An Introduction to Translation *

1) Defining Translation
How can you define translation? What does it entail? Make up a definition of translation in
groups.
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Each group will read out their definition and the Professor will help you compare them.

Now, read the following dialogue and discuss its similarities with translation.

BOY: Ask your dad if I can take you to the disco tonight.
GIRL: OK (Exit to find her father, to father) Dad, there’s a disco at the YMCA tonight. Can
I go?
DAD: Just a minute. Who are you going with?
GIRL: Guess who.
DAD: Oh, I see. And what time does it start?
GIRL: Eight o’clock—and finishes at midnight.
DAD: Right. If you make sure you get your homework done by seven and get what’s-his-
name to bring you home the moment the thing finishes, you can go. But I want you back
here by 12.15 the latest, and no messing around going round to friends o the way, or
whatever it is you lot get up to in the middle of the night. And you come right in and go
to bed when you get home, is that clear? No hanging around at the door saying goodnight
for hours on end.
GIRL: OK, Dad, thanks. (Goes back to find boy)
GIRL: He says we can go as long as we come straight back at quarter past midnight—
and as long as we behave ourselves.

 Why is the process done by the girl similar to translation?

 Does she extract the information? How?
 Does she re-express the details of that information?
 Is she transferring words or ideas?
 How would you evaluate her level of comprehension?
 What is the difference between this example and translation proper?
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Excerpted from Thinking Spanish Translation, by Sándor Hervey, Ian Higgins ad Louise M. Haywood
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Read the following definitions of translation and compare them with yours.

Traducción es la fiel transferencia de ideas de un idioma (original o source language) a otro al cual
se traduce (o target language) en un estilo correcto, preciso y apropiado. Y en lo posible, conciso
(Marina Orellana)

La traducción consiste en reproducir en la lengua receptora el mensaje de la lengua fuente por

medio del equivalente más próximo y más natural, primero en lo que se refiere a sentido y luego en
lo que atañe a estilo. (Ch. R. Taber y Eugene A. Nida)

Based on the definitions above read the following examples of source and target texts and
discuss whether the features of a good translation are present.

SOURCE TEXT TARGET TEXT

The study needs to be improved El estudio debe ser alargado.

The train leaves at 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon. El tren sale a las 16:30 de la tarde.

In the project budget the total effort must be
divided and subdivided until all tasks are
defined at a level sufficiently detailed to be
readily understood and manageable.
En el proyecto de presupuesto el esfuerzo
total debe ser dividido hasta que todas las
tareas estén definidas a un nivel
suficientemente detallado para ser fácilmente
comprendido y manejable.

US tuna industry was turned down this Esta mañana se rechazó la petición para
morning on its plea for tariff relief. obtener alivio tributario, presentada por la
industria estadounidense del atún.

US Uruguayan Round Implementation Aplicación de la ley de la Ronda del Uruguay

Legislation en EE.UU.

Time to reflect......

 Why have you decided to follow this course of study on Translation?

 What do you think may take to become a good translator?
 Have you got what it takes?

Read La Traducción del Inglés al Castellano - Guía para el Traductor by Marina

Orellana, page 33

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2) Getting down to Work ……

Some good supplementary exercises for a translator

In a translation course, target language competence needs as close attention as

source language competence. There is, after all, not much point in people who do
not have the skill to rephrase texts in their native language trying their hand at
translation proper into their mother tongue. Consequently, synopsis writing,
reported speech, intralingual rephrasing are excellent exercises for a tranlator,
because they develop technique in finding, and choosing between alternative
means of expressing a given message content.2
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Assignment No. 1

(i) Read the text below carefully.

(ii) Make a synopsis
(iii) Rephrase it (intralingual rephrasing)
(iv) Translate it

Golden Rules 3

Translation is both a craft and an art and is, as such, partly teachable and partly
unteachable, in the same way as it is possible to teach people the principles of musical
composition, while it is impossible to teach how to compose on the level of, let us say, Bach or
Mozart.
The first golden rule, not always observed, is to read the whole of the original text
before beginning to translate one word of it. This will enable you to gain a general
impression of the text, its subject matter depth, linguistic and subject matter difficulties, style
and the like. A further piece of good advice is not to translate the title of an article or book
until you have completed the whole translation.
Translators should always make a draft translation because there is danger that the
translator will not be thoroughly consistent in his terminology and this can be checked when
the draft is being corrected or revised. The draft should be written with plenty of space
between the lines so that changes can be incorporated. The translator should not leave out
what he does not understand, he must consult his client or the original author about
obscurities and ambiguities in the original text.
Before sending his translation to the client, the translator will check it once again for
such points as missing lines, words or punctuation, spelling errors, etc.
The translator is dealing with the conversion of thoughts from one language to the other and
not merely of individual words. This does not mean that translation should be excessively
free, particularly in the case of technical material, but that it should not give the impression
that a square has been forced into a round hole.

 Further Reading: Prefacio, Traducción, Lo que la traducción no es, from La

Traducción del Inglés as Castellano, pages 11 to 32

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Excerpted from Thinking Spanish Translation, by Sándor Hervey, Ian Higgins ad Louise M. Haywood
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Excerpted from Translating, by Ian F. Finlay
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 Assignment No. 2

(i) Read the passage below

(ii) Rephrase it
(iii) Translate it into Spanish

Translation has its own excitement, its own interest. A satisfactory translation
is always possible, but a good translator is never satisfied with it. It can usually
be improved. There is no such thing as perfect, ideal or “correct” translation. A
translator is always trying to extend his knowledge and improve his means of
expression. He works on four levels: translation is first a science, which entails
the knowledge and verification of the facts and the language that describes
them (here, mistakes can be identified). Secondly, it is a skill, which calls for
appropriate language and acceptable usage. Thirdly, an art, which
distinguishes good from undistinguished writing and is the creative, the
intuitive, sometimes the inspired level of the translation. Lastly, a matter of
taste, where argument ceases, preferences are expressed, and the variety of
meritorious translations is the reflection of individual differences. 4

Time to reflect......

 What are your very first impressions of translation?

 Do you enjoy it?
 Would you say it‟s simple…?
 As a skill, you can improve it!!! Let‟s get some useful tips ….

Read La Traducción del Inglés al Castellano - Guía para el Traductor by Marina

Orellana, page 57 to 62

3) Back to Theory....
Assignment No. 3

Read Translating, its nature and criteria (pages 1 to 15) from Translating, by Ian Finlay.
Make a written synopsis in English and then translate it into Spanish.

 Refer to your very first definition of translation …..

 Has your initial notion of translation changed in any way?

4) Translating in Practice ….
a) A Translation Project
In the box below you will find the names for the different steps in a translation project. They
are unscrambled. Put them in the right order. Go back to Golden Rules to get some
guidelines if you want. What might each step include?

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Excerpted from A Textbook on Translation by Peter Newmark
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evaluation – transfer and initial draft – consultation – revised draft – establishing the project
– final draft – exegesis

Assingment No. 4

Read Steps in a Translation Process by Mildred Larson. The Professor will ask you to set
up different teams to translate this chapter into Spanish.

b) False Friends
In the passage “Golden Rules”, the following sentence was translated into Spanish:

Translators should make a draft translation because there is danger that the translator will
not be thoroughly consistent in his terminology …

- Was „consistent‟ translated as „consistente‟?

- If not, why not?
- What does each term mean in each language?
- Why might one be tempted to translate „consistent‟ as „consistente‟?
- Can you think of some other examples of this sort? Write them down.
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 Further Reading & Examples: Los falsos amigos, from La Traducción del Inglés al
Castellano pages 132 to 140

b) Cultural Issues

 Braniff Airlines had a slogan, “Fly in leather” giving the impression that flying Braniff
meant flying in luxury. The Spanish translation gave a slightly different impression:
“Viaje en cuero” i.e. “Fly naked”.5

Translation is often thought to be primarily about words and their meanings: what the
words in the source text mean, and what words in the target language will best capture or
convey that meaning. While words and meaning are unquestionable important, however,
they are really only important for the translator in the context of someone actually using
them.

How would you go about translating the following into Spanish?

UN – United Nations –
IRS – Internal Revenue Service –
“I‟m afraid these people want to have their pie and eat it too”.
John Doe
The White House

 We‟ve already agreed on the fact that translation is not a mere transfer of words but
of ideas…. But are we just transferring ideas in the translations above?
 How can you describe the role of culture in translation?

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Excerpted from Becoming a Translator by Douglas Robinson.
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  Further Reading:
Cultural Issues in Translation; Compromise and Compensation, from Thinking
Spanish Translation, pages 20 to 32
Translation and Culture, from a Textbook of Translation, pages 81 to 91

Assignment No. 5

The Professor will provide you with texts to translate into Spanish where cultural issues
pose translation challenges

5) Reflecting and going back to Theory....

Translation Methods
“The central problem pf translating has always been whether to translate literally or freely”.
Peter Newmark

Now, go back to the translations you‟ve already worked on and compare them with the
source texts.
 Are they literal or free translations?
 Do you think we‟re putting it in black and white?
 Do you think some „grey‟ areas should be contemplated?

 Read Translation Methods from A Textbook of Translation (pages 45 to 53) and

comment on your conclusions in class.

6) Back to Practice: Shorter Items

a) Proper and Institutional Names

 Would you translate your proper name into English?
 What about Kings and the Pope? Aren‟t their names translated?
 So which is the rule?

Some Rules and Conventions….

- Where sovereigns had translatable Christian Names and they are well known, their
names and their titles (e.g. Richard Coeur de Lion) are translated.
- Surnames have usually been preserved, but the surnames and fist names of some
Italian artists have been „naturalized‟ in some European languages (e.g. Machiavel
> Maquiavello).
- Names of classical writers are usually naturalized (e.g. Aristotle, Plato).
- Trademarks, brand names and proprietary names must be translated, unless they
have become eponyms and are used generically (e.g. Ciudad Bolivar).
- Names of streets and squares are not usually translated, with the exception of
Rade Square, Athens, etc. Public Buildings may be partially translated if the term is
common and transparent.
- Names of firms, public institutions, schools, universities, hospitals are, in principle,
not translated, since they are related to the source language culture.
- Names of newspapers, journals, periodicals re always transcribed.

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 - Famous works of art are usually referred to by their established translated titles if
they are well-known.
- Most international institutional terms have official translations made by translation
teams. These are often through calques, for example: OIT – Organización
Internacional del Trabajo > ILB – International Labor Organization.
- Other organizations have international acronyms: e.g. Interpol
- Positions and institutions in the Roman Catholic Church are always
intertranslatable, such as Holy See / Santa Sede.

 Further Reading: Go back to Cultural Issues in Translation from Thinking Spanish

Translation and try to match the examples above with Exoticism, Transliteration,
Calque and Cultural Transplantation.

b)The translation of decimal fractions and numbers

Differences must be considered when translating:

Thousands and Decimal Fractions

Argentina The US / Great Britain

A dot is used to separate thousands A comma is used to separate thousands
e.g. 450.000 habitantes e.g. 450, 000 inhabitants

A comma is used for decimal fractions A dot is used for decimal fractions
e.g. La población tuvo un incremento del e.g. The population had a 3.8% increase
3,8%.

High Numbers

Argentina The US / Great Britain

1.000.000 is „un millon‟
100.000.000 is „cien millones‟
1.000.000.000 is ‘mil millones’
100.000.000.000 is ‘cien mil millones’
1.000.000.000.000 is ‘un billón’
1,000,000 is „one million‟
100,000,000 is „one hundred millions‟
1,000, 000,000 is ‘one billion’
100,000,000,000 is ‘one hundred billions’
1,000,000,000,000 is ‘one thousand
billions’

Have a go at translating the following sentences into Spanish:

- The project final construction cost was $215 million. Of this amount 50.% was
financed.

- The pipeline is a 265-mile, 16-inch oil pipe originating in the Province of Neuquén.
- According to the Word Bank, there are 1.3 billion people in the world who live in
absolute poverty.

- Only 1.4 million species have been identified so far.

- Sector sales slipped 8% last year, to $7.9 billion largely because of price falls.

- The company gross sales rose by $0.5 billion last year.

* (Notes complied by Trad. Públ .Cecilia Irrazábal)