CHIN 5012
Lecture 1: Main issues of translation studies
Intro
1.1 The concept of translation
IDEA: Discuss the literal meaning of “translation” and the Chinese “翻译”. Ask students to think of English words that contain the prefix trans- and the element –lat- (think of words like relation, collation, correlation) What implications do they have for the act of translation? Are there any critical differences between English and Chinese implied by these terms?
翻 = turn upside down or inside out, turn over,reverse; change, turn [花样翻新]
译 = translate, interpret, decode
ACTIVITY: Present the students with 10 sentences that use the word “translation”. Ask them to identify the specific meaning(s) that the term possesses.
The term “translation” has several different meanings, depending on the context in which it is used. It can refer to a general field of study (a subject field), a product, and the actual process of translating.
The theorist Roman Jakobson has described three basic categories of translation: intralingual translation or “rewording”; interlingual translation, which refers to translation between different languages; and intersemiotic translation. Intersemiotic translation involves the translation of linguistic signs into some form of non-linguistic sign system.
[Provide some examples of these different scenarios]
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ACTIVITY: Present students with a series of scenarios. Ask them to categorize them in terms of Jakobson’s 3 categories. Also get them to create some scenarios of their own. Discuss these as a class.
1.2 What is translation studies?
Although people have been engaged in the act of translation for centuries, there has been little systematic reflection on the act and what it means. In the West, formal study of the act of translation dates back to the second half of the twentieth century. In 1972, the American scholar James Holmes gave a paper in 1972 which tried to define the discipline of translation studies as being concerned with “the complex of problems clustered around the phenomenon of translating and translations”.
[How can I suggest the excitement of translation studies?]
The emergence of translation studies after the 1980s can be seen in terms of two main features. The first of these is the proliferation of courses dealing with translator training and translation studies. (It is important to remember that translation is no longer merely a linguistic endeavour; in addition to language proficiency, a translator needs to have some awareness of issues in translation studies).
ACTIVITY: Look at some descriptions of translation courses offered at various institutions. Perhaps a selection of these could be distributed to students who could discuss them in groups and offer comments on course contents, structure etc.
There are also courses available that focus on literary translation. Of course, the task of translating literary texts overlaps in many respects, but it also faces problems not central to general translation. For example style in literature is very important; sometimes, it is more important that the “message” of the text. In addition, literature makes a wider use of the resources of language than general texts.
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The rise of translation studies can also be gauged through the growing number of books, journals and conferences devoted to translation studies.
Magazines: Babel, Meta, Target
I suggest that you familiarize yourself with these publications and try and take a look at them when you have time.
[IDEA: Bring a selection of these into the classroom for students.]
1.3 A brief history of the discipline
People engaged in translation in the West have made statements on the act from time to time. Such figures include Cicero, Horace (both first century BCE) and St Jerome (fourth century CE). In the West, the translation of the Bible has been a focus for the discussion of translation in its practical and theoretical aspects. We will return to the issue of Bible translation when we discuss the ideas of Eugene Nida later in the semester. As you can imagine, the translation of the Bible would attract serious attention from many people. (ASK students about the languages of the Bible; show them my Bendigo translation from the 1800s).
[IDEA: Contrast this situation with statements of translation made by the Chinese. Refer to Eva Hung’s book. Perhaps a parallel can be drawn with Xuanzang and his translation of Buddhist scriptures. ]
Before the middle of the 20th century, translation was generally encountered as an important element in language learning. Even today, translation exercises seem to play some part in foreign-language textbooks. Instruction focussed on the learning of vocabulary and on grammatical rules; translation was then used as a way of practising and demonstrating mastery of such material. In recent times, foreign-language instruction has emphasized 3
communication in practical situations rather than “abstract” grammatical knowledge. For this reason, when students are asked to translate material these days, they tend to adopt a very literal approach.
[IDEA: Provide the students with a page of Chinese sentences culled from various older textbooks. Ask students to comment on the appropriateness of the language and the usefulness of the material.]
Since translation was viewed largely as a means for acquiring a foreign language, it was not accorded much importance. The marginality of translation continues down to the present-day. Even at this university, where MA courses in translation and interpreting are offered for Japanese and Chinese, published translation work done by lecturers is not given the same importance as other forms of academic writing, even though the translation of a book may require a great deal of research.
In the 1960s, translation began to be taught using a workshop format, especially literary translation. This is perhaps because literary translation is considered, by some at least, to be a form of creative writing. (ASK students about the creativity required to translate.) In such workshops participants could all translate the same text and discuss different solutions to various problems. Although there is nothing very rigorous about this approach, it does allow for an exchange of ideas about significant translation issues.
Contrastive analysis was another development in translation studies that contributed to the rise of the discipline. As the name implies, contrastive analysis deals with source texts and their translations. The purpose of such analyses is to see how the translation modifies the source text in order to produce an acceptable rendition. Such comparison can also shed light on fundamental differences in vocabulary and grammar between different languages. Because of its linguistic origins, contrastive analysis can be very dry; it can also become heavily reliant on statistics, a factor that also repels many people with a genuine interest in translation.
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It is in the 1960s, under the influence of linguistics, that translation studies attempts to present itself as a science. Eugene Nida called his 1964 book Towards a Science of Translating. Although this led to greater precision and method in the discussion of translation issues, translation studies has always managed to remain more than a science: it is too complex and intricate to be schematized in a perfectly satisfying way.
1.4 The Holmes/Toury map
Holmes paper was a founding statement for translation studies. He outlined the major features or areas of study that go to make up “translation studies”. The two main branches of translation studies are the “pure” and the “applied”.
The first branch, “pure” here refers to research. In pure translation studies, research is divided into descriptive and theoretical. Descriptive translation studies are divided into 3 types:
Product-oriented DTS. This involves the description or analysis of a single ST-TT pair or of several TTs of the same ST. Such studies could be built up into a larger body of translation analysis that examines a specific period, language or translation type.
Function-oriented DTS. This treats translation from a sociocultural perspective and investigates issues connected with the type of texts translated and their influence on society.
Process-oriented DTS. This is concerned with the psychology of translation: what goes on in a translator’s mind.
Such descriptive activities may lead to insights that can be presented in a more systematic fashion. By describing a particular translation phenomenon, it is possible that enough information and insight will be gathered in order to allow a general principle to be established. The theoretical models made by 5
theory can be further discussed in terms of general theories and partial theories. Can they be applied to the practice of translation as a whole, or do they refer only to a specific aspect of the process?
The second branch refers to “applied” areas. The three main areas of applied translation studies are:
Translator training
Translation aids
Translation criticism
Translation policy
Needless to say, this map is in essence artificial, but it provides a clear picture of the field of translation studies. Nor does it take into account interpreting.
1.5 Developments since the 1970s
investigation of translation and gender (Sherry Simon), postcolonial translation theory (Tejaswini Niranjana and Gayatri Spivak), cultural studies and translation studies (Lawrence Venuti)
[IDEA: peruse some recent issues of leading journals for article titles and themes that reflect recent developments.]
ACTIVITY: Give students a selection of abstracts and ask them to relate these to specific sectors of the Holmes/Toury map.
MAJOR ACTIVITY: Conduct a small translation workshop. Ask the students to translate a brief poem or prose passage and get them to share ideas about how to handle challenging aspects of the original. 6
Another possibility is to ask the two compare 2 passages from Lu Xun or Cao Xueqin translated by different translators.
References
Georges MOUNIN: Les problemes theoriques de la traduction. (SS&H - P306 .M66 1963)
Eva Hung and Judy Wakabayashi (eds): Asian translation traditions. P306.8.A78 A84 2005 (borrowed)
Eva HUNG: Teaching translation and interpreting 4: building bridges, edited by Eva Hung P306.5 .L36 1998
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