Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto
Línguas e Literaturas Modernas
INTRODUCTION TO TRANSLATION
STUDIES
Power Point 6
17 October 2007
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Read the following ST and translate it into your
language.
A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell)
once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how
the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn,
orbits around the centre of a vast collection of stars called our
galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back
of the room got up and said: `What you have told us is
rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back
of a giant tortoise.' The scientist gave a superior smile before
replying, `What is the tortoise standing on?’ ‘You're very
clever, young man, very clever,' said the old lady. `But it's
turtles all the way down!‘
(from A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, 1988)
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Target text (back-translated from Greek):
Alice in Wonderland was once giving a lecture about
astronomy. She said that the earth is a spherical planet in
the solar system which orbits around its centre the sun,
and that the sun is a star which in turn orbits around the
centre of the star system which we call the Galaxy. At the
end of the lecture the Queen looked at her angrily and
disapprovingly. `What you say is nonsense. The earth is
just a giant playing card, so it's flat like all playing cards,'
she said, and turned triumphantly to the members of her
retinue, who seemed clearly satisfied by her explanation.
Alice smiled a superior smile, `And what is this playing
card supported on?' she asked with irony. The Queen did
not seem put out, 'You are clever, very clever,' she replied,
`so let me tell you, young lady, that this playing card is
supported on another, and the other on another other, and
the other other on another other other ...' She stopped, out
of breath, ‘The Universe is nothing but a great big pack of
cards,' she shrieked.
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Portuguese text (published by Gradiva in 2000; the
information online does not specify the name of the translator)
Part of this book is available at
http://www.gradiva.pt/capitulo.asp?L=2027
Um conhecido cientista (segundo as más línguas, Bertrand Russell)
deu uma vez uma conferência sobre astronomia. Descreveu como a
Terra orbita em volta do Sol e como o Sol, por sua vez, orbita em
redor do centro de um vasto conjunto de estrelas que constitui a
nossa galáxia. No fim da conferência, uma velhinha, no fundo da
sala, levantou-se e disse: «O que o senhor nos disse é um disparate.
O mundo não passa de um prato achatado equilibrado nas costas de
uma tartaruga gigante.» O cientista sorriu com ar superior e
retorquiu com outra pergunta: «E onde se apoia a tartaruga?» A
velhinha então exclamou: «Você é um jovem muito inteligente, mas
são tudo tartarugas por aí a baixo!»
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Another translation found at:
http://fisica.nletras.com/viewtopic.php?p=1548&si
d=dd87963dbbead2ba67a9ba92fa9ad482
«Um conhecido cientista ( alguns dizem que foi
Bertrand Russel ), deu uma vez uma conferência
sobre astronomia. Descreveu como a terra orbita
em redor do centro de um vasto conjunto de
estrelas chamada a nossa galáxia. No fim da
conferência, uma velhinha, no fundo da sala,
levantou-se e disse: “ O que o senhor nos disse é
um disparate. O mundo não passa de um prato
achatado equilibrado nas costas de uma
tartaruga gigante”. O cientista sorriu com ar
superior, antes de responder com uma pergunta:
“ E a tartaruga está em cima de quê?”. A velhinha
então exclamou: “ Você é um jovem muitíssimo
inteligente, mas são tudo tartarugas por aí
abaixo!”»
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Historia del tiempo (del Big Bang a los agujeros negros), trans. from
English by Miguel Ortufio, Barcelona: Editorial Crítica.
Un conocido científico (algunos dicen que fue
Bertrand Russell) daba una vez una conferencia
sobre astronomía. En ella describía cómo Tierra
giraba alrededor del Sol y cómo éste, a su vez,
giraba alrededor del centro de una vasta
colección de estrellas conocida como nuestra
galaxia. Al final de la charla, una simpática
señora ya de edad se levantó y le dijo desde el
fondo de la sala: «Lo que nos ha contado usted
no son más que tonterías. El mundo es en reelid
una plataforma plana sustentada por el
caparazón de una tortuga gigante». El científico
sonrió ampliamente antes de replicarlei «¿ y en
qué se apoya la tortuga?». «Usted es muy
inteligente, joven, muy inteligente — dijo la
señora —. ¡Pero hay infinitas tortugas una debajo
de otra!».
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Roman Jakobson, 1959
“all cognitive experience and its
classification is conveyable in any existing
language”
AND
only poetry “by definition is untranslatable”
WHY?
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
CLASSICAL DICHOTOMY
SENSE/
CONTENT
FORM/
STYLE
Sense can be translated; form cannot
When form contributes to sense or becomes
merged with it (as in poetry, songs, ads,
puns, etc.), untranslatability comes into
play. (Hatim and Munday, 2004: 10)
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Translation theory
before the 20th century
• The ‘literal’ (word-for-word T) vs. ‘free’
(‘sense-for-sense T) debate.
- a debate that has emerged over and
over again “with different degrees of
emphasis in accordance with differing
concepts of language and communication”
(Susan Bassnett)
- circular debate (George Steiner)
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Famous translators who helped
introduce/maintain this dichotomy
• Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BC
Roman orator, politician and philosopher
from De Oratore, 55 BC
I decided to take speeches written in Greek by great
orators and to translate them freely . . .
From De optimo genere oratorum, 46 BC
I did not hold it necessary to render word for word, but
I preserved the general style and force of the
language.
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Quintus Horatius, Flaccus (Horace), 65-8 BC
Roman poet.
Extract from the Epistula ad Pisones, also
known as Ars Poetica (usually dated
around 10 BC)
Do not worry about rendering word for
word, faithful translator, but render sense
for sense.
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
What was word-for-word T
in Roman times?
Each Greek word was replaced by its
closest grammatical/lexical
counterpart in Latin, since the ST and
the TT were read side by side.
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Hieronymus (Saint Jerome), 345419(420), Church father, translator,
and historian
Extract from
the “Letter to Pammachius”, also known as De
optimo genere interpretandi, probably written
between 405 and 410
I admit and confess most freely that I have not
translated word for word in my translations of
Greek texts, but sense for sense, except in the
case of the Scriptures in which even the order of
the words is a mystery. Cicero has been my
teacher in this.
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Literal vs free
Form vs content
• Western tradition (Cicero, St. Jerome)
• Oriental tradition:
China (Hung and Pollard)
the Arab world: Baghdad centre of translation
(Baker)
NB: the terms used to describe the oriental T
traditions are influenced by classical western
European T discourse.
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
T of the Bible and of other religious
and philosophical texts (e.g. Plato’s
dialogues) dominates the scene
• Danger of heresy
The case of the French humanist Etienne Dolet,
1509-1546 (burnt at the stake)
• Martin Luther’s T of the New Testament (1522)
and the Old Testament (1534) into East Middle
German; he followed St Jerome and used sensefor-sense.
Accused of having altered the Scriptures in his T,
he wrote Sendbrief von Dolmetschen (1530) to
defend himself.
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
1100 years after St Jerome
Luther translated the Bible into the
language of the ordinary people of a
German region, thus emphasizing the
importance of the TL and the TT
readership.
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Fidelity, Spirit, Truth
• End 17th century: fidelity comes to mean
faithfulness to the meaning rather than
the words used in the original.
• Spirit: in Latin, spiritus is inspiration,
creative energy; for St. Augustine it means
the Holy Spirit; for St. Jerome, it means
both.
• 12th century: truth comes to be seen as
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
content
2006
Attempts at systematization: setting out
‘prescriptions’ (how to produce a
successful T)
• (Dolet, 1540: 5 principles)
• John Dryden, 1631-1700. English poet,
dramatist, critic and translator
(metaphrase, paraphrase*, imitation)
(ITS, p.25)
• Alexander Fraser Tytler, 1747-1814
Essay on the Principles of Translation,
1790 (3 laws in order of importance: keep
ideas, style/form,
fluency)
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Romanticism: early 19th century
• Friedrich Schleiermacher, 1768-1834.
German philosopher and translator.
Über die verschiedenen Methoden des
Übersetzens, 1813
- Dolmetscher (commercial texts)
- Übersetzer (scholarly, artistic texts)
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Alienating or naturalizing?
“What of the genuine translator, who wants to bring
those two completely separated persons, his author and
his reader, truly together, and who would like to bring
the latter to as correct and complete an understanding
of the orginal as possible without inviting him to leave
the sphere of his mother tongue? What roads are open
to him? In my opinion there are only two. Either the
translator leaves the author in peace, as much as
possible, and moves the reader toward him. Or he leaves
the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the
author toward him.” 1813
Schleiermacher chooses the first method.
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Schleiermacher’s influence on
modern translation theory
• Equivalent effect (Nida)
• Katarina Reiss (texttypologie)
• Laurence Venuti (domestication vs
foreignization)
• George Steiner
• Walter Benjamin
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006
Main points
• Diad: literal / free debate (circular)
• How to translate the Bible dominated Tth
for over a thousand years
• The translator’s preface (fragmentation)
• Dryden: triad (some systematization)
• Foreignization / domestication
Elena Zagar Galvão - ITS - FLUP
2006