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Lecture #2

1. Translator’s Competence. Basic Principles. 2. Internal and External knowledge in/and Translator’s Competence. 3. The Primary Characteristics of a Good Translator 4. Aspects of Translator Reliability 5. Prevailing Assumptions in Translators Training

Translator’s Competence. Basic Principles.

For centuries, “translation theory” was explicably normative: its primary aim was to tell translators how to translate. King Duarte of Portugal (1391-1438,reigned 1433-1438) writes in the Loyal Counselor (1430s) that the translator must 1) understand the meaning of the original and render it entirely without change, 2) use the idiomatic vernacular of the TL, not borrowing from the SL, 3) use TL words that are direct and appropriate, 4) avoid offensive words and 5) conform to rules for all writing, such as clarity, accessibility, interest, and wholesomeness.

Etienne Dolet (1509-46) similarly writes in The Best Way of Translating From One Language into Another (1549) that the translator must (1) understand the original meaning, (2) command both the source and the target language perfectly, (3) avoid literal translations, (4) use idiomatic forms of the TL, and (5) produce the appropriate tone through a careful selection and arrangement of words.

Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee (1747-1813) writes in his Essay on the Principles of Translation (1791) that the translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work, “be of the same character with that of the original”, and “ all the ease of the original composition”.

Such as it has been previously seen, translators work as operators to transfer messages from language into another while preserving the underlying cultural and discourse ideas and values. To this transference of messages and the preservation of ideas and values the translator needs:

1. A good knowledge of both the source and the target languages.- All translators have to know at least two languages, the source and the target ones. As everything else in life, this can be taken up by an individual in two different ways: consciously or unconsciously. Therefore, here we must make a clear difference between acquiring and learning a language.

Language acquisition refers to the fact of becoming a speaker of an X-Language when learned straight from parents, so this is a process which takes place in the very first years of life; language learning begins later and is an utterly conscious process, which requires an effort. The acquired language is always a first language (L1), though the learned one is a second language (L2). In some cases, translators are bilingual individuals, who have got two real L1’s.

Thus, the translator has to know the science of philology, because many problems can be solved only on philological principles. It saves the translator from lots of mistakes if he has a profound knowledge of both languages, those of the original and translation. The knowledge is profound when it covers all aspects of the languages: phonetics, lexicology, grammar and stylistics, which are impossible to do without to overcome grammatical, lexical and stylistic difficulties of the original and their reproduction in rendering.

2. Cultural awareness.

To succeed in rendering the translator should be a highly educated person possessing an extensive and versatile knowledge in history, geography, in the political system of the country the original deals with, as well as in the mode of life, customs, morals and manners and popular beliefs. Cultures and the intercultural competence and awareness that arise out of experience of cultures, are far more complex phenomena than it may seem to the translator, and the more aware the translator can become of these complexities, including power differentials between cultures and genders, the better a translator s/he will be. In this respect the main concern has traditionally been with so called realia, words and phrases that are so heavily and exclusively grounded in one culture that they are almost impossible to translate into the terms – verbal or otherwise - of another.

The translator’s work is not free from shortcomings, his rendering is devoid of the national coloring, spirit and authenticity, if he lacks experience and knowledge.

3. The technique.- Apart from the linguistic and cultural knowledge that any translator must possess, there is an outstanding skill that translators must possess: technique. A translator might happen to be quite competent in two languages but a bad translator. Therefore, the fundamentals of translation must be learned. Each translator has got his own technique, though a few steps should be followed when translating. Let’s try to summarise them in a few points:

   1. Read the whole text once at least so that you can have a general idea of the kind of stuff you have to face.

   2. Although some people would rather start translating at once, in certain cases it could be interesting to have a second reading with underlining and search of unknown vocabulary

   3. Use of the dictionary for the search of lexical information.

   4. After the search, it is a good option to prepare a glossary or to enlarge an existing one (glossaries is a crucial tool of translators to which we will refer later on).

   5. Do properly the translation.

   6. Once you have finished it, reread as many times as necessary. Remember that a translation can’t look like a translation. If necessary, read it again after a few days to check out if there is still some strange item.

Apart from the mentioned points, it is also important to pay attention to the background where translators work. Translators must have all their instruments handy, especially dictionaries.

Translators must face different difficulties along their work. One is the so-called false friends. Another one is idioms, set expressions with high degree of idiomaticity, which can’t be translated literally. Finally, the other set of problems of translators comes through the genre or sort of text.

Texts are also easiest to translate when you think of them not as syntactically structured collections of words and phrases but as channels through which people influence each other’s actions, describe what they see and do, make sense of their worlds;

In many cases, translators are specialised in one field. It is impossible to set up a complete list of likely fields of knowledge with which translators can or must work. There are at least four main branches: