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35IRSTI 14.35.07
SOME ASPECTS OF TEACHING INFORMATIVE TRANSLATION AT THE UNIVERSITY
I. N. Matassova
E.A. Buketov Karaganda State University, Karaganda, Kazakhstan irina041283@mail.ru
This article represents the author's approach to teaching the course of informative translation in institutions of higher education. Having reviewed several definitions of the concept of "translation" presented by the masters of this type of activity, the author further delves into the study of the concept and main subtypes of informative translation. Newspaper and publicist texts and popular scientific texts are illustrated by a set of exercises aimed at developing students' necessary skills. A list of alternative exercises, the use of which can significantly expand the scope of professional skills and abilities of students - future translators, is provided. Some exercises are taken from the "Practicum on informative translation" published by the author a year ago, and are successfully used at the informative translation lessons with university students.
Key words: translation, informative translation, translator, text, exercise.
The topicality of the research is due to the fact that all over the world knowledge of the English language is taken today for granted, as a necessary condition for communication at any level. Not only fluency in English is becoming increasingly important, but also the ability to quickly and competently translate from English into Russian and vice versa. It is no coincidence that the problem of teaching translation is acute.
The concept of "informative translation" implies the work of a translator with business texts representing various professional spheres of business life. This type of translation requires the performer to have professional awareness in the field of knowledge to which the text belongs, and to preserve the factual component of its content.
Informative translation occupies a special place in training students - future translators. Translation skills are most fully manifested during exercises.
The purpose of the research is aimed at the formation of students' translation abilities.
The theoretical significance of the work lies in the consideration of different definitions of the concept of "translation", as well as in the selection and description of the main subtypes of informative translation.
The novelty and practical significance of the research lies in the development of a set of exercises that contribute to the formation of the necessary skills for students to ensure high-quality informative translation.
There is a great number of definitions of the "translation" notion. At different times, scientists provided opinions of all kinds. Let us consider some of their view points.
S.I. Ozhegov and N.Yu. Shvedova in their "Explanatory Dictionary" state that "translation is a text rendered from one language into another one" [1; 1842].
A.V. Fedorov: "Translation is considered, first of all, as a speech work in its correlation with the original and in connection with the peculiarities of the two languages and with the belonging of the material to certain genre categories" [2; 11].
V.S. Vinogradov: "Translation is a special, peculiar and independent form of verbal art. This art is "secondary"; it is the art of "re-expressing" the original in the material of another language. Translation art, at first glance, is similar to the performing art of a musician, actor, reader in that it reproduces an existing work of art, and does not create something completely original, in that the creative freedom of the translator is limited by the original. But the similarity ends there. The rest of the translation differs sharply from any kind of performing art and constitutes a special kind of artistic and creative activity, a peculiar form of the "secondary" artistic creation [3; 8].
Ya.I. Retsker: "The task of the translator is to convey by means of another language completely and precisely the content of the original, preserving its stylistic and expressive features. By the "completeness" of translation one should understand the unity of form and content on a new language basis. If the criterion
for the translation accuracy is the identity of the information communicated in different languages, then a complete (or adequate) translation is translation that transfers this information with equivalent means. In other words, in contrast to retelling, translation should transmit not only what is expressed by the original, but also how it is expressed in it. This requirement applies both to the entire translation of this text as a whole, and to its individual parts" [4; 7].
A.D. Schweitzer: "Translation can be defined as a unidirectional and two-phase process of interlingual and intercultural communication, in which a secondary text (metatext) is created on the basis of a primary text subjected to the targeted ("translation") analysis. This secondary text replaces the primary one in another lingual and cultural environment ... A process is characterized by the directive to transmit the communicative effect of the primary text, which is partially modified by the differences between two languages, two cultures and two communicative situations" [5; 75].
R.K. Minyar-Beloruchev: "The object of the science of translation is not just communication using two languages, but communication using two languages, including correlating activities of the source, the translator and the recipient. The central element of this communication is the activity of a translator or translation in the proper sense of the word, which is one of the most complex types of speech activity" [6; 29].
V.N. Komissarov: "Translation is a type of language mediation that is entirely focused on the original. Therefore, the task of translation is to provide the type of interlingual communication, in which the text being created not only acts as a full-fledged communicative replacement of the original, but is also identified with the latter in the functional, structural and semantic aspect" [7; 3].
All these definitions show that there is no unambiguous approach to the definition of this term.
In modern translation studies, two leading areas of research are distinguished, which are determined by the type of content of the translated texts, as well as their purpose - informative and literary translation.
The term "informative translation" was introduced into the practice and the theory of translation by a famous scientist, a specialist in this field, the leader of the Russian linguistic school of translation studies, doctor of philological sciences, professor V.N. Komissarov [8; 32]. This term combines translations of scientific and technical, social and political, economic, legal and other specialized texts.
Informative translations have spread since the middle of the 20th century, after the end of World War II, when, in connection with the development of industry, increased business contacts and the exchange of scientific and business information between countries, there was an "information explosion" in the world. The current situation served as an incentive for the active development of translation activities in the business sector [9; 127].
An informative translation is the translation of texts, the main function of which is the communication of some information, and not the artistic and aesthetic impact on the reader. Such texts include all materials of scientific, business, social, political, everyday, etc. nature. These also include the translation of many detective stories, descriptions of travel, essays and similar works, where the purely informative narration predominates. The division into literary and informative translation indicates only the basic function of the original, which must be reproduced in translation. In fact, in the original, requiring, in general, literary translation, there may be separate parts that perform exclusively informative functions, and, conversely, in the translation of an informative text there may be some elements of literary translation.
In the informative translation subtypes of translation are defined on the basis of the belonging of the translated texts to different functional styles of the source language. It is necessary for the functional and stylistic features of the originals to also determine the specific features of the translation of such texts. On this basis, the translations of scientific and technical materials, official materials, the translations of political and publicist materials, newspaper materials, patent materials, etc. are singled out as special subtypes [7; 97].
The course of "The practice of informative translation" is one of the most important components of the block of profiling disciplines, because the subject of translation activity implements translation, as a rule, not in one specific subject area, but at least in two or three or more.
The goal of the course is the formation of students' linguistic, translational, cultural and sociocultural competencies in the context of informative translation to provide mutual understanding between the representatives of different cultures and languages in various fields of international, political, economic, scientific and social life.
The main tasks of the discipline are the following:
- deepening of knowledge about the language system and improving the skills of operating with language means in the process of translation activity;
- the formation of translation skills;
- the formation of background knowledge of linguo-cultural and socio-cultural nature, which are the condition for adequate translation.
To accomplish the tasks set, first of all, students should be acquainted with the existing subtypes of informative translation and their characteristic features. In order to successfully complete translation, students must be clearly aware of the dominants of each type of texts and resources of their rendering.
Let us briefly consider some basic subtypes of informative translation and examples of exercises aimed at developing students' skills and abilities necessary for the transmission of corresponding information from English into Russian and vice versa.
Translation of newspaper and publicist texts. As it is known, the main purpose of newspaper and publicist texts is to provide new information. Varieties are brief information messages, feature articles, advertisements, and interviews. Dominants of the translation of these texts are means that reflect their communicative task. Below the main of these means and ways of their rendering are presented:
1) Numerical data, proper names, names of organizations are rendered by one-to-one equivalents.
2) Clichés and phraseological units are translated by one-to-many correspondences.
3) Hidden quotations are translated with the help of variant correspondences or transformations, with commenting (internal or external).
4) Fashionable words are rendered using lexical compensation.
5) Irony is rendered on the principle of preserving the contrast of functionally similar means with the help of all kinds of correspondences [10; 79].
When working out the translation of this type of texts, one should remember that reports can be on completely different topics (health and medicine, education, world, agriculture, business and economics, technology, etc.). Students should understand the main content of the text, identify and make a list of terms with their translation, having memorized them (if it is necessary) and think about the possible ways of the translation of these texts.
For each text a teacher can develop small exercises, which can help students to prepare for the translation in more detail or to train interpretation skills. For example,
Text 1.
Ex. 1. Explain the following notions in English: "drug-resistant" tuberculosis, health officials, to investigate the case, untreatable, an infected person, antibiotics, to cure the disease, World Health Organization, an explosive situation, to misdiagnose, public health doctor.
Ex. 2. Make a consecutive interpretation of the text without notation.
What Happens When TB Becomes Untreatable?
In December, doctors in Mumbai, India, reported about a group of patients with what they called "totally drug-resistant" tuberculosis. Indian health officials have been investigating these cases. But there have been reports of untreatable cases of TB in the past. Doctors reported fifteen patients in Iran in two thousand nine and two patients in Italy in two thousand seven.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that usually targets the lungs. It causes an estimated five thousand deaths each day, or about two million a year.
TB can be spread through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes or even speaks.
Some forms of TB bacteria no longer react to one or more of the antibiotics commonly used to cure the disease. These are known as drug-resistant strains. Some resist even more drugs. The World Health Organization says sixty-nine countries have reported cases of "extensively drug-resistant" tuberculosis. The WHO says at least twenty-five thousand such cases are reported worldwide every year.
The agency's director-general, Dr. Margaret Chan, is concerned about the spread of drug-resistant TB: "Call it what you may, a time bomb or a powder keg. Any way you look at it, this is a potentially explosive situation."
Officials say drug-resistant TB has been a growing problem in countries like India and China. In many cases, doctors misdiagnose patients or give them the wrong treatment or not enough treatment. Misuse of these antibiotics increases the danger that the bacteria will develop resistance to them.
Neeraj Mistry is a public health doctor. He says surveys show that very few Indian doctors are treating TB patients with the right drugs for the right length of time. Another problem is that patients may not take all of their medicine [11; 13].
Text 2.
Ex. 1. Give your opinion on the problem raised in the text. Organize a discussion in the form of debates.
Ex. 2. Make a selective written translation of the text.
Using National Parks as Classrooms
The National Park Service in the United States marked its one hundredth anniversary in twenty-sixteen. As it neared its second century, the Park Service planned to increase its educational programs for students and teachers.
The plans included transportation support for one hundred thousand students each year to visit national parks to learn about nature and history.
Yellowstone was believed to have been the world's first national park when it was established in eighteen seventy-two.
Other students got a chance to see parks in faraway places through Skype and other online programs.
The National Park Service also worked with partners to provide education. One of its partners was a nonprofit organization called NatureBridge. NatureBridge was celebrating its fortieth anniversary and said one million young people had taken part in its programs.
The organization worked with students from kindergarten through twelfth grade and used national parks as its classrooms. It provided field science programs at Yosemite National Park and four other locations in California and the northwestern state of Washington.
NatureBridge was launching an East Coast center with a four-million-dollar grant from Google. The program began in April at the Prince William Forest Park in Virginia.
Students stayed for three to five days in NatureBridge programs. The activities were aimed at developing their science skills. For example, they learned about different soils and studied water quality under a microscope.
Jason Morris was executive vice president of NatureBridge. He said when they were not sleeping, eating or in a laboratory, the students spent their time outdoors.
Julia Washburn was associate director of education and interpretation for the National Park Service. She said in a time of budget cuts, the agency had to find ways to still meet its goals: "We are not likely to get a lot of money in this current economy. This is about doing different work with the money that we have and redirecting resources into it" [11; 16].
As alternative exercises one can offer the following:
- to find in the text equivalents of the given words and word combinations;
- to provide definitions of the words and phrases presented;
- to express your opinion on the problem raised in the text / prepare reports on the given topics / organize the discussion in the form of debates.
Another subtype of informative translation is the translation of popular scientific texts. A popular scientific text contains a large amount of cognitive information. The following means are dominant in the translation of such texts:
1) Terms are rendered by one-to-one correspondences.
2) Passive constructions, impersonal and indefinite-personal sentences are rendered through appropriate transformations.
3) Colloquial vocabulary, rhetorical questions, phraseological units are rendered by one-to-many correspondences [10; 83].
Exercises for performing the translation of such texts are aimed at training different translation skills. It is also useful to provide for some other exercises for each text, such as: to make "at-sight" translation of the text with or without prior looking through it, to make consecutive interpretation of the text with or without notation, to make summary translation, complete or selective written translation of the text.
Below are examples of such texts for practicing skills of not only informative translation but also interpretation.
Text 3.
Ex. Make a consecutive interpretation of the text with notation.
В платежном балансе страны учитываются все операции, приводящие к притоку или оттоку иностранной валюты. Сложив все входящие в него счета, можно получить сумму чистого притока или оттока иностранной валюты из страны (сальдо платежного баланса). Структурно платежный баланс состоит из текущего платежного баланса (счет текущих операций с капиталом и финансовыми инструментами). В текущем платежном балансе учитываются экспортно-импортные операции, а также инвестиционные доходы и текущие трансферты из-за рубежа и за рубеж. В балансе движения капитала учитываются операции, связанные с перетоком капитала, покупкой и продажей отечественных и зарубежных активов.
В идеале сумма этих двух составляющих равна нулю, то есть баланс сводится с нулевым сальдо. Однако на практике так бывает далеко не всегда. В этом случае для урегулирования платежного баланса Центробанкам приходится продавать либо покупать валюту. Соотношение их операций с валютными резервами и платежного баланса выражается простой формулой - дефицит платежного баланса равен чистым продажам валюты Центробанком [12; 104].
Text 4.
Ex. Make "at-sight" translation of the text without prior looking through it.
A few degrees can make a big difference when it comes to food storage. Foods can go bad if they get too warm. But for many of the world's poor, finding a good way to keep food cool is difficult. Refrigerators are costly and they need electricity. Yet spoiled food not only creates health risks but also economic losses. Farmers lose money when they have to throw away products that they cannot sell quickly. But a teacher in northern Nigeria named Mohammed Bah Abba found a solution. He developed the "Pot-in-Pot Preservation/Cooling System." It uses two round containers made of clay. A smaller pot is placed inside a larger one. The space between the two pots is filled with wet sand. The inner pot can be filled with fruit, vegetables or drinks. A wet cloth covers the whole cooling system. Food stored in the smaller pot is kept from spoiling through a simple evaporation process. Water in the sand between the two pots evaporates through the surface of the larger pot, where drier outside air is moving. The evaporation process creates a drop in temperature of several degrees. This cools the inner pot and helps keep food safe from harmful bacteria.
Some foods can be kept fresh this way for several weeks. People throughout Nigeria began using the invention. And it became popular with farmers in other African countries. Mohammed Bah Abba personally financed the first five thousand pot-in-pot systems for his own community and five villages nearby. The Rolex Watch Company of Switzerland honored him with the Rolex Award for Enterprise. This award recognizes people trying to develop projects aimed at improving human knowledge and well-being. A committee considers projects in science and medicine, technology, exploration and discovery, the environment and cultural history. Winners receive financial assistance to help develop and extend their projects. The awards are given every two years [13].
Text 5.
Ex. Make a complete written translation of the text.
A new technology has jump-started the technique in neuroscience known as optogenetics, where neuroscientists target a single neuron in the brain of a mouse merely by turning on a light.
This is done by using a light activated gene and inserting it into the genome of a mouse to be able to easily identify when the particular neuron is firing in the brain.
Optogenetics is a hot topic amongst the medical community today surrounded by both praise and criticism. Its purpose is to control a brain's activity with light. This could have far reaching benefits with
humans to help better understand the complex network of neurons that make up the brain. A stronger understanding could help humans better grasp how we create thoughts, emotions and behaviors.
Identifying these neurons may sometime help people detect flaws or deformities in the various neurons in the brain that cause devastating mental disorders like schizophrenia, Parkinson's and depression. By controlling the activity of specific neurons, neuroscientists will begin to learn how each type of neuron contributes to the overall functions of the brain.
The firing of a neuron through lighting may someday be a technique to finding the answers to some of the many open questions mankind has wondered about both medically and physiologically since the dawn of time or this technique may not be able to work with humans due to its invasive nature in its current applications with rats.
Time will tell as to whether this approach is effective, but nevertheless, the study of the human brain using light will help neuroscientists on the path to better understanding the neurons and how they work across this complex organ [14].
When doing exercises students can be advised the following:
- use the active vocabulary, and necessary translation transformations;
- pay attention to terms, try to guess the meaning of new words on the basis of the context, learn new words and expressions;
- pay attention to the word order, grammar constructions and modality;
- think of the colloquial style and variants of rendering phraseology and set phrases;
- record the translation, note the correct presentation.
"Practice of informative translation" is an optional subject for students of translation departments of universities. In the course of studying this discipline, students should master the corresponding skills, which are most fully revealed in doing exercises. As it is often said: "Translation is an art, interpreting is a craft" [15; 32]. It is also confirmed by the works of foreign [16; 12] and Kazakhstani scientists, which are both theoretical and applied in nature [17; 19].
References
1. Ozhegov S.I., Shvedova N.Yu. (2010). Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo yazyka [Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language]. Moscow: Onix [in Russian].
2. Fedorov, A.V. (1983). Osnovy obshchei teorii perevoda (Lingvisticheskie problemy) [Fundamentals of the general theory of translation (Linguistic problems)]. (4th ed.). Moscow: Vysshaia shkola [in Russian].
3. Vinogradov V.S. (1978). Leksicheskie voprosy perevoda khudozhestvennoj prozy [Lexical problems of fiction translation]. Moscow: Moscow State University [in Russian].
4. Retsker Ya.I. (1976). Teoriya perevoda i perevodcheskaya praktika [Translation theory and translation practice]. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya [in Russian].
5. Schweitzer, A.D. (1988). Teoriia perevoda: status, problemy, aspekty [Theory of translation: status, problems, aspects]. Moscow: Nauka [in Russian].
6. Miniar-Beloruchev, R.K. (1996). Teoriia i metody perevoda [Theory and methods of translation]. Moscow: Moskovskii litsei [in Russian].
7. Komissarov V.N. (1990). Teoriya perevoda (Lingvisticheskie aspekty) [Theory of translation (Linguistic aspects)]. Moscow: Vysshaia shkola [in Russian].
8. Komissarov V.N. (2011). Sovremennoe perevodovedenie [Modern translation studies]. Moscow: R. Valent [in Russian].
9. Tariverdiyeva M.A. (2018). Informativnyj i khudozhestvennyj perevod: obshhee i raznoe [Informative and literary translation: general and different] // Vestnik MGLU. Gumanitarnye nauki. No. 11. P. 126-135.
10. Alekseyeva I.S. (2000). Professional'noe obuchenie perevodchika [Professional translator training]. Saint-Petersburg: Institute of foreign languages [in Russian].
11. Matassova, I.N. (2019). Practicum on informative translation. Karaganda: Print Shop.
12. Chuzhakin A. (2003). Mir perevoda -5. Advanced level [World of interpreting and translation-5. Advanced level]. Moscow: R. Valent.
13. VOA Learning English. https://learningenglish.voanews.com
14. Assignment point. https://www.assignmentpoint.com/science/medical/optogenetics-technology.html
15. Chuzhakin, A., & Palazhchenko P. (2000). Mir perevoda-1 [World of interpreting and translation-1]. (6th ed.). Moscow: R. Valent [in Russian].
16. House J. (2020). Translation as a prime player in intercultural communication // Applied linguistics. Volume 41, Issue 1. P.10-29. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amz007
17. Bahtikireeva U.M. (2009). Perevodovedenie v Kazahstane. Chast' 1 [Translation studies in Kazakhstan. Part 1]. Moscow: Tezaurus [in Russian].
ЖОО-да акпараттык аударманы окытудьщ кеиб1р аспектiлерi И.Н. Матасова
Е.А. Бекетов атындагы Караганды мемлекеттiк университетi, Караганды, Казакстан
irina041283@mail.ru
Б^л макала автордын жогары оку орнында акпараттык аударма курсын окытуга деген кезкарасы болып табылады. Осы кызметтщ шеберлерi ^сынган «аударма» ^гымыньщ бiрнеше аныктамаларын карастырып, автор б^дан эрi акпараттык аударманын ^гымын жэне негiзгi ^станымдарын зерттеуге теренделедi. Газет-публицистикалык мэтiндердi аудару жэне гылыми-кепшшк мэтiндердi аудару студенттердiн кажеттi дагдыларын калыптастыруга багытталган жаттыгулар жYЙесiмен толыктырылады. Альтернативтi жаттыгулардын тiзiмi келтiрiледi, олардын колданылуы болашак аудармашы студенттердiн кэаби бiлiктерiнiн аясын едэуiр кенейте алады. Кейбiр жаттыгулар бiр жыл б^рын автор шыгарган «Акпараттык аударма практикумнан» алынган жэне окытушы ретiнде ол университеттщ бiтiрушi курс студенттерiмен акпараттык аударма бойынша сабактарда табысты колданады.
Tyüíh свздер: аударма, ацпараттыц аударма, аудармашы, мэтт, жаттыгу.
Некоторые аспекты преподавания информативного перевода в ВУЗе
И.Н. Матасова
Карагандинский государственный университет им. Е.А. Букетова, Караганда, Казахстан
irina041283@mail.ru
Данная статья представляет подход автора к преподаванию курса информативного перевода в высшем учебном заведении. Рассмотрев несколько определений понятия «перевод», представленных мастерами данного вида деятельности, автор далее углубляется в исследование понятия и основных подтипов информативного перевода. Перевод газетно-публицистических текстов и перевод научно-популярных текстов иллюстрируются системой упражнений, направленных на формирование у студентов необходимых навыков. Приводится перечень альтернативных упражнений, применение которых может значительно расширить сферу профессиональных умений студентов - будущих переводчиков. Некоторые упражнения взяты из «Практикума по информативному переводу», выпущенного автором год назад, и успешно применяются на занятиях по информативному переводу со студентами выпускного курса университета.
Ключевые слова: перевод, информативный перевод, переводчик, текст, упражнение.
Received 24.04.2020.
