TRANSLATION 7 The translation process diachronic and synchronic

TRANSLATION 7. The translation process: diachronic and synchronic Lingua Inglese 2 LM

LESSONS 1 -6; 7 -14 LESSONS 1 -6 - Translation and text in relation to: Medium – man or machine? Language – Intra-language equivalence – word/sentence/text Genre – what type of text Culture, context – of ST, TT, readers, writers LESSONS 7 -14 – The translating process diachronic/synchronic purpose of the translation Individual strategies of the translator

Translation process The translation process can be viewed in different ways a. Translation over time (a historical process) – a diachronic process b. Translation as action in the present – a synchronic process - the example of global news reporting

A. Translation process over time Bassnett (1991: 45 -50) - "The history of Bible translation is a history of western culture in microcosm”: St. Jerome's translation into Latin in 384 A. D. John Wycliffe (1330 -84) and the 'Lollards' William Tyndale (1494 -1536) – burnt at stake Martin Luther – New Testament 1522, Old Testament 1534 Try Biblegateway: http: //www. biblegateway. com/cgi-bin/bible

Translations of the Bible over time a. 1. 1 1. 2 1. 3 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”: And there was light. b. 1. 1 In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth 1. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 1. 3 And God said, “Let there be light”: And there was light. c. 1. 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 1. 2 Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water. 1. 3 And God said, “Let there be light”: And there was light.

Translations of the Bible over time Differences 1. 1 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, 1. 2 the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. 1. 3 And God said, “Let there be light”: And there was light. b. 1. 1 In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth 1. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 1. 3 And God said, “Let there be light”: And there was light. c. 1. 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 1. 2 Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water. 1. 3 And God said, “Let there be light”: And there was light. WHICH VERSION CAME FIRST ?

English versions of the Bible over time

Koran translation See University of Southern California: http: //www. usc. edu/dept/MSA/quran/ Warning on the website "Note that any translation of the Qur'an immediately ceases to be the literal word of Allah, and hence cannot be equated with the Qur'an in its original Arabic form. In fact, each of the translations on this site is actually an interpretation which has been translated. "

The process of translating news for a global audience Translation is heavily involved in the diffusion of news stories world wide. ENGLISH TRANSLATION IN NEWS AGENCIES The local language of the event is translated into English The English story is sent around the world The English story is translated into local languages

HOW A NEWS AGENCY (e. g. Reuters) WORKS - from event to news story Event: Explosion on a train in North Korea 1. News came in from the Chinese News Agency in Chinese and English 2. Nothing came in from the North Korean News Agency 3. News came in from South Korean agencies in Korean and English (It is becoming more common to have interpreters directly translating news coming in by phone) 4. Translators in local bureaux worked on putting the Chinese and Korean versions into English 5. All translated texts were sent to a central editing desk (reports are collated and turned into a homogeneous story) 6. The English version of the story was sent to local news agencies around the world and translated again into other languages for local use 7. Local news agencies distributed the story to local newspapers, broadcasters, etc.

Translation as editing and journalism Translation helps to get local stories around the world “Translators in local bureaux worked on putting the Chinese and Korean versions into English” (Chinese to English) “The story was sent to local news agencies around the world and translated again into other languages for local use” (English to Italian) Newspapers will often produce an English version of a local story on their own website (Italian to English)

Translating news = editing and journalism “Clearly translation is a requirement for the production of news in a Reuters news bureau. But it is not translation pure and simple, rather the production of a news service, a news product in a specific language, tailored to a specific local audience and reflecting journalistic norms in that region”. Reuters manager

What happens to global news when it is translated into English ? News stories are translated into English and out of English into other languages. What happens in this translation process? n. 3

What happens to global news when it is translated into English ? Change of HEADLINE Titles are often substituted for new ones to meet the expectations of the target reader or the requirement of the target publication.

What happens to global news when it is translated into English ? Change of HEADLINE Headline in Spanish ST Cerveceria guatemalteca producira cerveza para seguidores de ciencia ficcion Headline in English TT Blue beer for science fiction fans - CHANGE REFLECTS READERS TASTES - SPANISH/ITALIAN HEADLINES ARE LONGER THAN ENGLISH ONES

What happens to global news when it is translated into English ? An agency story often has a long LEAD (informative subtitle)

What happens to global news when it is translated into English ? There is often a change of LEAD (informative subtitle) LEADS (informative subtitles) are often substituted for new ones, added or eliminated so as to better suit the needs and background knowledge of the target audience

What happens to global news when it is translated into English ? ADDITION or ELIMINATION of background INFO When the target readers change, it might be necessary to add or eliminate background information to meet the prior knowledge of the target audience

What happens to global news when it is translated out of English ? ADDITION or ELIMINATION of background INFO ELIMINATED FROM ORIGINAL Bomber, truck, explosives Hama at least Reported ……. . … ADDED Last Sunday.

What happens to global news when it is translated into English ? The information in news stories translated into English have to be structured according to the inverted pyramid CHANGE IN STRUCTURE Translations out of English change the info and so don’t necessarily keep the inverted pyramid structure

The problem of “equivalent effect” ‘The relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message’ (Nida 1964: 159) But how is this to be achieved when the TT audience is far removed from the ST context? And how does the translator determine who the audience is and what the ST author’s intention was?

Message v Effect Proverbs 18: 24 “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. ” (King James Bible) “Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family. ” (The Message) The message is the same but the effect is different. The translator has chosen to maintain the semantics and use a modern English style (this is called domestication) What about the Saddam translation?

The Saddam translation - foreignisation Here the translator is trying to give the TT reader access to the ST voice: Literal translation Old English pronouns - “ye”, “thy” Biblical style - capital letters strange use of brackets; strange phraseology (“that, and also because …”) This strategy is called “foreignisation” IS THIS STRATEGY SUCCESSFUL? does the English reader get the message? what kind of message is transmitted? what is the point of publishing a translation of this speech?

What happens to translated global news? CHANGES AT THE DISCOURSE LEVEL – DOES THE TT HAVE THE SAME EFFECT ON ITS AUDIENCE AS THE TT? DOES FOREIGNISATION DILUTE UNDERSTANDING

Foreignisation v domestication Foreignisation is a translator’s preference for equivalent effect - the translator prefers to maintain the original effect of the ST even though the meaning might be lost. Foreignisaion is often a strategy used in literary translation. Domestication is the opposite. When translators choose domestication they prefer equivalent semantics (getting the same message across) to equivalent effect (getting the same effect across) Domestication is normally used for translating foreign news (because news has to be accurate) This is why it is strange that The Guardian decided to use a foreignisation strategy to report Saddam’s speech (which is news).

Foreignisation v domestication The BBC sometimes chooses foreignisation. Some BBC interviews with non-English speaking Italians; the dubbing in English has an Italian accent The foreignisation v domestication decision is important in areas like Bible translation: - do you want to get the message across? (domestication required) - do you want to retain the historic flavour of the old Bible? (foreignisation required)