Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto Línguas e Literaturas Modernas

1. Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do PortoLínguas e Literaturas Modernas INTRODUCTION TO TRANSLATION STUDIES Power Point 6 17 October 2007 Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

2. Read the following ST and translate it into your language. A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the centre of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: `What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.' The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, `What is the tortoise standing on?’ ‘You're very clever, young man, very clever,' said the old lady. `But it's turtles all the way down!‘ (from A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, 1988) Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

3. Target text (back-translated from Greek): Alice in Wonderland was once giving a lecture about astronomy. She said that the earth is a spherical planet in the solar system which orbits around its centre the sun, and that the sun is a star which in turn orbits around the centre of the star system which we call the Galaxy. At the end of the lecture the Queen looked at her angrily and disapprovingly. `What you say is nonsense. The earth is just a giant playing card, so it's flat like all playing cards,' she said, and turned triumphantly to the members of her retinue, who seemed clearly satisfied by her explanation. Alice smiled a superior smile, `And what is this playing card supported on?' she asked with irony. The Queen did not seem put out, 'You are clever, very clever,' she replied, `so let me tell you, young lady, that this playing card is supported on another, and the other on another other, and the other other on another other other ...' She stopped, out of breath, ‘The Universe is nothing but a great big pack of cards,' she shrieked. Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

4. Portuguese text (published by Gradiva in 2000; the information online does not specify the name of the translator)Part of this book is available at http://www.gradiva.pt/capitulo.asp?L=2027 Um conhecido cientista (segundo as más línguas, Bertrand Russell) deu uma vez uma conferência sobre astronomia. Descreveu como a Terra orbita em volta do Sol e como o Sol, por sua vez, orbita em redor do centro de um vasto conjunto de estrelas que constitui a nossa galáxia. No fim da conferência, uma velhinha, no fundo da sala, levantou-se e disse: «O que o senhor nos disse é um disparate. O mundo não passa de um prato achatado equilibrado nas costas de uma tartaruga gigante.» O cientista sorriu com ar superior e retorquiu com outra pergunta: «E onde se apoia a tartaruga?» A velhinha então exclamou: «Você é um jovem muito inteligente, mas são tudo tartarugas por aí a baixo!» Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

5. Another translation found at:http://fisica.nletras.com/viewtopic.php?p=1548&sid=dd87963dbbead2ba67a9ba92fa9ad482 «Um conhecido cientista ( alguns dizem que foi Bertrand Russel ), deu uma vez uma conferência sobre astronomia. Descreveu como a terra orbita em redor do centro de um vasto conjunto de estrelas chamada a nossa galáxia. No fim da conferência, uma velhinha, no fundo da sala, levantou-se e disse: “ O que o senhor nos disse é um disparate. O mundo não passa de um prato achatado equilibrado nas costas de uma tartaruga gigante”. O cientista sorriu com ar superior, antes de responder com uma pergunta: “ E a tartaruga está em cima de quê?”. A velhinha então exclamou: “ Você é um jovem muitíssimo inteligente, mas são tudo tartarugas por aí abaixo!”» Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

6. Historiadel tiempo (del Big Bang a los agujeros negros), trans. from English by Miguel Ortufio, Barcelona: Editorial Crítica. Un conocido científico (algunos dicen que fue Bertrand Russell) daba una vez una conferencia sobre astronomía. En ella describía cómoTierra giraba alrededor del Sol y cómo éste, a su vez, giraba alrededor del centro de una vasta colección de estrellas conocida como nuestra galaxia. Al final de la charla, una simpática señora ya de edad se levantó y le dijo desde el fondo de la sala: «Lo que nos ha contado usted no son más que tonterías. El mundo es en reelid una plataforma plana sustentada por el caparazón de una tortuga gigante». El científico sonrió ampliamente antes de replicarlei «¿ y en qué se apoya la tortuga?». «Usted es muy inteligente, joven, muy inteligente — dijo la señora —. ¡Pero hay infinitas tortugas una debajo de otra!». Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

7. Roman Jakobson, 1959 “all cognitive experience and its classification is conveyable in any existing language” AND only poetry “by definition is untranslatable” WHY? Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

8. CLASSICAL DICHOTOMY SENSE/ FORM/ CONTENT STYLE Sense can be translated; form cannot When form contributes to sense or becomes merged with it (as in poetry, songs, ads, puns, etc.), untranslatability comes into play. (Hatim and Munday, 2004: 10) Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

9. Translation theorybefore the 20th century • The ‘literal’ (word-for-word T) vs. ‘free’ (‘sense-for-sense T) debate. - a debate that has emerged over and over again “with different degrees of emphasis in accordance with differing concepts of language and communication” (Susan Bassnett) - circular debate (George Steiner) Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

10. Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BC Roman orator, politician and philosopher from De Oratore, 55 BC I decided to take speeches written in Greek by great orators and to translate them freely . . . From De optimo genere oratorum, 46 BC I did not hold it necessary to render word for word, but I preserved the general style and force of the language. Famous translators who helped introduce/maintain this dichotomy Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

11. Quintus Horatius, Flaccus (Horace), 65-8 BC Roman poet. Extract from the Epistula ad Pisones, also known as Ars Poetica (usually dated around 10 BC) Do not worry about rendering word for word, faithful translator, but render sense for sense. Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

12. What was word-for-word T in Roman times? Each Greek word was replaced by its closest grammatical/lexical counterpart in Latin, since the ST and the TT were read side by side. Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

13. Hieronymus (Saint Jerome), 345-419(420), Church father, translator, and historian Extract from the “Letter to Pammachius”, also known as De optimo genere interpretandi, probably written between 405 and 410 I admit and confess most freely that I have not translated word for word in my translations of Greek texts, but sense for sense, except in the case of the Scriptures in which even the order of the words is a mystery. Cicero has been my teacher in this. Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

14. Literal vs free Form vs content • Western tradition (Cicero, St. Jerome) • Oriental tradition: China (Hung and Pollard) the Arab world: Baghdad centre of translation (Baker) NB: the terms used to describe the oriental T traditions are influenced by classical western European T discourse. Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

15. T of the Bible and of other religious and philosophical texts (e.g. Plato’s dialogues) dominates the scene • Danger of heresy The case of the French humanist Etienne Dolet, 1509-1546 (burnt at the stake) • Martin Luther’s T of the New Testament (1522) and the Old Testament (1534) into East Middle German; he followed St Jerome and used sense-for-sense. Accused of having altered the Scriptures in his T, he wrote Sendbrief von Dolmetschen (1530) to defend himself. Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

16. 1100 years after St Jerome Luther translated the Bible into the language of the ordinary people of a German region, thus emphasizing the importance of the TL and the TT readership. Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

17. Fidelity, Spirit, Truth • End 17th century: fidelity comes to mean faithfulness to the meaning rather than the words used in the original. • Spirit: in Latin, spiritus is inspiration, creative energy; for St. Augustine it means the Holy Spirit; for St. Jerome, it means both. • 12th century: truth comes to be seen as content Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

18. Attempts at systematization: setting out ‘prescriptions’ (how to produce a successful T) • (Dolet, 1540: 5 principles) • John Dryden, 1631-1700. English poet, dramatist, critic and translator (metaphrase, paraphrase*, imitation) (ITS, p.25) • Alexander Fraser Tytler, 1747-1814 Essay on the Principles of Translation, 1790 (3 laws in order of importance: keep ideas, style/form, fluency) Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

19. Romanticism: early 19th century • Friedrich Schleiermacher, 1768-1834. German philosopher and translator. Über die verschiedenen Methoden des Übersetzens, 1813 - Dolmetscher (commercial texts) - Übersetzer (scholarly, artistic texts) Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

20. Alienating or naturalizing? “What of the genuine translator, who wants to bring those two completely separated persons, his author and his reader, truly together, and who would like to bring the latter to as correct and complete an understanding of the orginal as possible without inviting him to leave the sphere of his mother tongue? What roads are open to him? In my opinion there are only two. Either the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves the reader toward him. Or he leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author toward him.” 1813 Schleiermacher chooses the first method. Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

21. Schleiermacher’s influence on modern translation theory • Equivalent effect (Nida) • Katarina Reiss (texttypologie) • Laurence Venuti (domestication vs foreignization) • George Steiner • Walter Benjamin Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006

22. Main points • Diad: literal / free debate (circular) • How to translate the Bible dominated Tth for over a thousand years • The translator’s preface (fragmentation) • Dryden: triad (some systematization) • Foreignization / domestication Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP 2006