A Translator, The Prophet of Language

A translator, he/she is a connector between different language, bringing peace between languages that fight each other. The translator, he/she is the one who knows the appropriate word that must be chosen to say from one language to other. The one who understand "aku" which means "I" in English, the one who can make one nation declares war to other. (well, when translator translates your words in different meaning; I mean you say "I love you" to someone, but the translator translates it into "fuck you asshole"; what will happen next?). The translator, he is more then a prophet, he is a saviour (or a doom bringer).

So today, please save your time to read this article. I will guide you to the path of light, the path of a good translator.

I will guide you;

HOW TO BE A GOOD TRANSLATOR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Introduction

-          If you want to be a good translator, you must be learning to translate into your language of habitual use; because that’s the way you can translate naturally, accurately and with maximum effectiveness.

-          A good translator must have a degree-level ‘reading-comprehension’ ability in one foreign language and a particular interest in :

a)      Science and technology

b)      Social, economy, politic

c)       Literary and philosophical works

-          When you translate a subject, you must make the text in order :

a)      Beginning that defines and sets the subject out

b)      The body that illustrates the subject

c)       A conclusion

-         Translation: it is some works of rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text.

-          When you translate, there is no such thing as a perfect, ideal or correct translation.

-       A translator always works on four levels:

a)      Translation is first a science.

b)      Translation is a skill.

c)       Translation is an art.

d)      Translation is a matter of taste.

-        As a technique for learning foreign language, translation is two edged instruments:

a)      It has the special purpose of demonstrate the learner’s knowledge of the foreign language.

b)      It is a form of control or to exercise his intelligence in order to develop his competence.

-          Translation theory

- In a narrow sense, it is concerned with the translation method appropriately used for a certain type of text.

- In a wider sense, it is the body of knowledge that we have about translating, extending from universal principles to guidelines, suggestion, and hints.

The Analysis of a Text

Reading the text

-          You read the original source for two purposes:

a)      To understand what it is about.

b)      To analyze it from ‘a translator’ point of view.

-          Understanding the text need general and close reading. General reading to get the gist, close reading to understand the context.

The Intention of the Text

-          In reading, you search the intention of the text to understand it.

-          Intention and understanding both go together and the title may be remote from the content as well as the intention.

-          The intention of the text represents the source language writer’s attitude to the subject matter.

The Intention of the Translator

-          The intention of the translator usually goes together and it is identical with the author of the source language text.

Text Styles

-          There are four types of text following Nida:

a)      Narrative

b)      Description

c)       Discussion

d)      Dialogue

The Readership

-          When you work on translation, you attempt to characterize the readership of the original and then of the translation, and to decide how much attention you have to pay to target language readers.

-          You also have to decide the degree of formality, generality, and emotional tone when you work on the text.

Stylistic Scales

-          The scale based on formality: officialese, official, neutral, informal, colloquial, slang, taboo

-          The scale based on generality or difficulty: simple, popular, neutral, educated, technical, opaquely technical (for expert only).

-          The scale based on the emotional tone: intense, warm, factual, understatement.

Attitude

-          When you making evaluations and recommendations, you have to assess the standard of the writer, the writer attitude, in what side he is; positive, neutral, or negative.

Setting

- You have to decide in what place the text falls so the context can be understood by the readers.

- There are three kinds of readers: the expert, the educated layman, and the uninformed.

The Quality of the Writing

-          Two factors in the choice of translation method:

a)      The quality of the writing.

b)      The authority of the text.

-          The text won’t call well if it’s not well written. The right choice of words will prove the quality of the writer, and of course the quality of the writing.

Connotations and Denotations

-          Connotations work in lexical words, whether denotations live in literary works.

-          In fact, the greater the quantity of a language resources expended on the text, the more difficult it is likely to be translate, and the more worthwhile.

Untranslatable words are the ones that have no ready one-to-one equivalent in the target language; they are likely to be qualities or actions – descriptive verbs, or mental words (words relating to mind, that have no cognates in target language).i.e.: fuzzy, murky, snoob.etc. The best that you can do is just leave that word in its original, underline it, and make sure it match the context of the text.

WELL...what's in your mind?