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On the Name of God
Posted by words on Thursday, January 08 @ 03:31:21 EST (351 reads)
Topic Translation
|  Jim Knopf,
Passion, the Mind, and Being a Translator
Scene 1: In the classic German children's novel, "Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer" ("Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver"),
the orphan Jim and his rough-and-tumble friend Lukas drive their
locomotive to China (which for reasons of political correctness has
been changed to "Mandala" in recent versions) to rescue the lovely
Chinese princess Li Si—whom Jim eventually marries.
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The Acquisition of Translation Competence
Posted by words on Thursday, October 02 @ 04:55:31 EDT (462 reads)
Topic Translation
| through Textual GenreIn recent years the concept of translation competence has
steadily gained acceptance up to the point where it has now become the
most widely discussed issue in relation to translator training. Proof
of this can be seen, for example, in the work carried out by Hurtado in
the PACTE group (2001) or that of Kelly (2002, 2005, 2006). Translation
competence is a complex, multifaceted concept that takes in a number of
different aspects.
Many researchers have adapted the literary studies tradition focused
on text genres to both the field of linguistics and language teaching
(Swales, 1990, and Bhatia, 1993, among others) and to translation
(Hatim and Mason, 1990; or, for example, the work of the GENTT team,
and more especially García Izquierdo, ed. 2005).
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The Literary Translator and the Concept of Fidelity:
Posted by words on Thursday, October 02 @ 04:21:08 EDT (475 reads)
Topic Translation
| Kirkup's Translation of Camara Laye's L'Enfant noir as a Case StudyAbstract
The paper critically analyzes the English translation of Camara Laye's L'Enfant noir.
It also explores the practical possibility of fidelity in literary
translation. Since fidelity as a major translation criterion has been
understood or misunderstood in many ways, this writer feels that it is
essential to investigate the subject in order to ascertain whether
fidelity is actually possible, particularly in literary translation,
using a novel of an African author translated by a European as a case
study.
The paper relies on Saint Jérôme's theory of 'non verbum pro verbo, sed sensum exprimere de sensu'
(not word-for-word but sense-for-sense), the forerunner of the
Interpretative Method propounded by the Paris School o Interpreters and
Translators, University of Paris III, to analyze the English
translations done by James Kirkup. The paper concludes that fidelity is
a possibility in literary translation using the interpretative method.
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Individual Differences in the Translation Process:
Posted by words on Wednesday, July 23 @ 07:17:51 EDT (383 reads)
Topic Translation
| Differences in the act of translation between two groups of ESL Japanese students Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify the differences in
translation processes between Japanese students who have less
experience and those who have the experience of having lived in the
United States. In order to achieve this goal, participants who were six
Japanese students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania were asked to
translate a short passage from Japanese to English and then interviewed
as to their translation processes. This study lastly discusses the
difference in translation process among Japanese students and the
relationship between their word choices and their translations.
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Translation and Participatory Media:
Posted by words on Wednesday, July 23 @ 06:12:34 EDT (232 reads)
Topic Translation
| Experiences from Global Voices Abstract
The advent of easy-to-use online publishing tools such as blogs
and wikis has sparked considerable debate among members of the mass
media and those involved in Internet technology about the future of
news. While many such debates focus on distinctions between traditional
journalism and various forms of "citizen media," very little attention
has been paid to the potential role of translation in the context of
this changing media landscape. The current article bridges this gap
through a discussion of translation in one of the most influential
citizen media projects in the world, Global Voices. The history of this
organization, and the increasingly prominent function of translation
within it, provide concrete examples of the challenges and
possibilities of community-based translation in the realm of
participatory media.
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Translation Services: My Way
Posted by words on Monday, June 09 @ 11:41:37 EDT (225 reads)
Topic Translation
| A
good translator should be able to provide good quality translation
service jobs in more than one field. Then again, it is quite difficult
to specialize both in engineering related texts and at the same time in
translating novels. So it is important to believe in what you do and to
truly understand it. Basically it is important to get involved in what
you write.
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On the Importance of Schmoozing
Posted by words on Saturday, December 08 @ 04:22:32 EST (371 reads)
Topic Translation
| One evening many lifetimes ago when I was studying translation in graduate school at the University of Paris while working part-time as a bilingual secretary at a law firm, I got invited to a dinner party. The woman sitting next to me happened to be an English-to-French literary translator. A former neighbor of hers, who was a doctor, was trying to place an article in a prestigious American medical journal and had begged her to translate the abstract of his paper into English. "Aren't you studying translation?" she asked me, anxious to pass this assignment on to someone else. "Maybe you can help him."
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Translation of Internal Reports & Communications
Posted by words on Tuesday, October 09 @ 01:56:14 EDT (314 reads)
Topic Translation
| In today's global economy, it is not only trade that is international. It's the companies and their employees too. Therefore it's increasingly common to have companies with a variety of languages spoken in the divisions. So perhaps we should expect that translation of internal reports and communications is a regular occurrence? I have worked at some pretty large international companies and from my own experience most businesses have not adapted to the language needs of the company. In fact most have not localized and translated their mission statement. What seems to happen is either: 1) the company informally states that there is a single core language of the company and therefore the translation of internal reports and communications is not required. 2) An internal effort is made to 'translate' information on an as requested basis.
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Aspects of Scientific Translation:
Posted by words on Friday, October 05 @ 01:05:31 EDT (476 reads)
Topic Translation
| English into Arabic Translation as a Case Study
Abstract It is unquestionable that English–Arabic scientific translation is increasingly becoming a topic of much concern and importance today. Oil on the Arab side and technology on the Western side contribute to this importance. This paper highlights the problems that are likely to be encountered in English–Arabic scientific translation and tries to establish certain possible factors which may finally lead to a theory of this sort of translation. It also identifies certain differences that exist between scientific texts and literary ones. The paper also proposes a model for English–Arabic scientific translation in further attempts driving at a more extensive study.
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Informed Consent for Non-English Speakers:
Posted by words on Thursday, October 04 @ 06:27:32 EDT (359 reads)
Topic Translation
| Tips for Translation Success
Recruiting of non-English speakers for U.S.-based and global clinical trials is on the rise. As a result of this, foreign language translation becomes a critical component of clinical trials management. If done right, translations can play an important role in meeting global product demands. Otherwise, mistakes from poorly done translations can result in product delays, cost overruns, or, even worse, contribute to malpractice or product liability lawsuits.
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Translation of Charactonyms from English into Russian
Posted by words on Thursday, October 04 @ 05:58:28 EDT (386 reads)
Topic Translation
| Abstract The article tackles a topical problem of translation of charactonyms from English into Russian. Normally charactonyms are transcribed or transliterated but if their stems contain additional information of their bearer or even create in a literary work a system of its own their transcription deprives a foreign reader a lot of nuances and vividness of description. The author of the article suggests to find characteristics codified in the name by means of the elements of context called motivators. The charactonyms are divided into 4 types and the translation equivalents into 8 groups. The equivalents are classified due to the dictionary equivalents of the common stem of the charactonym. The experimental material is processed and given in the form a diagram and a table. The suggested classification can be used for different types of onyms and other pairs of languages.
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Internet and Cultural Concepts from a Translation Perspective
Posted by words on Tuesday, October 02 @ 04:35:39 EDT (285 reads)
Topic Translation
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In the past 14 years Romania has witnessed a constant technological boom that has had an impact on a variety of domains, such as industry, economy, education, mass media, politics and other important systems.
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Working from audio recordings
Posted by words on Tuesday, October 02 @ 04:18:58 EDT (263 reads)
Topic Translation
| Sometimes it happens; not too often, but it does. A translator is asked to work from an audio recording. The client assumes that a translator frequently does this; so doing it in any of the translator's working languages should be a piece of cake. In view of the concerns expressed by first-timers about such an endeavor in translator newsgroups on the web, I take this chance to voice out a few ideas.
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Translations – What to do when a word doesn't exist
Posted by words on Monday, October 01 @ 04:31:53 EDT (317 reads)
Topic Translation
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There are a lot of opinions when it comes to English words that cannot be translated by using an "accepted-by-Real-Academia-Española (RAE)" word, and yet we as translators have to come up with a solution and most definitely a word, whether it is in the RAE dictionary or not.
The English language is always changing and new words are being coined all the time. How does Spanish, or any other language, keep up with those changes? By doing the same the English does—coining new words.
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Ethics and Professionalism in Translation
Posted by words on Thursday, September 27 @ 02:12:26 EDT (241 reads)
Topic Translation
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Whence cometh the true professionals? Are they born or bred? If born, can we develop a brain scan system to detect their ability and then nurture it? If bred, can we identify and then duplicate the ideal conditions to create a translator? More importantly, what do we do now, when we can’t answer the above questions? And most importantly, what do we do as freelance translators to become more professional ourselves and enhance the level of professionalism in our industry.
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Thoughts for the Future
Posted by words on Thursday, September 27 @ 02:02:50 EDT (247 reads)
Topic Translation
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So what can we all do to improve our industry and make it a more comfortable place for everyone to work in? If the preceding articles have been too vague or long, or if ferreting out such ideas is too cumbersome, I present here a list of ideas that translators, translation vendors, and others involved in the translation industry should consider. I hope that these ideas take root and welcome suggestions from readers for additions or alterations to this list. I also know that I can do little more than present this list. After all, you can lead a cat to water, but you can’t make it drink (or do anything else, for that matter).
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Professions for Foreign-Language Users
Posted by words on Thursday, September 27 @ 02:00:36 EDT (208 reads)
Topic Translation
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If after reading these articles you have decided that translation is not for you, or if after translating professionally for a while or longer you have decided that translation is no longer for you, I'll try to offer a few suggestions, some obvious and simple, others perhaps less obvious and more complicated, for other careers. Learning another language is a wonderful undertaking, and being able to use it for your career is a wonderful outcome of all that effort. But sometimes a professional pursuit must become a hobby, and so my suggestions will include ideas that have little directly to do with foreign language proficiency. At the same time, as someone who loves languages, I'll bear in mind the attitude and commitment translators have made to their languages.
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Quick Answers to General Questions
Posted by words on Thursday, September 27 @ 01:56:54 EDT (238 reads)
Topic Translation
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In case you haven't the time or inclination to read through all of the articles, or did and now find yourself stumped as to where you saw some particular idea or suggestion, or perhaps have a specific question that was not addressed in detail in the text of the article series, I have assembled here some common questions and answers, many inspired by students in my course at the Monterey Institute of International Studies on the translation profession, others from correspondence with professional translators and new entrants to our industry. I hope your own questions are answered in this article, but if not, please contact me and I will do my best to provide you with an answer. And if your question turns out to have general applicability, it will appear in a future version of this article.
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What the Guys Said, the Way They Said It, As Best We Can
Posted by words on Thursday, September 27 @ 01:52:40 EDT (125 reads)
Topic Translation
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It was a PowerPoint presentation, written in English in the U.S. and translated into Portuguese in Brazil. The client had just called to say that the translation was unacceptable and they would not pay for the job. Too literal, the secretary had said.
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The Changing World of Japanese Patent Translators
Posted by words on Thursday, September 27 @ 01:40:51 EDT (133 reads)
Topic Translation
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Anything that creates unity and harmony and dispels distrust and hatred is a step forward. The translator, obviously, has a very important role to play. I think I am carrying out a task which, in their way, my parents wanted me to perform, and I know that all those teachers and friends from the older generations who guided me and helped me along wanted me to do this, too. The microcosm and the macrocosm converge somewhere—by imposing a tiny bit of order in a communication you are translating, you somehow are carving out a little bit of order in the universe. You will never succeed. Everything will fail and finally come to an end. But you have a chance to carve out a little bit of order and maybe even beauty out of the raw materials that surround you everywhere, and I think there is no other meaning in life.
Donald L. Philippi
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Subordination and Coordination in English-Arabic Translation
Posted by words on Wednesday, September 26 @ 23:27:47 EDT (592 reads)
Topic Translation
| Abstract
Subordination and coordination are two syntactic features that are employed in writing in both English and Arabic. It is often argued, however, that the two languages differ in their preference for either syntactic relation (Cf. Introduction and Note 3). English, it is said, makes use of more subordination than coordination, while Arabic favors the use of coordination rather than subordination. The present paper aims not to prove or disprove this claim. Its main focus is finding out how these syntactic relations are dealt with in English-Arabic translation in general. To achieve this aim, the research makes use of three types of corpus: Texts originally written in English, texts originally written in Arabic, and texts translated from English into Arabic. The texts surveyed are taken from different disciplines. The reason behind this is that the researcher wants to get to a generalization about the hypothesis above, whether it is proven valid or not. In other words, by varying the texts, the researcher wants to get to general remarks from which several researches could be triggered. In each of the texts at hand, the instances of subordination and coordination were counted. The number of occurrences were then turned into ratios and the results of the three parts of the corpus were compared so as to know whether the translated texts are more like those originally written in English or those originally written in Arabic. Recommendations conclude the paper.
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How many words per day?
Posted by words on Wednesday, September 26 @ 08:53:44 EDT (265 reads)
Topic Translation
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One topic most freelance translators just starting up their business devote some thought and calculations to, is this: How many words am I supposed to translate per day?
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Is something wrong with our profession?
Posted by words on Wednesday, September 26 @ 08:51:19 EDT (230 reads)
Topic Translation
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Considerations on translators’ accreditation
processes and standards
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Major mistakes when responding to job offers
Posted by words on Wednesday, September 26 @ 08:24:56 EDT (291 reads)
Topic Translation
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Wondering why you never got an answer to your e-mail? Sometimes potential clients do not have the time or simply do not need your services. Other times, it could very well be that your message is the real reason. Have a look at the following mistakes to see if any of them sound familiar and find out how to avoid these mistakes in the future.
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What Makes a Translator?
Posted by words on Wednesday, September 26 @ 07:49:20 EDT (272 reads)
Topic Translation
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The "prison of language is only temporary…someday a merciful guard the perfect translator will come along with his keys and let us out," Wendy Lesser wrote in an article, "The Mysteries of Translation," in the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2002. The following questions remain, however: Who is this translator? What does he do? And what skills should he possess?
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Stylistic Problems Confronting Arab Students in Arabic-English Translation
Posted by words on Wednesday, September 26 @ 06:38:17 EDT (802 reads)
Topic Translation
| 1. Introduction Translation, which procures increasing significance at present, has, from time immemorial, attracted the attention of scholars and men of letters. It has, no doubt, contributed a great deal in connecting various cultures of the world. This interplay has naturally led to the enrichment of human knowledge at large (Cf. Savory, 1968: 37-48; Pinchuck, 1977: 16). Multifarious definitions of translation, though superficially different, seem to agree upon the point that this activity means conveyance of some sort of information from one language into another (1). This process that might appear simple at face value, is, in fact, painstaking if not arduous in some of its aspects, for it comprises transferring not only meanings of individual words or structures into the receptor language, but also stylistic features and implicational meanings. Translation, therefore, is a reproduction in the translated version of the thoughts and meanings implied in the original text (Khulusi, 1958:16). Not only this, but "to produce the message one must make a good many grammatical and lexical adjustments... Many translations attempt to reproduce the significance of the source language expressions," Nida & Taber, 1974: 12)
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''Waiter! There’s an insect of the order Diptera
Posted by words on Wednesday, September 26 @ 04:45:57 EDT (277 reads)
Topic Translation
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The following genuine examples are an amusing reminder of what can happen when you don't use a professional translation company...
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Translation in international organizations
Posted by words on Wednesday, September 26 @ 04:40:30 EDT (257 reads)
Topic Translation
| INTRODUCTION In July 1977, the Joint Inspection Unit of the United Nations published a document entitled The Implications of Additional Languages in the United Nations System. This document assembled in one place a great deal of data on the language services in the UN system - more than had ever been brought together before. The document offered detailed information on the language policies of the United Nations and specialized agencies, gave comparative data on costs and staffing, described the limitations of present language services, and provided projections on the costs of new services.
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The language of business – how fluent are you?
Posted by words on Wednesday, September 26 @ 04:33:40 EDT (277 reads)
Topic Translation
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In an increasingly global marketplace, it's high time that UK exporters realised the importance of translating or localising their sales websites into foreign languages. Karen Elwis has found a quick test to ascertain readers' current level of expertise in European "commercial-speak".
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9 Tips For Increasing Translation Quality While Decreasing Translation Cost
Posted by words on Wednesday, September 26 @ 04:24:19 EDT (236 reads)
Topic Translation
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In some cases, there's no win-win situation when you're looking to increase product quality while decreasing cost. Translation is the exception; measures that decrease word count and therefore cost often result in a more precise and accessible translation. Here are some "translator's eye view" tips gleaned from some of my recent projects.
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