Conclusion for Book:
What the translator should be thinking about-
1. how TT should be recieved
2. strategy with formualted descisions
3. How to decide which features are salient /most relevant
4. being prepared to use compensation and loss
5.learn to ask questions systematically
6. cultural matrix
7.language variety
8. compensation is extremely important
9.methodical approach
Translating a commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YwrcagLlqA ( this is my favorite commercial with my favorite egyptian actor, AHMED HELMY!!!)’
There is something in laughter makes us feel alive.
( be careful of the clutch cat ---> they used an english word then used a cultural saying that wouldt be understood by americans so i would change it to → careful there big boy)
Even if we are stuck متكبشين?
As long as laughter is free, it can appear at anytime
( here is my license...what is that printed on your hood mista...maybe it will go faster سعتكmister?)
Laughter will help you get through asma
( oh lala merci...congratulations...I want a nice number eh)
and a laigh will make the day pass quicker
could we get a picture...of course!....no no, of us...oh, you want me to take a picture of you?...
A laugh that will make happiness احمديي؟
It doesnt matter why we smile, whats important is that we keep smiling!
Chipsy reminds you of that, smile at it, it will smile back
Chapter 17 notes:
Revising and editing TTs-
After translation, look @ TT for:
1. Accuracy/ Revision
a. adherence to ST: errors, omission, inconsistency, spelling, accuracy of terminology
b. can include sentimental level of error as well as discourse level
c. accuracy in relation to linguistic features of various kinds
d.factual aspect: concept itself may be distorted, knowledge of subject matter
2.Polishing/Editing
a.focuses on the end user of the TT
b. attempt to achieve max orientation of translated text to requirements of the
target READERSHIP
c. critical factors: appearance, appeal, impact, harmony, taste, register, and style
d. “cosmetic stage”
might be easier to do the revision process in two steps” a. focus entirely on TT as if it were original english text b. TT compared against ST and see for unacceptable loss
Both of these may overlap -- Bare bones v remedial surgery
Translated Recipe:
the original Arabic Version-
http://shahiya.com/ar/%D9%84%D9%82%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B6%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%8A-12915/%D9%88%D8%B5%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%AA
The translated English Version-
My Directions to make “Lokmet Ady”
The Items (directions and egyptian dishes):
Preparation time: 5 min
Cooking time: 10 min
Number of Items: 8 min
Eastern Dish. Crispy. Light and Enjoyable.
Sweet way and sweets from the tasty kitchen of the family “Shahia”. I present to you my way of making “Lokmat al ady” with clear steps and times.
The Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
1 ½ cups of water
1 teaspoon of Instant Yeast
1 teaspoon of cornstarch
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Strands of Saffron
Preparation Directions:
1. Mix the flour with the cornstarch, the sugar and yeast, then add the oil and stir with a wooden spoon.
2. Soak the saffron in water
3. Stir the water to mix until the flour turns to dough. Leave the dough to rise, put it down again and leave it to rise once again.
6. Cut the dough with a small spoon, then cook it till golden in a deep fry. Then lift and dip in syrup and decorate with coconut
Suggestion:
Serve cold
Translated Commercial:
Original English Text-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdW1CjbCNxw
Levi’s commercial made for America
Translated Arabic Text-
( What I had to do was change it to support Egypt rather than America, so some words had to show egyptian nationalism just as this commercial portrayed american patriotism)
مصر
قلب الإمه العربية
الإمة المصرية
الكل تحمل
تما
غارز في اللحم
صغارا أو كبارا
متين
وافر
عادل
مستمر
مؤهل
خصب
الدائمة مع الأرض
مع حرية
القانون
والحب
هذا هو مصر
Chapter 15:
Translating constitutional texts
Constitutional texts are sub-type of legal texts
introduction to legal translation
Has two parts:
Optional preamble
preamble=المقدمة
often start with “we”
verbs at end of end of preamble
structural parallelsim→ verb-object pairs
In Arabic, there is subordinate phrases and main verb
More parallelism in English
SUBJECT-->SUBORDINATE ELEMENTS-->MAIN CLAUSE
Main Text
15.1:
When translating it is key in this situation not to have too much liberty when translating because it is a legal text. Also, sentence structure is extremely important in trying to preserve the “constitutional” structure of the ST. When translating into English, structural parallelism is more present so I should take that into account.
The National Kuwaiti Constitution
We, abdullah al salam al sabah,
King of Kuwait
The Will in the completion of reasons of democratic ruling to our dear country
And protection without this nation in front of arab nationalism and peaceful world favor to human civilization
And building on what the senate decides
We have faith in this constitution and taken it to heart
Part One: The country and Organization of Rule
(Section One) Kuwait is an arab nation with full sovereignty
and it may not go astray from its sovereignty or abandon from any part of its territory
and the people of kuwait are part of the arab mother nation
(i) Since the intended reader would understand the local politics of Egypt and understands the context of the situations, we are less worried about background and foreground. However, there might still be some discrepancies on the grammatical level as well as the sentence level.This is because the writing style of arabic newspaper tend to be different than that of English--there is much more repetition and subordinate themes are less so utilized.
(ii) Saudi Arabia spent ( not paid) 55 billion by other countries during the Gulf War. They did not even have to stay up ( whats a better word for this?rattle their brains? somthing to think baout that you can’t sleep because-- LOSE SLEEP) to find out how to invest 180 billion dollars -- its deposits in the west-- they woke up one night ( lost sleep) for a reimburment of billions and deposits that came up to billion dollars. ( my sentence is awkward)
(And in-- took this part out) Saudi Arabia and the rest of the gulf told its people: Before the Gulf war, we dreamed of the mariage of the japenese, America’s salary, an English Parliment ( exact translation was townhouse→ country house sounds better) and chinese cook. However, after this war nothing sits in front of us ( nothing stops us?) but an american wife, a chinese salary, a japanese parliment, and english cook. ??? I know my translation is off but even in the source langauge, i am not sure what they are trying to say → things we couldnt want in the second part→ sarcastic.
Grammatical Issues in Translation
Practice 8.1:
(i) Since both the ST and the TT are directed towards academia, it is important to keep the complexity of the sentence structure yet be careful to not create a complicated “ugly” sentence that does not flow smoothly. Since the audience has specialized knowledge, we dont have to worry about explaining certain concepts as much within the text.
(ii) The dialogue of cultures, of civilizations, of religions, the discussion between Islam and Christianity, between the North and South, between Islam and the West, or the dialogue of the Arab and Europe all address one grander issue -- or many similarly interconnected issues. There is almost no difference between other than the specialization of the subject** all the title to one subject that can barely be separated from one another OR which could hardly be differentiated from each other( If i had translated this sentence literally it would have made NO sense, the grammatical structure and wording had to be altered in order for it to make sense in english-- i took out the word التعميم). Many of these subjects are addressed in a number of writings, articles, meetings, seminars and conferences. We have already started to adress this study ** He already had the opportunity to study this field( i dont understand how to translate this part), or at least ( i added this so that if flows more smoothly) addressed different sides of the issue, ( I changed the tense from present to past) in different meetings and conferences ** say various occasion. We have shown the ( حينءت- at the time) essence of thoughts contained in the multiple perspectives ( I used perspective instead of picture to make it more clear to the reader)
it is my hope that….will change the hatred between people → uproot
(iii) The blue above describes my thought process.
Chapter 6 Notes:
Different Layers of Text:
referential content
Emotional coloring
cultural associations
social and personal connotations
Even within ONE language, synonyms mean different things and various overtones
6 types of Connotative Meaning:
Attitudinal meaning
overall meaning of an expression -->most likely with a positive or negative connotation
ex. “The police” OR “The Filth” OR “The boys in blue” ( these all have different meanings)
In Standard Arabic, we do not find much of this sort of meaning because of the formality of the language. relatively infrequent words that ahve strong attitudinal connotations
Ex. in Arabic قادة = “leaders” BUT has a negative connotation so could translate to “perpetrators”
homes v. house when translating البيوت
Associative Meaning
part of the overall meaning which consists of expectations that are (right or wrongly) associated with the referent of the expression → certain expressions are associated with certain words that can either create a negative or positive connotation
ex. Nurse → automatically associated with a female gender...as though the word was synonymous with “female who looks after the sick”
Crusade as having a positive connotation in English but a bad one in Arabic
خهاد has a positive notation in arabic but is associated with Islamic Jihad in English
Affective Meaning
emotive effect by the choice of expression which forms part of its overall meaning
it hints at some attitude of the speaker or writer to the addressee
ex. linguistic politeness, flattery, rudeness, or insult
Silence please v. Shut up in English or Arabic
both mean be quiet but one is “nicer” than the other
As a translator we must be careful not to introduce unwanted affective meanings in the source text
ex. When translating اديني كيلو رز into English, it sounds rude but this is the normal arabic way of speaking→ so instead of translating it as “give me a kilo of rice” you could say “ May I have a kilo of rice, please”
Allusive Meaning
When the expression evokes an associates saying or quote that that quote or saying become part of the overall meaning of the text
Ex. مدينة البغي means “ City of Oppression” → it should be automatically understood that it is referring to Jerusalem → the “city of oppression” is meant to allude to the fact that Jerusalem is sometimes called the “city of peace” or “city of God”
Collocation AND collocative Meaning
collocate = close proximity with → so collocation means word in close proximity to another
ex. #1 Pretty and Handsome = good looking but one is for girl and other for guy
its important to find appropriate collocations so sentences dont sound weird when translated
Ex. #2 follow a pattern of X and Y … Pots and pans instead of Pans and pots
Reflective Meaning
when a word that usually has a denotative meaning changes when paired up with another term because of the context
ex. Richard Nixon is a rat
it occurs when there is two or more denotative meanings in a single word
Ex. #2 حمارcan mean donkey or stupid
PRACTICE 6.1
A) These societies embody the sharp stratification between social classes. That is also reflected(i changed “embody” to reflect because I wanted to diversify my vocab even though its the word تشمل in both cases) in the wide gap (instead of translating it literally ..i had to think about the context) divides (I took out between-- بين-- because its not needed and does not impact the sentence if not used) the military elite from the masses and isolation of the elite ( I didn't add انفسهم) from public places.
B) Many of the widespread educational and التعريبية(arabic translation and study)centers in most Arab countries carry out valient ( instead of “thankful” or مشكور) efforts the return of the arabic language in its rightful place ( instead of “natural place”) as the language of science and learning/education.
Chapter 5 summary:
Denotative meaning ( literal meaning)
Connotative meaning ( contextual meaning)
Synonymy: Its important to realize that there is a standard definition for most items, but they encompass different meaning for people in different places around the world. So, have to figure out if the meanings are fully synonymous or if there are discrepancies where you might need to end up using a different word.
Hyperonymy - hyponymy: it is rare to have words that are fully synonymous. Instead, what occurs is that the denotative meaning of the source text falls short of understanding the target text.
Ex. Uncle v. خال( maternal uncle) v. عم(paternal uncle). A wider description is used to describe something specific in another language
Ex. Pronouns in English V. Arabic → more of them in arabic than in english so when translating from arabic to english you have to be more vague. We can either particularize or generalize a word/statement. BUT only generalize if there are no suitable alternatives or its unimportant
Repetition in Arabic: arabic repeats through synonyms ( semantic repetition)
potential ways to translate to english include→
1. merge the two arabic words into one simular english word
2. when two words have a clear different meaning, use partial grammatical transposition
3. when word is repeated to emphasize something- sometimes the strength of a word when translating is lost so you have to use a stronger word to keep the intensity of the sentence
4. or maintain the same form of repetition
Parallelism → words do not mean the same thing but have a recognizable semantic relationship
5.1 practice:
(i) Since the text is from a political piece from the Middle East, I must be careful in translating neutrally and not inflicting any bias by using certain terms rather than others. Also, when translating such a piece from arabic, there will most likely be cultural/religious references that wont be understood in Englsh/have connotative meanings. So, I will have to either generalize or particularize certain sections of the text. Lastly, because arabic is a language of repitition i must keep in mind the most useful ways to translate without losing the value or certain emphasises within the text. ( remember that it is a persuasive peace so must keep initial purpose)
(ii) Today, humankind stands at the edge of an abyss...Not because of the imminent threat of extinction that hangs above us (I had to switch the grammatical sentence structure around from arabic to english because it wouldn't have made a good flow otherwise)...This is the display for the diseased but he is not the disease.(Sickness isnt really what it seems) .However, because of international bankruptcy, the morals ( so called morals) that had potential to advance human life from the shadows of a healthy growth( safely growing), what is “تترقى ترقيا”? And this holistic clarity ( used instead of repeating the world clarity twice) in the arab world, that doesnt include (used instead of count = يعد) what gives to the human from morals but that doesnt... persuade humans by entitlement of staying, after its done <democratically> that doesnt resemble bankruptcy , where borrowing starts - slowly - and quotes from most of the private western camps/sectors within the economic systems! Under the name of socialism!
( I need to learn to replace the commas from arabic into periods in elgish and figure out how to split sentences because arabic sentences tend to be much longer than english--which tries to be short and concise. )
(iii) Within the text there were a lot of words that were simular to each other where I either had to take out the deleted word or find a stronger word to emphasis the meaning intended.
I explain my main decisions by the blue highlighted sentences within the translated text above.
Ray Stevens- Guitarzan: English → Arabic
English:
He's free as the breeze, He's always at ease.
He lives in the jungle And hangs by his knees,
As he swings through trees, Without a trapeeze, In his BVD's. A-hoo hoo!
He's got a union card And he's practicin' hard To play the gitar.
Gon' be a big star, Yeah he's gonna go far.
An' carry moonbeams home in a jar!
He ordered Chet's guitar course COD, Makes A&E an' he's workin' on B.
Digs C&W&R&B an' an' me an' a chimpanzee Agree that one day soon he'll be, A celebrity.
Get it!
Get it!
Get it!
Get it!
OWWWWWWWWW!
Gitarzan! He's a gitar man! He's all you can stand, Give him a hand, Gitarzan!
Arabic:
هو حر كم السر، هو دأمً سهل
هويعيش في الغابة،و يعلق من ركبتهو
،كم يرجح بين الاشجار، من غير ارجوحة
في كلوتو، وهووهووهو( BVD is an american brand underwear so cant translate into arabic→ i would try to find an arab brand of underwear to replace it)
عندو بطاقة الاتحاد و هويتمرن كثيرة ليلعب غيتار
سيكون نجم كبير، نعم سيذهب بعيد( it is difficult to ryme star and far in arabic because you have to change the structure of the sentence and there is not two words that ryme like that)
ويحمل ـــــــ في جره ( moonbeams???)
هو امر……….( i DONT understand the cultural context --? what is COD, A&E, and “workin on B”?)
يحب (C&W&R&B) transliterate chimpanzee
نتوفق ان يوم قريب سيكون مشهور
وجدهو
وجدهو
وجدهو
وجدهو
اييييييييييييييييييي
الإنسان،جتارزان ان يلعب جتار(changed the structure of sentence to make it rhyme)
انهو كل ما تحمل، سعدهو،جتارزان