Translation

Its THEORIES &

TECHNIQUES
 Introduction of Translation
History of the First Known Translations
It is said that translation was done in the Mesopotamia era,
where Gilgamesh (Sumerian poem) was translated into the Asian
language. Other ancient translation works include Buddhist monks
translating Indian texts into Chinese.

Translation of Religious Texts

It is said that the first known significant translation was of the
Hebrew Bible, dated back to the 3rd century. The need for more
translation continued to increase with the expansion of spiritual
Translation in the broad sense is used
to refer to one of these concepts:
1. the practice of rendering the source text into the
target text.

2. a technique for teaching foreign languages.

3. an academic field comprising other language

related disciplines
• To Catford(1965), translation is the replacement of textual material
in source language (SL), by equivalent textual material in the target
language (TL).

• The definition of translation, accordingly, is the reproduction of

the closest natural equivalent, in terms of meaning and style, of
the source language message into the target language. In either
case, equivalence plays a key role in these definitions(Nida and
Taber 1969).

• According to Koller (1979), translation is transposition of a source-

language material is into a target-language text. The relationship of
the source text and the target text is that of an equivalence.
 Equivalence in Translation

Equivalence can be said to be the central

issue in translation although its definition, relevance,
and applicability within the field of translation theory
have caused heated controversy, and many different
theories of the concept of equivalence have been
elaborated within this field.
Jakobson and the concept of equivalence
in difference
Roman Jakobson’s study of equivalence gave
new impetus to the theoretical analysis of
translation since he introduced the “notion of
difference”. He suggested three(3)kinds of
translation:
1. Intralingual
2. Interlingual
3. Intersemiotic
Jakobson’s three(3) kinds of
translation:
1.Intralingual within one language, i.e.
rewording or paraphrasing)

2.Interlingual ( between two languages)

3.Intersemiotic ( between sign systems)
 Nida and Taber: Formal Equivalence
and Dynamic Equivalence

Formal Equivalence/Correspondence
- the translated language(TL)
represents the closest equivalent of
the source language (SL).
 Nida and Taber: Formal Equivalence
and Dynamic Equivalence

Dynamic Equivalence/ Correspondence

-a translation principle to which a translator
seeks to translate the meaning of the original in
such a way that the TL wordings will trigger the
same impact as of the SL.
 CONTEMPORARY TRANSLATION
THEORIES

Sociological Theory
-the social context defines what is and what is not
translatable and what is and what is not acceptable
through selection, filtering, and even censorship.
-a translator is necessarily the product of his or her
society: our sociocultural background is present in
everything we translate.
 CONTEMPORARY TRANSLATION
THEORIES

Communicative Theory
-Referred to as interpretive.
- Meaning must be translated, not language.
-Language is nothing more than a vehicle
of message and can even be an obstacle to
understanding.
 CONTEMPORARY
TRANSLATION THEORIES
Semiotic Theory
- a study of signs and significations.
- translation is thought as a way of
interpreting texts in which encyclopedic
content varies and each sociocultural
context is unique.
Techniques in
Translation
Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) paid attention to
translation strategies. They divided them to direct
translation and oblique translation.
Direct Translation Techniques
are used when structural and conceptual
elements of the source language can be
transposed into the target language.
• Borrowing
• Calque
• Literal Translation
1. BORROWING
is a translation technique that involves using in the target text the same
word or expression found in the original text. The word or expression
borrowed is usually written in italics. This is about reproducing an expression in
the original text as is. You might say that it is a translation technique that does
not actually translate…
Example:
The man is wearing a black sombrero.
He’s making me kilig.

Words borrowed from French: café, passé and résumé

Words borrowed from German: hamburger, kindergarten:
Words borrowed from Sanskrit: musk, bandana .
2.Calque
A calque or loan translation is a phrase borrowed
from another language and translated literally word-
for-word.

Example:
ENGLISH GERMAN
Standpoint Standpunkt
Beer garden Biergarten
3. Literal translation is a word-for-word translation, achieving a text in
the target language which is as correct as it is idiomatic.

• According to Vinay and Darbelnet, a literal translation can only be

applied with languages extremely close in cultural terms. It is
acceptable only if the translated text retains the same syntax, the
same meaning and the same style as the original text.

EXAMPLE:
• El equipo está trabajando para terminar el informe (Spanish)
• The team is working to finish the report. (English)
Oblique Translation Techniques
are used when the structural or conceptual elements of
the source language cannot be directly translated without
altering meaning or upsetting the grammatical and stylistics
elements of the target language.

• Transposition
• Modulation
• Reformulation or Equivalence
• Adaptation
1. Transposition: changing parts of speech while preserving
the sense.
• Transposition is often used between English and Spanish
because of the preferred position of the verb in the sentence:
English often has the verb near the beginning of a sentence;
Spanish can have it closer to the end.
• This requires that the translator knows that it is possible to
replace a word category in the target language without
altering the meaning of the source text.
Example:
English Hand knitted (noun + participle) becomes
Spanish Tejido a mano (participle + adverbial
Modulation: using a phrase that is different in the
source and target languages to convey the same
idea.
Example:
German (Lebensgefahr= DANGER TO LIFE)
English ( DANGER OF DEATH)

French( dernier étage= LAST FLOOR)

English (TOP FLOOR)
Equivalence: this applies to cases in which the
same situation could be described by various
stylistic or structural means, especially in
translating idioms and proverbs.
Example:

‘être sur son 31’(to be on one’s 31) -FRENCH

‘to be dressed up to the nines’ - ENGLISH
 Adaptation: occurs when something specific to one language
culture is expressed in a totally different way that is familiar or
appropriate to another language culture. It is a shift in cultural
environment.
• It involves changing the cultural reference when a
situation in the source culture does not exist in the
target culture
Example:
baseball (US culture) ⇒ football (France culture)
fries (US ) ⇒chips (British)
 References
• EJ1182995.pdf
• toaz.info-translation-theories-elements-types-principles-definition-pr
_1232c77ddf05f0c4b243faf5372af611
.pdf
• https://www.tlctranslation.com/translation-theory-dynamic-and-form
al-equivalence/
• https://culturesconnection.com/6-contemporary-theories-to-translati
on/
• https://www3.uji.es/~aferna/H44/Equivalence.htm
THANK YOU