Inglese, secondo anno. 32/16/042. Crediti 12.

A.A. 2015-16, primo semestre.

See course programme (on my home page) for the

objectives, content, assessment procedure and

requirements for this course.

The key text-book is B.Hatim & J. Munday

Translation: An Advanced Resource Book, Routledge,

2004. ISBN: 978-0-415-28306-9. 4 copies ordered for

library. Available from ‘amazon.co.uk’ or

‘bookdepository.com’. (More expensive if ordered from

‘amazon.it’.)

On p. xix of the above book you can find a list of 5

other books that are useful but not essential for this course.

Three more useful books are:

Language to Language: A Practical and Theoretical

Guide for Italian/English Translators by Christopher

Taylor (Cambridge University Press, 1998). This book is

now being used for the first year of this course, and I will

sometimes refer to it. It is now printed by Amazon UK

and is therefore only available online from amazon.co.uk.

Mouse or Rat: Translation as Negotiation by Umberto

Eco (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003).

Aspects of Literary Text Analysis and Translation

Criticism by John Dodds (Campanotto Editore Udine,

1994).

UNIT 1: WHAT IS TRANSLATION? (definitions of

translation) Hatim & Munday (HM) Sections A, B and C)

- INTRALINGUAL (within the same language) E.g.,

modern re-workings of earlier English translations of The

Bible or the ‘carrying across’ of meaning from one regional

variety (or register) to another (‘Welcome’ ‘Hi’).

- INTERLINGUAL (between two languages)

- INTERSEMIOTIC E.g., translation of written text into

music, film or painting. (See article by Jakobson, Unit 1,

Section B, p.124, Hatim and Munday (HM)). E.g., Gurinder

Chada’s 2004 Bollywood film Bride and Prejudice

Definitions of interlingual translation involve a distinction

between translation as a finished PRODUCT and as an

ongoing PROCESS. The latter is constantly open to

reinterpretation, rethinking and reformulation.

The inherent difficulty of the translation process lies in the fact

that this translator has to work simultaneously at carrying

across (trans) SEVERAL levels of meaning from a source text

(ST) to a target text (TT). These include ‘the literal sense of

the words on the page, the semantic connotations that may lie

behind the literal sense (e.g., ‘immigrant’ ‘outsider’), the

pragmatic force that the original writer may have intended

(e,g., ‘Is the window open?’ = ‘Potresti aprire la finesta?’), and

the stylistic conventions relating to register and genre of the

text (‘Hi’, ‘Hello’,‘Welcome’, or ‘I bid thee good day’?) (see

Taylor, p.4)

• How, and to what extent, can the interlingual

translator establish EQUIVALENCE between

these different levels of meaning in the ST and

the TT?

• Attempts to answer this question have led to

the inter-discipline of TRANSLATION

STUDIES. See Hatim & Munday (HM) p8 for

a map of disciplines interfacing with

Translation Studies, and HM p127-131 for

Holmes’ seminal paper on Translation Studies.

The concept of translation equivalence rests on the

idea that the same content can be expressed in the TT

even if it has a different syntactic, phonological or

semantic form

H. Belloc argued that equivalence ‘is possibly the most

problematic of all the terminology connected with

translation theory’ and that ‘there are no such things as

identical equivalents’ (Dodds, 140). The same content

may have to be expressed in the TT with a different

syntactic or phonological form, or with a different

semantic value.

Syntactic form

(different word order) uova e pancetta bacon and egg

(different word class) a medical student una student di

medicina (pre-modifying adjective ‘medical’ becomes post-

modifying prepositional phrase ‘di medicina’) (Dodds 185).

Phonological form (different rhythm, cadence, metre,

alliteration or assonance) sbadigliavano, sospiravano

they would yawn, they would sigh

Semantic value Per Baccho! By Bacchus! (same name

but not the same semantic value) Per Baccho! By Jove!

(different name but same semantic value.

Some people have argued that since absolute equivalence

is problematic, certain texts where the content is

inseparably linked to form (e.g., literary works and texts

containing puns and word-play) (Dodds 135, 117) cannot

be expressed in any other form, and are hence

untranslatable. (Jakobson claims that poetry ‘by definition

is untranslatable’ see HM: 10)

However, as Dodds (117) points out, ‘the possibility of

translating […] is of far greater interest to the theorist

than is the impossibility of translating’. It is more

rewarding to be aware of the limitations of translation,

and then strive ‘to analyse when, why and to what extent

translation is possible or impossible’.

Translation methodology

Today, more than ever, translators and certainly

students of translation have to be able to explain what

they are doing when they translate. ‘It is absurd for

there to be a craftsman who is unable to explain how he

is performing his craft and consequently unable to pass

on his experience to others’ (Dodds 131).

In this course we will examine theoretical-

methodological concepts and practical STRATEGIES

that will allow students to recognise, analyse critically

and produce appropriate, high quality translations of a

range of text types that have different expository,

instructional, argumentative, counter-argumentative or

other communicative purposes. We will begin with

some well-known strategies (see Taylor).

STRATEGIES Taylor (47-64) lists 9 strategies (the first

4 can be presented as pairs, as they are opposites)

EQUATION & SUBSTITUTION

EQUATION

- loan words: Italians play ‘baseball’, and the English eat

‘spaghetti’ and ‘lasagna’ (not ‘lasagne’). (No absolute

equivalence when the pronuniciation or singular/plural

morpheme changes).

- calques: the target language (TL) adopts the source

language (SL) term to its own morphological and

phonological framework: e.g., ‘…..dopo un po’ di relax’.

(= English verb Italian noun). Also, Italian ‘zoomare’

and ‘crossare’ from English terms for photography and

football.

EQUATION & SUBSTITUTION

EQUATION (cont.)

- default (a clear one-to-one equivalent: Man

Uomo). But sometimes there can be a semantic,

pragmatic, or culturally motivated reason to translate it

in another way. E.g. Hey man! Eh, capo!; It’s a

man’s game È un gioco da maschi.

- false cognates (traps): different meanings of

deceptively similar forms: direttore director

manager/CEO (= Chief Excutive Officer); sensibile

sensible sensitive; eventualmente eventually

possibly

EQUATION & SUBSTITUTION

SUBSTITUTION

No ‘equivalent’ form as such. Another term has to be

substituted.

- Anglo-Saxon genitive: Gulliver’s Travels Italian

prepositional phrase: I Viaggi di Gulliver

- Italian subjunctive: Faro in modo che si interessi…

replaced by English infinitive: I’ll try to get her to….

- Proverbs and idioms: La goccia che fa troboccare il

vaso The straw that broke the camels’s back

DIVERGENCE & CONVERGENCE

DIVERGENCE

Have to choose from a range of alternatives:

cream ?

girare ?

DIVERGENCE & CONVERGENCE

DIVERGENCE

Have to choose from a range of alternatives:

cream crema / panna?

girare to turn / to switch on / to pass on / to go

round / to avoid / to travel….?

CONVERGENCE

Different terms in the SL (source language) have to be

translated by only one term in TL (target language):

Nephew/niece/grandchild ?

Tu/Lei/voi/Loro ?

Commericalista/ragionere/contabile ?

CONVERGENCE

Different terms in the SL have to be translated by only

one term in TL

Nephew/niece/grandchild nipote

Tu/Lei/voi/Loro you

Commericalista/ragionere/contabile accountant

AMPLIFICATION & REDUCTION

AMPLIFICATION

Necessary to add some element to the ST to ensure

readers’ comprehension:

Hanno interesse a tenere il prezzo basso

AMPLIFICATION & REDUCTION

AMPLIFICATION

Necessary to add some element to the ST to ensure

readers’ comprehension:

Hanno interesse a tenere il prezzo basso They have

a vested interest in keeping the price low.

AMPLIFICATION AND REDUCTION

REDUCTION

Necessary to eliminate elements in the TT because they

are redundant or misleading:

carta geografica ?

esporre in modo visibile ?

AMPLIFICATION AND REDUCTION

REDUCTION

Necessary to eliminate elements in the TT because they

are redundant or misleading:

carta geografica map

esporre in modo visibile display

DIFFUSION & CONDENSATION

DIFFUSION

Provide more elaboration:

Italian plural lexemes: informazioni / mobili ?

doveva arrivare ?

Magari! ?

DIFFUSION & CONDENSATION

DIFFUSION

Provide more elaboration:

Italian plural lexemes: informazioni / mobili some

information /some advice

doveva arrivare he was supposed to arrive

Magari! If only I could! / I wish that were the case

DIFFUSION & CONDENSATION

CONDENSATION

The most appropriate expression in the TT (target text) is

linguistically more concise. (English language is said to

be more concise (‘sintetica’) than Italian but this is more

a question of stylistics than linguistics).

a buon prezzo ?

far vedere ?

to look at ?

to make up for ?

He’s there ?

DIFFUSION & CONDENSATION

CONDENSATION

The most appropriate expression in the TT is linguistically

more concise. (English is said to be more concise (or

‘sintetico’) than Italian but this is more a question of

stylistics than linguistics).

a buon prezzo cheap

far vedere show

to look at guardare

to make up for compensare

He’s there C’è

DIFFUSION & CONDENSATION

CONDENSATION

Note that English pre-modified nouns in potentially

infinite sequences are usually more condensed than

their Italian ‘equivalents’, which have to contain verbs,

adjectivals and complex adverbial and/or prepositional

phrases. How would you translate:

Environmental department pollution report findings

scandal

DIFFUSION & CONDENSATION

CONDENSATION

ANSWER:

Lo scandalo suscitato dai risultati del rapporto del

Ministero dell’Ambiente sull’inquinamento dell’aria.

Compare the sentence positions of ‘scandolo’ and

‘scandal’

REORDERING

Use basic inversion procedures:

white horse ?

ti amo ?

high blood pressure ?

(high pressure weather system ?)

REORDERING

Use basic inversion procedures:

white horse cavallo bianco

ti amo I love you

high blood pressure pressione alta

(high pressure weather system alta pressione)

Inversion procedures also have to be used for

COLLOCATIONS. Translate the following

collocations into English: (Taylor 61)

1 vita e morte ?

2 sano e salvo ?

3 il diavolo e acqua santa ?

4 bianco e nero ?

Inversion procedures also have to be used for

COLLOCATIONS. Translate the following

collocations into English: (Taylor 61)

1 vita e morte life and death

2 sano e salvo fit and well / safe and sound

3 il diavolo e acqua santa (between) the devil and

the deep blue sea

4 bianco e nero black and white

Now decide which one:

- matches perfectly with the ST but in an inverted

form

- maintains half the pairing

- matches only partly but belongs in the same

semantic field.

- matches perfectly

Now decide which one:

- matches perfectly with the ST but in an inverted

form: bianco e nero black and white

- maintains half the pairing: il diavolo e acqua santa

(between) the devil and the deep blue sea

- matches only partly but belongs in the same

semantic field: sano e salvo fit and well / safe

and sound

- matches perfectly: vita e morte life and death

HOMEWORK

1) Ask your friends/members of your family to define

‘traduzione’. Compare their answers.

2) Read the article by Holmes in Hatim and Munday (H&M),

Unit 1, Section B, p.128-129. Make sure you understand the

difference between translation as: i) a product (analysis of the

TT); ii) a function (the purpose it serves in its social-cultural

context, i.e., to inform, to warn, to publicise, to entertain, to

prohibit, etc); iii) a process (what happens in the act of

translating, including the translator’s thought processes);

3) Find out what ‘translationese’ is. (Defintion in HM on

p.12)

4) Read the following text (see the next slide or HM p.223).

It has been badly translated from SL Spanish into TL English.

Find examples of translationese in this text. .

This text was found on a shoe-cleaning machine for

use by passengers at a major international airport.

Find examples of translationese.

For a good service of the maquina please read the

instrucciones.

1° To clean your shoe, on the bottom side of the brush

hold yourself in the bar of the maquine.

2° Put some shoe cream and put your shoes on the

brush passing the top of your shoe, just a few drops of

cream is enough.

3° Shine your shoe using the brush of the color of your

shoe that you will find outside this maquine.

•Please fallow these instrucciones and you will have an

excelente polish of your shoe.