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From Babel to Babel Fish

There have been a number of books written recently about the history of translation. What certainly is true isthat as we move from the age of the tower of Babel (where the Bible tells us different languages were firstintroduced) to the age of Babel Fish (and other instant translation services) there is a growing need fortranslation. As the internet spreads, and globalization moves on - the need for translation increases.Language schools and courses, like St Georges language courses in London, may help you to learn Spanish inLondon but theorists throughout the ages have insisted that a good translator must not only know thelanguage but understand the culture they are translating.

Early history

The word translation itself derives from a Latin term meaning "to bring or carry across". The Ancient Greekterm is 'metaphrasis' ("to speak across") and this gives us the term 'meta phrase' (a "literal or word-for-wordtranslation") - as contrasted with 'paraphrase' ("a saying in other words"). This distinction has laid at theheart of the theory of translation throughout its history: Cicero and Horace employed it in Rome, Drydencontinued to use it in the seventeenth century and it still exists today in the debates around "fidelity versustransparency" or "formal equivalence versus dynamic equivalence". The first known translations are those ofthe Sumerian epic Gilgamesh into Asian languages from the second millennium BC. Later Buddhist monkstranslated Indian sutras into Chinese and Roman poets adapted Greek texts.

Arabic scholars

Translation undertaken by Arabs could be said to have kept Greek wisdom and learning alive. Havingconquered the Greek world, they made Arabic versions of its philosophical and scientific works. During theMiddle Ages, translations of these Arabic versions were made into Latin - mainly at the school in Spain. TheseLatin translations of Greek and original Arab. works of learning helped underpin Renaissance scholarship.

Religious texts

Religious texts have played a great role in the history of translation. One of the first recorded instances oftranslation in the West was the rendering of the Old Testament into Greek in the 3rd century BC. A taskcarried out by 70 scholars this translation itself became the basis for translations into other languages.Saint Jerome, the patron saint of translation, produced a Latin Bible in the 4th century AD that was thepreferred text for the Roman Catholic Church for many years to come. Translations of the Bible, though, wereto controversially re-emerge when the Protestant Reformation saw the translation of the Bible into localEuropean languages - eventually this led to Christianity's split into Roman Catholicism and Protestantism dueto disparities between versions of crucial words and passages. Martin Luther himself is credited with being

the first European to propose that one translates satisfactorily only toward his own language: a statementthat is just as true in modern translation theory.

Modern Theory and PracticeWhilst industrialization has led to the formalization of translation for business purposes since the eighteenthcentury it is, perhaps, the internet and mechanical translation that has really revolutionized the field. In termsof theory Lawrence Venuti's call for "foreignizing" strategies marks a call for fidelity over transparency intranslation. The two poles of meta phrase and paraphrase, however, still set the terms of debate from the ageof Babel to that of Babel Fish.

Other meaning of translation.

The word translation derives from the Latin translatio (which itself comes from trans-and fero, thesupineform of which islatum, together meaning "to carry across" or "to bring across"). The modernRomance languagesuse words for translation derived from that source or from the alternative Latintraduc ("to lead across").

The Ancient Greekterm for translation, (meta phrases, "a speaking across"), has supplied English

withmeta phrase(a "literal," or "word-for-word," translation) as contrasted withparaphrase("a

saying in other words", from,para phrases).Meta phrase corresponds, in one of the more recent

terminologies, to "formal equivalence"; andparaphrase, to "dynamic equivalence.

Strictly speaking, the concept of meta phrase of "word-for-word translation" is animperfect

concept, because a given word in a given language often carries more than one meaning; and

http://www.translationdirectory.com/article343.htmhttp://www.stgeorges.co.uk/foreign-languages/http://www.stgeorges.co.uk/foreign-languages/spanish-courses/http://www.stgeorges.co.uk/foreign-languages/spanish-courses/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Venutihttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trans#Latinhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fero#Latinhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fero#Latinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphrasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphrasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literal_translationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraphrasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation#Equivalencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation#Equivalencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfectionhttp://www.stgeorges.co.uk/foreign-languages/http://www.stgeorges.co.uk/foreign-languages/spanish-courses/http://www.stgeorges.co.uk/foreign-languages/spanish-courses/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Venutihttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trans#Latinhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fero#Latinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphrasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literal_translationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraphrasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation#Equivalencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation#Equivalencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfectionhttp://www.translationdirectory.com/article343.htm

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because a similar given meaning may often be represented in a given language by more than one

word. Nevertheless, "meta phrase" and "paraphrase" may be useful as ideal concepts that mark the

extremes in the spectrum of possible approaches to translation.At the very beginning, the translator

keeps both the source language... and target language... in mind and tries to translate carefully. But

it becomes very difficult for a translator to decode the whole text... literally; therefore he takes the

help of his own view and endeavors to translate accordingly.

Theories and paradigms

Cultural translationThis is a new area of interest in the field of translation studies, deriving largely from Homi Bhabha's

reading ofSalman Rushdiein The Location of Culture. Cultural translationis a concept used in

cultural studiesto denote the process of transformation, linguistic or otherwise, in a givenculture.

The concept uses linguistic translation as a tool or metaphor in analyzing the nature of

transformation and interchange in cultures.

EthicsIn the last decade, the interest among theorists and practitioners in the issue ofethicshas grown

remarkably due to several reasons. As Anthony Pym, professor of sociolinguistics and sociological

scholar oftranslationand intercultural studies, points out, a shift within the field from descriptivism

towards tendencies of globalization can be observed that draw the attention to questions ofcross-

cultural communication.In the course of the cultural changes due to the consciousness of the

problem of conflicting worldviewsand valuesbetween the author and reader, and their relationship

to social, economic and political power has been sharpened.

Research

Although there has been some work in the field regarding this topic, the definition of ethics is still

unclear when applied to translation studies. Much discussed publications have been the essays of

Antoine Bermanand Lawrence Venutithat differed in some aspects but agreed on the idea of

emphasizing the differences between source and target language and culture when translating. Both

are interested in how the cultural other can best preserve that otherness.In more recent studies

scholars applied Emmanuel Levinas philosophic work on ethics and subjectivity on this issue.As his

publications have been interpreted in different ways, various conclusions on his concept of ethical

responsibility have been drawn from this. Some have come to the assumption that the idea of

translation itself could be ethically doubtful, while others receive it as a call for considering the

relationship between authoror text and translatoras more interpersonal, thus making it an equal and

reciprocal process.

Parallel to these studies the general recognition of the translator's responsibility has increased. More

and more translators and interpreters are being seen as active participants in geopolitical conflicts,

which raises the question of how to act ethically independent from their own identity or judgment.This leads to the conclusion that translating and interpreting cannot be considered solely as a

process oflanguage transfer, but also as socially and politically directed activities.

Code of practice

There is a general agreement on the need of an ethical code of practiceproviding some guiding

principles to reduce uncertainties and improve professionalism, as having been stated in other

disciplines (for example Military medical ethicsorLegal ethics). However, as there is still no clear

understanding of the concept ofethicsin this field, opinions about the particular appearance of such

a code vary considerably.

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Antoine Bermaninsists on the need to define a translation projectfor every translation; the translator

should stick to his own project, and this shall be the sole measure of fidelity when translating.

If, according to the traditional rendering of Proverbs. The work of translating the Bible presents special difficulties. Since

the Scriptures are a source of both information and inspiration, Bible translations must be accurate as well as felicitous.

They must be suitable for rapid scanning as well as for detailed study, and suitable for ceremonial reading aloud to large

and small audiences.

AQUILA

Early in the Christian era, a Jewish scholar named Aquila

was dissatisfied with the Septuagint translation and undertook toproduce a Greek rendering of the Hebrew Scriptures that would

represent each Hebrew word with a corresponding Greek word.

SYMMACHUS

Toward the end of the second Christian century anotherGreek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures was prepared. This

was by Symmachus, an Ebionite Christian of Jewish back-

ground. His theory and method were the opposite of that of Aquila,

for his aim was to make an elegant Greek rendering. To judge

from the scattered fragments that remain of his translation,Symmachus tended to be paraphrastic in representing the Hebrew

original. He preferred idiomatic Greek constructions in contrast

to other versions in which the Hebrew constructions are pre-

served. Thus he usually converted into a Greek participle the

first of two finite verbs connected with a copula. He made copious

use of a wide range of Greek particles to bring out subtle distinc-

tions of relationship that the Hebrew cannot adequately express.

In more than one passage Symmachus had a tendency to softenanthropomorphic expressions of the Hebrew text.

JEROME

Jerome's approach is puzzling. On the one hand in his letter

to Sunnia and Fretela, Jerome declared that the work of a good

translator consists in rendering idiomatic expressions of one

language into the modes of expression native to the other.3

In an-

other letter, addressed to Pammachius, he discussed the bestmethod of translating literary works in general, and stated,

"From my youth up I have always aimed at rendering sense notwords.... A literal translation from one language to another ob-

scures the sense."4

At the same time, however, Jerome made an

exception when it came to the Bible. He added a qualification, "In

translating from the Greek I render sense for sense and not word

for word-except in the case of the Holy Scriptures, where even the

order of the words is a mystery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Bermanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation_projecthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Bermanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation_project