Translation strategies and examples
2.3.2.2
Strategies used by professional translators
(a)
Translation by a more general word (superordinate)
This is one of the commonest strategies for dealing
with many types of nonequivalence, particularly in the area of propositional
meaning. It works equally well in most, if not all, languages, since the
hierarchical structure of semantic fields is not language-specific.
Example :
Source
text
( China’s Panda Reserves – World Wide
Fund for Nature text which accompanied a slide show):
Today there may be no more than 1,000 giant pandas
left in the wild, restricted to a few mountain strongholds in the Chinese
provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu.
Target
text
(Chinese):
今天，仍处于野生状态的大熊猫可能只有一千只，仅限于中国的
四川、陕西和甘肃省内的一些山区。
Today there may be only 1000 big pandas which still
remain in the wild state, restricted to certain mountain areas in China’s Sichuan,
Shaanxi and Gansu.
Note : The preceding examples illustrate the use of
a general word (superordinate) to overcome a relative lack of specifi city in
the target language compared to the source language.
(b)
Translation by a more neutral/less expressive word
This is another strategy in the semantic field of
structure.
Example :
Source
text:
( Morgan Matroc – ceramics company
brochure):
Today people are aware that modern ceramic materials
offer unrivalled properties for many of our most demanding industrial
applications.So is this brochure necessary; isn’t the ceramic market already
overbombarded with technical literature; why should Matroc add more? Because
someone mumbles , ‘Our competitors do it.’ But why should we imitate our
competitors when Matroc probably supplies a greater range of ceramic materials
for more applications than any other manufacturer.
Target
text:
(Italian):
Qualcuno suggerisce : ‘i nostri concorrenti lo
fanno.’
Someone suggests : ‘Our competitors do it.’
Note : There is a noticeable difference in the expressive
meaning of mumble and its nearest Italian equivalent, mugugnare. The English
verb mumble suggests confusion, disorientation or embarrassment, as can be seen
in the following examples:
·
‘Sorry,’ she managed to mumble
incoherently.
·
I was doing a three-point-turn manoeuvre
to get us back onto the road
·
when he woke up, lifted his hat and
mumbled: ‘Where are we?’
·
‘I didn’t mean to disturb you,’ I
mumbled apologetically.
· ‘I’m in your hands,’ I mumbled and didn’t quite know why I said it.
Presented with a hard question, she’ll blush, stare
at her feet and finally mumble her answer. The Italian near equivalent,
mugugnare, in contrast, tends to suggest dissatisfaction rather than
embarrassment or confusion. Possibly to avoid conveying the wrong expressive
meaning, the Italian translator opted for a more general word, suggerisce (‘suggest’).
(c)
Translation by cultural substitution
This strategy involves replacing a culture-specific
item or expression with a target language item considering its impact on the
target reader. This strategy makes the translated text more natural, more understandable
and more familiar to the target reader.
Example :
Source
text
( The Patrick Collection – a leafl et
produced by a privately owned museum of classic cars):
The Patrick Collection has restaurant facilities to
suit every taste from the discerning gourmet, to the Cream Tea expert.
Target
text
(Italian):
. . . di soddisfare tutti i gusti: da quelli del
gastronomo esigente a quelli dell’esperto di pasticceria .
. . . to satisfy all tastes: from those of the
demanding gastronomist to those of the expert in pastry .
Note : In Britain, cream tea is ‘an afternoon meal
consisting of tea to drink and scones with jam and clotted cream to eat. It can
also include sandwiches and cakes’.
Cream tea has no equivalent in other cultures. The Italian translator replaced
it with ‘pastry’, which does not have the same meaning (for one thing, cream
tea is a meal in Britain, whereas ‘pastry’ is only a type of food). However,pastry’
is familiar to the Italian reader and therefore provides a good cultural substitute.
(d)
Translation using a loan word or loan word plus explanation
This strategy is usually used in dealing with
culture-specific items, modern concepts, and buzz words. Using the loan word
with an explanation is very useful when a word is repeated several times in the
text. At the first time the word is mentioned by the explanation and in the
next times the word can be used by its own.
Example :
Source
text
( A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan
– Blacker 1975 :315):
The shamanic practices we have investigated are
rightly seen as an archaic mysticism.
Target
text
(Japanese):
我々が探究してきたシャーマン的行為は、古代の神秘主義とし
て、考察されるべきものであろう。
The shamanic behaviour which we have been
researching should rightly be considered as ancient mysticism.
Note : Shaman is a technical word used in religious studies
to refer to a priest or a priest doctor among the northern tribes of Asia. It
has no ready equivalent inJapanese. The equivalent used in the translation is
made up of shaman as a loan word, written in katakana script (the script commonly
used to transcribe foreign words into Japanese), plus a Japanese suffi x which
means ‘like’ to replace the –ic ending in English. The Japanese suffi x is
written in the Kanji script (the Chinesesystem used to transcribe ordinary
Japanese).
(e)
Translation by paraphrase using a related word
This strategy is used when the source item in
lexicalized in the target language but in a different form, and when the
frequency with which a certain form is used in the source text is obviously
higher than it would be natural in the target language.
Example :
Source
text ( The Patrick Collection ):
Hot and cold food and drinks can be found in the
Hornet’s Nest, overlooking the Alexick Hall.
Target
text
(German):
Im Hornet’s Nest, das die Alexick-Halle überblickt ,
bekommen Sie warme und kalte Speisen und Getränke. In the Hornet’s Nest, which
overlooks the Alexick-Hall, you can have hot and cold meals and drinks.
(f)
Translation by paraphrase using unrelated words
This strategy is used when the source item in
lexicalized in the target language but in a different form, and when the
frequency with which a certain form is used in the source text is obviously
higher than it would be natural in the target language.
Example :
Source
text
( The Patrick Collection ):
You can even dine ‘ alfresco ’ in the summer on our
open air terrace.
Target
text
(German):
Im Sommer können Sie auch auf der Terrasse im Freien
sitzen und essen.
In the summer you can also sit and eat on the
terrace in the open .
Note : Alfresco, ‘in the open air’, is a loan word
in English. Its meaning is unpacked in the German translation. The two
expressions, alfresco and ‘in the open’, have the same ‘propositional’ meaning,
but the German expression lacks the ‘evoked’ meaning of alfresco, which is
perhaps inevitable in this case. Note that the loan word is placed in inverted
commas in the source text.
(g)
Translation by omission
This may be a drastic kind of strategy, but in fact
it may be even useful to omit translating a word or expression in some
contexts. If the meaning conveyed by a particular item or expression is not
necessary to mention in the understanding of the translation, translators use
this strategy to avoid lengthy explanations.
Example :
Source
text
( China’s Panda Reserves ):
The panda’s mountain home is rich in plant life and
gave us many of the trees, shrubs and herbs most prized in European gardens.
Target
text (Chinese):
熊猫的山区定居地有着丰富的植物种类，有着欧洲园林所珍视的
许多树木、灌木和草本植物的种类。像这一山杜鹃花等种类为十 九世纪的植物学家所集采，然后运回欧洲作为园林收藏品。
The mountain settlements of the panda have rich
varieties of plants.There are many kinds of trees, shrubs and herbal plants
that are preciously regarded by European gardens.
Note : The source text addresses a European audience,
and the use of gave us highlights its intended orientation. The Chinese translation
addresses a different audience and therefore suppresses the orientation of the
source text by omitting expressions which betray its original point of view.
(h)
Translation by illustration
This strategy can be useful when the target
equivalent item does not cover some aspects of the source item and the
equivalent item refers to a physical entity which can be illustrated,
particularly in order to avoid over-explanation and to be concise and to the
point.
Example:
