2 capitolo Kim Grego, Sintesi del corso di Lingua Inglese

Scarica 2 capitolo Kim Grego e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! Chapter 2 2.1From translation to specialized translation Purpose' is the keyword in specialized translation. Translation until about the mid-twentieth century revolved exclusively around literature; not only, it was taken for granted that it should regard nothing but that. While the importance of literature in any culture and of its transfer across cultures does no t need explaining, the mere fact remains that among the oldest written translations (and texts) into any language andof all times there is a prevalence not of literary but of 'service' documents, i.e. those that would currently be called 'domain-specific' or specialized texts. The importance of Schleiermacher's pages on the translation of specialized texts (he wrote quite a few paragraphs on this nonrelevant subject) does no t only li e in his being one of the intellectuals that most influenced modem thought on translation2. Two centuries before TS established its importance, he also clearly and concisely identified, while dismissing them as non-problematic for translation, the key features of specialized texts: the relevance of their lexicon usage-determined and comrnunity-agreed - and its objectivity, quantifiability and mono-referentiality. Specialized translation, then, appears to be strictly linked to the nature of the texts it deals with which, as seen, might belong to different specific domains, but share an operational purpose, and are characterized by specific lexical use in the first piace. 2.2Specialized purposes, specialized languages The actual academic research over specialized languages only started as recently as the 19705, following the major developments that occurred in all fields of knowledge, especially in science, since the second half of the 20th century, and produced the results that are most interesting in a TS perspective. A LSP can be defined as a natura! language as typically used in a specific technical or disciplinary field, for a functional or an operational purpose, commonly within a given professional setting. The major defining feature of LSPs purpase - has nonetheless remained unchanged. A specialized language's purpose is defined, delimited and set out by a cornmunity of practice exercising within a specific professional domain that can be technical, scientific, or disciplinary in nature. This cornmunity can be called a discourse cornmunity according to Swales. According to Fairclough In this view, each member of a cornmunity of practice (or anyone, for that matter) belongs simultaneously to various discourse cornmunities, each ofwhich overlaps with the others, and contributes to determining everyone's general and specific knowledge. 2.3 Lexical features of specialized texts From the perspective of translation, the highly specialized lexicon, which is what distinguishes LSPs from "natural' languages, also represents the first and stronger barrier making up Swales's "threshold of membership", and resulting in non-specialists commonly fmding a specialized text perfectly readable yet not comprehensible, which means an average reader is usually able to follow the syntactic structure of sentences, but not to decipher the meaning of single words. The specialized translator is therefore faced with concems that are not only linguistic in nature, but cognitive, sociological and potentially ethical too. Taking for granted the "mastery of both source and target languages". The antithetic pair 'linguist with specialized knowledge' versus 'specialist with language knowledge' is the subject of another classica! debate in TS besides those on (in)equivalence and (in)fidelity, and no less passionate. The two figures are, in fact, potentially equa! (though speaking from the linguist's viewpoint bere), on condition that they possess the sufficient linguistic and specialized knowledge to carry out a given translation. The question is, rather, how to evaluate (linguistic and specialized) knowledge, which leads back to yet another dilemma hinted at earlier, that of epistemology and of the quantifiability of knowledge. Given the current impossibility to salve the issue, a funetiana! view should perhaps be adopted: a sufficient translating knowledge would be that which allows a translation to be received and processed- i.e. used - by a discourse cornmunity as any other working text written for the purpose an d in the language of the said community. The trend, as seen, is towards establishing a common set of intemational standards in as many aspects of specialized fields as possible, and this comprises their distinguishing cornmunicative element: terminology. 2.4 Non-lexical features of specialized texts Nominalization is the tendency to an increase in noun forms compared to verbal forrns, as well as the grammatica! process of transforrning words from other classes (verbs, mainly) or verbal phrases into nouns. It has a high occurrence in specialized written texts. Modality relates to the mood of verbs, expressing possibility or necessity. Modal verbs tend to abound in specialized languages, e.g. they are especially linked to the uncertainty of results | developments in science (possibility), and to necessity in law (deontic use). Mood is differently obtained in different languages; translators need to apply the corresponding linguistic strategy to reproduce it. Depersonalization aims to make communication impersona!, for different purposes and through different strategies. For example, it could be employed to relieve authors from responsibility for the content of a text (hedging purposes), or emphasize the objective stance taken in presenting the topic, and it can be obtained by using the passive voice without an agent, or cleft sentences that topicalize the object of an action and reduce the role of its subject, etc. Synthetization includes any recourse functional to communicating the relevant inforrnation in the shortest and clearest way possible. It is the same economy principle underlying- as seen - the choice of how to translate domain-specific terrninology. It is highly used in specialized texts and it is variously achieved, but mainly relies on the use of lists and iconic elements (graphs, diagrams, figures, photographs, etc.). It is usually little problematic in translation as elements are generally maintained, except for example between horizontally or vertically specularly written languages. Cohesion is responsible for the functional and orderly organization of relations of meaning within a text (coherence), as realized by grammatica! means. To obtain it, references can be used to create signposts (temporal, deictic, conceptual) within the text; substitution to avoid repetition by employing weaker' token words for 'stronger' ones; ellipses to expedite and polish communication; while conjunctions are language's true binding elements, tuming sentences into text. Hedging can be defined as a set of linguisti c strategies of any nature employed to place a distance between authors and their statements, thus reducing the former's responsibility for the latter. Entire phrases can be used ("unless where otherwise stated' - in lega! language; 'as it appears' - in scientific language, e.g. in relating an experiment), adverbs ('supposedly', 'potentially'), modals ("i t right result in'), agent-less passive verbs (cf. 'Depersonalization' above), etc. these are possibly the most prominent. 2.5 Genre theory and specialized texts In practical terrns, then, genres are collections of sirnilar structural and stylistic patterns. Many facilitate comrnunication between specialists and non-specialists, for example for dissemination or didactic purposes: the medicai prescription, the instruction manual, the textbook. LSPs accommodate not only a professional focus linked to a specific domain or topic, but also a degree of specialization that varies from specialist to non-specialist. This is known as a horizonta1vertical framework. A report with didactic purposes could be one that students have to write and hand in to their teacher about an experiment they conducted in the lab. A popular level report could be the feature article published in a tabloid newspaper about dresses worn by red carpet actresses at the Academy Awards. Not all genres are as flexible as the report. Some, on the contrary, are very rigidly constrained: e.g. the invoice, which may vary from country to country but not within the same country, where the data it has to include are regulated by law14. Some texts may be said to pertain to different genres at the same time, for example the above-mentioned fashion report, which can also be called an 'article' or, to better dellirnit it, a 'tabloid article', or a 'fashion and showbiz tabloid article'. crystallized genre is the medicai research article, where the need for maximum clarity and non-arbitrariness has even imposed a specific logical-argumentative structure to follow when reporting case studies or clinica! Trials. Finally, genre analysis redefmes and enriches a translator's purpose by introducing the diaphasic dimension or level of specialization. 2.6 Approaches to specialized translation