IES Nro.

28 “Olga Cossettini”

Traductorado Técnico, Científico y Literario de Inglés

Estudio Comparativo del Español y el Inglés

Final Exam – September 2020

Teacher: Mercedes Montero

Student: Martín Saavedra

Date: 8/9/2020

Final mark: 8 (eight)

Please, remember that you must submit your exam for correction before 14:00

PART 1:

Read the following text about Tallin, the capital of Estonia and read the
translation below.

Apply contrastive analysis to the structures in yellow. Consider the most relevant
levels of analysis.

Suggest alternatives to improve the translated version provided. Justify your

suggestions.

PART 2:

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Answer the following questions.

1) What’s contrastive analysis?

2) Why is it useful for translators?

3) Which are the steps to be taken to apply contrastive analysis to any

particular text considering the version in the source language and another
version translated in the target language?

PART 3:

Personal conclusion

What contribution has this subject made to your professional training as a

translator? How do you think you will apply what you have learned in the future?

SOURCE TEXT

Tallinn

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia is located in Northern Europe in the north-eastern part of
the Baltic Sea region. Cruise ships dock at Old City Harbour, just 10 to 15 minute walk
away from the Medieval Old Town. In addition to cruise vessels, the harbour's three
terminals (1) numbered A, B, D, also accommodate the busy passenger ferry lines to
Helsinki and Stockholm

The city centre is conveniently compact (area of Tallinn is 159.2 km²) so there is no need
to worry about transport.

You’ll find the Tourist Information Centre (2) almost on the Town Hall Square at the
beginning of Niguliste street. Pop in for additional information or to pick up good ideas
along with the city map.

Get a head start to your Tallinn visit and read more about the city’s vibrant history (3) and
popular attractions from here.

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Twisting cobblestone lanes and iron street lamps (4). Gothic spires and medieval markets.
Cappuccino and Wi-Fi. This is the city's famous Old Town. If you're looking for (5) that mix
of historic ambience and cutting-edge culture that defines Tallinn, you'll find it here.

TRANSLATED VERSION:

Tallín, la capital de Estonia, está ubicada en el norte de Europa, en el noreste de la región

del Mar Báltico. Los cruceros atracan en el puerto de la ciudad llamado Old City Harbour
que se encuentra a una distancia de entre 10 y 15 minutos a pie de la ciudad vieja
medieval. Además de los cruceros, el puerto tiene tres terminales, A, B, C, donde se
reciben a las activas líneas de transbordadores que llevan a los pasajeros a Helsinki y
Estocolmo.

El centro de la ciudad es realmente pequeño (la superficie de Tallin es de 159,2 km2), por
eso, no hay necesidad de preocuparse por el transporte.

Encontrará el Centro de información al turista sobre la Plaza de la Municipalidad al

comienzo de la calle Niguliste. Visite el Centro de información al turista para obtener
información adicional y consejos útiles, además de un mapa de la ciudad.

Para aprovechar al máximo su visita a Tallin, haga clic aquí y lea más acerca de la
fascinante historia de la ciudad y sus populares atracciones.

Angostas calles empedradas y sinuosas, y lámparas de hierro que iluminan el paisaje

urbano/las calles. Terminaciones góticas y mercados medievales. Capuchino y Wi-FI. Este
es el famoso Casco viejo de la ciudad. Si busca esa mezcla de ambiente histórico con
cultura de vanguardia que caracteriza a Tallin, lo podrá encontrar aquí.

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PART 1:

The harbour’s three terminals El puerto tiene tres terminales

Form: Noun Phrase. Oración simple.

Function: Subject.

 El puerto:
-The: Forma: sintagma nominal.
Form: Definite Article, Specific Función: sujeto.
Reference.
-El:
Function: Determiner.
Forma: articulo definido, 3ra
persona singular, masculino.
-Harbour’s: Función: determinante, MD.
Form: Noun, Common, Concrete,
Countable, Singular, Individual, -Puerto:
Inanimate, Neuter Gender. Marked Forma: sustantivo común,
Case, Inflected Partitive Genitive. concreto, contable, singular,
Function: Premodifier. individual, inanimado. Género
inherente masculino.
-Three: Función: núcleo del sintagma
Form: Numeral Adjective, Cardinal nominal.
Number.
Function: Postdeterminer.  Tiene tres terminales:
Predicado verbal simple.
-Terminals:
Form: Noun, Common, Concrete, -Tiene:
Forma: verbo.
Countable, Plural, Individual,
Tiempo: presente.
Inanimate, Neuter Gender. Unmarked Tiempo verbal: presente.
case. Persona: 3ra.
Inflection: Plurality: Terminal + -s. Número: singular.
Function: Head of the Noun Phrase. Modo: indicativo.
Aspecto: imperfectivo.
Voz: activa.
Valencia: transitiva.
Función: núcleo del sintagma
verbal

 Tres terminales:
Forma: sintagma nominal.
Función: objeto directo.

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 -Tres:
Forma: adjetivo numeral cardinal.
Función: determinante.

-Terminales:
Forma: sustantivo común,
concreto, contable, plural,
individual, inanimado. Género
inherente femenino.
Función: núcleo del sintagma
nominal.

Equivalence:

Cases of zero equivalence:

- In English, articles do not carry a lot of information, while in Spanish, they take gender
and number.

Cases of nil equivalence:

- As the genitive case does not exist in Spanish, we have to resort to another structure. It
can be either a prepositional phrase starting with “de”, or as in this case, we can
restructure the whole sentence.

Neuter gender?????

Cases of translation equivalence:

- Nouns are pluralized in the same way: by adding a final –s or an -es

Comments:

There are 4 words in English and 5 in Spanish. That’s because Spanish does not have
such A thing as the genitive case, so we need to resort to another structure. In this case,
the whole sentence changed causing a structure shift from a simple Noun Phrase to a
Simple Sentence.

Causes that may lead to negative transfer:

Divergence:
One element in the SL has multiple translations in the TL.
-The: el, la, los, las.
-Harbour: puerto, albergue, hospedaje.

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 You’ll find the Tourist Information Centre Encontrará el centro de información al
turista

Simple sentence. Oración simple.

 You:  Encontrará:
Form: Noun Phrase. Forma: verbo.
Function: Subject. Tiempo: futuro.
Tiempo verbal: futuro.
-You: Persona: 2da.
Form: Pronoun, specific reference, Número: singular.
central, personal, subjective. 2nd Modo: indicativo.
person. Aspecto: imperfectivo.
Function: Head of the Nominal Voz: activa.
Phrase. Valencia: transitiva.
Función: núcleo del sintagma
 ’ll find: verbal.
Form: Verbal Phrase.
Function: Head of the Predicate.
 El centro de información al
turista:
-’ll: Forma: sintagma nominal.
Contracted form of the verb will. Función: objeto directo.
Form: Modal verb.
Function: Auxiliary verb. -El:
Meaning: Future. Forma: articulo definido, 3ra
persona singular, masculino.
-Find: Función: determinante, MD.
Form: Verb.
Time: Future . -Centro:
Tense: Present. Forma: sustantivo común,
Voice: Active. concreto, contable, singular,
Mood: Indicative. individual, inanimado. Género
Aspect: Imperfective. inherente masculino.
Verb Complementation: Complex Función: núcleo del sintagma
Transitive. nominal.

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 Function: Head of the Verb Phrase.
 The Tourist Information Center:
Form: Noun Phrase.
Function: Object Direct
-The:
Form: Definite Article, Specific
Reference.
Function: Determiner.
-Tourist:
Form: Noun, Common, Concrete,
Countable, Singular, Individual,
Animate, Dual Gender. Unmarked
Case.
Function: Premodifier.
-Information:
Form: Noun, Common, Abstract,
Uncountable, Invariable Singular,
Individual, Inanimate, Neuter
Gender. Unmarked Case.
Function: Premodifier.
-Centre:
Form: Noun, Common, Concrete,
Countable, Singular, Individual,
Inanimate, Neuter Gender.
Unmarked Case.
Function: Head of the Noun
Phrase.
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 De información al turista:
Forma: sintagma preposicional.
Función: modificador indirecto.
-de:
Forma: preposición.
Función: núcleo del sintagma
preposicional.
-información:
Forma: sustantivo común,
abstracto, individual, incontable,
singular. Inanimado. Género
inherente femenino.
Función: término del sintagma
preposicional.
 Al turista:
Forma: sintagma preposicional.
Función: modificador indirecto.
-Al:
Forma: contracción de la
preposición a y el artículo el.
-A:
Forma: preposición vacía.
Función: núcleo del sintagma
preposicional.
-El:
Forma: articulo definido, 3ra
persona singular, masculino.
Función: determinante, MD.
-Turista:
Forma: sustantivo común,
concreto, contable, singular,
individual, animado. Género
inherente masculino.
Función: núcleo del sintagma
nominal.
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Equivalence:

Cases of zero equivalence:

- In English, articles do not carry a lot of information, while in Spanish, they take gender
and number.
- In English, inanimate nouns are neuter in gender, while in Spanish they take género
inherente. Género inherente is the linguistic agreement of the gender, and is reflected
through the determiner.
- In English, the person and number of the verbs are shown only in the 3rd person singular
simple present and in the auxiliary verbs for the present and past progressive and for the
present perfect simple and progressive, while in Spanish verbs always carry person and
number information.

Cases of nil equivalence:

- Spanish is a Pro-Drop language, i.e. you can elide the subject and the verb flexion will
allow you to understand the sentence anyways.
- Modal verbs do not exist in Spanish, but their meaning can be achieved in different
ways. In this case we can use the future tense in Spanish to replicate the meaning of the
modal verb “will.”
- Noun + noun combination don’t occur in Spanish. We often have to resort to a
prepositional phrase in order to achieve the same meaning.

Comments:

There are 7 words both in English and 7 in Spanish as well. Noun + noun combination
doesn’t exist in Spanish, so we have to use more prepositions than in English, so you
have to use more words. But that amount of words is compensated by the use of the
contraction al and the sujeto tácito. Spanish is a Pro-Drop language, i.e. you can elide the
subject and the verb flexion will allow you to understand the sentence anyways.

Causes that may lead to negative transfer:

Divergence:
One element in the SL has multiple translations in the TL.
-The: el, la, los, las.
-You: vos, tu, vosotros, ustedes.

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 The city’s vibrant history
Form: Noun Phrase
Function: complement to the preposition.
- The:
Form: Definite Article, Specific Reference.
Function: Determiner.
- City’s:
Form: Noun, Common, Concrete,
Countable, Singular, Individual, Inanimate,
Neuter Gender. Marked Case, Inflected
Subjective Genitive.
Function: Premodifier.
- Vibrant:
Form: Adjective, Stative, Non-Gradable,
Non Inherent, Restrictive, Denominal,
Descriptor. Attributive position.
Function: Premodifier.
Morphology: Derivational. Vibe + rant.
-Vibe:
Form: Noun, Common, Abstract,
Countable, Variable Singular, Individual,
Inanimate, Neuter Gender. Unmarked
Case.
-History:
Form: Noun, Common, Abstract,
Countable, Variable Singular, Individual,
Inanimate, Neuter Gender. Unmarked
Case.
Function: Head of the Noun Phrase.
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La fascinante historia de la ciudad
Forma: sintagma nominal.
Función: término de la preposición.
- La:
Forma: articulo definido, 3ra persona
singular, femenino.
Función: determinante, MD.
- Fascinante:
Forma: adjetivo calificativo, género
indistinto, singular.
Función: MD.
- Historia:
Forma: sustantivo común, abstracto,
individual, contable, singular. Inanimado.
Género inherente femenino.
Función: núcleo del sintagma nominal.
 de la ciudad:
Forma: sintagma preposicional.
Función: MI.
-de:
Forma: preposición.
Función: núcleo del sintagma
preposicional.
 la ciudad:
Forma: sintagma nominal.
Función: término de la preposición.
- la:
Forma: articulo definido, 3ra
persona singular, femenino.
Función: determinante, MD.
- ciudad:
Forma: sustantivo común,
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 concreto, individual, contable,
singular. Inanimado. Género
inherente femenino.
Función: núcleo del sintagma
nominal.

Equivalence:

Cases of zero equivalence:

- In English, articles do not carry a lot of information, while in Spanish, they take gender
and number.

-Adjective placement varies in both languages. In English we tend to put the adjective
before the noun, while in Spanish we tend to put it after. Nevertheless, sometimes as in
this case the adjective in Spanish is placed before the noun to achieve another effect,
maybe a more poetic effect, or to create emphasis.
- In English, inanimate nouns are neuter in gender, while in Spanish they take género
inherente. Género inherente is the linguistic agreement of the gender, and is reflected
through the determiner.

Cases of nil equivalence:

- As the genitive case does not exist in Spanish, we have to resort to another structure, in
this case a prepositional phrase starting with “de.”

So, there is structure shift

Comments:

There are 4 words in English and 6 in Spanish. That’s because Spanish does not have
such thing as the genitive case, so we need to resort to another structure, in this case a
prepositional phrase starting with “de.”

Causes that may lead to negative transfer:

Divergence:
One element in the SL has multiple translations in the TL.
-The: el, la, los, las.
-Vibrant: vibrante, fascinante.

Iron street lamps Lámparas de hierro que iluminan las calles

Form: Noun Phrase. Forma: sintagma nominal.

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 - Iron:
Form: Noun, Common, Concrete,
Uncountable, Invariable Singular,
Individual, Inanimate, Neuter Gender.
Unmarked Case.
Function: Premodifier.
-Lámparas:
Forma: sustantivo común, concreto,
individual, contable, plural. Inanimado.
Género inherente femenino.
Función: núcleo del sintagma nominal.

-Street:  de hierro:
Forma: sintagma preposicional.
Form: Noun, Common, Concrete,
Función: MI.
Countable, Variable Singular, Individual,
Inanimate, Neuter Gender. Unmarked - de:
Case. Forma: preposición.
Function: Premodifier. Función: núcleo del sintagma
preposicional.
- Lamps:
- hierro:
Form: Noun, Common, Concrete,
Forma: sustantivo común,
Countable, Plural, Individual, Inanimate, concreto, individual, contable,
Neuter Gender. Unmarked Case. singular. Inanimado. Género
Function: Head of the Noun Phrase. inherente masculino.
Función: término de la preposición.

 que iluminan las calles:

Oración relativa.

- que:
Forma: pronombre relativo.
Función: sujeto.

 iluminan las calles.

Predicado verbal simple.

- iluminan:
Forma: Verbo.
Tiempo: presente.
Tiempo verbal: presente.
Persona: 3ra.
Número: plural.
Modo: indicativo.
Aspecto: imperfectivo.
Voz: activa.
Valencia: intransitiva.
Función: Núcleo del sintagma
verbal.

 las calles:
Forma: sintagma nominal.

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 Función: circunstancial de lugar.

- las:
Forma: articulo definido, 3ra
persona plural, femenino.
Función: determinante, MD.

- calles:
Forma: sustantivo común,
concreto, individual, contable,
plural. Inanimado. Género
inherente femenino.
Función: núcleo del sintagma
nominal.

Equivalence:

Cases of zero equivalence:

- In English, articles do not carry a lot of information, while in Spanish, they take gender
and number.

- In English, the person and number of the verbs are shown only in the 3rd person singular
simple present and in the auxiliary verbs for the present and past progressive and for the
present perfect simple and progressive, while in Spanish verbs always carry person and
number information.

- In English, inanimate nouns are neuter in gender, while in Spanish they take género
inherente. Género inherente is the linguistic agreement of the gender, and is reflected
through the determiner.

Cases of nil equivalence:

- Noun + Noun combination don’t occur in Spanish. We often have to resort to a
prepositional phrase in order to achieve the same meaning.

Cases of translation equivalence:

- Nouns are pluralized in the same way: by adding a final –s or an –es.

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Comments:

There are 3 words in English and 7 in Spanish. That’s because in Spanish we can’t use
nouns to modify another noun. We often have to resort to a prepositional phrase in
order to achieve the same meaning. In this particular case, the text in Spanish becomes so
much longer than the one in English because there’s a case of Noun + Noun + Noun. In
Spanish we have to resort to a prepositional phrase and to a relative clause in order to
achieve a similar meaning.

Causes that may lead to negative transfer:

Divergence:
One element in the SL has multiple translations in the TL.
-Iron: hierro, plancha, planchar.

-Lamp: lámpara, bombita de luz.

you’re looking for Busca

- you: Sintagma verbal.

Form: Noun Phrase.
Function: Subject. - busca:
Forma: verbo.
Tiempo: presente.
-you:
Tiempo verbal: presente.
Form: Pronoun, Specific Reference, Persona: 2da.
Central, Personal, Subjective, Second Número: singular.
Person. Modo: indicativo.
Function: Head of the Noun Phrase. Aspecto: imperfectivo.
Voz: activa.
Valencia: transitiva.
Función: Núcleo del sintagma verbal.
- are looking for
Form: Verb Phrase.
Time: Present .
Tense: Present Progressive.
Voice: Active.
Mood: Indicative.
Aspect: Imperfective.
Verb Complementation:
Monotransitive.
Function: Head of the Predicate.

-are:
Form: Verb.

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 Time: Present .
Tense: Present.
Voice: Active.
Mood: Indicative.
Aspect: Imperfective.
Verb Complementation: Copular.
Function: Auxiliary verb.

-looking:
Form: Verb.
Time: Present .
Tense: Present progressive.
Voice: Active.
Mood: Indicative.
Aspect: Imperfective.
Verb Complementation:
Monotransitive.
Function: Head of the Verb Phrase.
Morphology: infinitive “look” + -ing
participle.

-for:
Form: simple monosyllabic
preposition.
Function: particle of the phrasal
verb.

Equivalence:

Cases of zero equivalence:

- In English, the person and number of the verbs are shown only in the 3rd person singular
simple present and in the auxiliary verbs for the present and past progressive and for the
present perfect simple and progressive, while in Spanish verbs always carry person and
number information.

Cases of nil equivalence:

- Spanish is a Pro-Drop language, i.e. you can elide the subject and the verb flexion will
allow you to understand the sentence anyways.

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- Phrasal verbs do not exist in Spanish, so they need to be translated by means of other
lexical verbs.

- Though is getting more and more popular over the time, the gerund is often translated as
gerundio in Spanish. There’s no direct Spanish equivalent to an English gerund. In most
translations, the closest thing would be the infinitive.

Comments:

There are 4 words in English and 1 in Spanish. It’s a strange to see, because we tend to
use more words in Spanish. In this case we have a combination of causes that lead to this
result. First, the use of the gerund in English and then???

Causes that may lead to negative transfer:

Divergence:
One element in the SL has multiple translations in the TL.
-You: vos, tu, vosotros, ustedes.

Wrong Grammatical Adaptation:

-Looking for: mirando por, mirando para, mirando, buscando por, buscando para.

Improve the translations.

“…the capital of Estonia” -> “…la capital de Estonia…” I know that it doesn’t meet the
activity, but I actually think this is an accurate translation.

“…the harbour's three terminals…” “…el puerto tiene tres terminales…” Improved version
-> “Las tres terminales del puerto, A, B y D, reciben…” I would prefer to translate the
genitive case as a noun + a prepositional phrase, rather than changing the whole structure
of the sentence. This way the sentence would be shorter, and the subject will be clearer.
Without the subordinate, the sentence would be easier to read.

“…so there is no need to worry about transport.” -> “no hay necesidad de preocuparse por
el transporte.” Improved versión -> “…no es necesario preocuparse por el transporte.” I
feel in this case there’s a calque from the English structure. Changing the Noun Phrase for
an Adjectival Phrase feels more natural and does not require the need for a preposition,
making it simpler a more enjoyable to read.

You’ll find the Tourist Information Centre -> Encontrará el Centro de información al turista.
Improved version -> “Podés encontrar el Centro de información al turista”. The modal
“will” can be used to talk about the future, but it can also be used to talk about predictions,

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decisions, and offers, between other things. In this case, “will” is used tom make an offer,
so it would be better to use the construction “poder” + infinitive, which indicates a
possibility, instead of the future.
Why “vos”? in the rest of the text “usted” is used instead.

PART 2:

Answer the following questions.

1) What’s contrastive analysis?

2) Why is it useful for translators?
3) Which are the steps to be taken to apply contrastive analysis to any particular text
considering the version in the source language and another version translated in the target
language?

Contrastive analysis is a branch of Applied Linguistics and consists, as it name says, in

contrasting two languages on their different linguistic levels. The idea is that through the
description and comparison of both languages, the linguist doing the analysis can identify
and understand different problems that may come when translating. While doing this
analysis, we can identify different kinds of equivalences: translation equivalence, when
some linguistic phenomena is realized in the same way in both languages, zero
equivalence, when the phenomena exist in both languages but it’s realized in different
ways, and nil equivalence, when the phenomena exists only in one language. By
identifying this equivalences, not only can we back up our decisions, but we can also
solve our translation problems with more quality and efficiency.
In his book “Contrastive Analysis: Problems and Procedures,” Whitman states the steps to
be followed when carrying out contrastive analysis. These steps are:
-Description: the two languages have to be analyzed with the same formal type.
-Selection: reflect the conscious and unconscious assumptions of the investigator
concerning the nature of linguistic contrast, interference, errors, and so forth. Consists on
selecting a form X in one language and comparing with a form Y in another. In general,
forms are selected on the basis of equivalence (of shape, meaning, distribution, etc.)
-Contrast: looking at the relevant forms with an educated eye. The most effective way is
to break down all information concerning the relevant forms into features rather like the
distinctive features of phonology and then compare the forms according to these features
-Prediction: the investigator must specify the relevance of each possible outcome.

PART 3:

Personal conclusion

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What contribution has this subject made to your professional training as a translator? How
do you think you will apply what you have learned in the future?

This subject has taught me how even though English and Spanish are very different in
some aspects, they also share a lot of characteristics. I studied Spanish and English
grammar in depth, and I really enjoyed it.
Contrastive analysis is an essential subject for anybody who wants to understand how and
why we say what we say. Having a critical eye and actually taking the time to stop and
analyze something is crucial when translating. We often take things for granted but we
could easily analyze and discover a lot of problems if we take the time to stop and do a
contrastive analysis. This subject has already changed the way I see grammar and
changed the way I translate. When I have a doubt now, I can search for equivalencies
and do a conscious analysis of what I’m doing.
This theory helps you a lot not only to translate, but also to defend your translations. It has
happened to me a couple of times that I knew I was right about something, but either a
professor or a colleague corrected me. The problem was that I didn’t have the tools and
the knowledge I have now to stand for my translation and defend my decisions. Now, that I
have that, I’ll be more confident about my translations, and as a result, my translations will
be better

Martín:

Your translations will definitely be better in the future, because I’m sure you’ll keep
studying and analyzing every linguistic choice with great detail and attention. Improve your
linguistic and analytical skills. There’s still so, so much to learn! So keep doing it on your
own. I’m glad you feel this way about your learning process in this subject and I encourage
you to go on comparing and contrasting languages, because that’s a vital part of any
translation process.

Warm regards,

Mercedes

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