Types of oral translation

Simultaneous TR – in this type of TR a speaker talks continuously as the interpreter repeats the
speaker’s message in another Lg. The interpreter uses special equipment including a microphone
that transmits to headsets or earphones worn by attendees.

Consecutive TR – the speaker and the interpreter take turns in talking. The speaker delivers a
message in short segments pausing between each one to allow the interpreter to relay the
segment in another Lg. It is appropriate for small-scale interactions such as client meeting.

Whispered TR – is like simultaneous interpretation without specialized equipment. The interpreter

sits or stands next to the person who needs Lg assistance and conveys what a speaker is saying
in real time. The interpreter does not actually whisper but uses normal speech at a low volume.

Sight TR – it combines interpretation and translation. For sight TR, an interpreter reads the text
out loud converting the text from one Lg to another in the process. For instance, an interpreter
may provide sight TR for the text on presentation slides.

Telephonic TR – it consists od a three-way call between two persons who do not share a Lg and
an interpreter. The individuals who do not share a Lg may be in the same place or in different
locations. The interpreter uses consecutive interpretation to relay messages between the two
parties.

TR subcategories
Literal TR – it consists of the TR of poetry, plays, literary books/texts as well as songs, rhymes
literary articles, fiction novels, novels, short stories, poems. A literal TR must reflect the
imaginative, intellectual and intuitive writing of the author.

Technical TR – is a type of specialized translation involving the translation of documents

produced by technical writers, or more specifically, texts that relate to technological subject areas
or texts that deal with the practical application of scientific and technological information.
Offering technical translation services requires a technical translator who has a good
understanding of the subject matter and, since technical translations also requires the translation
of technical terms in order to develop very specialized terminology, they must have knowledge of
the specialized terms of that field both in the source and in the target languages in order to
translate technical terms with ease.

Captioning TR: subtitling, overtitling, dubbing and voice-over

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Subtitling - a type of audiovisual translation or the captioning of the TR of the spoken dialogue in
the original soundtrack.

Overtitling TR – refers to the technique used in some operas and theatres, where the actors’ or
singers’ words are displayed above the stage. This is the live equivalent of subtitling, except that
the words must be synchronized manually with the action taking place on a stage.

Dubbing – the creation of a localized version to replace the original version.

Voice-over – is a film technique in which a person not seen on screen narrates the action,
presents his/her feelings or summarizes events.

Machine TR - a procedure whereby a computer program analyzes a ST produces a TT without

further human intervention. MT typically does involve human intervention, in the form of pre-editing
and post-editing.

Computer-assisted TR (CAT) - "computer-aided TR,“ "machine-aided human TR (MAHT)" and

"interactive TR," is a form of TR wherein a human translator creates a TT with the assistance of a
computer program. The machine supports a human translator. CAT systems are divided into two
groups:
 machine-aided human translation (MAHT)
 human-aided machine translation (HAMT).
The difference between the 2 lies in the roles of computer and human translator.

MAHT, a translator makes the TR, then uses the computer as a tool for typing, checking spelling,
grammar; for printing the TT, for looking up words in electronic dictionaries and data bases, for
getting references on CD-ROMs and other sources, for consulting about contexts, for discussing
problems in the web, for searching a job, etc.

HAMT - the TR is automated, done by a computer but requiring the assistance of a human
editor.There are 2 phases of human help: pre-editing and post-editing. In pre-editing, an operator
(or a customer) prepares the text for input. A special computer TR program transfers the text from
1 Lg to another. Then a translator does the post-editing, mostly by correcting the word usage.

Marketing TR – is sth between the literary TR and technical TR as the key is creating an effect.
The key quality is getting across the impact of the ST.

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 TR techniques
Direct Translating Procedures:
1) Loan Transfer or Borrowings
2) Loan Translation or Calqu
3) Literal Translation

Indirect Translating Procedures:

1)Transposition
2)Equivalence
3)Adaptation
4)Compensation
5)Modulation

Loan Transfer or Borrowings - transfer of the SL term into the TL, which has no equivalent for it.
This is used to preserve the "exotic" atmosphere:
 Hijab - хиджаб
 Bazzar – базар

Loan Translation or Calque - literal translation at the level of phrase:

 Adam's Apple - Адамово яблоко
 Achilles' heel - Ахилесова пята
 Rocky Mountains – Скалистые горы, Munții Stâncoși
 Saint Helena Island – остров Святой Елены, Insula Sfânta Elena
 Золотой Рог – Golden Horn, Cornul de Aur
 Waterloo Bridge – мост Ватерлоо, podul Waterloo
 Salt Lake City – город Солт-Лэйк-Сити – orașul Salt Lake City

Literal Translation - one-to-one transfer of the SL structure:

 They will call the police - они позвонят в полицию.

Transposition - is a kind of free translation where one word class is replaced by another without
changing the meaning. Types of transposition:
 – Adverb-verb: I only defended myself / I did nothing but defend myself
 – Adverb-noun: I called you early this week / I called you at the beginning of the week
 – Adverb-adjective: He lives dangerously / He lives a dangerous life
 – Adjective-noun: He found it difficult to learn for exams / He had difficulties learning for the
exams
 – Possessive article-definite article: Your hair is too long / You have the hair too long

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  – Verb or past participle-noun: I intended to give you a present / My intention was to give
you a present
 – Adverb-noun: I wrote to you early this year / I wrote to you at the beginning of this year

Modulation - basically means using a phrase that is different in the source and target languages
to convey the same idea.
 lexical modulation – type of translation when the word with an abstract/concrete meaning in
SL changes into its opposite in TL

 Outside is raining – На улице дождь

 He went inside - Он зашел в дом
 ходячая энциклопедия – walking library
 I bought soda – Am cumpărat apă dulce

 message modulation – helps to illustrate the difference between literal translation and
coherent meaning translation. It makes the sentence sound natural in the TL

 It’s not difficult to show - Nu este dificil să-ți arăt – Este ușor de demonstrat.
 From head to toe – Din cap până în picioare
 To be rotten to the core – A fi putred până în măduva oaselor
 To grin from ear to ear – A râde cu gura până la urechi
 I have a headache – Am o durere de cap – Mă doare capul

Equivalence - a procedure which 'replicates the same situation as in the original, whilst using
completely different wording':
 Intralingual (within one language, i.e. rewording or paraphrase)
 Interlingual (between two languages)
 Intersemiotic (between sign systems)

 To escape by a hair's breadth – на волосок от смерти.

 To cry over spilt milk – плакать над пролитым молоком.
 To pull the wool over one's eyes – водить за нос.
 The power to surprise – искусство удивлять
 Go beyond – за грань обыденного

Adaptation or Free Translation - is necessary when something specific to one language culture
is expressed in a totally different way that is familiar or appropriate to another language culture:
 “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” - “as white as snow”
 sing and dance in a ring – водить хоровод
 catch-up only – догонялки
 horny moon – луна
 Should win? Could win? Must win? - Победю?... побежю?... побеждю?...

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Compensation - a standard lexical transfer operation whereby those meanings of the SL text,
which are lost in the process of translation, are rendered in the TL text in some other place or by
some other means.
 «My Dear Rosen – Just back from Dr Helmuth Spath’s. I saw Edgar Jackson the other day.
He and Amos Perry have just come back from Tsingtau. In all Honesty I can’t say I envy
them the trip» - «Дорогой Розен, Я сейчас от Самюэля Спата, а на днях видела
Майкла Боумена. Он и Елизавета Джексон только что вернулись из Рангуна.
Откровенно говоря, поездка была не слишком удачной, но это уже, можно сказать,
Традиция. Поскорее пришлите о себе весточку»
 «One of the men had a watch he was trying to hide so I woudnt see it so I tryed not to look
and that made me nervus. Anyway that test made me feel worser than all the others
because they did it over 10 times with difernt amazeds and Algernon won every time. I dint
know that mice were so smart. Maybe thats because Algernon is a white mouse. Maybe
white mice are smarter then other mice» - У одного мущины были часы, которые он
хотел от меня спрятать поэтому я старался несмотреть туда и начал изза этаво
валнаватца. От этаво испытания мне было хуже чем от всех других потому что они
повторяли его 10 раз с разными _л_а_б_е_р_и_н_т_а_м_и_ и Элджернон всегда
выигрывал. Я незнал что мыши такие умные. Может это потому что Элджернон
белый. Может белые мыши умнее чем другие»

Lexical and grammatical transformations in translation

Concretization - is substitution of a word or word combination of the SL which has a wider
meaning by a word or a word combination of the TL which has a narrower meaning. For example,
the English word “to marry” is translated – a se căsători, but it may have a narrower meaning “a se
mărita” and “a se însura”, or the Romanian “picior” is translated - “leg” and “foot”.
 I have to go to Warsaw next week. – Va trebui să plec la Varșovia săptămîna viitoare. На
следующей неделе мне придется поехать в Варшаву.
 I saw him go into the house. He went there every week. – L-am văzut intrînd în casă. În
fiecare săptămînă el pleca acolo. Я видел, как он входил в дом.

Generalization - is the opposite of concretization that is when a word or word combination with a
narrower meaning is substituted by a word or word combination with a wider meaning. For
example, the English nouns clock and watch in Romanian has one equivalent- ceas.
 Wolfe lifted his shoulders an inch and dropped them.- Wolfe și-a ridicat un pic umerii și apoi
i-a lăsat în jos. Вольф слегка приподнял и опустил плечи.

Generalization is used when translating realia, in cases when such a method makes the text
easier for understanding. For example: He parked the Lancia at the back of the building. – El și-a
parcat automobilul în curtea casei. Oн оставил автомобиль во дворе дома.

Addition - means expanding the original text, which is caused by the necessity to fully depict its
meaning, as well as by the differences in the grammatical structures of the SL and TL. In the first
case we talk about lexical additions, in the second about grammatical additions. For example:

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  The workers went out on wage strike. Muncitorii au intrat în grevă, cerînd un adaos la
salariu. Рабочие объявили забастовку с требованием повышения заработной платы
(lexical addition).
 I need help until I find a job. – Am nevoie de ajutor pînă nu –mi găsesc un servici
(grammatical addition). Мне нужна помощь до тех пор, пока я не найду работу.
 The authorities are scared of leakage. – Autorităților li-i frică că ar putea avea loc o
scurgere de informații. Власти опасаются утечки информации.
 Like other European carmakers, Volkswagen is suffering from the strength of the euro
against the dollar. – Precum și ceilalți producători europeni de automobile, compania
Volkswagen se confruntă cu dificultăți din cauza creșterii cursului de euro față de dolar. Как
и другие европейские производители автомобилей, компания «Фольксваген»
испытывает трудности из-за усиления курса евро по отношению к доллару.

Omission - is the opposite of addition. It implies text compression in comparison with the original.
Omission can be explained by the differences in the grammatical systems of the SL and TL. For
example:
 He is a scientist. – El e savant. Oн ученый (grammatical omission.)
 The UN agencies should be streamlined and tailored to the present situation. – Agențiile
ONU trebuie să fie adaptate la necesitățile actuale. Агентства ООН должны быть
приспособлены к нуждам сегодняшнего дня. (lexical omission)
 Summer rains in Florida may be violent while they last. – Ploile de vară în Florida pot fi
foarte puternice. Летом во Флориде бывают слитные дожди.
 The plane went down in a rural area. Joe Morris, 46, who lives nearby, said he was
sleeping when he heard a loud noise. – Avionul a căzut într-o localitate rurală. Joe Morris,
care locuiește în apropiere, a zis că s-a trezit de la un zgomot puternic. Самолет упал в
сельской местности. Джо Моррис, живущий поблизости, сообщил, что он проснулся от
сильного шума.

Antonymous TR - is a complex lexico-grammatical change, which involves transformation of a

negative structure into an affirmative structure or, on the contrary, an affirmative structure is
substituted by a negative one.
 His reputation is not undeserved. – El și-a meritat reputația. Он заслужил свою
репутацию.
 It became clear that Patrick meant business and that he was not without support. – Era
evident că Patrick s-a pus pe treabă și era susținut. Стало ясно, что Патрик взялся за
дело всерьез и у него была поддержка.
 Remember to post the letter. – Să nu uiți să trimiți scrisoarea. He забудь отправить
письмо.
 She fell down and nearly broke her leg. – Ea a căzut și cît pe ce nu și-a frînt piciorul. Она
упала и чуть не сломала ногу.
 He left without saying a word. – El a plecat fără nici un cuvînt. Он ушел, не сказав ни
слова.
 She was without friends. – Ea nu avea prieteni. У нее не было друзей.

Transliteration is transfer of the English word into another language by reproducing its graphical
form (letters) using a different alphabet.
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  Washington Post (newspaper) — Вашингтон Пост; Jersey (island) — Джерси.

In Romanian we use the same forms as in English.

Transcription – is transfer of the English word by reproducing its phonemic structure (the way it is
pronounced), it is typical for the translation into Russian.
 Times (name of the newspaper) — Таймс; City (a district in London) — Сити.

Transcription and transliteration are used to translate proper names and geographical names.
Priority is given to transcription nowadays.
 Discovery (космический аппарат) — Дискавери; OptimaNumerics Company —
компания «ОптимаНыомерикс»; Trident Capital firm — фирма «Трайдент Кэпитал».

Transposition (Changing the word order in the sentence) - very often the syntactic structure of
the sentence undergoes changes during the process of translation. One of the most frequent
transformations is transposition (change of word order). The English sentence is characterized by
a very strict word order subject + predicate+ object+ adverbial modifier. In Romanian the word
order is not so strict. In both languages the logical center of the sentence (what’s new in the
sentence) is at the end of the sentence. However, there are frequent cases when the logical
center of the English sentence is at the beginning and in these cases transposition is used in order
to translate them. For example:
 Radical changes have taken place over the last decade. – În ultimile decenii au avut loc
schimbări radicale. Зa последнее десятилетие произошли радикальные изменения.

In the process of translation grammatical units can be substituted by other grammatical units in the
TL. The category of number exists in both English and Romanian. As a rule, when translated the
nouns are used in the same number as in the original. However, there are a number of nouns the
number of which does not coincide. For example:
 Outskirts – periferie; окраина
 Evidence- dovezi;показания
 Wallpaper –tapete;обои

Replacement of parts of speech is another case of grammatical substitution. For example:

 The government had to permit the sale of products, which cannot be grown locally. –
Guvernul a fost nevoit să permită vînzarea produselor care nu pot fi crescute în condițiile
locale. (The adverb is substituted by an adjective). Правительству пришлось разрешить
продажу продуктов, которые невозможно выращивать в местных условиях.

 According to the rules of English grammar we have to keep in mind the sequence of tenses.
That is the verb in the main clause has to agree with the verb in the secondary clause.

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He says he is interested in sports.
He said he was interested in sports.

Since the usage of past form in English is connected to grammar rules, not to the meaning, while
translating into Romanian we have to keep to the rules of the Romanian language.
 Не says he is interested in sports. —El zice că se interesează de sport. Он говорит, что
интересуется спортом.
 Не said he was interested in sports. —El a zis că se interesează de sport. Он сказал, что
интересуется спортом.
 He said he had been interested in sports. — El a zis că cîndva și el s-a interesat de sport.
Он сказал, что интересовался спортом.

 B. Some meanings that are grammatical in one language can be lexical in the other. Thus,
it is known that Perfect tenses that are widely used in English do not exist in Romanian.
That’s why while translating them the translator has to use lexical addition, and mainly to
use such words as: anterior, deja, încă and past or present tense, depending on the
context. For example:
 The guests have arrived. – Oaspeții tocmai au sosit. Гости только что пришли.
 I haven’t cleaned the room.- Încă n-am făcut curat în cameră. Я еще не убралась в
комнате.
 Horace has been in hospital for two weeks.- Horace este în spital de două săptămîni.
Гораций уже две недели лежит в больнице.
 Darkness had fallen by the time he returned.- Cînd a revenit deja era noapte. Когда он
вернулся, уже стемнело.

 C. English informative texts may use the modal shall in the cases when according to the
norms of the TL a present tense should be used. For example:
 Each member of the Economic and Social Council shall have one vote. – Fiecare
membru al consiliului pentru afaceri economice și sociale are dereptul la un vot. Каждый
член Совета по экономическим и социальным вопросам имеет право одного
голоса.

Translating pronouns
 A characteristic feature of the English language is a wide use of possessive pronouns,
which in Romanian is very often excessive. Correspondingly, when translated into the TL, it
is often omitted. For example:
 She took off her coat and walked into the room. – Ea a dezbrăcat
 paltonul și a intrat în odaie. Она сняла пальто и зашла в комнату.

 B. If the personal pronoun is the same in the main and secondary clauses, then when it is
translated the pronoun in the secondary clause is omitted. For example:
 He'll come as soon as he can. – El va veni îndată ce se eliberează. On придет, как
только сможет.
The pronoun is also omitted in sentences of this kind when the subject in the main clause is
expressed by a noun (proper or common). For example:

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  Frances said she didn't know about his arrival. – Frances a zis că n-a știut despre
sosirea lui. Фрэнсис сказала, что не знает о его приезде.

 C. The pronoun one in English performs the function of the subject in indefinite sentences.

 One can't help admiring the monument. –Nu poți să nu admiri acest monument. Этим
памятником нельзя не восхищаться.

The same function has the personal pronoun you. For example:
 "I don't know if you can call it a fortune," said Ellie. – “Nu știu dacă acest lucru poate fi
numit noroc”, - a zis Ellie. «He знаю, можно ли это назвать удачей», — сказала
Элли.

Meaning extension or sense development – involves translating a case by its effect or vice-
versa.
 You can not be serious. – вы, должно быть, шутите.

Descriptive TR – involves the meaning of a word or word combination that does not have a
regular equivalent in the TL.
 Junk food – еда в сухомятку, «наполнители», тяжёлая еда, некалорийная пища,
неполноценная пища, продукция из пищевых суррогатов в дешёвых кафе или
автоматов

Metonymic TR – is similar to meaning extension. Using a part for the whole, the whole for one of
its parts or one or two contagious parts for the other are typical metonymic figures of speech.
 School broke up for the semester recess. – Занятия прекратились./Все ушли на летние
каникулы.

Sentence integration – involves combining two or more sentences into one.

 Your presence is not required. Nor it’s desirable. – Ваше присутствие не требуется и
даже нежелательно.

Sentence fragmentation – involves one complex or compound sentence into two or more simpler
sentences.
 People everywhere are confronted with the need to make decision in the face of ignorance
and this dilemma is growing. - Люди везде сталкиваются с необходимостью принятия
решения при отсутствии достаточной информации. Эта проблема возникает все чаще
и чаще.

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