Translation Studies and AVT
Department of European,
American and Intercultural Studies
2016-2017
WEEK 3 - LECTURE 1
Dr. Margherita Dore
[email protected]
Overview
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Text type and genre
Snell-Hornby’s integrated approach
Translatorial action
Skopos theory
Documentary and instrumental translation
Text analysis for translation
Katharina Reiss
• German linguist and translation scholar
• Communication is achieved at the text level
• Equivalence must be sought.
• Drawing from Karl Bühler’s earlier categorization of the three
functions of language, Reiss formulated a functional model
of genre and text type which describes three types of text:
informative, expressive and operative.
• Each of these text types requires a different type of
translation method and the translation of the predominant
function of the ST should be the determining factor guiding
the translation.
Text Type and Genre
• Reiss’s text-type/genre taxonomy:
– Informative, a plain communication of facts: information,
knowledge opinions; language is logical and communicating the
content of text is also its main function (e.g. encyclopaedia)
– Expressive, creative texts, the aesthetics of the language used
is important, author and message are foregrounded (e.g. Novel,
poem, etc.)
– Operative the text aims to persuade its receiver to do
something; the language is dialogic and appellative (e.g.
Adverts, political speeches, etc.)
(Audio-medial the text includes written and spoken material,
including music and visual elements (e.g. films, TV ads, Political
programmes, etc.)
Text Type and Genre
Text Type and Genre
• Translation method
– Informative > ‘plain prose method’, the TT should be contentfocused and transmit the ST’s full referential content; no
redundancy and use of explicitation if required
– Expressive > ‘identifying method’, the TT should be formfocused and transmit the ST’s aesthetic form; accuracy of
information; the ST style is a priority
– Operative > ‘adaptive method’, the TT should aim for full
equivalence in term of response; it should aim to transmit the ST’s
intended effect
– Audio-medial > ‘supplementary method’ the TT should
supplement the non verbal text of the ST
Text Types - Example 1
E. Semino (2011) translated by M. Dore
In this paper I apply Fauconnier and
Turner’s theory of Conceptual
Integration, or Blending, to the
analysis of a central aspect of the
main characters’ mental lives in
Virginia Woolf ’s story
‘Lappin and Lapinova’: the fantastic
world in which the story’s two
protagonists, Rosalind and her
husband Ernest, are, respectively a
rabbit King called Lappin and a hare
called Queen Lapinova. My analysis
shows how the application of recent
theories of cognition to literature can
plausibly shed light on the creative
processes involved in the production
and interpretation of literary texts.
In questo lavoro applico la teoria di
Fauconnier e Turner sull’integrazione
concettuale, altresì denominata blending,
al fine di analizzare un aspetto centrale
della psicologia dei protagonisti del
racconto breve di Virginia Woolf dal titolo
‘Lappin e Lapinova’: il mondo di fantasia
in cui i due protagonisti della storia,
Rosalind e il marito Ernest, sono,
rispettivamente, un re coniglio chiamato
Lappin e una lepre chiamata regina
Lapinova. La mia analisi dimostra come
l’applicazione di recenti teorie cognitive
alla letteratura possa spiegare in modo
plausibile e illuminante i processi creativi
che fanno parte della produzione e
interpretazione dei testi letterari.
Text Types - Example 2
Shakespeare’s Julius Cesar – Mark Anthony’s Speech:
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend
me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise
him. The evil that men do lives after
them;
The good is oft interred with their
bones; So let it be with Caesar. The
noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar
was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
and grievously hath Caesar
answer'd it.
Amici, Romani, concittadini,
prestatemi attenzione;
io vengo per seppellire Cesare, non
per elogiarlo. Il male che gli uomini
compiono vive dopo di loro; il bene
è spesso interrato con le loro ossa.
Quindi lasciate che sia così per
Cesare.
Il nobile Bruto vi ha detto che
Cesare era ambizioso.
Se così era, era una colpa grave. E
gravemente Cesare le ha risposto.
Text Types - Example 3
(Bad) advertising translation…
Criticism
• Why there should only be three types of language
functions?
• Are Reiss’s preferred translation methods
reversible?
• Can text types and genres be differentiated on the
basis of the primary function?
• Reiss’s divisions is really feasible?
Snell-Hornby
• Mary Snell-Hornby — Austrian-based scholar
and translator.
• Her work, Translation Studies: An Integrated
Approach (1988/95), reviews and attempts to
integrate a wide variety of different linguistic
and literary concepts in an overarching
‘integrated approach’ to translation based on
text types.
Snell-Hornby’s Integrated Approach
• Level A: continuum of literary, general and special
language
• Level B: prototypical text types (e.g. Literary, Bible,
film, poetry, etc.
• Level C: relevant non-linguistic disciplines (including
specialized translation)
• Level D: the function of the translation (understanding
the ST’s function, the TT focus and its communicative
function)
• Level E: linguistics
• Level F: phonology (e.g. Alliteration, rhythm,
speakability for dubbing)
Snell-Hornby’s Integrated Approach
Translatorial Action (Holz-Mänttäri)
• Justa Holz Mänttäri, Finnish-based German theorist.
• Her model of translation views translation as purposedriven, outcome-oriented human interaction involving
intercultural transfer.
• From communication theory to action theory, she
points out roles and players with own (primary and
secondary) goals:
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Initiator
Commissioner
ST producer
TT producer
TT user
TT receiver
Hans J. Vermeer
• German linguist and translator scholar who , with
Reiss, developed the skopos theory of translation.
• Their book Grundlegung einer allgemeinen
Translationstheorie [‘Groundwork for a General
Theory of Translation’] (1984) aims for a general
translation theory for all texts.
• The first part sets out a detailed explanation of
Vermeer’s skopos theory, whereas the second
adapts Reiss’s functional text-type model to the
general theory.
Skopos Theory
• ‘Skopos’ = aim or purpose (of TT)
• The TT (‘translatum’) must be fit for purpose =
‘dethroning of ST’ (Vermeer)
• The skopos is stipulated by the client, commissioner or
initiator and determines the translation method and
strategy to be employed in order to provide a functionally
adequate text in the target culture
• Skopos theory allows for the possibility that the same
text may be translated in different ways according to
the purpose of the TT
Skopos Theory
• TT judged on functional adequacy:
– Intratextual coherence (the TT must be translated
in such a way that it makes sense for the TT
receivers) + intertextual fidelity (there must be
coherence between the TT and the ST)
– Functionality + loyalty to ST author intentions (Nord)
– So, skopos needs to be explicitly stated in the
brief/commission
If the TT fulfils the skopos outlined by the commission, it
is functionally and communicatively adequate.
Nord’s Translation-Oriented Text Analysis
• Christiane Nord – the model of translation put forward in
her book Text Analysis in Translation (1988/2005) is a
detailed functional translation-oriented text analysis
model which examines text organization at or above
sentence level.
• Nord’s model enables understanding of the function of the
features and the selection of translation strategies
appropriate to the intended purpose of the translation.
• Her model stresses the importance of a ‘functionality plus
loyalty’ principle. She distinguishes two basic types of
translation: documentary translation and instrumental
translation.
Documentary and
Instrumental Translation
• Documentary translation
– ‘a document of a source culture communication
between the author and the ST recipient’
(Nord 2005: 80)
• Instrumental translation
– ‘is intended to fulfill its communicative purpose
without the recipient being conscious of reading or
hearing a text which, in a different form, was used
before in a different communicative situation’
(Nord ibid.)
Text Analysis for Translation (Nord)
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Subject matter (culture-bond to ST and TT)
Content (the meaning of the text)
Presuppositions (ST and TT conventions)
Text composition (microstructures)
Non-verbal elements (illustrations, italics, etc.)
Lexis (dialect, register, etc.)
Sentence structure (rhetorical features)
Suprasegmental features (stress, intonation, etc.)
Bibliography
What we studied so far:
• Munday, Jeremy (2016), Introducing Translation Studies.
Theories and Applications, 4th edition, Routledge,
London/New York – CHAPTERS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Translation Studies and AVT
Department of European,
American and Intercultural Studies
2016-2017
WEEK 3 - LECTURE 2
Dr. Margherita Dore
[email protected]
Overview
• The Hallidayan model of language and
discourse
• House’s model of translation quality
assessment
• Thematic structure
• Cohesion
• Pragmatics
• Context and discourse
Michael A. K. Halliday
• Halliday is a British-born Australian linguist who
developed the systemic functional grammar
(SFL) model of language.
• It is geared to the study of language as social
semiotic.
• It sees meaning in the writer’s linguistic
choices and systematically relates these
choices to a wider sociocultural framework.
The Hallidayan Model of Language and Discourse
The Hallidayan model of language (Munday 2012: 138)
Variables of Register Analysis
Register variables and their typical realizations (Munday 2012: 139)
House’s Model of Translation Quality Assessment
Scheme for analysing and comparing ST and TT
(J. House 1997: 108)
Application of House’s model
Step 1: ST register profile
Step 2: Description of the ST genre
Step 3: Statement of the ST’s function
Step 4: TT profiling (steps 1-3)
Step 5: Comparison of ST and TT profiles (errors,
mismatches)
Step 6: Statement of quality for the TT
Step 7: Categorization of the TT as over or covert translation
House’s Model of Translation Quality Assessment
• Overt translation
– The TT does not pretend to be (and is not represented
as being) an original and is clearly not directed at the
TT audience
• Covert translation
– ‘is a translation which enjoys the status of an original
source text in the target culture’ (House 1997: 69)
• Cultural filter
– Modification of cultural elements so that the TT seems
an original.
Cover Translation - Example 1
M. Dore (2016) translation of Tower Bridge Guide
Cover Translation - Example 1
M. Dore (2016) translation of Tower Bridge Guide
Mona Baker
• In her influential book In Other Words
(1992/2011), Baker looks at equivalence at a
series of levels: at the level of lexical meaning,
above word level, at the level of grammar, textual
equivalence and pragmatic equivalence
• Baker’s later work includes important work on
narrative theory and translation.
Pragmatics and Translation
• ‘Pragmatics is the study of language in use’ (Baker 2011:
230)
• Coherence
• Presupposition
• Implicature, from Grice’s maxims:
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Quantity, give the right amount of information
Quality, say only what you believe to be true
Relevance, be relevant to the conversation
Manner, say things in an appropriate way
Politeness, be polite with your comments
• Do these change in translation?
Grice’s Maxims
• And, for the sake of understanding:
Thematic Structure
• Part of Halliday’s textual function
• Relates to order of elements and information
structure
• Thematic structure is realized differently in different
languages
• Translator should be aware of the relative
markedness (prominence or unusualness) of the
structures which can help understand the choices
made by speakers and writers when conveying a
message
• The translator then decides whether it is appropriate
to translate using a particular marked form
Cohesion
• Five types of cohesion – from M. A. K. Halliday
and R. Hasan (1976) Cohesion in English,
Longman:
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Reference (e.g. pronouns, comparatives, demonstratives)
Substitution
Ellipsis
Conjunction
Lexical cohesion (repetition, synonymy, collocation…)
• Tendency to explicate in translation?
The riddle – Exercise 1
Translate the following riddle:
A father and son have a car
accident and are both badly
hurt. They are both taken to
separate hospitals. When
the boy is taken in for an
operation, the doctor says 'I
can not do the surgery
because this is my son'.
How is this possible?
The doctor’s is the boy’s mother
Un padre e un figlio hanno
un incidente e entrambi
rimangono feriti. Vengono
portati in due ospedali
diversi. Quando il ragazzo
viene portato in sala
operatoria, il medico dice:
“Non
posso
operarlo
perché è mio figlio”. Come
è possibile?
Il medico è la madre del
ragazzo
Hatim and Mason
• In their Discourse and the Translator (1990) and The
Translator as Communicator (1997), Hatim and Mason
apply Halliday’s linguistic model to the analysis of
translation, paying particular attention to the realization in
translation of ideational (e.g. transitivity) and interpersonal functions (e.g. modality) as well as cohesion.
• Translation analysis aims to identify marked (prominent or
unusual) forms and ‘dynamic’ and ‘stable’ elements in a
text. More stable elements may be translated literally
while more dynamic elements require more creative
responses on the part of the translator.
Context and Discourse
• Higher levels of sociocultural and historical context
and of discourse
• Discourse = ‘modes of speaking and writing which
involve social groups in adopting a particular attitude
towards areas of sociocultural activity (e.g. racist
discourse, bureaucratese, etc.)’ (Hatim and Mason
1997: 216)
Food for Thought
• Quality and errors are central to House’s model. Yet her
model is written from a strongly academic viewpoint.
Compare how translation errors are categorized by
translator
associations,
translator
agencies
and
organizations . What criteria do they give for revising
translations and assuring quality? Look also at the criteria
by which your own translations may be evaluated.
• Assess the advantages and weaknesses of these
classifications, and how they compare to House’s model.
• How much cultural filtering do you note in texts translated
into your languages?
Bibliography
What we studied so far:
• Munday, Jeremy (2016), Introducing Translation Studies.
Theories and Applications, 4th edition, Routledge,
London/New York – CHAPTERS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6