1. Mona Baker
1/3/2015
Translators are a bridge between two cultures
Translator is in a privileged position to make explicit
the difference between the cultures
To expose injustices and to contribute to the diversity
in the world

2. • Translation is more taxing than writing itself
(organisation and imagination)
Orthography Vs written words have no one to
One relationship
• Meaning is carried by units smaller than
words
Rebuild ‘’to build again’’…(morphemes)
Tennis player is one word in Turkish Tenisci

3. 1. Meanings in words :
2. Problems in translation at the ‘’morpheme
level’’

4. • Four types of meaning:
1. Propositional meaning:
Shirt vs socks (reference in use in the real
world) if not followed –result wrong translation
2.Expressive meaning:
Cannot be called true or false/right or wrong
Don’t complain /Don’t Whigne
Famous English /Femme Fameuse (ill repute)

5. • Removing these words will not alter meaning
but EFFECT.
3. Pre-supposed meanings:
Teeth brushed in English
Teeth polished in German
Teeth washed in Polish

6. 4.Evoked meaning:
Dialect and register variation
Translator to make sure he knows the audience
he is translating for.
(American vs British) (Mum/daughter/doctor/p

7. • Non-equivalence:
• The words of a language reflect not so much
of the reality of the world but the interest of
the people.
Temperature words: Cool,Cold,hot,warm
divisions: baarid (‘cold/cool’), haar (‘hot: of the
weather’), saakhin (‘hot: of objects’), and daafi’
(‘warm’). In contrast with English, Arabic .

8. • Cool and cold no difference in Arabic…
• Translators have to deal with semantic gaps
Non-equivalence at word level means that the
target language has no direct equivalent for a
word which occurs in the source text.

9. Problems arise due to factors as :
(a) Culture-specific concepts :privacy in English
notoriously difficult to translate
Landslide in English (victory) over-whelming
majority.
(b) The source-language word is semantically
complex :
Brazillian word arruação, ‘clearing the ground under
coffee trees of rubbish and piling it in the middle of
the row in order to aid in the recovery of beans
dropped during harvesting’

10. (c) The source and target languages make
different distinctions in meaning:
Indonesian makes a distinction between going
out in the rain without the knowledge that it is
raining (kehujanan) and going out in the rain
with the knowledge that it is raining (hujan-
hujanan). English does not make this difference.

11. • English has a variety of words ,many
hyponyms under article for which it is difficult
to find precise equivalents in other languages,
for example feature, survey, report, critique,
…
Words related to politics and religion have more
complications.

12. Some methods to overcome
problems
• (a) Translation by a more general word
• (The rich and creamy KOLESTRAL-SUPER is
easy to apply and has pleasant fragrance.)
• Target text (Arabic):
• Equivalence at word level 27
• Kolestral super is rich and concentrated in its
make-up which gives a product that resembles
cream, making it extremely easy to put on the
hair.

13. • Example B
Source text (Kolestral Super):
• Shampoo the hair with a mild WELLA-
SHAMPOO and lightly towel dry. Target text 1
(Spanish):
• Lavar el cabello con un champú suave de
WELLA y frotar ligeramente con una toalla.
• Wash hair with a mild WELLA shampoo and
rub lightly with a towel.

14. • (b) Translation by a more neutral/less expressive word
Source text (China’ s Panda Reserves; see Appendix 3, no. 47):
• Many of the species growing wild here are familiar to us as
plants cultivated in European gardens – species like this
exotic lily.
• Equivalence at word level 29
• 30 In other words
Target text (back-translated from Chinese):
• We are very familiar with many varieties of the wild life
here, they are the kind grown in European gardens –
varieties like this strange unique lily flower.

15. (c) Translation by cultural substitution
Means replacing a cultural specific term with a
target language item which does not have a
target language propositional item but has the
same effect on the reader.

16. Example :
• Source text (The Patrick Collection – a leaflet
produced by a privately owned museum of
classic cars; see Appendix 4):
• The Patrick Collection has restaurant facilities
to suit every taste – from the discerning
gourmet, to the Cream Tea expert.
• . . . to satisfy all tastes: from those of the
demanding gastronomist to those of the
expert in pastry.

17. • Cream Tea (party in Britain where tea and
biscuits are eaten) Italian has no such word
but has pastry instead (a kind of food
produced by the baker)

18. ***(d)Translation by illustration
• This is a useful option if the word which lacks
an equivalent in the target language refers to
a physical entity which can be illustrated,

19. (e)Translation by omission :
No harm in omitting an extra/unnecessary word
The panda’s mountain home is rich in plant life
and gave us many of the trees, shrubs and herbs
most prized in European gardens.
The mountain settlements of the panda have
rich varieties of plants. There are many kinds of
trees, shrubs and herbal plants that are
preciously regarded by European gardens.

20. • Read Mona Baker’s In Other Words : chapter 1.
• The theory of translation by W.Haas.
Topic and assignment :
Translate a paragraph from Urdu prose into English
language or English prose into Urdu language.
Discuss the method / methods you applied and the
difficulties as a translator. Also comment on the
discrepancies ,if any, in your work.(next class)

21. The theory of translation
• Difference in translation comes from a
difference in degrees of meanings