- •Introduction
- •Lecture 1. What a translator is and what a translator does
- •1.1. Notes on the Profession
- •1.2. Translator and Interpreter
- •1.3. Bilingualism
- •1.4. The Education of a Translator
- •1.5. Process and Result of Translation
- •1.6. Materials for Translation
- •Lecture 2. The role of the translator
- •2.1. The Qualities Each Translator/Interpreter Possesses
- •2.2. Don’ts of a Translator/Interpreter
- •2.3. What an English-speaking Client Expects of His Interpreter
- •2.4. Another Glimpse into the Future
- •2.5. Comparison with other Professions
- •2.6. The Five Year Itch
- •2.7. Industry Trends
- •2.8. The Last Word about the Profession
- •Lecture 3. The basic principles of the translation theory
- •3.1. Translation Theory as a Theory of Transformations
- •3.2. Problem of Non-translation
- •3.3. Extralinguistic Factor
- •3.4. The Subject Matter
- •3.5. Machine Translation
- •Lecture 4. Units of translation
- •4.1. Classification of Translation Units
- •4.2. Level of Intonation
- •4.3. Translation on the Level of Phonemes (Graphemes)
- •Lecture 5. Translation on the level of morphemes
- •5.1. Morpheme as a Unit of Translation
- •5.2. Some Insights into How to Become Word-conscious
- •5.3. Latin and Greek Prefixes
- •5.4. Latin Roots
- •5.5. Latin and Greek Borrowings in English
- •5.6. Dictionary of Greek and Latin Roots
- •5.7. Latin Roots in English
- •Lecture 6. Translation on the level of words
- •6.1. Examples of Translating on the Level of Words
- •6.2. Category of Gender in English and Ukrainian
- •Sonnet 66
- •Sonnet 40
- •Sonnet 58
- •Сонет 40
- •Сонет 58
- •Lecture 7. Singular and plural of nouns as a translation problem
- •7.1. Peculiarities of Singular and Plural in English and Ukrainian
- •7.2. Plural of Compound Nouns
- •7.3. Nouns Used Only in Singular
- •7.4. Nouns Used Only in Plural
- •7.5. Grammatical Disagreement of Singular and Plural of Nouns in English and Ukrainian
- •Lecture 8. The problem of translating articles and pronouns
- •8.1. Translation of Indefinite Articles
- •8.2. The Problem of Translating Pronouns
- •Lecture 9. “false friends of the interpreter”
- •9.1. Interpenetration of Words in Different Languages
- •9.2. Mistakes in Translation Related to Differences in Realia
- •9.3. Interlingual Homonymy and Paronymy
- •9.4. Examples of Translating Newspaper Clichés
- •9.5. Semantic Peculiarities of Medical Terms
- •Lecture 10. Translation on the level of word combinations
- •10.1. Problems of Translating Idioms
- •10.2. Etymology of Idioms: Weird History
- •Lecture 11. Translation on the level of sentence and text
- •11.1. Translation of Clichés and Formulas
- •11.2. Types of Proverbs and Their Translation
- •11.3. Translation on the Level of Text
- •Список літератури
1.2. Translator and Interpreter
A translator converts written material, such as newspaper and magazine articles, books, manuals, documents, etc., from one language into another. This is not to be confused with an interpreter, who converts spoken material, such as speeches, presentations, depositions and the like, from one language into another.
A translator should not be confused with an interpreter. Although there is some vague connection between the two abilities: translators cannot necessarily interpret, nor can interpreters necessarily translate. Moreover, the best translators are not good interpreters and likewise, truly great interpreters are not much for translation. And while many professional training programs require interpreters to develop some skill in translation, professionally trained translators often have no exposure to the skills of interpretation.
To be clear about the languages in question, we’ll refer to the translator's native language as the A language and the non-native languages as the B or C languages. A B language is one which the translator can speak, read, and write virtually as a native speaker does. A C language is one which the translator can read and understand like a native, but does not necessarily speak or write so well. In my case, for instance, Russian is my A language; Ukrainian is my A language, too; English and French are my B and C languages. Although I have some understanding of other languages as well, my skills are not good enough to fall into any of the A, B, or C categories.
We’ll also use the following words in this lecture. Source text or language will refer to the language which the material first appears in. Target text and language refer to the language that the material is translated into.
1.3. Bilingualism
A good translator is by definition a bilingual person. However, the opposite is not necessarily true. A born and bred bilingual will still need two things to become a translator. First, the skills and experience necessary for translation and second, the knowledge of the field in which he or she will translate.
The skills and experience for translation include the ability to write well in the target language, the ability to read and understand the source language material very well, and the ability to work with the latest word-processing and communications hardware and software.
This brings up the question: does a born and bred bilingual makes a better translator than someone who learned the B language later in life? There is no definite answer, but the following issues are important. First, a born and bred bilingual often suffers from not truly knowing any language well enough to translate. Second, born and bred bilinguals often don’t know the culture of the target language well enough. And last, they often lack the analytical linguistic skills to work through a sticky text.
However, the acquired bilingual might not have the same in-depth knowledge of slang, colloquialisms, and dialect that the true bilingual has. As well, the acquired bilingual will not be able to translate as readily in both directions (from B to A language and A to B language. Finally, true bilinguals often have a greater appreciation of the subtleties and nuances of both their languages than someone who learns their B language later in life can ever hope to have.