An investigation into loss and gain in the translation of a comic “the adventures of tintin

THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ NHUNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO LOSS AND GAIN IN
THE TRANSLATION OF A COMIC “THE
ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: TINTIN IN
AMERICA” INTO VIETNAMESE VERSION
“NHỮNG CUỘC PHIÊU LƯU CỦA TINTIN:
TINTIN TRÊN ĐẤT MỸ”
MASTER THESIS IN
LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF FOREIGN
COUNTRIES

Da Nang, 2020
Da Nang, 2020


THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ NHUNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO LOSS AND GAIN IN
THE TRANSLATION OF A COMIC “THE
ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: TINTIN IN AMERICA”
INTO VIETNAMESE VERSION “NHỮNG CUỘC
PHIÊU LƯU CỦA TINTIN: TINTIN TRÊN
ĐẤT MỸ”

Major: ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Code: 822.02.01
MASTER THESIS IN
LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF FOREIGN
COUNTRIES

SUPERVISOR: TRẦN THỊ THUỲ OANH, Ph. D

Da Nang, 2020



ii

ABSTRACT
This study clarified the loss and gain in the translation strategies of the comic
“The adventures of tintin: Tintin in America” into Vietnamese version. The
investigation indicated kinds the loss and gain of translation applied in the comic.
The discussion began by collecting the data both the English version and Vietnamese
version to be read and to find some Vietnamese there are ain in the translation process
of the comic. The results of the investigation indicate that there are 134 patterns of
loss and gain in the comic by using semantic strategies. The study also shows the
finding of loss and gain in the comic as well as some reasons why the translator did
the loss and gain process in translating the comic “The Adventures of Tintin: Tintin
in America” into “Những chuyến phiêu lưu của Tintin: Tintin trên đất Mỹ”. Finally,
the study gives some implications and recommendations have been conducted in the
field of commic reading in the context of global English and of the emergence of so
many variations of English so far. Through the results of this study, the researcher
hopes that the result of this study can give some benefits to the translators and learners
to enlarge knowledge about loss and gain and to learn how to make a good analysis,

especially in translation analysis.
Keywords: loss and gain, comic, translation, source language, target language.


iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to people who have
advised and supported me, and made constructive criticism during the research.
Thanks are extended to Tran Thi Thuy Oanh, Ph.D, my supervisor for her
professional guidance and support. Without her professional support and
encouragement, this thesis could not reach this present standard.
My very special thanks go to the board of director, the library staff of The
University of Danang, University of Foreign Language Studies for their dedicated
helps during the time I carried out this research.
I wish to express my deep thanks to my family and friends for all their
support as well as motivation during the time I was conducting this project.


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TABLE CONTENT
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................ i
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... ii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................. vii
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................... vii
LIST OF CHARTS .................................................................................................. vii
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................. vii
Chapter One ............................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1

1.1.

RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY .................................................................. 1

1.2.

THE AIM OF THE STUDY ........................................................................... 2

1.3.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS OF THE STUDY ............................................... 3

1.4.

THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY ...................................................................... 3

1.5.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ....................................................... 4

1.6.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY .................................................... 5

Chapter Two ............................................................................................................... 6
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ....................... 6
2.1.

LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................... 6

2.2.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................ 8

2.2.1. The The main views of translation.................................................................. 8
2.2.1.1. Definition ..................................................................................................... 8
2.2.1.2. The aspects of Language and Culture in Translation ............................... 10
2.2.1.3. Equivalence in translation ........................................................................ 11
2.2.1.4. Translation procedures ............................................................................. 13
2.2.1.5. Translation Strategy .................................................................................. 15
2.2.1.6. Process of translation................................................................................ 21
2.2.2. The main tenets of Comic ............................................................................. 23
2.2.2.1. Definition ................................................................................................... 23


v

2.2.2.2. Comic translation ...................................................................................... 24
2.2.3. Loss and Gain ............................................................................................... 24
2.2.3.1. Loss............................................................................................................ 24
2.2.3.2. Gain ........................................................................................................... 25
2.3.

SUMMARY .................................................................................................. 25

Chapter Three ........................................................................................................... 26
METHODOLOGY................................................................................................... 26
3.1.

RESEARCH METHODS ............................................................................. 26

3.2.

RESEARCH DESIGN .................................................................................. 27

3.2.1. Data collection .............................................................................................. 27
3.2.2. Data analysis ................................................................................................. 29
3.3.

RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY ................................................................ 29

3.4.

SUMMARY .................................................................................................. 30

Chapter Four FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .................................................... 31
4.1.

THE DISCUSSION OF LOSS ..................................................................... 32

4.1.1. Loss in Translation by Cultural Substitution ................................................ 32
4.1.2. Loss in Translation by using Paraphrase with Unrelated Word .................. 34
4.1.3.

Loss in translation by using omission ....................................................... 36

4.1.4. Loss in translation by using A More Neutral/Less Expressive Word ........... 39
4.1.5. Loss in translation by a more general word .................................................. 41
4.1.6. Loss in translation by using loan word without explanation ........................ 43
4.2.

THE DISCUSSION OF GAIN ..................................................................... 45

4.2.1. Gain in Translation by using Paraphrase with Related Word ....................... 45
4.2.2. Gain in Translation by using Paraphrase with Unrelated Word ................... 48
4.3.

FREQUENCY OF LOSS AND GAIN IN TRANSLATION BY USING

SEMANTIC TRANSLATION STRATEGIES ....................................................... 50
4.4.

SUMMARY .................................................................................................. 53

Chapter Five ............................................................................................................. 56
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ................................................................. 56


vi

5.1.

CONCLUDING REMARKS ........................................................................ 56

5.2.

IMPLICATIONS FROM THE RESULTS ................................................... 58

5.2.1. To teachers .................................................................................................... 58
5.2.2. To learners .................................................................................................... 58

5.2.3. To translators ................................................................................................ 59
5.3.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER

RESEARCH ............................................................................................................. 59
REFERENCES......................................................................................................... 61
APENDIX ................................................................................................................ 65
QUYẾT ĐỊNH GIAO ĐỀ TÀI (BẢN SAO)


vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
SLT:

source language text

TLT:

target language text

SL:

source language

TL:

target language

LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1

The quantity and percentage of loss in translation by using semantic
strategies ( P.51)

Table 4.2

The quantity and percentage of gain in translation by using semantic
strategies (P.53)

LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 4.1. The percentage of loss in translation by using semantic strategies.
(P.52)
Chart 4.2. The percentage of gain in translation by using semantic strategies.
(P.53)

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Nida and Taber’s translation process (P.22)


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Chapter One
INTRODUCTION
This introductory chapter provides a brief overview of the study. It begins with
rationale for the study, then goes on to the aims and research questions of the study.
This is followed by scope of the study and significance of the study. Lastly, the
organization of the study is also presented.
1.1.

RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
In the process of globalization today, English has been considered an official

language by many nations in the world and used in many fields such as business,
politics, economics, education or communication. By using English language, people
can give or get any information about anything they need. In other words, English is
a language that enables people over the world to express ideas or what is thought
together. Therefore, people usually want to transfer good, interesting or attractive
works in their own language into English so that those works are able to be brought
to the public better, especially in the works of art such as film, music, novels or
comic. Consequently, people learn how to make a good translation their own
language into English and vice versa.
The case being analyzed in this research is loss and gain, one of the key issues
in translation studies. With the need of preserving the intended meaning, when
rendering from one language to anothers, the translator might use several strategies
and make adjustment to the texts in target language, which causes a bunch of changes
and differences in the translated texts. These were presented by the theory of Loss
and Gain by Peter Newmark (1988), in which Gain refers to the addition of words in
the translated texts, while Loss tends to shorten and simplify the translated texts.
In this study, to clarify this strategy of loss and gain process, we choose a
comic called The Adventures of Tintin by Belgian artist Georges (1907–1983)
writing under the pen name of Hergé which is one of the most popular comics in the
world and translated into more than 70 languages in which English version was
performed by Leslie and Michael (1978) and Vietnamese version (translated from


2

this English one) by Nguyen Huu Thien (2016). To serve the study, we used one of

the popular series of Tintin entitled “The Adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America”.
This title was written in 1931, published for the first time in 1932, republished in
2002 by Herge New Edition and said to the most interesting comic series. The author
decided to use this work due to the descriptive word usage and the rich of utterances,
which would be useful in analyzing how they will be translated.
This encourages us to conduct a study with a title “An investigation into loss
and gain in the translation of the comic “The adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America”
into Vietnamese version “Những cuộc phiêu lưu của Tintin: Tintin trên đất Mỹ” with
the hope to clarify how the translation process of loss and gain works when this comic
is translated from English into Vietnamese based on the semantic features of lexicon
of phrases and sentences, why translators should choose the loss and gain process in
translating a comic The adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America into Vietnames and
suggest some implications for comic translating.
1.2.

THE AIM OF THE STUDY
This research aims to:
-

Clarify the generalizations of how the translating methods are rendered and
analyze the loss and gain when this comic is translated from English into
Vietnamese based on the semantic features of lexicon of phrases and
sentences.

-

Identify the kind of loss and gain can be found in the Vietnamese
translation of English comic “The adventure of Tintin: Tintin in Amarica”.

-

Find the reasons why the translator should choose the loss and gain process
in translating the comic “The adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America” into
Vietnamese

-

Give some implications for the learners and translator in commic
translating and translating teaching and learning as well as some
recommendations for practice in the future.


3

1.3.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS OF THE STUDY
The research attempts to answer the following questions:
1)

What are the semantic features of lexicon of phrases and sentences of

the comic “The adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America” translated into
Vietnamese?
2) What kind of loss and gain can be found in the Vietnamese translation
version of a English comic “The adventure of Tintin: Tintin in America”
translated from English version?
3)

Why did the translators choose that loss and gain process in translating

a comic?
4)
1.4.

What are the implications for translators in comic translating?

THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study adopts mixed methodologies, including qualitative method,

quantitative method, descriptive method, and contrastive method to investigate
clarified the loss and gain in the translation strategies of the comic “The adventures
of tintin: Tintin in America” into Vietnamese version
This study is conducted in the context that comic translators often get
difficulties due to different language and culture of countries. They should be able to
choose the simplest words to fit the capacity in the bubbles as well as have to build
their imagination by using the right words to bring readers to get inside stories. To
make a good translation of comic, one of the strategies ususally used by translators is
loss and gain. Therefore, in order to help readers have deeply understanding comics
in their language, considering the loss and gain process in comic translation should
be carried out.
Due to limitation of duration and human sources, this study focuses on the
semantic features of lexicon of phrases and sentences in the comic “The Adventures
of Tintin: Tintin in America” in English and Vietnamese versions to find out loss and
gain in the translation. This study is implemented with 690 Vietnamese utterances


4

and 690 English utterances which will be tested and identified according to the

strategies proposed by Baker.
1.5.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The investigations as well as recommendations have been conducted in the

field of comic translating in the context of global English and of the emergence of so
many variations of English so far. However, how the translation process of loss and
gain works when comic is translated from English into Vietnamese based on the
semantic features of lexicon of phrases and sentences is still left untouched. In this
vein, this study contributes to this growing area of research by finding the loss and
gain in translation of comic from English into Vietnamese in order to help language
users have a lot of information about comic translating. Besides that, this research
sets out with an expectation that many necessary adjustments have been made in
helping to decrease confusion when reading any kinds of English comics.
The research would be a contribution to the teaching and learning in
translating English into Vietnamese, especially, helping learner have a better insight
into the linguistic features at loss and gain process based on the semantic features of
lexicon of phrases and sentences for translation comic. It is clear that learners’ ability
to translate will be better if they are taught the way to use the loss and gain in
translation. In addition, the findings of the research would provide learners with
knowledge or understanding about the translation process by using the loss and gain
in English and in Vietnamese. Finally, the study would help learners aware of loss
and gain in translation the comics and remind them to take notice the difference
between the use of word between English and Vietnamese.
Furthermore, with the hope that the result of this study can give some benefits
to translators to enlarge knowledge about loss and gain and to learn how to make a
good translation analysis, especially in comic translating.

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1.6.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
The overall structure of the study takes the form of five chapters.
Chapter One, Introduction provides a brief introduction to the rationale for the

study. The aims and research questions are also included and then followed by the
scope and the significance of the research. Lastly, the organization of the study is
presented.
Chapter Two, Literature Review and Theoretical Background presents the
prior studies and theories related to the research. After literature review, this chapter
presents the background of translation with three small sections in order as follows:
definition of translation, equivalence in translation, translation strategy and process
of translation. Then some background information about comic and its translation
are provided respectively. Finally, loss and gain are reviewed in the last section.
Chapter Three, Methodology clarifies the methodology of the research which
includes the design of the study, data collection and data analysis. The sample, the
research methods as well as reliability and validity of the study are fully explained.
Chapter Four, Findings and Discussion presents the findings of the research
focusing on the two key themes that the loss and gain processes. Also, the discussion
about the loss and gain is also provided.
Chapter Five, Conclusions gives brief summaries as well as implications drawn out
from the result of the study. Besides, some limitations and suggestion for translators
are offered.


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Chapter Two
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This chapter is divided into four main sections for the purpose of introducing
a theoretical framework to support for this research. Starting with literature review,
the background of translation is presented with three small sections in order as
follows: definition of translation, equivalence in translation, translation procedures,
translation strategy and process of translation. Then some background information
about comic and its translation are provided respectively. Finally, loss and gain w
are reviewed in the last section.
2.1.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Practically, translation in Vietnam has started recently and the number of

published works is still modest. While some research focuses on basic theory of
translation, other work has sought to show different examples of translation
techniques or provide sample translations.
The majority of jobs published for internal circulation within universities
emphasize the previous aspect, which is the theoretical basis of translation. It can be
said that in Vietnam featured publications of this type include Translation Books and
Translation Courses by Bui and Dang (1999), Translation Theory by Huynh and
Nguyen (2000) and some scattered academic essays found on the Internet. Unlike
international books on translation theory, these publications are closely related to the
English – Vietnamese translation. Written by experienced translators, who have spent
many years practicing translation as a career and working with students learning
translation skills, the books focus on solving theoretical problems to meet the need
of translation learners in Vietnam. This can be a solid base to begin any further study
of translation practice in Vietnam. Another trend of coping with translation issues in
Vietnam is to figure out what are the weaknesses lingering in translation work and
suggest specific techniques to help translators avoid repeating frequently made

mistakes. This kind of approach can be seen in Hướng dẫn kĩ thuật dịch Anh – Việt
(English –Vietnamese Translation Techniques) by Nguyen (2005) and Le’s


7

Translation and Grammar (2003). Both works are practical and useful for readers as
translation learners if they are to develop their translation skills and ability to deal
with thorny situations. The authors base their arguments on verified studies by wellknown scholars over the world and their scope of study is broad.
Regarding the topic of loss and gain in translation, there are many practical
studies related to the analysis of loss and gain have been carried out. “An investigation
into Loss and Gain in Vietnamese Translation of English Lexical Nominalizations in
American Short Stories by Jack London and O’Henry” conducted by Le (2018) has
shown the ways of translating nominalizations and loss and gain in the translation
into Vietnamese. The researcher investigated 540 samples including 270 English
nominalizations and 270 Vietnamese translations in the works of Jack London and
O’Henry and classified them into each kind of loss and gain. The thesis concluded
that the occurrence of the loss and gain of information in the process of translation is
caused by the structural differences in both languages. In order to make the translation
natural, the only way can be done is to transfer the equivalence of the SL into the TL.
Thus, the occurrence is loss and gain process cannot be avoided due to structure of
the SL or linguistic system and cultural background are different in the TL.
Next “An investigation into loss of meaning in the translation process as
manifested in the Vietnamese version of the world is flat by Thomas L. Friedman” by
Tran (2011) has explored, described and analyzed the cases of loss in meaning
occurred during translation in English -Vietnamese translation of The World Is Flat.
The study showed her attention to the unavoidable phenomena in the process of
translation because of many reasons: the ability to use language, the translation
method choice of translator and the difference of language. The most prominent
reason may be the last- the difference in language. It is this difference that affects the

translator’s equivalences. And loss in meaning will appear. In the project, the
researcher concluded that loss in meaning cannot be considered the mistakes but the
phenomena in the process of translation each translator should be aware of in order
to make his/ her product better. Clearly whatever kind of loss in meaning is, they


8

seem to be necessary because they can make the target version smoother and the
readers can find it more comprehensible and acceptable.
Most of the writers only discussed the problems in syntactic aspects and their
semantic roles while the loss and gain in translation by using the sematic strategies
has not been fully mentioned. Accordingly, a study of loss and gain in translation the
comic by using semantic strategies become a new item for language learners.
2.2.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.2.1. The The main views of translation
2.2.1.1. Definition
In a variety of definitions of translation, transfering texts from language A
into B language is considered the simplest way for the view of translation. Over time,
this understanding started to become wider and deeper depending on the position of
the researchers, though. Usually, although not by any means, it is expressing the
meaning of the text into another language in the way that the author intended the text.
General psychology tells us that this should be simple, because one must be able to
say something in this language as well as another language.
The translation is primarily discussed in terms of conflict between free and
literal translation. Proposed literal translation of the syntax as well as the words, it is
said that this sentence is a wall to prevent the language of origin, while the word to

translate words is arcade.
Before, people thought that translation is the replacement of a textual
material in one language (source language – SL) by equivalent textual material in
another language (target language – TL). The equivalent here is the grammatical
factors between the SL and the TL. Therefore, at the time with this view the
grammatical equivalent became one of the criteria for assessing the quality of a
translation.
One of the most prominent definitions of translation is stated by Newmark
(1988) is that “rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that


9

the author intended the text” (p.5). This definition stresses on rendering meaning of
the SL text into the TL text as what is intended by the author.
Hatim and Munday (2004) define that translation is “the process of
transferring a written text from SL to TL” (p.6). In this definition they do not
explicitly express that the object being transferred is meaning or message. They
emphasis on translation as a process.
Nida and Taber (1982) say that “translating consists in reproducing in the
receptor language the closest natural equivalence of a source language message,
firstly in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style” (p.12). It means that when
we translate a text, we do not only have to look at the words, but we also have to look
at the style and grammar rules. Because every language has their own style and
grammar. Translating a text by word for word without making a right grammar will
be hard to be understood.
Besides that, Tou (1999) quoted the view of Malinowski (1965) of translation that :
“Translation must always be re-creation of the original into something
profoundly different. On the other hand, it is never substitution of word for
word but invariably the translation of whole contexts. So, a translator must

be able to translate the whole context, not only the words inside, then re-write
it into the target language by using the appropriate text.” (p.31)
From the definitions mentioned above, it is found that translation is a process
which is intended to find meaning equivalence in the target text. Rochayah (2001)
and Mona (1992) underline the term meaning equivalence because it is the meaning
which is transferred in the TL. In this case, translators are faced with text as unit of
meaning in the form of sets of words or sentences. This means that language which
is used is unit of meaning in discourse which can be understood by the participants
of the communication (Machali, 2007).
In short, we make a conclusion that translation is the way to transfer from the
original text into the target text by using an appropriate word deal with the target text
but still have a same meaning of the original text.


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2.2.1.2. The aspects of Language and Culture in Translation
Language, culture and translation and the relationship between them are
valuable issues due to the importance of human communication in the world. The
variety of languages with different cultures and necessity of communications in
human life caused translation to be a very effective factor in communicating,
exchanging cultures, and knowledge. Thus, it seems that language and culture are
closely related and it is essential to consider both in the process of translation.
Although there might be is no specific frame and force on how a translation must be
done, all translators who transfer natural meaning based on the cultural and religious
norms of their society, encounter some limitations and censorship through translation.
As languages and culture are complimentary of each other, and cultural features of
every region are different, translators not only should concentrate on how to convey
the same meaning, but also attempt to show the dissimilarities between two cultural
perspectives.

a) Language
There are lots of definitions on language which are included here shortly.
Language is used to maintain and convey culture and cultural ties. Different ideas
stem from differing language use within one's culture and the whole intertwining of
these relationships start at one's birth. Brislin (1976) defines language may refer
either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex system of
communication or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication
(p.10). Carlson (2001) states the human language faculty is thought to be
fundamentally different from and of much higher complexity than those of other
species. Human language is highly complex in that it is based on a set of rules relating
symbols to their meanings, thereby forming an infinite number of possible innovative
utterances from a finite number of elements (p.17).
b) Culture
Newmark (1988) defines culture as "the way of life and its manifestations
that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of


11

expression" (p.94)). He clearly states that operationally he does not regard language
as a component or feature of culture in direct opposition to the view taken by Vermeer
(1989) who stated that "language is part of a culture” (p.222). The term culture
originally meant the cultivation of the soul or mind; culture includes behavior such
as courtship or child rearing practices material things such as tools, clothing and
shelter, institutions and beliefs. Culture is the sum total of the ways of living built up
by a group and passed on from one generation to another. Culture is a complex whole
which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and many other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
c) Culture through the Language
We came to agree on the existence of the so-called "cultural universals" that

enhance communication, change of ideas in order to achieve progress in all life
domains. Change of ideas, concentration of mutual efforts in different directions,
communication among different peoples in different ways, all these are a constant
necessity of spiritual and material life. Not only cultural acts are achieved by means
of continuity process alone, but also being discontinuous can be as creative at certain
times.Yet, this breach is to be performed to existent models and not to a state of
nothingness rightfully considers Romul Munteanu (Munteanu: 1980). But how
cultures transfer through the languages? For answering this question we should
consider the relationship between culture and language which is deeply rooted.
Translation is the only way which does it. The fact that there is only one human
species is explained by the possibility to transfer sense, meaning from one language
to the other, by means of the word, thus, by translation
2.2.1.3. Equivalence in translation
Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) [28] view equivalence-oriented translation as a
procedure which replicates the same situation as in the original, whilst using
completely different wording. They also suggest that, if this procedure is applied
during the translation process, it can maintain the stylistic impact of the SL text in the
TL text. According to them, equivalence is therefore the ideal method when the


12

translator has to deal with proverbs, idioms, clichés, nominal or adjectival phrases
and the onomatopoeia of animal sounds.
With regard to equivalent expressions between language pairs, Vinay and
Darbelnet claim that they are acceptable as long as they are listed in a bilingual
dictionary as full equivalents. However, later they note that glossaries and collections
of idiomatic expressions can never be exhaustive. They conclude by saying that the
need for creating equivalences arises from the situation, and it is in the situation of
the SL text that translators have to look for a solution. Indeed, they argue that even if

the semantic equivalent of an expression in the SL text is quoted in a dictionary or a
glossary, it is not enough, and it does not guarantee a successful translation.
Roman Jakobson's (1959) [12] study of equivalence gave new impetus to the
theoretical analysis of translation since he introduced the notion of 'equivalence in
difference'. On the basis of his semiotic approach to language and his aphorism 'there
is no signatum without signum' [12, p232], he suggests three kinds of translation:
•

Intralingual (within one language, i.e. rewording or paraphrase)

•

Interlingual (between two languages)

•

Intersemiotic (between sign systems)

Jakobson claims that, in the case of interlingual translation, the translator makes use
of synonyms in order to get the ST message across. This means that in interlingual
translations there is no full equivalence between code units. According to his theory,
translation involves two equivalent messages in two different codes. Jakobson goes
on to say that from a grammatical point of view languages may differ from one
another to a greater or lesser degree, but this does not mean that a translation cannot
be possible, in other words, that the translator may face the problem of not finding a
translation equivalent. He acknowledges that whenever there is deficiency,
terminology may be qualified and amplified by loanwords or loan-translations,
neologisms or semantic shifts, and finally, by circumlocutions. Jakobson provides a
number of examples by comparing English and Russian language structures and
explains that in such cases where there is no a literal equivalent for a particular ST

13

word or sentence, then it is up to the translator to choose the most suitable way to
render it in the TT.
There seems to be some similarity between Vinay and Darbelnet's theory of
translation procedures and Jakobson's theory of translation. Both theories stress the
fact that, whenever a linguistic approach is no longer suitable to carry out a
translation, the translator can rely on other procedures such as loan-translations,
neologisms and the like. Both theories recognize the limitations of a linguistic theory
and argue that a translation can never be impossible since there are several methods
that the translator can choose. The role of the translator as the person who decides
how to carry out the translation is emphasized in both theories. Both Vinay and
Darbelnet as well as Jakobson conceive the translation task as something which can
always be carried out from one language to another, regardless of the cultural or
grammatical differences between ST and TT.
Nida argued that there are two different types of equivalence, namely formal
equivalence - which in the second edition by Nida and Taber (1969/1982) [20] is
referred to as formal correspondence - and dynamic equivalence. Formal
correspondence 'focuses attention on the message itself, in both form and content',
unlike dynamic equivalence which is based upon 'the principle of equivalent effect'
[20, p159]. In the second edition (1982) or their work, the two theorists provide a
more detailed explanation of each type of equivalence.
2.2.1.4. Translation procedures
The translating procedures, as depicted by Nida and Taber (1982:152) are as
follows: Technical procedure (analysis of the SL and TL; a thorough study of the
SLT before making attempts translate it; making judgments of the semantic and
syntactic approximations) and organizational procedures (constant reevaluation of
the attempt made; contrasting it with the existing available translations of the same

text done by other translator; checking the text's communicative effectiveness by


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asking the target language readers to evaluate its accuracy and effectiveness and
studying their reactions).
The following are the different translation procedures that Newmark (1988), one of
the most popular translation scholars, proposed:
Transference: it is the process of transferring an SL word to a TL text. It
includes transliteration and is the same as what Harvey (2005) [8, p5] named
“transcription”.
Naturalization: it adapts the SL word first to the normal pronunciation, then
to the normal morphology of the TL.
Cultural equivalent: it means replacing a cultural word in the SL with TL
one. However, “they are not accurate.”
Functional equivalent: it requires the use of a cultural-neutral word.
Descriptive equivalent: in this procedure, the meaning of the cultural- based
translation (CBT) is explained in several words.
Componential analysis: it means “comparing an SL word with a TL word
which has a similar meaning but is not an obvious one-to-one equivalent, by
demonstrating first their common and then their differing sense components.”
Synonym: it is a “near TL equivalent”. Here economy trumps accuracy.
Through-translation: it is the literal translation of common collocations,
names of organizations and components of compounds. It can be called: claque or
loan translation.
Shifts or transpositions: Transposition, or shift as Catford calls it, reflects the
grammatical change that occurs in translation from SL to TL. According to Newmark,
it involves a change in the grammar form SL to TL, for instance, (i) change from
singular to plural, (ii) the change required when a specific SL structure does not exist

in the TL, (iii) change of an SL verb to a TL word, (iv) change of an SL noun group
to a TL noun and so forth.


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Modulation: With Newmark, it occurs when the translator reproduces the
message of the original text in the SL text in conformity with the current norms of
the TL, since the SL and the TL may appear dissimilar in terms of perspective.
Recognized translation: it occurs when the translator “normally uses the
official or the generally accepted translation of any institutional term.”
Compensation: it occurs when loss of meaning in one part of a sentence is
compensated in another part.
Paraphrase: in the procedure, the meaning of the CBT is explained. Here the
explanation is much more detailed than that of descriptive equivalent.
Couplets: it occurs when the translator combines two different procedures.
2.2.1.5. Translation Strategy
Krings (1986) defines translation strategy as "translator's potentially
conscious plans for solving concrete translation problems in the framework of a
concrete translation task," (p.16).
Seguinot (1989) believes that there are at least three global strategies
employed by the translators:
(i) translating without interruption for as long as possible;
(ii) correcting surface errors immediately;
(iii) leaving the monitoring for qualitative or stylistic errors in the text to the
revision stage.
Moreover, Loescher (1991) defines translation strategy as "a potentially
conscious procedure for solving a problem faced in translating a text, or any segment
of it." (p8). As it is stated in this definition, the notion of consciousness is significant
in distinguishing strategies which are used by the learners or translators. In this

regard, Cohen (1998:4) asserts that "the element of consciousness is what
distinguishes strategies from these processes that are not strategic."
Furthermore, Bell (1998:188) differentiates between global (those dealing
with whole texts) and local (those dealing with text segments) strategies and confirms
that this distinction results from various kinds of translation problems.


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Venuti (1998:240) indicates that translation strategies "involve the basic tasks of
choosing the foreign text to be translated and developing a method to translate it." He
employs the concepts of domesticating and foreignizing to refer to translation
strategies.
Jaaskelainen (1999:71) considers strategy as, "a series of competencies, a set
of steps or processes that favor the acquisition, storage, and/or utilization of
information." He also maintains that strategies are "heuristic and flexible in nature,
and their adoption implies a decision influenced by amendments in the translator's
objectives." (p.71). Taking into account the process and product of translation, this
author divides strategies into two major categories: some strategies relate to what
happens to texts, while other strategies relate to what happens in the process.
Product-related strategies, as she writes, involve the basic tasks of choosing the SL
text and developing a method to translate it. However, she maintains that processrelated strategies "are a set of (loosely formulated) rules or principles which a
translator uses to reach the goals determined by the translating situation" (p.71). Also,
she (2005:16) divides this into two types, namely global strategies and local
strategies: "global strategies refer to general principles and modes of action and local
strategies refer to specific activities in relation to the translator's problem-solving and
decision-making."
Another popular translation scholar whose work on translation practice is widely
adopted is Baker (1992), pointed out 8 strategies for dealing with non-equivalence at
word level.

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. The translator usually uses a more general word (superordinate)
or a more commonly known to replace the more specific one. Yet the possibility of