LINGUISTIC APPROACHES

Linguistic Approaches to Translation



Linguistic Approaches to Translation

Introduction

As there are thousands of languages spoken and written in the world, it is impossible for a human being to learn and master them all. However, communication is still possible between people of different communities speaking and writing unintelligible languages thanks to translation and interpretation.

Furthermore, unprecedented advances in information technology, increasing globalisation of communication, trade and international relations have all led to an increase in demand for the production or translation of texts in various languages. Because of its position as a lingua franca, many original texts are produced in English, and many more are translated into it (Baker 1998: 277).

Translation is the result of a need to fulfil a purpose or to carry out a function. A high-quality translation is one that satisfies in the target language (TL) the function a text satisfies in the source language (SL). Translation not only helps fulfil the need for communication, experience and knowledge sharing among human beings, it can also reduce and help avoid misunderstandings of colossal deadly consequences among powerful rivals. Snyder (1999) expresses the socially active and politically urgent need for translation in today's world as follows:

As this world shrinks together like an aging orange and all peoples in all cultures move closer together (however reluctantly and suspiciously) it may be that the crucial sentence for our remaining years on earth may be very simply: TRANSLATE OR DIE. The lives of every creature on earth may one day depend on the instant and accurate translation of one word.

So far, translation has remained an essential human activity. However, attempts have been made to automate and computerize the translation (machine translation), or to use computers as a medium of human translation (computer-assisted translation).

The purpose of the translation is to establish equivalence between the text of the source language and the target language. It is to ensure that both texts mean the same thing, taking into account a number of constraints (context, grammar, and corresponding variables) to make it understandable for people without knowledge of the source language and not having the same culture or the same knowledge of the source language.

The translation of a text is inherently conditioned by a number of factors that come to develop a range of possibilities of translation canceling others. It has been observed that it is necessary to choose the correct elements that go best with the communicative intentions that are intended to link. Equivalencies only work within defined contextual frameworks that operate on pragmatic and interpretative texts. The translation of the text should be conditioned by a number of factors that develop a range of possibilities at once.

Discussion

Translation approach as a notion belongs to the most mysterious categories of the translation theory. Many definitions of translation approach offered by various translation scholars range from the broadest definitions possible to the most relevant definitions. Some define translation approach as “the art of translation or a program of the translator's behavior” while others use the term ...