Lecture №1 theory of translation: introductory

Assignments:

• Read lecture thoroughly

• Highlight the main key points

• Make the plan of the Lecture

Translation as a term and notion is of polysemantic nature, its common and most general meaning being mostly associated with the process of rendering/ expressing the meaning / content of a source language word, word group, sentence or passage in the target language.

The term interpretation which is synonymous to Translation is used to denote the way or manner of presenting the idea of the work in translation orally ( as well as its aesthetic, religious, political, pragmatic background and other qualitative characteristics of the work under translation). The thing is that Interpretation, unlike Translation, admits some more freedom of the translator in his treatment of the matter of translation.

The importance of Translating and Interpreting in modern society has long been recognized. Practically not a single contact at the international level or even between 2 foreign persons speaking different languages can be established or maintained without the help of the translator/ interpreter. Equally important is Translating for uninterrupted functioning of different international bodies like EEC (European Economic Council), the IMF ( International Monetary Fund) or the United Nations Organization.

In the present days translation of scientific and technical matter has become a most significant and reliable source of obtaining all-round and up-to-date information on the progress in various fields of science and technology.

The social and political role of translation was probably more strongly felt in the 20^th century when it provided the dissemination of political ideas, of social and political knowledge in various fields of science.

Whatever the type of matter is translated ( belles-letters, scientific or didactic, social or political) and irrespective of the form in which it is performed ( written or oral) the linguistic or social or cultural significance of translation remains unchanged. It promotes the enrichment of the lexicon and of the means of expression in the target language. Due to the unceasing everyday political, economic and other contacts between different nations the lexicon of all languages constantly increases. Thousands of words and phrases which were known in national languages before, become an integral part of their lexicon. Translation/interpretation is a very effective means of enriching the national and international lexicon of all languages. But it’s not only the word-stock (or rather the vocabulary) of languages that is constantly enriched. A lot of expressions and regular sentence idioms have come to national languages in this way as well. EXAMPLES OF IDIOM: an old dog will learn no new sticks – на старості важко перевчатися, the game is not worth the candle – гра не варта свічок.

II. The history of Translation

The earliest mention of translation goes back to approximately the year 3000 BC in ancient Egypt where the interpreters were employed to help in carrying on trade in the neighbouring country of Nubia. The dragomans had been employed to accompany the trade caravans and help in negotiating, selling and buying the necessary goods to Egypt. In 2100 BC, Babylon translations are known to be performed into some neighbouring languages including Egyptian. The city of Babylon was a regular center of polyglots where translations were accomplished into several languages. In 1900BC in Babylon there existed the 1 known bilingual and multilingual dictionaries. In 1800BCin Assyria there was already something of a board of translators headed by the chief translator, a certain Giki. The 1 agreement is known to be signed in 2 languages between Egypt and Nubia in 1200BC. Interpreters of the Persian and Indian languages are known to be employed in Europe in the 4 century BC by Alexander the Great (356-323), the emperor of Macedonia, during his military campaign against Persia and India.

The history of European translation is known to have been started as far back as 280 BC with the translation of some excerpts of the Holy Scriptures. The real history of the translation into European languages is supposed to have begun in 250 BC in the Egyptian city of Alexandria which belonged to the great Greek empire. The local leaders of the Jewish community decided to translate the Old Testament from Hebrew, which had once been their native language but was no longer understood, into ancient Greek, which became their spoken language.

Much was translated in ancient times also from Greek into Egyptian and vice versa, and partly from Hebrew into Greek. A significant contribution to Roman literature in general and to the theory of translation in particular was made by the outstanding statesman, orator and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC). He became famous in the history of translation not only for his literary translations but for his principles of the so called “sense-to sense” translation which he theoretically grounded for translations of secular works. These principles appeared to have been in opposition to the principle of strict word-for-word translation Cicero held the view that the main aim of the translator was to convey first of all the sense and the style of the source language work and not the meaning of separate words and their placement in the source language work. Cicero’s principles were first accepted and employed by the outstanding Roman poet Horace

III. The Middle Ages ( 500AD -1450AD) are characterized by a general lack of progress and a constant stagnation in many spheres of mental activities including translation which continued to be practiced in the domains of ecclesiastic science and the church..

Written translations naturally continued to be employed in foreign trade and military affairs. The primary motivation remained the translation of ecclesiastic literature from the holy languages (Hebrew, Greek and Latin). King Alfred the Great (849-901) took an active part in translating and thus helped in spiritual and cultural elevation of his people.

“Word-by-word” and “sense –to sense” approaches in translation were also characteristics of other European countries of the Middle Ages. Among the works translated there were scientific or considered to be scientific (as alchemy), mathematical works, philosophy, dialectics, medicine. “Sense-to sense” approach was predominant and translations were mostly performed from Greek into Hebrew. No less intensively practiced alongside of the free sense-to sense rendering was the strict word-for word translation. Its domain of employment was naturally restricted ecclesiastic and philosophic works. By this method the first ever translation of the Bible from Latin into English was accomplished in 1377-1380 by religious scientist and reformer John Wycliffe.

IV. The Renaissance period which began in the 14 century in Italy was marked by great discoveries for cultural development and inventions, the most significant of which was the invention of the moving printing press by the German J.Gutenberg in 1453. Its consequence was the appearance of cheaper printed books and a quick growth of the number of readers in West European countries. The demand of books for reading in its turn called an increase in translation activity due to which there was soon noticed an ever increasing number of fiction translations. The birth and strengthening of national European states raised the status of national languages and reduced the role of Latin. These real changes resulted in a wider use of faithful as well as free translations which started almost at one and the same time in Germany, France and England. The greatest achievement of the Renaissance period was the translation of the Bible into several West European languages. The first to appear was the German Bible in Martin Luther’s translation (1522-1534). It was performed not strictly word-for-word, but faithfully sense-to sense. What was more extraordinary for those times was that he resorted to an extensive employment of spoken German. That faithful German translation of the Bible was followed in 1534 by the English highly realistic translation of the Holy Book performed by the theologian William Tyndale. His sense-to-sense English translation of the Bible met with stiff opposition and a hostile reception on the part of the country’s high clergy. In 1536 he was tied to the stake, strangled and burnt as a heretic. Hence the faithful translation introduced by Tyndale and supported by his adherents in England and France was officially condemned and prosecuted.

V. Three trends which appeared long before and were employed during the Middle Ages were still in question:

1. The ancient “strict and truthful” word-for-word translation of ecclesiastic and philosophic texts.

2. The unrestricted free translation which had established an especially strong position in France and gained many supporters.

3. The old trend adhering to the Cicero’s principles of regular sense-to-sense translation without the unrestricted reductions or additions to the text.

The supporters of the later approach whose voice began to be heard more and more loudly in the 17-18 centuries in various European countries strongly condemned any deliberate lowering of the artistic level or changing of the structure of the original belles-letters works. The translator should faithfully convey not only the content but also the artistic merits of the source language works.

John Dryden (1630 – 1700) an outstanding English author and literary critic, tried to reconcile two historically opposite trends and to find a middle course between the “very free” and “very close” (word-for-word) approaches. He demanded from translators “faithfulness to the spirit of the original” which became a regular motto in the period of Classicism and Enlightenment.