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Discourse and the Translator
Discourse and the Translator both incorporates and moves beyond previous studies of translation. Its logical and informative approach to the problems of translation ensures that it will be essential for all those who work with languages 'in contact'. Incorporating research in sociolinguistics, discourse studies, pragmatics and semiotics, the authors analyse the process and product of translation in their social contexts. Through this analysis, the book emphasises the importance of the translator as a mediator between cultures.
- GenresNonfictionLinguistics
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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About the author
Basil Hatim
12 books12 followersBasil Hatim is a theorist in English/Arabic translation and a translator/interpreter. He has worked and lectured at universities worldwide and has published extensively on applied linguistics, text linguistics translation/interpreting and TESOL. He has authored or co-authored several books. He has served on the editorial boards of several major journals and has published some 50 papers in a diverse range of international refereed journals.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 17, 2017
This book presents a sprawling array of terms and concepts, interconnecting like Heath-Robinson wheels within wheels, whose relevance to everyday translation work is not always immediately apparent.
More and better examples at the beginning of each abstract exposition might have been helpful, as might less vague definitions in the glossary. Still, plenty of food for thought here. Just a few of the insights I hope to explore further:
Style:
Standards of stylistic acceptability for various types of discourse differ radically from language to language. What is entirely appropriate in Spanish, for example, may turn out to be quite unacceptable ‘purple prose’ in English, and the English prose we admire as dignified and effective often seems in Spanish to be colourless, insipid and flat. Many Spanish literary artists take delight in the flowery elegance of their language, while most English writers prefer bold realism, precision and movement.
Nida
Dialects
We recall the controversy in Scotland a few years ago over the use of Scottish accents in representing the speech of Russian peasants in TV dramatization of a foreign play. The inference was allowed that a Scottish accent might somehow be associated with low status, something which, no doubt, was not intended. Like producers and directors, translators have to be constantly alert to the social implications of their decisions.
Rendering dialect by dialect runs the risk of creating unintended effects.
Use
Field of discourse - what has taken place
Mode of discourse - what medium has been selected
Tenor of discourse - who has participated
Semiotics
Each element in a text displays its own ‘local’ pragmatic meaning, but it is important to realize that pragmatic values in a sequence of elements interact with each other as signs with ‘global’ semiotic values, e.g. ‘a mere 4%’ is a token belonging to a general type, which also includes other signals such as ‘deplorable’, ‘disgraceful’ etc.
This interactive dimension of context is semiotic.
Signs refer to cultural structures.
Context and co-text are crucial to the act of signification.
Semiotics offers an account of how particular modes of arguing, for example, are culture-specific and do not always achieve their goal across cultural boundaries.
It is the perception of pragmatic and semiotic values which enables translators to transfer the entirety of the message into their target language version.
Intertextuality
We may safely discard the notion that intertextuality is some static property of texts, which in translating amounts to mere item-by-item replacement. On the contrary, intertextuality is best viewed in terms of semiotic systems of signification.
Speech acts
Austin noted that all utterances, in addition to meaning something, actually have some communicative force which is the dynamic element in communication, the element which moves communication forward.
He referred to speech acts, made up of:
Locutionary acts - saying something (the locution) with a certain meaning in traditional sense.
Illocutionary acts - the performance of an act in saying something (vs. the general act of saying something)
Perlocutionary acts - Speech acts that have an effect on the feelings, thoughts or actions of either the speaker or the listener. In other words, they seek to change minds! e.g., inspiring, persuading or deterring.
Official discourse
In translating official discourse, equivalence of illocutionary force is often subject to difference in cultural norms. Translation of a business letter from a language in which directness is customary may result in offence being given where none was intended, e.g. ‘kindly inform us immediately of your intentions…’ or ‘we are sending you instructions…’ in place of conventional ways of requesting a favour in English such as ‘we should be grateful if you would let us know…’ or ‘we should like to suggest…’.
Synonymy
It is a recognized text convention governing the field of discourse of news reporting/investigative journalism in French that a concept referred to in a noun phrase will not be expressed in the same way twice running in a text, e.g. le dollar américain will become le billet vert.
A similar convention may be observed in English but the decision will be governed by different considerations to do with lexical cohesion.
English sometimes prefers pronouns to synonymy in order to maintain cohesion.
Collocations - equal frequency principle
In translation, the collocations should in general be neither less unexpected (i.e. more banal) nor more unexpected (i.e. demanding greater processing effort) than in the source text. It would be an understatement to say that such a balance is not always easy to achieve.
More and better examples at the beginning of each abstract exposition might have been helpful, as might less vague definitions in the glossary. Still, plenty of food for thought here. Just a few of the insights I hope to explore further:
Style:
Standards of stylistic acceptability for various types of discourse differ radically from language to language. What is entirely appropriate in Spanish, for example, may turn out to be quite unacceptable ‘purple prose’ in English, and the English prose we admire as dignified and effective often seems in Spanish to be colourless, insipid and flat. Many Spanish literary artists take delight in the flowery elegance of their language, while most English writers prefer bold realism, precision and movement.
Nida
Dialects
We recall the controversy in Scotland a few years ago over the use of Scottish accents in representing the speech of Russian peasants in TV dramatization of a foreign play. The inference was allowed that a Scottish accent might somehow be associated with low status, something which, no doubt, was not intended. Like producers and directors, translators have to be constantly alert to the social implications of their decisions.
Rendering dialect by dialect runs the risk of creating unintended effects.
Use
Field of discourse - what has taken place
Mode of discourse - what medium has been selected
Tenor of discourse - who has participated
Semiotics
Each element in a text displays its own ‘local’ pragmatic meaning, but it is important to realize that pragmatic values in a sequence of elements interact with each other as signs with ‘global’ semiotic values, e.g. ‘a mere 4%’ is a token belonging to a general type, which also includes other signals such as ‘deplorable’, ‘disgraceful’ etc.
This interactive dimension of context is semiotic.
Signs refer to cultural structures.
Context and co-text are crucial to the act of signification.
Semiotics offers an account of how particular modes of arguing, for example, are culture-specific and do not always achieve their goal across cultural boundaries.
It is the perception of pragmatic and semiotic values which enables translators to transfer the entirety of the message into their target language version.
Intertextuality
We may safely discard the notion that intertextuality is some static property of texts, which in translating amounts to mere item-by-item replacement. On the contrary, intertextuality is best viewed in terms of semiotic systems of signification.
Speech acts
Austin noted that all utterances, in addition to meaning something, actually have some communicative force which is the dynamic element in communication, the element which moves communication forward.
He referred to speech acts, made up of:
Locutionary acts - saying something (the locution) with a certain meaning in traditional sense.
Illocutionary acts - the performance of an act in saying something (vs. the general act of saying something)
Perlocutionary acts - Speech acts that have an effect on the feelings, thoughts or actions of either the speaker or the listener. In other words, they seek to change minds! e.g., inspiring, persuading or deterring.
Official discourse
In translating official discourse, equivalence of illocutionary force is often subject to difference in cultural norms. Translation of a business letter from a language in which directness is customary may result in offence being given where none was intended, e.g. ‘kindly inform us immediately of your intentions…’ or ‘we are sending you instructions…’ in place of conventional ways of requesting a favour in English such as ‘we should be grateful if you would let us know…’ or ‘we should like to suggest…’.
Synonymy
It is a recognized text convention governing the field of discourse of news reporting/investigative journalism in French that a concept referred to in a noun phrase will not be expressed in the same way twice running in a text, e.g. le dollar américain will become le billet vert.
A similar convention may be observed in English but the decision will be governed by different considerations to do with lexical cohesion.
English sometimes prefers pronouns to synonymy in order to maintain cohesion.
Collocations - equal frequency principle
In translation, the collocations should in general be neither less unexpected (i.e. more banal) nor more unexpected (i.e. demanding greater processing effort) than in the source text. It would be an understatement to say that such a balance is not always easy to achieve.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews