Shanghai foreign language education press

CONTENTS
The cohesive level 
2 3
The level of naturalness 
24
Combining the four levels 
29
The unit of translating 
30
The translation of texts 
32
The translation of proper names 
35
Revision 
36
Conclusion 
37
Language Functions, Text-categories and Text-types 
39
The expressive function 
39
The informative function 
40
The vocative function 
41
The aesthetic function 
42
The pharic function 
43
The metalingual function 
43
Translation Methods 
45
Introduction 
45
The methods 
45
Comments on the methods 
47
Equivalent effect . 
48
Methods and Lext-categories 
50
Translating 
51
Other methods 
52
The Unit of Translation and Discourse Analysis 
54
Introduction 
54
Coherence 
55
Titles 
56
Dialogue cohesion 
57
Punctuation 
58
Sound-effects 
58
Cohesion 
59
Referential synonyms 
59
Enumerators 
60
Other connectives 
60
Functional sentence perspective 
60
Contrasts 
63
The lower units of translation 
65
Conclusion 
66

CONTENTS
vii
7 Literal Translation 
68
Introduction 
68
Varieties of close translation 
69
The translation of poetry 
70
Faithful and false friends 
72
Words in their context 
73
Elegant variations 
73
Back-translation of text (BTT) 
74
Accepted translation 
74
Constraints on literal translation 
75
Natural translation 
75
Re-creative translation 
76
Literary translation 
77
The sub-text 
77
The notion of the
K
no-equivalent
1
word - 
78
The role of context 
80
8 The Other Translation Procedures 
81
Transference 
81
Naturalisation 
82
Cultural equivalent 
82
Functional equivalent 
83
Descriptive equivalent 
83
Synonymy 
84
Through-translation 
84
Shifts or transpositions 
85
Modulation 
88
Recognised translation 
89
Translation label 
90
Compensation 
90
Componential analysis 
90
Reduction and expansion 
90
Paraphrase 
90
Other procedures 
90
Couplets 
91
Notes, additions, glosses 
91
9 Translation and Culture 
94
Definitions 
95
Cultural categories 
%
General considerations 
96
Ecology 
97
Material culture 
97

Vltl 
CONTENTS
Social culture 
98
Social organisation - political and administrative 
99
Gestures and habits 
102
Summary of procedures 
103
10 
The Translation of Metaphors 
104
Definitions 
106
Translating metaphors 
106
Types of metaphor 
106
11 
The Use of Componeniial Analysis in Translation 
U4
Introduction 
114
Lexical words 
317
Cultural words 
119
Synonyms 
120
Sets and series 
121
Conceptual terms 
121
Neologisms 
122
Words as myths 
123
Conclusion 
123
12 
The Application of Case Grammar to Translation 
125
Introduction 
125
The translation of missing verbs, i.e. verbalforce 
126
The translation of case-gaps 
129
Various types of case-partner 
132
Contrast and choice in translation 
134
Some related issues 
135
Case partners of adjectives and nouns 
136
A remark on Tesniere 
138
Conclusion 
138
13 
The Translation of Neologisms 
140
Introduction 
140
Old words with new senses 
141
New coinages 
142
Derived words 
143
Abbreviations 
145
Collocations 
145
Eponyms 
146
Phrasai words 
147

CONTENTS
}X
Transferred words 
147
Acronyms 
148
Pseudo-neologisms 
148
The creation of neologisms 
149
A frame of reference for the translation of neologisms 
150
14 
Technical Translation 
151
Introduction 
151
Technical style 
151
Terms 
152
Varieties of technical style 
152
Technical and descriptive terms 
153
Beginning technical translation 
154
Translation method 
L55
The title 
156*
Going through the text 
158
Conclusion 
IfrO
Appendix; sampletest 
161
15 
The Translation of Serious Literature and Authoritative Statements 
162
Introduction 
162
Poetry 
162
The short story/novel 
170
Drama 
172
Conclusion 
173
16 Reference Boohs and their Uses; Tracing the'Unfindable' Word 
174
Introduction 
174
Resources 
175
[
Unfindable
s
words 
176
17 Translation Criticism 
184
Introduction 
184
Planofcriticism 
186
Text analysts 
186
The translator's purpose 
186
Comparing the translation with the original 
!87
The evaluation of the translation 
188
The translation's future 
189
Marking a translation 
189
Quality in translation 
192

X
CONTENTS
18 
Shorter Items 
193
Words and context 
193
The translation of dialect 
194
You and the computer 
195
Function and description 
198
The translation of eponyms and acronyms 
198
Familiar alternative terms 
201
When and how to improve a text 
204
Collocations 
212
The translation of proper names 
214
The translation of puns ■ 
217
The translation of weights, measures, quantities and currencies 
217
Ambiguity 
218
19 
Revision Hints for Exams and Deadlines 
221 
20 
By Way of a Conclusion 
225 
Part II Methods
Introductory note 
229
Test 1 
Tower needs clear eyes
1
, The Economist 
231
Text 2 
'Vppcr gastroint^imal endoscopy
1
, British Medical Journal 
234
Text 3 
Brideshead Revisited (Waugh) 
238
Text 4 
4
Une certaine idee de la France' (De Gaulle) 
242
Text 5 
4
Le Parti Socialiste' (Source unknown) 
245
Text 6 
Ala Recherche du Temps Perdu (Proust) 
248
Text 7 
'Presentation d'un cas de toxoplasmose', Bordeaux Medical 
250
Text 8 
'Dialysebehandlung bei akutem Nierenversagen', Deutsche
Medizinische Wochenschrifi 
254
Text 9 
Alexander von Humboldt (Hein) 
259
Text 10 VAdoraticm (BoreL) 
264
Text 11 Die Blasse Anna (Boll) 
267
Text 12 La SocUti Francaise (Dupeux) 
272
Text 13 'ZumWohlealler\SC,4Z^ 
277
Glossary 
282
Abbreviations 
286
Medical terminology 
288
BihHograpky 
289
Name index 
291
Subject index 
292

PART
I
Principles
Figures appear in Part I as follows:
1 The dynamics of translation 
■* 
2 A functional theory of language 
20 
3 Language functions, text-categories and text-types 
40 
4 The Translation of metaphor 
105 
5 Scalar diagrams 
116 
6 Equation diagram 
116 
7 Matrix diagram 
117 
8 Parallel tree diagram 
117 

CHAPTER 1
Introduction
My purpose in this book is to offer a course in translation principles and methodology 
for final-year-degree and post-graduate classes as well as for autodidacts and home 
learners. Further, I have in mind that I am addressing non-English as well as English 
students, and I will provide some appropriate English texts and examples to work on.
1 shall assume that you, the reader, are learning to translate into your language 
of habitual use, since that is the only way you can translate naturally, accurately and 
with maximum effectiveness. In fact, however, most translators do translate out of theii 
own language ('service' translation) and contribute greatly to many people's hilarity in 
the process.
Further, I shall assume that you have a degree-level 'reading and comprehension' 
ability in one foreign language and a particular interest in one of the three main areas 
of translation: (a) science and technology, (b) social, economic and/or political topics 
and institutions, and (c) literary and philosophical works. Normally, only (a) and (b) 
provide a salary; (c) is free-lance work.
Bear in mind, however, that knowing a foreign language and your subject is not 
as important as being sensitive to language and being competent to write your own 
language dexterously, clearly, economically and resourcefully. Experience with 
translationese, for example,
Strauss' Opus 29 stands under the star of Bierbaum who in his lyric poems attempted 
to lie in the echoes of the German love poetry with ihe folk song and with the 
impressionistic changes,
Opus 29 &tekt im Zekhen Bkrboums, der als Lyriker versuchte
t
 Nachklange des Mintwsangs 
mil dem Volkslied und mit impressicmistischen XPendungen zu verknupfen.
(Record sleeve note)
shows that a good writer can often avoid not only errors of usage but mistakes of fact 
and language simply by applying his common sense and showing sensitivity to 
language.
Being good at writing has little to do with being good at 'essays', or at 'English
1
as you may have learned it at school. It means being able to use the
3

4
PRINCIPLES
appropriate words in the appropriate order for the obiect or process you are attempting to 
describe; continuously trying to improve your writing (a translation is never finished); and 
increasing your own English vocabulary co-extensively with your knowledge of new facts 
and new foreign-language words. And it means making flexible use of the abundant 
grammatical resources of your language, which are enriched by contemporary speech. It is 
something which, like translation, you can learn: you are not born a good writer; you do not 
have to be one now; you have to be determined to become one, to relate new experience to 
fresh language.
Finallyj it means having a sense of order and pertinence - learning to construct a 
specific {gezieh, purposeful) beginning, body and conclusion for your subject: a beginning 
that defines and sets the subject out; a 'body
1
that gives and illustrates the pros and cons of 
the argument; a conclusion that states your own verdict — and all without irrelevance.
A translator has to have a flair and a feel for his own language. There is nothing 
mystical about this 'sixth sense', but it is compounded of intelligence, sensitivity and intuition, 
as well as of knowledge. This sixth sense, which often comes into play (joue) during a final 
revision, tells you when to translate literally, and also, instinctively, perhaps once in a 
hundred or three hundred words, when to break all the 'rules' of translation, when to translate 
malheur by 'catastrophe* in a seventeenth-centurv text,
I cannot make you into a good translator; I cannot cause you to write well. The best I 
can do is to suggest to you some general guidelines for translating. I shall propose a way of 
analysing the source language text; I shall discuss the two basic translation methods; and I 
shall set out the various procedures for handling texts, sentences and other units. I shall at 
times discuss the relation between meaning, language, culture and translation. By offering 
plenty of examples I hope to provide enough practice for you to improve your performance 
as a translator.
9 The trmhvthe facts of the matter)
SL writer
2 SL norms
3 SL culture
4 SL setting and 
tradition
TEXT
10 
Translator
5 TL relationship
6 TL norms
7 TL culture
8 TL setting and tradition
Figure I. The dynamics of translation

INTRODUCTION
5
What is translation? Often, though not by any means always, it is rendering the 
meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text. 
Common sense tells us that this ought to be simple, as one ought to be able to say 
something as well in one language as in another. On the other hand, you may see it as 
complicated, artificial and fraudulent, since by using another language you are 
pretending to be someone you are not. Hence in many types of text (legal, 
administrative, dialect, local, cultural) the temptation is to transfer as many SL (Source 
Language) words to the TL (Target Language) as possible. The pity is, as Mounin 
wrote, that the translation cannot simply reproduce, or be, the original. And since this 
is so, the first business of the translator is to translate.
A texi may therefore be pulled in ten different directions, as follows:
(1) The individual style or idiolect of the SL author. When should it be (a) preserved, 
(b) normalised? 
(2) The conventional grammatical and lexical usage for this type of text, depending 
on the topic and the situation. 
(3) Content items referring specifically to the SL, or third language (i.e, not SL or 
TL) cultures. 
(4) The typical format of a text in a book, periodical, newspaper, etc., as influenced 
by tradition at the time. 
(5) The expectations of the putative readership, bearing in mind their estimated 
knowledge of the topic and the style of language they use, expressed in terms of 
the largest common factor, since one should not translate down (or up) to the 
readership, 
(6), (7), (8) As for 2,3 and 4 respectively, but related to the TL,
(9) What is being described or reported, ascertained or verified (the referential
truth), where possible independently of the SL text and the expectations of
the readership. (10) The views and prejudices of the translator, which may be 
personal and
subjective, or may be social and cultural, involving the translator's 'group
loyalty factor*, which may reflect the national, political, ethnic, religious,
social class, sex, etc. assumptions of the translator.
Needless to say, there are many other tensions in translations, for example 
between sound and sense, emphasis (word order) and naturalness (grammar), the 
figurative and the literal, neatness and comprehensiveness, concision and accuracy.
Figure 1 shows how many opposing forces pull the translation activity 
{Vactivitti traduisante) in opposite directions. The diagram is not complete. There is 
often a tension between intrinsic and communicative, or, if you like, between semantic 
and pragmatic meaning. When do you translate Ilfaitfroid as 'It's cold
1 
and when as 
'I'm cold', Tm freezing
1
, Tm so cold', etc,, when that is what it means in the context? 
All of which suggests that translation is impossible. Which is not so.
Why a book of this sort? Because I think there is a body of knowledge about 
translation which, if applied to solving translation problems, can contribute to a 
translator's training. Translation as a profession practised in international organi-

6
PRINCIPLES
sations, government departments, public companies and translation agencies (now 
often called translation companies) began only about thirty years ago; even now, the 
idea that ail languages (there are 4000) are of equal value and importance, and that 
everyone has a right to speak and write his own language, whether it is a national or a 
minority language (most countries are at least *bilinguaP) is not generally recognised. 
Translation as a profession has to be seen as a collaborative process between 
translators, revisers, terminologists, often writers and clients (literary works have to be 
checked by a second native TL reviser and desirably a native SL speaker), where one 
works towards a general agreement. Nevertheless, finally, only one person can be 
responsible for one piece or section of translation; it must have the stamp of one style. 
The principle with which this book starts is that everything without exception is 
translatable; the translator cannot afford the luxury of saying that something cannot be 
translated,
Danila Seleskovitch, a brilliant interpreter and writer, has said: 'Everything said 
in one language can be expressed in another - on condition that the two languages 
belong to cultures that have reached a comparable degree of development/ The 
condition she makes is false and misleading. Translation is an instrument of education 
as well as of truth precisely because it has to reach readers whose cultural and 
educational level is different from, and often 'lower' or earlier, than, that of the readers 
of the original - one has in mind computer technology for Xhosas. 'Foreign
1
communities have their own language structures and their own cultures, 'foreign' 
individuals have their own way of thinking and therefore of expressing themselves, but 
all these can be explained, and as a last resort the explanation is the translation. No 
language, no culture is so 'primitive' that it cannot embrace the terms and the concepts 
of, say, computer technology or plainsong, But such a translation is a longer process if 
it is in a language whose culture does not include computer technology. If it is to cover 
ail the points in the source language text, it requires greater space in the target 
language text. There-fore, whilst translation is always possible, it may for various 
reasons not have the same impact as the original.
Translation has its own excitement, its own interest. A satisfactory translation is 
always possible, but a good translator is never satisfied with it. It can usually be 
improved. There is no such thing as a perfect, ideal or ^correct' translation, A 
translator is always trying to extend his knowledge and improve his means of 
expression; he is always pursuing facts and words. He works on four levels: translation 
is first a science, which entails the knowledge and verification of the facts and the 
larguage that describes them- here, what is wrong, mistakes of truth, can be identified; 
secondly, it is a skill, which calls for appropriate language and acceptable usage; 
thirdly, an art, which distinguishes good from undistinguished writing and is the 
creative, the intuitive, sometimes the inspired, level of the translation; lastly, a matter 
of taste, where argument ceases, preferences are expressed, and the variety of 
meritorious translations is the reflection of individual differences.
Whilst accepting that a few good translators (like a few good actors) are

INTRODUCTION
7
'naturals', I suggest that the practical demands on translators are so wide, and the 
subject still so wrapped up in pointless arguments about its feasibility, that it would 
benefit students of translation and would-be translators to follow a course based on a 
wide variety of texts and examples. This book claims to be useful, not essential. It 
attempts to set up a framework of reference for an activity that serves as a means of 
communication, a transmitter of culture, a technique (one of many, to be used with 
discretion) of language learning, and a source of personal pleasure.
As a means of communication, translation is used for multilingual notices, which 
have at last appeared increasingly conspicuously in public places; for instructions 
issued by exporting companies; for tourist publicity, where it is too often produced 
from the native into the 'foreign' language by natives as a matter of national pride; for 
official documents, such as treaties and contracts; for reports, papers, articles, 
correspondence
?
textbooks to convey information, advice and recommendations for 
every branch of knowledge. Its volume has increased with the rise of the mass media, 
the increase in the number of independent countries, and the growing recognition of 
the importance of linguistic minorities in all the countries of the world. Its importance 
is highlighted by the mistranslation of the Japanese telegram sent to Washington just 
before the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, when mokasuiu was allegedly translated 
as 'ignored' instead of 'considered', and by the ambiguity in UN Resolution 242, where 
'the withdrawal from occupied territories' was translated as le retrait des tmitoires 
occupes, and therefore as a reference to all of the occupied territory to be evacuated by 
the Israelis.
Translation has been instrumental in transmitting culture, sometimes under 
unequal conditions responsible for distorted and biased translations, ever since 
countries and languages have been in contact with each other. Thus the Romans 
'pillaged* Greek culture; the Toledo School transferred Arabic and Greek learning to 
Europe; and up to the nineteenth century European culture was drawing heavily on 
Latin and Greek translations. In the nineteenth century German culture was absorbing 
Shakespeare, In this century a centrifugal world literature has appeared, consisting of 
the work of a small number of 'international* writers (Greene, Bellow, Solzhenitsyn, 
Boll, Grass, Moravia, Murdoch, Lessing, amongst those still living, succeeding Mann, 
Brecht, Kafka, Mauriac, Valery, etc.)* which is translated into most national and many 
regional languages. Unfortunately there is no corresponding centripetal cultural 
movement from 'regional' or peripheral authors.
That translation is not merely a transmitter of culture, but also of the-truth, a 
force for progress, could be instanced by following the course of resistance to Bible 
translation and the preservation of Latin as a superior language of the elect, with a 
consequent disincentive to translating between other languages.
As a technique for learning foreign languages, translation is a two-edged 
instrument: it has the special purpose of demonstrating the learner's knowledge of the 
foreign language, either as a form of control or to exercise his intelligence in order to 
develop his competence. This is its strong point in foreign-language classes, which has 
to be sharply distinguished from its normal use in transferring meanings and 
conveying messages. The translation done in schools, which as a

8
PRINCIPLES
discipline is unfortunately usually taken for granted and rarely discussed, often encourages 
absurd, stilted renderings, particularly of colloquial passages including proper names and 
institutional terms (absurdly encouraged by dictionary mistranslations such as Giacopo for 
'James
1
and Siaatsrat for Trivy Councillor'). Even a sentence such as:
Qu'une maillc $auiat parfois a ce nssu de perfection auquel Brigitte Finn travailinit uvec une 
vigilance de toutes les seamdes, detail dans Yordre et elle s'en consolait pourvu que cefut sans 
temotn.
'Mauriac, l.a Phanstenne^
might produce something like this from a sixth-former:
That a stitch should sometimes break in that tissue of perfection at which Brigitte Pian 
was working with a vigilance to which she devoted every second, this was in order and 
she consoled herself for it provided it was without witness,
which proves that each word construction is understood, where a more likely reading would 
be:
If Brigitte Pian sometimes dropped a stitch in the admirable material she was working 
on with such unremitting vigilance, it was in the natural order of things and she found 
consolation for it, provided she had no witnesses.
A translator, perhaps more than any other practitioner of a profession, is continually 
faced with choices, for instance when he has to translate words denoting quality, the words 
of the mental world (adjectives, adverbs, adjectival nouns, e.g. 'good', 'well*, 'goodness'), 
rather than objects or events. In making his choice, he is intuitively or consciously following 
a theory of translation, just as any teacher of grammar teaches a theory of linguistics. La 
traduction appelle une theorie en acte, Jean-Rene Ladmiral has written. Translation calls on 
a theory in action; the translator reviews the criteria for the various options before he makes 
his selection as a procedure in his translating activity.
The personal pleasure derived from translation is the excitement of trying to solve a 
thousand small problems in the context of a large one. Mystery, jigsaw, game, kaleidoscope, 
maze, puzzle, see-saw, juggling- these metaphors capture the 'play
1
element of translation 
without its seriousness. (But pleasure lies in play rather than i 1 seriousness.) The chase after 
words and facts is unremitting and requires imagination. There is an exceptional attraction in 
the search for the right word, just out of reach, the semantic gap between two languages that 
one scours Roget to fill. The relief of finding it, the 'smirk* after hitting on the right word 
when others are still floundering? is an acute reward, out of proportion and out of 
perspective to the satisfaction of filling in the whole picture, but more concrete. The quality 
of pleasure reflects the constant tension between sentence and word.
You may have heard of a relatively new polytechnic/university subject called 
Translation Theory (Translatology
1
in Canada, Traductologia in Spain, (Iter-

INTRODUCTION
9
setzungswissenschaft in German-speaking countries, Translation Studies' in the Netherlands 
and Belgium); this book is intended to introduce it to you.
In a narrow sense, translation theory is concerned with the translation method 
appropriately used for a certain type of text, and it is therefore dependent on a functional 
theory of language. However, in a wider sense, translation theory is the body of knowledge 
that we have about translating, extending from general principles to guidelines, suggestions 
and hints. (The only rule I know is the equal frequency rule, viz, that corresponding words, 
where they exist - metaphors, collocations, groups, clauses, sentences, word order, proverbs, 
etc. - should have approximately equal frequency, for the topic and register in question, in 
both the source and target languages.) Translation theory is concerned with minutiae (the 
meanings of semi-colons, italics, misprints) as well as generalities (presentation, the thread 
of thought underlying a piece), and both may be equally important in the context.
Translation theory in action, translation theory used operationally for the purpose of 
reviewing all the options (in particular, sensitising the translator to those he had not been 
aware of) and then making the decisions - in fact the teeth of the theory - is a frame of 
reference for translation and translation criticism, relating first to complete texts, where it has 
most to say, then, in descending level, to paragraphs, sentences, clauses, word groups (in 
particular, collocations), words -familiar alternative words, cultural and institutional terms, 
proper names, 
1
non-equivalent words', neologisms and key conceptual terms - morphemes 
and punctuation marks. Note that metaphor, perhaps the most significant translation problem, 
may occur at all levels - from word to text, at which level it becomes an allegory or a fantasy.
What translation theory does is, first, to identify and define a translation problem (no 
problem - no translation theory!); second, to indicate all the factors that have to be taken into 
account in solving the problem; third, to list all the possible translation procedures; finally, to 
recommend the most suitable translation procedure, plus the appropriate translation.
Translation theory is pointless and sterile if it does not arise from the problems of 
translation practice, from the need to stand back and reflect, to consider all the factors, 
within the text and outside it, before coming to a decision,
I close this chapter by enumerating the new elements in translation nov.\ as opposed 
to, say, at the beginning of the century:
(1) The emphasis on the readership and the setting, and therefore on naturalness, ease of 
understanding and an appropriate register, when these factors are appropriate. 
(2) Expansion of topics beyond the religious, the literary and the scientific to technology, 
trade, current events, publicity, propaganda, in fact to virtually every topic of writing. 
(3) Increase in variety of text formats, from books (including plays and poems) to articles, 
papers, contracts, treaties, laws, notices, instructions, advertisements, 

10
PRINCIPLES
publicity, recipes, letters, reports, business forms, documents, etc. These now 
vastly outnumber books, so it is difficult to calculate the number or the languages 
of translations on any large scale.
(4) Standardisation of terminology. 
(5) The formation of translator teams and the recognition of the reviser's role. 
(6) The impact of linguistics, sociolinguistics and translation theory, which will 
become apparent only as more translators pass through polytechnics and 
universities, 
(7) Translation is now used as much to transmit knowledge and to create under-
standing between groups and nations, as to transmit culture. 
In sum, it all adds up to a new discipline, a new profession; an old pursuit engaged in 
now for mainly different purposes.

CHAPTER 2
The Analysts of a Text

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