Teaching Translation Problems and Solutions 翻译教学：问题与对策(英文)

Teaching Translation: Problems and Solutions

Introduction

Every translation activity has one or more specific purposes and whichever they may be, the main

aim of translation is to serve as a cross-cultural bilingual communication vehicle among peoples.

In the past few decades, this activity has developed because of rising international trade, increased

migration,

globalization,

the

recognition

of

linguistic

minorities,

and

the

expansion of

the

mass

media

and

technology.

For

this

reason,

the

translator

plays

an

important

role

as

a

bilingual

or

multi-lingual

cross-cultural

transmitter

of

culture

and

truths

by

attempting

to

interpret

concepts

and speech in a variety of texts as faithfully and accurately as possible.

Most translation theorists agree that translation is understood as a transfer process from a foreign

language

—

or

a

second

language

—

to

the

mother

tongue.

However,

market

requirements

are

increasingly demanding that translators transfer texts to a target language that is not their mother

tongue, but a foreign language. This is what Newmark calls

since that is the only way you can translate naturally, accurately and with maximum effectiveness.

In fact, however, most translators do translate out of their own language...

There

is

always

a

way

of

approaching

an

SL

text,

whether

the

translator

chooses

the

author-centered

traditional

model,

the

text-centered

structuralistic

model

or

the

cognitive

reader-centered model.

This fact makes the translating process a harder task, sometimes

resulting in a

mediocre output

that should undoubtedly be revised and post-edited before delivery to the client.

Through

experience

I

have

learned

that

the

consequences

of

wrong

translations

can

be

catastroph ic

—

especially

if

done

by

laypersons

—

and

mistakes

made

in

the

performance

of

this

activity

can

obviously

be

irreparable.

Just

think

of

what

could

happen

in

cases

of

serious

inadequacy

in

knowledge

areas

such

as

science,

medicine,

legal

matters,

or

technology.

There

must be thousands of examples, but I find this anecdote worth mentioning here: Lily, a Chilean

exile

who

had

been

granted

refugee

status

in

a

non-Spanish-speaking

country,

was

going

to

undergo surgery for the simple removal of a skin blemish from her face. However, because of a

misunderstanding

by

the

translator

on

duty

in

the

hospital

at

the

moment

she

was

going

to

be

anesthetized, she was about to undergo breast surgery!

It is quite clear that a poor translation can not only lead to hilarity or to minor confusion, but it can

also be a

matter of life and death. Hence the importance of training translators, not only

in the

acquisition

and

command

of

languages

and

translation

strategies

and

procedures,

but

also

in

specific knowledge areas and, what is equally important, in professional ethics.

If translating is a discourse operation interposing between language and thought (Delisle, 1980),

we

should

accept

that

in

the

art

or

skill

of

translating

we

are

inexorably

going

to

come

across

assorted

and

numerous

obstacles.

Delisle

(1981)

illustrates

what

a

subtle

form

of

torture

translation is:

Translation is an arduous job that mortifies you, puts you in a state of despair at times, but also an

enriching and indispensable work, that demands honesty and modesty.

There are many thorns that can mortify us during the translation process, whatever the nature of

the text we face, and translators should be aware of them. The first problem is related to reading

and comprehension ability in the source language. Once the translator has coped with this obstacle,

the

most

frequent

translation

difficulties

are

of

a

semantic

and

cultural

nature

(Tricá

s,

1995): < /p>

untranslatability

( cognates,

i.e.

true

and

false

friends,

calque,

and

other

forms

of

interference;

institutional

and

standardized

terms,

neologisms,

aphorisms,

etc.),

and

untranslatability,

attitude

toward

these

words

or

expressions

so

as

to

avoid

interference

and/or

language

misuse

(Kussmaul, 1995).

Similarly,

we

quite

often

run

into

those

painful

found

terms,

for

which

not

even

the

best

dictionary, an expert in the topic or a native speaker of the source language can provide us with a

solution to convey an accurate meaning. We should always bear in mind that one of the greatest

virtues of a good translator is what I have called

the nearest common sense interpretation of the

Whatever

the

difficulty

in

the

translation

process,

procedures

must

aim

at

the

essence

of

the

message and faithfulness to the meaning of the source language text being transferred to the target

language text. In the words of Nida and Taber (1974):

Translating consists of reproducing, in the target language, the nearest equivalent to the message

in the source language, in the first place in the semantic aspect and, in the second place, in the

stylistic aspect.

To

a

great

extent,

the

quality

of

translation

will

depend

on

the

quality

of

the

translator,

i.e.

on

her/his

knowledge,

skills,

training,

cultural

background,

expertise,

and

even

mood!

Newmark

(1995b) distinguishes some essential characteristics that any good translator should have:

Reading comprehension ability in a foreign language

Knowledge of the subject

Sensitivity to language (both mother tongue and foreign language)

Competence to write the target language dexterously, clearly, economically and resourcefully

In

addition,

Mercedes

Tricá

s

refers

to

intuition,

or

common

sense

as

the

most

common

of

all

senses; in other words, making use of that sixth sense, a combination of intelligence, sensitivity

and intuition. This phenomenon works very well if handled cautiously:

...the

transfer

process

is

a

difficult

and

complex

approach

mechanism,

one

in

which

one

must

make use of all one's intellectual capacity, intuition and skill (Tricá

s, 1995).

Apart from the previously mentioned aspects, it is relevant to emphasize the necessity for sound