| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Do you 'nativise' the text in the target language, or retain its 'foreignness'? Thread poster: chica nueva
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'Word-for-word' translation, or 'dynamic equivalence' ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_equivalence
So far, generally, I favour the 'word-for-word' approach but I wonder whether editors and publishers might have other ideas.
The Chinese word order is similar to English, however Chinese sentences are quite long, so I have learnt to use semicolons ... See more 'Word-for-word' translation, or 'dynamic equivalence' ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_equivalence
So far, generally, I favour the 'word-for-word' approach but I wonder whether editors and publishers might have other ideas.
The Chinese word order is similar to English, however Chinese sentences are quite long, so I have learnt to use semicolons more than I would otherwise.
For a word like the 'Silver River' (Milky Way) for example I am not very consistent ...
[Edited at 2009-04-25 18:06 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Henry Hinds 
United States
Local time: 19:52
English to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
One single answer will not suffice, for it depends on the nature of the text to be translated. In my own work in general I try to translate so that the product looks like it was generated in the target language without a hint of foreignness. However, in legal documents I will also use very literal translations of some items because there are often no exact equivalents, and to use a more familiar but perhaps less accurate term would be misleading.
But I always write things so they ca... See more One single answer will not suffice, for it depends on the nature of the text to be translated. In my own work in general I try to translate so that the product looks like it was generated in the target language without a hint of foreignness. However, in legal documents I will also use very literal translations of some items because there are often no exact equivalents, and to use a more familiar but perhaps less accurate term would be misleading.
But I always write things so they can be easily understood. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 04:52
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
| What kind of text are you referring to? | Apr 26, 2009 |
In poetry a word for word translation might be a good approach in some cases. In a novel you would develop a style that is has the same qualities as the original author's. In factual texts a word-for-word translation would be silly.
Regards
Heinrich
| | | | | I prefer to nativise the text in the target culture | Apr 26, 2009 |
I prefer this approch ,but it mostly depends on the text to be translated;whether,it is informative or expressive and so on.I almost uses word for word translation for expressive and documentary texts and anywhere is needed I'll render literally.but for informative texts I'll retain the source text's naturalness.for this kind of texts I prefer to be target language oriented,and translate as dynamic as possible.
regards
samaneh
[Edited at 2009-04-26 12:24 GMT]
[Ed... See more I prefer this approch ,but it mostly depends on the text to be translated;whether,it is informative or expressive and so on.I almost uses word for word translation for expressive and documentary texts and anywhere is needed I'll render literally.but for informative texts I'll retain the source text's naturalness.for this kind of texts I prefer to be target language oriented,and translate as dynamic as possible.
regards
samaneh
[Edited at 2009-04-26 12:24 GMT]
[Edited at 2009-04-26 12:25 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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chica nueva
Local time: 13:52
Chinese to English
TOPIC STARTER | Translation, paraphrase, and adapting texts for foreign readers; tourism and marketing literature | Apr 27, 2009 |
1 Article: adapting tourism texts for the foreign visitor.
I am interested to know
a how peers feel about the approach in this article and
b whether tourism-text translation follows similar principles in your country.
'Translation bridges the East and the West':
http://www.jpkc.tzc.edu.cn/list/fanyililunyushijian/show.asp?Sid=126
... See more 1 Article: adapting tourism texts for the foreign visitor.
I am interested to know
a how peers feel about the approach in this article and
b whether tourism-text translation follows similar principles in your country.
'Translation bridges the East and the West':
http://www.jpkc.tzc.edu.cn/list/fanyililunyushijian/show.asp?Sid=126
On Translation of Tourist Material
[ Summary:
A The argument for 'dynamic equivalence' over 'word-for-word':
2.2 Function (per Newmark): 'Then what is the main function of tourist material? It should be vocative. Because the purpose of tourist material is to draw visitors, ...'
2.3 Features (per Newburt): The translation of tourist materials is a kind of publicity translation, ... The essence of it is that translators should attempt to produce the same effect on the target language readers ...'
B The 'translation/transcription process': 'therefore one must adapt the text according to the background culture and knowledge of the readers, to make it accessible to them (my paraphrase of the writer)]
2 Similarly for Website translation, there is something called microsite 'condensation':
http://www.sideroad.com/Cross_Cultural_Communication/chinese-website-translation.html
(Paragraph 7) There are two ways of going about presenting your Chinese website. Firstly, to have your whole site translated into Chinese. ... Secondly, a company may decide to produce a "microsite". This is where the most important information about a company is translated and condensed into a few pages ...
[ Since some peers may be interested in comparing two touristic texts, here is an example (rather old now) of how this can work in practice:
1 Chinese text:
'Tianshui'
When you have left Xi'an, gone up the Wei River, and followed the ancient Silk Route westward for a thousand li, there is Long's famed town - Tianshui looking down on you from afar. In the Zhou Dynasty, Tianshui was called Gui Rong Yi. In the Qin it was established as Guixian, and then, under the junxian prefectures and counties system, it was given other names, Qinzhou, Tianshui, Chengji. It was a central transfer station for the Silk Route trade.
Tianshui got its name because of its many springs of sweet water. There is the Mapao Spring, Guan Spring, Long Spring, Yong Spring and Jie Spring. The most famous of them all is the Mapao Spring. Du Fu eulogised Tianshui's water thus: "Sweeter than cow's milk, it is good enough for any monk. "
Not only does Tianshui have majestic physical features, it is also one of the birthplaces of China's ancient culture. Ancient grottoes, ancient structures, ancient tombs, ancient ruins, and ancient battlefields can be seen everywhere. Fuximiao temple, Maijishan mountain, Xianrenya (Fairy Cliff), Shimen, Nanguosi monastery, Daxiangshan mountain, Yuquanguan (Jade Spring Temple), and Qiuchi pool all shine like bright stars. The "Han flying general", Li Guang, was born in Chengji, and Zhu Ge Liang's northern expeditions left six times from Qi Shan mountain. When Zhang Qian went as envoy to the Western Regions, he left from Longxi. Tang Xuan Zang passed through here to go to the various states of India, and Du Fu took refuge in Qinzhou. All of these events relate to Tianshui, and are recorded in the annals.
If one says that Dunhuang's Mogao Caves are a palace of murals, then Tianshui's Maijishan Caves are a grand gallery of sculptures. Maijishan mountain is 142 metres high, five metres higher than Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza. The Maijishan Caves started to be hewn out in the Sixteen Kingdoms' Later Qin period, almost 1600 years ago, and are famous throughout the world mainly on account of their fine clay sculptures. In the 194 caves are preserved some 7,200 clay and stone sculptures, and more than 1,300 square metres of murals. The lowered eyes of the Bodhisattva, the fierce visage of the Jingang, are exquisitely shaped and ingeniously composed. The building of the Maijishan Caves has been praised as the Eighth Wonder of the World.
Liu Da Yong
(Translated from: Shaanxi Province Tourism Board, Gansu Province Tourism Board, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Tourism Board eds. China a Land of Beauty - The Silk Road, Shanghai People's Art Publishing House, Shanghai, 1983)
2 English text:
Tianshui, 2,000-year-old town named for its plenty springs and clear waters, is one of the birthplaces of China's ancient culture.
With Xian (Shaanxi) to the east and Lanzhou to the west, Tianshui once functioned as a trade distributing center on the old Silk Road. Here dot historical sites and cultural relics such as the grotto Maijishan, Nanguo and Fuxi temples. What is recorded in history and classical poetry concerning Tianshui include that Li Guang, famous general of Han, was born here; Zhuge Liang, resourceful and wise strategist in the Three Kingdoms, commanded six battles in Qishan Mountain (south of Tianshui); Xuan Zang, renowned Buddhist monk in Tang, passed this area on his pilgrimage way to India; and Du Fu, great Tang poet, once took refuge here.
Work on Maijishan Grotto started in early fifth century. In the existing 194 caves are well-preserved over 7,200 clay and stone sculptures and some 1,300 square metres of frescoes.
3 Source text:
出西安，溯渭河，沿古丝道西行千里，龙上名城——天水便遥遥在望了。天水在周代称邽戎邑，秦设上邽县，后又有秦州、天水、成纪等郡县名称，它是丝绸之路贸易的中转站。
天水因泉多水甘而得名。有马跑泉、官泉、龙泉、涌泉、街泉等，其中最著名的是马跑泉。杜甫赞天水之水为“香美胜牛乳，可供十方僧”。
天水，不仅地势壮丽，还是我国古代文化发祥地之一。古石窟，古建筑、古墓群、古遗址，古战场，比目皆是：伏羲庙、麦积山、仙人崖、石门、南郭寺、大像山、玉泉观、仇池等，灿若明星：“汉之飞将军”李广生于成纪，诸葛亮北伐六出祁山，张骞使西域出于陇右，唐玄奘经此去印度诸国，杜甫避难秦州，均与天水有关而载于史册。
如果说敦煌莫高窟是壁画之宫，那么天水麦积山石窟则是一座宏大的雕塑之馆。麦积山垂直高度142公尺，比埃及金字塔约高五公尺。
麦积山石窟是从十六国后秦时期开始开凿的，距今将近1600年，主要以其精细的泥塑著称于世。在194个洞窟中，共保存历史泥塑石雕七千二百余件，壁画一千三百多平方米。菩萨低眉，金刚怒目，造型精致，构思奇巧。麦积山石窟的建成，被誉为世界文化第八大工程。
刘大庸
[Edited at 2009-04-28 02:49 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | chica nueva
Local time: 13:52
Chinese to English
TOPIC STARTER | 'minerals and industry'; 'documentary-type' texts | Apr 28, 2009 |
I have translated materials of various types related to China's Gansu Province. The target readerships for the translations have included secondary-school teachers, homestay families, and businesspeople. [In my hometown, we have had a Sister-City relationship with Gansu Province since the 1980s, and there have been many 'exchanges'. Jinchuan, where the nickel mine is, is in Gansu.]
A Here is an excerpt from a translation from a secondary-school geography textbook.
Chapter 14 ... See more I have translated materials of various types related to China's Gansu Province. The target readerships for the translations have included secondary-school teachers, homestay families, and businesspeople. [In my hometown, we have had a Sister-City relationship with Gansu Province since the 1980s, and there have been many 'exchanges'. Jinchuan, where the nickel mine is, is in Gansu.]
A Here is an excerpt from a translation from a secondary-school geography textbook.
Chapter 14 Minerals and Industry: 1 Plentiful metal ores of many types:
...
iv Plentiful rare earth ores and the three large multiple-metal intergrowth mines:
China is the country of the world most rich in rare earth ores; rare earth ore reserves stand at more than 90% of the world's total reserves. The reserves at Inner Mongolia's Bayan Obo [Baiyun E'bo] iron and rare earths mine are the richest. It, together with Panzhihua's vanadium titanium magnetite mine, and Jinchuan's copper and nickel sulphide mine, make up China's three large metal intergrowth mines. ... (Translated from: Beijing Educational Institute Education Research Department, Beijing City Middle Schools Geography Revision Educational Reference Book, Beijing Publishing House, Beijing, 1984)
B This is an exerpt from a cultural reader for young people:
The rich mineral resources
...
In recent years, large scale nickel deposits have been found in China's North-West, and in the South-West and North-West, lead and zinc deposits have been found; the reserves of both are quite abundant. And in particular, in the exceptionally large scale vanadium titanium magnetite mine in Sichuan's Panzhihua area, the reserves of associated titanium are close to the combined total of all the proved reserves outside China. (Translated from Wang Yong Kuan et al., Native land, China Youth Press, Beijing, 1983)
C Here is an excerpt from an atlas entry on Gansu Province:
Industry
Gansu has plentiful oil, coal, iron and nonferrous metals deposits. Because of their rich mineral resources and their many different types of minerals, the Qilian Mountains have been called "the 10,000 treasures mountains". Elsewhere, Yumen's oil, Shandan, Aganzhen and Yaojie's coal, and Huixian's iron have all been exploited. Gaolan's copper, Wuwei's sulphur and Yongdeng's gypsum are well-known throughout the whole country. The province's modern industry started in the 1870s, but up until Liberation, only Yumen's oil field had begun to take shape, and the industrial staff and workers in the whole province numbered no more than ten thousand or so. After Liberation, Gansu became one of the focal provinces for national construction in the Interior, and it has now been built up into one of the North-West's industrially relatively advanced provinces. ...
Major cities: Jinchang City: Situated in the east of the Hexi Corridor, it is China's number one large scale nickel alloy base.
(translated from: 'Gansu Province (Gan, Long)' in "China Atlas", Cartographical Publishing House, Beijing, 1981)
@ Henry, Heinrich, Samaneh, thank you very much for your comments. Would you agree that 'word-for-word' is OK here? Are the translations readable, faithful, accurate? If you were me, would you 'Anglicise/localise/New Zealandise' them more, in this situation?
In your experience, if the texts came to be published for general readership, do you think that the proofreaders/editors would want to change them?
[Edited at 2009-04-29 06:13 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | ChristineS
China
Local time: 09:52
English to Chinese
+ ...
| It differs from time to time and up to the specific context | Apr 29, 2009 |
Chinese and English are quite different in sentence structures and the original way of thinking, although through the years, both languages have mingled some foreign language morphemes. This is the main cause and source for the questions mentioned above.
Specificly, for the travel or historical sites introduction related materials which include a lot of discription for people and culture in ancient times, it will be much harder for people to change the way of thinking, especially for the ... See more Chinese and English are quite different in sentence structures and the original way of thinking, although through the years, both languages have mingled some foreign language morphemes. This is the main cause and source for the questions mentioned above.
Specificly, for the travel or historical sites introduction related materials which include a lot of discription for people and culture in ancient times, it will be much harder for people to change the way of thinking, especially for the Chinese adjectives/idioms comprehension. Westerner's way of thinking is mostly in a direct way, but the Chinese, in most of the cases, prefer expressions in a pretty euphemistic way. This is what our English teachers told us from primary school to University.
However, if it is for business/law/science & technology related materials, things are much different then. ▲ Collapse
| | | | ChristineS
China
Local time: 09:52
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Yeah, I can't agree more | Apr 29, 2009 |
Heinrich Pesch wrote:
In poetry a word for word translation might be a good approach in some cases. In a novel you would develop a style that is has the same qualities as the original author's. In factual texts a word-for-word translation would be silly.
Regards
Heinrich
ABSOLUTELY o(∩_∩)o...
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 03:52
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Foreign and Native | Apr 30, 2009 |
It's impossible not to retain its "foreignness",as, after all, the source text has been conceived in a foreign brain.
However, it also depends on the type of text. Technical / scientific texts are more universal and have a common universal tone, whereas social / literary/ historical pieces are highly culturally colored.
It's not necessarily a bad thing. Foreign tone in English writing can even be new and refreshing, especially in literature.
| | | | chica nueva
Local time: 13:52
Chinese to English
TOPIC STARTER | the social sciences: socialist texts, narratives, vocabulary etc; folktales | May 1, 2009 |
[Notes:
1 Some of these texts tend to reflect a socialist approach. Perhaps a glossary of 'socialist terms' would be a good way to go.
2 The geography textbook is a 1983 revision of a 1982 first edition, whereas the Atlas is a 1981 reprint of a 1979 fourth edition (1st edition 1966)
3 President Jiang Zemin visited my hometown in 2000. After that many Chinese foreign students, from all over China, came to the city to study. This, and the activities of NZ traders and businessp... See more [Notes:
1 Some of these texts tend to reflect a socialist approach. Perhaps a glossary of 'socialist terms' would be a good way to go.
2 The geography textbook is a 1983 revision of a 1982 first edition, whereas the Atlas is a 1981 reprint of a 1979 fourth edition (1st edition 1966)
3 President Jiang Zemin visited my hometown in 2000. After that many Chinese foreign students, from all over China, came to the city to study. This, and the activities of NZ traders and businesspeople in China, spurred me to translate more of the Atlas.
4 What can we say about 'the discourse'? Can we say that the texts from the two different eras and publishers and fields 'interrogate' each other, or some such thing? or that the texts and society reflect each other in some sort of 'dialectic'? ... ]
Here is another excerpt on the same topic, minerals of the north-interior:
Industry: Ningxia's coal resources are extremely rich; they are widely distributed, of a comprehensive range of types, and of good quality. Other minerals include: the Helanshan region's phosphorus, the salt ponds of the south, the Tongxin-Guyuan area's gypsum, Yanchi's table salt, the Zhongwei-Helanshan area's iron ore, and oil. On the eve of Liberation, Ningxia's industrial output value stood at a mere 11.7% of total industrial and agricultural output value, and heavy industry was a mere 0.3%. And it was on this kind of weak industrial base, that thirty odd years later, Ningxia has built up a whole series of industrial sectors: coal, metallurgy, electric power, chemicals, light industry, petroleum, and electronics. ... [the text goes on to discuss light industry and handicrafts]
Major Cities: Shizuishan City: Located at the northernmost end of the Yin-Wu Plain, the mining region branch line passes through it. It is a newly-arisen industrial city in the autonomous region, and a collection and distribution centre for agricultural and pastoral products in the vicinity. Coal is primary, and the electric power, iron smelting, chemicals, cement and ceramics industries are also quite advanced.
(Translated from: 'Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Ning)' Cartographical Publishing House, China Atlas, Cartographical Publishing House, Beijing, 1981)
[ Perhaps this can serve as an introduction to the Northern Interior/Inner North: an extract from the geography textbook:
V Railroads and major cities
1 Main trunk lines
...
2 Main cities and industries
Lanzhou is the North-West region's most important rail communications centre and industrial city. ... Baotou is the famous "Steel City on the Grasslands". ... To the north is the Bayan Obo [Baiyun Ebo] iron mine (a rare earth intergrowth mine), ... Hohhot is the political, economic and cultural centre of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. ...
The three mining regions of Bayan, Jinchuan and Shizuishan: Bayan's non-ferrous metals industry (copper, lead and zinc), Jinchuan's nickel and copper industries, and Shizuishan's coal industry are all important non-ferrous metals and coal bases.
(Translated from: 'Chapter 12 The Northern Interior two regions and one province', in Beijing Educational Institute Education Research Department, "Beijing City Middle Schools Geography Revision Educational Reference Book", Beijing Publishing House, Beijing, 1984) ]
And the opening lines of a children's folktale:
http://www.proz.com/forum/chinese/133780-the_old_rigmarole_of_childhood.html#1113601
@ Christine (Lingua 5B), you will see I have changed the word order around a bit to try to give the reader an affinity to their own folktales. What do you think? Lesley
[Edited at 2009-05-01 11:07 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | juvera
Local time: 02:52
English to Hungarian
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Lingua 5B wrote:
It's impossible not to retain its "foreignness",as, after all, the source text has been conceived in a foreign brain.
Have you never read a book or poem or article, which did not betray itself to be a translation?
What is a "foreign brain"? In other words, how far does the writer have to be from your country's border to manifest this phenomenon?
There are countries, where most people speak two or even three languages. Do they have a "native brain" and a "foreign brain"? Do they know which is wich? Does it lead to split personality?
I am not saying that there are no differences in the way people think across the globe, but your simplistic declaration does not stand up to scrutiny.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 03:52
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
I said it's different in technical writing.
For example, Tolstoy in English ( a perfect English translation) and Jane Austen in English are two different worlds. It's practically impossible to read Tolstoy( authorized, highly quality translation) in English without simply knowing that content wasn't originally created by an English person. Unless you plan to massacre the entire book and completely change the substance and sentence structure.
What, now mentality and the ... See more I said it's different in technical writing.
For example, Tolstoy in English ( a perfect English translation) and Jane Austen in English are two different worlds. It's practically impossible to read Tolstoy( authorized, highly quality translation) in English without simply knowing that content wasn't originally created by an English person. Unless you plan to massacre the entire book and completely change the substance and sentence structure.
What, now mentality and the way of thinking/ feeling aren't cultural elements? That's totally new to me. ▲ Collapse
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chica nueva
Local time: 13:52
Chinese to English
TOPIC STARTER | Stories: styles and themes, categories of story, how universal are they?; folk story | May 2, 2009 |
@ juvera, Lingua 5b 'Foreign brain' Thank you very much for your comments. It seems to me that with 'folk tales' there might be some themes which are universal, such as 'the quest' 'the magic talisman' 'avenging a death'' defeating evil' etc., and some things which are local or indigenous ...
1 Here is the story of the 'evil flood dragons' in 'Nine-springs Spring', in Chinese:
http://www.proz.com/forum/chinese/35521-从丑小鸭到白天鹅_from_the_ugly_duckling_to_the_white_swan-page6.html#827429
And in English:
...
One day, he took his sons and daughter by the hand, and pointing to the strange peaks and odd ridges shrouded in mist, he said:
"The nine springs on the mountain are sea springs. There are nine evil dragons hiding in them, and they often stir up trouble. In my life I have not been able to get rid of them, but you are young and strong. You must think of a way to get rid of these nine scourges, to be sure for ever that all will be well in this place."
...
Hengling Mountain's cluster of peaks surrounded a 10,000 zhang deep pool; the water was as black as lacquer, and its stink soared up to the sky. Every year at the time when the spring thunder rolled and the Peach Blossom River rose and the carp were fat, the nine evil dragons would visit the pool. They stirred up the clouds and the rain, and breathed out mists and fogs. When they were in good spirits, it was calm and nothing would happen, but if their tempers rose, immediately there would be three zhang high muddy waves below Hengling Mountain, and boats going about on dry land.
...
That year in the summer, the wheat on Older Brother's land was ripe, a bright yellow stretch of gold. The three of them, the brothers and sister, wielding their sickles, came in high spirits to gather in the wheat. Their field songs made heaven ring, and drifted into Hengling Mountain. When the nine dragons heard the harvesters as happy as all that, their hearts were so jealous that they threshed their tails, and black clouds immediately tossed and tumbled. Out of a clear boundless sky, a thunderbolt, and torrential rain along with hailstones as big as hens' eggs came pelting down. The three of them, the brothers and sister, were so angry their eyes smouldered. As they looked on, a year's sweat and toil was gobbled up by the dragons!
...
The next day, Older Brother, Da Lang, took up his father's bow and arrow and his younger brother's woodcutter's knife to go into the mountain to settle accounts with the evil dragons. His brother and sister tried to pull him back but they couldn't. They wanted to go with him, but he wouldn't agree to it. He just told them:
"You're still young, stay here. Supposing the dragons do kill me, wait until you're grown up and then avenge me!"
The brother and sister looked at the path their older brother had taken, but the path was cut off by white cloud. They called out to their older brother again and again, but all they could hear was the valleys echoing the mountains, they couldn't hear Older Brother calling back. They looked and looked, they looked and bored through the thousand-layered rocks, they looked and the maple leaves all over the mountain turned red, they looked and stopped the wild geese from flying south, but they couldn't look their brother back - Older Brother, poor Older Brother! He must have fought bravely all by himself, and couldn't escape the dragons, and been cruelly killed by the ferocious dragons!
...
Li Er Lang gave an account to the flower [that is, his sister, Kuihua] of how he had found the fairy soles, and then turned and went up Hengling Mountain. He shouted "Change!" and the fairy sole in his hand changed into a bright, shining double-edged sword. Hand rising, sword falling, and the strange peaks piercing the sky were whittled down to a mound, and the 10,000 zhang deep pool was filled in as well. The nine evil dragons had lost their deep pool, and they shot into the sky and rushed at him. Each one bared its fangs and brandished its claws, its mouth spurting out black clouds. They were so annoyed that the rivers turned over and the seas tipped out, the ground moved and the mountains swayed. But Li Er Lang could handle it! He faced the nine dragons without the least sign of fear, and waving his sword, cut to the east and thrust to the west. When the sword was raised, it seemed to startle the thunder and lightning, and when it fell, it was as if the earth split open and the mountains collapsed. He kept on fighting the nine dragons until there were eight dragon heads on the ground, the muddy blood turning into a river, and just one injured one had escaped!
...
Li Er Lang chased the evil dragon closely, chasing it to the bottom of Tazi Mountain. There was a cave at Tazi Mountain. The dragon had no way of escape, and when it saw the cave it wriggled in. With a swish of his sword Li Er Lang chopped it, chopping two deep gullies out of the 10,000 zhang cliff. It turned out that the dragon which had killed Li Da Lang was this very one. From its belly Li Er Lang picked out a rusty woodcutter's knife.
...
((Circulated in Gansu) Collected and arranged by Huang Ying Translated from Dong Sen, Xiao Li, eds., Folk Literature Office, Literature Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Selected Children's Folk Stories, Beijing Publishing House, Beijing, 1983)
2 I haven't studied 'comparative literature', but here is a Chinese outline-categorisation of 5 types of story. IMO it looks pretty similar to Western categories. What do others think?
(1) Folk stories, (2) Fables, allegories, parables, (3) History stories, (4) Myths, fairy tales, (5) Children's stories, fairy tales (Translated from Zhu Bing Yao ed., Composition Guide for Foreign Students of Chinese, Sinolingua, Beijing, 1997)
[Edited at 2009-05-02 10:43 GMT]
| | | | chica nueva
Local time: 13:52
Chinese to English
TOPIC STARTER | Translations: 'domesticated' for the Anglo-American market; 'written for the receiving culture' | Jun 5, 2009 |
1 Article ‘Why Anglo-American readers still prefer 'domesticated' texts'
http://www.translationdirectory.com/article50.htm
First, the foreignized translation gives the reader more information than a domesticated one.
Second, foreignization tends to increase the difficulty of understanding.
Third, the time hasn’t come for the reader in Anglo-American s... See more 1 Article ‘Why Anglo-American readers still prefer 'domesticated' texts'
http://www.translationdirectory.com/article50.htm
First, the foreignized translation gives the reader more information than a domesticated one.
Second, foreignization tends to increase the difficulty of understanding.
Third, the time hasn’t come for the reader in Anglo-American society to accept foreignization. But it is soon to come.
2 Direct and indirect information:
' Apparently, we can easily find that there are three general levels in the translation of novels or literature.
1. Domestication of both direct information and aesthetic information.
2. Foreignization of direct information and domestication of aesthetic information.
3. Foreignization of both direct information and aesthetic information.
[ The author mentions Venuti. Here is Venuti on how to read a translation:
http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/?lab=HowTo
Lawrence Venuti How to Read a Translation
'Read translations, although with an eye out for the translator's work, with the awareness that the most a translation can give you is an insightful and eloquent interpretation of a foreign text, at once limited and enabled by the need to address the receiving culture.' ▲ Collapse
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 04:52
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
| Touristic texts | Jun 28, 2009 |
I wrote my master thesis about translation of touristic texts. One example only:
If there is a brochure about a town with all ongoing programs, I would leave out all reference to theatre performances, because foreigners simply do not visit (Finnish) theatres.
But most customers do not understand the problems envolved, so word-for-word translation would satisfy the customer, adaptation the reader. The customer is the one that pays us.
I've become rather cynical abo... See more I wrote my master thesis about translation of touristic texts. One example only:
If there is a brochure about a town with all ongoing programs, I would leave out all reference to theatre performances, because foreigners simply do not visit (Finnish) theatres.
But most customers do not understand the problems envolved, so word-for-word translation would satisfy the customer, adaptation the reader. The customer is the one that pays us.
I've become rather cynical about all "translation theory".
Regards
Heinrich ▲ Collapse
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