Iconic Linkage
Minimizing variation and ensuring the same information is expressed in the same way can improve the usability of translations.
In certain types of technical texts, particularly those with an instructional function, emphasis is often placed on the usability of the information as a way of measuring the quality of the texts. The same also applies when translating these documents. In the case of texts, usability refers to how easily and effectively readers can assimilate and act upon information that is presented to them in texts. While there are various ways of improving the usability of texts such as using diagrams, structuring chapters in particular ways, including examples and even things like using different fonts and page sizes, translators are restricted to strategies which we can implement during the writing stage of the translation process. This is because many of the strategies for improving usability go beyond the traditional role of the translator and are more commonly associated with the work of technical writers.
However, we can improve the usability of texts by implementing a strategy known as Iconic Linkage (IL) (Byrne 2006). This strategy involves reducing the number of ways in which the same information is presented in a text. It takes the idea of parallelism - using grammatically parallel structures for parts of a sentence which are similar in meaning-and expands it to include matching sentences and phrases throughout an entire text, not just those which are in close proximity. So, as the following examples show, if the same information is presented three times in the source text, but each time using a slightly different wording, instead of replicating the slight differences for each of our translations, we pick one single translation and use it for all three of the ST sentences.
Always exit the application before disconnecting the storage device from your PC.
The user must never remove the unit from the system without first closing the associated program running on the PC.
To safely remove the drive, you must first close Easy USB.
Research has shown that this strategy can significantly improve the effectiveness of texts (Byrne 2005). It does this by minimizing the amount of cognitive effort and problem solving needed in order to understand a text. Additionally, by using consistent wordings repeatedly, IL improves predictability and aids learning by taking advantage of the human tendency to form habits (Byrne 2006:172-174). In any case, it is nearly always a good idea to translate the same information in the same way because it improves clarity, aids learning and comprehension, and looks more consistent and professional. It also has a knock-on effect if the text being translated is going to be used as a pivot or relay translation because the TT becomes the ST for another translation activity. In such cases, Iconic Linkage makes the use of translation memories more effective thanks to the increased repetition the text contains.
Syntactic devices:
Partitioning is either replacing in translation of a source sentence by two or more target ones or converting a simple source sentence into a compound or complex target one.
One is to distinguish between inner partitioning (conversion of a simple sentence into a compound or complex one) and outer partitioning (division of a sentence into two or more). For example, inner partitioning is used when translating English verbal complexes into Russian:
Come along and see me play one evening. - Приходи как-нибудь вечером — посмотришь, как я играю.
More often than not inner partitioning is a regular translation transformation accounted for by the differences in the Russian and English syntactic structures, although it may be also used on individual occasions as required by the text genre and style and communication variety of the source sentence.
When translating from English into Russian outer partitioning (unlike inner) is more a matter of personal translator's choice based, of course, on the proper account of stylistic and genre peculiarities and communication intent of both the source text and its translation.
Outer partitioning is out of the question in case of translating official legal or diplomatic documents (laws, contracts, memos, etc.) but it becomes a totally justified translation option, say, in consecutive translation of a long and complex sentence.
The following example from Graham Greene is one of the cases where outer partitioning seems a proper translation device (although, of course, not a universal recipe):
There was a real game too, not a party game played in the old school hall and invented by my eldest brother Herbert, who was always of an adventurous character until he was changed by the continual and sometimes shameful failures of his adult life.
Была у нас и настоящая, не салонная игра - мы играли в нее в старом актовом зале. Придумал ее наш старший брат Герберт -человек изобретательный и склонный ко всяким авантюрам, пока постоянные и иногда позорные промахи во взрослой жизни не изменили его натуру.