AKADEMIA HUMANISTYCZNO EKONOMICZNA
W ŁODZI
Rafał Nowakowski
Comparative Analysis of Three Commercial Translations
of “Kodeks Spółek Handlowych”, Division 1 Art. Art. 151-156
Praca dyplomowa
napisana pod kierunkiem
dr Borysa Sokołowa
Koszalin 2009
Table of contents:
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 Theory of translation
1.1 Definitions of translation strategies and procedures
1.2 Categorization of translation strategies
1.3 Classification of lexical translation procedures
1.3.1 Vinay and Darbelnet’s procedures and techniques
1.3.2 Iriv’s procedures for translation of culture bound items
1.3.3 Newmark’s procedures
1.3.4 Van Leuven-Zwart’s microstructural shifts
1.3.5 Aixela’s procedures fort he translation of culture specific items
1.4 Standardized and ’free’ translation
1.6 The role of translator as a linguist, artist and intermediary and rewriter
CHAPTER 2 Legal translation – theoretical background
2.1 Law and legal language as the specialized one
2.2 Legal vocabulary and its specificity
2.3 Difficulties in Polish-English translations
2.4 Basic terminological problems
2.5 Different meanings of Polish and British legal vocabulary
2.6 Specificity of law and legal translations
2.7 Appropriate paragraphing, style and register of translated legal text
CHAPTER 3 Comparison of three commercial English translations of ‘Kodeks Spółek Handlowych”
CONCLUSIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY INTRODUCTION
In this work I intend to present – by definitions and examples – different aspects of translators’ work. The subject was taken up to introduce and develop general knowledge about translations of legal texts. My interest in this issue derives from a want to become a professional translator.
In chapter one …
In chapter two …
In chapter three …
The intention of this chapter is to present the definitions of translation strategies and procedures as well as their categorization. Some of them are described in detail. Next, legal vocabulary and translator’s terminology problems are taken into consideration. The difficulties in Polish-English translations are also considered. Finally, the role of translator is introduced.
Many authors use terms “strategy” and “procedure” in translation studies referring to a number of different phenomena. The first who tried to develop the definition of translation strategy was Lörscher (1991, in Kwieciński 2001: 115) who adopted the definition of communication strategy that view it as “a potentially conscious plan for solving what to the individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular goal”. Treating strategies as a subcategory of procedures Lörscher (1991, in Kwieciński 2001: 115) modifies the definition and defines translation strategy as: “a potentially conscious procedure for the solution of a problem which an individual is faced with when translating a text segment from one language into another”.
According to Van Dijk and Kintsch’s terms (1983, in Kwieciński 2001: 116) a translation plan would be simply “to translate the source-text A into the target-laguage B”. Therefore translation strategy could be described as a global translation orientation. In this sense, a translation strategy may be said to be governed by an initial norm. This initial strategy can be described as translator’s choice between “subscribing to source culture norms or to target culture norms, in other words, the translator’s choice between adequacy and acceptability” (Kwieciński 2001: 116). In other authors’ words (Van Dijk and Kintsch 1983: 64) “a strategy is the idea of an agent about the best way to act in order to reach the goal”.
Some scholars distinguish between global and local strategies. Global strategies are translator’s initial decisions about the style to be used, whereby style is used in meaning a way of performing a global action that has the most effect. On the other hand, local strategies are the subsequent lower-level decisions, which take place in relation to specific lexical items. Both strategies and procedures are reconstructed from finished target text. “They are forms of explicitly textual manipulation directly observable from the translation product itself, in comparison with the source text” (Kwieciński 2001: 118).
To sum up, a translation strategy may be defined as “norm‑governed, intersubjectively verifiable global choice of the degree in which to subscribe to source-culture or target-culture concepts, norms and conventions” (Kwieciński 2001:120). A translation procedure is a “resultant textually manifest, norm-governed and intersubjectively verifiable translational action applied to individual linguistic manifestation at a specific linguistic or textual level” (Kwieciński 2001:120).
Many classifications of translation strategies exists. Most of them refer to the basic choices between many degrees of domesticity.
Newmark’s distinction (1991 in Kwieciński 2001: 121) between semantic and communicative translation represents his main contribution to general translation theory. Newmark stresses that his proposition is not a rigid dichotomy but rather a sliding scale which eliminates any dividing line between the two contrasted approaches. In terms of the textual characteristics semantic translation is described as source-biased, author centered, over-translated, preserving semantic content at the expense of a loss of meaning. On the other hand, communicative translation is target‑biased, reader-centered, undertranslated, preserving or improving the force and clarity at the expense of semantic loss, and effect-oriented. Semantic translation (Kwieciński 2001: 121) is said to be “applicable to all writings with original expressiveness”, while communicative translation “is largely reserved for impersonal and short-lasting texts” (Kwieciński 2001: 121). For Newmark, the authority, originality, expressiveness and the lasting universal value of source text appear to be principal factor while choosing the strategy. Authoritative, original and universal texts are to be normally translated semantically.
Overall, Newmark’s remarks seem to be a reformulation and refinement of the traditional arguments for and against “faithful” versus “free” translation. As the historical evidence shows, communicative translation has been preferred in those cases for timeless masterpieces, while close semantic renditions have generally been reserved for short-lasting pragmatic texts or for strictly information-oriented scientific treaties.
Below only a few lexical procedures are presented. Special attention is put to the classifications made specifically for culture-specific items because of their immediate relevance to this work thesis.
Vinay and Darbelnet (1985 in Kwieciński 2001: 123) identify seven translation procedures. Three of them correspond to the direct (literal) translation method, the remaining four to the oblique method. First of them is borrowing described as a self‑explanatory category, with a reservation that new and personal borrowings are meant in particular.
Calque is a kind of borrowing whereby a language borrows an expression from another, but then translates literally each of its elements.
Another procedure is Literal translation. It is a synonymous with “word‑for‑word” translation – a direct transfer from a source text to a grammatically and idiomatically appropriate target text.
Transposition involves replacing one word with another without changing the meaning of the message whereas modulation is a variation of the form of the message, obtained by a change in the point of view.
Equivalence stands for rendering of the same situation by two texts using completely different stylistics and structural methods;
Adaptation base on creating an equivalence of the same value applicable to a different situation than that of the source language (it is used when the type of the situation being referred to by the source language message is unknown in the target language culture.
1.3.2 Ivir’s procedures for the translation of culture-bound items
Ivir’s procedures (1987 in Kwieciński 2001: 127) refer to ways of resolving differences in the extralinguistic reality of the two cultures. In practice they imply translation of culture-specific items.
It includes borrowing of the source-language expression (without distinguishing between the ad hoc importation of a new item for the purpose of one translation and a borrowing that has already entered the target culture).
Definition defines the elements of culture that are to be transmitted. It is a procedure that relies on what members of the target culture know in an attempt to make them aware of what they do not know.
Literal translation refers to calque in Vinay and Darbelnet’s sense whereas substitution is a procedure that is available to the translator in cases in which the two cultures display a partial overlap rather than presence or absence of a particular element of culture.
Lexical creation or lexical invention are word formation or semantic extension of words that are already present in target language or new collocations.
Sometimes omission or on the contrary - addition of a word or phrase may occur in the translated text in order to more clearly explain the meaning of the source language message.
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