TRANSLATION

TECHNIQUES
UNIT 3

Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

THE ANALYSIS OF THE TEXT

DIS COURSE ANALYSIS
THE INTENTION OF THE TEXT
THE INTENTION OF THE TRANSLATOR
THE QUALITY OF THE WRITING
TRANSLATION METHODS AND LEVELS
TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES

The Analysis Of The Text

Reading the text

- Is the starting point
We read the text to:

Understand what it is about.

Analyse it from a translators point of view not
from
linguists, literary, teacher nor
student
To determine its intention
To determine the way its written to select a
suitable translation method

Kinds Of Reading When Analysing

The Text
General reading is required
We read the words both
Out of the context
In the context

Close reading
To get the gist
To get the essence
To get the substance

(literal meaning)
(Interpretation)

The Last Reading

This last reading is done for the purpose
of

Noting the cultural aspects of the SL text

We have to underline all: Neologism,

cultural words and institutional terms
peculiar to the SL, proper names,
technical terms and the untranslatable
words

The Analysis Of The Text

Macro analysis
Micro analysis

Reading the text

The intention of
the text
The intention of
the translator
The last reading

Text styles

The readership

The quality of
the writing

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
IN TRANSLATION
MACRO ANALYSIS

MICRO ANALYSIS

Macroanalysis
This analysis
answers these
questions

Who ?
When ?
Where ?
For whom?
How ?

Microanalysis
This analisys is based on the
process of segmentation to take
notes on the translation problems
we find in the text.
We split the text in
Lexical translation units
Sintagmatic translation units

It is used to avoid both gain and loss

of information

Microanalysis
LEXICAL TRANSLATION UNITS

VERBS
ADVERBS
NOUNS
PRONOUNS
PROPER NOUNS

Microanalysis
SINTAGMATIC TRANSLATION
UNITS

DETERMINANTS
PREPOSITIONS
ARTICLES
POSSESSIVE WORDS

Examples
Roberto studies English everyday
The city is beautiful
The books are on the top of the book shelf
I have a nice watch
They are good students

The Intention Of The Text

We read to search for the
intention of the text
The intention of the text goes
hand in hand with the
understanding of the text
The title may be remote from the
content as well as the intention

The Intention Of The Text

Its necessary to pay special attention
to the type of language and even the
grammatical structure (passive voice
impersonal verbs)
The intention of the text represents
the SL writers attitude of the text or
subject matter

The Intention Of The Translator

Usually, the translators intention is
identical with that of the author of
the SL text

The Quality Of The Writing

The quality of the writing has to
be judged in relation to the
authors intention and the
requirements of the subject
matter
The word must be in the right place
with the minimum of redundancy

The Process Of The Translation

The relation of translating to
translation theory
The approach
The levels:

The
The
The
The

textual level
referential
cohesive level
level of naturalness

Levels of approaches to a
translation process
1 Translating sentences by
sentence
2 Translating paragraphs by
paragraphs
3 Translating chapter by chapter
4 Read the text as whole and
translate it like wise

Approaches to translation and

the texts
The first approach

Sentence by sentence

Paragraph by paragraph

Literary texts

Approaches to translation and

the text
The second
approach

Reading
The whole
text

Translate chapter
By
chapter

For
Technical
Or
Institutional texts

DANGERS OF THE APPROACHES

The first approach

The second approach

It may leave you with

too much revision to
do in the early part

It is usually preferable

It is time-wasting

It can be mechanical
It may may inhibit the
translator`s free play
of intution

APPROACHES ALTERNATIVES
The first approach is advisable for
a relatively easy text

The second approach is advisable

for harder texts

THE TRANSLATION OF THE LEVELS

The textual Level
The referential Level
The cohesive level
The level of naturlness

The Textual Level

The grammar
And
The lexical units are
translated
In the situation
Or context of
The sentence

The referential level

The cohesive level

Sentences of any text

Technical,Literary or
Institutional must be
Read in the situation
Or context of the
text

It follows both
The structure
And the moods of
The text

The level of
Naturalness
Makes sense
Reads naturally
It is written in
Ordinary language
That meet the
Kind of situation

Translation Methods And levels

Translation methods obey to the
main problem of translation it self
To translate literally or freely
This argument has been going on since
at least the first century B.C up to the
beginning the nineteenth century
Many writers are in favor of free
translation

Translation Levels
WORD BY WORD
LITERAL TRANSLATION
EQUIVALENT TRANSLATION

Translation Methods or
types
The methods or
types
Faithful
translation
Semantic
translation
communicative
translation

Adaptation
Idiomatic translation
Free translation

Writers Slogan Who Want The

Truth To Be Read And Understood
We as translators are intended to
translate
The
The
The
The

spirit not the letter

sense not the words
message rather than the form
matter not the manner

Word for word translation level

characteristics
This is often demonstrated interlinear
translation
The SL words order is preserved
The words are translated literally
The words are translated by their most
common meaning
The words are translated out of context
Cultural words are translated literally

Usage of the word for word

translation level
The use of this method is either to:
Understand the mechanism of the SL
Construe a difficult as a pre-translation
process

Examples of the word for

translation level
I love fried fish for lunch
Yo amo frito pescado para
almuerzo
I need to get there as soon as
possible
Yo necesito a conseguir all como
pronto como posible

Literal Translation
Grammatical
Constructions

Are converted to
their nearest TL
equivalents

Lexical words

Are translated
singly out of
context

Usage
(presentation
process)

It indicates the
problems to be
solved

Examples of the literal

translation level
I love fried fish for lunch
Yo amo pescado frito para
almuerzo
I need to get there as soon as
posible
Yo necesito conseguir all pronto
posible

Faithful Translation
Attempts to reproduce the precise
contextual meaning of the original
within the constraints of the TL
grammatical structures
It transfers cultural words
It preserves the degree of
grammatical and lexical
abnormality

Semantic Translation
It is faithful
It takes more account the aesthetic
value of SL text
The beautiful and natural sound of the SL
text concerning it is meaning
A semantic translation is written at the
author`s linguistic level
It may translate less important cultural
words, not cultural equivalents, intact
transference
It is used for expressive texts

Communicative Translation
It attemps to render the exact
contextual meaning of the
original
Both the content and the
language comprehensible to the
readership

More about Semantic and

Communicative Translation
They must be seen as wholes
Semantic translation is personal and
individual
It tends to over translate
It has to explain
It follows the thought processes of the
author
It aims at concision in order to
reproduce the pragmatic impact

More about Semantic and

Communicative Translation
Communicative translation is social
It concentrates on the message
It tends to undertranslate
It is normally inferior to its original
There is both cognitive and pragmatic loss
A semantic translation has to interpret

Free Translation
It reproduces
The matter with out the manner
The content with out the form of the
original
It paraphrases the original (It
makes the TL text larger than the
original)

Idiomatic Translation
It reproduces the message of the
original
It prefers colloquialisms and
idioms

Translation Techniques
They are also called algunas
tcnicas de restitucin
They are used with the purpose of
helping the translator to translate
away from literal translation.

Translations Techniques
Ampliacin or Expansion
Reduccin or Reduction
Modulacin or Modulation
Transposition
Adaptation

Translation Techniques
Definition
EXPANSION OR WORD ADDING.
It consist of an extension of the
target language text due to
limitations in the languages
involved in the process of
translation (M Tricas Preckler)

Translation Techniques
Examples
AMPLIACION OR WORD ADDING
The teacher will give us a test
tomorrow morning
El profesor nos evaluara maana
en la maana
Marcos is studying English next
year
Marcos va a estudiar ingles el
prximo ao

TRANSPOSITION
It is used with verbs, adjectives,
adverbs
Nouns, pronouns and
prepositions.
Consists of the replacement of a word
class by another word class
without
changing the meaning

 Within the same language:

Reconstruction of the city is very
important
Reconstructing the city is very important
To reconstruct the city is very important

(Back-translation: I dont care about

your anger. I dont care
about your
getting angry.)

TRANSPOSITION
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL HOUSE YOU
LIVE IN
QUE CASA TAN LINDA EN LA QUE
VIVES

O
VIVES EN UNA CASA MUY BONITA

CROSS TRANSPOSITION
Transposition can also consist of changing the
sequence of the parts of speech in a sentence.
There is something called crossed transposition
which occurs when two terms take on each
others part of speech. This happens very
often between adverbs and adjectives, for
example, when the idea was incoherently
delightful is translated into la idea era
deliciosamente incoherente.

 Transposition in Spanish translation

can also be either loose or tight
. It is tight when equivalent
words are used but the order of the
words has been changed; it is tight
when words with similar meanings
are used together with a change in
the word order.

MODULATION
A variation of the form of the
message obtained by a change in the
point of view.
It is believed to be the most
interesting translation technique
It can be seen as reduction or as
expansion of the words

MODULATION
Speaking English is very important
Hablar Ingls es muy importante
Es muy importante hablar Ingls
Doing the right is sample of
justice
Hacer lo correcto es una muestra
de justicia

REDUCTION
It is about not translating some
words within the ideas in the
source language.

REDUCTION
Please tell him the time
Por favor dile la hora
Please show them the house
por favor muestrales la casa

Adaptation
This is the freest form of translation
Is not faithful
It is used meanly for

Plays (comedies)
Poetry
Jokes

The themes, characters and plots are

preserved
The SL culture is converted to be the TL
culture text
The text is rewritten and adapted to the
target culture