Semantic and Equivalence Problems I will now turn to explore the many problems encountered in translation. These can be separated into semantic and equivalence problems. My interest lies in showing students that translation is not simply a process of transferring individual words from one language to another, and that a text can achieve a specific communicative purpose for a particular audience in a particular environment. This might help them to establish a link between source language and target language and avoid using literal translation which does not secure referential and pragmatic equivalence to the original (Newmark: 1981, 9). For instance, semantic problems occur when students disassociate the meaning of the word from the context in which it occurs. For instance, bilingual dictionaries can provide a student with the different meanings for the word s/he is looking up, but ultimately s/he must make the decision as to which one fits the context of the text. Consider the following example, where the word West Bank in Palestine was translated as a west bank. The student did not pay attention to the capitalization which could have helped him/her to recognize that it was a proper noun. In addition, other words in the text create a context which should have helped him/her to choose the best word in Arabic. S.L.: The Israeli troops entered two West Bank Towns yesterday. Faulty translation: Dakhalat al qowat alisrailia madinatay al bank algharbi amss. (The Israeli troops entered two towns of the west bank yesterday.) Improved translation: The Israeli troops entered two West Bank Towns yesterday. Rissalat raiss alwozarae al britani wadiha fi hada alkhitab. The letter is clear in this discourse of the British prime minister. In the second example, the dictionary gives two translations for the word rissala - letter or message and two translations for the word ‘khitab - discourse or speech, but the student chose the wrong words. An improved translation would be: The message of the British prime minister is clear in this speech. Mistakes such as these are very common in English departments in Morocco, because students think that the aim of translation is simply to express the sense of a word, sentence or speech in another language, and that having a bilingual dictionary is enough. I feel it is my job to teach them that language skills and linguistic and cultural knowledge are essential tools for a translator. Translation can therefore be used to consolidate constructions for active use and monitor and improve comprehension of the L2 (Sewell 1996 in Malmkjaer 1998, 45). Translation equivalence is an important problem that students face when they go beyond the linguistic and the semantic levels. Our primary aim, at this point, is to make students aware of the theory of equivalence which is usually intended in a relative sense – that of closest approximation to ST [source text] meaning (Hatim & Mason: 1990, 8). This will help them decide what to keep, change, add, or omit in the target language in order to make it appropriate for the target audience. Hence the use of common target patterns which are familiar to the target reader plays an important role in keeping the communication channels open (Baker 1992, 57). To illustrate, while translating proverbs, students have to use a cultural substitute that will be familiar to the target audience and will have the same impact. For example, one student translated the proverb: akal aljamal bima hamal as to eat a camel with all what it carries. This literal translation reflects the superficial meaning, but cannot achieve the communicative effect that the source text does, because the proverb is absent from the cultural repertoire of the English language and the camel is not an animal that is sufficiently familiar to the target language audience. A better option would be: to eat someone out of house and home. Another English proverb given to students was: longer than a month of Sundays. it was translated literally by the majority, as atwal min shahrin koulouhou ahad whereas we would use the equivalent atwal min shahri assawmi - literally longer than the fasting month. Here the use of a word with religious connotations is better rendered for an Arabic audience as the month of fasting - Ramadan. RAMADAN is one of the five pillars of Islam and this is the dominant religion in most Arab countries. So, students must be familiar with key expressions in their language in order to achieve a socio-functionally adequate translation
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 18:49:56 +0000
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