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The Role of Translation in a
Globalized World
Translation: The Basics
Chapter 1 - The Concept of Translation
Translation involves transforming an original text, called the source text, into another text in a different language, called the target text. Translation has both positive and negative aspects:
Positive Aspects: - Provides access to new ideas and experiences from different language communities, thus expanding horizons.
Negative Aspects: - Lacks the originality of the source text, as it is a "second-hand" version. - The content of the original text needs to be equivalent in the translated text, a concept known as semantic equivalence. - Pragmatic equivalence, which considers the way language is used in the text (style, formality, etc.), must also be achieved.
The translation process involves two phases: 1. The translator understands and interprets the source text. 2. The translator's interpretation is transformed into the target text.
History of Translation
Translations have been important for the development of writing conventions, national languages, national literatures, and the spread of knowledge and political power. Some of the earliest translations date back to Babylonian religious tablets in Sumeric from the third millennium BC.
In the Greek-Roman Antiquity, when the Romans started translating texts from Greek into Latin, their principle was to use translation to enrich the Latin language. Later, translation became more independent from Greek, as seen in the works of authors like Cicero and Horace.
Cicero claimed that word-for-word translation is not a good practice, and translators should find expressions in the target language that are almost similar to the original text. Horace believed that translators should try to imitate the original author while expressing their own individuality.
In the medieval times, Martin Luther, a translator of the Bible, emphasized the need for translators to be close to the content of the text to produce the desired effect, following the "sense translation" approach.
In the nineteenth century, a German philosopher formulated a difference between "alienating" and "integrating" translation.
Translation and Interpreting
Oral translation is referred to as interpreting, while written translation is the more common meaning of translation. The main differences are:
Interpreting involves changing a text from one language into another in real-time, with the interpreter only having access to the text bit by bit. Translation involves transforming a complete text from one language into another, with the original text always available to the translator.
Human and Computer-Mediated Translation
Translation can be performed by humans or computers. Computer-mediated translation can be fully automatic or semi-automatic. It can be useful, especially for technical texts, by helping with repetitions and time- consuming tasks. The idea of using computers for translation emerged in the 1950s, and the quality of computerized translations is constantly improving, although they are not yet perfect in all language combinations.
Translation as a Cultural Phenomenon
Translation can be considered an act of communication between cultures, where two languages and two cultures come into contact. The translator needs to be aware of the cultural associations and implications of the language used in the original text.
Translation is essential for the global tourism industry, globalized companies, international press, networks, television channels, cinema, blogs, and the internet.
To be competent in translation, a person needs to possess linguistic knowledge of both the source and target languages, as well as be bilingual. However, being bilingual does not automatically make someone a translator. Translator competences include:
Source language receptive competence: the ability to understand the source text. The ability to transfer a message from the source to the target text. Mastery of target language resources. Extra-linguistic competence, professional competence, strategic competence, and cultural competence.
Chapter 3 - Looking at Translation from Different
Perspectives
Roman Jakobson made a distinction between three types of translation:
Intersemiotic translation: translation between different semiotic systems. Intralingual translation: commenting, summarizing, and changing the style of a text.
Culture has been characterized at four analytical levels:
The general human level, where human beings differ from animals in their capacity for reflection. The societal/national level, where culture is the unifying force. The various societal and national subgroups according to geographical region, social class, age, sex, professional activity, and topic.
In the past, culture has often been associated with race and ethnicity, leading to stereotypes, national mentalities, and national characters. Some post-modernistic authors have rejected the concept of "culture" as an unacceptable abstraction, arguing that there are no pure cultures or stable social groups, as they are constantly destabilized by external influences and actions.
Culture can be viewed in terms of different types of representations, where a multitude of individual "mental representations" exist in a group, and some of these are expressed through language. Members of a particular culture are constantly influenced by their society's public representations, and language is the most important means of communication and knowledge.
Chapter 5 - Possible Translation and Impossible
Translation
Language, with its lexicon and grammar, has an influence on its speakers' thinking and behavior. The general idea is that the individual's mother tongue is the primary source of socialization.
Philosophers have argued that languages embody specific mental characteristics of their speakers. Wilhelm von Humboldt, the first influential propagator of this idea, viewed language as a self-contained, creative, symbolic organization.
In the twentieth century, Chomsky adopted the idea that language is an active and dynamic force that refers to the speaker, context, and defines the context for the speaker.
The theory of "linguistic relativity" developed at the end of the twentieth century, which suggests that the structure of a language affects its speakers' worldview and perception, which are relative to their spoken language. Many researchers have supported the theory of linguistic relativity.
Culture, Context, and Translatability
Cultural knowledge has long been recognized as indispensable for translation, as it involves the interaction between two languages and two cultures.
Knowledge of Application in Linguistics
Understanding Linguistic Units in Context
Linguistic units cannot be fully understood in isolation, as they have a particular socio-cultural situation in which they are used. Linguistics and ethnologists are capable of working with language and cultures to understand the contextual meaning of linguistic units. In translation, it is necessary to relate the original text to its cultural context, as the text only has meaning within that context. Translation is a process of re-contextualization, where the original text is placed in a new cultural context.
Limits of Translatability
There are cases where translation is not possible, such as with certain Japanese words that cannot be translated if they are in a different context. Language can adopt functions beyond its normal communicative function, which can limit translatability. Each language is unique in its social and geographical context, which can also limit translatability.
Evaluating Translation Quality
It is difficult to determine the quality of a translation, as it depends on the theory of translation used by the translator. Factors that can be considered in evaluating translation quality include: The relationship between the original text and its translation. The relationship between the features of the original text and the translated text, and how they are perceived by the author, translator, and recipient.
Translation in the Age of Globalization and
Digitalization
Globalization and Language
Globalization has social, political, and economic consequences that influence language. Globalization makes national borders more transparent or even eliminates them, involving processes that have deterritorialized policies, capital, urban spaces, and temporal frames. Globalization means increasing international mobility, which necessitates translation.
