CONTEXT IN

TRANSLATION
Translation as an act of communication

• Communication is intelligible only in the context which it

is part of (Nida 1964: 51)

• Context in translation: a milestone in translation theory

(above linguistic level)
Context and meaning

• Micro-context and macro-context

• ‘Reading’ the context in the SLT (& providing it in the TLT)

Translating – a context-dependent
process
• Context types:
• Linguistic context
• Semantic context
• Textual (discourse) context
• Context of situation
• Social context
• Cultural context
• Stylistic context
• Cognitive context
Linguistic context (co-text)
• It refers to the relation between lexical and structural
items as displayed in the SL

• It is a means supporting all the other context types

• It adapts to the TL conventions

• While determining the meaning of words, the role of the

context is maximized at the expense of the constitutive
elements viewed in their individuality (Nida 2001: 31)
Grammatical context
• Structural determination of word associations
• Structural differences in different languages
• Good knowledge of structural norms/ conventions in the 2
lgs.
• Contrastive knowledge
• Beyond the level of the standard language (slang,
common lg., social/ professional lg., etc. – especially in
literature)
Semantic context
- It refers to units of meaning (semantic kernels - Nida) with
the role of constructing larger semantic units

- It is about the meaning of units related to one another so

as to make up an overall textual meaning

- Anaphoric and cataphoric references

Textual context
• It is about the meaning of the entire discourse

• Interdependency between overall meaning and the

meaning of semantic kernels

• It triggers the interpretation of semantic units, which, in

their turn foster the construction of the textual meaning as
a whole
Textual context

• Cohesion and coherence (equivalence)

• Differences in different languages (structural and

conventional)
Context of situation

• Particular narrative situations influence the interpretation

of the meaning that the linguistic context provides (limited
range of interpretations out of many options)
Social context
• Several considerations:

1. need for translation (Skopos)

• Client-driven
• Market-driven
• Translator-driven
• Intended readership
• Socio-economic circumstances of text production
• Translation and reception by TL readers
(Hatim & Mason 1994: 12-13)
Social context
• 2. a matter of sociolinguistics (the study of
language in its social context; language is
socially dependent)

• Individual and social language variation (register):

-user-related language varieties:
• idiolects
• sociolects

- use-related varieties: dialects (e.g. Hatim & Mason 1994)

Social context
• social context perceived as “the social and personal
relationships of the interactants with one another”
(Coposescu 2002).

• Discourse Analysis: language use in social contexts, and

in particular with interaction or dialogue between speakers
(Stubbs 1983:1).
Social context – literary dialogue

Idiolect

comprising features of historical and geographical dialects,

along with those pertaining to the sociolect
(Hatim & Mason 1994).
Social context – literary dialogue

Sociolect

• = “a variety or lect which is thought of as being related to

its speakers’ social background rather than geographical
background” (Trudgill 2003: 122).

• separates social groups by social factors like age, gender,

class, ethnicity, education, religion (Hudson 1996)
Social context – literary dialogue
E.g. – low education level:

“Boss, we ain’t aiming to have no trouble today, are we?”

“He don’t hear so good” (T. Williams)

“This one doesn’t count, does it?

“It do.” (+ Negro talk)

(J.B. Friedman: Black Angels)

Social context – literary dialogue
• E.g. – foreigner’s talk (incorrect, phonological shift):

• “In the umbrella stand is some arrows.”

• “My boy says it don’t want to break.”

• “They stayed up all night and et my lettuce” (phonological)

(T. Williams: Goose Pond)

Social context – literary dialogue
• E.g. - regional / sociolectal speech:

• “Pore feller. He’s lost a leg. And I’d say, Why that’s turrible, ain’t it?”
(phonology, slang)

• “We really use to have some times” (careless language)

• “I know how to get the contracks” (for contracts)

• “Tom and me is buddies” (disagreement, slang)

• “There’s only one think can turn my stommick” (syntax, phonology)

(J. Jones: Two Legs for the Two of Us)
Social context – literary dialogue
• recognition in the process of translation which should
exhibit little or, preferably, no alteration of the social
context.

• taking into account the social functions of the language

• “Principles of equivalence demand that we attempt to

relay the full impact of social dialect, including whatever
discoursal force it may carry” (Hatim & Mason 1994: 42).
Cultural context
• a necessary addition to the social context (preface to Nida 13)

• Relationship between language, culture and society (Hatim 2001: 18)

• Culture = the total amount of beliefs and practices of a

society (Nida 2001: 13)

• Translation = cultural transfer by means of language

(language is a component of culture – Nida 1996: Translation:
possible and impossible): idioms, proverbs, sayings, false
friends, metaphor, humour, irony, etc.
Stylistic context
• Style = an “umbrella heading, under which are lumped together all
kinds of textual/contextual variables” (Hatim & Mason 1994: 9-10)

• Style – related to:

• (1) register
• (2) conventional patterns characteristic of
each language
• Beauty of style – differently perceived by different cultures
Stylistic context
Stylistic context
• Equivalent-effect principle (Newmark 1995: 132) –
paramount in translation

• Emotiveness in different languages

Cognitive context
• background knowledge
• given / new information
(Halliday’s Information structure)

• shared knowledge:
author – translator – reader
Cognitive context
• Intertextuality: interaction with other
texts

• interpretation is subject to other

reading (Hatim & Mason 1994: 230)
Cognitive context
• Intertextuality = linkage of all texts to all other texts
(Kristeva)

• “because no text can ever be completely free of those

texts that precede and surround it” (Bassnett)

• Structuralist approach to literary texts: a text is a set of

related systems, operating within a set of systems
(Cluysenaar)
Bibliography
• Nida, Eugene: Traducerea sensurilor, Institutul European,
2004, pp. 151-168.

• Hatim, Basil & Mason, Ian: Discourse and the Translator,

Routledge, 1990, 1994, 2013, pp. 36-53

• Newmark, Peter: Approaches to Translation, Prentice

Hall, 1988, pp. 114-159.

• Dimitriu, Rodica: Theories an Practice of Translation,

Institutul Europen, pp. 71-75, 79-84.