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239 Language and Culture

Unit 9: Translating and interpreting

Unit 9: Translating and interpreting

1. Introduction

(Arieti & Barrus, 2010, p. 114)

Historically translation is known to date back at least to the second millennium BC
with the translation of the Sumerian epic Gilgamesh into Asian languages. Later,
Buddhist monks translated Indian sutras into Chinese, and Roman poets adapted
Greek texts. Since then translation has played an important part in the spreading of
knowledge and ideas. For example, when the West came into contact with Islam in
the twelfth century AD, Greek philosophical and scientific classics were translated
into Arabic. Translations of these Arabic versions were made into Latin, and these
Latin translations of Greek and original Arab works helped underpin Renaissance
scholarship and the birth of modern science. In 1522 Luther translated the Bible into
German, which had a crucial impact on the evolution and standardisation of the
modern German language. In 1611 the King James Bible had a similar effect on the
English language.
Nowadays, language translation and interpreting services are being used in all
spheres of daily life, from helping a student to enroll into a new school to
interpreting for a corporate executive who has just purchased a new business in
China. Every day we interact and play our part in the global economy. For instance,
we drink coffee every morning which is most probably from South America; the car
we drive is from Germany; the gas in our vehicle is imported from Saudi Arabia; our
laptops are from China and we have highly sophisticated flat screen TVs from Japan.

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Within all these importing and exporting transactions, translators and interpreters
work on translating manuals, documents, agreements, and conversations worth
millions, if not billions of dollars.
While computerized translation is an ever-expanding field at the cusp of information
technology and automatic translators get better every day, to date none has come
close to the accuracy and speed of human translation. Because of this, professional
translators continue to be in high demand, as they are involved in making
communication easier from local to national and international levels.

Translation, culture and equivalence

There are two commonly recognised forms of translation. The word translation
usually refers to written translation while the word interpretation refers to spoken
translation.
In trying to define translation, the same basic definition can be used. In brief,
translation involves converting one language to another so that the target language
can convey the intended message in the source language. It is the process through
which the translator decodes the source language text and then encodes his
understanding of it in the target language.
Shastri (2011) gives us a slightly more detailed definition:

To interpret is not simply to translate a speech word for word: it is to
transpose it with its entire semantic, emotional and aesthetic baggage into a
language using completely different means of expression. To interpret is
initially to comprehend perfectly the message so as to be able to detach it
from its verbal support and to reconstitute it subsequently with all its
nuances in another language. This is a constant exchange and interchange of
mentalities, of one cultural universe with another. (p. 10)

Since translation is an activity which inevitably involves at least two languages and,
since culture is an inherent aspect of every language, translators are permanently
faced with the problem of how to treat the cultural aspects implicit in a source
language text and with finding the most appropriate technique for successfully
conveying these in a target language that does not necessarily share the same or
even similar cultural underpinnings.
These problems may vary in scope depending on the cultural and linguistic gap
between the two languages concerned. Common difficulties to do with ‘translating
culture’ may lie in finding correspondent lexical items or syntactic structures, and in
transposing the underlying ideologies and ways of life of a given culture into
another. The translator also has to decide on the importance given to certain

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cultural aspects and to what extent it is necessary or desirable to translate them into
the target language.
It is a common misconception that a person who has fair fluency in two languages
will, by virtue of that fact alone, be consistently competent to translate between
them. In actual fact, the complexity of the translator's task cannot be overstated.
Professional translators often complete years of formal instruction followed by many
years of hands-on experience.
Competent translators must have a deep knowledge of the language from which
they are translating (the source language), both in written and spoken form, and an
excellent command of the target language. In addition, because of the inherent
relationship between language and culture, a competent translator is not only
bilingual but bicultural, able to capture and work with not only the superficial, literal
meaning of a text, but the deep cultural layers beneath the words and sentences
(remember the culture-as-an-iceberg analogy?) – it is only by being mindful of these
that one can truly strive for a high quality translation. Finally, translators need to be
familiar with the subject matter of the text being translated and have extensive
knowledge of the etymological and idiomatic correlations between the two
languages.
Some people think of translation as a rather mechanical act, but in actual fact, a
translator's role in relation to a text - especially when it comes to translating literary
works, is similar to that of an artist. Translation involves interpretation and re-
production of a text in an equivalent and yet different voice.

2. Translation – the process

The ideal translation should be:
1. Accurate: reproducing as exactly as possible the meaning of the source text.
2. Natural: using natural forms of the receptor language in a way that is
appropriate to the kind of text being translated.
3. Communicative: expressing all aspects of the meaning in a way that is readily
understandable to the intended audience.
The success of a translation is measured by how closely it measures up to these
ideals. When tackling a piece of translation, a translator must go through the
following stages:

1. Read the source language and understand what is being said.
2. Translate this modified situation into the target language.
3. Consider whether the translation is acceptable culturally and make any
necessary changes.

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4. Ensure conformity in style, tone, and level to the original. Whereas a literal
translation may produce the sentence, "on the ninth day of the second
moon, Autumn-child's honourable uncle came", a better translation may
read: "Akiko's uncle arrived on the ninth of February."

Translation is a process based on the theory that it is possible to abstract the
meaning of a text from its forms and reproduce that meaning with the very different
forms of a second language. From start to finish, the process can be represented as
follows:


SOURCE LANGUAGE TARGET LANGUAGE

ORIGINAL TRANSLATION
TEXT

Extrapolate Re-express
meaning meaning

MEANING



Translation consists of studying the lexicon, grammatical structure, communication
situation, and cultural context of the source language text, analysing it in order to
determine its meaning, and then reconstructing this same meaning using the lexicon
and grammatical structure which are appropriate in the receptor language and its
cultural context.

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3. Difficulties in translation
Because no two languages use identical systems, translation will always involve
some challenges. Vocabulary tends to cause problems because two words in
different languages seldom have exactly the same denotative and connotative
meaning. Grammatical features present more obvious problems with differences in
word order, changes in verbs and nouns, the use of markers to show grammatical
features and so on.
The following are some of the problems that can occur in translations:
Loss of information: This generally happens when one word translates only the
denotative meaning, so that the connotative meaning may be lost. For example, the
German word ein Greis may be translated in English, "as an old man", but this does
not completely translate the connotative meaning of greyness and senility. A
comparable New Zealand example would be that of the famed New Zealand black
singlet - can you imagine translating the many concepts associated with this one
item of clothing into another language?
Addition of information: This may be necessary to explain why something can be
said or done in one culture while being unusual or taboo in another. For example, if
one was translating a passage that showed two men holding hands, it may be
necessary to explain that such an action was commonplace among males in that
country.
Skewing of information: What is said naturally in one language may not be said so
naturally in another language, so that the reader may be misled and may draw the
wrong conclusions.
Cultural features may not be correctly translated: An example has been cited
where it was thought that monsieur le depute, maire de Nice, was the deputy-mayor
of Nice and therefore not very important, whereas, in fact, he was a member of the
French Parliament as well as being mayor of Nice. This example also illustrates the
problem of faux amis (‘false friend’), where an identical word exists in two languages
but with a different meaning.
Metaphorical language or satire: It is almost impossible to correctly reproduce the
rhythmic structure, the sound texture and the nuances of the original. Obviously,
reproducing a piece of writing based on alliteration and puns would be almost
impossible. No wonder Andre Gide made the tongue-in-cheek comment (albeit
somewhat sexist!): “Translation is like a woman. If it is beautiful, it is certainly not
faithful. If it is faithful, it is certainly not beautiful”.
“Compressed” language such as that used in newspaper headlines is another area
where it is difficult to reproduce the stylistic effect intended. Names of products can
be horribly mistranslated, as can items on a menu. How would you fancy a tasty
lunch of lamb chops with thrown salad to be followed by pineapple compost?
The quality of a translation may also be affected when the translator is working
under severe time constraints. Personal factors such as inexperience, fatigue or
stress may also play a part in the quality of the translation.

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Because of the difficulties mentioned above, the aim of a good translation is not to
achieve perfect correspondence between the source and the target language (which
would be impossible in many cases), but to achieve equivalence.
If the target language text carries the same intended meaning encoded in the source
text, then the two texts are considered to be equivalent. The domain of equivalence
can be broken down to cover specific aspects of language, all of which a good
translator will have to consider when working towards the best possible translation.

1. Vocabulary or Lexical equivalence (to do with words).
“One of the goals of translation is to convey the meaning and style of the
original language, but dictionary translations rarely reflect common language
usage in a culture. As Reeves describes, “though proficiency in both the
source and target languages is important, translators need to translate not
only to a target language but to a target culture as well. Translators also need
to deal with nuances and with words that have no equivalents in other
languages. In English, there is a distinction between the words taboo and sin.
Among the Senoufo people of Africa, there is only one term for both of these
concepts: kapini taboo. But, the taboos included in the Senoufo term are
such things as a man seeing his wife sewing or a man whistling in a field
unless he is resting. The Senoufo emotional attitude toward breaking these
taboos is akin to the Christian attitude of sin, but the behaviors are quite
different. Among the Senoufo, things considered sinful by Christians such as
adultery, lying, or stealing are called silegebafeebi or ‘without-shame-
people’”. Additionally, Reeves points out that there are many terms that
appear to be universal, but actually are not. Among these are such things as
freedom, equality, democracy, independence, free enterprise, equal
opportunity, and justice. He argues that in many cases there is no lexical
equivalent to the connotative range implied by these terms.” (Samovar and
Porter, 2004, p. 160).

2. Idiomatic and Slang equivalence (to do with expressions and levels of
formality).
“Most idiomatic phrases come from everyday life and are unique to a
particular culture. Think for a moment about the single-word translation and
the culture-bound definition of some of the following expressions: “He made
a clean sweep of his life,” “She hit the nail on the head,” “They had to eat
humble pie,” “They went window shopping,” “It rained cats and dogs,” or
“Out of the frying pan and into the fire.” As we noted, idiomatic expressions
are culture-bound; they do not translate well. Basset-Mcguire provides some
examples: The English phrase “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” for
instance, has been translated into Russian as “The Vodka is good but the
meat is rotten.” Also, the English slogan “Things come alive with Pepsi” has

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been translated into German as “Pepsi can pull you back from your grave.”
Or, consider this example of an Italian idiom translated into English: Giovanni
sta menando il cane per l’aia. Translated literally, this is “John is leading his
dog around the threshing floor.” A better translation, with greater
correspondence of meaning, is “John is beating around the bush.” Coming up
with the second translation thus requires that you be familiar with American
idioms. As another example, imagine attempting to translate the sports-
influenced statement “I don’t want to be a Monday-morning quarterback”,
but into the language of a culture that does not have or understand the sport
of American football. You can see the same problem associated with baseball
idioms if someone, engaging in an international negotiation session says “Just
give us a ballpark figure so we can get off of first base”. (Samovar and Porter,
2004, p. 161)

3. Grammatical (syntactic) equivalence (to do with sentence elements and
structure).
“Difficulties may also arise when there are no equivalent parts of speech. We
discussed many of these earlier in the chapter, but a few more examples will
amplify our point. The Urdu language, for instance, has no gerunds, so it is
difficult to find an equivalent for one. In the Filipino language, there is no
equivalent of the verb to be. Parts of speech such as adjectives and adverbs
may be missing in some languages, but one of the more common
grammatical problems in achieving equivalence is with verb forms. Verb
mood (might, could), voice (active, passive) or tense (past, present, future)
are not always present. In Hopi, some nouns are verbs or action words. Thus
chair is chairing, or the act of sitting. English specifies number in relation to
nouns, but in Yoruba (Nigeria) this is not the case. In Arabic number is to be
specified as singular, dual or plural.” (Samovar and Porter, 2004, p. 162)

4. Experiential-Cultural equivalence (to do with culture-specific experiences
and objects).
In dealing with translations, you must grapple not only with structural
differences between languages but also with cultural differences, which
requires precision and the ability to convey the speaker’s or author’s
approach or attitude. As Tymoczko reminds you, “All meaning is relative to
the speaker and the situation in which the words are spoken or written.”
Also, translators need to consider shared experiences. Peace and war have
various meanings for peoples of the world depending on their conditions,
time, and place. The meanings that cultures have for words are based on
shared experiences, and the ability of a word to convey or elicit meaning
depends on the culturally informed perceptions of both source and receiver.
“When we lack cultural equivalents, we lack the words in our vocabulary to
represent those experiences. For instance, when the vocabulary of a tribe in

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a mountainous jungle region has words for rivers and streams but not
oceans, how do you translate the notion of an ocean? Or what does a
translator do when she or he is faced with the task of translating the biblical
verse “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” into the
language of a tribe that has never experienced snow?” (Samovar and Porter,
2004p. 163).

5. Conceptual equivalence (to do with culture-specific abstractions).
“When two American psychologists ask the Dalai Lama, who speaks perfect
English, to discuss the topic of low self-esteem at a conference, the Dalai
Lama told them that he would be delighted, but that he did not know what
low self-esteem meant. Although the two Americans tried in a variety of ways
to explain the concept to the Dalai Lama, he continued to be confused. After
countless examples and detailed explanations, the Dalai Lama said he now
understood what they were trying to say. He added, however, that the
reason he was having trouble with what the Americans were trying to say
was that in his culture people did not think poorly of themselves and
therefore had no concept of low self-esteem. In this example involving the
Dalai Lama you see yet another difficulty in translation - difficulties that deal
with a lack of matching concepts. Some concepts are culture-specific (emic)
and others culture-general (etic). Triandis believes it is impossible to translate
perfectly an emic concept. So different, for instance, are Spanish cultural
experiences from the English that many words cannot be translated directly.
Strong affection is expressed in English with the verb to love. In Spanish,
there are two verbs, te amo and te quiero. Te amo refers to nurturing love, as
between a parent and a child or between two adults. Te quiero translates
literally as “I want you,” which connotes ownership, a concept not present in
the English expression “I love you.” Commonly used to express love between
two adults, te quiero falls somewhere between the English statements I love
you and I like you”. (Samovar and Porter, 2004, p. 164).

4. General principles for translating practice

The following principles are agreed upon throughout the world in professional
translation circles:
• A translator should translate into his/her mother tongue or language of
habitual use (i.e. his/her strongest language) of which s/he should have an
excellent command. It is far quicker and therefore more economical to
translate into one's strongest language. Should a translator have to translate
into a foreign language, then the translation should always be checked by a
native speaker.

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• A translator should have a good reading knowledge of the language being
translated. When dealing with written translation, it is not absolutely
necessary to be able to speak the language.
• A translator should have good dictionaries and reference material to work
with.
• A translator should have or be able to acquire some knowledge of the subject
about which s/he is translating. However, much translation work involves the
description of new processes and systems for which new words are being
coined daily and therefore, no translator can be expected to be au fait with
recent advances in specialised technical areas.
• A translator/interpreter needs to keep up to date with changes in the spoken
language, for example, vogue words or new slang.
• Translation is a specialised skill. It is not true that a perfectly bilingual person
will necessarily make a good translator. According to Poisson (1975) a good
translator requires:
ü The ability to write well, showing sensitivity to word choice and the
effect on meaning
ü The ability to analyse, especially so that ambiguities can be both
perceived and resolved
ü A good memory
ü A sound knowledge of his/her mother tongue and a large vocabulary
ü A neutral attitude to languages
ü Faithfulness to content and form
ü A good general culture and education to enable them to cope with a
variety of translations.
• A better translation will normally result if a third person reads the translation.
This third person may be an expert in the field of the translation or s/he may
be someone whose language of habitual use is the language of the finished
translation and can therefore pick up slips as well as errors of meaning or
usage that can so easily occur.

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5. Interpretation
Up until now, we have looked mainly at
translating the written word. We will now
consider the case of the interpreter who must
deal with the spoken word. There are two
different kinds of interpretation, consecutive
and simultaneous.
Consecutive interpretation is what most New
Zealanders would think of as interpretation.
The speaker presents part of a speech, then
pauses while the interpreter gives the same
information in another language, sometimes
from notes s/he has made. The consecutive
interpreter is highly visible and must try to
match the speaker's mood, tone, voice and
gestures. This may place the interpreter in a
highly embarrassing position if s/he is aware
that the speaker has just broken cultural
norms.
Simultaneous interpretation is usually only possible with the aid of special
microphones and earphones. The interpreter is situated in a special booth where
s/he hears what the speaker is saying through a set of headphones. Translation must
begin when the speaker is only partway through the first sentence. Obviously s/he
has even less time to think than the consecutive interpreter. Simultaneous
interpretation is used a great deal in the United Nations where delegates can “tune
in” to whichever language they wish to listen to, by selecting the appropriate
channel. The use of simultaneous interpretation has two major advantages. It not
only saves time but also allows everyone to be seen to be voicing their opinion,
which can be a very important political point. Interpreters doing simultaneous
interpretation normally interpret for only 20 minutes then take a break. This type of
interpreting is normally carried out in pairs, with one being “on” and the other “off”
but ready to take over if their partner runs into any difficulties.
It can be imagined that interpretation can be very demanding but matters have
improved from the post-war days when one interpreter was expected to translate
both from and into French, German and English, morning and afternoon, six days a
week at a Technical Conference in London! However, even under much more
considerate conditions, interpreters have been reported to be aware of
psychological repercussions such as a feeling of humiliation, which is brought about
by the parrot-like repetition of whatever someone else says. However, those who do
not suffer from such an inferiority complex may become over conscious of their
status and feel that without their presence everything will come to a standstill. It
has been found that under adverse conditions, such as a high noise level or the
presence of persons who may be able to check the interpretation, the quality of the
interpretation improved.

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Interpreting for the United Nations Office of Geneva

The Interpretation Service at UNOG is comprised of six language sections staffed by a
total of 100 interpreters. Simultaneous interpretation is provided in the official languages
of the Organization at an average of 2,700 meetings of United Nations Conferences and
bodies per year at Geneva Headquarters and in the field.
A conference interpreter is a professional language and communication expert who
works in multilingual meetings and renders a message from one language into another,
naturally and fluently, adopting the delivery, tone and convictions of the speaker.
The work of a conference interpreter is an oral intellectual exercise which is quite distinct
from written translation and requires different training and qualifications. Interpreters’
work is subject to constant, immediate and very public scrutiny; no supervisory review or
revision is possible before their “product” is delivered.
The ability to interpret is a skill many claim but few truly possess. Consider the process of
simultaneous interpretation: interpreters listen to the speaker, understand the message
and convert it into another language, speak to the delegates, monitor their output to
ensure accurate and elegant delivery, all the while absorbing the next part of the speech.
Consequently, they must exercise great concentration while working under constant
pressure in order to maintain a high standard of split-second accuracy and be able to
assimilate a broad range of subjects and specialized terminology.
International conferences are attended by people who not only speak different
languages, but also come from different backgrounds and cultures, and so interpreters
provide bridges between varying ways of thinking, attitudes and cultural approaches.
Conference interpretation can be performed in three ways: simultaneously,
consecutively and by whispering (chuchotage). In simultaneous mode, the interpreters
sit in sound-proof booths where the speaker is heard through headphones and they
deliver a running interpretation transmitted through a microphone to participants in the
meeting who wear earphones. Consecutive mode, occasionally used, consists of the
interpreter sitting at the conference table, taking notes and delivering the statement in
another language. Whispering (chuchotage), also occasionally used in certain working
environments such as field missions, press conferences, and high-level bilateral private
meetings, consists of the interpreter simultaneously whispering the interpretation
directly to a very limited audience with or without mobile equipment.
The United Nations relies mainly on simultaneous interpretation because its work
generally involves large multiple-language meetings.
The organization has 6 official languages : Arabic (A),Chinese (C),English (E), French (F),
Russian (R), Spanish (S) and 2 working languages: E, F. All United Nations staff are
required to possess at least one of the working languages.

(Continued over the page …)

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Conferences and meetings of the United Nations bodies may be conducted in as many as
all 6 official languages. Consequently there are six corresponding language sections
(booths) in the Interpretation Service. Normally, only these languages may be used at
United Nations meetings. If a Member State wishes to use a non-United Nations
language, it must make the necessary arrangements for that language to be interpreted
into one of the official languages.
Interpreters are identified by the language they work into, which at the United Nations is
always their mother tongue in the E, F, R and S booths. Thus an English interpreter
interprets from other official languages into English. English is referred to as this
interpreter’s “active” or “target” language, while the two or more other languages from
which he/she interprets are referred to as “passive,” or “source” languages.
Because certain language combinations at the level required for interpreting work are
very rare, this structure is not applied to the Arabic and Chinese booths, where
interpreters work both into and out of their mother tongues. This dispenses E, F, R, S
interpreters from having to interpret from Arabic and Chinese directly. Instead, they
relay from the Arabic or Chinese interpreters who would be interpreting into English or
French.

(Source:
http://www.unog.ch/80256EE60057CB67/(httpPages)/7D4259374ACCCB4AC1257ED900
425A64?OpenDocument ).

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References
Arieti, J. A., Barrus, R. M. (2010). Plato's Protagoras: Translation, Commentary, and
Appendices. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E. (2004). Communication between Cultures, (4th ed.)
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Press.
Shastri, P. D. (2011). Fundamental Aspects of Translation. Delhi, India: PHI Learning.

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