Lecture One

Introduction to Translation

Etymologically translation is a "carrying across" process.The Latin "translation" is derived from

"transferre" where "trans" means "across" and "ferre" means "to carry" or "to bring" something from
one place to another place.Breslin defines translation as the transfer of thought and ideas from one
language(source) to another (target) whether the languages are in written or in oral form..Translation is
the process of transferring a message from one language to another. It then implies that translation
cannot exist without language. Linguistics is the scientific study of language across all disciplines.

Translation is not the transfer of words from one language to another, but rather the transfer of
meaning from one language to another. It represents the transformation of thoughts, feelings, and
desires in another language.

House (2009: 11) defines translation as "not only a linguistic act, it is also a cultural one, an act of
communicating across cultures. Linguistics as the scientific study of language has three categories: The
language form (words to words), the language of meaning (meaning of each word), and language in
context (meaning based on the environment of usage). This is further divided into subfields which
include morphology, phonology, syntax, semantics, etc.

The translation theories can broadly be divided into three, they are linguistic theory (based on the
comparison of literary texts rather than stylistic features), sociolinguistic theory (which focuses on both
the linguistic and non-linguistic aspects of texts, such as the cultural or societal norms), and
communicative and interpretive theories (the analyses the meaning of a text).

According to Catford (1965:20), translation is "the replacement of Lexical material in one language by
equivalent textual material in another language" .Hodges opines that " the linguistic approach to
translation incorporates the following: meaning, equivalence, shift, text purpose and analysis, discourse
register: which can be examined in the contexts of structural and functional linguistics, semantics,
pragmatics correspondence, sociolinguistics, and stylistics.

This shows that in the study of language, many aspects of life come into play, both linguistics and extra-
linguistics. A translator acts as a mediator between language and culture.

The translation is an operation performed on two languages viz: Source Language and Target Language.
The language from which the translation is being done is called Source Language and the language into
which it is done is called Target Language. The term transfer refers to the process involved in the
transmission of the message (received after decoding the SL text) into the other language (TL). It
requires bilingual competence i.e., the ability to understand and articulate the same message in two
languages.

To understand the process of message transference the following facts of language must be kept in
mind:
1) There is no one-to-one relationship between the grammatical and lexical units of two languages (SL
and TL).

2) The grammatical and lexical structure of each language carries with it its peculiar meaning.

The concept of Transliteration

Transliteration refers to the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into
another writing system. It attempts to be exact so that an informed reader should be able to
reconstruct the original spelling of unknown transliterated words. It occurs when the translator
transcribes the SL characters or sounds in the TL. This means that the letters of the SL are converted
into the letters of the TL. Unlike transference, transliteration is not only concerned with words alone, on
the other hand, sentences, at times, full-length passages are thus transcribed. Scholars reject
transliteration as a process of translation because it relies on transcription rather than searching for the
cultural and semantic equivalent word in the TL. In transliteration what is done is to use the
alphabetical letters of TL and use those letters which will when read, be approximately equal to the
phonological structure of the word in the source language. Catford says: ―In transliteration, SL
graphological units are replaced by TL graphological units; but these are not translation equivalents,
since they are not selected based on relationship to the same graphic substance‖ (Catford, 1965).

Further Catford suggests three stages to be adopted while transliterating words or passages from SL to
TL. They are:

1. SL letters are replaced by SL phonological units from written to spoken medium.

2. Then SL phonological units are translated into TL phonological units.

3. The TL phonological units are converted into TL letters or other graphological units (Catford, 1965).

Thus, transliteration to a large extent depends on graphological units. Transliteration is useful for those
bilinguals who can speak both languages fluently but can read and write only one language i.e. SL. In
such a case transliteration enables to read the TL without difficulty. The oxford dictionary says - ‗The
action or process of transliterating is the rendering of the letters or characters of one alphabet in those
of another. Transliteration is different from translation. It can be used as a tool in the process of
translation. Transliteration also means ‗Representation of the sounds, words or utterances of one
language employing the symbols used in the writing system of another language Transliteration is used
in the process of translation when the text has untranslatability.

Transliteration is used to maintain the moral responsibility of the translator to the TL reader. To
maintain this, translator, while translating the creative writing, has to remain faithful in her/his job.
Codes, Symbols and certain technical words cannot be translated but can only be transliterated.

LECTURE NOTE 2
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LINGUISTICS AND TRANSLATION

Each language has its own structure and the structure falls within the domain of Linguistics.A translator
should be conversant with the structure of his working languages.The problems of translation are closely
related to the problem of linguistic analysis and refers to the theory of language learning and that makes
translation a discipline in applied Linguistics.The knowledge attained in Linguistics has many practical
applications including translation which plays a vital role in the transfer of information from one
linguistic code to another.

For example

IGBO; Diochi anaghi ekwucha ihe ohuru na elu nkwu

Literal meaning: All I see on top palm wine

English Interpretation: keep secret, secret

YORUBA: Igi gogoro má gun mí lójú, okere la tin wo

Literary interpretation: tall trees do not pierce my eyes, one stays far from it.

English interpretation: take precautions against danger.

If the words used in the above examples are taken at their face value, they will give different meanings
altogether. This is because words or signifiers have a significant role to play in decoding meaning. If the
translator does not understand the meaning of the words and phrases in the source text, he would not
be able to convey the correct meaning into the target language.

The translator should be aware of the historical and cultural backgrounds of both the source and target
languages. The translation should be seen as both a linguistic and cultural activity. Words as basic
concepts in context have an important role in translation. Certain English concepts do not exist in Igbo,
for example, Snow, winter, Cheese, etc. In Igbo, Tortoise is assigned a male status, while in French it is a
female and a queen at that. In the same vein, while the tortoise is seen as being cunning in Igbo and
Yoruba, it is the Fox that is seen as such in English.

If the translator is not conversant with the structures of both languages, it becomes impossible to
transfer the meaning from one language to another. Jacobson (2009:139) observes that “no one
language can understand ‘cheese’ unless he has an acquaintance with the meaning assigned to this
word in the lexical code in English. Depending on the language you are translating, the same concepts
may translate differently between countries, as words may convey different meanings depending on the
location they are used, and mistranslation may become offensive.

HISTORY OF TRANSLATION
Translation studies as a separate discipline were born sometime in the 1950s, and writing about the act
of translating has a longer history. One of the first thinkers who discussed questions of translation was
Cicero in his work around 46 BCE. The following centuries brought in addition to the translation of the
Bible in the West and Buddhist scripture in the East. In those early years, most of the questions
discussed in linguistically oriented approaches to translation studies were elementary questions of
translation, like we have a source text in one language and we want to translate it to another language.
How can it be best done with our knowledge of the two languages?

This approach was mostly typical for translators who concerned themselves with the Bible, like Eugene
Nida. Other scholars like J.C Catford were interested in the exploration of the potential a language
offered to the translator.

In the 1960s some new ideas appeared, scholars realized that the study of sentences was not enough
and they turned to the whole text. Linguists became interested in the study of discourse analysis (that is
the systematic study of text) which was quite useful for translation studies. A book on discourse analysis
was published in 1981 “Introduction to Text Linguistics” which was written by de Beaugrande and
Dressler. The revolutionary change came in the year 1972. In that year a paper by James S. Holmes was
published in which he proposed the renaming of translation theory and translation science into
translation studies and in his wake several scholars began to look upon translation not in normative
terms(like the Linguistics school)but from a descriptive perspective.

THEORIES OF TRANSLATION

Scholars gave different theories of translation. They are

FORMAL AND DYNAMIC EQUIVALENT THEORY (NIDA’S 1964); the theory attempts a more
systematic analysis of translation which was discarded by the early translators. Nida claims that
formal equivalence is very much oriented towards the source text structure which exerts a
strong influence in determining accuracy and correctness.

Dynamic equivalence on its part is based on what Nida calls the principle of equivalent effect.
The relationship between the receptor and message is of the same value as that which existed
between the original receptors and the language. This approach considers adaptations of
grammar, lexicon, and cultural references extremely important to achieve naturalness. This
theory is a sharp contrast to a strict word-for-word translation

Nida gave four basic requirements for translation, they are;

1. Making Sense: the translated text must be meaningful and must correspond with that of the
source text.

2. Conveying the spirit and manner of the original: The target text must possess the qualities and
form of the source text.
3. Having a natural and easy form of expression: The language of the source text must not be
altered.

4. Producing a similar response: The effect which the source text produces on the audience must
be similar to that of the target text.

2. SEMANTIC AND COMMUNICATIVE THEORY (NEWMARK 1981)

Newmark (1981) notes that communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an
effect as close as possible to that obtained from the readers of the original. Semantic translation
allows the exact contextual meaning of the original. This is similar to Nida’s dynamic equivalence
on the effect it intends to create on the target text reader.

However, the problem with Nida’s principles of equivalence for Newmark is that the effect will
not work or be felt if the text is out of the target language time and space. For example, a
modern translator that translates Homeros works like ODYSSEY. To produce the same effect
would be impossible since the source text was for the audience in ancient Greece, this means
translating for an entirely different audience might not yield the same reaction or effects on the
audience. This is mostly due to cultural and historical differences in both languages.

3. SKOPOS' THEORY

Skopos is a Greek word meaning aim or purpose. This theory was introduced by Hans. J Vermeer
in the 1970s.This theory upholds that translation is determined by the function of the translated
text, which may not be the same as that of the original. This theory has to do with the purpose
of the translation which is the information you wish to pass across to your reading audience.

Munday 2001; 79 posits that it focuses above all on the purpose of the translation. In Skopos'
theory, knowing why a source text is to be translated and what the function of the target text
will be crucial for the translator.

The underlying rules of this theory according to Ress and Vermeer 1984 are

The target text is determined by its skopos ( purpose or aim)

A target text is an offer of information in a target culture and target language concerning an
offer of information in a source culture and source language. This means the information must
align with the culture of the target text or target language.

A target text does not initiate an offer in a clearly reversible way that is a target text should give
the exam information intended in the source text. This explains that if care is not taken, one
might lose track of the information intended because, in skopos, words for words translation are
not so important.

A target text must be internally coherent. This simply means that there must be consistency in
the message of the whole text.

A target text must be coherent with the source text that is the whole message of the target text
must be the same as the source text. This simply means that deviation from the overall message
of the source text is not allowed.

LECTURE 3

TYPES OF TRANSLATION

Various authors have provided various types of translation from different perspectives but the
most encompassing classification is the one given by Jacobson in Venuti 2000;114 and Munday
2001;5. They are:

Interlingua translation: This involves translation within a language. The translator translates for
instance from a dialect to another dialect of the same language or standard language. For
example, the translation of text from the Ekiti dialect to the standard Yoruba or Oye dialect to
the Aisegba dialect (both from the same standard language).

Intralingual translation: In this type of translation, translation is said to have taken place when a
text is translated from one language to another language. This is known as the proper
translation. For example, translation of text from English language to Yoruba, Igbo to Hausa.

Intersemiotic translation: This is all about rendering what is in a text into a nonverbal sign such
as gestures, facial expressions, etc. It occurs for instance when a written text is translated into
music, film, and other paralinguistic activities. This requires creativity on the part of the
translator to pass across the appropriate and exact message from the source text.

Apart from these types above, some translators like Rosinka (2011) give another
classification which:

Legal translation: A translation of texts within the fields of law and other scholarly writings.

Technical translation: This is the translation of texts related to technical subject areas.
Literary translation: This is the translation of works of literature like novels, dramas, poems, and
stories from one language /dialect to another language /dialect. The translation of the genres of
literature falls under the category of literary translation

PROBLEMS OF TRANSLATION

In translating a text, there is every tendency that the meaning to be altered. The very
intention of the author is most times mistranslated. This problem is what Sokolovsky
2010:288 confirms “that one of the axioms in translation theory is the fact that a translator
always misses something, that is the translation lacks some of the original”

The text losses its taste because of the negative disposition of the translator and all these
happen because the translator is faced with numerous problems. These problems are:

1. Cultural Problems: There is always a problem identifying the accurate words to

substitute from the source language to the target language, especially those items
which are not in the target language culture. Semantically, some constructions like
figures of speech and thought that are found in one language may be difficult if not
impossible in the other language. This may be classified as a problem of equivalence.
Foreign text translation is always problematic because of cultural variations. This sets up
a constant conflict between FREEDOM and SERVITUDE. Freedom is the right of the
translator to change things for the good of the target text and the target reader.
Servitude, on the other hand, is the translator’s choice to remain faithful to the source
text which retains most of the initial ideas, arrangement, and vocabulary as the source
language author set them down.

Another problem is the concept of faux Amis (false friend) where words or expressions
have the same written form in two or more languages but have different meanings. If a
word in a target language is similar in form or pronunciation to a word in a source
language, users may believe they have the same meaning, seeing such words or
expressions may confuse a translator who is not wary of the trick. For example:

English-The Okapi is sharp (Okapi in the English language means an animal with giraffe-
like features)

Igbo- Okapi ahu na- agho nko (Okapi in Igbo is a type of knife)

An English translator would gladly take okapi to be the animal with a giraffe-like
feature while the Igbo translator would see it as a popular brand of knife.

2. Grammatical Problem
 This has to do with the syntax and morphology of the language. The major differences between
the two languages are related to different gender, number, derivational systems, honorifics,
tenses, etc. Some languages have a two-way gender system (masculine and feminine), while
others have three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter)

For example, the seasons (winter, summer, spring) in English are neuter but in German, they are
perceived as masculine. Also, the forms of address and honorifics differ from language to
language while English does not distinguish between familiar and polite “you”. Indian languages
have at least two or three distinctions of “you”, and these are all grammatical. A comparative
and contrastive analysis of the grammar of two languages is essential before a translator
ventures to take up the job of translating.

3. Stylistics Problem

Style is part of meaning and effect, every writer has his way of writing. The translator is faced
with the challenge of the writer’s way of writing. Here, the author may flood the source text
with idioms, proverbs, and other figures of speech and thought. He may also have so many
conversations in reported speech; handling such text is usually problematic.

4. Psychological Problem: This problem is usually seen when belief is the issue, the belief of the
translator, and that of the audience. The translator is faced with the problem of being biased
especially when what is to be translated offends his or her belief. There is a tendency to change
the message of the source text to suit his or her belief.

TRANSLATION PROCESS

Teflin 1989: 134 mentions four main stages to be followed by translators to move the source
text into the target text.

1. The analysis of meaning

2. The discovery of meaning

3. The transfer of meaning

4. The re-expression of the meaning of the source into the target. He proposes a model of
translation.

{Source language} ~{ cultural context} ~ {situational context}~ {expressed text Lexicon,

grammar}~{ Analysis of meaning}~{ the discovery of meaning}~{meaning}~{transfer of meaning}~{re-
expression of meaning}~{expressed text, Lexicon, grammar}~{situation context}~{cultural
context}~{Target language}
 LECTURE FOUR

FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN ACHIEVING EQUIVALENCE

Reiss 1983 defines equivalence as achieving the same functionality of the target text compared to the
source text. The following are the factors to consider in achieving equivalence:

1. Degree of Freedom

This has to do with the open choice that is the translator must be aware when certain words can be
paired together while retaining isolated meanings. The important factors to keep in mind are which
words can be together and which must be together, a topic that is expounded on in the discussion on
collocation (words that are paired together). This is unlike the idiom principle which must be translated
as a fixed group and cannot be broken down further without losing its original meaning. Two translation
strategies fall principally under the degree of freedom, these are:

A. Transpositions: this involves changing grammatical categories while preserving the meaning of the
text to attain an idiomatic feel in the source text. Examples in English:

1. Jane painted the house (the normal SVO)

2. It was Jane that painted the house (“Tropicalized”, this means is Jane, not Tope or any other person)

3. The house, Jane painted (“focused” still on Jane)

4. The house was painted by Jane (“passivized”)

B. Modulation: Gerard Hardin 1990 defined modulation as “ a change in point of view that allows us to
express the same phenomenon differently” This goes further than transposition that is changing the
manner of thought of a translation unit, shifting from concrete to abstract, cause to effect, or means to
result. It means using a phrase that is different in the source and target languages to convey the same
idea. For example: 1. ST- she is beautiful

TT- she is not ugly

2. ST- It is not expensive

TT- it is cheap

In considering the degree of freedom, the translator must be literal as possible, and idiomatic as
necessary.

2 . Level of Translation
The smallest unit of translation is the word; translation goes beyond words for words. You must critically
look at the levels of translation which are the word, clause/phrase, sentence, and the thought/the
whole text. A translator that translates words for words tends to be faced with difficulty in languages
that are not closely related. The word-for-word translation should be avoided or cautiously used to
avoid nonsensical translations.

In the clause/phrasal level, a group of words must be translated as a whole unit to preserve the form of
the original, especially between unrelated languages. Idioms and proverbs fall into this category as the
meaning of their component words is embedded in the phrase’s meaning.

The next level is the sentence, it is the highest level at which one ought to translate a text. To
understand the meaning of ambiguous words, a translator must critically look at the whole sentence.
For example the word “dog” can mean a four-legged barking animal or a promiscuous human being; the
meaning will be determined by its usage in the sentence.

The final level is the thought/whole text; though this level is not widely acknowledged for being too
broad and risking a shift toward gist translation, losing the final details of the text in the process. The
translator must also look at the text as a whole not just one level at the expense of another, this would
help to clarify issues of lexical ambiguity.

3. Genre

The translator must consider the field of the text to use the appropriate register from the ST to the TT.
Bakhtin 1986 describes speech genres by stating “All our utterances have definite and relatively stable
forms of construction of the whole”. The complication around determining genre is made more
bothersome by the fact that genre is a deciding factor in how to frame a text before setting about
translating. The knowledge of the genre used in a text plays a key role in determining the author’s
intention. This means a translator must understand the writing styles, norms, and traditions of the field
in which one is translating to, achieve the best possible equivalence. Translators must make themselves
familiar with technical terms in both the source language and the target language.

Ress 1981 states that in the informational text type, the translator should work based on meaning and
sense to maintain the content of the ST. Thus, there is a need for accuracy and clarity of technical text
while translating, bearing in mind that the meaning can be maintained or lost in the process.

For example:

Yoruba: Awon omo Ijo gbadura n i gbogbo orun”the congregants prayed all through the night”

English: the spectators prayed all through the night

From the above example, the translator failed to use the appropriate register while translating from
Yoruba to English, thus, passing a wrong message from the ST to the TT. The target audience might
believe there was a football match throughout the night, and people prayed to win the match.
4. Audience

Every text is written with a reading audience in mind, which the translator must consider when
achieving an equivalent result. The translator must determine whether the ST is intended for all readers
or only a limited audience.

Bakhtin emphasizes that, even in one-way communication, the reader must be considered an active
participant in the communication process who may not respond as intended. An attempt to achieve an
equivalent result in translation must be based on a thorough knowledge of and familiarity with the
culture of both the ST and TT. There are factors one must consider when addressing audience concerns,
they are:

a. Author b. genre c. time/period d. cultural background e. The linguistic relation between the source
language and target language is how closely related or not

5. Lexical consideration

This has to do with the selection of the best possible word to communicate not only the information but
also the pragmatic aspect of the word used by the author in the ST to achieve what the translator
perceives to be the author's intended effect for the reader. There are instances where one word in the
ST has no one-word equivalent in the TT and where explication may cause the loss of some of the word's
meaning or effectual value. Phrasal verbs and idioms also present their problems, as they cannot be
translated word for word but must be translated as a whole unit. This requires the translator to find the
word or phrase to match the idiom or phrasal verb in the ST.

If a word has more than one possible sense, the translator must consider the broader context to
determine which sense is most fitting to the situation. Saeed 2009 gave several categories of lexical
relations that a translator must keep in mind, either when analyzing the ST or choosing a word or phrase
to use in TT

A.Homographs: where one written word has several unrelated meanings e.g. wind-blowing and wind-a
clock, lead- to give direction and lead-element.

B. Polysemy: Where one word has several meanings e.g. 1. Bank- a. financial institution, b. the ground
at the edge of the river or lake.

2. Head-a. The part of the body b. Leader.

C. Synonym: words with similar meaning e.g. wide-broad, conceal-hide, rarely- seldom, freedom-liberty.

D. Antonym: words with opposite meanings e.g. single-married, lost-found, open-close, alive-dead, etc.

All the above categories must be considered when translating from a source language to a target
language.
 Lecture 5

Criteria for determining the accuracy of the translation

1. Effectively communicate the original meaning to the target audience in a manner that is both
readable and comprehensible.

2. Follow all grammatical conventions and adhere to rules for line breaks, punctuation, alignment, and
capitalization.

3. Use proper conventions for addresses, dates, and measurements.

4. Use accurate and consistent terminology if a glossary is utilized, the translator must adhere to all
terminology established in the glossary.

5. Reflect on the style of the source material that you must observe if the source texts are written in past
tense, present tense, active or passive voice.

6. Adhere to currently acceptable usage of the language and use the appropriate register for the Target
audience.

7. Meet all the client's specifications.

8. consider all cultural factors.

THE ROLE OF MEANING/CONTEXT IN TRANSLATION

MEANING

Meaning falls under the aspect of linguistics known as semantics. Its knowledge is a great asset to the
translator. Meaning therefore is language specific and it is conditioned by contextual relevance.
Depending on what language you are translating, the same language may translate differently between
countries, as words may convey different meanings depending on the location of usage. Different words
give different meanings when used in different contexts, this leads to pragmatics which is the study of
the contextual meaning.

Since in translation, meaning is of overriding importance, it follows that the cultural frame of reference
cannot be ignored. The meaning of a word derives from its usage that is the context.

CONTEXT

Context can be defined as the entire environment in which a word or sentence is expressed or stated.No
sentence or word in isolation contains all information the translator needs to translate. The information
the translator needs is embedded in the context. Jiang 2006 says"There is always a context in which
translation takes place, always a history from which a text emerges and into which a text is transposed".
Context is influenced by some factors such as time, space, age, and sex. This is represented below:
Translation- meaning- context- time, space, age, sex.

Nida and Taber (1982:56) classify meaning into two classes, they are referential and connotative
meaning.

1. The referential meaning: is the word as symbol which refers to an object, process, abstract things,
and relation. The referential meaning is often referred to as the lexical meaning, the conceptual
meaning, or the denotative meaning. The conceptual meaning of a word can be expressed using
contrastive semantic features. Such features indicate the attributed present and those absent. If a
feature is present, it is specified as (+), if absent it is ( -). These contrastive features specifying the
attributes of the words provide the necessary criteria for the correct use of words e.g

Man woman

+Human +Human

+Male -Male

+Adult +Adult

The above example is feature specification for the words "man and woman"

2. connotative meaning: This contains elements of the conceptual meaning of a word and the
individual's interpretation of what is communicated. This means that connotative meaning varies with
the experience of people in communication. It may also vary from society to society. A great deal of the
meaning of idioms and figurative expressions derives from connotation. For instance for Hausa in
Nigeria, Cricket is associated with tricks, for the Igbo and Hausa, it is the Tortoise that has that attribute,
in the Western world it is the fox

Translators should be capable of discerning subtleties and nuances in their languages, researching
terminology and colloquialisms, and handling new developments in their languages.

Lecture 6

ROLES OF TRANSLATOR

A translator must be able to accomplish the following:

1. Understand the purpose and meaning of the original document

2. Investigate and assess relevant cultural and technical terminology

3. Decide and weigh the word choice for a new language

4. Recreate document formatting

5. Edit documents for accuracy and clarity.

6. Ability to multitask.

QUALITIES OF A GOOD TRANSLATOR

1. Language fluency:the translator must be fluent in both languages that is the SL and TL

2. A good demonstration of written communication skills. A good translator must have good writing
skills to communicate your message with clarity and ease to your audience.

3. Attention to detail, and a high level of accuracy.The ability to give actual value of meaning in ST to the
TT.

4. Excellent ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines. He or she must not give excuses, but
rather deliver an excellent job at the right time.

5. Basic knowledge of topics at hand. A good translator must have a broad understanding of the topic,
he or she is translating to avoid nonsensical translation.

6. A relevant degree or translation certification such as one from the American translators association.
This helps to be professional in translating and gives opportunities for remote jobs.(online translation
jobs)