From Translation Procedures to Extra-Language Solutions

مطالعات زبان و ترجمه

Article 5, Volume 50, Issue 2, July 2017, Pages 151-173   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/lts.v50i2.67208

Author

Gholamreza Shokrani^*

Department of Fench, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Teharan, Iran

Abstract

1. Introduction
Day after day, the progress of language studies reveals the latent and deep underlying realities of languages better. Translation studies, in its turn, have led us to the discovery of more surprising facts emerging due to the contact of languages with each other. This study is an analysis of effective processes in translating exclusively French into Persian and insists, particularly, on extra-language as an important reality in translation. Extra-language typology results from linguistic analysis but it relies on cultural and ethnic realities. Without any pretention for a comparative stylistic work, our hypotheses will be confirmed by an overview of main procedures applied when translating from French to Persian.
Based on the theory of translation processes (Vinay & Darbelnet, 1958), our academic experiences showed that the principles of the fundamental processes of translation could be extended to the difficulties of the extra-language. This study, therefore, suggested that respect and adaptation of “ordinary register” and/or “non-ordinary register” between both source and destination cultures can be considered as a solution. Identifying and applying these features meticulously can lead our translations to the same creativity and ingenuity that exists in the original text.
2. Methodology
Based on academic theories and practical field efforts, this paper demonstrated that a high-quality translation cannot be done based only on “words” as linguistic signs or forms. Even if texts are translated based on word meanings, they will certainly not be able to transfer the entire dimensions of the meaning. In this transfer, some other parameters will be revealed such as “ordinary register” and/or “non-ordinary register”, which will only appear and can be discussed and analyzed across the contact of original culture and target culture in translation. In the current study, the techniques available in translation from French-to-Persian have been briefly discussed and they have been divided into four main processes: modulation, transposition, adding and suppression, and equivalence. These four processes are the basic techniques of translation and cover all registers of vocabulary, syntax, meaning, and culture (proverbs). Moreover, the most important processes in Persian translation of a French text and how these interact was taken into consideration in this study. This concise and functional analysis can be considered as a prelude to the main concern that the science of translatology cares about - the category of culture and extra-language. This category has remained one of the main struggles for expert translators in the field of translation.
3. Results and Discussion
As a result, this study demonstrates that cultural issues are not fully compatible from one community to another and can sometimes create anomalies in translation. The extra-language topics as a solution for situations where the processes and techniques of translation mentioned in the first section are not responsive to the translator's work were proposed. In this section, the hypothesis of the study was based on the principle that the examination of translation procedures is based on comparing two cultures coming into contact by the means of translation. On this basis and in an attempt for a sustainable translation, it was showed that looking for linguistic equivalences is preceded by the scrupulous research of extra-linguistic equivalences.
4. Conclusion
In order to limit the various procedures, it is necessary to clearly distinguish two communication standpoints: understanding extra-linguistic signs and expressing meaning. Translator’s task could therefore be resumed on picking the extra-linguistic signs out in original text and expressing meaning in the target culture. The expression of meaning is a dynamic attempt to convey the same concept by looking for equivalences and horizons in the destination culture. In order to achieve this goal, the problems of translation are divided into two categories: extra-linguistic and linguistic. Only once the problem of extra-linguistic differences from one language to another has been solved, we would be able to deal properly with specific language problems. “Language problems are initially related to the establishment of correspondences between types of texts (genre)” (Srpová, 1997). This issue has not yet been investigated systematically. However, interesting suggestions have been made in the framework of the evaluation of translations and in the framework of discourse analysis. From a translatological perspective, discourse analysis allows us to focus on meaning by two main topics: the "type or genre" and the “text”. Because of textual phenomena such as "intertextuality", which relates to explicit and implicit relationships between texts, the translator must be able to recognize these relationships and boundaries, not to translate for example, a piece of a famous poem included in the source text into prose in the target language.

Keywords

Comparative Stylistics; Extra-Language; Intercultural Communication; Translation Procedures; Translation Studies

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