Mona Baker In Other Words a Coursebook on

Mona Baker In Other Words: a Coursebook on Translation (1992) It has had great influence on Translation training and consequently Translation studies.

Baker looks at equivalence at six levels 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Word level: words and phrases for which there are no equivalents in the target language Above word level: collocation, markedness, and register (the set of words that might potentially collocate with the word in question, and by marked collocations. ) , as well as the translation of idioms and fixed expressions Grammar: explains number, gender, person, tense, aspect, voice, word order and an introduction to the concept of text and its organization Thematic structure: covers the concepts of theme and rheme Cohesion: the network of lexical, grammatical and other relations which provide links between various parts of a text Pragmatic: The way utterances are used in communicative situations.

Thematic and information structure ideational metafunctions interpersonal textual

I theme realized the problem rheme

Baker incorporates a comparison of nominalization and verbal forms in theme position: 1. Analyzed-were the relations between dopamine and motor functions. (begins with pronominal verbal form) 2. The relations between dopamine and motor functions were analyzed. (normalized word order with passive verbal form in the final position) 3. An Analysis is carried out of the relations between dopamine and motor functions. (use of the nominalized form “analysis” and the addition of a different passive form) WHY? To meet the conventions of English abstract

The Problem Thematic structure is realized differently in different languages. For example, Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese are verb inflected languages. (The verb is in theme position) Some languages, like Portuguese, omit the subject pronoun. This also creates a different thematic pattern.

Halliday VS Baker Hallidayan model of thematic analysis is Englishoriented what casts doubt on its validity. Baker produces an alternative: functional sentence perspective model of thematic structure. It is more suitable for languages with a frequent VS order. Why? 1. It takes into account communicative dynamism and word order. 2. It is much more straightforward to implement: theme is in the first position, come what may.

The translator should be aware of relative markedness Relative markedness is used to distinguish two meanings of the same term, where one is common usage (unmarked sense) and the other is specialized to a certain cultural context (marked sense). 1. It helps us to heighten our awareness of meaningful choices made by speakers and writers in the course of communication. 2. It helps in deciding whether it is appropriate to use a marked form or not.

Problems of copying ST pattern into TT 1. What is marked varies across languages. 2. Calquing a rigid English word order in VS languages produces a monotonous translation. 3. Gerzymisch-Arbogast 1986 considers the German calquing of English cleft to be clumsy. 4. Enkvist 1978 pointed out the dilemma of balancing concern for information dynamics with sometimes incompatible concern for other areas such as basic syntactic patterns.

Cohesion Introduction: Blum-Kulka’s study “Shifts of Cohesion and Coherence in Translation” • • • All translators tend to use cohesive ties explicitly. Changes in cohesion in translation may bring about functional shifts in the text. Some languages need to state the gender of the character.

Baker and Cohesion • • Baker defines cohesion as “the network of lexical, grammatical and other relations which provide links between various parts of a text” (p. 190). In order to have cohesion, a text must have references that the reader can follow clearly and consistently without confusion. The density and the progression of cohesive ties throughout the text are the most important. Sometimes this web of relationships differs between St and TT WHY? “Because the network of lexical cohesion will not be identified across languages. “ (Baker 1992) For example: Portuguese lexical repetition to pronoun use

Pragmatics • “The study of language in use. It is the study of meaning not as generated by linguistics system, but as conveyed and manipulated by the participants in a communicative situation” • Baker explores ways in which translators can be sure to produce translations that faithfully reflect the use in context and typical interpretation in context of the source text.

Three major pragmatic concepts 1. Coherence 2. Presupposition 3. Implicature

Coherence • • • Coherence is defined as the subjective perception that a text has internal consistency and that its references and ideas expressed are clear and flow logically. The TT must also be coherent. It must hang together logically in the mind of the TT receiver. Depends on the hearer’s or the receiver’s expectations and experience of the world This may be the same for the ST and the TT readers.

Presupposition relates to the linguistic and extralinguistic knowledge the sender assumes the receiver to have or which are necessary in order to retrieve the sender’s message. For example, “let me now turn to bananas”

The problem occurs when the TT receiver can’t be assumed to possess the same background knowledge as the ST receivers. Possible reasons? 1. Because of cultural differences 2. Because the knowledge is being translated after a time gap when the original information is no longer activated by the reference.

Implicature Baker defines implicature as “what the speaker means or implies rather than what s/he said” Implicature is the way that people can “understand more than is actually said” (p. 235). It was developed by Paul Grice.

Grice’s rules 1. Quantity: Quantity Give the amount of information that is necessary. Don’t give too much or too little. 2. Quality: Say only what you know to be true or what you can support. 3. Relevance: What you say should be relevant to the conversation 4. Manner: Say what you need to say in a way that is appropriate to the message you wish to convey and which normally will be understood by the receiver.

Some theorists add one more rule… Politeness: Be polite in your Politeness comments Note: Chapter 8, in Baker’s In other Words, is new to the In other Words, second edition and is titled “Beyond Equivalence: ethics and morality. ”

• The maxims might be deliberately ignored for a humorous effect. • Some problems are posed for the translator when the TL works by different maxims. • For example, some vulgar jokes about God were omitted when producing the TT in Arabic so as not to upset local sensibilities. • Baker notes that the translator should be aware of these principles in operation in the respective languages and cultures.