FUNDAMENTOS DA TRADUO EM LNGUA INGLESA

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Contedo Programtico desta aula

History of translation
Types of translation
Translation and other sciences
Psycholinguistics and
sociolinguistics
Articles, passive voice, gerunds
and infinitives

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The importance of translating

The use of applications to translate from one language to
another has never been so used
But, how has the job of translating information from one
language to another started? What were the first
documents translated and how has the study of translation
evolved since then?

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The meaning of translation

The word translation comes from the Latin

translatio, which means to bring across

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The meaning of translation

The first translator was a hermeneutic who was given the
task of interpreting the message sent by God to the Human
beings. As time went by, the need to decode information
among different people became more and more needed

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The process remains the same

Technology has come as an invaluable aid to the process of
translation. Nevertheless, the process remains the same:
there will be a person who knows both languages and will
bridge the gap between the two to make the message
known

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Important concepts

Source Language: the language in which the text was

originally written

Target Language: the language into which the text will

be translated

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History of translation
The Tower of Babel is part of a story told in the book of
Genesis in the Bible as a place where there was one people
and one single language. God would have dismantled the
place and scattered the languages all around the world to
prevent them to get organised as a nation, and that was
when the varied languages were created.

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History of translation
There was a time they would say that English was not fit for
the library but for the street (Crystal, 1995). At this time
many foreign borrowings occurred.
In 1476, William Caxton set up his press in Westminster.
This event is considered by many as the key factor that
might have determined the shift from Middle to Modern
English.
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Questions posed
Theories about the nature of translation started to emerge.
The distinction between metaphrase (referring to the
literal translation (word-by-word) of the texts )
and paraphrase (reformulation of the original text )

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Questions posed
Should we use foreign words
Which variety of English should he follow
How should language be spelled or punctuated
In publishing native writers, should he change their
language

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The role of the translator

A competent translator...
must have very good knowledge of the SL.
must have an excellent command of the TL.
needs to have previous experience in translating texts
must have a profound understanding of the etymological
and idiomatic correlates between the two languages
has to know about the TL culture.
should show good sense in the use of metaphrase and
paraphrase
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The present job market

Have a look at the possible alternatives you have to choose
from!
Translating
Interpreting
Dubbing
Subtitling

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A quote by Cervantes
Translating from one language to another, unless it is from
Greek and Latin, the queens of all languages, is like looking
at Flemish tapestries from the wrong side, for although the
figures are visible, they are covered by threads that
obscure them, and cannot be seen with the smoothness
and color of the right side.

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Types of Translation
Human Translation from SL to TL made by a human
translator.

Mechanical Translation in which a computer program

analyses a source text and produces a target text without
any human intervention. This kind of translation can
usually be used with texts with limited range of
vocabulary and simple sentence structure.

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Types of Translation
Computer-aided Translation in which a human
translator decodes language from SL to TL with the
assistance of a computer. Usually the computer does the
first round of translation and the professional translator
revises the produced text

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Types of Translation
Written Translation performed in written form,
irrespective of the text format, and can be literal or nonliteral, consecutive or simultaneous.
Oral Translation performed in oral form, irrespective of
the text format, and, differently from the written mode,
can only be non-literal, consecutive or simultaneous.

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Types of Translation
Literary Translation of texts that belong to the world of
imagination (eg. literature and other similar texts).
Non-literary - Translation of texts that belong to the world
of facts (eg. weather forecast, reports).

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Types of Translation
Consecutive Type of oral translation in which the SL is
translated into the TL after the utterance has been made.
Simutaneous Type of oral translation in which the SL is
translated into the TL almost at the same time
Sight-translation Type of translation in which a written
text in the SL is translated orally into the TL. It can occur
both consecutively or simultaneously.

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Types of Translation

Machine Translation (MT) - Computer program analyses a

text in a SL and produces a text in the TL without human
intervention; this sort of translation, however, involve preor post-editing from a translator.
Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT)/ Machine-Assisted
Translation (MAT) Human translators interact with a
translation system, as an assistance tool, and which offers,
a list of translations that best complete the part of the
sentence already translated.
Human-Assisted Machine Translation (MAMT) - Computer
system does most of the translation
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Aim of translation
Literal - Translation which represents the precise meaning
of the text being translated
Summative translation - Translation in which the main
ideas are translated into the TL.
Abstracts - Translation done in no more than one paragraph
in which the main idea of the SL text is portrayed.

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Tasks and objectives of translation

Literary translation - only the main ideas are translated in

the TL, as opposed to a word-by-word translation.
Informative translation - separation of important
information from insignificant information, which enables
the reader to understand the sense
Semantic translation - use of semantic information to aid
in the translation of data from SL to TL.
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Interpreters and Translators

The difference between these two professionals is that the
final product of a translators job is a written document,
whereas the final product of an interpreter is in oral mode.

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Interpreter skills required

High degree of proficiency in both English and the other
language.
Impartiality.
Ability to accurately and idiomatically turn the message
from the SL into the TL without any additions, omissions or
other misleading factors that alter the intended meaning of
the message from the speaker.

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Interpreter skills required

Be used to doing simultaneous and consecutive
interpretation and sight translation.
Ability to communicate orally including appropriate
delivery and poise.
Having high professional standards and professional
conduct.

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Translation workflow

1. Evaluation

2. Glossary Development
3. Initial Translation
4. Quality Assurance
5. Client Approval
6. Translator Proofreading
7. Final Delivery to Client

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Translation as a field of study

The use of translation has been part of the history of

mankind since its very early days. Translation as a field of
study, however, has only started to develop in the
beginning of the 80s. Because of globalisation and the
need to understand other languages and cultures, courses
of translation have been spreading around the world since
then and the need to understand the process involved in
translating texts from a SL to a TL has only increased.

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Translation and other fields of study

Contribution from various fields of study such as linguistics,
psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, philosophy and
anthropology, among others, was welcome into the
investigation.

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Jakobson
An interesting notion brought about was that no one is able
to understand a word unless he is acquainted with the
meaning assigned to this word in his lexical code. That is to
say that meaning (signatum) cannot exist without a sign
(signum). So that a listener can fully understand the
meaning of a word he must have the concept of this word
clear in his mind.

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Jakobson
Types of translation
Intralingual
Interlingual
Intersemiotic

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Mutual translability

One of the main concerns in linguistics is the mutual

translability between languages: is it possible to find exact
equivalence in meaning when translating a message from a
SL to a TL?
The translator examines the mutual translability between
the two languages to try and find a correspondent in the TL
that provides the exact meaning to the text (oral or
written) in the SL
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Strategies
Naturalization: fianc, fiance
Neutralization: snow, bird, shoe
Descriptive and functional equivalent
Footnote
Cultural equivalent
Compensation

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Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics will aid our understanding of the
translation process helping us reflect on the issue of the
untranslability is it really possible to translate all texts
from a SL to a TL? Can all texts really be translated? Can
translators always find equivalents from one language into
another?

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Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics will help us reflect on the role of society in
the translation process. Isthe language used in a given
social environment perfectly translatable into a different
language? What about the society to which the other
language belongs - can the reader from the TL understand
the situation described in the SL?

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Psycholinguistic theories
Sapir-Whorf goes on to describe that certain ideas from a
SL language cannot be understood by those who speak
another language either because the structure or the
semantics of the language does not have a corresponding
message

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Psycholinguistic theories
Quines thesis of the indeterminacy of translation is based
on the fact that there aredifferent ways with which one
might break a sentence into words, and different ways to
distribute functions among words, and that, depending on
the translators choices the meanings would vary
considerably. Lets consider the following sentence:Never
had Joan visited this place before.

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Translation and sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics can be defined as the study of language in
its social context, which would include different aspects
such as social class, age, gender, register, among others. It
also aims at examining how social categorization can be
reflected in language differentiation and also how language
differences contribute to social distinction

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Variation
Languages have a variation according to location, age,
style, ethnic group and social class. Besides, they should
also be connected to social relations and, more precisely,
who the other is and how we interact with him

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Langage as action
Sociolinguists have observedhow language works in and
across communities and realized that language use does not
simply represent but also contributes to the definition of
oneself, the other and those to whom they relate.

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Definite and Indefinite Articles

In more practical terms, however, one has to be very

careful with the use of articles when translating texts into
BrP for, unlike English, nouns cannot head sentences. Thus,
for example: Time flies would be translated O tempo voa.
The use of the definite article as the head of a sentence
(which is not used in English) has to be present in BrP and
has to agree with the noun both in gender and number
(time/ o tempo; life/ a vida; visitors/ os visitantes; ladies/
as senhoras).
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Definite Articles
The definite article is not used with plural countable
nouns in English but has to be present when the sentence is
translated into BrP: Its fantastic what teachers can do./
fantstico o que os professores podem fazer.
The definite article is not used with uncountable nouns in
English but has to be present when the sentence is
translated into BrP: Love can change everything. O amor O
amor pode mudar tudo.

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Definite Articles
There are certain nouns that can refer to either a
place/object or to an activity: She goes to bed very late
(activity)/ Hey, Joey, dont jump on the bed (object). In
English, when the noun refers to the activity, the definite
article should not be used. In the translation, the definite
article is used in both cases (Ela vai para a cama muito
tarde/ Ei, Joey, no pule na cama).

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Passive Voice

In BrP there is a distinction between two types of passive

voice: the analtica and the sinttica, which does not
occur in English. The two types would correspond to the
following examples:
In English, this difference is not considered. Analyse the
following sentence and the way in which the passive voice
was employed:
It is said that money corrupts people. (Diz-se/ dito que o
dinheiro corrompe as pessoas.)
It was reported that the man was killed cold blood. (Relatase que o homem foi assassinado a sangue frio.)
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A
Agree
aim
appear
arrange
ask
attempt
be able
beg
begin
care
choose
condescend consent
continue
dare
decide deserve
detest
dislike
expect

fail
forget
get
hurry
intend
leap
leave
like
long
love
mean neglect offer
ought
plan
hope happen have
hesitate

prefer
prepare
proceed
remember
promise propose
say
shoot
start
stop
strive
swear
threaten
try
use
wait
refuse
want
wish

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Verbs followed by the gerund

advise
appreciate
avoid
can't help
complete
consider
delay
deny
detest
dislike
enjoy

escape
excuse finish
forbid
get through
have
imagine
mind
miss permit
postpone
practice

quit
recall
report
resent resist
resume
risk
spend (time)
suggest
tolerate
waste (time)

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Verbs followed by both the gerund and the infinitive

begin

neglect

continue

prefer

hate

start

like

try

love

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Verbs followed by both the gerund and the infinitive

Forget

Stop

Remember

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Questions...

Should we use metaphrases or praphrases in translations?

Is an interpreter supposed to have a proficient
knowledge of both source and target language?
Is there perfect translability?
Do the following sentences have the same meaning?
Mary stopped smoking last year
Mary stopped to smoke last year.

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In this class, we learned...

History of translation
Types of translation

Translation and other sciences

Psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics
Articles, passive voice, gerunds and infinitives

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