Translation One

Engl 2331
Defining Translation
Dr. Mahmoud Alhirthani
Alaqsa University, Gaza, Palestine
Outline

• Defining Translation
• Types of Translation
• Literal Translation
• Free Translaiton
• Practice
• Translation Procedures
• Translation Stratgeis
 Defining translation
• Translation can be defined as the transfer of written
text. It can be perceived as a process or as product
and as types such as free translation and literal
translation. It can be also divided into subtypes
such as literary translation, technical translation,
etc. The term translation also can cover interpreting
sometimes which is spoken, not written.
 Introduction

  translation typically transfers written or spoken SL

texts to equivalent written or spoken TL texts. In
general, the purpose of translation is to reproduce
various kinds of texts—including religious, literary,
scientific, and philosophical texts—in another
language and thus making them available to wider
readers.
 Types of translation

Literal translation

• Literal translation renders the text by

translating each word separately,
without taking into account how the
words are used together in a phrase or
sentence.
 Example A
Take O take those lips away
That so sweetly were foresworn
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn;
But my kisses bring again,
Bring again!
Seals of love but sealed in vain,
Sealed in vain
‫‪Naguib (1995: 14) offers a literal translation of the‬‬
‫‪poem as follows:‬‬
‫بعيدا‬
‫خذوا‪ ،‬خذوا هذه الشفاه ً‬
‫حنثت‬
‫ْ‬ ‫التي بحالوة‬
‫‪،‬وتلك العيون‪ ،‬انكسار الصباح‬
‫أضواء تُضل الصباح؛‬
‫‪،‬ولكن قبالتي أحضروها ثانيةً‬
‫أحضروها ثانيةً‬
‫‪،‬أختام حب ختمت عبثًا‬
‫!ختمت عبثًا‬
Naguib (1995: 15) rightly observes the following:

‘Take away’ is translated literally into ‫خ;ذوا‬

‫ب;;;عي ًدا‬. While a more appropriate translation
is ‫ ا;بع;دوا‬.

‘Sweetly’ is translated into ‫ ب;;;حالوة‬while a

more appropriate choice is ‫ف;;;يع;ذوبة‬.
‘Break of day’ is rendered as ‫ا;نكسار ا;;لصباح‬,
while it could be ‫ا;;لفجر‬.

‘Lights’ is translated into ‫أ;ضواء‬, and it

could be ‫أ;نوار‬.

‘Bring again’ is literally rendered into

‫أ;حضروها ث;;;انية‬, while ‫ أ;عيدوا‬can suffice.
 The poem can be translated in a more intelligible
manner in Arabic as follows:

English
Take O take those lips away,
That so sweetly were foresworn,
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn;
But my kisses bring again,
Bring again,
Seals of love but sealed in vain,
Sealed in vain.
Arabic
‫أبعدوا عني تلك الشفاه‬
‫التي غدرت في عذوبة‬
‫وابعدوا تلك العيون شبيهة الفجر‬
‫ضياؤها الصباح‬
ُ ‫التي ُيض ُل‬
‫ولكن أعيدوا لي قبالتي‬
‫!أعيدوها لي‬
 A more delicate version in Arabic can be:
English
Take O take those lips away,
That so sweetly were foresworn,
And those eyes, the break of
day,
Lights that do mislead the morn;
But my kisses bring again,
Bring again,
Seals of love but sealed in vain,
Sealed in vain.
 
Arabic
‫إليكن عني فتلك الشفاه‬
‫عذوبتها حنثت باليمين‬
‫وتلك العيون ضياء مبين‬
‫وفجر يضل مسير الصباح‬
‫ولكن أعيدوا لي القبل‬
‫أعيدو الرواء‬
‫طوابع حب طواها األجل‬
‫وضاعت هباء‬
But

English Arabic
Take O take those lips away,
‫أبعدوا عني تلك الشفاه‬
That so sweetly were foresworn,
And those eyes, the break of day, ‫التي غدرت في عذوبة‬
Lights that do mislead the morn;
But my kisses bring again, ‫وابعدوا تلك العيون شبيهة الفجر‬
Bring again,
Seals of love but sealed in vain, ‫ضياؤها الصباح‬
ُ ‫التي ُيض ُل‬
Sealed in vain.
‫ولكن أعيدوا لي قبالتي‬
 
‫!أعيدوها لي‬
‫هباء‬
ً ‫أختام الحب التي ختمت‬
‫هباء‬
ً ‫ختمت‬
 
•Free Translation is the translation that
reproduces the general meaning of
the source text. It usually departs
away from following the form of the
source text. Consider the Egyptian
writer Ibrahim Abdelqader Almazini’s
translation of the same poem:
‫أبعدوا عني الشفاه اللواتي كن يطفئن من أوار الصادي‬
‫وأبعدوا عني العيون اللواتي هن فجر يض ُل صبح العباد‬
‫مردا قبالتي من الخدود النوادي‬
‫واستردوا إن استطعتم ً‬
‫عبد القادر المازني‬
 2. Translation procedures, strategies and
methods

I.Technical procedures:
A. Analysis of the source and target languages;

B. A through study of the source language text

before making attempts translate it;

C. Making judgments of the semantic

and syntactic approximations. (pp. 241-45)
• Organizational procedures
constant reevaluation of the attempt made;
contrasting it with the existing available
translations of the same text done by other
translators, and checking the text's communicative
effectiveness by asking the target language readers
to evaluate its accuracy and effectiveness and
studying their reactions (pp. 246-47).
 Translation strategies

•  Loescher (1991:8) defines translation strategy

as "a potentially conscious procedure for
solving a problem faced in translating a text,
or any segment of it." As it is stated in this
definition, the notion of consciousness is
significant in distinguishing strategies which
are used by the learners or translators.
• In this regard, Cohen (1998:4) asserts that "the
element of consciousness is what distinguishes
strategies from these processes that are not
strategic."
• Newmark (1988b) mentions the difference
between translation methods and translation
procedures. He writes that, "[w]hile
translation methods relate to whole texts,
translation procedures are used for
sentences and the smaller units of language"
(p.81). He goes on to refer to the following
methods of translation:
 Methods of translation
• Word-for-word translation: in which the SL word order is
preserved and the words translated singly by their most common
meanings, out of context.

• Literal translation: in which the SL grammatical constructions

are converted to their nearest TL equivalents, but the lexical
words are again translated singly, out of context.

• Faithful translation: it attempts to produce the precise

contextual meaning of the original within the constraints of the
TL grammatical structures.
• Semantic translation: which differs from
'faithful translation' only in as far as it must take
more account of the aesthetic value of the SL
text.

• Adaptation: which is the freest form of

translation, and is used mainly for plays
(comedies) and poetry; the themes, characters,
plots are usually preserved, the SL culture is
converted to the TL culture and the text is
rewritten.
• Free translation: it produces the TL text without the style,
form, or content of the original.

• Idiomatic translation: it reproduces the 'message' of the

original but tends to distort nuances of meaning by
preferring colloquialisms and idioms where these do not
exist in the original.

• Communicative translation: it attempts to render the exact

contextual meaning of the original in such a way that both
content and language are readily acceptable and
comprehensible to the readership (1988b: 45-47).
A question

•Compare between two types of

translation, indicating which
one you prefere and why?
For next time

• Stratgeis of Translaiton based on

Mona Baker’s classification.
•Thank you