Translation as Reading and Writing, 2000 word essay 

Translation as Reading and Writing 

 

Part A: Recasting Exercise

 

  1. I consider the intended audience of the original text to be children (pre-school age). It refers to a subject matter that reflects childhood experience, “he was sent to bed without eating anything”. It uses language, which would seem clichéd to more adult readers, “all around from far away across the world”. It constantly uses repetition, “gnashed their terrible teeth…gnashed their terrible teeth”, “the forest grew and grew and grew”. There is a focus on the effect of the words by using onomatopoeia, “roars…gnashed”. The sentences, which collapse time and space smoothly, are long and connected in a stream of consciousness style, often with ‘and’ rather than with clauses or the separation of sentences, “a forest grew and grew until the ceiling hung with vines and the walls became the world”. This reflects a fantastical childlike way of speaking and telling stories, but also suggests that the story should be read out loud rather than on the page, as someone would read to a child. If it is read rather than spoken then the typography uses elements such as capitals, “BE STILL!” to liven up the writing on the page. Finally, it ends abruptly with no explanation as may be demanded in a more adult style.

 

MAX-IMUM IMPACT!

 

Last night, Max Smith, 5, of Acton, West London, was sent to bed early but got more than he bargained for!

 

EIGHT HUNDRED wild things, rumoured to be ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, set upon him with gnashing teeth and terrible roars. Hero Max, whose father recently lost his job as a builder and is bravely fighting illness, fought off the wild things using nothing but a MAGIC STARE and good old-fashioned British courage.  He sent them back where they came from as they pleaded and called him KING!

 

When he got back, he had a big plate of British BACON waiting for him. A meal fit for a king indeed!

 

“It was nothing really,” said the shy hero, “anyone would have done the same.” Elderly neighbour Jacqueline Price was scared at first when she heard the noise, but now feels safe to walk the streets again, “Someone had to teach those wild things a lesson,” she said, while holding back tears of joy, “they’re just a bunch of yobbos and they deserve everything they get.”

 

“The police don’t do anything,” added another neighbour, “it’s great to see someone standing up for our country at last!” The wild things are rumoured to be too TERRIFIED to return. ‘Mad’ Max is celebrating being a local hero with a big glass of Pepsi (Max of course), and a bedtime story.

 

 

  1. I have rewritten the text as a (tongue-in-cheek) piece of right-wing tabloid journalism, aimed at right-wing readers of a tabloid newspaper, with the purpose of rousing fear against foreigners, criticizing the police and encouraging vigilante action. It uses the style of tabloid journalism with capitalized keywords, short sentences and short paragraphs, making the article easy to read for a less educated audience. In terms of style, it uses puns, “max-imum impact”, exaggerated language, “eight hundred wild things”, short bursts of reported speech, and idiomatic expressions, “he got more than he bargained for!” which are all characteristic of tabloid journalism and commonly understood by my intended audience. It also turns the story into a piece of propaganda with unfounded claims that the wild things are ‘illegal immigrants’, defined against the British ‘hero’ Max. It uses blunt emotional language to create audience sympathy, “holding back tears of joy” and draws on some of the onomatopoeia of the original text to add to its sensational impact, “gnashing teeth and terrible roars”. This is characteristic of how the media can selectively use language in order to play on people’s fears, specifically those of my intended audience, who will have already read countless negative stories about so-called ‘illegal immigrants’ challenging values of Britishness. It uses loaded slang terms such as “yobbos”, another clichéd negative image, which plays on the audience’s fear of urban violence, and also manages to involve some advertising via product placement for Pepsi, which may be a popular product for my intended audience. Characteristic of my chosen genre, its tone is light hearted and humorous, yet it encodes ideologies of hatred and nationalism.

 

 

 

Part B: Ambiguity Exercise

 

  1. (a). This sentence is ambiguous as ‘him’ could refer either to ‘He’ or to ‘the well-known writer’. In other words, the view of the Pacific could either be behind the subject ‘He’ of the sentence, or behind the ‘well-known writer. The ambiguity is due to insufficient separation of the clauses. (b). In order to avoid this, an extra comma can be added: He sat on the terrace, opposite the well-known writer, with a spectacular view of the Pacific behind him. It is now clear that the view is behind ‘Him’ rather than the writer.

 

 

  1. (a). The ambiguity here lies over the use of ‘on’, the style of the sentence, and the use of ‘gives’. It could mean that Professor Jones has literally been to a/the moon and given a talk, or that he has given a talk about a/the moon. However, as it uses the style of the newspaper headline, avoiding the use of definite or indefinite articles for a more sensational effect, it suggests the more unlikely option (that he went to a/the moon and gave a talk). (b). If, as seems more likely, he gave or will give a talk about a/the moon, then the sentence could be corrected to read: Professor Jones gave a talk about The Moon. In this case, which option to use depends heavily on the context.

 

 

  1. (a). This sentence is ambiguous over its use of the relative clause. It could be read, on one hand, as meaning that the fact that they welcome opposition is a good thing for the democratic system. On the other hand it could be read as meaning that they (only) welcome opposition if it is a good thing for the democratic system. (b). A corrected sentence could read: Unlike their opponents, they welcome opposition that is good for the democratic system. This now suggests that they welcome opposition if it is good for the democratic system, and their opponents do not.

 

 

 

Part C: Textual Analysis Exercise

 

metaphor (a) The article uses a metaphor in its introduction describing a “welcome thaw in the often frosty British attitude to literary imports”. To describe an attitude as ‘frosty’ is a metaphorical use of language as an attitude can not be said literally to be covered in frost. It is used as an image of coldness to suggest that the British have a negative and unwelcoming attitude to literary imports. The metaphor is also extended to suggest that this attitude is ‘thawing’, or in other words, people’s attitudes are becoming more open and welcoming to the idea of imported literature. The article uses metaphor frequently. Another example is “scoop up shoals”, using fishing as a metaphor for British publishers selecting foreign fiction. This metaphor is extended further, “such was the quality of the catch”, which relies on understanding its first use.

(b) As metaphors are prominent in the source text, then a translation should try to incorporate metaphors into the target text. They are however hard to translate, as literal translations often don’t work in the same way in different cultures. Really, each metaphor must be taken individually and the translator must consider whether there is a direct equivalent in the target language, or whether a metaphor which may have the same meaning but different imagery could be used. For the examples here, the image of ‘frosty’ to represent emotional coldness is similar enough in my target language to allow a direct translation. My target audience would understand the metaphorical usage in a similar way to the source text audience. Using fishing as a metaphor for selecting from a large supply can also be carried over into my host language. However, specifics such as ‘shoals’ could be changed to something more local in order to be understood by a wider audience in my target culture. I would also try to maintain the poetic alliteration in the image of ‘scooping up shoals’.

 

 

allusion (a) The opening of the article, “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times” is a direct quote from, and so a specific allusion to the opening of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The use of this kind of reference suggests that the target audience of the article – educated, middle-class readers of The Independent’s arts pages, would understand this reference and recognize it as a quote, even if they were not sure exactly where it was from. The following line makes sure by framing it as “the first-line of the most famous cross-Channel novel ever”. It is used here to immediately set the scene of a contradictory situation, and also to create a tone of knowing self-awareness, which frames the article.

(b) In the case of allusion, it is difficult as my target audience may not share the same set of cultural references as the readership of the source article. There are various ways to approach this. It would be possible to translate the sense of the quote in order to give a sense of the contradictory nature of the situation, but this risks losing the power of the allusion. Another option would be to add some contextual material, a note for example, or an extra clause could explain that the line is a quote from Dickens. Again this may not be helpful if my target audience are not familiar with Dickens, and may seem clumsy. Perhaps no further explanation is necessary as the next line explains that it is a quote anyway. Another possibility would be to retain the English language original, making it clear that the line is an allusion, but risking in this case, losing the sense of its meaning. In conclusion, I would try to balance these difficulties, providing a translation, which retains the sense of the original phrase, but also retains its style, in order to mark it out as a reference to something else, which as in the original readership, some may recognize and others not.

 

euphemism and idiom (a) The jokes of Only in London are described as “blue-ish”. ‘Blue’ can be seen as a euphemism as it is used as a polite way of describing something with smutty or sexually related material. The use of ‘blue’ in this context is dependent on shared cultural knowledge between the writer and his intended audience. This would be widely understood as terms such as ‘blue movie’ are common in British culture. As with a lot of euphemism however, it has a slightly traditional and old-fashioned air, creating a more reserved tone for the article, appropriate for its place in a national newspaper, rather than say on an internet discussion board. The term is also qualified in an idiomatic way, using–ish to suggest that although quite rude, the book is not so rude. –ish is used as an idiomatic diminutive to qualify the adjective. This would be understood to the article’s audience through terms such as ‘large-ish’ or ‘warm-ish’, which suggest that the described articles are not actually that large or warm. Socio-linguistically, it is a term used mainly by middle-class English speakers, again appropriately for the article’s intended audience. The article also uses other idiomatic expressions such as “hoi polloi”, which is a derogatory term, used mainly by the middle- or upper-classes to refer to the masses or working-class. The author uses this term critically to highlight the snobbery it suggests.

(b) In the case of euphemism, a direct translation would be inappropriate as ‘blue’ would not have the same sense for my target audience as it does for the intended audience of the source article. I would instead have to find a different word which suggested rudeness but in a not so risky way, trying to maintain the tone of the article. In the case of the idiomatic qualifier, it would be appropriate in this case to use a simpler less idiomatic qualification closer to ‘a bit blue’, as the idiomatic nature of ‘–ish’, while part of the writer’s style, can not be translated directly, and is not important enough to the meaning of the term to merit a different translation. This contrasts with a translation of ‘hoi-polloi’. Here, the sociolinguistic context of the term is important, as it encodes attitudes of class. In this case, I would have to find an equivalent, which also suggested a snobbish disdain for the masses.