Difference between
translating and interpreting
There is difference between
translating and interpreting. The first activity refers to
translating ideas expressed through writing from one
language to another, and the second one refers to
translating ideas expressed orally from a “source language”
to a “target language”. Although interpreting is often
considered an under heel of translation as much as concern a
core knowledge (translation studies), in practice those two
activity require very different skills.
Translation theories
The translation process can be
divided into three subsequent stages:
- Comprehension: a complete
understanding of the sense of the text, of the author's
thoughts, etc.;
- Abstraction: leave aside the
words and keep in mind the sense, that is “Be aware of the
sense of the message leaving aside the words or the
sentences that create the text”
- Reinterpretation: Adapting
the meaning of the text in the target language.
Types of translation
On the job market, we can
discern mainly two types of translation:
-
The technical translation;
-
The literary translation.
The majority of professional
translators work on technical translations.
Technical Translations
Technical translations concern
documents such as textbooks, instruction manuals, official
notes, process' record, financial reports, and documents
destined to a limited public. Their utility is limited. For
example, an instruction manual for a particular type of
fridge is used only by those buying the fridge and it will
be needed only for a limited time, which is until that type
of fridge will be on the market. The same is for IT
programs' documents, concerning only a specific version or a
specific program which, by the time, will become obsolete. A
technical translation often requires a specific knowledge in
a particular field.
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Types of Technical
translations:
- technical documents (IT
documents, electronic and mechanical doc. etc)
- scientific texts ( astronomy,
geology, medicine, etc)
- financial and administration
documents.
The technical translation is
often anonymous translation. The translator's name won't
appear on the translated text, just like the companies omit
the author's name of an instruction manual of their
products. In the case of textbooks instead, the name will
appear in the bibliographic section. Normally the technical
translation is more approachable and is better paid than a
literary translation. Translators working on
literary translations carry
on this activity for the love of languages and for the love
of books, to let others taste all those nuances of a
beautiful text written in a foreign language.
Literary Translations
These types
of translation concern books, novels, poems and other genres in the
literary field. The literary translation requires stylistic
skills, a good creativity and a wide cultural knowledge. The
aim of a literary translation is to reproduce the uncut
effect of the original text in the target language's
readers. The translation has to result a pleasant reading
and to arouse the same feeling of the original text. As
Cervantes said: “Don't add anything, don't omit anything”.
The greater translators, regardless of the language, have a
high qualified education, they have a specific formation in
literary studies in their mother tongue and of course in
that language they chose as their source language.
(Source:
Wikipedia)
The
Freelance
Translator
Literary Translation
Translation is an
Art
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