1.2　课后习题详解

课内练习

TASK: Learning how to respond to translation briefs

Translation briefs (or assignments) represent the product specifications for any translation job. A translator should be able to respond in a professional manner to actual translation briefs.

Settings: Mr. Zhang has received a letter of invitation from a company in the United States. He wanted to have it translated so that he could apply for a passport. He came to you and said he wanted the translation immediately.

Letter of Invitation

Mr. Zhang Feiyu

Purchasing Manager

Guang Fa Company

45 Huan Shi Zhong Road, Guangzhou

5 November 2005

Dear Mr. Zhang

We would like to invite you to visit our factory and give you an overview of our facilities and production methods from November 15 to November 20. This would also be an opportunity for you to visit our Head Office in Los Angeles to meet our design team and Marketing and Sales Directors to discuss common areas of interest.

As you would be our guest, we would of course meet all your expenses. We can also put a company car and driver at your disposal during your stay here.

I do hope your schedule will allow you to accept our invitation.

I look forward to meeting you here.

Yours sincerely

Angela Goddard

Communication Manager

Activity 1

This is a very simple translation task, right? What we want you to do is to role-play the translator and Mr. Zhang. The translator should communicate with Mr. Zhang before he begins the translation task. What and how should the translator ask?

【答案】

1. What’s the intended purpose of the source text?

2. What’s the intended purpose of the target text?

3. Who is the reader of the target text?

4. When and where will the target text be used?

Activity 2

The translator should note down the information he has got from the client, Mr. Zhang below.

【答案】

1. The source text is a business letter to invite the client Mr. Zhang to the US for business matters.

2. The source text is translated for the client to apply for a passport.

3. The reader of the target text will be the client himself and the officials in the US Consulate

4. The target text will be used on November the 6th when the client applies for his passport in the US Consulate General in Guangzhou.

Discussion

1. Do you think the translator has a right to express his personal opinion on the source text? Is it possible for us to take the translators’ likes and dislikes into consideration while still insisting on ethical professional behavior that meets user’s expectations?

【答案】I don’t think the translator has such a right to express his personal opinion on the source text, because according to the ethics of translators, they should be neutral in a translation activity and respect the expectations of the user. Though it’s hard for a translator to be completely neutral, he doesn’t have the right to be personal. And I think it is possible for us to take the translators’ likes and dislikes into consideration while still insisting on ethical professional behavior that meets user’s expectations, because the standards to evaluate translation require translators to be faithful to the source text and the expectations of the users. In this process, the translator may decide what part and in what way the faithfulness is created and the hidden meaning and connotative meaning behind the literal meaning. This process may involve the personal emotions of translators, consciously or subconsciously.

2. Would human translators be hostile to machine translation because it can provide faster translation service at a lower price? How should translators meet this, challenge? Should they translate faster and charge less? Should they retrain themselves to become pre/post-editors of machine translation text? Or should they learn to translate literature?

【答案】

(1) No, I don’t think human translators would be hostile to machine translation. Though it can provide faster translation service at a lower price, it doesn’t necessary provide the best translation. And the flexibility and creativeness of human translators can’t be copied.

(2) Translators should face this challenge by combining machine translation with human translation and learning relevant skills to master machine translation. This combination will make use of the advantages of the two kinds of translation and get the best quality and efficiency. It is never the appropriate solution for the translators to translate faster and charge less. It is hard to catch up with the advantages of the machine translation, so translators should develop and make best use of their strong points.

(3) Translators shouldn’t get retrained just to become the editors of machine translation text, nor should they just learn to translate literature. Because even the same text, when in different situations and with different purposes and audiences, may have different versions in translation. That is what machine translation can’t do. So translators shouldn’t be pessimistic about the future of human translation and become subject to machine translation. And as just said, many materials, besides literature, also need human creativeness and flexibility and human translation can do more than literature translation. Translators can learn to translate literature for personal interest other than as a solution to deal with machine translation.