4. TRANSLATION STRATEGIES 

Taylor borrows J.L. Malone’s list of nine strategies for translating at a structural or lexicogrammatical level: 1/2. Equation Substitution3/4. Divergence Convergence5/6. Amplification Reduction7/8. Diffusion Condensation9. Reordering Malone, J.L. (1988), The Science of Linguistics in the Art of Translation. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Equation and Substitution  Equation 1 Loan words: rugby pizzaLoan words with plural-singular/countable-uncountable changes: spaghetti, software, paniniLoan words with change of word class: relaxApparent loan words: feeling, stiletto, confetti, bimbo Calques: click/cliccare stop/stoppare

Equation 2 White – Bianco One-to-one equivalence in most contexts, including common collocations:white bread/pane bianco, white as snow/bianco come il neve, white Christmas/Natale biancoBUTwhite lie/bugia innocente, white elephant/cattedrale nel deserto, morti bianche/deaths at work

Equation 3 You already know about the problem of false cognates like parents/parenti and simpatico/sympathetic. Don’t forget that two words may be equivalents in some contexts (abuse of power/abuso del potere) but false friends in other contexts (abuse = insulti). Two words may appear to be obvious equivalents but one is used in a far greater range of contexts than the other. Taylor gives excellent examples of how director and reality are often not appropriate translations of direttore and realtà (pp 50,51).

Substitution Saxon genitive in English – prepositional phrase in ItalianMary’s children – i figli di Mary Infinitive in English – subjunctive in ItalianI want them to tell the truth – Voglio che dicano la verità Zero lexico-syntactic equivalence in proverbsThe straw that broke the camel’s back – la goccia che fa trabbocare il vaso Cultural reasons for avoiding direct translationIn 1991 Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins starred in the film The Silence of the Lambs. Why do you think the title was translated as Il silenzio degli innocenti?

Divergence and Convergence Divergence “The strategy of divergence is that of choosing a suitable term from a potential range of alternatives.) Taylor p. 53 SOURCE TEXT TARGET TEXTchildren bambini, figliknow sapere, conoscere girare Taylor lists 14 feasible translationsprofessore teacher, lecturer, professorsentire hear, feel WARNING!Ci sentiamo domani. We’ll talk together tomorrow. We’ll feel ourselves tomorrow. We’ll feel each other tomorrow.

Convergence Alternatives in the source text are all translated by one word in the target text. SOURCE TEXT TARGET TEXTtu, Lei, voi, Loro youcommercialista, ragioniere, contabile accountantlingua, linguaggio language nephew, niece, grandson, granddaughter nipoteplate, dish piatto

Amplification and Reduction Amplification A single lexeme in one language needs a collocational partner in the other. iron – ferro da stiroortopedico – orthopaedic surgeonrookery – nidi di corvi

Sometimes things that are taken for granted in the source text are culturally or lexically opaque for target text readers:  Newpaper headlines: 1. Why we should take Corbynomics seriously2. Driver lied to doctors to keep his HGV licence Jeremy Corbyn is practically unknown outside the UK. Before July 2015 not many British people knew who he was. Corbynomics = Corbyn + economics HGV licence = a licence to drive a Heavy Goods Vehicle

Reduction Omitting elements in the target text that would be redundant or even misleading. un biglietto di andata e ritorno = a return ticketshop assistant = commessoHa 23 anni = She’s 23

Diffusion and Condensation Diffusion 1 If Amplification and Reduction entail adding or subtracting linguistic elements, Diffusion and Condensation involve providing more or less elaboration. Taylor’s example (PP 56,57):  If only I could!Magari! Would that it were! I wish that were the case!  La banda avrebbe rapinato altre tre banche. The gang is said to have robbed three other banks. The gang is reported to have robbed three other banks. The gang is alleged to have robbed three other banks.

Diffussion 2

X allows us to do Y.X permette di fare Y. X permits us to do Y. X enables us to do Y.  Consigli, mobili = pieces of advice, articles/items of furniture Doveva arrivare alle tre = He was supposed to arrive at three o’clock.

Condensation 1 “In the case of Condensation, the target text expression is more economic.” (Taylor, p. 57) fare le valigie = to packmother-in-law = suocera Premodification of nouns in English; postmodification in Italian: Environmental Department Air Pollution Report Findings Scandal.Lo scandalo suscitato dai risultati del rapporto del Ministero dell’Ambiente sull’inquinamento dell’aria. Potential ambiguity: is a “criminal lawyer” a lawyer specialising in criminal cases or a lawyer who is a criminal? There is no ambiguity in Italian: “avvocato penalista” or “avvocato criminale”. Think about “child murderer” and “child psychologist”.

Condensation 2 In multivariate strings, each element before the head noun has a different function.  Those three intelligent university students Those three intelligent university studentsdemonstrative numeral epithet classifier head noun In univariate strings, each element before the head noun has the same function, i.e. that of modifying the noun that follows it.  State school teachers relocation protest The head noun is protest and the four element that precede it are also nouns. Relocation tells us about the cause of the protest; teachers tells us who is subject to relocation; school classifies the teachers; state classifies the school. How would you translate this sentence?

Condensation 3 Strings are not only used for purposes of brevity; they are also fundamental to the process of nominalisation, i.e. converting sentences with finite verbs into noun phrases: The commissioners were impatient and bad-tempered. They asked me questions about subjects that were not in the syllabus. The impatient, bad-tempered commissioners asked me questions about off-syllabus subjects. In the second version two verbs have been excluded and instead we have noun phrases that feature premodification. In the first version there are assertions that people might dispute (Were the commissioners really impatient and bad-tempered? Are you sure the questions were about subjects not included in the syllabus?). In the second version, the assertions become facts (technically, “entities”) and it is more difficult to dispute them.

Condensation 4 Compound words and strings Two-word compounds usually have direct equivalents in Italian: greenhouse effect/effetto serra global warming/riscaldamento globale Strings involving two or more premodifiers are normally translated with preposition phrases: air traffic control = controllo del traffico aereospecific learning disorders = disturbi specifici di apprendimentopost-traumatic stress disorder = disturbo post traumatico da stress

Reordering 1 This is where the translator must have thorough knowledge of the lexicogrammatical rules of both languages. Comparative syntax is often not as straightforward as it seems at first. Oversimplified rule: verb + pronoun in English, pronoun a verb in Italian.It doesn’t concern me. Non mi riguardaBut an Italian might prefer to say Non riguarda me. Why? Adjective + noun in English, noun + adjective in Italian.Pressione alta (medical term). Alta pressione (meteorological term).The people responsible. The heir apparent.

Reordering 2 Standard collocations

English Italian

Board and lodging Vitto e alloggio Perfect equivalence

Black and white Bianco e nero Equivalence, reverse order

Heads or tails? Testa o croce? Semi-equivalence

Touch a raw nerve Toccare un tasto dolente Some semantic similarity

Any Tom, Dick or Harry Cani e porci Zero equivalence

Reordering 3 English S-V-O word order is less flexible than Italian word order: Something strange (has) happened.È successo qualcosa di strano. The student did the translation but the professor got recognition for it.La traduzione l’ha fatta lo studente ma il riconoscimento l’ha avuto il professore.

To draw attention to the discrepancy between merit and credit, we might use cleft clauses in English:It was the student who did the translation but it was the professor who got recognition for it. Flexible word order is OK in informal spoken English:Knackered I am, absolutely knackered.Understood me, have you?

Reordering 4 Passive constructions are used far more in English than in Italian. They can be translated in various ways: With a similar passive constructionThe new road was inaugurated… La nuova strada è stata inaugurata…If someone is killed… Se qualcuno viene ucciso… With an impersonal si constructionThe exam papers can be seen… Le prove d’esame si possono vedere… With an active form and an unspecified subjectI have been advised to… Mi hanno consigliato di…

Both languages sometimes use a participle construction instead of a full passive:The fracture, (which was) revealed by the X-ray…La frattura, rivelata dalla radiografia… In English the progressive aspect can be used in the passive. This is grammatically impossible in Italian.A wall is being built. Stanno costruendo un muro.

Dyslexia is something a child is born with; it is part of the genetic endowment. In fact, dyslexia is said to be dependent on genetics. A child with a parent or a close relative with dyslexia is at risk of having the same impairment.

A comparison between dyslexia and a generic disease is made in order to clarify, once and for all, that dyslexia is not an illness. People can be confused by the fact that dyslexia becomes evident only when we are asked to do particular tasks, such as reading or writing. Probably there are dyslexics among Australian Aborigines, but they are not aware of having this impairment because reading and writing is not part of their lifestyle.

Every dyslexic person is unique and dyslexia has different degrees of seriousness: slight, medium, intense and very intense.

FALSE FRIENDS 4 What do you remember about amateur and alumnus? Aspersion. This has nothing to do with holy water.To cast aspersions on someone’s character or behaviour. Assassin/assassinate v. murderer/murderJohn F. Kennedy’s assassin might have been Lee Harvey Oswald.Jack the Ripper murdered a number of women in London in the late nineteenth century.

Assume1. assumere assume responsibility for2. assumere take on/appoint/hire staff3. supporre I assume you are interested in working as a translator4. assumersi He took credit for other people’s work. What do you know about assist, attempt and attitude?

THE DIARY OF A BRAVE TRANSLATOR VERILY IN LEG – PART 4 My neighbour has a face of bronze. He is always trying to borrow money to finance his business activities, but the trouble is he’s a terrible businessman and all his venture go legs in the air. The other day he asked me if I wanted to invest in his plan to open an upmarket boutique in Quartu. In Quartu! I told him straight: “But do me the pleasure!” An idea like that makes the chickens laugh.