2018-01-08
906
Usually when people speak about translation or even write about it in special literature they are seldom specific about the meaning. The presumption is quite natural – everybody understands the meanings of the word. However, to describe translation intuitive understanding is not sufficient – what one needs is a definition.
Translation means both a process and a result, and when defining translation we are interested in both its aspects. First of all, we are interested in the process because it is the process we are going to define.
But at the same time we need the result of translation, since along side with the source (the translated text) is one of the two sets of observed events we have at our disposal if we intend to describe the process. In order to explain translation we need to compare the original (source) text and the resulting (target) one.
However, the formation of the source and target text is governed by the rules characteristic of the source and target languages. Hence the systems of the two languages are also included in our sphere of interest. These systems consists of grammar units and rules, morphological and word-building elements and rules, stylistical variations and lexical distribution patterns (lexico-semantic paradigms). Moreover, when describing a language one should never forget that language itself is a formal model of thinking, i.e. of mental concepts we use when thinking.
In translation we deal with two languages (two codes) and to verify the information they give us about the extralinguistic objects (and concepts) we should consider extralinguistic situation, and background formation. Having considered all this, we shall come to understand that as an object of linguistic study translation is a complex entity consisting of the following interrelated components:
1. elements and structures of the source text;
2. elements and structures of the target language;
3. transformation rules to transform the elements and structures of the source text into those of the target text; systems of the languages involved in translation;
4. conceptual content and organization of the source text;
5. conceptual content and organization of the target text;
6. interrelation of the conceptual contents of the source and target texts;
In short, translation is functional interaction of languages and to study this process we should study both the interacting elements and the rules of interaction.
Among interacting elements we must distinguish between the observable and those deducible from the observables. The observable elements in translation are parts of words, words, and word combinations of the source text.
However, translation process involves parts of words, words and word combinations of the target language (not of the target text, because when we start translating or, to be more exact, when we begin to build a model of future translation, the target text is yet to be generated). These translation components are deducible from observable elements of the source text.
In other words, one may draw the following conclusion:
During translation one intuitively fulfills the following operations:
a. deduces the target language elements and rules of equivalent selection and substitution on the basis of observed source text elements;
b. build a model consisting of the target language elements selected for substitution;
c. verifies the model of the target text against context, situation and background information;
d. generates the target text on the basis of the verified model.
Thus, the process of translation may be represented as consisting of three stages:
1. Analysis of the source text, situation and background information;
2. Synthesis of the translation model, and
3. Verification of the model against the source and target context (semantic, grammatical, stylistic), situation, and background information resulting in the generation of the final target text.
Let us illustrate this process using a simple asuumption that you receive for translation one sentence at a time (by the way this assumption is a reality of consecutive translation). For example, if you received: «At the first stage the chips are put on the conveyer» at the source sentence. Unless you observe or know the situation your model of the target text will be: “На першому етапі стружку (щебінку) (смажену картоплю) (нарізану сиру картоплю) кладуть на конвеєр”. Having verified this model against the context provided in the next sentence (verification against semantic context): “Then they are transferred to the frying oven” you will obtain: “На першому етапі нарізану сіру картоплю кладуть на конвеєр”. It looks easy and self-evident, but it is important, indeed, for understanding the way translation is done.
Verification against semantic and grammatical context if performed either simultaneously (if the grammatical and semantic references are available within a syntagma) or the verification against semantic context is delayed until the availability of a relevant semantic references which may be available in one of the following rather than in one and the same sentence. Cases when the grammatical semantic or situational references are delayed or missing present serious problems for translation.
We intuitively formulated hypotheses about translation of certain words and phrases and then verified them.
So, speaking very generally, when we translate, the first thing we do is analyze the source text trying to extract from it all available information necessary for generating the target text (build the intermediate model of the target text), then verify this information against situation and background knowledge and generate the target text.
