Elizabeth Castro 00319491

Translating is, by nature, a multifaceted term: a multilingual and interdisciplinary field that
establishes relationships with linguistics, culture, philosophy, and even takes into account the
subjectivity of the translator, meaning that the word choice has a lot to do with what the
translator wants to convey to the reader. In order to fully comprehend what translation is and
some of the translator’s duties, firstly the concept of “translation” from “a study of translation”
will be differentiated and its areas will be mentioned, secondly the translator’s individual
characteristics will be referred to, thirdly the approaches and elements that a translator must
take into consideration when translating will be listed, and a conclusion will put all these
elements together.
On the one hand, translation is defined by Newmark (1988: 5) as “rendering the
meaning of a text into another language in the way the author intended the text” and Mounin
adds that “the translation cannot simply reproduce, or be, the original”, giving the text a sense
of artificialness because “by using another language you are pretending to be someone you
are not” (Newmark; 1988: 5). The author states that translation has four levels: a) as a science
it requires knowledge and credibility of the facts; b) as a skill it calls for appropriate and
accurate language use; c) as an art it can display a good, creative, intuitive level of translation
or it can also show the opposite; and d) as a matter of taste it portrays preferences and
individual choices (Newmark; 1988: 6). Newmark (1988: 3) divides translation into three
areas: A) science and technology, B) social, economic and / or political topics and institutions,
and C) literary and philosophical works; he states that the first two generate income and the
last one is generally done as independently. On the other hand, the study of translation is the
discipline that studies the theory and practice of translation; this study also takes into account
points in question such as: “sound and sense, emphasis (word order) and naturalness
(grammar), the figurative and the literal, neatness and comprehensiveness, concision and
accuracy, […] intrinsic and communicative, […] semantic and pragmatic meaning.”
(Newmark; 1988: 5).
The author emphasizes a translator must be “sensitive to language” (Newmark; 1988:
3), which involves “being good at writing” (Newmark; 1988: 3) but also using language
accurately in order to express ideas or concepts. That is because the process of translating
not only improves writing by giving “a sense of order and pertinence” (Newmark; 1988: 4)
using adequate structures (introduction, body and conclusion) for the subject, but it also
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increases the vocabulary, fills the translator with new facts and teaches that language’s
flexibility can be used and molded in the most convenient of ways (as long as the translator
considers it convenient) and in order for this to happen the translator must have the
disposition and the aforementioned sensitivity to the language.
A translator is responsible for changing or preserving 1) the style of the Source
Language (SL) if the topic of the text requires so, 2) selecting the range of vocabulary and
grammar depending on the topic, 3) including items referring to the SL’s culture, 4) choosing
the format in which the text will be presented (textbook, newspaper…), 5) having a certain
expectation of the readers by taking into account their knowledge about the topic, the
language, and the expressions — this being coherent with the translated text —, 6) the lexis
used in the translation, 7) making reference to elements of the Target Language (TL), 8)
selecting the text’s format keeping consistency with the theme, 9) describing or reporting the
“referential truth”, and 10) reflecting personal subjectivities of the translator that may be
social or cultural and reflect national, political, religious, ethnic, social, etc. assumptions or
prejudices (Newmark; 1988: 5).
A translator’s job is to use the translations as “an instrument of education as well as
of truth” (Newmark; 1988: 6): the translated text has to reach readers whose cultural and
educational level is different from that of the original readers, that is why the text is being
translated. For this, it is important to bear in mind that foreign communities have their own
cultures and language structures, therefore different ways of thinking and expressing.
However, all cultures can adapt their language to new concepts (especially in this globalized
and technologic era) with the risk that it may not have the same impact as the original word
or concept (Newman; 1988: 6). The author also supports the fact that “translation has been
instrumental in transmitting culture” (Newmark; 1988: 7) both when there have been unequal
conditions and biased translations and when transmitting peripheral authors.
A translator has to work in collaboration with “revisers terminologists, writers and
clients […] in search of a general agreement” (Newmark; 1988: 6). The text is reviewed by
all these people in order to make sure that it does not fall into the translator’s subjectivities
and to confirm that the text is fulfilling its objective and is understandable. Nevertheless, the
translator has to be aware that the text can only have one style and that the process of
translation is constantly being improved by extending knowledge and by developing means
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of expression (Newmark; 1988: 6). A translator also has to continuously make choices; as
Ladmiral admits: “translation calls on a theory in action” because the translator has to review
“the criteria for the various options before he makes his selection as a procedure in his
translating activity.” (Newmark; 1988: 8).
As a conclusion, it is sustained that translating is a multifaceted and interdisciplinary
term that is full of various elements. In the linguistics domain, the translator has a huge range
from which to choose: the type of lexicon, tense, grammar, cultural references, etc. and these
choices will determine the style of both the translator and the text, that is why the translator
must have the disposition and the sensitivity to the language, because it is infinite, and it
could easily be misunderstood or distorted. The translator has to also take into account the
reader and consider if the style and word choice will make sense, if it is coherent with the
theme of the text and if the reader will be able to understand it. It is clear that translations
take a very important part in the spheres of culture, education and truth because it is through
them that several arguments can be shared. Still, it is necessary that the text doesn’t rely too
much on the author’s predispositions or prejudices because the same translator could
represent an obstacle in the exchange of knowledge through the text.

Bibliography:
Newmark, P. (1988). A Textbook of Translation. Prentice Hall.