Functional approach to translation

Extracted text from 06NORD-STanalysis-fol_001.pdf:

Ch.Nord:FUNCTIONALAPPROACHTOTRANSLATION

I.SourcetextAnalysis,TranslationBriefs& Identifying TranslationProblems

Threeaspectsoffunctionalismintranslatortraining:

1.theimportanceofthetranslationbrief, 2.theroleofsourcetextanalysis,and 3.theclassificationandhierarchizationoftranslationproblems

1.TheImportanceoftheTranslationBriefinTranslatorTraining

wecannotpretendthatagivensourcetextcontainsalltheinstructions abouthowitshouldbetranslated thepurposeof thetargettextcanbeinferredfromthetranslation situationitself(translator'spreviousexperienceorroutine) everytranslationtaskshouldthusbeaccompaniedbyabriefthatdefines theconditionsunderwhichthetargettextshouldcarryoutitsparticular function thecommunicativesituation(includingthecommunicatorsandtheir communicativeaims)determinestheverbalandnonverbalfeaturesofthe textsituationalfactors: thedifferenceinplace,time,motiveandpurposeofthe communication, differencewithregardtothecultureboundknowledge, experienceorsusceptibilityoftherespectiveaudiences.

Tofindtheaspectsinwhichthesourceandthetargettextswilldiverge,the translatorhastocomparethesourcetextwiththetargettextprofiledefinedin thetranslationbrief.

Thetranslationbriefshouldcontain(explicitorimplicit)information about:

the(intended)textfunction(s), thetargettextaddressee(s), the(prospective)timeandplaceoftextreception, themediumoverwhichthetextwillbetransmitted,and themotivefortheproductionorreceptionofthetext. Example(celebrationtouristbrochure)

Thissituationcanbeformalizedasfollows: Intended textfunctions:referential(informationaboutanniversaryevents), appellative(imagepromotion,mainlybymeansofexpressiveelements) Addressees:visitorstoHeidelbergandotherpeopleinterestedinthe universityandacademicIife Timeandplaceofreception:mainlyHeidelberg,occasionallyother places,forthewholeyearoftheanniversary,butnolonger Medium:monolingualbrochurewithcolouredphotographsandshorttexts inagivenlayout Reasonfortextproductionandreception:600thanniversaryof HeidelbergUniversity.

Thisinformationallowsustoinferthefollowinggeneralrequirementsforthe translations:  Inordertoachievetheintendedfunctions,thetextshouldconformto texttypeandgeneralstyleconventionsandaratherformalregister  Thetextproducershouldtakeaccountoftheprospectiveaudience's culturespecificknowledgepresuppositions  Spatialandtemporaldeixis(referencepoint)willrefermainlyto Heidelbergandtheyearoftheanniversary  Thetextmustfitintothespaceprovidedbythelayout  Theinformationonanniversaryeventswillhave priority overotherdata.

2.TheRoleofSourceTextAnalysis Ifthetranslationtypeisdeterminednotbythesourcetextbutbythepurposeof thetranslationprocess,whatroledoessourcetextanalysisplayinthiscontext?

Thesourcetextprovidestheofferofinformationthestartingpoint Analysisofthesourcetextguidesthetranslationprocessinthatit providesthebasisfordecisionsabout: (a)thefeasibilityofthetranslationassignment, (b)whichsourcetextunitsarerelevanttoafunctionaltranslation,and (c) whichtranslationstrategywillleadtoatargettextmeetingthe requirementsofthetranslationbrief.

Varioustextlinguisticmodelscanbeusedtoanalyzethesourcetext: pragmaticanalysisofthecomrnunicativesituationsinvolved thesamemodelshouldbeusedforboththesourcetextandthe translationbrief(e.g.appellativefunctionintheSLtext differencesbetweensourcetextandtargettextaddresseeswith respecttosocioculturalbackground,worldknowledgeand culturalexpectations

Aftercomparingthesourcetextinsituationwiththetargettextinsituation decisiononoptimal'transfer'procedures:  Comparisonoftheintendedfunctionsthebriefcanbecarriedoutby meansofaheterofunctionalinstrumentaltranslation  ComparisonbetweenSLT&TLTaddresseesleadstotwoconclusions:  (a)thedifferenceinculturalknowledgemayrequireanadjustmentofthe relationshipbetweenexplicitandimplicitinformationinthetext  (b)thedifferenceinculturespecificgenreexpectationsmayrequirean adaptationofthetext'sformtotargetculturetextualandstylistic conventions.  Thetimeofreceptionpossibleproblemsinvolvingdifferenttemporal deixis.  Theoccasionaldifferenceswithregardtotheplaceofreceptionforany receiversabroadmaybeignored  Themediumthesameordifferent forsourceandtargettexts

Thereasonfortextproductionandreceptionisthesameforsourceand targettextspriorityoftheinformativeovertheappellativefunction(further developingthehierarchyoffunctions).

3.ASystematicApproachtoTranslationProblems Oneoftheadvantagesofthisapproach  problemscanbeidentifiedinadvance:  translationproblems:objectiveor(atleastinter)subjective  translationdifficulties:thesubjectivedifficultiesthataparticular translatorortraineeencountersinatranslationprocessbecauseof o deficientlinguistic,culturalortranslationalcompetenceor o becausetheydonothaveappropriatedocumentation.

ThecomparisonbetweenSLT6&TLTinformation: whatelementscanbekeptinvariantand whathastobeadjustedtotherequirementsofthetranslation purpose.

Forpedagogicalpurposes,translationproblemsmaybecategorizedas: pragmatic,cultural,linguisticortextspecific 1.Pragmatictranslationproblems  arisefromthedifferencesbetweentheextraling.situationsandcan beidentifiedbycheckingontheextratextualfactors(sender,receiver, medium,time,place,motive,textfunction).  presentineverytranslationtaskcanbegeneralizedregardlessof thelanguagesandculturesinvolvedorthedirectionofthetranslation process  themostimportantproblemstodealwithintheinitialphasesof translatortraining

2.Culturaltranslationproblems  theresultofthedifferencesinthenormsandconventionsguiding verbalandnonverbalbehaviourinthetwoculturesinvolved  eachculturehasitsownhabits,normsandconventions  theyarepresentinalmosteverytranslationtaskparticularlyin instrumentaltranslations.

3.Iinguistictranslationproblems arisefromstructuraldifferencesinthevocabulary,syntaxand suprasegmentalfeaturesofthetwolanguages. Someofthesearerestrictedtolanguagepairs,asmightbethecase ofcognatesorfalsefriends(e.g.EnglishpetrolvsCroatianpetrolej), onetomanyoronetozeroequivalences(e.g.Croatian vrijemeand EnglishWeather/time/tense) Contrastivegrammarandcomparativestylisticscanprovidevaluable helpinsolvingtheseproblems

II.AFunctionalHierarchyofTranslationProblems

Traditionalapproach: 1.startfromthesourceIanguageelementsand 2.transferthetextsentencebysentenceor,morefrequently,phraseby phraseoreven,ifpossible,wordbyword(Theresultisakindofdraft translationwhosequalitymayvaryaccordingtothetranslator's competence) 3.thistextisthenpolishedstylisticallyuntilitseemsacceptable(fromthe translator'spersonalpointofview)forthecommunicativesituationitis intendedfor.

This'bottomup'processworksfromthelinguistictextsurface structures(stage1)toconventions(stage2)andfinallytopragmatics (stage3). itishighlydependentonthetranslator'sownstylisticpreferencesandthe limitationsoftheirlinguisticandtranslationalcompetence

Drawbacks:  Inthebottomupapproach,translatingisseenasa codeswitching operation wherelexicalorsyntacticequivalences playthemostimportantpart.  keepingasclosetothesourcetextstructuresaspossible, whichleadstolinguisticinterferencesandnistakesevenwhen translatingintoone'snativelanguage.  translatorslosesightofhowthetextasawholefunctionsinits communicativesituation.  thisleadstointuitivedecisionsthatcannotbereasonedthrough intersubjectively.thatis,thetranslatorcannotreallyexplaintheir decisionstothecustomerorrevisor,  adecisiontakenatalowerleveloftenhastoberevisedwhen reachingthenextlevel.  sometimesthetranslationprocessisevenblockedbecauseof apparentuntranslatability

Functionaltranslation

'topdown'approach: i.e.afunctionaltranslationprocessshouldstartonthe pragmaticIevelbydecidingontheintendedfunctionof thetranslation(documentaryvsinstrumental). adistinctionisthenmadebetweenthosefunctional elementsofthesourcetext thatwillhavetobereproduced'assuch'andthe ones thatmustbeadaptedtotheaddressee'sbackground knowledge,expectationsandcornmunicativeneeds ortosuchfactorsasmediumrestrictionsanddeixis requirements. Thetranslationtypethendeterrninewhetherthe translatedtextshouldconformtosourcecultureor targetcultureconventionswithregardtotransIation style. Onlythen willthedifferencesinIanguagesystemcome intoplay

TranslationUnitsRevisited

Theconceptof'translationunits' subjectofdebateeversinceit wasintroducedbyVinayandDarbelnetintheirStylistique compareedufranraisetdel'anglais(1958),.Vinayand Darbelnetdefinedthetranslationunitasa unitedepensee l("the smallestutterancesegmentinwhichthecohesionofthesignsis suchthattheydonothavetobetranslatedseparately"). Iinguisticapproachestranslationunitsrangebetweentherank ofmorphemesorwordsorvarybetweenphrasesand sentencesandthewholetextinaccordancewithequivalence requirements pragmaticapproachesinclude largerunitslike'thecomplexsemanticpragmaticvalues ofthetexttype'(Neubert1973). BassnettandLefevere(1990:8)evenclaimthatthebasic translationunitcanbe'theculture' hermeneuticapproaches'theholisticeffectofthe textcomposition'becomesatranslationunit(Stolze1982) psycholinguisticapproaches thetranslationunitisdeterrnined 'intuitively'bythetranslator'sindividualtranslationproficiency (Konigs1981).

 Onemightimaginethatatopdownapproachtotranslatortraining wouldwanttofavourthelargesttranslationunitspossible

However, thelargerthetranslationunit,thelessmanageableit becomesforthetranslator.

Howdoesoneactuallysetabouttranslating'thetext'(apartfrom minitextsliketitlesorroadsigns)oreven'theculture'?byworkingon smallerunits.

scholarsinterestedintranslatortraininghaveretumedtosmaller segmentsoftextforinstance,Honig(1986:243)focusesonthefunction aparticularsegmenthasfortheoverallfunctionofthetext.

Functionalistapproach  Alltheapproachesaboveseethetranslationunit,regardlessofitssize,asa 'horizontal'segmentinthechronologicalsequenceoflinguisticelements.  a functionalistapproach canalsodealwith'vertical'units(Nord1988,1993, 1997b).  thetextisseenasahyperunitcomprisingfunctionalunitsthatarenot rankbound,witheachunitmanifestedinvariouslinguisticor nonlinguisticelementsthatcanoccuratanylevelanywhereinthe text. Theconceptofaverticaltranslationunitisbasedontheconceptof communication:  Inordertogivethereceiveraclueastotheintendedfunctionofaparticular text,sendersprovidetheirtextswith:  markersoffunctionorintentiononvariouslevelsorranks:  textualmarkersrefertotheoverallconstructionofthetext,  structuralmarkersrefertotheorderandformofparagraphs,  syntacticmarkersrefertosentencestructuresandgrammar,  Iexicalmarkersrefertowordsandphrases,  morphologicalmarkerstowordformation,  phonologicalmarkerstosoundpattems,intonation,focuspoints, andsoon.



 OneparticularfunctioncanbemarkedatvariousIevelsorranks,andallthe markerspointingtoaparticularfunctionorsubfunctionformafunctionalunit:

Afunctionalunitisthusthesumoftextelementsorfeaturesthatare intended(orinterpretedasbeingintended)toservethesame communicativefunctionorsubfunction.Ifweconnecttheseelements, wegetchainsornetworkswhich,fromabird'seyeview,givethe impressionofverticalunits.

Giventhepolyfunctionalityofmanymarkers,wemayassumethattext producersmakeuseofmarkerredundancyinordertobesurethe intendedfunctionisindicatedclearlyenough.(Nord1991)

Functionalapproachtotranslationconsequencesforthedefinitionofthe translationunit:

Communicativefunctionscanbeassumedtobeuniversal eventhoughthemeansbywhichtheyaremarkedare culturespecific(theymayormaynotbeusedinthesamewayin boththesourceandthetargetcultures). possiblecasesofcognates,whereaparticularstylisticdeviceis usedtomarkaparticularfunctioninthesourceculturebuthas quitedifferentfunctionalconnotationsinthetargetculture.

theprofessionaltranslatoranalyzesthefunctionalunitsofthesource textandconsiderswhethertheywillservethetargettextpurpose. Functionalunitsorunitcomponentsthatareusedinthesame way inboththesourceandthetargetculturescanbetransferred tothetargetIanguageassuch. Functionalunitsorcomponentsthatarespecifictothesource cultureorareusedfordifferentpurposesinthetargetculturehave tobeadaptedinordertomeettherequirementsofthetarget situation,unlessthetranslationbriefcallsforadocumentary translation Buteventhen,thetransIatorhastoconsiderthepossibilitythat seriouscommunicativeproblemscouldresultfrommarkersthat areanalogousinformbutindicatedifferentfunctions.

III.TranslationErrorsandTranslationEvaluation  Inforeignlanguageteachingamistakeorerror:adeviationfroma systemofnorrnsorrules.  Translationerror:"anoffenceagainstanorminalinguisticcontact situation"(Wills[1977]1982:201)(translationfromthepointofviewof foreignlanguageacquisition).

1.TranslationErrorsasNonFunctionalTranslations Functionalismthenotionoftranslationerrormustbedefmedinterrns ofthepurposeofthetranslationprocessorproduct (SigridKupschLosereit1985:172)atranslationerrorisanoffence against: 1.thefunctionofthetranslation, 2.thecoherenceofthetext, 3.thetexttypeortextform, 4.linguisticconventions, 5.cultureandsituationspecificconventionsandconditions, 6.thelanguagesystem"

Thismeansthat:  aparticularexpressionorutteranceisnotinadequateinitself

itonlybecomesinadequatewithregardtothecommunicativefunctionitwas supposedtoachieve.

Inadequacyisnotaqualityinherentinanyexpressionbutaqualityassigned totheexpressionfromanevaluator'spointofview.

evendeviationfromagrammaticalrulemaybeanadequatesolutionina translationintendedtoirnitateaperson'sincorrectwayofspeaking,whereas thefaithfulreproductionofafactualerrorcontainedinthesourcetextmaybe aninadequatetranslationifthetargettextisexpectedtobefactuallycorrect.

Ifthepurposeofatranslationistoachieveaparticularfunctionforthetarget addressee,anythingthatobstructstheachievementofthispurposeisa translationerror.

Thebasisfortheevaluationofatranslationistheadequacyorinadequacyof thesolutionsfoundforthetranslationproblems

Ofcourse,solutionstotranslationproblemsarerarelyacaseof'right'versus 'wrong'(Pym1992b)

2.AFunctionalClassificationofTranslationErrors lfa translationerrorisdefinedasafailuretocarryouttheinstructionsimpliedin thetranslationbriefandasaninadequatesolutiontoatranslationproblem,then translationerrorscanbeclassifiedintofourcategories: 1.Pragmatictranslationerrors,causedbyinadequatesolutionstoprag matictranslationproblemssuchasalackofreceiverorientation(asin severaltranslationsoftheHeidelbergbrochureanalyzedabove) 2.Culturaltranslationerrors,duetoaninadequatedecisionwithregardto reproductionoradaptationofculturespecificconventions(seeWilss's translationofthetextonhighereducation,whichwouldnotbeadequateas aninstrumentaltranslation) 3.Linguistictranslationerrors,causedbyaninadequatetranslationwhen thefocusisonlanguagestructures(asinforeignlanguageclasses) 4.Textspecifictranslationerrors,whicharerelatedtoatextspecific translationproblemand,likethecorrespondingtranslationproblems,can usuallybeevaluatedfromafunctionalorpragmaticpointofvlew.

3.AHierarchyofTranslationErrors Asinthecaseoftranslationproblems,atopdownhierarchycanbedrawnupfor translationerrors.  Experienceshowsthatpragmatictranslationproblems:  areusuallynotverydifficulttosolve(oncetheyhavebeen identifiedasproblems!).  Abitofcommonsenseoftensuffices.  However,theconsequencesofpragmaticerrorsareserious,since receiverstendnottorealizetheyaregettingwronginformation  Pragmaticerrorsarethusamongthemostimportantatranslatorcan make.Thisisbecausethefirstdecisioninthetranslationprocess referstothetranslationtypebestsuitedtothetranslationpurpose, andeachfollowingstepwillbeguidedbythisdecision.  Pragmaticerrorscannotbedetectedbylookingatthetargettextonly (forinstance,byanativespeakerrevisor)unlesstheyreallyproduce incoherenceinthetext.Normallytheycanonlybeidentifiedbya personwithtranslationalcompetencecomparingthesourceand targettextsinthelightofthetranslationbrief

 Thegradingof culturaltranslationerrorsandIinguistictranslationerrors dependson  theinfluencetheyhaveonthefunctionofthetargettext.Ifamissing commaoraspellingmistakeleadstoaninadequateinterpretationof thereferentialfunction,theerrorisnolongerameredeviationfrom linguisticnorms.  Ifthepurposeofthetranslationtaskistotestlanguageproficiency (asinforeignlanguageclasses),linguisticerrorswillprobablycarry moreweightthanculturalerrors.Andifthepurposeofthetranslation taskistotestculturalproficiency,culturaltranslationproblemscould evenberankedhigherthanpragmaticerrors.

Summary: 1.TranslatingwithoutclearinstructionsisIikeswimmingwithoutwater. Languageisalwaysusedwithinaspecificsituationitisalwaysframedbya specificsocioculturalcontextthatdetermineswhatfonnsofverbaland nonverbalbehaviourwil1beregardedasappropriatebytheparticipants.A functionallyadequatetranslationcanonlybeproducedbysomeonewhoknows thetargetsituationforwhichthetextisintendedandwhoisfarniliarwiththe comrnunicativeconventionsvalidinthetargetculture. 2.Beforepilotingaship,youneedsomeknowledgeabouttidesand shoalsandtheuseoflifevests. Inordertokeepupthemotivationoftheleamersandtosavethemfrom unnecessaryfailures,acertainamountofgeneraltheoreticalandmethodo logicalknowledgeaboutthepragmaticandculturalaspectsoftranslationshould preparethemfortheirfirstpracticaltranslationexercises. 3.Themostimportanttoolforprospectivetranslatorsistheirownnative language. Thelinguisticandcomrnunicativecompetenceofstudentswhohavejustleft secondaryschoolisnecessarilylimitedtotheareasthathavebeenpresentin theirlivesuptothen(farnily,school,hobbies,dailypolitics,sports,etc.). A)rofessionaltranslatorneverthelessneedsproficiencyinotherfieldsaswell. ['hedevelopmentofgeneraltheoreticalknowledgeabouttranslationandthe levelopmentoftextproductionskillsinthenativelanguagecanbecom >inedin 'intralingual'translationexercises,i.e.rewritingtextsfordifferentmdiencesand purposes.

5.Inordertounderstandthespecificityofanotherculture,youhaveto knowyourownculturefirst. Wearenotnormallyawareofhowspecificourwayofseeingandjudgingthe worldis,norofthenonuniversalwaysweexpressourfeelingsandattitudes, bothverbalandnonverbally.Ifwewanttobehaveinanadequate wayinanotherculturecommunity,wehavetocomparethebehaviourcon ventionsoftheforeignculturewiththoseofourown.Todothis,wehaveto replaceourintuitivebehaviourpattemswithconsciousknowledgeofourown culturalspecificity. 5.Touseaverbinawrongtenseislessriskythantouseitintheright tenseatthewrongtime.Peopletendtohaveacertainnaturaltoleranceof peoplewhodonotspeaktheirlanguageperfectly.Theywouldnotexpecta foreignertoactaccordingtounwrittenconventionsorsocialnormsallthetime theyarewillingtoexplaintheirculturetoforeignersortooverlookoccasional rnistakes.Someonewhospeaksthelanguageperfectly,however,isoften expectedtobefarniliarwiththeconventionalformsofnonverbalbehaviouras wel1.Inthiscase,aslightbreakingofconvention(perhapsarrivingateight o'clockalthoughtheinvitationto'comeateight'reallymeant'comeathalfpast eight')rnighthavenegativeconsequencesforthesocialreputationoftheperson, whoevenmaybeconsideredimpolite,arrogantorunreliable.Suchamistake couldwel1bemoreseriousthananerrorinlanguageuse.