Principles of Translation

EIC553: Week 3
Bilingual & Translation Competence
● What is Bilingual Competence?
● What is Translation Competence?
Bilingual

● The term Bilingual is generally associated with someone who is able to

express him/herself in two different languages. They are actively and
productively using both languages.
● Beardsmore (1982) on the other hand based the definition upon the
mastery of the reception and production skills of the person.
○ It is important to achieve sufficient mastery of his/her working languages.
● Bilingualism is identified as being active and productive in both languages.
○ It is important for the bilingual to have mastered the skills of reception / production of
both languages.
A bilingual is a natural translator

● Besides having the knowledge/ competent in both languages, he/she also

acquires the ability to translate from one language to the other.
● Harris (1977) added that bilingual competence means that a translator needs
to be a little bit more than what is mentioned above.
Bilingual Skills of a Translator

There are three factors that we need to look into when we discuss the linguistic
skills of a translator

1. Directionality (direct translation (L2-L1)

2. The modality (oral / written translation) –the quality
3. The specific language combination
Bilingual Memory

● Next is to understand the cognitive mechanisms underlying translation is

whether the bilingual possesses independent memories for each of her
languages or she /he has interdependent memories.
○ Relationship between words and the mental representations which the
speaker associates with these signs.
Interference

● Interference is seen as affecting production.

● The mother tongue of the translator has a negative effect on the acquisition
and use of the second languages.
● It seems to be disturbing especially for novice translators where the L1
interferes in the production of the text in L2.
Code-switching

● Alternating use of two languages in the same proposition or within a single

conversation.
● The difference between code switching and interference according to
Beadsmore (1982) is that interference is involuntary and would take place on
a subconscious level whereas code-switching is both conscious and
voluntary.
Psycholinguistic Profile: Novice vs. expert translators
Novice Translator
● non specialised linguistic
skills
● Unconscious interference
● code –switching mechanism
(lexical level)
Expert Translator
● specialised linguistic skills
● control over interference in
both reception and
production
● heuristic text transference
procedures (problem-solving
by experimental / trial and error
methods)
Translation Competence

● Definition: Set of knowledge and skills possessed by the translator so as to

perform a translation (Bell, 1991, p. 43)
● The development of translation competence consists of three kinds of
processes:
1. The acquisition of previously non-existent competences
2. The restructuring of already existing competences in order to facilitate
transfer competence
3. The acquisition of strategic competence (integrate a mechanism to
control interference)
Translation Competence (Bell, 1992)

The translator must know

1) how propositions are structured (semantic knowledge),
2) how clauses can be synthesized to carry propositional content and analyzed to
retrieve the content embedded in them (syntactic knowledge), and
3) how the clause can be realized as information bearing text and the text
decomposed into the clause (pragmatic knowledge).

● Lack of knowledge or control in any of the there cases would mean that the
translator could not translate.
○ Without (a) and (b), even literal meaning would elude the translator. Without (c), meaning would be
limited to the literal (semantic sense) carried by utterance which, though they might possess formal
cohesion (being tangible realizations of clauses), would lack functional coherence and
communicative value
1. Respecting the author’s Intended Meaning
Create a balanced translation

● Use the style given

○ Express the thoughts of someone else, using the person’s style and words.
● Use the words provided - don’t be too free in your decision about
TT equivalence.
● Can be problematic, especially when translating literary texts
involving idiomatic expressions
2. Producing easily readable Translated text
Readability in Translation

● Some points to consider:

○ Sentence Structure
■ E.g.: English language uses more embedded clauses and the Swedish language
uses more complete clauses (Ingo 2007:176).
■ Variation in sentence length is crucial for enjoyable reading and Björk and
Räisänen says “Too many long sentences, one after the other, make for heavy
reading. Too many short ones in a row make the text ‘choppy’ and boring”
(2003:198).
○ Nouns phrases
■ One way to evaluate the changes regarding noun phrases made in the process of
translating and adapting the text is to use the ratio between the number of nouns
and the number of verbs in the texts. This indicates how information-rich a text is
and how difficult it is to read
3. Respecting the Grammar of the Target
language
Ordering of words and ideas

● The ordering of words and ideas should match the original as closely as
possible.
● This is particularly important in translating legal documents, contracts, etc.
● However, differences in language structure often require changes in the form
and order of words.
○ When in doubt, underline in the original text the words on which the main stress falls.
 SL

Possible
translation?

“She worked
hard at whatever
she did”

TL
1. I did it in the classroom.
(I did it in the classroom, not in the bedroom.)
2. I did it in the classroom.
(I did it in the classroom, not outside of it.)
3. I did it in the classroom.
(It is me, not anybody else, who did it here.)
4. Translating meaning rather than form
Accurate reflection of the meaning of ST

● Nothing should be arbitrarily added or removed, though sometimes part of the

meaning can be transposed.
● The following questions may be helpful:
○ Is the meaning of the original text clear? If not, where does the uncertainty lie?
○ Are any words loaded -- are there any underlying implications?
○ Is the dictionary meaning of a particular word the most suitable one?
○ Does anything in the translation sound unnatural or forced?
 SL

Possible
translation?

“You’re asking me
for the case, and
I’m telling you
what’s possible,
but not
necessarily what
will happen”

TL
5. Recreating overall impact of the ST in the TT
Technical vs Cultural Texts

● Aim of translation: to reproduce meanings of the Source Text and the immediate effect it
produces on the native audience for the readers and audience of another culture in whose
language the text is to be translated.
○ Literal translation may be ideal for texts falling under the technical registers. But they would prove
extremely incongruous when done on cultural texts.
● The issue involved is how best to recreate the meanings and effects of the Source Text by using
the linguistic resources of the Target Language, while keeping in mind the culture of the Target
Text.
○ Cultural differences and specificities of the Target Language culture and the idiosyncrasies
of the translator himself/herself will account for a freedom of recreation.
○ In such a case, a 'literal' translation from one language into another will obscure sense. A
translator of a cultural/literary text performs the duty partly of a translator and partly of a
writer.
○ Solution: Transcreation -- reading each and every word and sentence very carefully, but it is
not only or simply a literal rendering.
Activity
Instructions

1. Read the following short stories in original and in translation.

2. Answer the questions that follow.
Pelanduk yang Bijak (ST)
Pada suatu hari, seekor pelanduk mencari makan di kebun seorang peladang. Ia terlalu
leka memakan taruk keledek dan taruk ubi kayu. Ia lupa kepada malang yang akan menimpa.
Tiba-tiba kakinya terpijak seutas jerat. Apabila jerat itu bingkas, maka terjeratlah kaki
pelanduk. Pelanduk tergantung pada tali jerat itu. Ia meronta-ronta untuk melepaskan diri.
Namun, semakin kuat ia meronta, semakin kemaslah ikatan jerat itu.
Pelanduk berfikir bagaimana ia hendak melepaskan diri daripada tali jerat itu.
Tidak lama kemudian datanglah peladang di kebunnya. Dia melihat jeratnya telah binasa.
Seekor pelanduk tergantung pada tali jerat. Peladang sangat gembira. Dapatlah aku makan
daging pelanduk kali ini, bisik hatinya.
Apabila melihat peladang datang, pelanduk pun pura-pura mematikan diri. Ia menahan
nafas. Mulutnya berbuih.
“Sayang pelanduk segemuk ini telah mati,” kata peladang.
“Mungkin terlalu lama ia tergantung pada tali jerat ini,” katanya lagi.
Peladang mengangkat pelanduk itu. Dia menguraikan tali jerat pada kaki pelanduk. Dia
melemparkan pelanduk ke dalam belukar.
Apalagi, apabila terasa sudah bebas, maka melompatlah pelanduk melarikan diri.
“Bodohnya kamu peladang,” kata pelanduk.
“Cermatlah kamu apabila membuat kerja,” katanya lagi.
Peladang marah. Dia mahu mengejar pelanduk tetapi pelanduk telah menghilangkan diri
dalam belukar. Peladang amat sesal kerana cuai.
Pelanduk yang Bijak (The Smart Mouse Deer) (TT)
One fine day, a mouse deer was looking for food in a farmer’s garden. It was too
engrossed with eating a sweet potato and tapioca shoot that it forgot about the danger that
was about to happen. Suddenly, it stepped on a trap. As the trap bounced back, the mouse
deer was now hanging upside down with a rope tied to its feet. It thrashed around trying to
free itself from the trap.However, the more it moves, the tighter the binding became.
The mouse deer thought of how to free itself.
Not long after that, the farmer came to the garden. He saw that his trap was destroyed,
and a mouse deer was hanging from the trap. The farmer happily thought to himself that he
was going to have mouse deer meat.
As the mouse deer saw the farmer getting closer, he tried playing dead. He held his
breath and made its mouth foam up.
“It’s a pity that a mouse deer this fat is dead” said the farmer.
“Maybe it was trapped there for a long time” continued the farmer.
The farmer lifted up the mouse deer and untied the rope from its foot. He threw the
mouse deer into the bushes.
As the mouse deer felt that he was free, it then jumped and escaped.
“How stupid of you farmer” said the mouse deer.
“You should have checked twice” continued the mouse deer.
The farmer was angry. He wanted to chase after the mouse deer, but it had run off into
the bushes. The farmer was disappointed in himself for being so careless.
Questions:

1. In your opinion, what is the possible problem(s) faced by the translator when
translating the text?
2. In what way the translation is a recreation of the Source Text in another
language? Give examples.
3. Will you reject or accept this translation? List reasons for accepting or
rejecting it.