TrIn 3001: Introduction to Translation

1. TrIn 3001: Introduction to Translation Semana 3A (5/VI/06)

2. Class agenda – Week 3A • I. 12 Nida questions • II. Definition of terms for Ch. 3 • III. Lecture Chapter 3 (Larson) • Definition of terms • Semantic structures • Rincón gramatical • IV. In-class practice exercises • Continue Punctuation and False Friends exercises • Discuss translation exercise #2 (birth certificate) • V. Homework

3. How is translating “impossible”? • Language both reveals and hides. Words provide clues to meaning. Verbal signs are defined by other signs. Words do not clothe reality but are like pegs to hang ideas. • It depends on shared knowledge in that readers are expected to “know” something of the content. • There is an underlying parallax “distortion” within each language. No two words in any two languages have the same denotative or connotative meanings.

4. Questionnaire for Translation: Possible or Impossible 1. According to Nida, what is the popular assumption that makes translation impossible? 2. What does Nida say about word-for-word translation? What milieu tends to favor such a translation?

5. 3. Does Nida make a distinction between interpretation (interpreting) and translation (translating)? If you were to make a distinction, what would it be like? 4. According to Nida, what is most important in translation: faithfulness to the source culture or faithfulness to the receptor culture? Do you agree with Nida? Why or why not? What will be the implications of one or the other for the product of your translation?

6. 5. What are some of the genres that Nida mentions for Bible translation? For secular translations, what are the genres that one is likely to encounter? 6. What are some of the characteristics of languages that make translation possible?

7. 7. Why do you think that Nida argues that “translating can never be discussed apart from the cultures of the respective languages”? What are the implications of this statement for translators or for the training of translators? 8. What are some of the things mentioned by Nida that allegedly make translation impossible?

8. 9. Should translation be considered a “science”? Or an “art”? 10. What are, according to Nida, the two most important processes involved in translation?

9. 11. What is Nida’s reason for comparing translation to a game? 12. Why do you think Nida concludes his article by saying that “translating is both challenging and discouraging”? Do you agree with him? Have you ever felt discouraged by your own translation?

10. Key Ideas: Larson Chapter 3 • Terms to define (include examples): • 1. Surface structure • 2. Deep structure • 3. Semantic structure • 4. Grammatical structure • 5. Meaning components • 6. Semantic propositions • 7. Concepts • 8. Grammatical and Semantic hierarchy • 9. Communication situation

11. Key Ideas • Deep structure = semantic structure = meaning • Surface structure = grammatical, lexical, phonological structures = “form” • Meaning (deep) is structured but not in the same way as the surface structures must be ordered.

12. Key Ideas • Semantic structures are more universal (common to all languages) than grammatical structures. • 1. All units, features and relationships are the same for all languages. • 2. All have meaning components or semantic classes: thing/entity, event, attribute, relation • 3. Surface structures are NOT the same for all languages.

13. Key Ideas • Semantic PROPOSITIONS occur in all languages. These are CONCEPTS or groupings of meaning components related to one another with an event, thing/entity, or attribute as the central concept. • This proposition has 3 concepts: JOHN (as the agent) HIT(activity) the (affected) BALL.

14. Key Ideas • Skewing between grammar and semantics (common in surface structures): • The dog treed the cat (in the tree): treed = verb; tree = noun, object of preposition • Yo traje el traje. Traje = verb; el traje = noun, direct object • El vino vino. El vino =_______; vino = ________ • The smallest unit in a semantic structure is a meaning component. A group of meaning components form a concept.

15. Key Ideas • BOY = lexical item, entity or thing • Meaning components include: human being (thing or entity), young (attribute) child, male (attribute) • Analyze “MUJER” = • In surface structure, units are grouped into increasingly larger units in a hierarchy of grammatical structures.

16. Hierarchy of grammatical structures Morphemes (roots and affixes) Words Phrases Clauses Sentences Paragraphs Discourse units T e x t (story, letter, etc.)

17. bi- + -cycle bicycle on a bicycle when he rides on a bicycle He exercises when he rides on a bicycle. Paragraph Discourse unit: chapter Text of story bi- + -ciclo (cicleta) - - - - Ex: Translate to receptor language Spanish

18. Example of Surface Structure The children like to play before going to bed. • Steps of translator: • Analyze SL surface structure • Interpret SL and look for meaning • Convey the same meaning in the Receptor Language as a natural idiomatic translation • Express with the surface structure of the RL the equivalent emotion as SL

19. Grammatical Structures The children like to play before going to bed. • Morphemes: child (root)+ -ren (suffix) • Word: children • Phrase: The children (subject of sentence) • Main clause: The children like to play. . . • Subordinate clause: before going to bed.

20. Deep Structure • De todos los temas que hemos discutido en clase hasta ahora, la semántica es el más difícil. • Identify the 5 deep structures (in sentences) from the surface structure statement above. • Hemos discutido los temas. • Hemos discutido los temas en clase. • Hemos discutido los temas en clase hasta ahora. • La semántica es difícil. • La semántica es el tema más difícil. • Todos los temas son difíciles. • No hemos discutido la semántica.

21. Key Ideas Hierarchy of semantic structures: • Meaning component • Concepts • Propositions • Propositional clusters • Semantic paragraphs • Episodes • Episode clusters • Larger units of the discourse.

22. Correlation of Semantic vs. Grammatical Structures for a narrative discourse (Larson p. 34)

23. Correlation of Semantic vs. Grammatical Structures for a narrative discourse (Larson p. 34)

24. Identify the propositions: De todos los temas que hemos discutido en clase hasta ahora, la semántica es el más difícil. • Algunos temas son más difíciles. • Tenemos una clase. • En la clase discutimos temas. • La semántica ha sido el tema más difícil. • No tenemos clase hasta ahora.

25. Key Ideas • Communication situation: The translator must be aware of who the speaker/author is and what his purpose or intent is, who the audience is and how the audience is affected by emotive meaning, and the traditions of both cultures of the source and receptor languages. • How many ways might you express yourself in the following situation and maintain the same meaning? • Urge your teen to do his/her homework….

26. Key Ideas • Each source language is written in a specific historical and cultural setting and presumes author intent or purpose. Recall discourse genre. A faithful translator will keep all of these matters in mind.

27. Rincón Gramatical: Verbos con doble participio pasado • electo-elegido - Ambos vocablos constituyen el participio pasivo del verbo elegir; no obstante, tienen usos ligeramente diferentes. Electo se usa en la forma activa, como adjetivo, mientras que en la forma pasiva debe preferirse elegido. Ej.: Han elegido a fulano como presidente; él es el presidente electo. Los verbos que tienen doble participio, además de elegir, son: matar (matado-muerto), bendecir (bendecido-bendito), freír (freído, frito), imprimir (impreso, imprimido), sustituir (sustituido, sustituto).    • Ejemplos: Lo han corrompido, es un hombre corrupto.    • Lo han matado; está muerto. Nótese que muerto también es participio pasivo del verbo morir: Ha muerto.    • Han bendecido esta agua; es agua bendita.

28. Rincón gramatical: Oraciones comparadas • Explique las diferencias (de vocabulario, sintaxis y registro) entre las dos versiones de cada oración. • 1a. Le pegaron un botellazo en los morros y el tío espichó. • 1b. El hombre murió por haber sido golpeado en la cara con una botella.

29. Rincón • 2a. Qué, guapa, ¿hace un cubatas? • 2b. ¿Me permite invitarle a una bebida? • 3a. Usted que es tan amable, ¿podría hacer el favor de no fumar? • 3b. Oye tío, no seas grosero, ¿no ves que aquí no fuma nadie? • 4a. El precio fue relativamente alto. • 4b. ¡Coño, si me costó un riñón! • 5a. ¿A qué se dedica usted? • 5b. ¿Trabajas o estudias?

30. Grammar Corner: Signatures • Signatures in Hispanic business correspondence or documentation are frequently undecipherable due to the custom of adding a distinctive flourish to make forgeries difficult. These ornate signatures are more properly “rúbricas” (names written with a flourish) than “firmas” (signatures) and the translator may have no choice but to use the indication “undecipherable signature.” Fortunately, the custom of having a secretary or assistant sign for the boss is rare, and one can generally assume that the signature corresponds to the typed name in the signature block.

31. Grammar Corner: Dates • The use of slash dates in Latin America (and Europe) is different from the usage in the U.S. The customary order in the U.S. is month/day/ year while in L.A., it is day/month/year. In L.A. the day (using 1-12) can be confused with the month. If the translator cannot go back to the originator of the document or text, then a footnote may be necessary to point out the two possible meanings to the prime reader.

32. Grammar Corner • Date: 12 June 2004 (usage by military and government departments) • U.S. notation: 06/12/04 or June 12th, 2004 • L.A. notation: 12/06/04 (possible confusion) • or 12/VI/04 (no confusion) or “12 de junio de 2004” • If a date is spelled out in a legal document in either language (to make falsification more difficult), it should be spelled out in the target language.

33. Grammar Corner: Punctuation • Spanish must use the upside down question mark and exclamation sign. When going from English to Spanish the translator sometimes encounters difficulties in knowing where to put the initial Spanish sign. • English places the period and comma inside the quotation marks in direct quotes, while Spanish puts them outside. • Ex: He said: “well done.” but Dijo: “bien hecho”. • The translator frequently uses quation marks in the TL to indicate an unfamiliar word, a neologism or a word outside its normal meaning. • Ex: Compró “software” para su computadora.

34. In-class exercises 1 • pp. 37-39 (Larson) • Exercise A (class) • Exercise B (class) - answer questions a-e for each event on p. 38 • Exercise C (group of 5) - Translate on the board the “deep (semantic) structure” paragraph (p. 37) • Exercise D (group of 5) - Rewrite the paragraph in English by paraphrasing on the board (p. 39)

35. In-class exercise 2 Groups of 3: General discussion/commentary on birth certificate (see handout Semana 2B) • Approach of translator • Identify discourse genre • Highlight Spanish words giving difficulty and a list of possible English words to use • Identify sources used for semantic support • Consult your classmates for additional words or phrases related to appropriate receptor language form. Also consult manual pp. 59-62.

36. Summary of Discourse Genres

37. In-class exercise 3 1. Continue punctuation and false friends exercises 2. Dual Translation: • One student translates manual p. 149 while the other translates from manual p. 150. • Comment and compare lexical choices. Whose translation seems to be more idiomatic? Or are both equally idiomatic?

38. Homework for 06/7/06 • Read Chapter 4 (Larson) • Read Nida article (manual p. 14+)“The Tradition of Translation in the Western World” to answer questions #1-8 on manual p. 23a. • Read manual “The 10 frequent errors…” and “Categories of Errors” (manual pp. 66+, 68+) • Final 3 drafts of translation exercise #2 • Original Spanish birth certificate • English document with noted revisions • Final English document as you would submit it to a client (maintain SL format)