Traduzione Specialistica dei Testi: Traduzione Lingua Inglese, secondo anno. 32/16/042. Crediti 12. A.A. 2015-16, primo semestre. See course programme (on my home page) for the objectives, content, assessment procedure and requirements for this course. The key text-book is B.Hatim & J. Munday Translation: An Advanced Resource Book, Routledge, 2004. ISBN: 978-0-415-28306-9. 4 copies ordered for library. Available from ‘amazon.co.uk’ or ‘bookdepository.com’. (More expensive if ordered from ‘amazon.it’.) On p. xix of the above book you can find a list of 5 other books that are useful but not essential for this course.

Three more useful books are:

Language to Language: A Practical and Theoretical Guide for Italian/English Translators by Christopher Taylor (Cambridge University Press, 1998). This book is now being used for the first year of this course, and I will sometimes refer to it. It is now printed by Amazon UK and is therefore only available online from amazon.co.uk. Mouse or Rat: Translation as Negotiation by Umberto Eco (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003).

Aspects of Literary Text Analysis and Translation Criticism by John Dodds (Campanotto Editore Udine, 1994).

UNIT 1: WHAT IS TRANSLATION? (definitions of translation) Hatim & Munday (HM) Sections A, B and C) - INTRALINGUAL (within the same language) E.g., modern re-workings of earlier English translations of The Bible or the ‘carrying across’ of meaning from one regional variety (or register) to another (‘Welcome’  ‘Hi’).

- INTERLINGUAL (between two languages) - INTERSEMIOTIC E.g., translation of written text into music, film or painting. (See article by Jakobson, Unit 1, Section B, p.124, Hatim and Munday (HM)). E.g., Gurinder Chada’s 2004 Bollywood film Bride and Prejudice

Definitions of interlingual translation involve a distinction between translation as a finished PRODUCT and as an ongoing PROCESS. The latter is constantly open to reinterpretation, rethinking and reformulation. The inherent difficulty of the translation process lies in the fact that this translator has to work simultaneously at carrying across (trans) SEVERAL levels of meaning from a source text (ST) to a target text (TT). These include ‘the literal sense of the words on the page, the semantic connotations that may lie behind the literal sense (e.g., ‘immigrant’  ‘outsider’), the pragmatic force that the original writer may have intended (e,g., ‘Is the window open?’ = ‘Potresti aprire la finesta?’), and the stylistic conventions relating to register and genre of the text (‘Hi’, ‘Hello’,‘Welcome’, or ‘I bid thee good day’?) (see Taylor, p.4)

• How, and to what extent, can the interlingual translator establish EQUIVALENCE between these different levels of meaning in the ST and the TT? • Attempts to answer this question have led to the inter-discipline of TRANSLATION STUDIES. See Hatim & Munday (HM) p8 for a map of disciplines interfacing with Translation Studies, and HM p127-131 for Holmes’ seminal paper on Translation Studies.

The concept of translation equivalence rests on the idea that the same content can be expressed in the TT even if it has a different syntactic, phonological or semantic form H. Belloc argued that equivalence ‘is possibly the most problematic of all the terminology connected with translation theory’ and that ‘there are no such things as identical equivalents’ (Dodds, 140). The same content may have to be expressed in the TT with a different syntactic or phonological form, or with a different semantic value.

Syntactic form (different word order) uova e pancetta  bacon and egg (different word class) a medical student  una student di medicina (pre-modifying adjective ‘medical’ becomes postmodifying prepositional phrase ‘di medicina’) (Dodds 185). Phonological form (different rhythm, cadence, metre, alliteration or assonance) sbadigliavano, sospiravano  they would yawn, they would sigh

Semantic value Per Baccho!  By Bacchus! (same name but not the same semantic value) Per Baccho!  By Jove! (different name but same semantic value.

Some people have argued that since absolute equivalence is problematic, certain texts where the content is inseparably linked to form (e.g., literary works and texts containing puns and word-play) (Dodds 135, 117) cannot be expressed in any other form, and are hence untranslatable. (Jakobson claims that poetry ‘by definition is untranslatable’ see HM: 10) However, as Dodds (117) points out, ‘the possibility of translating […] is of far greater interest to the theorist than is the impossibility of translating’. It is more rewarding to be aware of the limitations of translation, and then strive ‘to analyse when, why and to what extent translation is possible or impossible’.

Translation methodology

Today, more than ever, translators and certainly students of translation have to be able to explain what they are doing when they translate. ‘It is absurd for there to be a craftsman who is unable to explain how he is performing his craft and consequently unable to pass on his experience to others’ (Dodds 131).

In this course we will examine theoreticalmethodological concepts and practical STRATEGIES that will allow students to recognise, analyse critically and produce appropriate, high quality translations of a range of text types that have different expository, instructional, argumentative, counter-argumentative or other communicative purposes. We will begin with some well-known strategies (see Taylor).

STRATEGIES Taylor (47-64) lists 9 strategies (the first 4 can be presented as pairs, as they are opposites) EQUATION & SUBSTITUTION

EQUATION - loan words: Italians play ‘baseball’, and the English eat ‘spaghetti’ and ‘lasagna’ (not ‘lasagne’). (No absolute equivalence when the pronuniciation or singular/plural morpheme changes). - calques: the target language (TL) adopts the source language (SL) term to its own morphological and phonological framework: e.g., ‘…..dopo un po’ di relax’. (= English verb  Italian noun). Also, Italian ‘zoomare’ and ‘crossare’ from English terms for photography and football.

EQUATION & SUBSTITUTION

EQUATION (cont.) - default (a clear one-to-one equivalent: Man  Uomo). But sometimes there can be a semantic, pragmatic, or culturally motivated reason to translate it in another way. E.g. Hey man!  Eh, capo!; It’s a man’s game  È un gioco da maschi. - false cognates (traps): different meanings of deceptively similar forms: direttore  director manager/CEO (= Chief Excutive Officer); sensibile  sensible sensitive; eventualmente  eventually possibly

EQUATION & SUBSTITUTION SUBSTITUTION No ‘equivalent’ form as such. Another term has to be substituted. - Anglo-Saxon genitive: Gulliver’s Travels  Italian prepositional phrase: I Viaggi di Gulliver

- Italian subjunctive: Faro in modo che si interessi… replaced by English infinitive: I’ll try to get her to…. - Proverbs and idioms: La goccia che fa troboccare il vaso  The straw that broke the camels’s back

DIVERGENCE & CONVERGENCE DIVERGENCE Have to choose from a range of alternatives: cream ? girare ?

DIVERGENCE & CONVERGENCE DIVERGENCE Have to choose from a range of alternatives: cream  crema / panna? girare  to turn / to switch on / to pass on / to go round / to avoid / to travel….?

CONVERGENCE

Different terms in the SL (source language) have to be translated by only one term in TL (target language): Nephew/niece/grandchild ? Tu/Lei/voi/Loro ? Commericalista/ragionere/contabile ?

CONVERGENCE

Different terms in the SL have to be translated by only one term in TL Nephew/niece/grandchild  nipote Tu/Lei/voi/Loro  you Commericalista/ragionere/contabile  accountant

AMPLIFICATION & REDUCTION

AMPLIFICATION Necessary to add some element to the ST to ensure readers’ comprehension: Hanno interesse a tenere il prezzo basso 

AMPLIFICATION & REDUCTION

AMPLIFICATION Necessary to add some element to the ST to ensure readers’ comprehension: Hanno interesse a tenere il prezzo basso  They have a vested interest in keeping the price low.

AMPLIFICATION AND REDUCTION REDUCTION Necessary to eliminate elements in the TT because they are redundant or misleading: carta geografica ?

esporre in modo visibile ?

AMPLIFICATION AND REDUCTION REDUCTION Necessary to eliminate elements in the TT because they are redundant or misleading: carta geografica  map

esporre in modo visibile  display

DIFFUSION & CONDENSATION DIFFUSION

Provide more elaboration: Italian plural lexemes: informazioni / mobili ?

doveva arrivare ? Magari! ?

DIFFUSION & CONDENSATION DIFFUSION

Provide more elaboration: Italian plural lexemes: informazioni / mobili  some information /some advice doveva arrivare  he was supposed to arrive

Magari!  If only I could! / I wish that were the case

DIFFUSION & CONDENSATION CONDENSATION The most appropriate expression in the TT (target text) is linguistically more concise. (English language is said to be more concise (‘sintetica’) than Italian but this is more a question of stylistics than linguistics). a buon prezzo ? far vedere ? to look at  ? to make up for ? He’s there  ?

DIFFUSION & CONDENSATION CONDENSATION The most appropriate expression in the TT is linguistically more concise. (English is said to be more concise (or ‘sintetico’) than Italian but this is more a question of stylistics than linguistics). a buon prezzo  cheap far vedere  show to look at  guardare to make up for  compensare He’s there  C’è

DIFFUSION & CONDENSATION CONDENSATION Note that English pre-modified nouns in potentially infinite sequences are usually more condensed than their Italian ‘equivalents’, which have to contain verbs, adjectivals and complex adverbial and/or prepositional phrases. How would you translate: Environmental department pollution report findings scandal

DIFFUSION & CONDENSATION CONDENSATION

ANSWER: Lo scandalo suscitato dai risultati del rapporto del Ministero dell’Ambiente sull’inquinamento dell’aria. Compare the sentence positions of ‘scandolo’ and ‘scandal’

REORDERING

Use basic inversion procedures: white horse  ? ti amo  ? high blood pressure ?

(high pressure weather system  ?)

REORDERING

Use basic inversion procedures: white horse  cavallo bianco ti amo  I love you high blood pressure  pressione alta

(high pressure weather system  alta pressione)

Inversion procedures also have to be used for COLLOCATIONS. Translate the following collocations into English: (Taylor 61) 1 vita e morte  ? 2 sano e salvo  ?

3 il diavolo e acqua santa  ? 4 bianco e nero  ?

Inversion procedures also have to be used for COLLOCATIONS. Translate the following collocations into English: (Taylor 61)

1 vita e morte  life and death 2 sano e salvo  fit and well / safe and sound 3 il diavolo e acqua santa  (between) the devil and the deep blue sea 4 bianco e nero  black and white

Now decide which one: - matches perfectly with the ST but in an inverted form

- maintains half the pairing - matches only partly but belongs in the same semantic field. - matches perfectly

Now decide which one: - matches perfectly with the ST but in an inverted form: bianco e nero  black and white - maintains half the pairing: il diavolo e acqua santa  (between) the devil and the deep blue sea - matches only partly but belongs in the same semantic field: sano e salvo  fit and well / safe and sound - matches perfectly: vita e morte  life and death

HOMEWORK 1) Ask your friends/members of your family to define ‘traduzione’. Compare their answers. 2) Read the article by Holmes in Hatim and Munday (H&M), Unit 1, Section B, p.128-129. Make sure you understand the difference between translation as: i) a product (analysis of the TT); ii) a function (the purpose it serves in its social-cultural context, i.e., to inform, to warn, to publicise, to entertain, to prohibit, etc); iii) a process (what happens in the act of translating, including the translator’s thought processes); 3) Find out what ‘translationese’ is. (Defintion in HM on p.12) 4) Read the following text (see the next slide or HM p.223). It has been badly translated from SL Spanish into TL English. Find examples of translationese in this text. .

This text was found on a shoe-cleaning machine for use by passengers at a major international airport. Find examples of translationese. For a good service of the maquina please read the instrucciones. 1° To clean your shoe, on the bottom side of the brush hold yourself in the bar of the maquine. 2° Put some shoe cream and put your shoes on the brush passing the top of your shoe, just a few drops of cream is enough. 3° Shine your shoe using the brush of the color of your shoe that you will find outside this maquine. •Please fallow these instrucciones and you will have an excelente polish of your shoe.