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“TRANSLATION STUDIES”»
оқу-әдістемелік құрал
Павлодар
2010
“TRANSLATION STUDIES”»
оқу-әдістемелік құрал
Павлодар
ӘОЖ 811.111(07)
КБК 81.2 Англ - 9
И73
И 73 «Translation - oriented text analysis for the students of specialty
5B020700 “Translation Studies”» оқу-әдістемелік құрал / құраст. :
Ә. М. Ахметбекова, В. В. Лямзина – Павлодар : Кереку, 2010. –
101б.
Нақты оқу-әдістемелік құрал көркем мәтінді интерпретациялауды оқитын тіл мамандары студенттеріне арналған..
Аталған оқу-әдістемелік құралда пән бағдарламасына сәйкес «Аударма ісі» мамандығының 3 курс студенттері үшін көркем мәтінді интерпретациялаудың толық курсы берілген.
КБК 81.2 Англ - 9
© Ахметбекова Ә. М. , Лямзина В. В. , 2010
© С. Торайғыров атындағы ПМУ, 2010
Материалдың дұрыс болуына, грамматикалық және орфографиялық қателерге авторлар мен құрастырушылар жауапты
Introduction
Most writers on translation theory agree that before embarking upon any translation the translator should analyze the text comprehensively, since this appears to be the only way of ensuring that the source text has been wholly and correctly understood. Various proposals have been put forward as to how such an analysis should be carried out and how particular translation problems might best be dealt with. These tend, however, to be based on models of text analysis which have been developed in other fields of study, such as that of literary studies, of text or discourse linguistics, or even in the field of theology.
But what is right for the literary scholar, the text linguist is not necessarily right for the translator: different purposes require different approaches. Translation-oriented text analysis should not only ensure full comprehension and correct interpretation of the text or explain its linguistic and textual structures and their relationship with the system and norms of the source language. It should also provide a reliable foundation for each and every decision which the translator has to make in a particular translation process. For this purpose, it must be integrated into an overall concept of translation that will serve as a permanent frame of reference for the translator.
The factors of the communicative situation in which the source text is used are of decisive importance for text analysis because they determine its communicative function. These factors can be called "extratextual" or "external" factors (as opposed to the "intratextual" or "internal" factors relating to the text itself, including its non-verbal elements).
Extratextual factors are analyzed by enquiring about the author or sender of the text, the sender's intention, the audience the text is directed at, the medium or channel the text is communicated by, the place and time of text production and text reception, and the motive for communication. The sum total of information obtained about these seven extratextual factors may provide an answer to the last question, which concerns the function the text can achieve.
Intratextual factors are analyzed by enquiring about the subject matter the text deals with, the information or content presented in the text, the knowledge presuppositions made by the author, the composition or construction of the text, the non-linguistic or paralinguistic elements accompanying the text, the lexical characteristics and syntactic structures found in the text, and the suprasegmental features of intonation and prosody.
The extratextual factors are analyzed before reading the text, simply by observing the situation in which the text is used. In this way, the receivers build up a certain expectation as to the intratextual characteristics of the text, but it is only when, through reading, they compare this expectation with the actual features of the text that they experience the particular effect the text has on them. The last question (to what effect?) therefore refers to a global or holistic concept, which comprises the interdependence or interplay of extratextual and intratextual factors.
Since the situation normally precedes textual communication and determines the use of intratextual procedures, it seems natural to start with the analysis of the external factors. In written communication, the situation is often documented in the "text environment" (i.e. title and/or bibliographical references, such as name of author, place and year of publication, number of copies, etc.).
ST – source text
TT – target text
SL – source language
1 Text analysis plan
Table 1 – Text analysis plan
|
Extratextual factors |
|
1 The sender of the text What is known about the author of the information? What point of view does the author have? What tone and attitude of the author is expressed within the text? |
|
2 The sender’s intention
- to establish or maintain contact with the receiver, etc. |
|
3 The addressee/audience What is the audience of the text: age, background, interest, gender, place of living/ work expertise in profession point of view, prerequisites for the information perception, the hooks for the audience, influence on the audience? |
|
4 The information/medium channel. What is the medium channel of this text? Why? What is the most appropriate information channel for this text you suggest? (book, magazine, newspaper, leaflet, pamphlet, flyer, letter, e-mail, manual, official document and etc.)
|
|
5 The time of sending and receiving the information. When was the text written/ published/ transmitted? Does the text environment yield any information on the dimension of time? What was the cause of text creation concerning the time? |
|
6 The function of the text.
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Continuation of Table 1
|
Intratextual factors |
|
7 Subject matter What is the theme/ themes/ subthemes of the text? What is the problem discussed in the text? What is the idea discussed in the text? How is theme/ problem/ idea presented in the text? Is the theme/ problem/ idea open and easy to grasp? |
|
8 The contents (composition and plot) Point out the composition parts of the story: - The setting - The exposition - The climax - The denouement |
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9 Presuppositions (what is meant but not said in the text). Background information which wasn’t given but is necessary for comprehension and the result of it. |
|
10 Text structure: Macro- and microstructure of the text.
In whose name is the story narrated? Is it a first-person (a third person) narration? Outline the character of the narrator, if there is any. What is the function of the narrator? - Forms of speech What does the story present: narration, description, dialogue, monologue, inner monologue of a character, the author’s argumentation? What is the prevailing narrative form?
|
|
11 Character drawing What is the author’s method of presenting characters? (direct or indirect) Does the author resort to direct characterization? Point out instances of direct characterization. Is it ample or sparing? Does the main character happen to be in conflict with himself (with other characters, circumstances of life)? Are there any background characters? What is their role? Can we feel the author’s attitude towards his characters?
|
Continuation of Table 1
|
12 The choice of the lexis, stylistic devices What are the key words of the text? What is/ are the key concepts of the text? Give their definition. What is the word choice preferred by the author in his text? (adjective/noun/ verb dominated lexis) What are the stylistics devices? What is the function of the stylistic devices? What is the place of the stylistic devices in the text? Are there terms/ professional word/ borrowed words and etc in the text? Why? |
|
13 The choice of the syntactic constructions. What syntactic constructions are mostly used by the sender of the text? What effect does the sender achieve using this syntactic construction/s? Are there long/short/inversion/ complex/ simple sentences in the text? Why? What sentence constructions are difficult for comprehension/ translation? Why? |
|
14 Your attitude towards the things described |
The sender. Sender vs. text producer
Although in many cases these two roles are combined in one persona (e.g. in the case of literary works, textbooks, or newspaper commentaries, which are normally signed by an author's name), the distinction seems to be highly relevant to a translation-oriented text analysis.
Many texts do not bear any author's name at all. These are usually non-literary texts for practical use, such as advertisements, laws or statutes, or operating instructions. Nevertheless, there has to be a sender who, even if not named explicitly, can be identified implicitly. For example, the sender of an advertisement is usually the company selling the product, and the sender of statutes is normally the legislative body of a state. The fact that no text producer is named in these cases leads to the conclusion that either they are not relevant as a person or - as is the case with certain genres - they do not wish to be known.
If a text bears the name of both sender and text producer, the latter usually plays a secondary role because s/he is not expected to introduce any communicative intention of her or his own into the text.
The sender of a text is the person (or institution, etc.) who uses the text in order to convey a certain message to somebody else and/or to produce a certain effect, whereas the text producer writes the text according to the instructions of the sender, and complies with the rules and norms of text production valid in the respective language and culture. The formal design of the text, such as the layout, may be assigned to another expert, and in some cases, the text is presented to the public by yet another person (e.g. a news reader or an actor).
How can the translation-relevant information about the sender (or the text producer) be obtained? The first clues are provided by the text environment (imprints, blurbs, preface or epilogue, footnotes, etc.). The author's name may already carry further information which either belongs to the receiver's or translator's general background knowledge or can, if necessary, be obtained. The name of a writer usually evokes some knowledge of their literary classification, artistic intentions, favorite subject matters, usual addressees, status, etc.; similarly, the name of a politician evokes his or her political standpoint, function or position, public image, etc.
Further information about the sender may be provided by other factors of the communicative situation (either individually or as a combination of several factors). There may be hints which may allow the necessary information to be inferred. If the analyst knows, for instance, by which medium, at what time, and for which function a text has been published s/he is able to tell who the sender may be. The place of publication points to the origin of the sender or possible origin, if the language is spoken in various countries (Great Britain - United States - Australia - India; Portugal - Brazil; Spain - Latin America -Bolivia), and the medium can throw light on the possible status of the sender (specialized journal - expert; newspaper -journalist), etc.
Another source of information is the text itself. If the text environment does not provide the necessary details, the analyst has to look for internal hints about the characteristics of the sender. The use of a certain regional or class dialect may reveal the (geographical or social) origin of the text producer (although not necessarily that of the sender, if they are not the same person), and the use of obsolete forms may tell the analyst that the text producer probably lived in another age. These questions, however, can only be answered after completing the intratextual analysis.
The following questions may help to find out the relevant information about the sender:
1) Who is the sender of the text?
2) Is the sender identical with the text producer? If not, who is the text producer and what is his/her position with regard to the sender?
3) What information about the sender (e.g. age, geographical and social origin, education, status, relationship to the subject matter, etc.) can be obtained from the text environment? Is there any other information that is presupposed to be part of the receiver's general background knowledge? Can the sender or any person related to him or her be asked for more details?
4) What clues as to the characteristics of the sender can be inferred from other situational factors (medium, place, time, intention, and function)?
What different types of intention can be associated with a text? There may be forms of "communication", where the sender is his or her own addressee: somebody may write something down either to ease the burden of their memory or to sort out their ideas and thoughts, or they may just scribble something on a piece of paper while making a phone call ("zero-intention"). These forms would not appear to be relevant to translation. In normal communication with two or more participants, the possible intentions correspond with the four basic functions of communication described above in connection with the systematic framework. We may ask, for example, whether the sender wants to inform the receiver about a certain issue (referential intention) or intends to express her/his feelings or attitude towards things (expressive intention), whether s/he plans to persuade the receiver to adopt a particular opinion or perform a certain activity (appellative intention), or whether s/he just wants to establish or maintain contact with the receiver (phatic intention).
Of course, a sender may well have more than just the one intention. Several intentions can be combined in a kind of hierarchy of relevance. For pragmatic reasons, this hierarchy may have to be changed in translation.
Normally, the receiver is not informed explicitly about the sender's intention. One means of obtaining information about the intention(s) of the sender or text producer, therefore, is the analysis of intratextual features. However, if we stay with the extratextual factors (sender, receiver, medium, place, time), these can throw some light on the intention the sender may have had in transmitting the text. Paralinguistic phenomena, such as manifestations of the sender's excitement or indignation, may have to be taken into account as well.
The sender's intention is of particular importance when analyzing literary texts or texts marked as a personal opinion (e.g. political commentaries, editorials) because there is no conventional link between genre and intention. In these cases, the translator may have to take account of the author's life and background, events that have influenced his or her writings or any literary classification (such as "romantic" or "politically/socially committed literature"). There is no doubt that for a translation-relevant text analysis translator must exploit all sources at their disposal. The translator should strive to achieve the information level which is presupposed in the receiver addressed by the author. For a literary text this will not be the level of a literary scholar, but certainly that of a "critical receiver".
The following questions may help to find out the relevant information about the sender's intention:
1) Are there any extratextual or intratextual statements by the sender as to his or her intention(s) concerning the text?
2) What intention(s) are by convention associated with the genre to which the analyzed text can be assigned?
3) What clues as to the sender's intention can be inferred from other situational factors (sender - especially his or her communicative role -, receiver, medium, place, time)?
The addressee/audience
As in case of the sender, information about the addressees can first of all be inferred from the text environment (e.g. dedications, notes), including the title (e.g. Bad Child s Pop-Up Book of Beasts). It can also be elicited from the information obtained about the sender and his/her intention or from the situational factors, such as medium, place and time. Standardized genres often raise equally standardized expectations in the receivers.
During the process of text analysis the translator elicits those textual elements or features which can be considered to be determined by the particular audience-orientation of the source text. Since each target text is always addressed to receivers-in-situation different from those to whom the source text is or was addressed, the adaptation of precisely these elements is of particular importance.
For example, if the source text is a report on a recent event published in an American newspaper, it is addressed to a large, non-specific audience in the United States. In order to capture the attention of the readers the author chooses a sensationalistic title plus an additional, informative subtitle and uses small text segments and quotations as sub-headings for the paragraphs. The text is accompanied by two photos. All these features are intended as "reading-incentives" for the receiver. If this text is translated for a journalist who has herself initiated the translation because she is interested in the information provided by the text, the reading-incentives are superfluous, and the paragraph headings may even have a confusing effect.
Every TT receiver will be different from the ST receiver in at least one respect: they are members of another cultural and linguistic community. Therefore, a translation can never be addressed to "the same" receiver as the original.
After all the available information about the intended TT receiver has been extracted according to the normal circular course of the translation process, then the translator can check this against the characteristics of the ST receiver: age, sex, education, social background, geographic origin, social status, role with respect to the sender, etc.
For example, a report on drugs published in a magazine for young people is written with teenage readers in mind. In order to appeal to the receivers and warn them of the risks of drug addiction, the author uses words and phrases from juvenile slang and drug jargon. A translation of the text which is also addressed to young people may use the corresponding TL slang, whereas if the" same translation text (using slang words and jargon) were to appear in a section of a news magazine, whose readership is a mainly adult one, it would either not be understood or would not be taken seriously.
The communicative background of the addressees, i.e. all their general background knowledge and their knowledge of special areas and subject matters, is of particular importance for translation-oriented text analysis. According to the assessment of the audience's communicative background, a text producer not only selects the particular elements of the code that will be used in the text but also cuts or omits altogether any details which can be "presupposed" to be known to the receiver, whilst stressing others (or even presenting them with extra information) in order not to expect too much (nor too little) of the addressed readership.
How much knowledge can be presupposed in a reader depends not only on their education or familiarity with the subject but also on factors relating to the subject matter itself, e.g. its topicality. In this respect, the situation often varies widely for ST and TT receivers, as there is usually (at least in written communication) a considerable time lags between ST and TT reception.
The information obtained about the addressee may throw some light on the sender's intention, on the time and place of communication, on text function, and on the intratextual features.
The following questions may help to find out the relevant information about the addressed audience and their expectations:
1) What information about the addressed audience can be inferred from the text environment?
2) What can be learned about the addressees from the available information about the sender and his/her intention?
3) What clues to the ST addressee's expectations, background knowledge etc. can be inferred from other situational factors (medium, place, time, motive, and function)?
4) Is there any information about the reactions of the ST receiver(s) which may influence translation strategies?
5) What conclusions can be drawn from the data and clues obtained about the addressee regarding
Medium is the means or vehicle which conveys the text to the reader (in communication theory, "channel" stands for sound waves or print on paper).
In spoken communication, the dimension of medium includes the technical devices for information transfer (such as telephones or microphones), and these, of course, affect the production, reception and comprehension of the text. In written communication, on the other hand, it is the means of publication that is referred to as the "medium", i.e. newspaper, magazine, book, multi-volume encyclopedia, leaflet, brochure, etc., as well as subclassifications such as business news, literary supplement, etc.
The dimension of medium is relevant because it provides some clues as to the size and identity of the addressed audience. The readership of a national daily newspaper is not only much larger, but usually represents a different level of education and information with different expectations and different standards of stylistic quality from that of a medical, not to mention a neurosurgical, journal. The cheap paperback edition of a novel would be expected to reach a wider public than an expensive, multi-volume collection of Cantonese love poems. In addition, the specification of the medium may give some clue as to the sender's intention (e.g. in the case of a poster or a picture postcard) or function of the text. For example, the text in a guidebook usually has the functions of information plus advertising, and an article in an encyclopedia is expected to provide detailed information not only on the positive but also on the negative aspects of a place.
For translation-oriented text analysis, it is most important to elicit features typical of the medium, i.e. features of content and/or form, and to classify them as culture-specific or transcultural or even universal. This is particularly relevant in those cases where the target text is to be transmitted through a medium or channel different from that of the source text.
The problem is that the source text is often not available in its original medium, but only in a copy or typescript (which actually occurs fairly frequently in translation practice) and therefore it is impossible to obtain any information about the medium.
The following questions may help to find out the relevant information about the dimension of medium or channel:
1) Has the text been taken from a spoken or a written communication? By which medium was it transmitted?
2) Which medium is used to present the text to the target audience? Is there any extratextual information on the medium?
3) What clues as to medium or channel can be inferred from other situational factors (sender, intention, function)?
4) What conclusions can be drawn from the data and clues obtained about the medium as regards
(a) other extratextual dimensions, such as the addressees and their expectations, motive, and function, and
(b) the intratextual features?
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