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Contents

Preface

PART I. THE THEORY OF TRANSLATION

1. THE ORIGINS OF A LINGUISTIC THEORY OF TRANSLATION
1.1. The nature of the translator's activity
1.2. The medium of the translator's activity
1.3. The object of the translator's activity
1.4. Is there continuity in the theory of translation?
1.5. Translation as a profession
1.6. Translation as a subject in training
1.7. Translation as an object of research
1.8. The ratio of literary translations to non-literary translations
1.9. The appearance of linguistics
1.10. The literary and the linguistic approach
1.11. Translation theory and contrastive linguistics
1.12. Differences between the theory of translation and contrastive linguistics
1.13. Translation theory and contrastive text linguistics
1.14. Linguistic and extralinguistic elements of the situation of translation
1.15. Translation theory as an interdisciplinary field of study
1.16. Translation theory as a useful field of study
1.17. Translation theory as applied linguistics
1.18. The definition of translation theory
1.19. Factors influencing translator's decisions
1.20. The first era of linguistic translation theory

2. TRANSLATION THEORY AND SOCIOLINGUISTICS
2.1. The reproduction of individual speech styles
2.2. The reproduction of regional dialects
2.3. The reproduction of social dialects
2.4. The translation of lexis without equivalence
2.5. Translatability and untranslatability
2.6. Realia and untranslatability
2.7. What can translation studies offer to sociolinguistics?
2.8. What can sociolinguistics offer to translation studies?
2.9. New challenges for the sociolinguistics of translation

3. TRANSLATION THEORY AND PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
3.1. Perception and production in translation
3.2. Translation and bilingualism
3.3. Simultaneous interpreting as a psycholinguistic experiment
3.4. The simultaneity of listening and speaking
3.5. The active nature of perception
3.6. Experiments independent of interpretation
3.7. Probability prediction
3.8. The unit of translation/interpretation
3.9. Difficulties in data collection
3.10. The personal traits of interpreters
3.11. The "internal speech" of translators

4. TRANSLATION THEORY AND TEXT LINGUISTICS
4.1. Text-centredness in translation
4.2. Disregarding the text-level
4.3. Returning to the text
4.4. The internal text structure approach
4.5. The text type-typology approach
4.6. The typology of specialised texts
4.7. Integration of the two approaches
4.8. Research on quasi-correctness
4.9. Skepticism regarding the discourse-level approach
4.10. The central role of text linguistics in translation studies

5. LINGUISTIC MODELS OF THE PROCESS OF TRANSLATION
5.1. Analysis and synthesis
5.2. The transfer phase
5.3. The modelling of the process of translation
5.4. The denotative (situational) model
5.4.1. The advantages and disadvantages of the denotative model
5.5. The transformational model
5.6. The semantic model
5.7. Komissarov's model: levels of equivalence
5.8. Translation as the joint functioning of two languages

6. THE CONCEPT OF EQUIVALENCE IN THE THEORY OF TRANSLATION
6.1. The equivalence perception of readers, translators, and researchers
6.2. Approaches to equivalence
6.3. Catford's view on equivalence
6.4. Nida's view on equivalence
6.5. Other views on equivalence
6.6. What "should" be preserved in translation?
6.7. Komissarov's view on equivalence
6.8. The conditions of communicative equivalence
6.9. Rejection of the concept of equivalence
6.10. The importance of the concept of equivalence

7. NEW TRENDS IN TRANSLATION THEORY AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
7.1. A new name
7.2. New social tasks
7.3. New centres of research
7.4. New journals
7.5. New book series and encyclopaedias
7.6. New research methods (empirical methods)
7.7. New research methods (corpus analysis)
7.8. A new auxiliary science: intercultural communication
7.9. New topics - media translation
7.10. How are new topics born?
7.11. The second and third periods of linguistic translation theory
7.12. The development of linguistic translation theory in Hungary

PART II. THE TEACHING OF TRANSLATION

1. THE STUDY OF TRANSLATION - THE TEACHING OF TRANSLATION
1.1. The relationship between the study and the teaching of translation
1.2. What can be of use in teaching?
1.3. The role of contrastive linguistics in the teaching of translation
1.4. The translational "behaviour" of languages and transfer operations
1.5. The transfer competence of translators
1.6. Modelling the process of translation
1.7. The characteristics of the "C" system of rules
1.8. The dilemma of translator training
1.9. The benefits of linguistic awareness-raising

2. DESIGNING TRANSLATOR TRAINING COURSES
2.1. Organising principles in designing translation courses
2.2. The inductive approach
2.3. The deductive approach
2.4. Types of translation course materials
2.5. Integrative teaching materials

3. METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN THE TEACHING OF TRANSLATION
3.1. Pedagogical translation - real translation
3.2. Creating lifelike situations in the teaching of translation
3.3. Teacher vs. editor or reviser
3.4. Different approaches to error correction
3.5. Different strategies in error correction
3.6. Types of translation tasks
3.7. Translation pedagogy as a new field of research

4. TEACHING TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATOR TRAINING IN HUNGARY
4.1. Teaching translation in Hungary between 1973 and 1990
4.2. Changes in the 1990s
4.3. The present situation
4.4. Future tasks in Hungarian translator and interpreter training

PART III. THE PRACTICE OF TRANSLATION

1. THE SYSTEM OF TRANSFER OPERATIONS
1.1. The concept of transfer operations
1.2. The history of the term
1.3. Transfer operations and the process of translation
1.4. Transfer operations as mental transformations
1.5. Translation as a decision-making process
1.6. A case study of selection criteria

2. THE CLASSIFICATION OF TRANSFER OPERATIONS
2.1. Obligatory and optional transfer operations
2.2. Automatic and non-automatic transfer operations
2.3. Classification according to level of operation
2.4. Classification according to the scope and cause of the operation
2.5. Classification according to the manner of operation
2.6. What can be considered a transfer operation?
2.7. The operational typology developed in this book
2.8. Main types and types
2.9. Subtypes

3. TRANSFER OPERATIONS FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE TRANSLATOR
3.1. The principle of following the target-language norm
3.2. The principle of cooperation
3.3. The principle of following the translation norm
3.4. General transfer strategies
3.5. Explicitation as a general transfer strategy
3.6. Specific transfer strategies
3.7. Individual transfer strategies

4. A FRAMEWORK FOR AN INDO-EUROPEAN-HUNGARIAN TRANSFER TYPOLOGY
4.1. Language-typological reasons
4.2. Experience as a practising translator
4.3. Evidence of the corpus
4.4. The difficulties of a joint investigation
4.5. The framework of an IE-Hungarian transfer typology
4.6. The sources of the examples

PART IV. LEXICAL TRANSFER OPERATIONS

Introduction to lexical transfer operations

1. NARROWING OF MEANING (DIFFERENTIATION AND SPECIFICATION)
1.1. Specification of parts of the body
1.2. Specification of reporting verbs
1.3. Specification of inchoative verbs
1.4. Specification of semantically depleted verbs

2. BROADENING OF MEANING (GENERALISATION)
2.1. Generalisation of parts of the body
2.2. Generalisation of times of the day
2.3. Generalisation of realia
2.4. Generalisation of reporting verbs
2.5. Generalisation of semantically rich verbs

3. CONTRACTION OF MEANINGS
3.1. Contraction of kinship terms
3.2. Contraction motivated by word formation potential
3.3. Integration of inchoative verbs into the main verb
3.4. Integration of adverbs of manner into reporting verbs
3.5. Merging change of state verbs with adjectives
3.6. Merging semantically depleted verbs with nouns

4. DISTRIBUTION OF MEANING
4.1. Distribution of meaning in kinship terms
4.2. Distribution of meaning in complex nouns
4.3. Distribution of meaning in paraphrasing translation
4.4. Distribution of meaning in inchoative verbs
4.5. Separation of adverbs of manner
4.6. Distribution of meaning in reporting verbs
4.7. Distribution of meaning in change of state verbs
4.8. Distribution of meaning in semantically rich verbs

5. OMISSION OF MEANING
5.1. Omission of brand names
5.2. Omission of toponyms
5.3. Omission of toponyms and ethnonyms used in attributive function
5.4. Omission of institutional names
5.5. Omission of forms of address
5.6. Omissions of references to SL
5.7. Omission of names of parts of the body

6. ADDITION OF MEANING
6.1. Addition in the case of brand names
6.2. Addition in the case of toponyms
6.3. Addition in the case of institutional names
6.4. Addition in the case of historical realia
6.5. Addition of names of parts of the body

7. EXCHANGE OF MEANINGS
7.1. Exchange of action for result
7.2. Exchange of result for action
7.3. Exchange of action for object
7.4. Exchange of object for action
7.5. Exchange of action for place
7.6. Exchange of place for action
7.7. Exchange of action for actor
7.8. Exchange of actor for action
7.9. Exchange of state for action
7.10. Exchange of cause for action
7.11. Exchange of sound for action
7.12. Dynamic vs static and static vs dynamic exchanges

8. ANTONYMOUS TRANSLATION
8.1. Negative-positive inversion
8.2. Positive-negative inversion
8.3. Conversive translation
8.4. Antonymous translation in situative utterances
8.5. Antonymous translation in dialogues

9. TOTAL TRANSFORMATION
9.1. Total transformation of names of food and beverages
9.2. Total transformation of names of children's games
9.3. Total transformation of proper names
9.4. Total transformation of address forms
9.5. Total transformation of names of historical realia
9.6. Total transformation of idiomatic expressions
9.7. Total transformation of situative utterances
9.8. Total transformation of measurements
9.9. Total transformation of intralingual references

10. COMPENSATION
10.1. Types of losses
10.2. Local compensation
10.3. Global compensation

PART V. GRAMMATICAL TRANSFER OPERATIONS

Introduction to grammatical transfer operations

1. GRAMMATICAL SPECIFICATION AND GENERALISATION
1.1. Automatic specification of gender
1.2. Automatic generalisation of gender
1.3. Intentional specification

2. GRAMMATICAL DIVISION
2.1. Separation of sentences
2.2. Elevation of phrases

3. GRAMMATICAL CONTRACTION
3.1. Conjoining of sentences
3.2. Lowering of clauses

4. GRAMMATICAL ADDITION
4.1. Addition of "adjectivisers" in left-branching constructions
4.2. Addition of missing subject
4.3. Addition of missing object
4.4. Addition of possessive determiners
4.5. Filling the gap in elliptical sentences
4.6. Addition of text-organising elements
4.7. Addition of text connectors

5. GRAMMATICAL OMISSION
5.1. Omission of "adjectivisers" in right branching constructions
5.2. Omissions at the beginning of the sentence
5.3. Omission of the subject
5.4. Omission of the object
5.5. Omission of the possessive determiner
5.6. Omission of the indefinite article
5.7. Creation of elliptical sentences in translation

6. GRAMMATICAL TRANSPOSITIONS
6.1. Obligatory transpositions
6.2. Optional transpositions

7. GRAMMATICAL REPLACEMENTS
7.1. Replacements within the category of tense
7.2. Replacements within the category of number
7.3. Replacements within the category of voice
7.4. Replacements on the level of parts of speech
7.5. Replacements on the level of sentence elements
7.6. Replacements on the level of text

APPENDIX
1. References
2. Sources
3. Author's index

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Preface

Languages in Translation is based on my lectures on the theory, practice and teaching of translation delivered over the last twenty years at the Interpreter and Translator Training Centre of Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest and at the University of Miskolc.

This English version is the translation of a two-volume textbook Bevezetés a fordítás elméletébe (Introduction to the Theory of Translation) and Bevezetés a fordítás gyakorlatába (Introduction to the Practice of Translation), first published in 1994. The history of this book and its English translation is closely connected with the development of translation studies in Hungary.

...

The theory of translation itself has developed by leaps and bounds during the last ten years of the 20th century, and this is only partly reflected in the manuscript. I have made renewed attempts to update the references in each subsequent new Hungarian edition, particularly in the seventh chapter of the first part, which is about new trends in the theory of translation; this has proved to be an almost impossible task, however. I am sadly aware that a short mention cannot do justice to many of the works I make references to.

The second part of the book, the system of transfer operations, has been less affected by the passage of time. It is based on the analysis of an ever-growing corpus of data, culled by my students from published translations of literary works. They always find it a very challenging task to identify transfer operations made by previous generations of translators and to take part in a joint effort to reconstruct the complex mental processes behind translational solutions.

It may sound paradoxical, but perhaps it is the very traditional nature of the subject matter that might save the second part of the book from becoming outdated. The translational comparison of languages has never ceased to intrigue people. The classic work of Vinay and Darbelnet, first published in 1958 in French and reprinted many times since, was published in English in 1995, more than 30 years later. At the turn of the 21th century, while modern technology is revolutionising data collection and methods of analysis, it is still the secrets of the joint functioning of languages that we are searching for.

The approach I developed in this book is novel in the field of translation-specific comparison of languages in three respects: (1) it is a multilingual comparison, involving five languages, (2) it has a dynamic character, and (3) the emphasis is on the operational aspects of the translator's activity. The procedure I followed started with data collection: I amassed a large body of multilingual translational data, and then analysed it to discover the rules, regularities and principles governing the seemingly subjective decisions of translators by describing, classifying and explaining the transfer operations behind them.

(1) It is a multilingual approach designed to provide a systematic description of translational relations for five languages and ten translation directions. The five languages include four Indo-European languages and one belonging to the Finno-Ugric language family. Unlike previous comparisons, based on the use of data for cognate languages only, this work addresses the problems of translation between non-cognate languages.

(2) It is a dynamic approach designed to provide a description of the joint functioning of languages in translation. It concentrates on so-called dynamic contrasts, i.e. on differences in encoding strategies characteristic of different languages, which become manifest only when these languages clash in the process of translation. I call these differences in strategy, metaphorically, the translational behaviour of language, which can be "friendly" or "unfriendly". What I describe, then, is not a static inventory of differences between source and target language, and is, in this way, different from the traditional type of contrastive analyses carried out at the level of langue, and also from the parole-level comparisons practised in contrastive stylistics, e.g. in the classic work of Vinay and Darbelnet, Stylistique comparée du Français et de l'Anglais.

(3) It is an operational approach designed to describe how translators handle the problems arising from the translational behaviour of specific language-pairs in relation to each other. I also attempt to trace the complex mental processes behind translational solutions, that is, the decision-making and problem-solving strategies that translators develop to handle cultural imponderables and those differences between the Indo-European languages involved and Hungarian which remain hidden until these languages come into contact in the process of translation.

...

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