Филологические науки /6. Актуальные проблемы перевода

Candidate of Linguistics, associate professor Olga Vasylchenko.

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Philology, Department of the Theory and Practice of Translation from the English Language, Ukraine

BE YOUR OWN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

(Не делайте железо, господа!)

Editing/proofreading is an integral and invaluable part of the translation production process which essentially improves the quality of translation. Editing/proofreading includes checking the translated text for any possible errors, its assignments ranging from light proof-reading to major rewriting. A proofreader's job is to look for orthographic, grammar and syntax mistakes: misspellings, missing or misused accents, typos, incorrect usage of verbs or tenses, word order, agreement, etc. (the inevitable, common mistakes any translator can make). A translator has to be the first proofreader of his/her own text. Editing can be defined as top quality proofreading. An editor will look for and consider any means by which the target text could be improved: e.g. correcting sense mistakes, providing consistent terminology and style.

Editing and proofreading are difficult, because it is hard to see errors in your own translation. As a rule, only reputable firms, companies, businesses, publishers, etc. hire professional proofreaders and editors. The rest, at most, either cannot afford it at all, or hire underpaid people with poor knowledge of the foreign language who are only able to improve the style of the translator. Until very recently, the situation was blamed on immediate financial difficulties, but these are not today's problems. We have been witnessing translation blunders for decades. e.g., Important instructions! on the use of a Chinese woolly hat in Russian translation read (inter alia): Не делайте железо (most obviously instead of нельзя гладить утюгом/do not iron). In a compartment carriage (Ukrainian Railways), English-speaking people could enjoy reading the sign: Stop Crane (instead of emergency brake (valve)/стоп кран).

Our fourth year students may choose the so-called коментований переклад/translation and commentary for the Bachelor's Paper. They are required to translate 25 standard size pages of fiction or non-fiction and comment on the difficulties encountered. The students' supervisors have to edit the translations. Most errors students usually make can be attributed to various reasons: the students may lack sufficient background knowledge, they may fail to recognize set expressions, idioms, puns, realia words, they tend to use literal or calque translation which may sound alien in the target language, etc. e.g.: chicken hawk(s) was translated as if it were a hawk of a type that is reputed to prey on domestic fowl – яструб-курчатник/шуліка but in that particular context the term indicated a politician, avoiding military service in the past while advocating that others go to war in the present – кабінетний вояка. The Pro-Choice Club became Клуб вільного вибору instead of Клуб прихильників аборту. …consider the Benneton ads that wear their hearts and their issues on their sleeves. - … розглянемо рекламу Benneton, що полягає в розміщенні сердець і своїх меседжів на рукавах одягу ( the idiom which means to show your true feelings openly is completely misinterpreted; the translation might have been … візьмімо для прикладу відверту соціальну рекламу компанії Benneton). In the following example a passer-by directs a stranger to a nearby café: - Best transport caff in Kent, he said. – Transport calf?, I repeated uncertainly …- Найкраща дорожня забігайлівка в Кенті, - додав він. - Дорожня забігайлівка?, - невпевнено перепитав я …. The pun is completely lost in the Ukrainian translation. While editing the translation, my humble attempt was to somehow retrieve the pun: - Найкраща кавця в Кенті, - додав він. - Найкраща вівця?, - невпевнено перепитав я …. We can cite examples a hundred times but one thing that amazed me most was the translation of the idiom peeping Tom which alludes to the legend of the tailor Tom, the only person to watch the naked Lady Godiva as she rode by and who was struck blind for this sin, i.e. надто цікава (допитлива) людина. One of the students in her translation turned the luckless youth into хлопчик, що пісяє/дзюрить/пісяючий хлопчик (Manneken Pis; Petit Julien; little man urinating)!

Fortunately, the majority of students are quite able to spot their own and someone else's errors in translation demonstrating, among other things, their logical thinking. e.g.: In Thebes in 100 BC someone lost a slave named Shem was rendered by a fifth year student as У Фівах в 100 р. до н.е. хтось загубив раба на ім'я Шем. The student's group-mate suggested some translation transformations (recasting, addition, differentiation/substitution) to refine the result: Якось у 100 р. до н. е. у Фівах від одного рабовласника втік раб на ім’я Шем.

Most motivated students acquire necessary competence in translation. Relevant theoretical and practical education helps them understand that translation is a powerful activity, an important means of interlingual and intercultural communication. The translating profession, like other professions, imposes certain obligations on the translator, being competent is one of them. Translation competence is a complex concept. Many scholars consider that translation competence (TC) can be studied along the following lines: 1) the ability to perceive and understand the source language text (SLT) through the eyes of another culture and language; 2) the reasons for choosing a certain strategy for generating the target language text (TLT). TC requirements are:

• specific acquisition of at least two languages;

• the ability to see SLT through the eyes of TL culture;

• a good command of translation transformations;

• the insight into the TL norms of translation;

• the ability to choose the strategy of translation;

• the knowledge of standards and requirements of SL and TL functional styles

and genres;

• sound background knowledge;

• creativity and creative intuition (especially in literary translation).

TC also embraces the techniques for testing translation mistakes and translation quality assessment procedures, TQA, (practical and theoretical foundation of translation criticism). The lack of TC may lead to some grave mistakes.

Once, teachers of our department were editing translations from Ukrainian into English done by our colleagues from another higher educational establishment. We spotted quite a few terminological errors there, e.g. rare hydrogen instead of liquid hydrogen. The Ukrainian for rare and liquid may be one and the same word рідкий, only an incompetent translator could have made the wrong choice. Incorrect terminology is a major problem of those who translate, e.g., technical texts while not being technically conversant with the subject in question. I remember correcting the monstrous term огеровский эффект (which in reality is Эффект Оже/Auger effect).

Who should be held accountable for the mistakes left uncorrected: translators, editors, if any, or other responsible parties? What should be done to avoid errors? Do not overrate your translating abilities, do not rely too heavily on MATs, CATs, online translators, etc. If in doubt, before you turn in your translation ask your friend or colleague who knows the foreign language to carefully look it through which, in fact, constitutes a second round of proofreading and editing. A fresh look at your translation is of great use, though you should check on how reasonable all the suggestions, changes, and corrections are before arriving at your final decisions. Consultations provided by subject specialists are of invaluable use in your decision-making process.

Many years ago, my colleagues from the Faculty of Radiophysics asked me to translate into English an article which was to be published in a scientific journal. Now at every possible opportunity I am a bit of a show-off saying that the article was about thin amorphous Ge films obliquely deposited on a hot substrate. But, back then, it was all Greek to me. At that time, there was no such thing as the Internet and good dictionaries were hard to come by, I spent much time with subject specialists who patiently explained all intricacies of the topic in question to me.

Vocal translation is an extremely challenging task. Its specifics are worth discussing in a number of separate articles. I am going to comment on just one example from my own experience of translating a song from Russian into English. The song is about a young woman who learns to live without her boyfriend. She starts to have an independent life and experience new things. In a word, she makes it clear that she will survive the parting.

Those who risk vocal translation must have significant skills in equirhythmic and equiphonic translation. <It's very difficult to force the words into a melody that was designed for a different text>. [1] My adaptation preserved the original melody unaltered, that is why sorting words by length was important to avoid audio mistiming. e.g.:

Я буду птицей, парящей в синей вышине, Но не вернусь я опять в объятия к тебе.

A bird of passage, I’ll flutter/flitter/quiver/clap/flap/ beat/swoop… my wings above your door, You’ll get my message that I don’t need you any more.

I wanted the bird to move its wings lightly up and down, to make small gentle movements in the air, to bid its farewell with grace and decency. The right option could have been flutter; but two-syllable verbs followed by the pronoun my and the noun wings didn't match the melody. The meaning of the rest of the verbs including the one-syllable ones could break the right image. Flap, e.g., is a bit henny (all flap and no fly), swoop is rather aggressive: if a bird or aircraft swoops, it moves suddenly down through the air, especially in order to attack something [2], etc. Thanks to the native speaker who agreed to look through my translation I was able to visually perceive these movements (the man was very good at imitating things). As a result another version appeared: I’ll spread my wings above your door. It took me some time to learn that it was a well-tested image, cf., I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly … (Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway lyrics). Thus, some native speakers may give a helping hand in proofreading, quality checking and editing.

Those who are not bilinguals, nor good translators, but write in a foreign language, be it a newspaper article, a fact sheet, a synopsis of a play, a libretto, etc. have to be more responsible regarding what they undertake to write or translate. Newspersons, on the one hand, have to observe the principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity and impartiality that constitute the canons of journalism. On the other hand, such writers should remember that they are also responsible for any language mistakes left uncorrected as they may cause difficulties in understanding not only the meanings of individual words but the sense of entire utterances. They may undermine the student's confidence in what their foreign language teachers, teachers of translation and interpreting were imparting in them during their studies. Unfortunately, printed and online English-language publications in Ukraine are littered with errors. It takes a lot of time and effort to explain this to students, e.g. : why, accidentally, Washington (the capital city of the US) is used with the definite article while the Voice of America - without. [3]

The article from the Kyiv Post <Translators unite around improved standards, higher wages > dated Mar 13 2008 by Alexandra Magdik, Kyiv Post Researcher, serves as a vivid example of how not to write in general and in English in particular. [4] Firstly, it can hardly be considered ethical for A. Magdik to make absolutely unfounded generalizations about standards of higher education in Ukraine, e.g.: <Higher educational institutions don't provide necessary professional training (for future translators and interpreters). Young people don't receive training, only translation theory. A lack of qualified teachers in sequential and simultaneous translation has resulted in few highly qualified professionals in those spheres>. Secondly, the urge to memorize words, phrases, etc. may play a dirty trick on students who read the article. e.g., the author uses sequential translation instead of consecutive translation, she does not understand the difference between translation and interpreting, she does not realize that verbal translation chief at the TRIS translation agency is a dubious compliment for A. Kozmina (what is the lady responsible for: literal, word-for-word translation?). If you bother to read the article, you will see that every other word should have been corrected.

We all know what vital task translation performs bridging the gap between languages and cultures. Through translation and interpreting, people of different nationalities are able to communicate and understand each other. In the era of Globalization, translation has assumed an entirely new and important role. We can be totally reliant on professional and responsible translators and interpreters who help people of different countries cooperate, develop and sometimes even survive. However, we should appreciate the contributions of other people made to this process: professional translation proofreaders/editors (native speakers would be an asset), subject specialists, paratranslators, colleagues, having experience in translation, and truly compliant, flexible, dutiful former teachers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am grateful to Valery Kashirsky for proofreading this article.

References:

1. http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/music/Adaptation.htm 2. The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English // Director Della Summers / – Harlow, 2003. – 1949 p.

3. http:www.kyivpost.com/business/general/28591

4. http://en.for-ua.com/forum/read.php?6,51556,51587,report=1