Topic 19: specialized interpretation

19.1. Details of Working in Different Spheres of Professional Communication

Graduates of translation and linguistic departments work not only at state institutions (MFA, other Ministries and departments), in different mass-media (TV/radio stations and press), where they deal basically with general political genre of oral translation, but also in other spheres, where additional specialized knowledge in economics, law, science and engineering, religion, art, etc., are strongly recommended.

There is an eternal dilemma of oral translation: specialist (e.g., in math or law) is a perfect expert in his sphere, but does not know language (foreign) and has no skills of oral translation, and translator-professional can translate, but is ignorant in a given sphere of knowledge (math or law).

Obvious decision is to train interpreter – specialist in a definite sphere, who may not know profoundly and deeply the given sphere, but more than competent both in terminology and specificity of the sphere chosen, as well as well trained regarding language and translation.

Nowadays, on the one hand, the number of students of linguistic institutions, in parallel obtaining secondary education (economical, financial, judicial, etc.) is growing fast, and on the other – many specialists, knowing language within the framework of their profession, strive to master at least basic skills of oral translation, sometimes showing interest even in simultaneous translation within seminars on their subject-matter.

Specific genres of oral translation determine specificity of working in the following spheres of professional communication:

• interpreter-diplomat (journalist-specialist in international law or affairs – журналіст-міжнародник);

• interpreter-scientific officer;

• interpreter-lawyer (jurisprudent – правознавець);

• interpreter-fine art specialist (мистецтвознавець);

• interpreter of religious subject-matter.

19.2. Forms of Initial Voice Information (for all Genres)

1. Negotiations (dialogue, talk, etc.) – consecutive interpretation with elements of half-synchronous interpreting is used;

2. Speech, statement, performance, presentation, toast, lesson, lecture, sermon (instruction) – consecutive discourse (монологічний послідовний) or synchronous interpreting is used (if equipment is available);

3. Combination: dialogue (negotiations) + statement + answers to the questions + informal conversation – dialogue interpreting (абзацно-фразовий переклад), consecutive discourse interpreting (монологічний послідовний переклад), liaison (two-way) interpreting (Formal Plus) (двосторонній переклад під запис), half-synchronous or synchronous interpreting (depending on circumstances) is used.

19.3. General-political Informational (Diplomatic) Discourse/Dialogue Interpreting

Its basic attribute is block-making (replicated/cliché-like/stereotype phrases) of language expression means, and the basic means – steady (within the frame of the given speech genre!) compatibility: the intermediate status of speech figures – between free compatibility and phrasal coherence: population explosion (демографічний вибух), gloomy forecasts (сумні прогнози); it is impossible to overestimate (не можливо переоцінити), credibility gap (криза довіри).

The information text is compiled of these habitual blocks. Such clichés are organized by a principle of metaphor, but their figurativeness has become habitual, and every image of such kind serves for the reader as an original signal, without preventing him from perceiving cognitive information.

There are words with estimating semantics (monstrous crime – жахливий злочин) and syntactic structures, actualizing the estimation, but the direct estimation is often absent, – in such cases the translator should have all necessary alternative correspondences. Share of colloquial lexicon and oral syntactic structures in different languages is different and depends on the person of a translator. “Style is person”, –M. Monten noticed. More академичен Russian and Ukrainian styles are more academic and close to a written literary norm, British style is much more free, especially American one, where it is normal to use colloquial units, slang and phrasal units.

The translator considers them as semantic unity, trying (in ideal) to find instantly in his memory the analogous phrasal unit. If figurativeness “is blacked out” (бити байдики – to idle, to dawdle, to fool (away), to fritter away one’s time, абияк – anyhow, in a slipshod manner, carelessly, просторікувати – to speak in a circumlocutory manner) it is desirable, if it generally possible, to pick up an equivalent also with the “blacked out” form.

Or he tries to resort to descriptive translation. While translating phrasal units the utmost attention is required to resolve the problem of phrasal deformation and contamination.

The simplest variant of deformation is incompleteness of structure. „З ким поведешся...“ („...того й наберешся“). In this case, after the equivalent is found, the translator can reproduce this incompleteness, that is cut the proverb off in the text of translation but in such a way, that semantics of the original is preserved. However it is not always possible, and then it is necessary to resort to descriptive-explicative translation.

Contamination is interweaving two phrasal units, like: „Не плюй в колодязь, вилетить – не спіймаєш“, – requires the attempt of reproducing the device: when equivalents are found, they should be interwoven. The task is to notice the change in time and try to reflect it in translation, though it is extremely difficult and not always justified.

Rendering clichés causes certain difficulties as not all of them are fixed in dictionary. Word-combinations with clichéd compatibility also should be brought into the active storage of oral translator. It is difficult to speak about adequacy of interpretation without it.

Allusion is the use of the latent or obvious citing of well familiar text fragments from known books, movies, popular songs, advertising in a wide verbal context as ready elements. The translator is obliged to aspire to know as much as possible this context: he will decipher a part of the latent citations and will try to reproduce them (or comment on them) in translation.

It is not worth rendering allusion, if the addressee of translation all the same does not know such a wide context, ignorant of this culture, does not understand allusions and connotations. The depth of the plot of the text deciphered by the translator, its allusive implied sense can be rendered, moreover, the translator should not deprive the text being translated of this depth, but direct citation is not enough. The inner comment in translation will help the translator to fill (if necessary) the missing context. The decision is up to translator.

Besides phrasal units, clichés and latent citations, emotional information in the text is rendered by means of gestures, intonation and syntactic means, such, as length and complexity of a sentence. Short phrases allow increasing drastically the dynamics of speech, and the contrast of short simple and long compound sentences allows emphasize the necessary things. As a rule, the estimation enclosed in a short phrase is thus emphasized. Inversion helps to underline the main point in a sentence. Occasionally for strengthening emotiveness parceling (парцеляція), i.e. detachment of a part of sentence and its arrangement as a separate sentence, is also used.

Special role and the information stream the so-called “fashionable words” play. As a rule, these are the words of foreign origin, only entering the language (маргінальний, істеблішмент, офіс, etc.), or the obsolete words which have expanded their range of compatibility (stylistics, furniture stylistics, car stylistics, etc.). “Fashionable words” promote increase of trust to the goods advertised as the new, just invented (this means is actively used in advertising), emphasize urgency of information. However, if such words have no international popularity, then in translation they will not make impression of “fashionable words” in the language of translation.

Irony is latent comicality which is built on comparison of non-comparable things (semantically, stylistically and intonationally), and is quite often based on the use of lexicon of elevated style in a neutral or colloquial context. The translator will try to reproduce the principle of contrast i.e. to find alternative correspondences, contrasting on the same principle.

Conclusions: interpretation dominants in general-political (diplomatic) genre are the means reflecting its communicative task, – to inform new data, giving them a definite evaluation.

Means of rendering:

• Numerical and alphabetic precision information (toponymy, names of firms, establishments and organizations) is rendered by unequivocal equivalents; word or a word-combination being the units of translation;

• Clichés and phrasal units are rendered by alternative correspondences (equivalent or analogue); unit of translation is a word-combination or sentence;

• Latent citations, allusions are rendered by alternative correspondences, transformation, with commenting (inner or external);

• “Fashionable words” are rendered by lexical compensation, search of analogue or equivalent is possible;

• Contrast of short/long sentences, contrast of sentences by on complexity, parceling – translation by means of similar structures, with use of transformations (with contrast preserved);

• Irony is rendered by a principle of preserving contrast; units of translation – a word-combination, sentence, all kinds of correspondence;

• Emotions, as a rule, are rendered in more neutral manner, passionless and “detached” from the original.