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Masterand: Dulgheru Carmen Tehnici de traducere

Anul I, Engleza, Traducere si Interpretariat Prof.: Isabela Merila

In addition to being a member of our countr, !e are members of the !orld communit,

and this gi"es us a global identit. Therefore, it is #uite natural for us to thin$ about !orld

affairs and cooperate in sol"ing the !orld%s problems. To do so, the first and most

important tool is &language,& !hich is sociall determined. 'ur beliefs and ideologies are

al!as reflected in our !a of tal$ing, although the connections are hidden and onl

&critical language stud& re"eals these hidden connections in discourse. (urthermore, !e

$no! that a nation%s culture flourishes b interacting !ith other cultures. Cultural "ariet

opens our ees to human rights, but cultural "ariet can onl be recognized through

discussions, !hich leads us bac$ to the ma)or tool for discussion: &language.& The role of

language in the de"eloping !orld is materialized through &translating,& and since critical

language stud is concerned !ith the processes of producing and interpreting te*ts and

!ith the !a these cogniti"e processes are sociall shaped, it can be considered as an

alternati"e approach to translation studies. The !orld is becoming smaller and smaller as

the sstems of communication and information are de"eloping and becoming more and

more sophisticated. In the process of such a rapid e*change of information and for the

purpose of impro"ing cultural contacts, one thing is ine"itable, and that is &translating.&

This is !h there is a need for competent translators and interpreters. As mentioned

earlier, the !hole !orld is undergoing comple* changes in different areas such as

technolog and education. These changes necessaril ha"e an important bearing on

sstems of higher education, including translator training programs. Theoretical

$no!ledge and practical s$ills alone are not ade#uate to prepare students to face the

de"elopments in the field. There is a need for abilit to adapt+ therefore, it is necessar to

focus on students% selfupdating and to de"elop their rele"ant mental, communicati"e, and

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planning s$ills. Training translators is an important tas$ !hich should be gi"en a high

priorit. The ser"ice that translators render to enhance cultures and nurture languages has

been significant throughout histor. Translators are the agents for transferring messages

from one language to another, !hile preser"ing the underling cultural and discoursal

ideas and "alues. The translator%s tas$ is to create conditions under !hich the source

language author and the target language reader can interact !ith one another . The

translator uses the core meaning present in the source te*t to create a ne! !hole, namel,

the target te*t . earing these facts in mind, the #uestion is: !hat s$ills are needed to

promote translating abilit/ And ho! can one become a good translator/ The first step is

e*tensi"e reading of different translations of different $inds of te*ts, since translating

re#uires acti"e $no!ledge, !hile analzing and e"aluating different translations re#uires

passi"e $no!ledge. Therefore, recepti"e s$ills should be de"eloped before the producti"e

ones+ i.e. b reinforcing their passi"e $no!ledge, students !ill e"entuall impro"e their

acti"e $no!ledge. 0ecepti"e s$ills impro"e the students% language intuition and ma$e

them read for actual translating. A good translator is someone !ho has a comprehensi"e

$no!ledge of both source and target languages. 1tudents should read different genres in

both source and target languages including modern literature, contemporar prose,

ne!spapers, magazines, ad"ertisements, announcements, instructions, etc. eing familiar

!ith all these genres is important, since the implicitl transfer culturespecific aspects of

a language. 1pecialized readings are also suggested: reading recentl published articles

and )ournals on theoretical and practical aspects of translation. The articles !ill not onl

impro"e the students% reading s$ill in general, but also gi"e them insights !hich !ill

subconsciousl be applied !hen actuall translating. &2riting& s$ills, i.e. the abilit to

!rite smoothl and correctl in both source and target languages, are also important.

2riting is in fact the main )ob of a translator. 1tudents should become familiar !ith

different stles of !riting and techni#ues and principles of editing and punctuation in both

source and target languages. Editing and punctuation impro"e the #ualit and readabilit

of the translation. Moreo"er, translation trainees should ha"e a good ear for both source

and target languages+ i.e. the should be alert to pic$ up "arious e*pressions, idioms, and

specific "ocabular and their uses, and store them in their minds to be used later. This is

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in fact !hat !e call impro"ing one%s &intuition.& Intuition is not something to be

de"eloped in a "acuum+ rather, it needs practice and a solid bac$ground. It needs both the

support of theor and the e*perience of practice. 4anguage intuition is a must for a

competent translator.

'ne of the most important points to consider in the act of translating is understanding the

"alue of the source te*t !ithin the frame!or$ of the sourcelanguage discourse. To

de"elop this understanding, the translator must be a!are of the cultural differences and

the "arious discoursal strategies in the source and target languages. Therefore, the hidden

structure of the source te*t should be disco"ered through the use of "arious discoursal

strategies b the translator.

A good translator should be familiar !ith the culture, customs, and social settings of the

source and target language spea$ers. 1he should also be familiar !ith different registers,

stles of spea$ing, and social stratification of both languages. This sociocultural

a!areness, can impro"e the #ualit of the students% translations to a great e*tent. The

social conte*t in translating a te*t is probabl a more important "ariable than its genre.

The act of translating ta$es place in the sociocultural conte*t. Conse#uentl, it is

important to )udge translating acti"it onl !ithin social conte*t. After de"eloping a good

competence in both source and target languages, actual translating ma begin. ut there is

a middle stage bet!een the competencede"eloping stage and actual translating: becoming

a!are of "arious informationpro"iding sources and learning ho! to use them. These

sources include: different monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, encclopedias, and the

Internet. 5sing dictionaries is a technical s$ill in itself. 6ot all students $no! ho! to use

dictionaries appropriatel. 2ords ha"e different meanings in different conte*ts, and

usuall monolingual dictionaries are of utmost "alue in this regard. 1tudents need a great

deal of practice to find the intended meaning of !ords in a particular conte*t, using

monolingual dictionaries. Translation trainees also need to be familiar !ith the snta* of

indirect speech and "arious figures of speech in the source language such as hperbole,

iron, meiosis, and implicatures. A!areness of these figures of speech !ill reinforce

students% creati"it and change their passi"e $no!ledge into acti"e s$ill. 2hile there is a

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strong emphasis on de"eloping source and target language competencies, the waysin

!hich students can de"elop them should not be neglected. 8roup !or$ and cooperation

!ith peers can al!as lead the translating process to better results. 1tudents !ho practice

translation !ith their peers !ill be able to sol"e problems more easil and !ill also more

rapidl de"elop selfconfidence and decisionma$ing techni#ues. Although there is a

possibilit of ma$ing mista$es during group !or$, the e*perience of ma$ing, detecting,

and correcting mista$es !ill ma$e the students% minds open and alert.

Another important point is that successful translators usuall choose one specific $ind of

te*ts for translating and continue to !or$ onl in that area+ for e*ample a translator might

translate onl literar !or$s, scientific boo$s, or )ournalistic te*ts. E"en !hile translating

literar !or$s, some translators might choose onl to translate poetr, short stories, or

no"els. E"en more specific than that, some translators choose a particular author and

translate onl her or his !or$s. The reason is that the more the translate the !or$s of a

particular author, the more the !ill become familiar !ith her or his mind, !a of

thin$ing, and stle of !riting. And the more familiar is the translator !ith the stle of a

!riter, the better the translation !ill be. Translation needs to be practiced in an academic

en"ironment in !hich trainees !or$ on both practical tas$s under the super"ision of their

teachers and theoretical aspects to enhance their $no!ledge. In an academic en"ironment,

recentl published articles, )ournals and boo$s on translation are a"ailable to the trainees,

!ho thus become familiar !ith good translators and their !or$ b reading them and then

comparing them !ith the original te*ts. In this !a, trainees !ill de"elop their po!er of

obser"ation, insight, and decisionma$ing, !hich in turn !ill lead them to enhance their

moti"ation and impro"e their translating s$ills. Therefore, translation studies has no!

been recognized as an important discipline and has become an independent ma)or,

separate from foreignlanguage studies, in uni"ersities. This reflects the recognition of thefact that not e"erbod !ho $no!s a foreign language can be a translator, as it is

commonl and mista$enl belie"ed. Translation is the $e to international understanding.

1o in this "ast !orld of communication and information o"erload, !e need competent

translators !ho ha"e both the theoretical $no!ledge and practical s$ills to do their )obs

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!ell. The importance of theoretical $no!ledge lies in the fact that it helps translators

ac#uire an understanding of ho! linguistic choices in te*ts reflect other relationships

bet!een senders and recei"ers, such as po!er relationships, and ho! te*ts are sometimes

used to maintain or create social ine#ualities.

(inall, it is important to $no! that it ta$es much more than a dictionar to be a good

translator, and translators are not made o"ernight. To be a good translator re#uires a

sizeable in"estment in both source and target languages. It is one of the most challenging

tas$s to s!itch safel and faithfull bet!een t!o uni"erses of discourse. 'nl a

sophisticated and sstematic treatment of translation education can lead to the

de"elopment of successful translators. And the most arduous part of the )ourne starts

!hen translation trainees lea"e their uni"ersities.