Phan Ngọc Diễm B1908962 Đề cương

Phan Ngọc Diễm B1908962 – Lý thuyết dịch N03
THEORY OF TRANSLATION
1. What is translation?
Translation is the communication of meaning from one language (the
source to another language (the target). Translation is basically the
change of the language. When we speak ò the form of the language, we
remember about words, sentences, clauses, phrases, paragraphs. It is
called surface structure of the language.
The purpose of translation: The purpose of the text is to show that
translation consists of transferring the meaning the source language into
the target language. And that is done by going from the form of the first
language to the form of a second language by way of semantic structure.
It is meaning which is be transferred and must be held constant. The
form change, source language – the form from which the translation
made, and receptor language – the form into which it is to be changed.
Translation, then, consists of studying the lexicon, grammatical
structure, communication situation, and cultural context of the source
language text, analyzing it in order to determine its meaning, and then
transfer this same meaning using the lexicon and grammatical structure
which is appreciate in the receptor language and its cultural context.
2. What are form-based and meaning-based translation?
According Larson, translation is classified into two main types,
namely form-based translation and meaning-based translation.
Form-based translation attempts to follow the form of the source
language (SL) and it is known as literal translation, while meaning-based
translation makes very effort to communicate the form of the SL text in
the natural forms of the receptor language.
3. What are five language characterisricts that effect translation?
Characteristics of language that affect translation:
- Meaning component are “packaged” differently into lexical
items, but they are “packaged” differently in one language than
in another.
Example: Boy has three meaning components: human,
young, and male
- The same meaning component will occur in several surface
structure lexical items (forms)
Example: The words lamb, ram, and ewe also include the
meaning sheep. They include the additional meaning components
of young (in lamb), adult and male (in ram), and aldut and female
(in ewe).
- One form will be used to represent several alternative
meanings.
Example: The English word “run’ has fifty-four meanings. In
English, we can say the boy rún, using “run” in its primary
meaning. We can also say the motor runs, the river runs and his
nose runs, using “run” in secondary sense with different meaning.
- A single meaning can be expressed in various forms.
Example: the English possessive phrase my phone may mean
“the phone I own”, “the phone I buy”, “the phone I borrow”.
- Skewing (Figuarative/ metaphorical meaning) that is the
diversity or the lade of one-to-one correlation between form
and meaning.
Example; his heart is cold (meaning he his unfeeling, has no
emotion sympathy)
4. What are the four types of translation. Briefly describe them.

Give example.
- Form-based translation attempts to follow the form of the
source language and are known as literal translation. These
literal translations are very useful for purpose related to the
study of the source language. A literal translation sounds like
nonsense and has little communication value.
Example: Chuave (Papua New Guinea): kan daro
Literal translation: your-name call
- Idiomatic translation: meaning-based translation make every
effort communication the meaning of the source language text
in the natural forms of the receptor language. Such translations
are called idiomatic translations.
Example: Chuave (Papua New Guinea): kan daro
Idiomatic translation: What is your name?
- Most translations who tends tend to translate literally actually
make a partially modified literally translation. They modify the
order and grammar enough to use acceptable sentence structure
in the receptor language.
Example: Chuave (Papua New Guinea):
ohombo ngusifu pamasibogandi
Modified literaly translation: I fastened her in my heart.
- Unduly free translation is not considered acceptable
translations for most purposes. They are unduly free translation
if they add extraneous information not in the source language,
if they change the meaning of the source language, or if they
distort the facts of the historical and cultural setting of the
source language text.
Example: “I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus, and
Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking
form you.”
It was translated: “It sure is good to see Steve, Lucky and
‘Big Bam’. They sort make up for your not being here.”
5. How may semantic propositions are there in this sentence “The
dog treed the cat”? Write the proposition (s) out. Then,
translate the sentence into Vietnamese.
treed the cat”. The first semantic proposition is: “The dog chased
the cat.”, and second is the cat went up into a tree.”
Translate: The dog treed the cat: Con chó đuổi bắt con mèo và con
mèo đã chạy tót lên cây.
6. What are the three kinds of meaning. Describe them.

- Three kinds of meaning are referential meaning, organizational
meaning, and situational meaning.
+ Referential meaning is something that a word or sentence refers to.
Referential meaning is what the communication is about. It is the
information content because the word refers to a certain thing, event,
attribution, or relation which a person can perceive or imagine.
Example: the word “apple” refers to a fruit that is produced on
certain tree.
Mary peeled an apple and Mary ate an apple.
+ Organizational meaning organized into a semantic structure. The
information bits are "packaged", that is, they are put together and
expressed by a variety of combinations. Organization meaning is
signaled by deictics, repetition, groupings, and by many other features in
the grammatical structure of a text.
Example: If “apple” has been referred to in the text and then “apple”
is referred to again.
+ The message is produced in given communication situation. The
relationship between the writer or speaker and the addressee will affect
the communication. When the communication takes place, the age,
gender, and social status of the speaker and hearer, the relationship
between them, the cultural background of the speaker and the addresses,
and may other situational matters result in Situational meaning.
7. What is implicit meaning? Give an example. Then translation
the example into Vietnamese.
Implicit meaning: Information is part of the meaning which is to be
communicated by the translation, because it is part of the meaning
intended to be understood by original writer. Capable of being
understood from something else though unexpressed, unspoken.
Example: “The shooting of the hunter” is ambiguity in English. It
has two different semantic structure. If the implicit information is
made explicit, it may mean either ‘someone shoots the hunter” or “the
hunter shoot something”.
Translation into Vietnamese:
The shooting of the hunter: Người thợ săn bắn con thú hoặc Ai đó
bắn người thợ săn.
8. In communication, why do people leave some information

implicit?
When we talk about something, we leave out some of the information
because the address already knows these facts and might even be
insulted if they were included. It may imply that they were stupid or
uninformed. And so, in every communication, the information if left
implicit in conversation or written text. All communication is based
on share information. It may include shared language structure,
culture, previous conversation, having read the same material, a
common experience, etc. In every text that one may want to translate,
there will be information which is implicit. Some information or
meaning is left implicit because of the structure of the source
language; some because it has already been included elsewhere in the
text, and some because of shared information in the communication
situation.
Example: someone asks: “How many people came?”
The person asked may answer: “Ten”
It means “Ten people came.” The reference to “people” and “came” is
left implicit in this answer.
9. From what you have learnt in the course, what is a good

translator?
In my opinion, a good translator should have several of the following
qualities. Firstly, they must be fluent in at least both the native
language and foreign language. Besides, they need to have a good
knowledge of the cultures of the two languages or the two countries
that use them. Secondly, the translator needs to have a good
understanding of the principles of translation, and always ensure it.
Thirdly, translator must understand meaning-based translation, and
translate on the meaning of the text. To do that, they must analyze the
text and use the form of the receptor language to convey the meaning.
However, translator also maintains the dynamic character of the
source language text. Finally, if translator is involved in a translation
project, they need to equip several soft skills such as teamwork,
communication, and time management skills, and translation skills,
understanding the steps taken to complete a translation project.
10. Translation exercises.

11. How many steps are there in a translation project? List
them out.
There are seven steps in translation project:
Step 1: Establishing the project
Step 2: Exegesis
Step 3: Transfer and initial draft
Step 4: Evaluation
Step 5: Revised draft
Step 6: Consultation
Step 7: Final draft
12. What are the four T’s in the first step? Describe them.
The four T’s in the first step are: the text, the target, the team, and the
tools.
+ The text refers to the source language document which is to be
translated. Most text often it is to communication certain information to
people speaking another language and share the enjoyment of the source
text.
+ The target refers to the audience. The form of the translation will be
affected by question of dialect, educational level, age level, and people’s
attitudes towards their language.
+ The team refers to the people who will involve in the project. The
team may consist of co-translators, a translator with the other a specialist
in the receptor language, and receptor language matter and an advisor or
consultant; and a committee working together with specific
responsibilities delegated to each one.
+ The tools refer to the written source material which will be used by
the translators as helps. These include the document to be translated, any
dictionaries, lexicons, grammars, cultural descriptions, etc. of both
source language and receptor language.

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Phan Ngọc Diễm B1908962 – Lý thuyết dịch N03

4. What are the four types of translation. Briefly describe them.

6. What are the three kinds of meaning. Describe them.

8. In communication, why do people leave some information

9. From what you have learnt in the course, what is a good

10. Translation exercises.

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