Key Concepts in Translation

Indian Literature in Transation

 What is Translation?
Translation
is 
the communication of the meaning
of a source-language text
by means of
an equivalent target-language text.
 Translation
• is the comprehension of the meaning of a text and
the subsequent production of an equivalent text, likewise
called a "translation," that communicates the same
message in another language.
• The text that is translated is called the source text
• The language that it is translated into is called the target
language. The product is sometimes called the target text.
 What is literary translation?
 Literary translation consists of the translation
of poetry, plays, literary books, literary texts,
as well as songs, rhymes, literary articles,
fiction novels, novels, short stories, poems,
etc.
 Translate the language, translate their culture.
 Jakobson
• On Linguistic Aspects of Translation (1959, 2000) describes three kinds of
translation:
– intralingual (within one language, i.e. rewording or paraphrase),
– interlingual (between two languages),
– intersemiotic (between sign systems).

• The Interlingual Translation, or proper translation, is defined as “an

interpretation of verbal signs by means of some other language” (233).
 Catford (1965:21-22)
• Meanwhile, proposes three broad types or categories
of translation in terms of the extent, levels, and
ranks.
 extent
Full vs. Partial translation.
• In a full translation, the entire text is submitted to
the translation process, that is very part of the ST is
replaced by the TT material.
• In a partial translation, some part or parts of the ST
are left untranslated: they are simply transferred to
and incorporated in the TT (Catford, 1965: 21).
 levels
OTAL VS. RESTRICTED TRANSLATION.
• This distinction relates to the levels of language involved
in translation. By total translation we mean what is most
usually meant by ‘translation’; that is, translation in which
all levels of the ST are replaced by the TT material.
• Strictly speaking, ‘total’ translation is a misleading term,
since though total replacement is involved it is not
replacement by equivalents at all levels. 
• Total Translation may best defined as: replacement of ST grammar
and lexis by equivalent TT grammar and lexis with consequential
replacement of SL phonology/graphology by (non-equivalent) TT
phonology/graphology. 
• By Restricted Translation we mean: replacement of ST material by
equivalent TT material at only one level. 
• That is translation performed only at the phonological or at the
graphological level, or at one of the two levels of grammar and
lexis (Catford, 1965: 22).
 ranks
RANKS OF TRANSLATION
• It relates to the rank in a grammatical (or
phonological) hierarchy at which translation
equivalence is established (Catford, 1965: 24-
25).
 Larson (1998)
• Two main kinds of translations.
• One is form-based which attempts to follow the form of the source language and
are known as literal translations.
• The other one is meaning-based translation which makes every effort to
communicate the meaning of the source language text in the natural forms of the
receptor language, also called idiomatic translation.
• Larson (1998) says ’it is not easy to consistently translate idiomatically.
• A translator may express some parts of his translation in very natural form and then
in other parts fall back into a literal form.
• Translations fall on a continuum from very literal, to literal, to modified literal, to
near idiomatic, and then may even move to be unduly free’ (Larson, 1998: 19).
Key Terms
SL Text
TL Text
Equivalence
What is an Equivalence?
 What are the four types of equivalence
according to Popovic?
The four kinds of equivalence that Popovic talks of
– linguistic
– Paradigmatic
– Stylistic
– Textual 
Linguistic Equivalence
 Paradigmatic equivalence:
• It refers to the similarity in the grammatical
structures between the two texts.
• André Lefevere (1976) has emphasized on
preserving the structures of the SL text as
closely as possible but not so closely that the
TL structures are distorted.
Stylistic Equivalence
Textual (Syntagmatic) equivalence:
• Similarity in the structure and form of the texts.
• When it comes to idioms and metaphors, the
translator will have to aim for stylistic
equivalence where, according to Popovič, there
is “functional equivalence of elements in both
original and translation” (Bassnett 25).