technico-cultural writing: bridging technology in...

Technico-cultural writing:

Bridging technology in cultures

”If the designations are not correct the language does

not correspond with the true nature of things. If the

language does not correspond with the true nature of

things, activities cannot be completed successfully.

(Konfutse, 2500 years ago).

B.

Birthe Mousten

Hvorfor begrebet technico-cultural writing og

ikke blot technical writing? Jeg vil diskutere

ideen om det kulturneutrale tekniske sprog.

Hvorfor skulle teknisk sprog være

kulturneutralt, når al anden kommunikation

er kulturbundet? Vi kigger på teori og

eksempler.


Beskrivelse


Dealing with foreign elements

How is the transfer of ”the other” performed at

varying levels?

“Foreignization and domestication”

the theory of

transfer of cultures and systems into another

culture and/or language.

B.


Text Travelling model

– a sorting model for text and graphics

Translation Full text travel

Adaptation Text travel, but changed

Replacement Idea travel, new text

Omission Text and idea discarded

Creation of Content New text idea

Oo0oo

B. + G


Knowledge representation

The system-bound changes and knowledge

representation realized through…

- socio-cultural components

- politico-legal components

- technico-cultural components

- marketing-cultural components

B.


Bridging technology in cultures

”We cannot foreground reality in discourse unless we

have unmediated access to it, and we never do. Our

perceptions are always mediated by our assumptions,

our beliefs, and in fact, by the language we speak.”

(Reddick, R.J. 1992. p. 103)

B.


—the interdisciplinarity perspective

”The tendency towards the end of the century, and

not only in Translation Studies, was clearly away from

strict compartmentalization and towards

interdisciplinary cooperation, away from rigid

ideology and towards real-life experience.”

• (Snell-Hornby, 2006, p. 150)

B.


— the power perspective

”Scholars who have taken the power turn,

however, have come to realize that in polyvalent

and multicultural environments, knowledge does

not necessarily precede the translation activity,

and that the act of translation is itself very much

involved in the creation of knowledge.”

(Tymoczko and Gentzler, 2002:xxi)

B.


—the language bridge/barrier to

contextual relevance

”..an awareness needs to be created more

generally that translation is confronted not only

with one barrier – the all too familiar language

barrier – but also with the distinct second barrier

of contextual differences.”

(Gutt, Ernst-August, 2000:231)

B.

System-bound

changes and

knowledge

representation

Reality

perspective

Interdiscipli-

narity

perspective

Language

bridge

/barrier

Power

perspective

B.


Clash of cultures:

Hybridity of text

G.


Even where you would not suspect it!

Text: How to assemble a computer

This is a text written for translation. Here you would

not think that any cultural or system-bound

references could be found, but look at this:

Computer World was one of the first repair shops in

Fargo, ND…

What would the purpose be of this information in

the Danish text?

What is, by the way, the purpose in the English text,

given that it is a text about computer assembly?

B.


Differences in processes• Explanation and some examples of English and Danish…

• Tools needed: A set of small Philips screw drivers (highly recommend that you magnetize them).

• References to online instructions in (native culture) English can be full of tricky expressions and system-bound and culture-bound expressions.

• English is a global language– the contents are not.

B

.


Solutions to examples: Localization

• Computer World was one of the first repair shops

in Fargo, ND…

• Tools needed: A set of small Philips screw drivers

(highly recommend that you magnetize them).

�Omission: Leave it out

� Replacement: Find something similar in

Danish

� Translation: Leave the information

and translate it

B.


Localization as the solution – how?

Original text to be translated:

‘Forensic photography can

be traced back in the USA

to the early 1800s when

inmates were documented

through pictures.

B.


Localisation as the solution – but how?

Pre-localisation:

‘Forensic photography can

be traced back in Denmark

to the early 1800s when

inmates were documented

through pictures.

B.


Localisation as the solution – but how?

Mark-up for localisation

(part of internationalisation)

Forensic photography can

be traced back in [locale]

to the [locale-period]

when inmates were

documented through

pictures [?].

B.


Localisation methods?

• Forensic photography can be traced back in the USA to the early 1800s when inmates were documented through pictures.

• Forensic photography can be traced back in Denmark to the early 1800s when inmates were documented through pictures.

• Forensic photography can be traced back in [locale] to the [locale-period] when inmates were documented through pictures [?].

Original text

Pre-localization

Mark-up for

localization


Register

• Word constellations: Pivot pin, bolt catch, slip ring,

upper receiver, buttplate assembly, takedown pin,

buttstock.

• Established words: pivot, pin, bolt, ring,

assembly

• Descriptive words: receiver, buttplate,

takedown, carrying, buttstock

• What can a translator do?B.

Technico-cultural writing and translation:

Methods to use?

� Combine the two with a given context and start

finding terminology in another language

� Parallel and comparable texts may be a big help, but slow

and troublesome

� Google pictures may sometimes be a great help

and may even help with suggested terminology

in embedded text

� Combining words from dictionaries into

new constellations

� Corpus-linguistics

� Inventing new descriptive words in the local language

So please go ahead and translate!B.


Ambiguity in interpretation!Text: Erosion control maintenance

Interpretation possibilities:

- Control of the maintenance of erosion

- Maintaining control of the erosion

- Controlling the erosion by maintenance

- Maintenance of the control of erosion

….

US: Erosion control maintenance

DK: Kontrol ved byggearbejde – undgå erosion

(~ control during construction jobs – erosion prevention)

So please go ahead and translate!

B.


From commonplace to new

• Text: Erosion control maintenance

• US: In order to protect the existing rainwater sewer system, protection must be placed at the inlet to the pipe line, commonly known as a catch basin.

• DK: For at beskytte det eksisterende kloaksystem til afledning af regnvand skal man placere en beskyttende, såkaldt ”vandafløbspose” ved åbningen til vandafløbet.

• Back translation: …pipe line, a so-called water-drainage bag.

B.

Om VW og sprog og kultur

Systemet reagerer individuelt…?

Oversættelse af technical writing er andet og mere end

oversættelse, og sprogenes strukturer og grammatikken

forsvinder tit i den komplekse fagsprogsgenre.

Fagsprogsgenre på et sprog og i en kultur er ikke lig med

fagsprogsgenren på et andet sprog og i en anden kultur.


Analyse I: Struktur

Afsmitningen fra tysk er her voldsom: Um…..anzupassen…

Skriv i stedet: Affjedringen følger kørselsforholdene/kørslen ved

hjælp af… / Ved hjælp af x sker y. Y er en følge af X.

Analyse II: Grammatik og kollikation

elektrisk indstillelig støddæmpning

(hvem indstiller? Sker det automatisk?)


Analyse III: Register

Fagord kontra mærkelige ord:

Førerassistentsystemer, undervognsregulering DCC

Analyse IV: Kollokationer

Fagsprog kontra mærkelige vendinger:

de enkelte støddæmpere, for hvert enkelt hjul

Siger man sådan på dansk?


?

Om VW

og sprog og kultur

Samme problematikker som før og dertil kommer:

Semantikken:

Affjedringskarakteristikken – hvad betyder det?

En sportslig affjedring – hvad siger det?

Endoforiske og exoforiske referencer:

– bidrager voldsomt til kompleksiteten i en tekst

”If the designations are not correct the language

does not correspond with the true nature of

things. If the language does not correspond with

the true nature of things, activities cannot be

completed successfully.

Og mere Folkevogn……..

Vælger du f.eks. en Scirocco Van med 210 hk TSI motor,

en potent hverdags sportsvogn, så er der 36%

besparelse alene i bilens anskaffelsespris i forhold til en

tilsvarende personbil. …Og som om det ikke var nok, så

er al ekstraudstyret også til attraktiv gulpladepris.

Eneste forskel til en personbil er papegøjepladen foran

og det store funktionelle varerum, der kan løse

pladskrævende opgaver.

Dette er en meget mere letlæselig tekst i

technico-marketing-stil, men også med

meget tydelige kulturelle referencer.


• Challenges:

• Locales

• Genres

• English vs English as a lingua franca

• English vs local languages

• English as knowledge transfer itself

• Globalisation – Glocalisation -Localization

Foreignization

vs.

Domestication

G.+B.

Og så lige noget skægt

– og alligevel tankevækkende

• http://blog.toyota.co.uk/new-toyota-yaris-

hybrid-advert-encourages-you-to-sing-

up#.VDUmaPl_uSo

Opgave:

Skrive de forskellige sprog ned, som I ser på

skrift (skilte, huse, veje, andet).

Ideer til kulturreferencer.

Salg af Toyota i Danmark

Auris 1.6 T2 Premium

Privatleasing 2.595 kr./md. Max. 15.000/år km. 36 mdr. løbetid. Inkl. serviceaftale, etablerings- og leveringsomk. Ekskl. grøn ejerafg., forsikring og ekstraudstyr. Positiv kreditgodk. kræves. Totalpris i løbetiden: Førstegangsydelse 25.000 kr. + (36 mdr. x 2.495 kr.) = 114.820 kr. inkl. service. Vi tager forbehold for trykfejl. Tilbuddet er gældende igennem Toyota Financial Services Danmark A/S.

Glæd dig til en sjælden kombination af komfort og køredynamik

Gældende fra 02-10-2014 til 31-12-2014

Kultur er også systemer:

Her lovgivning samt

finansieringsbetingelser

Nu er det jeres tur?

Sources

• Eisend, Martin (2010). A Meta-analysis of Gender Roles in Advertising. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Vol. 38, No. 4.

• Jettmarowa, Z. (2009). Contexts of/in Translativity. Prague: Univerzita Karlova v Praze.

• Konfutse, 2500 years ago!

• Reddick, R.J. (1992). English Expository Discourse, in Language in Context: Essays for Robert E. Klongacre. University of Texas.

• Snell-Hornby, Mary (2006). The Turns of Translation Studies. John Benjamins Publishing Company.

• Tymoczko, Maria and Gentzler, Edwin (2002). Translation and Power. Amherst and Boston: University of Massachusetts Press.

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