Session 1

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WELCOME TO

THEORIES OF
TRANSLATION &
INTERPRETATION

Lecturer: Ms Ngoan
OBJECTIVE
Knowledge
Understanding the basic theoretical knowledge about translation, process,
CELO 1 product, translator, and equivalence in translation, common mistakes and
appropriate solutions while translating.
Apply the basic theoretical knowledge about translation mentioned above in
CELO 2 order to analyze cultural and social contexts in different situational
translation.
Skills
Using the skills such as presentation skill, critical thinking skill, sort kills,
CELO 3 using information technology skills, translation software…in leaning the
basic theories of translation.
Apply all the above skills in mastering the basic theories of translation and
CELO 4 bettering the translation
 
MATERIAL
William, J. (2013). Theories of Translation, Palgrave Macmillan
Munday, J.(2016). Introducing Translation Studies. 4th Edition, Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN.
ASSESSMENT
5% Attendance
15% Mini test and group work
20% Midterm test
60% Final test
SESSION 1: INTRODUCTION- OF
THEORISTS AND THEORIES
1.1 DEFINITION
OF TRANSLATION
Translation is a process of the replacement
of a text in one language (SL) by an
equivalent text in another language (TL).
Translation is a craft consisting in the
attempt to replace a written message and/or
statement in one language by the same
message and/or statement in another
language (Newmark 1984:7)
1.2 WHO ARE THE
THEORISTS
• Translator: a translator must have a theory of translation: to translate without
a theory is to translate blind’ 2000a:3
translators ‘must’ have a theory of translation: as all human activity is based
on certain assumptions (or theories), translators have certain assumptions about
the act of translating whether they are aware of them or not. The decisions taken
by a
translator over the course of a translation job – about register, terminology or
layout; generating a range of solutions to a particular translation problem and
then selecting from this range one solution, is in itself an act of theorizing.
Translators become theorists when they comment on their work in paratexts such as translator’s notes
and prefaces or in correspondence with publishers or friends. Nowadays this might also include the
email correspondence between a translator and a postgraduate student who is engaged in research on
texts which the translator has translated.
• Scholars who have actively engaged with Translation Theory
-The first scholar to propose the name ‘Translation Studies’ for our discipline was James Holmes in a
key paper in 1972, entitled ‘The Name and Nature of Translation Studies’ (1972/1988)
-One scholar who has made a major contribution to thinking about Translation Theory over the last 15
years is Andrew Chesterman.
-More recently Anthony Pym’s Exploring Translation Theories (2010) provides an overview of Western
Translation Theory.
-Other Western scholars such as Tymoczko have argued for a reconceptualization of Translation Theory
to incorporate ‘the thinking of non-Western peoples about this central human activity’ (2006: 14).
-The Jamaican scholar R. Anthony Lewis makes a plea for Translation Theory to take hybridity into
account and to become ‘less reliant on notions such as target language and source language,
understood as closed, homogenous systems’ (2007: 32).
Martha Cheung has drawn attention to fundamental differences in the meaning of ‘theory’ in Western
and Chinese traditions.
• The third group of theorists are identified by Christiane Nord as ‘lay receivers’
These are the readers of translations who pronounce judgement on them on the basis of their
‘subjective theory’. Nord explains that ‘[. . .] the receivers of a translation are not normally aware that
their theory is subjective; many of them would not be able to define or describe it.
1.3 WHAT ARE THE GOALS
OF TRANSLATION THEORY?
7 goals
-Description, formulated by Chesterman as follows: ‘to describe what
translators do, what strategies they use and what roles they play, under
given linguistic and socio-cultural conditions’

-Explanation. Neubert takes the view that Translation Theory should


produce ‘principles of explanation for a class of phenomena’ (2000a:
25)

-Prediction: This is based on the idea that a Translation Theory should


enable us to say how translators are likely to act or what translations
will look like under certain circumstances.
-Providing assistance for translators:

-Provide a paradigm for research in TS, i.e. a framework


within which whole programmes of research can proceed

-Establish criteria for the evaluation of translation

-Provide an analytical tool to understand and critique global


trends
1.4 WHAT IS A TRANSLATION
THEORY?
The answer to this question is
complicated by different Gutt contends that all aspects of
understandings of what is translation ‘are explicable in terms of
the interaction of context, stimulus
meant by ‘theory’. As and interpretation through the
translation straddles the ‘hard principle of relevance, a universal
sciences’, in, for example, principle believed to represent a
machine translation, the social psychological characteristic of our
sciences, in, for example, human nature’ (2000: 198). Gutt
views translation as a subset of
community interpreting, and the intercultural communication and
humanities, in, for example, defines it as ‘a case of interlingual
literary translation, approaches reported speech or quotation’ which
to theory emanating from all informs ‘the target audience of what
three domains have found their the original author said or wrote in the
way into the discipline of TS. source text’ (2000: 210).
1.5
Have a good knowledge of the source
language (SL) – English and the
target language (TL) – Vietnamese.

REQUIRED He needs to have non-literary textual


criticism, since he has to assess the

SKILLS OF quality of a text before he decides


how to interpret and then translate it.

A A translator must respect good


writing scrupulously by accounting for
its language, structures and content.

TRANSLAT A translator has to be a good judge of

OR
writing; he must assess not only the
literary quality but the moral
seriousness of a text.
1.6 THE ROLE OF SEMANTIC, SYNTACTIC, AND PRAGMATIC RELATION

1.6.1 Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words,
phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata.

Ex: “She is nice.” (satiric intonation at the end of the sentence) may be not a positive comment but
a negative one “Cô ấy tốt à”
1.6.2 Syntax

Syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural
languages.

Ex: He is considered very rich – Người ta cho rằng anh ấy rất giàu.
1.6.3 .Pramatics

Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to
meaning.
Ex: “Is Mr.Brown there, please” may not be a question but a disguised request “Cho phép tôi gặp
ông Brown được không ạ!

 You should consider the semantic, syntactic and pragmatic relations when translating to get a
good translation.
PRACTICE
Page 156 giao trinh tu bien soan

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