Articles and Books on Translation
Articles
Internet
and Cultural Concepts from a Translation Perspective Source
The cultural implications for translation may take several forms, ranging from lexical
content and syntax to ideologies and ways of life in a given culture. The translator also
has to decide on the importance given to certain cultural features and to what extent it
is necessary or desirable to translate them into the target language (TL) . The aims of
the source text (ST), as well as the intended readership for both the ST and the target
text (TT), will also have implications for the translation.
Language
Ambiguity
Despite the fact that ambiguity in language is an essential part of language, it is often
an obstacle to be ignored or a problem to be solved for people to understand each other.
The author examines this fact and attempts to show that even when perceived as a problem,
ambiguity provides value. In any case, language ambiguity can be understood as an
illustration of the complexity of language itself.
Limitations of
Computers as Translation Tools
Explaining doubts and limitations of computers as translation tools
forthrightly can only help all concerned by making clear what is likely—and what is
less likely—to work for each individual user. It can also clarify what the underlying
principles and problems in this field have been and to some extent remain.
Style and
Stylistic Accommodation in Translation
Accommodation in translation emerges in perspectives such as cultural accommodation,
collocation accommodation, ideological accommodation and aesthetic accommodation.
This article focuses specifically on stylistic accommodation in translation, proposing
that accommodation should be oriented to style, which includes writer’s style, genre
style, and historical style. (See also www.accurapid.com )
Testing and
Evaluation in the Translation Classroom
This paper presents the basic information professional translators
need to know before they enter the classroom, and outlines possible testing strategies
they might use to make their teaching experience enriching and valuable for themselves as
well as their students.
The History of Translation
This review of Translators through History, edited and
directed by Jean Delisle and Judith Woodsworth, remarks that the book appears under the
very highest auspices, being co-published by John Benjamins and Unesco. The combined
effort of fifty scholars from twenty different nations, this volume was five years in the
making and was published simultaneously in French and English with assistance from several
Canadian sponsors and the F.I.T.
The Interpretive
Model and Machine Translation
The aim of this article is to put forward an epistemological
analytical grid of the field in question i.e., the works related to the analytical
study of translation and its natural processing as a prelude to machine translation or
computer-assisted translation.
The Invisible in Translation
It is conventionally believed that familiarity with the source and
target languages, as well as the subject matter on the part of the translator, is enough
for a good translation. However, due to the findings in the field of text analysis, the
role of text structure in translation now seems crucial. Therefore, the present paper sets
out with an introduction on different types of translation, followed by some historical
reviews on text analysis, and then describes different approaches to text analysis.
The
Moving Text
This is a review of Pym 2001. The main point Pym makes about getting
from SL to TL is that a team of experts needs to apply an intricate set of steps in order
to achieve texts that will meet all the requirements of "cross-cultural text
adaptation" (Pym 2001: 1), that is, 'localization'. The steps and components involved
are 'distribution' (the concern where the text goes), the forming of 'locales' (the
particular country/region and language), 'internationalization' (generalization of
products), 'translation' (retrieving from 'equivalence'), quantitative changes, the
calculation of transaction costs (the effort put into communication), 'segmentation'
(shared professionalization) and 'humanization' (consideration of the future reader).
To Be a Good Translator
This brief conference paper raises the question of what skills are
needed to promote translating ability, and how can one become a good translator.
Translation Theory and Practice
SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) provides the reader with a simple outline of
translation theory. There are also links to additional pages of SIL practices of
working in teams with native speakers of the target audience, producing drafts and
revisions in consultation with reviewers, and preparing the final text, e.g., a Bible
translation, for publication.
Types of Translations
This selection is a continuation of the piece above. It makes note of the continuum
between a literal translation at one end and an idiomatic one at the other end.
What Makes a Translator
A translator must have the following things: a native or near-native
level of proficiency in both the source language (the language to be translated from) and
the target language (the language to be translated to); the ability to thoroughly
understand all that a text says and implies; and excellent writing and editing skills.
Ideally, the translator would also have a lot of knowledge about both the source and
target language cultures, as this affects word usage and meaning, as well as about the
author of the original document and his style of writing.
FAQs
& Fictions about Computers & Language Teaching
On the technology side, the continuing trend is for computers to get more powerful and
cheaper, for software to do more—and do it better, and for our students to have
access to more information. On the teaching side, the computer has largely ceased to be an
add-on to the curriculum. It is no longer an extra that we include if time permits, or as
a special treat for the students. For more and more of us, the computer is an essential
part of our working day, and has become an integral part of how we teach.
Article reproduced from CLEAR News (Michigan State University).
The Underestimated
Importance of Vocabulary in the Foreign Language Classroom
Article reproduced from CLEAR News (Michigan State University) Fall 2004
issue.
Retrieving Collocations from Text: Xtract
This pdf article, published in 1993, deals with the challenge of translating
collocations from one language to another
Books
Baker, M. 1992. In Other words: A Coursebook on Translation. London: Routledge.
Brinton, E. 1981. Cruz, E., Ortiz y Ortiz, R. & White, C. Translation Strategies. London: Macmillan.
Duff, A. Translation. 1989. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hatim, Basil and Ian Mason. 1990. Discourse and the Translator. Singapore: Longman.
Kiraly, D. 2000. A Social Constructivist Approach to Translator Education. Manchester and Northampton: St. Jerome Publishing.
Larson, M.L 1984. Meaning Based Translation: A Guide to Cross Language Equivalence Lanham: University Press of America.
Lewis, Michael. 2000. Teaching Collocation. Hove: Language Teaching Publications.
Lewis, Michael. 1997. Implementing the Lexical Approach. Hove: Language Teaching Publications.
Lewis, Michael. 1993. The Lexical Approach. Hove: Language Teaching Publications.
Nation, I.S.P. 2001. Learning Vocabulary in Another Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nida, E.A. & Taber, C.R. 1982. The Theory and Practice of Translation. Leiden: Brill.
Rainer, S. & Biguenet, J. (eds.) 1992. Theories of Translation: An Anthology of Essays from Dryden to Derrida. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.