Text and Context

The activity of translation has a long-standing tradition and has been widely practiced throughout
history, but in our rapidly changing world its role has become of paramount importance. In the
new millennium, in which cultural exchanges have been widening, knowledge has been
increasingly expanding and international communication has been intensifying, the phenomenon
of translation has become fundamental. Be it for scientific, medical, technological, commercial,
legal, cultural or literary purposes, today human communication depends heavily on translation
and, consequently, interest in the field is also growing.
Translation is understood as an act of carrying the meaning of a text from one language to
another. This process involves interpretation of meaning of the source text and producing the
same meaning in another language. Text however cannot exist out of context. By context what is
meant is the entire environment in which the word or sentence is expressed or stated. So, a
translator has to go into the background of the text to understand the text.

Text is highly specific term and refers to the written word as such while context is the
background, environment, framework, setting, situation surrounding an event. Text and context
are closely related concepts. Context is the more complex notion and thus in need of further
exploration.

It's extremely important to fully understand the source text. Language can be very ambiguous;
words have different meanings and the context is the key to find out what the specific meaning
is. Context is vital in every aspect of life, we use it daily but don't notice it and that's why when
translating we need to place words in the current frame, which is context.

Any text is therefore strictly related both to the immediate context enveloping it, i.e., the context
of situation, and to the ‘outer’ context of culture. In other words, any text is an expression of a
specific situation and of a wider social, historical, political, ideological, environment etc.

Context is also at the core of discourse analysis, since all interaction involves context. In order to
understand, speakers must rely on context, and their linguistic choices are motivated by
contextual factors (topic, participants, place, time, etc.) 
 Context

The context is what goes beyond what is written and what is said; it includes other non -verbal
goings on the total environment in which a text unfolds. So, it makes a bridge between the text
and the situation in which texts actually occur. (Halliday, M.1985)
The context influences the meaning of a phrase or sentence. It is linked to the environment in
which the communication takes place. In translation, the context is very important: one word
may mean a different thing depending on the context in which it is used. For example, when we
talk about ‘arms’, are they connected to people or are they for weapons? This is only identified
by context.

Understanding
To translate a translator needs to understand the text. A good understanding is the key to an
efficient translation. A sentence or a text is composed of words and phrases, but it requires
thought, comparing the sentences around it to fully understand its meaning.

Translation

Translation has to take into account in which the industry or field the document will be used, and
its purpose. Translation / language can be targeted at specific fields; its context can be technical,
medical, legislative etc.

Specialization
Being able to translate specialized documentation means the translator has to have specific skills
and knowledge in order to understand the context and how to phrase a translation. That means
translators need to be specialized in a specific field to translate correctly. the translator needs to
understand engines, for example, to describe them. Knowing an engine is powered by
combustion and a motor by electricity would mean you should use different words to describe
how power is supplied.
 Context of situations

The term context of situation is associated with two scholars. Malinowski and J.R. Firth. They
were concerned with stating meaning in terms of the context in which language is used but in
different ways. (Palmer.F.19/6.76). Malinowski defined context of situation as “the environment
of the text". He also saw that it was necessary to provide information not only about what was
happening at the time but also about the total culture background because it is important in the
interpretation of meaning. (Halliday, M. (1985)

The Context of Situation consists of three components called ‘Field’, ‘Tenor’ and ‘Mode’

1) Field: The total event, what's happening, the nature of the social interaction taking place.
2) Tenor: The role interaction, who is taking part, the social role of participants.
3) Mode: The function of a text in the event including channel (spoken monologue, written
monologue, telephone dialogue, computer mediated communication) and its genre
(symbolic organization of text: Rhetorical mode / persuasive/ didactic, …etc.) Examples

 Finals of soccer/football world cup field

 Friend to friend tenor
 Written to be read (a letter) mode

Seven Standards of Textuality

Textuality follows seven standards for a satisfying text including Cohesion, coherence,
intentionality, acceptability, Informativity, situationality, intertextuality.

1) Cohesion

Cohesion refers to the grammatical unity of a text in which different components exist. In order
to make a whole structure and unity of components, some elements such as recurrence,
parallelism, paraphrase, pro) forms, anaphora, use of tense, Junction etc. are helpful supporting
elements
 2) Coherence

Coherence refers as the continuity of senses in a text. What makes a text coherent is
the use of related words, utterances etc. This relation is provided when there is
causality, reason, purpose, time, enablement in the text.

3) Acceptability

Conclusion

In conclusion, it implies that when studying these standards, it becomes clear that a very
broad knowledge base of stylistics is involved in the description of texts. the study of
cohesion entails for certain knowledge of syntax, semantics even as intentionality and
acceptability cannot be studied without serious knowledge of pragmatics. Contextuality is
very much dependent on knowledge of sociolinguistics and pragmatics, while
intertextuality has to do with the experience of previous texts literary and non) literary.
Coherence can be regarded as the umbrella) term for all these aspects while a certain
amount of psycholinguistics is also needed in order to understand the communicative
value of a text.
 REFERENCES

Marina Manfredi Translating Text and Context: Translation Studies and Systemic Functional
Linguistics. 

Halliday. M.A.K and Ruqaiya Hasan, Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of language in a
Social-Semiotic! perspective, Oxford University Press, 1985.

Palmer, F. R. Semantics, Cambridge university press, (1976)