Mona Baker

In Other Words: a Coursebook on

Translation (1992)

It has had great influence on

Translation training and
consequently Translation studies.
 Baker looks at equivalence at six levels
1. Word level: words and phrases for which there are no
equivalents in the target  language
2. Above word level: collocation, markedness, and register (the
set of words that might  potentially collocate with the word
in question, and by marked collocations. ) , as well as the
translation of idioms and fixed expressions
3. Grammar: explains number, gender, person, tense, 
aspect, voice, word order and an introduction to the concept
of text and its organization
4. Thematic structure: covers the concepts of theme and rheme
5. Cohesion: the network of lexical, grammatical and other
relations which provide links between various parts of a text
6. Pragmatic: The way utterances are used in communicative
situations.
Thematic and information
structure
ideational

metafunctions interpersonal

textual
 I realized the problem

theme rheme
Baker incorporates a comparison of nominalization
and verbal forms in theme position:

1. Analyzed-were the relations between dopamine and motor

functions. (begins with pronominal verbal form)

2. The relations between dopamine and motor functions were

analyzed. (normalized word order with passive verbal form in
the final position)

3. An Analysis is carried out of the relations between dopamine

and motor functions. (use of the nominalized form “analysis”
and the addition of a different passive form)
WHY?
To meet the conventions of English abstract
The Problem
Thematic structure is realized differently
in different languages.
For example, Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese are
verb inflected languages. (The verb is in the theme
position)

Some languages, like Portuguese, omit the subject

pronoun. This also creates a different thematic
pattern.
 Halliday VS Baker
Hallidayan model of thematic analysis is English-oriented
what casts doubt on its validity.

Baker produces an alternative: functional sentence

perspective model of thematic structure.
It is more suitable for languages with a frequent VS order.
Why?
1. It takes into account communicative dynamism and
word order.
2. It is much more straightforward to implement: theme
is in the first position, come what may.
 The translator should be
aware of relative markedness
Relative markedness is used to distinguish two meanings of the
same term, where one is common usage (unmarked sense) and the
other is specialized to a certain cultural context (marked sense).

1. It helps us to heighten our awareness of meaningful choices

made by speakers and writers in the course of
communication.

2. It helps in deciding whether it is appropriate to use a

marked form or not.
 Problems of copying ST
pattern into TT
1. What is marked varies across languages.
2. Calquing a rigid English word order in VS
languages produces a monotonous translation.
3. Gerzymisch-Arbogast 1986 considers the German
calquing of English cleft to be clumsy.
4. Enkvist 1978 pointed out the dilemma of
balancing concern for information dynamics with
sometimes incompatible concern for other areas
such as basic syntactic patterns.
 Cohesion
Introduction:
Blum-Kulka’s study “Shifts of Cohesion and
Coherence in Translation”

• All translators tend to use cohesive ties explicitly.

• Changes in cohesion in translation may bring
about functional shifts in the text.
• Some languages need to state the gender of the
character.
 Baker and Cohesion
• Baker defines  cohesion as “the network of lexical,
grammatical and other relations which 
provide links between various parts of a text” (p. 190).
• In order to have  cohesion, a text must have references that the
reader can follow clearly and  consistently without confusion.
• The density and the progression of cohesive ties throughout
the text are the most important.
• Sometimes this web of relationships differs between St and TT
• WHY?
• “Because the network of lexical cohesion will not be identified
across languages. “ (Baker 1992)
• For example: Portuguese lexical repetition to pronoun use
 Pragmatics
• “The study of language in use. It is the study of
meaning not as generated by linguistics system,
but as conveyed and manipulated by the
participants in a communicative situation”

• Baker explores ways in which translators can be

sure to produce translations that faithfully 
reflect the use in context and typical
interpretation in context of the source text.
Three major pragmatic
concepts

1. Coherence
2. Presupposition
3. Implicature
 Coherence
• Coherence is defined as the subjective perception
that a text has internal consistency and that its
references and ideas expressed are clear and flow
logically.
• The TT must also be coherent.
• It must hang together logically in the mind of the TT
receiver.
• Depends on the hearer’s or the receiver’s expectations
and experience of the world
• This may be the same for the ST and the TT readers.
 Presupposition
Presupposition relates to the linguistic and extra-
linguistic knowledge the sender assumes the
receiver to have or which are necessary in order to
retrieve the sender’s message.

For example, “let me now turn to bananas”

 The problem
The problem occurs when the TT receiver can’t be
assumed to possess the same background
knowledge as the ST receivers.

Possible reasons?
1. Because of cultural differences
2. Because the knowledge is being translated after a
time gap when the original information is no
longer activated by the reference.
 Implicature
Baker defines implicature as “what the speaker
means or implies rather than what s/he said”

Implicature is the way that people can “understand

more than is actually said” (p. 235).

It was developed by Paul Grice.

 Grice’s rules
1. Quantity: Give the amount of information that is
necessary. Don’t give too much or too little.
2. Quality: Say only what you know to be true or
what you can support.
3. Relevance: What you say should be relevant to
the conversation
4. Manner: Say what you need to say in a way that is
appropriate to the message you wish to convey
and which normally will be understood by the
receiver.
Some theorists add one more rule…

Politeness: Be polite in your

comments
Note:
Chapter 8, in Baker’s In other Words, is new to the
second edition and is titled “Beyond Equivalence: 
ethics and morality.”
• The maxims might be deliberately ignored for a
humorous effect.

• Some problems are posed for the translator when the

TL works by different maxims.

• For example, some vulgar jokes about God were

omitted when producing the TT in Arabic so as not to
upset local sensibilities.

• Baker notes that the translator should be aware of

these principles in operation in the respective
languages and cultures.