c Opt Engl An3 Sem1 Vilceanu

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TITELA VLCEANU

TRANSLATION KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES ANDSKILLS


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CONTENTS

Foreword..5

Course description7Thematic areas..7

Unit One Monolingual versus bilingual communicationThe status of the translator as a communicator....9

Objectives....9

Timing..9A. Perspectives on translation and on the translator...10Bibliography.15Evaluation16B. The translator as communicator.17Bibliography.21Evaluation.22

Unit Two - Language functions and text typology.

Informative, expressive, vocative functions. informative, expressive,vocative texts...................................................23

Objectives...23Timing23

A. Language functions and the text continuum..24Bibliography.29Evaluation.30B. Genre-based optimisation strategies in the translation of cultural loads33Bibliography.50

Evaluation.51

Unit Three - The reader-oriented perspective. skopostheorie. translation methods:semantic vscommunicative translation..53Objectives...53Timing53

Bibliography58Evaluation59

Unit Four - Policing the cultural intertraffic. Defining culture specific items andrelated translation strategies. Translation procedures62


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Objectives...62Timing62

Policing the cultural intertraffic. Defining culture specific items and relatedtranslation strategies. Translation procedures..63Bibliography.69

Evaluation.70

General bibliography .75


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FOREWORD

The first decade of the new millennium is characterised by enhancedcommunication owing to state-of-the-art technology and to the development oflocalisation strategies, i.e. accommodation to the specificities of socio-culturalmatrices. The compression or even annihilation of time and space in the globalvillage via the use of technology in interpersonal, corporate and masscommunication as well as the linguistic ascendancy of English, the lingua

franca for so many decades now, generated by a constellation of geopoliticaland socio-economic factors (there is no parangon as there is linguistichierarchy with respect to the aesthetic qualities of a language) resulted in thewidespread of communication means at the informative, expressive andpersuasive levels and in the hybridisation of discourse types.

Without a shadow of doubt, bilingual communication or translation playsan ever important role within this framework the burden of proof lies notonly in the huge number of officially translated pages for instance, themagnitude of the phenomenon amounts to 1,800,000 pages translated for the

European bodies in 2008 please visit the website of the Directorate Generalfor Translation, European Commission,http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/faq/index_en.htm#2), but also in thenumber of bilingual publications, be they periodicals or else.


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Universitatea din CraiovaFacultatea de LitereCatedra de Studii Anglo-Americane

TRANSLATION KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND SKILLS

Curs opional

Specializarea: Romn-Englez, ID, an III, sem. IAnul III, sem I, 1 orcurs, 1 orseminar/ sptmn, 2 credite

Titular de curs:Conf. univ. dr. TITELA VLCEANU

Descrierea cursuluiCursul este focalizat pe abordrile i metodele de referin i de

actualitate din domeniul teoriei i practicii traducerii. Partea teoretic estecomplementat de activiti cu caracter aplicativ, urmrindu-se asimilarea ioperaionalizarea unor noiuni traductologice fundamentale, precum idezvoltarea competenei de traducere relativ la gestionarea tipologiei textuale.Cursul profileaz n egal msur caracterul interdisciplinar al domeniului ispecificitatea acestuia.

Tematicgeneral1.

Monolingual versus bilingual communication The status of the translatoras a communicator.

2. Language functions and text typology. Informative, expressive, vocative

functions. Informative, expressive, vocative texts.3.

The reader-oriented perspective. Skopostheorie. Translation methods:semantic vscommunicative translation.

4. Policing the cultural intertraffic. Defining culture specific items and

related translation strategies.


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UNITATEA DE NVARE I

MONOLINGUAL VERSUS BILINGUAL COMMUNICATIONTHE STATUS OF THE TRANSLATOR AS A

COMMUNICATOR

Obiective

Contientizarea aspectelor complexe legate circumscrierea domeniului teorieii practicii traducerii n corelaie cu procesul de comunicare interlingviintercultural;

Familiarizarea studenilor cu aspectele descriptive i normative aledeontologiei profesionale a traductorului.

Familiarizarea studenilor cu aspectele descriptive i normative ale nelegeriii dezvoltrii competenei de traducere;

Timp alocat: 3 ore


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A. PERSPECTIVES ON TRANSLATION AND ON THETRANSLATOR

The status of translation diachrony and synchronyG. Steiner (1975) in his landmark book After Babel: aspects of language and

translation divides the theory of translationinto four main periods:

the first periodextends from the Roman times up to thepublication of Tytlers Essay on the Principles of Translation (1791); theperiod is characterized by immediate empirical focus;

the second periodhas as a starting point the year 1791 and ends in1946 with Larbauds Sous linvocation de St. Jerome; theory of translationand hermeneuticsgo hand in hand and at the same time the vocabulary and theterminology of translation as science are developed on a par with themethodology of translation;

the third periodis much shorter but not downgraded in signification.It extends over three decades (1940s 1960s) when theory of translation ismostly influenced by machine translation, by the introduction of structurallinguisticsand of the theory of communication.

the last division is from 1960s onwardsand it could be seen as areversion to hermeneutics. Theory of translation is now a hybrid, aninterdisciplinary approach in the wide frame of antropology, sociology, rhetoric,

poetics, grammar, semantics and pragmatics.

The first traces of translationgo back around the year 3000 BCin theEgyptian Old Kingdom. The next proof is to be found much later in 300 BCinthe Roman translations from the Greek language. Cicero and Horace discusstranslation in conjunction with the two functions of the poet: the poet fulfilled theuniversal human duty of acquiring and disseminating wisdom and he was alsoresponsible for the art of making and shaping a poem. Cicero strongly believedthat the mind dominates the body in the same way the king rules over his subjects

or the father controls his children (what he calls the Law of Reason). Therefore,he favours word for word, sense for sense translation while paying equalattention to the aesthetic criteria of the target language productwhich shouldenrich the native language of the readership. Horace takes a stand againstovercautious imitationor mimesis. He thinks that the translator should be in thehabit of borrowing and coining words, but within limits. Moderation becomes akey word as the translator bears responsibility to the target language readers.

During the 14THAND 16THCENTURIES, the main preoccupation lies

in the translation of the Bible. The translators role was to spread the word ofGod and two criteria were to be met: aesthetic and evangelistic. St. Jeromewrote


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about stylistic licence and heretical interpretations of the Biblein the attemptto clarify intricate meaning and allegory or parable in the religious text.

Between 1380-1384, Wycliffite performs the first translation of thecomplete Bible in the very spirit of the theory of dominion by grace: man wasimmediately responsible to God and Gods law. In order that the crucial text may

be accessible, the translation is done in the vernacular language.The second Wycliffite Bible is produced between 1395-1396. Chapter

15 contains an elaboration of the stages of the translation process: translationpresupposes a collaborative effort of collecting old Bibles and glosses; acomparisonof these is necessary; translation cannot be done without counsellingwith old grammarians and old divines; the translation should focus on sentencemeaning.

Tyndales translation of the New Testament in 1525 is intended as aclear version for the layman. Hence, we can state that the aims of the 16th

century Bible translators were to spot errors (in some other translations of thesacred text), to produce an accessible and aesthetic vernacular style and toclarify points of dogma.

In the medieval education system, translation was a writing exerciseand a means of improving oratorical style (in the very tradition established byQuintilian in the 1st century AD): paraphrasing, embellishment, andabridgement to achieve both efficiency and effectiveness. Translation in theMiddle Ages can be considered vertical as transposing the text from a sourcelanguage of prestige (Latin) into the vernacular target language while

rendering word for word meaning (interlinear gloss). It can also be seen ashorizontal: the source and target languages have similar values (NormanFrench and English, for instance) and it becomes a matter of imitatio orborrowing.

Bacon and Danteare concerned with moral and aesthetic criteria, withloss and coinage in translation.In their opinion, translation resembles stylistics.Dante is further worried by the accessibility of the translated text and by itsaccuracy. Chauceris the first to consider translation a skill and to acknowledgethat there are different modes of reading and interpretinga source language

text.Although decreasing in quantity and importance, the translation of

classical authors was not neglected totally. Chapman in his "Epistle to theReader, which accompanied his translation of the Iliad, manifests the samerange of concerns: avoid word for word renderings; reach the spirit of theoriginal; investigate versions and glosses.

THE RENAISSANCEis another turning point in the history of the theoryof translation. The Elizabethan translators believed in the affirmation of the

individual and this is obvious in the replacement of the indirect discourse by thedirect one. Wyatt, Surrey translated mostly poems; they saw translation as anadaptation, faithful to the meaning of the poem but also complying with the


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expectations of the target language readers. The poem was viewed as an artifact ofa particular cultural system and the translation should fulfil a similar function inthe target language; thus translation was assessed as a primary intellectualactivity.

THE 17TH

CENTURY (AUGUSTAN ENGLAND) is a period of radicalchanges in the theory of literature and translation. Descarteshas already imposedhis inductive reasoning and literary critics state rules of aesthetic production(imitation of ancient masters).

Sir John Denhamspeaks of the formal aspect of Art, of the spirit natureof the work and he declares himself against the literal translation of poetry.The translator and author have equal status, but they operate in different social(cultural) and temporal contexts. The translators mastery of the two languagesis desirable to understand the spirit of the author and to conform to the canons of

his age.Popeadvises the translator to give a close reading to the original textfor

considerations of style and mannerand to keep alive the fire of the poem.

IN THE 18TH CENTURY authors are particularly sensitive to thequestion of overfaithfulness vs. looseness in translation, and of the moral dutyto the contemporary reader. The major achievements are the restructurings ofShakespeares texts and the reworkings of Racines plays.

Dr. Johnsondiscusses the additions that translators can maketo texts

as every individual has the right to be addressed in his own terms. The metaphorof the translator as painter / imitator is to be decoded as the moral duty thetranslator hastoward the subject and the receiver. The translator will be seen as apainter who is denied the possibility of using the same colours.

We have already mentioned that Tytlers work (1791)is a hallmark in thehistory of the theory of translation, being considered the first systematic study inEnglish.The principles he announces are best summed up in the following words:complete transcript of the idea of the original work (total surrender of thetranslator); similar style and mannerof the source language and target language

text; original composition bearing the stamp of the translator as text creator.The 18th centurys ideology is mainly a reaction against rationalism and

formal harmony, while allowing the vitalist function of imagination and thefreedom of the creative force.

Briefly, two tendencies were recorded: translation as a category ofthought; translation as the genius work. The problem of meaning is at the core ofboth trends: if poetry is a separate entity from language, then the translator shouldbe able to read between the lines, to reproduce the text behind the text. Shelleygranted translation a lower status:a kind of filling a gap between inspirations,

for the sake of the literary graces.

THE 19THCENTURY(THE VICTORIANS) is characterized by the need


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to convey remoteness in time and spaceand by the concept of untranslatability(which was quite a dogma at the time). Carlylestranslations from German showan immense respect for the original, based on the writers sureness of its worth.We assist at the emergence of an litist conception of translation, which isaddressed to the cultivated reader whilst the average reader is made no

concessions as far as his expectations and tastes are concerned. The translation hasan archaic flavour, the contemporary life has no room into the space oftranslation.

M. Arnoldin his considerations On Translating Homeradvises thereader to put trust into the scholars and thus translation is devaluated as a mereinstrument to bring the target language reader into the source language text .

Longfellow went to the extreme and considered the translator atechnicianand E. Fitzgeraldsaid that It is better to have a live sparrow than astuffed eagle, which is to be understood as version of the source language text

into the target language text as a living entity. This patronizing attitude isequivalent to Nidas spirit of exclusivism:the translator is a skilful merchantoffering exotic wares to the discerning few.

The emergence of the science of the theory of translation is indeed themerit of THE 20THCENTURY(up to this date, we can speak of commentariesarising from the practice of translating) when advancements and refinements ofthe theory are the topical issue.

The 20thcentury is marked, in its first half, by literalness, archaizing, the

target language second rate merit and by an lite minority addressed by thetranslator.

Translation theory stems from comparative linguistics; it is mainly anaspect of semantics, but it cannot be strictly separated from sociolinguisticsand.semiotics. C. S. Peirce laid the foundations of semiotics in 1934 when hestated that no sign has a self- contained meaning, that it is a function of the user /interpretant (the idea echoed in the field of translation, too). Stylistics(Jakobson,1960, 1966; Spitzer, 1948), in its turn at the crossroads between linguistics andliterary criticism, intersects the theory of translation into a joint venture. In

pragmatics, ordinary language philosophers (Austin, 1962) take intoconsideration grammatical and lexical aspects of translation, stating that allsentences depend on a presupposition or truth value to be identified. Austinsdeclarative and performative sentences coincide in fact with the distinctionbetween standardized and non-standardized language in translation. Wittgenstein(1958) laid emphasis on the contextual meaning(s) of words while Grice (1975)associated intention to meaning.

In its attempt to become a science, theory of translationequips itself witha set of objectives, among which one comes topmost: to determine appropriate

methods for the widest possible range of texts or text categories.Translationtheory should also provide the framework of principles, rules, hints for translating


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texts and criticizing translations (a background for problem solving). The practicalproblems encountered are:

the intention of the text;

the intention of the translator;

the readershipand setting of the text; t

the quality of the writing and the authority of the text.Translation becomes a question of semantic universals or tertium

comparationis, a question of splitting words and word series into components tobe transferred according to the target language context.


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Bibliografie minimal

Baker, M., (1992).In Other Words. A Coursebook on Translation,London:Routledge.

Bell, R.T. (1991). Translation and Translating. London: Longman.

Gouadec, D. (2007). Translation as a Profession,Amsterdam/Philadelphia: JohnBenjamins Publishing Company.

Hansen, G., Malmkjr, K., Gile, D. (eds). (2004). Claims, Changes andChallenges in Translation Studies. Amsterdam: John BenjaminsPublishing Company

Hatim, B., Mason, I. (1997). The Translator as Communicator. London:Routledge.

Kuhuwiczak, P., Littau, K. (eds). (2007).A Companion to Translation Studies.Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Munday, J. (2001). Introducing Translation Studies. Theories and Applications,London: Routledge.

Newmark, P. (1988). A Textbook of Translation. Prentice Hall International (UK)Ltd.

Snell-Hornby, M. (1995). Translation Studies. An Integrated Approach,Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Venuti, L. (1992). Rethinking Translation: Discourse, Subjectivity, Ideology,London: Routledge.

Vlceanu, T. (2003). Translation. The Land of the Bilingual, Craiova:

Universitaria.Wolf, M., Fukari, A. (eds). (2007). Constructing a Sociology of Translation.

Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.


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EVALUARE

1. Enlarge upon the importance of professionalisation in translation withrespect to different periods of time.

Ancient times:Middle Ages:..Renaissance:

The 17th

centuryThe 18thcentury..The 19thcentury

The 20th

centuryThe 21stcentury

2. Can you identify a common core of translation features across centuries?a)

..b)c)


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B. THE TRANSLATOR AS COMMUNICATOR

In the new millennium, the status of translationis still questioned: art, craft

or science? Before making a choice, we must bear in mind that in the closingdecade of the 20thcentury the vast bulk of translations were not literary texts, buteconomic, technical, medical, legal ones and that the vast majority of translatorsare professionals engaged in making a living rather than whiling away the time.

Translation as a professionhas been acknowledged since the foundation ofFIT (International Federation of Translators) in 1953, the promulgation of theTranslators Charter at Dubrovnik in 1963 (which laid down the translatorscode of conduct with regard to confidentiality and open negotiation of fees) andthe UNESCO Recommendations of 1976 in Nairobi. Nowadays, staff

translators are seen performing various roles: in the European Commission,UNO, UNESCO, NATO and other international organizations translating reports(in-house translators), journals, brochures and facilitating communication (onthe basis of common humanity) between representatives of member countries.Their job also includes the translation of classified information, correspondence,publicity, faxes, contracts, training films, etc. As freelancers, they may betranslating original papers for academic journals to help researchers with theupdating of information, they may be dubbing or sub-titling films or translating allsorts of materials for translation companies.

The translators task is to continually search and re-search, to deconstruct andreconstruct the text as his/her world is one of dichotomies pertaining to thetraditional areas of activity of translators(technical, literary, religious translator,etc), to modes of translating(written, oral) and to the translators priorities orfocus(literal vs. free, form vs. content, formal vs. dynamic equivalence, semanticvs. communicative translating, translators visibility vs. invisibility, domesticatingvs. foreignizing translation).In a large sense, the translator is identified with any communicator (whetherlisteners or readers, monolinguals or bilinguals) as they receive signals containing

messages encoded.The translator is a bilingual mediating agent between monolingual

communication participants in two different language communities. (House,1977) i.e. the translator decodes messages transmitted in one language and re-encodes them in another.

To better understand this principle, it is useful if not necessary to examinethe following diagram:


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Monolingual communication

The sender selects the message and the code, encodes the message, selectsthe channel of communication and transmits the signal containing the message.The receiver receives the signal containing the message, recognizes the code,decodes the signal and finally retrieves and comprehends the message.

The translatoris both a receiver and a producer, a special category ofcommunicator whose behaviour (act of communication) is conditioned by theprevious one and whose reception of that previous act is intensive. Unlike otherreceivers who have a choice whether to pay more or less attention to theirlistening or reading, the translator interacts closely with the source language text,whether for immediate purpose (simultaneous interpreter) or in a morereflective way(literary translator).

In a normative (prescriptive) approach, a good translation is:

that in which the merit of the original work is so completely transfusedinto another language, as to be distinctly apprehended, and as strongly felt, by a

native of the country to which that language belongs, as it is by those who speak

the language of the original work. (Tytler, 1791).

Translation is an abstract concept incorporating both the process/theactivity and the product/the translated text. From now on we shall refer to theactivity with the term of translating.

Of course, any theoretical framework should deal with translation

problems and should formulate a set of strategies for approaching this i.e. itshould provide a model whose cohesive character is explained by the collection ofdata. There are no cast-iron rules. Everything is more or less.

Newmark (1988) identifies four levels present in various degreesconsciously in the mind when translating:

1. the SLT levelto which we continually go back to;2. the referentiallevel objects, real or imaginary, which we visualize

progressively in the comprehension and reproduction process;

3.

the cohesive levelwhich is more general, concerned with grammarand presuppositions of the SLT;

4. the level of naturalness, of common language appropriate to the

code

senderchannel signal

(message)receiver

content

channel


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research often temporarily the topic of the texts being translated, and to master

one specialism(Newmark: 1991: 49).


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Gouadec, D. (2007). Translation as a Profession,Amsterdam/Philadelphia: JohnBenjamins Publishing Company.

Hansen, G., Malmkjr, K., Gile, D. (eds). (2004). Claims, Changes and

Challenges in Translation Studies. Amsterdam: John BenjaminsPublishing Company


Kuhuwiczak, P., Littau, K. (eds). (2007).A Companion to Translation Studies.Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Leung, C., 2005, Convivial Communication : Recontextualizing CommunicativeCompetence inInternational Journal of Applied Linguistics, vol. 15, No.2, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 119 144.

Munday, J., 2001, Introducing Translation Studies. Theories and Applications,London: Routledge.

Newmark, P. (1988). A Textbook of Translation. Prentice Hall International (UK)Ltd.

Snell-Hornby, M. (1995). Translation Studies. An Integrated Approach,Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Tosi, A. (2003). Crossing Barriers and Bridging Cultures. Clevedon: MultilingualMatters Ltd.

Venuti, L. (1992). Rethinking Translation: Discourse, Subjectivity, Ideology,

London: Routledge.Vlceanu, T. (2003). Translation. The Land of the Bilingual, Craiova:

Universitaria.Wolf, M., Fukari, A. (eds). (2007). Constructing a Sociology of Translation.



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EVALUARE

Translation involves division of labour: Do you think that the literarytranslators, the technical translators, the legal translators, the medicaltranslators and the business translators competence is exactly the same? Justify

your answer with reference to Newmarks (1988) translation competencecomponents:

Technical translators competence.........

Legal translators competence.........Medical translators competence.........

Business translators competence.........

Comparison and contrast:.......................


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UNITATEA DE NVARE II

LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS AND TEXT TYPOLOGY.INFORMATIVE, EXPRESSIVE, VOCATIVE FUNCTIONS.

INFORMATIVE, EXPRESSIVE, VOCATIVE TEXTS

Obiective

Contientizarea aspectelor complexe legate de abordarea funcional atraducerii i de tipologia textualn traducere;

Familiarizarea studenilor cu aspectele descriptive i normative ale

recunoaterii i producerii textelor expressive, informative i conative;

Contientizarea diferenelor i asemnrilor interculturale n validareatipologiei textuale.

Timp alocat: 4 ore


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A. LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS AND THE TEXT CONTINUUM

The two functional theories of language to be discussed are Bhlers

(1934) and Jakobsons (1960), the latters being the most frequently applied totranslating. According to Bhler, languagemanifests three main functions: theexpressive(Ausdruck), the informative(he calls it representation, Darstellung)and the vocative(Appell), which in fact coincide with the main purposes of usinglanguage. Jakobson strongly suggests that a theory of language is based on atheory of translation. He adapts Bhlers theory and proposes a six -functionmodel:

The emotive (expressive) functiondraws attention upon the mind of theoriginator of the utterance who expresses his/her feelings irrespective of anyresponse. The focus is on the sender, the meaning is subjective, personal,connotative.

E.g. I am tired.

Within this linguistic approach, it must be understood that text typology

has no clear-cut demarcation lines. Text- types as all embracing categories arecommonly defined as classes of texts with typical patterns of characteristics orclasses of texts expected to have certain traits for certain overall rhetoricalpurposes.

The text producer feeds his / her own beliefs or goals into the model ofthe current communication situation, thus also performing as a mediator.Extensive mediation is manifest into text-types. The identification of a text- typecan be done through either inductive reasoning (the text as an entity is comparedto text theory specifications) or deductive reasoning (text theory is applied to

empirical samples).

code

[metalinguistic function]

addresser[emotive function]

message[poetic function]

addressee[conative function]

code[phatic function]

context[referential function]


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Any categorization or classification is idealized since all texts arehybrids, multifunctional, recognizing dominance of certain peculiar features,showing some emphasis or thrust. We are dealing with a text continuum ratherthan with borderline instances. It is all about cognitive thresholds or the extent towhich text receivers are prone to recognize objects and believe statements.

As readers and translators (a translator is said to be a privileged reader ass/he reads in order to produce, to do something with the text not merely to receiveit, in order to make a decision that will affect ordinary readers) we should be ableto recognize the dominant contextual focus:

Some traditionally established text-types could be defined along

FUNCTIONAL lines, i.e. according to the contributions of texts to human

interaction. we would at least be able to identify some DOMINANCES, though

without obtaining a strict categorization for every conceivable exampleIn many

texts, we would find a mixture of the descriptive, narrative, and argumentativefunction. (Beaugrande and Dressler, 1981:184)

Basically, text typology includes descriptive, narrative andargumentative textsfor whose identification and processing we are biologicallyendowed (we have internalised patterns of recognition of text-type and textorganization).

With respect to the degree of mediation present in the text, descriptiveand narrative texts, can be said to give a reasonably unmediated account of the

situation (we are in fact dealing withsituation monitoring) whilst in the last typethe situation is guided according to the text producers goal (situation

management). On the other hand, mediation is minimal within the same culture(Western, for instance) and maximal in the case of remote cultures (Western andMuslim).

With this specification in mind, we can proceed now to the following stageof classifying texts on account of language functions and further according torhetorical purposes. Readability (the extent to which a text is suitable for receptionamong its receivers) is not to be identified with expenditure of the least effort, but

rather with a balancing of the required effort and the resulting insights.Newmark (1980)thinks of the following categories as expressive text-types:

1. Serious imaginative literaturefurther divided into lyrical poetry, shortstories, novels, plays. Of course, some assistance is needed in the case of plays asfar as cross-cultural communication is concerned because plays are addressed to alarge audience (we shall make future reference to the concept of audience design).

2. Authoritative statementsderive their authority from the high status or

reliability and linguistic competence of their originators. Such texts bear the stampof their authors, although they are mainly denotative, not connotative.


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E.g. political speeches, documents, statutes and legal documents, academicworks of acknowledged authorities

3. Autobiographies, essays, personal correspondence when personal effusions

are more often than not mingled throughout the pages.

Undoubtedly, the status of the author is a sacred one. It proves essentialfor the translator to be able to distinguish the personal interferences in the texts:unusual collocations, original metaphors, coined words, displaced syntax,neologisms- all that characterizes the idiolect or personal dialect and that seems asnatural as possible in a translation.

The informative (referential) function focuses on the external situation,

on the reality outside language including reported ideas or theories i.e. the subjectmatter. It refers to entities, states, events, relations which constitute the real world.Content is now the priority.

E.g. Here is the 14a.

Typical informative texts are textbooks, technical reports, textbooks,articles in newspapers or periodicals, scientific papers, minutes, etc.Informative texts represent the vast majority of a professional translators work in

international organizations, private companies, and translation agencies.Therefore, it is important to highlight the salient features of this kind of texts sooften dealt with.

Scientific texts explore, extend, clarify societys knowledge store of aspecial domain of facts by presenting and examining evidence drawn fromobservation and documentation (Beaugrande and Dressler: 1981, p.186). Theirevaluation is based on upgradingin the sense that more specialized knowledgeis provided for everyday occurrences.

Academic papers are written in a technical style characterised in English

by an extensive use of the passive forms, present and perfect tenses, Latinatevocabulary, jargon, and absence of metaphors.

Other technical textbooks concentrate on the use of the first person plural,present tense, dynamic verbs, active voice, basic conceptual metaphors. Popularscience or art books (coffee-table books, pulp fiction) cannot deviate from simplegrammatical structures, stock metaphors, simple vocabulary and they are alwaysrich in illustrations to accommodate definitions.

The vocative functionfocuses on the readership/addressee/audience.

E.g. Alex! Come here a minute!


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A synonym for vocative would be calling upon i.e. calling upon theaddressee to act, think or feel, to respond in the way intended by the text. Itsappeal is meant to be very direct- think of the vocative case in some inflectedlanguages. This function is also termed conative(denoting effort) and rhetoricallyit could be considered a strategy of manipulation, of getting active agreement.

Typical vocative texts are instructions, advertising, propaganda,persuasive writing(requests, cases, theses) and possibly popular fiction, whosepurpose is to sell the book and to entertain the readers.

The first factor in a vocative text is the relationship between the writer andthe readership. This relationship-of power or equality, command, request,persuasion- is identified through grammatical realizations:

E.g. forms of address-T (you, the corresponding French and Romaniantu), and V (you; in French: vous, in Romanian: dumneavoastr);

use of the infinitive, imperative, subjunctive, indicative, impersonalforms, of the passive voice;first and/or family name;titles;hypocoristic names.

The second factor is that these texts must be written in an immediatelycomprehensible language. Thus, the linguistic or the cultural level of the SL texthas to be reviewed before it is given a pragmatic impact.

The poetic/aesthetic function is designed to please the senses, firstlythrough its actual or imagined sound, and secondly through its metaphors. Therhythm, balance, and contrasts of sentences, clauses and words play their part. Thesound effects consist of onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, rhyme, metre,intonation, stress. They are encountered in most types of texts: poetry, nonsense,childrens verse/nursery rhymes, some types of publicity (jingles, TVcommercials). In translating, there can be often conflict between the expressiveand the aesthetic function i.e. between factual truth and beauty. Compromise or

compensation is often needed.

The phatic function of language is used for maintaining contact withthe addressee rather than for imparting new information, for keeping socialrelations in good repair. It focuses on the channel, on the fact that participants arein contact. In spoken English, apart from tone of voice, it usually occurs instandard phrases orphaticisms.

Eg. How are you?

You know.Are you well?

See you tomorrow.


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Lovely to see you.

What an awful day!

Isnt it hot today?

Some phaticisms are universal, others cultural and they should be rendered

by standard equivalents, not literal translations. In written English, phaticismsattempt to win the confidence and the credulity of the reader.

E.g. of course, naturally, undoubtedly, it is interesting, it is important tonote that

They often flatter the reader:

E.g. It is well-known that

The problem which arises is whether to delete or overtranslate them (increasedetail), or to tone down phaticisms:

E.g. Illustrissimo Signore Rossi: Mr. Rossi

The metalinguistic / metalingual function of language indicates alanguage ability to explain, name, and criticise its own features. It focuses on thecode, on the language being used to talk about language. Dictionaries,

grammar booksare typically displaying this function. The translation becomesdifficult when the items to be rendered from one language to another arelanguage-specific.

E.g. supine, ablative, illative, vocative

The options range from detailed explanations, examples to a culturally neutralthird term.On the other hand, SL expressions signaling metalingual words

E.g. strictly speaking, in the true sense of the word, so called, so to speak,as another generation put it

have to be treated cautiously as there may be no equivalence of meaning iftranslated one-to-one.


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Jaworski, A., Coupland, N. (1999). The Discourse Reader, London & New York:

Routledge.Kuhuwiczak, P., Littau, K. (eds). (2007).A Companion to Translation Studies.

Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.Munday, J., 2001, Introducing Translation Studies. Theories and Applications,

London: Routledge.Newmark, P. (1988). A Textbook of Translation. Prentice Hall International (UK)

Ltd.Snell-Hornby, M. (1995). Translation Studies. An Integrated Approach,


Tosi, A. (2003). Crossing Barriers and Bridging Cultures. Clevedon: MultilingualMatters Ltd.

Vermeer, H. (1996). A Skopos Theory of Translation, Heidelberg:TEXTconTEXT.

Vlceanu, T. (2003). Translation. The Land of the Bilingual, Craiova:Universitaria.

Wolf, M., Fukari, A. (eds). (2007). Constructing a Sociology of Translation.Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.


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EVALUARE

Identify text type and justify your choice from a descriptive and normativepoint of view. Note down the particular problems you encounter with every textand your commentaries as they arise.

1.Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn WaughJulia left Sebastian and me at Brideshead and went to stay with an aunt,

Lady Rosscommon, in her villa at Cap Ferrat. All the way she pondered herproblem. She had given a name to her widower-diplomat; she called himEustace, and from that moment he became a figure of fun to her, a little interior,incommunicable joke, so that when at last such a man did cross her path thoughhe was not a diplomat but a wistful major in the Lifeguards and fall in love with

her and offer her just those gifts she had chosen, she sent him away moodier andmore wistful than ever; for by that time she had met Rex Motram.Rexs age was greatly in his favour, for among Julias friends there was a

king of gerontophilic snobbery; young men were held to be gauche and pimply; itwas thought very much more chic to be seen lunching at the Ritz a thing, in anycase, allowed to few girls of that day, to the tiny circle of Julias intimates; a thinglooked at askance by the elders who kept the score, chatting pleasantly against thewalls of the ballrooms at the table on the left as you came in, with a starched andwrinkled old rou whom your mother had been warned of as a girl, tan in the

centre of the room with a party of exuberant young bloods. Rex, indeed, wasneither starched nor wrinkled; his seniors thought him a pushful young cad, butJulia recognized the unmistakable chic the flavour of Max and F.E. and theprince of Wales, of the big table in the Sporting Club, the second magnum and thefourth cigar, of the chauffeur kept waiting hour after hour without compunction which her friends would envy. His social position was unique; it had an air ofmystery, even of crime, about it; people said Rex went about armed. Julia and herfriends had a fascinating abhorrence of what they called Pont Street; theycollected phrases that damned their user, and among themselves and often,

disconcertingly, in public talked a language made up of them. It was PontStreet to wear a signet ring and to give chocolates at the theatre; it was PontStreet at a dance to say, Can I forage for you? Whatever Rex might be, he wasdefinitely not Pont Street. He had stepped straight from the underworld into theworld of Brenda Champion who was herself the innermost of a number ofconcentric ivory spheres.

Perhaps Julia recognized in Brenda an intimation of what she and herfriends might be in twelve years time; there was an antagonism between the girland the woman that was hard to explain otherwise. Certainly the fact of his being

Brenda Champions property sharpened Julias appetite for Rex.Rex and Brenda Champion were staying at the next villa on Cap Ferret,

taken that year by a newspaper magnate and frequented by politicians. They


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would not normally have come within Lady Rosscommons ambit, but, living soclose, the parties mingled and at once Rex began warily to pay his court.

Text type:.Comments:

2. Proposal for Restructuring KuwaitFour architectural firms of international standing (from England, Italy,

France, and Finland) were invited by the government of Kuwait to submit

proposals for the reconstruction of a city which had largely disappeared with theoil boom. the general proposals, which covered the city as a whole, were followedby detailed proposals in the form of demonstration buildings. In the first part ofthis article we will be dealing with the four general proposals.

The main task of the four groups of architects was to try to establishprinciples which might guide the development of the future city. These principleswere in essence architectural. They were concerned with the kind of city thatmight be built for this changing culture and this particular climate. The architectswere entirely free to develop their own individual ideas but for the purpose of

comparison all proposals were drawn to the same scale and statistics werepresented on a comparable basis.

Each scheme had special characteristics and made differing assumptionsabout the intensity of development within the city, but the four also showed somecommon points of agreement:1. All four architects stressed the value of the waterfront as a recreationalarea for the city and thought that a traffic road at this point should be avoided.2. All architects agreed that the area immediately surrounding the Sief Palaceand harbour should be developed as a special area and the palace and any

government buildings closely associated with it should be designated as a whole.3. All architects agreed that new residential areas should be brought back intothe city. The advantages of bringing people back into the city to increaseliveliness and to avoid commuting were stresssed.4. All architects agreed that the souk or bazaar area of the city should bepreserved and encouraged in growth. Methods were suggested of linking this tosurrounding open areas with shade-creating structures.

Text type:.

Comments:


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3.

a)On busy days when you really have to put your back into it, dont turn yourback to your body. Our original crunchy bars are high in fibber, making digestionfaster, more efficient.

b) The conventional chair forces your lower back forward, pilling unnecessarystrain on your spine and back muscles. The Back Chair allow you to sit upcomfortably and naturally, with spine and back muscles in perfect alignment.

c) The local KOMPAS office will allocate the reserved apartment upon your

arrival at your resort. Since KOMPAS local offices work within fixed hours, wewould not advise you to book this type of accommodation if your arrival in theresort is later than 20.00 hours.

Text type:.Comments:


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B. GENRE-BASED OPTIMISATION STRATEGIES IN THETRANSLATION OF CULTURAL LOADS

1.

Conceptualization ofgenre

Genrein Literary Studies

When, in the 18th century, English commentators wished to follow theirclassical predecessors, Plato and Aristotle, in distinguishing among types ofartistic production, they borrowed the wordgenre, kind, from French. The termwas initially applied to literary texts, which had also been the concern of theclassical commentators. All literary genres were considered to be recognizable by

their adherence to conventions of form, content, and use of language. In the20th century, certain critics began to rehabilitate the concept of genre in literarystudies. Rather than conceiving of genre as a fixed, absolute set of conventions,however, modern critics see genre as a dynamic set of conventions that arerelated to changing social institutions and purposes. Hence, literary theorists areconcerned with the categorization of literary texts and how their conventions areelegantly maintained or wittily subverted.

Genrein Language Studies

In Language Studies, in the decades following Bakhtin, the term genre hasbeen appropriated by linguists who wish to explore non-literary spoken andwritten discourse in which expectations of conventional use of text structure,lexis, and syntax are likely to be satisfied.

Systemic-functional linguists employ genre as part of their project to relatelanguage use to its social context, in particular, the context of culture. Interestin genre arose out of a growing sense of the inadequacy of the concept ofregister to account for the contextual aspects of text. Register analysis assumes

that textual features can be predicted because texts vary conventionally in relationto three situational variables; namely, field (subject matter), tenor(relationship between participants in the interaction), and mode (whether the textis written or spoken). These situational variables did not deal with why the textmight have been written or spoken. The realization that a text might be shaped andso categorized in relation to its communicative purpose led to a resurgence ofinterest in a texts genre; that is, how a text relates systematically to its context ofculture.

The evolving nature of genres is a preoccupation for at least some of theAmerican genre analysts known as the New Rhetoricians (cf., Freedman andMedway, 1994). This school of genre analysts situates genres in a thick


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ethnographic description of the communitiesthat give rise to them. Variation isan important part of the story. Each new text produced within a genre reinforcesor remolds some aspect of the genre; each reading of a text re-shapes the socialunderstanding. The genre does not exist apart from its history, and that historycontinues with each new text invoking the genre.

Indeed, linguists are concerned with the relation of texts to context and focusin particular on the predictability or unpredictability of elements of the text. Theconcept of the community and its communicative needs has been central torecent conceptions of genre in linguistics. Even here, the notion of the discourse

communityhas rapidly evolved from that of a static group of experts with clearlydefined goals. The discourse community is now perceived as a diffuse group ofindividuals with different levels of expertise and changing social relations,whose communicative needs more or less coincide at different points of time1.

The most straightforward definition might be that a genreis a type of text or

talk, or, more broadly, of verbal activity or communicative event. For all practicalpurposes this will mostly do, with all the usual limitations of typological studies:fuzzy sets, overlapping categories and so on. (van Dijk, 2008: 148ff).

Genreand Intercultural Communication Theory

Communicative genres are historically and culturally specific, fixedsolutions to recurrent communicative problems. On the one hand, they guidethe interactants expectations about what is to be said (and done) in pre-defined

types of situations. On the other hand, they are the sediments of socially relevantcommunicative processes. Only those processes which are of some relevance tothe social actors are likely to congeal into genres (Luckmann 1986; Bergmann1987).

Knowledge about communicative genres not only includes the knowledge ofelements constitutive of a particular genre, but also knowledge about theappropriate use ofgenres, i.e. when to use or not to use what genre. If we takecommunicative genres as socially constructed solutions which organize, routinize,and standardize dealings with particular communicative problems, it seems quite

obvious that different cultures may construct different solutions for specificcommunicative problems. Moreover, whereas in one culture there may be genericways of handling particular communicative activities, in another cultureinteractants may use spontaneous forms. Thus, the repertoire of communicativegenres varies from culture to culture.

1Chilton and Schaffner (2002: 20) state that Participants in a linguistic interaction conceive ofthe interaction as being of a certain kind, as proceeding according to certain patterns of linguistic

interaction that they have conceptualized in memory, and in which they may be more or lessskilled. The conceptualization and its deployment in the ongoing activity define that activity.There is no genre form independent of the participants conceptions and preconceptions.


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2.

Literary translation and cultural knowledge management

2.1. Toponyms

CHANGING PLACES vs. SCHIMB DE DAME

At the same station somewhere in Hampshireorthe Mid-West p. 5vs. in cinestie ce gara din Hampshire sau Vestul Mijlociu p.7

Has never left the protection of theNorth American landmass- p.9vs. pana acummorris zapp nu a iesit niciodata de sub aripile protectoare ale masivului continent

nord-american p. 12

Western seabord of America, situated between Northern and Southern

California - p. 10 vs. coasta occidentala a Americii, situate intre California de

Nord si de Sud p.14

Wall Street p. 12 vs. Wall Street- p.17

Boston p. 16 vs. Boston p. 21 (historically, the association with the BostonTea Party may be activated)

Outer Mongolia p. 18 vs. Mongolia Exterioar p.25 (In modern Mongolianusage, the label "Northern Mongolia" or "Rear Mongolia" is used. The continued

use of the phrase in the Chinese language is sometimes alleged to reflect aSinocentric perspective that takes the northern part of Mongolia as "outer", whilethe southern portion, closer to the center of Chinese civilization, is regarded as"inner").

Stradford-upon-Avonp. 25 vs. Stradford-upon-Avon p.34New York- p. 33 vs.New York p.45;

SMALL WORLD. AN ACADEMIC ROMANCE vs. CE MICA-I LUMEA! OPOVESTE DIN MEDIUL UNIVERSITAREurope p. 35 vs. Europap. 46; Europe p. 249 vs. Europa- p. 30

Intensity I found it inAmericain 69. p. 294 vs.Intensitatea In America mi-a fost dat s-o descopar atunci in 69. p. 79 (historical allusion to the FlowerPower counterculture movement)

Texasp. 37 vs. Texas p. 49 (Texas is a culturally loaded term, representing the

most conservative state of America)


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Both children, Elizabeth and Darcy p. 33 vs. odraslele comune, Elizabeth siDarcy p. 44 (Elizabeth si Darcy intertextually remind the readership of the maincharacters of Jane Austens Sense and Sensibility; another remark concerns theRomanian equivalent of children, i.e. odrasle, which is rather derogatory).

I doubt if we have the same problems, Mr Sparrow.Swallow.

Mr Swallow. Sorry. A much nicer bird. p. 67 vs.- N-as zice ca avem aceleasi probleme, domnule Sparrow.- Swallow.- Scuzati, Swallow. Oricum o pasare mult mai draguta. p. 88 (the extra-textual gloss provides the translation of the names of the two birds. It isnoteworthy that in the original text, the proper nouns acquire connotations hintedat in the sentence A much nicer bird, which, to our mind, alludes to the proverb

A swallow doesnt make a summer. This cultural connotation is lost intranslation in spite of the extra-textual gloss.)

Chomsky and Saussure and Levi-Strauss p. 118 vs. Chomsky, Saussure sauLevi-Strauss p. 149

...huckleberryrunaways - p. 167 vs. baieti fugiti de acasa, gen HuckleberryFinn - p. 205 (the American culture-specific items is highly transparent to theRomanian readership)

Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Gertrude Stein p. 169 transferred in the targettext (p. 208)

SMALL WORLD. AN ACADEMIC ROMANCE VS. CE MICA-I LUMEA! O

POVESTE DIN MEDIUL UNIVERSITAR

Geoffrey Chaucer- p. 225 vs. p.7

T.S. Eliot,The Waste Land- p. 229 vs. T.S. Eliot, Tara Pustie p. 9

PersseMcGarrigle from Limerick he eagerly replied.Perce? Is that short forPercival?

Its a variant ofPearce. He spelled it out for her.

Oh, like in Finnegans Wake p. 235 vs.- Persse McGarrigle din Limerick, spuse el plin de zel.- Perce? De la Percival?

- E o varianta de la Pearce, ii spuse el numele pe litere.

- Aa, ca in Veghea lui Finnegan! p. 16 (homophones; unfortunately, thephonological effect cannot be reproduced in Romanian; yet, the literaryinformation is retrievable for the initiated readership)


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Peirce. Another variant spelling of your name. he was an Americanphilosopher. p. 255 vs. De la Peirce. O alta varianta ortografica a numeluitau. A fost un filosof American. p. 37

W.B. Yeats p. 243 vs. p. 24

Saussureslinguistics p. 249 vs. lingvistica lui Saussure- p. 30

Eliza, so named after the heroine of Pygmalion p. 384 vs. Eliza, astfel botezatadupa eroina din Pygmalion p. 168 (shared cultural knowledge seems to be aprerequisite as there is no mention of the name of the author or of the heroinefeatures)

NICE WORK vs. MESERIE!Thomas Carlyle, Charles Dickens p. 602 vs. p. 24

Disraeli p. 613 vs. p. 36

The Brntes! - p. 744 vs. Romanciere. Charlotte si Emily Brnte - p. 172(specific information on the Brntes)

2.3. Infrastructure2.3.1. Educational and cultural institutions/titles

CHANGING PLACES VS. SCHIMB DE DAME

Underthe British systemunder our educational rulesat eleven-plus, sixteen-

plus, eighteen-plus and twenty-plus p. 12 vs. In sistemul britanicinconformitate cu legile invatamantului nostrumla unsprezece ani si ceva,

saisprezece si ceva, optsprezece si ceva si douazeci si ceva p. 17

The British Museum p. 13 vs. British Museum p. 17 (Comment: transferalthough David Lodges first novel The British Museum has fallen down wasrendered through a through-translation procedure:Muzeul Britanic s-a prabusit)

Harvard, Radcliffe, Cambridge p. 15 vs. Harvard, Radcliffe (extratextualglossesassisting the Romanian readership with the identification of the Collegefor girls and of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Harvard and the RadcliffeCollege are located) p.21

Oxfordp. 33 vs. Oxford p.44


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Associate Professor p. 36 vs. profesor american p. 46 (the translatorsuccessfully preserves local flavour; neverthelees, the translation loss issignificant as there is no indication of the equivalent academic title in theEuropean system; besides the Romanian term profesor ambiguously refers toteacher generic term, and to the academic title)

They have a different system in England, Morris. The PhDisnt so important p.51 vs. Morris, sistemul englezesc e diferit. La ei doctoratul nu e important. p. 66(the cultural asymmetry is overtly perceived in the source text and, hence, in thetarget text).

Release from Chancellors Office,

State University of Euphoria p. 136 vs.De la Biroul Rectorului

Universitatii de Stat din Euphoria p. 169 (no equivalence of standardisedlanguage Release from Chancellors Office which should be equated toComunicat dat de Rectorat.

Vice-Chancellor p.191 vs. Prorector p. 225

Senior Lectureships p.192 vs. posturi de conferentiari p. 236 (inaccuratemapping Senior Lectureships: posturi de lectori universitari)



Oxford andCambridge- p. 231 vs. Oxford sau Cambridge p. 11

University College Dublin p. 241 vs. Colegiul Universitar din Dublin p.21scholar from Trinity p. 241 vs. un individ titrat de la Trinity p. 22 (wefavour the full name in translation: Colegiul Trinity)

Harvard, Yale, Princeton and suchlike p. 270 vs.Harvard, Yale, Princeton sialtele de calibrul asta p. 54 (names of famous American universities; theprestige associated to them is captured in the use of calibrul, a positively markedterm vs. the neutral suchlike)

Grammar school p. 334 vs. gimnaziu p. 118 (partial equivalent due to culturalasymmetries in the education system in the UK and Romania)

NICE WORK vs. MESERIE!

Easton Grammar Schoolfor Boys p. 590 vs. Liceul de Baieti din Easton(thistime Grammar school is equated to high school in Romanian; the differentrenderings of the phrase reveal the cultural gap, which is hard to bridge).


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A-levels- p. 594 vs. note de zece p.15 ;A-levels p. 831 vs. examene p. 267

Oxbridge p. 610 vs. Oxbridgep. 32

Sussex University p. 610 vs. Universitatea din Sussex- p. 32

University of Suffolk p. 615 vs. Universitatea din Suffolk p. 38

Cambridge p. 615 vs. p. 38

Vice-Chancellor p. 644 vs.Rector p. 70 (instead of Prorector)

O-level p. 669 vs. liceu p. 95 (O-level is generally associated with studentsaged 16)

2.3.2. Mass-media


Saturday Evening Post p. 18 vs. Saturday Evening Post p. 24

He tries to read a courtesy copy of Time p. 28 vs.Incerca sa citeasca un Time,oferit de compania aeriana p. 38 (the indefinite article in front of the name ofthe newspaper is unnatural the natural variant reads: ziarul Time, usingexplicitation)

The BBC p. 77 vs.BBC p. 100

Euphoric State Daily p. 137 vs Euphoric State Dailyp. 168

Rummidge Evening Mail- p. 138 vs.Rummidge Evening Mail p. 171

Rummidge Morning Post p. 139 vs.Rummidge Morning Post p. 172Euphoric Timesp. 140 vs. Euphoric Times p. 167

SMALL WORLD. AN ACADEMIC ROMANCE vs. CE MICA-I LUMEA! O


doing The Times crossword p. 240 vs. cuvinte incrucisate din The Times

p. 20

The Guardian p. 295 vs. Guardian p. 79


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Wall Street journal p. 514 vs. p. 302

Readers Digest 514 vs. p. 302

NICE WORK vs. MESERIE!Sunday Times p. 592 vs. p.13

The Daily Mail p. 593 vs. p. 14

The Guardian p. 614 vs. p. 37

Financial Times p. 662 vs. p. 86

The Observer p. 723 vs. p. 151

2.3.3. Economic structures currency


$300.00 per visitp. 33 vs. trei sute de dolari p. 45

One pound, please sir. p. 95 vs. O lira, va rog, domnule. p. 123 (a specialmention concerns the English richer system of relative social deixis Sir, Mr +Last name as compared to the Romanian single term domnule)

NICE WORK vs. MESERIE!Fifteenpounds p. 720 vs. cinsprezece lire p. 148

2.3.4. Sports


There was, naturally, no baseball, football, hockey or basketball. There was

soccer - p. 59 vs. Evident ca nu putea fi vorba de baseball, fotbal, hochei saubaschet(transfer and naturalization). Aveau insa fotbalul European(descriptiveequivalent) - p. 77

The Grand Prix circuit p.182 vs. circuit Grand Prix p. 224

2.3.5. Architecture



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a Victorian villa p. 17 vs. vila victoriana mare - p. 23 (addition of the post-modifier mare (Ro.) large (En.) for more referential accuracy)


POVESTE DIN MEDIUL UNIVERSITARVictorian villa p. 323 vs. vila victoriana p. 106 (no contextual information onthe architecture or size or shape of this type of building)

The Rockfeller villaand its affluent lifestyle p. 512 vs. Vila Rockfeller si stilulde viata luxos p. 301 (Rockfeller is the name of the richest person in history)


pied--terre- p. 621 vs.pied--terre p. 44 (the term is a second-hand borrowingin Romanian, where further information is required for referential accuracy)

Victorian and Edwardian faades p. 657 vs.fatade victoriene sau eduardiene-p. 80

2.3.6. Administrative functional units

CHANGING PLACES VS. SCHIMB DE DAMEcounty Durham- p. 32 vs. comitatul Durham p. 43

2.3.7. Units of measure


Philip Swallow is aboutsix feet talland weighs I should say about 140 pound-p. 116 vs. Philip Swallow are inaltimea de aproximativ sase picioare si

cantareste, as zice, 140 de livre - p. 146 (the translator should have resorted toadaptation and converted such units of measure into the Romanian system: metersand centimeters (for height) and kilos (for weight); the translator is blamable forusing archaic terms where no intertemporal variation is involved).



30,000feet p. 351 vs.zece mii de metri p. 136 (adaptation)

Temperature of 104 degrees Farenheit p. 508 vs. 40 de grade Celsius- p. 294(adaptation)


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NICE WORK vs. MESERIE!half a pint-p. 788 vs. o halba p. 220 (adaptation)

A hundred and fiftymiles p. 831 vs. o suta cinzeci de mile p. 267

2.4. Artifacts

2.4.1. Literary artifacts


Beowulf p.13 vs.Beowulf p.18 (extratextual glossproviding the informationthat this is the title of an Anglo-Saxon epic poem)

Elizabethan sonnet sequences, Restoration heroic tragedythe premonitions ofthe Theatre of the Absurd in the plays of George Bernard Shaw p. 14 vs.seriile de sonete elizabetane, tragedia eroica a Restauratiei anticiparea

Teatrului Absurd in piesele lui George BernardShaw p. 19 (no indication of thehistorical period or chronology)

Penguin Classics p. 22 vs. colectia Penguin Classics p. 30 (explicitation)

Alls Well That Ends Well- p. 25 vs. Totul e bine cand se sfarseste cu bine

p.34

Sense and Sensibility p. 38 vs. Bun simt si sensibilitate (the renderingshould be sanctioned as there is an already recognized translation: Ratiune sisimtire) p. 50

Hamlet, Ancient Mariner p. 40 vs.Hamlet, Ancient Mariner(extratextual gloss,explaining that this is the title of Coleridges famous poem) p. 53

Oliver Twist- p. 82 vs. Oliver Twist p. 106

Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion p.186 vs. p. Mansfield Park, Emma,Persuasiune227



When April with its sweet showers - p. 225 vs.La vremea cand Prier, cu dulci

siroaie - p. 7 (extratextual gloss, providing details on the literary allusion)


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Troilus and Criseyde - p. 225 vs. Troilus si Cresida - p. 8 (extratextual gloss,providing information on the recognised translation in Romanian)

T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land- p. 229 vs. T.S. Eliot, Tara Pustie p. 9

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man p. 234 vs. Portret de tinerete alartistului p. 15

Lear , King Lear p. 256, p. 265 vs.Regele Lear p. 38, 40 (the elliptical form isnot possible in Romanian)

The Faerie Queene p. 257 vs. Craiasa Zanelor p. 39 (extra-textual glossproviding information on the author and the place of the work in the Britishliterary system)

There is positive discrimination at the Round Table. p. 291 vs. exista odiscriminare pozitiva in jurul Mesei Rotunde (literary allusion; contextually, theRound Table is the contemporary gathering of academics travelling the world andparticipating in conferences)

Ulysses p. 468 vs. p. 255

Tonight she was the Hyacinth Girl. p. 500 Asta-seara ea a fost Fata cu

Zambile - p.288(literary allusion to The Waste Land)

The strange affair of the flesh and the bosom.

He means, The Merchant of Venice, Akira explains.

Some of the older translations of Shakespeare in our country are rather freesays Akira apologetically.

you know thats the making of a good parlour game here. You could make up

your ownlikeThe Mystery of the Missing Handkerchief for Othello, or A Sad

Case of Early Retirement forLear 531 vs.

- Strania afacere a carnii si a inimii.- Vrea sa zica Negutatorul din Venetia.

- Asa s-a tradus in japoneza? Intreba Persse incantat.

- Unele din traducerile ceva mai vechi ale pieselor lui Shakespeare erau cam

libere, ii explica Akira pe un ton de scuza.

- Stiti, aici avem toate ingredientele unui excelent joc de societate, isi da Persse

cu parerea. Puteti inventa singuri titluri de pilda, Misterul batistei pierdute

in loc de Othello sau Trista afacere a unei pensionari premature in loc de

Regele Lear p. 320 (besides the enumeration of Shakesperares plays and

their reception in exotic countries such as Japan, implicitly, there is the questionof the translation ethics, of the limits of literary translation, etc)


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NICE WORK vs. MESERIE!D.H. Lawrence, Women in Love, Lady Chatterley p. 623, 657 vs. Femeiindragostite, Lady Chatterley- p. 45, 81

When it concerns the fool or coward.

Robyn recklessly recites the next line from Anthony and Cleopatra p. 629vs. De-i prostovan sau las in tot ce face.

Robyn rosteste aproape instinctive urmatorul vers din Antoniu si Cleopatrap. 53

Disraelis Sybil p. 637vs. Sybil de Disraeli- p. 61

Charlotte Brntes Shirley p. 637vs, Shirley de Charlotte Brnte p. 61Hard Times p. 638 vs. Timpuri grele p. 61

Mrs Gaskells North and South p. 640 vs. Nord si Sud al doamnei Gaskell- p. 65

Little Dorrit p. 656 vs. Micuta Doritt p. 80

Shakespeare, Julius Caesar p. 669 vs. Shakespeare, Iuliu Cezar p. 95

Middlemarch p. 707 vs. p. 134

Vanity Fair, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Waste Land p. 845 vs.Bilciul desertaciunilor, Portretul lui Dorian Gray, Tinutul nimanui p.282

2.4.2. Film/music production


Hollywood films p. 18 vs.filmele produse la Hollywood p. 24

NICE WORK vs. MESERIE!Its supposed to be the Dynasty look.

Vic grunted. Dont talk to me about television p. 711 vs.- Cica e modelul din Dinastia.Vic scoase un mormait.

- Nu-mi vorbi mie de televiziune. p. 138

-

and watchEast-Enders - p. 773 vs. p. 204


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Jennifer Rush , that song has gone to your head. The one about the power of

love- p. 812, 818 vs. Jennifer Rush , that song has gone to your head. The oneabout the power of love ti s-a urcat la cap cantecul ala despre puterea dragostei -p. 247, 253

2.4.3. Food and drink


Scotch or Bourbon? p. 90 vs. Scotch sau Bourbon? p. 116

a clubsandwichwith french fries on the side preceded by a large Manhattan..-p. 94 vs. un sandvis mare cu garniture de cartofi prajiti, precedat de ungeneros cocktail Manhattan - p. 121 (explicitation to render the metonymic use

ofManhattan)



delicious fruitpuddings .. p. 286 vs. delicioasele ei budinci de fructe - p.70(the term puddind was borrowed in Romanian, undergoing narrowing of meaning:it refers only to the dessert, and its transiting another cultural space did not secureits home culture popularity)

a Bloody Mary p. 349 vs. un Bloody Mary p. 134 (popular cocktail)

NICE WORK vs. MESERIE!whisky p. 588 vs. p. 9

sandwich p. 787 vs. sandvis p. 220

2.4.4. Clothing and footwear


one in Confederate Civil War Uniform, one in cowboy boots - p. 80 vs.imbracat in uniforma confederate de pe timpul Razboiului Civil, altul aveacizme de cowboy - p. 104 (indeed, no need for assistance as the Romanianreadership is familiarized with such American culture-bound items)



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Wellington boots p. 723 vs. in cizme de cauciuc p. 151 (Wellington bootsbecame a fashionable style emulated by the British aristocracy in the early 19thcentury.)

2.5. Ideology and axiology



..Continental theorizing p. 254 vs. teoriile elaborate pe continent p. 36(British aloofness is perceived in the cultural delimitation from the rest of Europe)Conferenceoverseas p. 293 vs. conferintele din strainatate p. 78 (overseasis aBritish term replacing abroaddue to the fact that the UK is an island country)

withtypical British parsimony p. 313 vs. cu spiritual de economie tipicpentru britanici(cultural stereotype presented in the source text)

NICE WORK vs. MESERIE!Red or white? I used to think it was some kind of a password, likethe Wars of the

Roses p. 847 vs. Alb sau rosu? La inceput am crezut ca era un fel de parolasi chiar m-am intrebat daca nu cumva reincepuse Razboiul celor Doua Roze p.254

American literature, Commonwealth literature p. 870 vs. literatura americana,literatura Commonwealth-ului p. 309

2.6. Language ego/idiomatic language

CHANGING PLACES vs. SCHIMB DE DAME

Sunny spellsnow even he was getting used to the quaint meteorological idiom

p. 173 vs. Soare fermecatoriar acum pana si el se obisnuise cu jargonulcaraghios al meteorologilor p. 213 (again, standardized language proves to be astumbling block; we suggest vreme insorita. Nevertheless, there is entropy as thecultural connotation is seriously blurred)



Small World. An Academic Romance vs. Ce mica-i lumea! O poveste din mediul

universitar (the Romanian term poveste (back translation test: story) is neutralcompared to the English romance. Nevertheless, the translators choice preserves


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the same amount of ambiguity and arouses the readerships curiosity in detectingthe authors intended meaning)Im trying to finish my doctoral dissertationWhat is it on? Persse asked.

Romance she said. p. 237 vs.- Dar acum ma straduiesc sa-mi termin teza de doctorat.- Pe ce tema?- Romance, raspunse ea. p. 18 (although the term romance wasneutralised in the translation of the title of the novel, now it is transferred and thetranslators decision-making proves to be difficult as explained in the footnote: thetranslator prefers the loan word to preserve ambiguity)

Ive read hundreds of romances. Classical romances and medieval romances,

renaissance romances and modern romances. Heliodorus and Apuleius, Chrtiende Troyes and Malory, Ariosto and Spenser, Keats and Barbara Cartland. p.251vs. am citit sute de romane de aventuri. Romane clasice si romane medievale,romane renascentiste si romane moderne. Heliodor si Apuleius, Chrtien de

Troyes si Malory, Ariosto si Spenser, Keats si Barbara Cartland. p. 251(thistime romanceis disambiguated as roman de aventuri; nonetheless, the ambiguitystill persists in the attempt to profile this literary genre by mentioning well-knownauthors of romance).

Im modern English.What? All of it? From Shakespeare to?T.S. Eliot- p. 237 vs.- Eu ma ocup de moderni.- Cum asa? Chiar de toti? De la Shakespeare la?- T.S. Eliot. p. 17 (the readership needs backgroung information on thelanguage evolution mapping to literary ages)

Is that what its called in Japan? says Persse with delight.

Its a small world. Do you have that saying in Japan?Narrow world Akira says. p. 532 vs.- Ce mica-i lumea! Exista si in japoneza zicala asta?- Ce stramta-i lumea, raspunde Akira - p.321 (an interculturally awarereader/translator will be able to manipulate idiomatic language in a natural way).

NICE WORK vs. MESERIE!Cockney accent p. 726 vs. stilul de a vorbi p. 154 (neutralisation of social

dialect; the characters Cockney accent intertextually relates her to ElizaDoolittle)


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3. Concluding remarksWe emphasize that intercultural awareness and competenceare an essential

packaging for translation theorists and in extenso for translators asprofessionals.

Contemporary approaches to literary translation2

discard the idea of divinecreation. Their very tenet is that the translator shows empathy to the writer of theoriginal which s/he feels bound to promote. This receptiveness allows a closereading of the original,a macroscopic look at the whole and a microscopic oneat its component parts. Of course, there is a re-reading process since the translatorsearches for the essence, filtering out relevant information which will betransferred and re-shaped according to the readerships expectations. Thetranslator will acquire further knowledge (by reading other works of the samewriter, reviews of the text to be translated, historical documents describing the age

in which the author lived etc) in order to unearth the hidden agenda and to makemeaning available. Such knowledge proves essential for the paratext thataccompanies the translation of a literary text: preface, postface, notes etc.

Any coherent theory of translation evaluationshould be based on objectivecriteria, among which we can enumerate:

referential and grammatical accuracy;

informativity;

acceptability;

linguistic variation equivalence; text-type equivalence;

re-contextualisation.Re-contextualisation involves compliance with cultural policies (ideologicalaffiliation) and with editorial and marketing policies.

Translation quality management cannot be conceived without the activation ofthe source language and target language contexts and without considering thereaderships expectations. Translation evaluation envisages the dynamics of socio-

cultural norms by disregarding the idea of cultural unity.In our case, translation evaluation and validation presupposes, to a high

degree, the translators subjectivity, which is able to interpret the literary text seenas a cultural artefact.

2 Cao (2007) discusses the more or less traditional dichotomy literary translation vs. non-

literary/technical/specialist translation.The author advocates a dynamic prototypology, fuzzy atthe edges, including broad types: general, literary and technical/specialist (a blanket term)translation.


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Van Dijk, T.A. (2008).Discourse and Context. A Sociocognitive Approach.Cambridge: CUP

Kaivola, T., Melen-Paaso, M. (eds.). (2007). Education for Global

Responsibility-Finnish Perspectives. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press.Lodge, D. (1989).A Trilogy. Changing Places. Small World. Nice work. London:Penguin BooksLodge, D. (1995). Schimb de dame. (transl.Virgil Stanciu) Bucuresti: UniversLodge, D. (1997). Ce mica-i lumea!. (transl. George Volceanov) Bucuresti:

UniversLodge, D. (1997).Meserie! (transl. Radu Paraschivescu) Bucuresti: UniversDi Luzio, A., Gnthner, S., Orletti, F.(eds.). (2001). Culture in Communication.

Analyses of Intercultural Situations.Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Mey, J.L.(ed.). (2009). Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics (2nd

ed.).Oxford:Elsevier Ltd.


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EVALUARE

1. Provide cultural information for the following items and state the category towhich they belong (according to the above classification):

CHANGING PLACESWaiting for Godot p.13

Sitting over agin and tonic p. 96

NICE WORKTess of the DUrbervilles p. 723

David Bowie and The Who and Pink Floyd p. 831

SMALL WORLD. AN ACADEMIC ROMANCEUniversity College, Limerick, eh? ... There was a young lecturer from

LimerickI suppose everyone says that to you. p. 233

Persse was still on Guinness p. 412

2. Discuss the translators choices with respect to the culture-specific items in task

CHANGING PLACES vs. SCHIMB DE DAMEWaiting for Godot p.13 vs.Asteptandu-l pe Godot p. 18


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Sitting over agin and tonic p. 96 vs. stand cu un gin si tonic in fata p. 124

NICE WORK vs. MESERIE!Tess of the DUrbervilles p. 723 vs. p. 151

David Bowie and The Who and Pink Floyd p. 831 vs. p. 267

SMALL WORLD. AN ACADEMIC ROMANCE vs. CE MICA-I LUMEA!

O POVESTE DIN MEDIUL UNIVERSITARUniversity College, Limerick, eh? ... There was a young lecturer from

Limerick I suppose everyone says that to you. p. 233 vs. Colegiuluniversitar, Limerick, ai? ... Un tanar lector de la Limerick Imi inchipui ca

toata lumea-ti zice asa. - p.13

Persse was still on Guinness p. 412 vs. Persse continua sa bea Guinness p.199


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UNITATEA DE NVARE III

THE READER-ORIENTED PERSPECTIVE. SKOPOSTHEORIE.TRANSLATION METHODS: SEMANTIC VSCOMMUNICATIVE

TRANSLATION

Obiective

Contientizarea aspectelor complexe legate de abordarea funcional atraducerii, centratpe receptor;

Familiarizarea studenilor cu aspectele descriptive i normative ale traduceriitextelor expresive, informative i conative n vederea obinerii efectului deechivalen.

nelegerea, internalizarea i operaionalizarea celor dou metodefundamentale de traducere: traducerea semantici traducerea comunicativ;

Timp alocat: 3 ore


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THE READER-ORIENTED PERSPECTIVE.SKOPOSTHEORIE. TRANSLATION METHODS: SEMANTIC

VS. COMMUNICATIVE TRANSLATION

Translating is not a neutral activity. Phrases such as traduttore-traditore,les belles infidles abound in literature. Undoubtedly, the central problem oftranslating can be expressed in a peremptory tone: whether to translate literallyor freely. The question of the prototypical essence of translation has no solidfoundation. The arguments in favour or against one alternative or the other havebeen going on since at least the beginning of the first century BC. Up to thebeginning of the nineteenth century, many writers favoured free translation:the spirit not the letter, the sense not the words, the message rather than the form,the matter not the manner. Writers wanted the truth to be understood. At the turnof the nineteenth century, anthropology had a great impact on linguistics.Cultural anthropology suggested that linguistic barriers were insuperable and thatlanguage was entirely the product of culture. The focus / choice of the translatorbetween the two poles was to be carefully thought according to the translatorsorientation towards the social or the individual. No matter the name it bears,the choice is an ideological one: free or literal (literalists, Valry, Croce),

dynamic equivalence or formal equivalence (Nida, 1964), communicative orsemantic translation (Newmark, 1981), domesticating or foreignizingtranslation(Venuti, 1995),minimal mediation vs. maximal mediation(Nabokov,1964). Venutis point of view deserves some further attention as he speaks of theEnglish cultural hegemony.

In domesticating texts, the translator adopts a strategy through which theTL, not the SL is culturally dominant. Culture-specific terms are neutralised andre-expressed in terms of what is familiar to the dominant culture. If the translationis done from a culturally dominant SL to a minority-status TL, domesticationprotects SL values.

Communicative translation attempts to convey the most precisecontextual meaning of the original. Both content and language are readilyacceptable and comprehensible.

Of all these methods, only semantic and communicative translationsfulfill the two major aims of translation: accuracy and economy. Similaritiesbetween the two methods are also to be noticed: both use stock and deadmetaphors, normal collocations, technical terms, colloquialisms, slang,phaticisms, ordinary language. The expressive components(unusual collocationsand syntax, striking metaphors, neologisms) are rendered very closely even

literally in expressive texts while in vocative and informative texts they arenormalised or toned down(except for advertisements).


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Scholars, notably House (1977), speak of these two possibilities of choicewhile attaching them different labels:

- semantic translation: art, cognitive translation, overt(culture-linked)translation, overtranslation;

-

communicative translation: craft,functional or pragmatictranslation, covert(culture-free) translation, undertranslation.

A semantic translation is likely to be more economical than acommunicative translation. As a rule, a semantic translation is written at theauthors linguistic level, a communicative translationat the readerships. It isalso worth mentioning that a semantic translation is most suitable forexpressive texts (more specifically for descriptive texts, definitions,explanations), a communicative translation for informative and vocative texts

(standardized or formulaic language deserving special attention).Cultural components are transferred intact in expressive translation,

transferred and explained with culturally neutral terms in informativetranslation, replaced by cultural equivalents in vocative translation. Asemantic translation remains within the boundaries of the source language culture,assisting the reader only with connotations. A communicative translation displaysa generous transfer of foreign elements with an emphasis on force (intendedmeaning) rather than on message.

The conclusion to be drawn from here is that semantic translationis

personal, individual, searching for nuances of meaning; it tends to over-translate, yet it aims at concision. On the other hand, communicativetranslation is social, it concentrates on the message (the referential basis or thetruth of information is secured), it tends to under-translate, to be simple andclear, yet it sounds always natural and resourceful (semantic translation maysound awkward and quite unnatural to the target language reader as the languageused is often figurative). A semantic translation has to interpret, therefore itdoes not equal the original. The problem of loss of meaning frequently arises inthis case. A communicative translation has to explain, it is more idiomatic and

it is often said to be better than the original. A semantic translation recognizes theSLT authors defined authority, preserving local flavour intact. The tuning withthe SL author in semantic translation is marvelously rendered in the followingwords:

The translator invades, extracts and brings home. (Steiner, 1975: 298)

Chomsky denied that language is primarily communicative and believedonly in the strict linguistic meaning without resorting to cultural adaptations. A

communicative translation is a recast in modern culture, shedding new lighton universal themes. Nida (1978), doing some pioneering work, clearly states thattranslating is communicating. Nevertheless, the translators freedom seems to be


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limited in both, as there is constant conflict of interests or loyalties. Although ourdiscussion constantly focuses on the translator and not on the interpreter, it isworth remembering that the interpreters loyalties are divided in diplomacy andthere is a role conflict for the court interpreter (seating nearer the defence ornearer the prosecution can affect the trust in his impartiality).

Translation Studies recommend that the overriding purpose of anytranslationshould bethe equivalent effect, i.e. to produce the same effect (or oneas close as possible) on the readership of the translation as on the readership of theoriginal. This principle is also termed equivalent response or in Nidas words

dynamic equivalence. Dynamic equivalence can be equated with the readersshadowy presence in the mind of the translator, and contrasted to formalequivalence, i.e. equivalence of both form and content between the two texts.Newmark (1981) sees the equivalent effect as the desirable result rather than the

aim of the translation. He argues that this result is unlikely in two cases:

if the purpose of the SL text is to affect and the purpose of the TL text is toinform;

if there is a clear cultural gap between SL text and TL text (in fact, translationmerely fills a gap between two cultures if, felicitously, there is no insuperablecultural clash.

The cultural gap is bridged more easily in a communicative translation as

it conforms with the universalist position advocating common thoughts andfeelings. Semantic translation follows the relativist position thoughts andfeelings are predetermined by the languages and cultures in which people areborn. Consequently, word or word-group is the minimal unit of translation in theformer case, the latter showing preference for the sentence.

Dealing with text-types, we may say that in the case of communicativetranslation of vocative texts, the effect is essential, not only desirable. Ininformative texts, the effect is desirable only in respect of their insignificantemotional impact. The vocative thread in these texts has nevertheless to be

rendered with an equivalent purpose aim.In semantic translation, the first problem arises with serious imaginative

literature where individual readers are the ones involved rather than a readership.Not to mention, that the translator is essentially tryi

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