CONTEXT RETENTION

translation and editing of text:
Context retention

1.1 Vinay and Darbelnet and their definition of
equivalence in translation
 viewed equivalence-oriented translation as a
procedure which 'replicates the same situation as in
the original, whilst using completely different wording'
 They also suggest that, if this procedure is applied
during the translation process, it can maintain the
stylistic impact of the SL text in the TL text.
 Equivalence is therefore the ideal method when the
translator has to deal with proverbs, idioms, clichés,
nominal or adjectival phrases and the onomatopoeia
of animal sounds.

 With regard to equivalent expressions between
language pairs, Vinay and Darbelnet claim that they are
acceptable as long as they are listed in a bilingual
dictionary as 'full equivalents'.
 They conclude by saying that 'the need for creating
equivalences arises from the situation, and it is in the
situation of the SL text that translators have to look for a
solution'.
 Indeed, they argue that even if the semantic equivalent
of an expression in the SL text is quoted in a dictionary
or a glossary, it is not enough, and it does not guarantee
a successful translation.

1.2 Jakobson and the concept of equivalence in difference:
introduced the notion of 'equivalence in difference'.
Roman Jakobson's study of equivalence gave newimpetus
to the theoretical analysis of translation sincehe introduced
the notion of 'equivalence in difference'. On the basis of his
semiotic approach to language and his aphorism 'there is no
signatum without signum', he suggests three kinds of
translation:
 Intralingual (within one language, i.e. rewording
or paraphrase)
 Interlingual (between two languages)
 Intersemiotic (between sign systems)

 Jakobson claims that, in the case of interlingual
translation, the translator makes use of synonyms in
order to get the ST message across. This means that in
interlingual translations there is no full equivalence
between code units.
 According to his theory, 'translation involves two
equivalent messages in two different codes'
Jakobson goes on to say that from a grammatical point
of view languages may differ from one another to a
greater or lesser degree, but this does not mean that a
translation cannot be possible, in other words, that the
translator may face the problem of not finding a
translation equivalent.

 He acknowledges that 'whenever there is deficiency,
terminology may be qualified and amplified by loanwords
or loan-translations, neologisms or semantic shifts, and
finally, by circumlocutions. Jakobson provides a number
of examples by comparing English and Russian language
structures and explains that in such cases where there is
no a literal equivalent for a particular ST word or sentence,
then it is up to the translator to choose the most suitable
way to render it in the TT.
 The role of the translator as the person who decides
how to carry out the translation is emphasized in both
theories. Both Vinay and Darbelnet as well as Jakobson
conceive the translation task as something which can
always be carried out from one language to another,
regardless of the cultural or grammatical differences
between ST and TT.

1.3 Nida and Taber: Formal correspondence and dynamic
equivalence
 Nida argued that there are two different types of
equivalence, namely:
1. formal equivalence—which in the second edition by
Nida and Taber (1982) is referred to as formal
correspondence 'focuses attention on the message
itself, in both form and content
2. dynamic equivalence. --- is based upon 'the principle of
equivalent effect' .

 Formal correspondence consists of a TL item which
represents the closest equivalent of a SL word or phrase.
Nida and Taber make it clear that there are not always
formal equivalents between language pairs.
They therefore suggest that these formal equivalents
should be used wherever possible if the translation aims
at achieving formal rather than dynamic equivalence. The
use of formal equivalents might at times have serious
implications in the TT since the translation will not be
easily understood by the target audience.

 Dynamic equivalence is defined as a translation
principle according to which a translator seeks to
translate the meaning of the original in such a way that
the TL wording will trigger the same impact on the TC
audience as the original wording did upon the ST
audience.
They argue that 'Frequently, the form of the original text
is changed; but as long as the change follows the rules of
back transformation in the source language, of contextual
consistency in the transfer, and of transformation in the
receptor language, the message is preserved and the
translation is faithful

1.4 Catford and the introduction of translation shifts
 Catford's approach to translation equivalence clearly
differs from that adopted by Nida since Catford had a
preference for a more linguistic-based approach to
translation and this approach is based on the linguistic
work of Firth and Halliday.
 His main contribution in the field of translation theory is
the introduction of the concepts of types and shifts of
translation.

Catford proposed very broad types of translation in terms
of three criteria:
1. The extent of translation (full translation vs partial
translation);
2. The grammatical rank at which the translation
equivalence is established (rank-bound
translation vs. unbounded translation);
3. The levels of language involved in translation (total
translation vs. restricted translation).

rank-bound translation - an equivalent is sought in the TL
for each word, or for each morpheme encountered in the
ST.
unbounded translation - equivalences are not tied to a
particular rank, and we may additionally find
equivalences at sentence, clause and other levels. Catford
finds five of these ranks or levels in both English and
French, while in the Caucasian language Kabardian there
are apparently only four.
 Thus, a formal correspondence could be said to exist
between English and French if relations between ranks
have approximately the same configuration in both
languages, as Catford claims they do.

Catford argues that there are two main types of
translation shifts, namely :
1. level shifts, where the SL item at one linguistic level
(e.g. grammar) has a TL equivalent at a different
level (e.g. lexis), and
2. category shifts which are divided into four types:
a. Structure-shifts, which involve a grammatical change
between the structure of the ST and that of the TT;
b. Class-shifts, when a SL item is translated with a TL item
which belongs to a different grammatical class, i.e. a verb may
be translated with a noun;
c. Unit-shifts, which involve changes in rank;
d. Intra-system shifts, which occur when 'SL and TL possess
systems which approximately correspond formally as to their
constitution, but when translation involves selection of a non-
corresponding term in the TL system, For instance, when the SL
singular becomes a TL plural.

1.5 House and the elaboration of overt and covert
translation
 House (1977) is in favour of semantic and pragmatic
equivalence and argues that ST and TT should match one
another in function. House suggests that it is possible to
characterize the function of a text by determining
the situational dimensions of the ST.
 In fact, according to her theory, every text is in itself is
placed within a particular situation which has to be
correctly identified and taken into account by the
translator. After the ST analysis, House is in a position to
evaluate a translation; if the ST and the TT differ
substantially on situational features, then they are not
functionally equivalent, and the translation is not of a high
quality.

 Central to House's discussion is the concept
of overt and covert translations.
1. In an overt translation the TT audience is not
directly addressed and there is therefore no need at
all to attempt to recreate a 'second original' since
an overt translation 'must overtly be a translation'
1. By covert translation, on the other hand, is meant
the production of a text which is functionally
equivalent to the ST. House also argues that in this
type of translation the ST 'is not specifically
addressed to a TC audience

1.6 Baker's approach to translation equivalence
She distinguishes between:
1. Equivalence that can appear at word level and
above word level, when translating from one
language into another. Baker acknowledges that,
in a bottom-up approach to translation,
equivalence at word level is the first element to
be taken into consideration by the translator.
2. Grammatical equivalence, when referring to the
diversity of grammatical categories across
languages. She notes that grammatical rules may
vary across languages and this may pose some
problems in terms of finding a direct
correspondence in the TL.

3. Textual equivalence, when referring to the equivalence
between a SL text and a TL text in terms of information
and cohesion. Texture is a very important feature in
translation since it provides useful guidelines for the
comprehension and analysis of the ST which can help the
translator in his or her attempt to produce a cohesive and
coherent text for the TC audience in a specific context
4. Pragmatic equivalence, when referring to implicatures
and strategies of avoidance during the translation process.
Implicature is not about what is explicitly said but what is
implied. Therefore, the translator needs to work out
implied meanings in translation in order to get the ST
message across.

A "back-translation" is a translation of a translated text
back into the language of the original text, made without
reference to the original text.
 Comparison of a back-translation with the original text
is sometimes used as a check on the accuracy of the
original translation, much as the accuracy of a
mathematical operation is sometimes checked by
reversing the operation. But the results of such reverse-
translation operations, while useful as approximate
checks, are not always precisely reliable.

 Back-translation must in general be less accurate than
back-calculation because linguistic symbols (words) are
often ambiguous, whereas mathematical symbols are
intentionally unequivocal.
 In the context of machine translation, a back-
translation is also called a "round-trip translation."
 When translations are produced of material used in
medical clinical trials, such as informed-consent forms, a
back-translation is often required by the ethics committee
or institutional review board.

 When a historic document survives only in translation,
the original having been lost, researchers sometimes
undertake back-translation in an effort to reconstruct
the original text.
 when historians suspect that a document is actually a
translation from another language, back-translation
into that hypothetical original language can provide
supporting evidence by showing that such
characteristics as idioms, puns, peculiar grammatical
structures, etc., are in fact derived from the original
language

III. Fidelity Vs.
Transparency

FIDELITY TRANSPARENCY
Faithfulness is the extent to
which a translation accurately
renders the meaning of the
source text, without distortion
Transparency is the extent to
which a translation appears to a
native speaker of the target
language to have originally
been written in that language,
and conforms to its grammar,
syntax and idiom
Fidelity (or faithfulness) and transparency, dual ideals
in translation, are often at odds. A 17th-century French
critic coined the phrase "les belles infidèles" to suggest
that translations, like women, can be either faithful or
beautiful, but not both.

 A translation that meets the first criterion is said
to be "faithful"; a translation that meets the second,
"idiomatic". The two qualities are not necessarily
mutually exclusive. The criteria for judging the
fidelity of a translation vary according to the
subject, type and use of the text, its literary
qualities, its social or historical context, etc.
 The criteria for judging the transparency of a
translation appear more straightforward: an
unidiomatic translation "sounds wrong"; and, in the
extreme case of word-for-word translations
generated by many machine-translation systems,
often results in patent nonsense.

The question of fidelity vs. transparency has also been
formulated in terms of, respectively, "formal equivalence"
and "dynamic [or functional] equivalence". The latter
expressions are associated with the translator Eugene
Nida and were originally coined to describe ways of
translating the Bible, but the two approaches are
applicable to any translation.

Formal equivalence Dynamic equivalence
 corresponds to
"metaphrase
 "literal" translation”
) attempts to render the
text literally, or "word for
word" (the latter
expression being itself a
word-for-word rendering
of the classical Latin
verbum pro verbo) — if
necessary, at the expense
of features natural to the
target language
 corresponds to
"paraphrase"
"functional equivalence"
 conveys the essential
thoughts expressed in a
source text — if necessary,
at the expense of literality,
original sememe and word
order, the source text's
active vs. passive voice, etc.

 By definition, it is the language, esp. the vocabulary,
peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group:
medical jargon.
 It is also unintelligible or meaningless talk or writing;
gibberish. Some may say, it is specialized language
concerned with a particular subject, culture, or profession
or the terminology or idiom of a particular activity or
group.
Jargon is the collective name for words that only make
sense to certain people. Jargon is ‘the technical
vocabulary of a profession or group’. The word is used as
a form of criticism when such terms are used
unnecessarily for communication outside a group.

 Jargon can be a useful form of communication between
members of the same group. It acts as a ‘shorthand’ which
eliminates the need for lengthy explanations. The most
important thing about jargon is that it should only be used
when communicating with people in the same group.
Some items of jargon eventually pass into common use
because they seem to fill a need.
Academic study has its own jargon too, depending upon
the subject in question. Terms such as hegemony (political
philosophy) discourse analysis (linguistics) and objective
correlative (literary studies) would not be recognizable by
an everyday reader, though they might be understood by
someone studying the same subject.
 Whatever the jargon of your own discipline, it should be
used with precision, accuracy, and above all restraint.

CONTEXT RETENTION

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CONTEXT RETENTION