Arabic-L:PEDA:Translation Course input

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Mon 15 Oct 2007
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:Translation Course input

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1)
Date: 15 Oct 2007
From:"J" <jmurg at ttlc.net>
Subject:Translation Course input

I recommend _Meaning-Based Translation: A Guide to Cross-Language
Equivalence_ by Mildred L. Larson (2nd ed. is 1998; not sure if  
there's a
more recent edition) for teaching important basic principles of  
translation,
especially between languages/cultures that aren't close.  It has  
especially
good sections on what Larson calls "unpacking" meaning and re-writing  
to to
preserve the meaning of the source text as one tries to express it in  
the
target language.

This book would be excellent used in conjunction with the others  
recommended
by colleagues.

On the subject of book learning vs. practice, while I of course  
believe that
actually doing translations and having them evaluated and corrected  
by the
professor is an essential ingredient in learning to translate well, it's
also advisable to study and learn in a more formal and structured way  
what
professional translators consider to be useful and effective approaches,
best practices, and so on.  It's a more efficient learning process and
increases one's repetoire of translation skills.

It's also helpful to have an awareness of what you're doing and why  
so that
when someone challenges your translation or asks you to evaluate someone
else's, you're able to articulate your argument in a credible way.    
When
you're challenged on why you translated two words in Arabic using  
only one
word in English, or why you broke up one long Arabic sentence with  
multiple
coordinate and embedded clauses into two or three sentences in  
English, you
can say more than, "I just thought it would be better."
Best regards,
Jackie Murgida

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End of Arabic-L:  15 Oct 2007