Seminar # 5

Points for discussion:

I. What a translator is and what a translator does

1. Notes on the Profession

2. Translator and Interpreter

3. Bilingualism

4. The Education of a Translator

5. Process and Result of Translation

6. Materials for Translation

II. The role of the translator

1. The Qualities Each Translator/Interpreter Possesses

2. Don’ts of a Translator/Interpreter

3. What an English-speaking Client Expects of His Interpreter

4. Another Glimpse into the Future

5. Comparison with other Professions

III. The notion of equivalence. Types of equivalence. Levels of equivalence.

IV. Translation Theory as a Theory of Transformations

1. Problem of Non-translation

2. Extralinguistic Factor in Translation

3. Machine Translation

V. Transformations in translation.

1. Lexical transformations.

2. Grammatical transformations.

3. Lexico-grammatical transformations.

I. WHAT A TRANSLATOR IS AND WHAT A TRANSLATOR DOES

1. Notes on the Profession

In the profession of translation there are two types of translators/interpreters —free-lance and in-house ones. It is a very specific profession, and the people involved in it — free-lance translators, would-be translators as well as people who work with translators often are interested in should know how to survive, what to do, what a translator is, and how to tell if a translator is good.

It is difficult to give the definitive explanation of translation and translators. Though it will be helpful and serve as a starting point for understanding the profession and the people in it. I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few years helping would-be translators get started and advising people interested in the profession about the realities of being a translator.

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.