Milad Mehdizadkhani; Abdullah Nowruzy; Farzaneh Shokoohmand
Abstract
Translation training in audiovisual translation has received a lot of attention, but how students tackle the translation of linguistic taboos for dubbing or subtitling has been under-researched. To fill the gap, this descriptive study aims to examine how students’ strategies differ from those of ...
Read More
Translation training in audiovisual translation has received a lot of attention, but how students tackle the translation of linguistic taboos for dubbing or subtitling has been under-researched. To fill the gap, this descriptive study aims to examine how students’ strategies differ from those of professionals in terms of translating taboos. To do so, a group of fifteen BA students of English was requested to translate Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994) into Persian. The translations made by the students were then compared with the professional translation available for the film. The results of the study indicated that the strategies taken by students in dealing with taboo language is so similar to those of professionals with the exception of decreasing taboo load. The students tended to delete most of linguistic taboos, which is also the commonly used strategy in the professional version of the film. The second frequent strategy employed by students was rendering taboo words into non-taboo words. By contrast, in the professional version, as the second frequent strategy and seemingly in order to retain the taboo load and effect, translators had substituted the taboo words with more culturally accepted taboo or offensive expressions. The results of this paper have some pedagogical implications for translator training classes.
Zeinab Moazzenzade
Abstract
1. IntroductionTranslation has a long history in human societies. Over time, it has had a valuable position in human life. Of course, occupying such position and the existing value of translation was easily achieved. Initially, there were different views and opinions about translation as a science. One ...
Read More
1. IntroductionTranslation has a long history in human societies. Over time, it has had a valuable position in human life. Of course, occupying such position and the existing value of translation was easily achieved. Initially, there were different views and opinions about translation as a science. One of the features of this science is that as an interdisciplinary science it creates a common ground between different fields of knowledge. This new discipline was able to attract the attention of linguists, librarians, psychologists, and ethnologists as an interdisciplinary science. Before the formation of science and the formulation of the principles of translation as a specialized field, translation was very limited. However at the beginning of the twentieth century, the emergence of the explosion of information, the close relationship between nations and the growth of international organizations, the growth of professional tourism, scientific, technical, and political communication, the exchange of cultural products, and international correspondence required that science of translation will quickly progress.2. Theoretical FrameworkCompared to the young discipline of translation, translation training is much younger. Along with the developments in the translation movement in the world, in Russia, this new branch grew. Russian linguists consider the first translation experience to be done by J.-P. Vinay and J. Darbelent in 1958, in which they carried out a comparative study in French and English translation. Russian linguists believe that for the first time, the authors of the work convinced the academic community that translation needs to be taught in academic and scientific fashions. At the beginning, the goal of studying language was to learn and teach it. However, since the 80s, knowing foreign languages was not enough, and there was a need to a competence to perform the translation process. There was a strong debate on the relationship between theoretical and practical issues of translation, and the inclusion of these principles in academic curricula, the importance of stating the differences in the training of translators and interpreters with different specializations and the status of technology and modern education. Among the most important are the works of Komiserov (1980, 1990), Latishev (1988), Alimov (2005), Berus (2000), and Kavalchuk (1975). In the overview of these works, what is evident is the need to deal with translation as a separate academic discipline.3. DiscussionThe translation of press and media texts from Russian to Persian and vice versa is structurally dependent on the grammatical structure of Russian. Russian press and media have certain characteristics, such as the vast range of structures of synonymous and contradictory alternatives, phrases, and expressions that make translation more difficult. Long and compound sentences, variation and displacement of the types of words in the sentence, direct and indirect quotes, the abundant use of syntactic structures, the use of a special lexical and semantic range are among other features of such texts. In these texts, in addition to narration of news and events, they are evaluated either directly or indirectly, and the author's view is transferred to the reader. Therefore, the mission of the translator becomes harder. The translator should not only translate the text properly, but also he/she should be able to translate the author’s view concealed in the words and phrases with the help of the grammatical and linguistic tools used in the text.Translators can easily translate the text by knowing the specific structures that are referred to as stereotypes. The stereotypes transmit concepts such as agreement, disagreement, expressing reason, conclusions etc. in specific grammatical formats. It should be noted that each of these stereotypes has synonymous and contradictory structures. Paying attention to the style of the text is also an important issue that should not be forgotten when translating.In the next section, it is suggested a three-step exercise be used while teaching the translation of press texts: exercises before translating the text in order to familiarize students with the words and phrases used in the text, the presentation of synonymous and contradictory structures, and fluent reading and translation of the text. Finally, repeating the text structures and transforming them into smaller units, synonymous grammatical and semantic units, answering the text questions, and even oral definitions and text summaries should be practiced.4. ConclusionIn this study, it is emphasized that translation is composed of theoretical and practical parts. Classrooms for the translation of the press texts should be planned in such a way that Iranian students acquire the skill of analyzing and recognizing the grammatical structures as well as staying loyal to the original style of the text. By using this technique, text clarification becomes easier for trainees, and they can provide a better and closer translation of the original text. Finally, despite the urgent need for specialist translators, many of older professional translators complain about educational system's inability to educate translation trainees and argue that translators are not tailored to the needs of the community and the market.
