Slide ENG3061 Translation Analysis and Assessment

ENG3061 Translation Analysis and Assessment
U2 News Translation Assessment [1]
Thu Ha Ngo
Division of Translation and Interpreting


House-keeping
Question 1: Odd One Out
1/ Cicero
2/ St. Jerome
3/ Sanzang Fashi
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Question 2: Fill in the blanks


Things to nail today…
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Skopos Theory and Hans Vermeer
Functional Approach and News Translation


The Functionalist Approaches
A shift from a linguistic-oriented approach to a more
socio-cultural one.
 Translator = a profession; an expert of his own field

 No longer restricted to only literary and religious texts
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Theory of Translational Action
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

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The 1980s: culture-centered translation (Bassnett 2002)
Holz-Manttari 1986
Disregard of the ST


Skopos = “aim”, “purpose”


Hans Vermeer (1930-2010)
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
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German linguist and translation
scholar
the University of Mainz
Best known for “Skopos Theory”

“[A] technical term for the aim
or purpose of a translation”
(Vermeer, 1989, p.227)


Five rules


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1) The final version of the TT is determined by its skopos
and the role it will play in the target culture.
2) The role of the ST in the source culture may be
different to the role of the TT in the target culture.
3) The TT must take into account the receiver‟s situation
and background knowledge – it must be “internally
coherent”.
4) The TT must be faithful to the ST – “coherent with the
ST”.
5) These rules are in order of importance, so skopos has
the prime position (Munday, 2001, p.79).


Commission
“the instruction, given by oneself or by someone else, to
carry out a given action – here: to translate” (Vermeer,
1989, p.235)

 the purpose of a translation can be determined either by
the translator him/herself or by another party (i.e. an
editor or publisher, or the board of directors of a
multinational corporation)



Adequacy
The relations between ST and TT as a consequence of
observing a skopos during the translation process
(Munday, 2001:80)
E.g.:
+ translation methods selection
+ text types of the translation
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Adequacy vs. Equivalence?


Advantage(s)


The same ST can be translated in different ways
depending on its role and purpose in the target culture


Criticisms
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

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Only valid for non-literary texts
Stylistically and semantically loose;
Little attention to microlevel features in the TT
(Munday 2001:81)


Any

translation is accepted; any criticism is dismissed AS
LONG AS the final version of the TT satisfactorily fulfils
the commission?

What

actually constitutes translation?





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Peter Newmark‟s “essence of translation”
Hans Vermeer‟s “translatum”
Ambiguity in Translation

Activity 1
 Applying

the Skopos Theory to
determine the translation strategies
of the following speeches.
 Pay attention to the requirement(s)




„Bà mà bắt gặp mày giao du với thằng gù ở nhà ơng bà
Phán nữa thì tiên sư cha ba họ nhà mày sẽ chết với bà.‟
(trích trong Áo lụa Hà Đông (2006))




If I ever see you with that hunchback servant again then
damn/f***k your ancestors (to the third generation). I
swear I‟ll beat you to death.




Context: A group of American male high-schoolers are
chatting in the back of the school bus



“That doesn‟t exist,” somebody shouted behind him.
“It so fucking does,” Steve shouted back. “Drunkenmonkey style, man, it‟s a real fucking thing.You can kill
somebody with it…”
“You‟re full of shit.”
“You‟re full of shit,” Steve said. […]

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
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(from Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell)


Activity 2
Apply Skopos Theory to assess the translations:

ST: “I cannot speak for the President’s schedule, but I know that
the President shares my deep commitment to deepening and
strengthening our relationship between our two countries and
also the importance of ASEAN.”
(response of the Secretary Hillary Clinton in the press
conference in Washington, 1 Oct 2009
Source: website of US Department of State)




“Tơi khơng thể nói thay lịch trình hoạt động của tổng
thống, tuy nhiên chúng tôi chia sẻ cam kết phát triển

quan hệ giữa Hoa Kỳ với Việt Nam, và tầm quan trọng
của khối Asean.”

(Source: BBC Vietnamese 2 Oct, 2009)




“Tơi khơng thể nói về lịch trình làm việc của Tổng thống
Obama, nhưng tôi biết rằng Tổng thống Obama cũng chia
sẻ cam kết mạnh mẽ về việc làm sâu rộng và tăng cường
mối quan hệ giữa hai nước, cũng như tầm quan trọng
của ASEAN.”

(Source:VnExpress, 3 Oct, 2009)




“Tơi khơng thể nói thay lịch trình hoạt động của tổng
thống, tuy nhiên chúng tôi chia sẻ cam kết phát triển
quan hệ giữa Hoa Kỳ với Việt Nam, và tầm quan trọng
của khối Asean.”

(Source: BBC Vietnamese 2 Oct, 2009)




ST: “The problem is that China has now committed herself,

publicly, to sovereignty of the South China Sea and to push
that back, if only to the status of a claim that is not enforced,
is going to be very difficult.”

(comment by scholar Arthur Waldon of Pennsylvania
University, AP 8 Aug, 2010)
TT: “Việc Trung Quốc tun bố chủ quyền đối với tồn bộ
biển Đơng sẽ ngày càng khó khăn hơn.”

(Source:VnExpress.net, 9 Aug, 2010)




ST: “The problem is that China has now committed herself,
publicly, to sovereignty of the South China Sea and to push
that back, if only to the status of a claim that is not enforced,
is going to be very difficult.”

(comment by scholar Arthur Waldon of Pennsylvania
University, AP 8 Aug, 2010)
TT: “Việc Trung Quốc tun bố chủ quyền đối với
tồn bộ biển Đơng sẽ ngày càng khó khăn hơn.”

(Source:VnExpress.net, 9 Aug, 2010)