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 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.