Translation 

is a mental activity in which

a meaning of given linguistic
discourse is rendered from one
language to another. ... The
language to be translated is called
the source language (SL), whereas
the language to be translated into
or arrived at is called the target
language (TL).
Context of Retention
 c i p l e
I. Prin
of
ui v a l e n ce
E q
 Vinay and Darbelnet

- view equivalence-oriented translation

as a procedure which 'replicates the
same situation as in the original, whilst
using completely different wording‘

- They also suggest that, if this

procedure is applied during the
translation process, it can maintain the
stylistic impact of the SL text in the TL
text.
Jakobson and the concept of
equivalence in difference:
Roman Jakobson's study of equivalence gave new
impetus to the theoretical analysis of translation since he
introduced the notion of 'equivalence in difference'.

• Intralingual (within one language, i.e. rewording or

paraphrase)

• Interlingual (between two languages)

• Intersemiotic (between sign systems)

claims that, in the case of
interlingual translation, the
translator makes use of synonyms
in order to get the ST message
across.
 Nida and Taber
Formal correspondence and
dynamic equivalence
Two different types of equivalence

Formal correspondence
consists of a TL item which
represents the closest equivalent of a
SL word or phrase. Nida and Taber
make it clear that there are not always
formal equivalents between language
pairs. 
Dynamic equivalence
is defined as a translation
principle according to which a
translator seeks to translate the
meaning of the original in such a
way that the TL wording will
trigger the same impact on the TC
audience as the original wording
did upon the ST audience. 
Catford and the introduction
of translation shifts

His main contribution in the

field of translation theory is the
introduction of the concepts of
types and shifts of translation
Catford proposed very broad types
of translation in terms of three
criteria:

The extent of translation (full

translation vs partial translation);
 
The grammatical rank at which the
translation equivalence is established
(rank-bound translation vs. unbounded
translation);
 
The levels of language involved in
 rank-bound translation an equivalent
is sought in the TL for each word, or
for each morpheme encountered in
the ST.

unbounded translation equivalences
are not tied to a particular rank, and
we may additionally find equivalences
at sentence, clause and other levels. 
Catford argues that there are
two main types of translation
shifts

 level shifts,where the SL item at one

linguistic level (e.g. grammar) has a TL
equivalent at a different level (e.g.
lexis)

category shifts which are divided into

four types:
• Structure-shifts, which involve a
grammatical change between the
structure of the ST and that of the TT; 
 
• Class-shifts, when a SL item is translated
with a TL item which belongs to a
different grammatical class,
 
• Unit-shifts, which involve changes in
rank; 
 
• Intra-system shifts, which occur when 'SL
and TL possess systems which
 a c
a ck k
II.II.BB attio i n
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a s
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s l
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T rTa
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A "back-translation" is a translation of a
translated text
back into the language of the original text,
made without
reference to the original text.

 Comparison of a back-translation with the

original text
is sometimes used as a check on the accuracy
of the
original translation, much as the accuracy of a
mathematical operation is sometimes checked
by
•  Back-translation must in general be less
accurate than back-calculation because
linguistic symbols (words) are often ambiguous,
whereas mathematical symbols are intentionally
unequivocal.

•  In the context of machine translation, a back

translation is also called a "round-trip
translation."

•  When translations are produced of material

used in medical clinical trials, such as informed-
consent forms, a back-translation is often
required by the ethics committee or institutional
review board.
 When a historic document survives only in
translation, the original having been lost,
researchers sometimes undertake back-
translation in an effort to reconstruct the
original text.

 when historians suspect that a document is

actually a translation from another language,
back-translation into that hypothetical
original language can provide supporting
evidence by showing that such
characteristics as idioms, puns, peculiar
grammatical structures, etc., are in fact
derived from the original language
III. Fidelity Vs. Transparency

e l i t y
Fid
And
p a re
Trans
ncy
Fidelity (or faithfulness) and
transparency, dual ideals in
translation, are often at odds. A
17th-century French critic coined
the phrase "les belles infidèles" to
suggest that translations, like
women, can be either faithful or
beautiful, but not both.
A translation that meets the first
criterion is said to be "faithful"; a
translation that meets the second,
"idiomatic". The two qualities are
not necessarily mutually exclusive.
The criteria for judging the fidelity
of a translation vary according to
the subject, type and use of the
text, its literary qualities, its social
or historical context, etc.
 IV.
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IV.
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Eq u
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• The question of fidelity vs. transparency
has also been formulated in terms of,
respectively, "formal equivalence" and
"dynamic [or functional] equivalence".
The latter expressions are associated with
the translator Eugene Nida and were
originally coined to describe ways of
translating the Bible, but the two
approaches are applicable to any
translation
Formal Equivalence
corresponds to
"metaphrase
"literal" translation
attempts to render the
text literally, or "word for
word" (the latter
expression being itself a
word-for-word rendering
of the classical Latin
verbum pro verbo) — if
necessary, at the
expense of features
natural to the target
language
Dynamic Equivalence
corresponds to
"paraphrase"
"functional equivalence“
conveys the essential
thoughts expressed in a
source text — if
necessary, at the
expense of literality,
original sememe and
word order, the source
text's active vs. passive
voice, etc.
 V. d i
s ta n
de r
Un
ng
g o n
Jar
 By definition, it is the language, esp. the
vocabulary,
peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group:
medical jargon.

 It is also unintelligible or meaningless talk or

writing;
gibberish. Some may say, it is specialized language
concerned with a particular subject, culture, or
profession
or the terminology or idiom of a particular activity or
group.

 Jargon is the collective name for words that only

make
sense to certain people. Jargon is ‘the technical
 Jargon can be a useful form of communication between
members of the same group. It acts as a ‘shorthand’
which eliminates the need for lengthy explanations. The
most important thing about jargon is that it should only
be used when communicating with people in the same
group. Some items of jargon eventually pass into
common use because they seem to fill a need.

 Academic study has its own jargon too, depending upon

the subject in question. Terms such as hegemony
(political philosophy) discourse analysis (linguistics) and
objective correlative (literary studies) would not be
recognizable by an everyday reader, though they might
be understood by someone studying the same subject.

 Whatever the jargon of your own discipline, it should be

used with precision, accuracy, and above all restraint