Uloga prevodioca

Professional translators are neither

walking dictionaries, nor machines that
swallow words in one language then
spit them out whole in another.
• “Translators are language professionals. They are applied linguists,
competent writers, diplomats, and educated amateurs. Like linguists,
translators have to be capable of discerning subtleties and nuances in
their languages, researching terminology and colloquialisms, and handling
new developments in their languages. Like writers, translators have to be
accustomed to working long hours alone on a subject which interests few
people and with a language that few people around them know. Like
diplomats, translators have to be sensitive to the cultural and social
differences which exist in their languages and be capable of addressing
these issues when translating. And like educated amateurs, translators
have to know the basics and some of the details about the subjects they
deal with…
• …The fundamental rule when you’re not sure of a term or phrase is ask.
An important part of the translator’s role is to communicate with the
client -- and a good translator knows when to ask questions.”
• Excerpt from "The Translation Profession" by Roger Chriss
 Kako čitati prevod?
• Blago promašeni
• Vodenica na Flosi/Oliver Tvist
– Kliše - karakteristike viktorijanskog romana
– Svečana rečenica, epiteti, vrline
– Osobine piščevog stila zanemarene
• Narcisoidni (prevodilac kao pisac)
• Orkanski visovi/Ka svetioniku
– Zanemareno je ko govori – ton, leksika, ritam
rečenice
• Kratkovidi/dalekovidi prevodi
– Prevod prati priču – G. Grin
– Pesnik prevodi poeziju – W.H Auden
• Mehanički prevodi
– Iain Banks, Wasp Factory
• Zlodela u prevođenju
– The Hours. M. Cunningham
• He put the stub of the fat cigar he had been smoking under the cold
tap, turned the water on for a second while the brown stump
sizzled and died, then threw the sodden remnant in the bin. I put
my things down on the big table and sat down, shrugging. My
father turned up the ring on the cooker under the soup-pan,
looking beneath the lid into the warming mixture and then turning
back to look at me.
• There was a layer of grey-blue smoke in the room at about shoulder
level, and a big wave in it, probably produced by me as I came in
through the double doors of the back porch. The wave rose slowly
between us while my father stared at me. I fidgeted, then looked
down, toying with the wrist-rest of the black catapult. It crossed my
mind that my father looked worried, but he was good at acting and
perhaps that was just what he wanted me to think, so deep down I
remained unconvinced.
• Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory
• Stavio je opušak debele cigare koju je pušio ispod slavine sa
hladnom vodom, odvrnuo je za trenutak dok je braon krnjetak
crvčao i gasio se, zatim bacio raskvašeni otpadak u kantu. Spustio
sam stvari na sto i seo, sležući ramenima. Otac je pojačao ringlu na
šporetu ispod šerpe sa supom, pogledao ispod poklopca u smešu
koja se podgrevala, a zatim se okrenuo i pogledao mene.
• Otprilike u visini ramena, u sobi je lebdela zavesa sivoplavičastog
dima, sa velikim talasom u njoj, koji sam verovatno ja napravio kad
sam ušao kroz dvokrilna vrata zadnjeg trema. Talas se podigao
polako između, dok je otac zurio u mene. Vrpoljio sam se, a onda
oborio pogled poigravajući se drškom crne praćke. Proletelo mi je
kroz glavu da otac izgleda zabrinuto, ali on je bio dobar u glumi i
možda je hteo da ja baš to pomislim, tako da sam duboko u sebi
ostao neubeđen.
 How to achieve equivalence?
• There are (theoretically) two ways to achieve equivalence:

• literal translation: this is basically word-for-word translation in

which the translator opts for formal equivalence – the
consequence is that a lot of the content of the source text might
not make it into the target text

• free translation: basically meaning-for-meaning translation in which

the translator aims at getting the meaning of the source text
completely across even if it means radical formal differences
between the source text and the target text (a.k.a. functional
equivalence) – the consequence here is that intended formal
features of the source text might not make it into the target text.
 Questions to ask
• Equivalence does not only apply at the level of words
and sentences, but also at text level. The translator
must take (at least) the following textual features into
account:
– semantics: the sense or meaning of each unit (words,
phrases, sentences etc.) in the source text and the
meaning of the text as a whole, which is typically more
than just the sum of meanings of the combined units
– communicative value of the text: the intended purpose of
the text
– place in time and space of the text
– social context of the text: the sender and the intended
recipient and the social relations between them
• What? What is the message of the text? What is
its propositional content? What is its basic
content?
• Why? What's the intention of the sender? What
is the purpose of the text? What's the
illocutionary force of the text?
• When? When is the time of communication?
• How? What is the manner of delivery? What's
the tone of the text? What's the register? What's
the level of formality?
• What's the channel, or medium, of
communication?
• Where? What is the spatial location of the
text?
• Who? Who is the sender? Who is the
recipient? What is the social relation between
them?
• The factors addressed in these questions, most of
which relate to the context of the text, influence
the text in terms of style, tone, register etc., and
these aspects of the source text should also be, if
possible, transferred onto the target text;
basically, they determine the writer's choice of
forms. Consequently, they should also determine
the translator's choice of forms, style, register
etc. in the target language, so stylistic
equivalence is also retained.
 The translator and the good
translation
• Tytler's standards are based on the notion of the extreme forms of
translation:
– Embellishing translation: where the translator makes use of free
translation to actually make a target text which is a better or
improved version of the source text
– “Copy-cat” translation: in which the translator seeks to preserve every
aspect of the source text (even including mistakes)

• Tytler's rules of translation basically place the good translation

somewhere in the middle between these two extremes.
– The target text should represent all of the content of the source text
– The style of the target should be equivalent to that of the source
– The target should be structured/composed like the source (and it
should be as easy to read as the source)
 The scale – Methods, Newmark 45-48
• ”Copycat” translation
• • word-for-word translation: preservation
of word order and as literal translation as
possible of individual words, including
cultural words
• • literal translation: apart from as literal
as possible translation of individual words,
grammatical structures are converted into
the nearest target language equivalents
• • faithful translation: stays, if possible,
within the constraints of the grammatical
structures of the target text, but draws on
certain contextual factors
• • semantic translation: more emphasis on
naturalness than in faithful translation,
and translation of certain cultural words
into neutral equivalents in the TL
• • communicative translation: aims at
reproducing the exact message of the source
text content-wise and context-wise but with
emphasis on naturalness and
acceptability/comprehensiveness to the
target text readership.
• • idiomatic translation: makes use of idioms
and colloquialisms that are not present in
the source text.
• • free translation: focuses on the content of
the target text rather than the form, which
means that the same content is expressed in
the target text but with very different
grammatical structures if need be
• • adaptation: the freest form of translation
and more of a target language/culture based
interpretation of the source text than a
translation as such
• Embellishing translation
 Translation procedures
• Literal translation
• Transference: transferal of a
word or expression from the
source language/text directly into
the target text without
translating it at all
• Naturalization: basically
transference in which you apply
target language spelling and
morphology (and pronunciation)
to the expression or word in
question
• Cultural equivalent: translating a
culturally rooted word in the source
text/language with a roughly
equivalent culturally rooted word of
the target language/text
• Functional equivalent: translating a
word in the source language/text
with a functionally equivalent target
language word (i.e. a word which has
the same meaning)
• Descriptive equivalent: translating a
source language/text word using a
description of the concept it refers to
in the target language
• (Near) synonymy: translating a
source language/text word or
expression with a target language
expression that is nearly, but not
completely, functionally equivalent
• Through translation: literal translation of
collocations and combinations
• Shift/transposition: translation of a source
language/text expression into a target
language expression which involves change
in grammatical structure, such that a
specific target language structure is used
• Modulation: change of viewpoint or
substantial conceptual concept in the
translation, for instance, using the name of
a category for a specific member of the
category, using a part for the whole (and
vice versa), active for passive etc.
• Recognized translation: using a well-known
accepted target language translation for a
specific source language institutional term
• Translation label: provisional target
language translation of a source language
term that does not have any conventional
translation in the target language
• Compensation: making up for the loss of
something in the source text, by adding
something else in the target text
• Componential analysis: splitting up a
lexical unit into meaning atoms
• Reduction/expansion: adding or removing
elements in translation (essentially a type
of shift)
• Paraphrase: amplification or explanation
of meaning in target text