De-mystifying Translation

Front matter

DEMYSTIFYING 3 TRANSLATION

Introducing Translation to Non-translators

Lynne Bowker

Introduction

Why this book? 1

Who is this book for? 3 What's in this book? 4

Key points in this chapter 6 Topics for discussion 7 Find out more 7

1 Basic concepts and terms in translation What is translation? 9 What is meant by source, target, and equivalence? 10 What gets translated? 12 Where do a translator’s loyalties lie? 14 What is involved in the translation process? 15 Is it true that...2 17 Is it true that all translators speak many languages? 17 Is it true that all bilingual (or multilingual) people make good translators? 18 Is it true that translating and interpreting are the same? 18 Is it true that translation is just about substituting words in one language for words in another language? 18 Is it true that a good translator can translate a text on any subject? 19 Is it true that there is one true or perfect translation for every text? 19 Is it true that translation is actually impossible? 20 Is it true that computers are going to replace translators before too much longer? 20 Concluding remarks 21 Key points in this chapter 21 Topics for discussion 23 Exercises 23 Find out more 24 vi

Contents

Brief history of translation 25 Tower of Babel 25

Septuagint (3rd century BCE) 26

Rosetta Stone (196 BCE) 26

House of Wisdom (9th-13th century) 28

School of Toledo (12th and 13th centuries) 29 Gutenberg press (c. 1440) 29

William Tyndale (c. 1494-c. 1536) 29

Navajo code talkers (1942-1945) 31

United Nations (1945) 31

Nuremberg trials (1945-1946) 32

Weaver's memorandum (1949) 33

International Federation of Translators (1953) 33 Internet and World Wide Web (1980s to present) 34 Concluding remarks 35

Exercise 37

The translation profession today 39 What does it mean to be a professional? 40

What is the translation industry? 40

How do translators work? 43

What about pay and job satisfaction? 48

What are professional associations? 51

What kind of training do professional translators need? 53 Concluding remarks 54

Words, terms, and lexical resources 59 What is the difference between language for general purposes and language for special purposes? 61 What's in a dictionary? 64 What's in a term bank? 67 How are lexical resources useful for translation? 70

Contents vii

What other contributions do lexicographers and terminologists make? 71

Other tools and resources 77 How can I tell if a tool or resource will be useful? 77

What kinds of resources are useful for translators? 80

How can I find linguistic resources for translation? 81

What are online bilingual concordancers? 82

What are translation communities and discussion forums? 86 What tools can support revision? 87

Topic for discussion 89

Machine translation 92 What is machine translation’s origin story? 93 Early efforts: Rule-based MT 93 A bump in the road: The ALPAC report 94 A new way of thinking: Data-driven MT 95 Where are we today? Neural MT and an emerging need for MT literacy 96 What is machine translation literacy? 97 What are some implications of data-driven approaches? 97 Why is transparency important? 101 What’s involved in risk assessment? 103 How can we interact with MT? 104 Concluding remarks 105 Key points in this chapter 106 Topics for discussion 107 Exercises 107 Find out more 109

Localization 111 What is GILT? 111

Why does localization matter? 115

What gets localized? 115

How do languages vary from one region to the next? 116

What non-linguistic elements differ in language varieties? 118

What tools and resources can help with localization? 120

Vill

Contents

Key points in this chapter 123 Topics for discussion 124 Exercises 125

How does transcreation differ from localization and translation? 128

What does a transcreation look like? 129

Why is transcreation important? 132

How do transcreators work? 133

Summarization and cross-modal communication What is a summary? 140 How can summarization help to build translation skills? 141 How can you write an effective summary? 142 Step 1: Understand 143 Step 2: Analyze 144 Step 3: Select 144 Step 4: Compress 144 Step 5: Draft 145 Step 6: Revise 145 What is cross-modal communication? 146 How can summarization and cross-modal communication come together in a translation context? 147 Concluding remarks 148 Key points in this chapter 148 Topics for discussion 149 Exercises 150 Find out more 150

Is audiovisual translation a recent development? 153

What are some of the general challenges in audiovisual translation? 154

What is involved in subtitling? 155

What is involved in dubbing? 157

What is involved in voiceover? 158

What affects the choice of audiovisual translation method? 158

Who carries out audiovisual translation? 159

How are these techniques used beyond translation? 162 Concluding remarks 163

What are the different types of interpreting? 168 What are some different settings for interpreting? 173 What else can affect interpreting? 174

What about sign language interpreting? 175

What about non-professional interpreting? 176

What key skills does an interpreter need to develop? 177 Concluding remarks 180