Justifying the deverbalization approach in the interpreting and translation classroomWord格式.docx
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Keywords:
Deverbalization,classroomexperimenting,speech-productionvariability,fidelity,language-specificity
I.Introduction
Inarecentbookontranslationresearchanddidactics,Hatim(2001)rightlyputsthe“literalvs.free”issueatthecenterofdebatesontranslationthroughouthistory.Inthetranslatortrainingschoolsenvironment,theliteratureofthepast30yearsseemstoreflectaconsensus,atleastontranslationofinformationaltexts(asopposedtoliterarytexts),infavorofameaningandintention-orientedtranslationstrategy,asopposedtoastrategybasedonformalequivalence:
itisfeltthattranslationsufferswhenitisconstructedonlinguisticcorrespondences,andservesitspurposebetterwhentheformofthesourcetextisusedtounderstanditandisthenhonorablydischargedwhilethereformulationprocessproceedsonthebasisofanautonomousmentalrepresentationofitsmeaning(informational,emotional,social,intentional,etc.).AspointedoutbyPö
chhacker(1994:
22),morethan40yearsago,Wirl(1958:
23)talkedaboutthetranslatoroperatingmostlyonthebasisofthecontent(“sense”)ofthesourcetext
strippedofitslinguisticform(“vomWortlautschongelö
st,alsoentsprachlicht”).Twodecadeslater,SeleskovitchandLedererofESIT,Paris,madethis“deverbalization”principlethefoundationoftheir“theoryofsense”(“thé
oriedusens”).Intheliterature,thereissomeuncertaintyastothestatusofthisconcept:
isitsupposedtobetotalorpartial(Laplace2002:
197,Setton2003),descriptiveorprescriptive?
Myfeeling,somewhatdifferentfromKarlaDé
jeanLeFé
al’s(2002:
146),isthatthe“theoryofsense”isonlychallengedbyitscriticsasadescriptivetheoryintheusualscientificsenseoftheword,butthatitiswidelysupportedasaprescriptiveparadigm,thatis,adesirableapproachtotranslation.Thispaperdiscussesstrategiesforjustifyingsuchanapproachtostudentsintheclassroom.
II.Translator-rolepostulates
LikemanyotherauthorsandTranslationinstructors(“Translation”withacapitalTwillbeusedtorefertobothtranslationandinterpreting;
similarly,“Translators”willrefertotranslatorsandinterpreters,and“Texts”willrefertotextsandspeeches),IbelievethatprescriptivestatementsaboutTranslationstrategiesaremostconvincingiftheyarebasedonaclearideaaboutthecommunicativeroleofTranslation,thatis,ifitismadecleartostudentsthatintheworldofprofessionalTranslation,mostoften,andnearlyalwayswhentranslatingnon-literarytexts,Translatorsareexpectedtoservenottexts,butpeople,withparticularintentionsandinterests.
Explanationscanbe“theoretical”,forinstanceusingthe“skopostheory”(seeforexampleReissandVermeer1984,Schä
ffner1998).Inanacademicenvironment,muchcanbesaidinfavorofsomeabstractthinkingandtheorizing.However,inthecontextofshort,moreprofessionallyorientedprograms,astraightforward,down-to-earthapproachisprobablymoreefficient:
whenstudentsaretoldaboutthereal-lifecircumstancesthatleadtoaTranslationassignment,itbecomesclearertothemthattheyareaskedtoTranslateprimarilyinordertohelpusersoperateamachine,tohelparesearcherpresentandexplainhis/hertheoryorfindingstofellow-researchers,tohelpaCEOpresentanddefendhisbusinessstrategytodirectorsandshareholders,tohelpacompanysellitsproducts,etc.ItalsobecomesclearertothemthattheTranslation
commissionerisgenerallynotthespeakerortheauthorofthetextbutanintermediary,whoseprimaryinterestsmaybetoservetheinterestsofthespeakerorauthorortheirorganization’s,butmayjustasoftenbepurelycommercial.
ThedefaultparametersIdefineintheclassroomafterdiscussionofothercasespositaTranslationdoneattherequestofaTranslationcommissioner(the“Client”)withthepurposeofconveyingtotarget-languagereadersorlistenerstheauthor’sorspeaker’smessage,bothintermsoftheinformationthats/heintendsthemtoreceiveandintermsoftheeffect(s)thats/heistryingtoachieve.Thus,theTranslator’sprofessionalloyaltyisduebothtotheClient,byvirtueoftheprofessionalrelationshiptheyenterinto,andtotheauthororspeaker,whomtheTranslatorrepresents,mostofteninatransparentway,atleastinwritten,non-literarytranslation:
readersmayhavetheknowledgethattheyarereadingatranslation,butnottheconstantawarenessofthefact,andfeelthattheyarereadingtheauthor’stext,notthetranslator’s.Inthemostfrequentcase,theClient'
saimsarenotincompatiblewiththeauthor/speaker’s,whichmeansthattheTranslatorisfreetodevotehis/hereffortstoservetheauthor’s/speaker’sinterests(differentsituations,wheretheTranslatorservesnottheauthor,butathirdparty,alsooccur-seeGile1995).
Onceprofessionalloyaltyisseenasservingtheauthorofamessage,whosetextorspeechistheverbalobjectdesignedtoservehis/herintentiontoproducecertaineffectsonreaders/listeners,andunderthedefaultassumptionthattheauthor'
sinterestsdonotclashwiththeClient’s,itbecomeseasytoidentifycertaincaseswheretheTranslatorcanjustifiablydepartfromthesourceText.Inparticular,whenitcontainsamistakewhichcanreasonablybeassumedtoresultfromatechnicalproblem(suchasatypo)orfromtheauthor’sinsufficientmasteryofthesource-textlanguage,itiseasytodefendtheideathattheTranslatordoeshis/herworkbestifs/hecorrectsitinthetargetText.Similarly,ifaTextisambiguousandthereisnoreasontobelievethisisduetotheauthor’sintentiontobevague,studentscanbepersuadedthattheywillservesuchanauthor’sintentionsandinterestsbestbyremovingtheambiguity.
Overthepasttenyearsorso,IhavebeencollectingauthenticTextswitherrorsandambiguouspassagesforclassroomdemonstrations.SuchTextscanbefoundinthecourseofone’sTranslationwork(forinterpreting,speechesmayberecorded,bothintheconferenceroom-withtherelevantpersons’permission,orfromradioandTVbroadcasts).Instructorsnotcurrentlyengagedinprofessionaltranslationcanlookforsuitableexamplesinscientificpapers,whichareoftenwrittenbynonnativespeakers,andinparticularinabstracts.
Inthetranslationclassroom,inordertosavetime,thewholetextispresentedtostudents,buttheyareaskedtotranslateonlyshortpassageswhichareparticularlyproblematic,soastoraisetheirawarenessofsuchproblemsin“official”printedmaterial,whichmanyofthemtendtoconsidererror-free(“Ithasbeenpublished,soitmustbegood”).
Oneparticularstrikingexamplewasfoundontheinternetrecently,inthebiographyofapersonality:
(accessedonOctober14,2000),wherethefollowingtwosentenceswerefound:
“HeisqualityofknowledgeisaMujjahidMurakkihJuristicScholarsabletooutweighbetweenthefourIslamicSchoolsofthought:
Hanafi,Maliki,Shaffi’ieandHanbali.”
........
“HeisthefounderofHizbut-TahrirUkbranchandthefounderofAl-Muhajirounworld-wild.”
ItwasobviousforthestudentsthatiftheywereaskedtotranslatethisWeb-pageintoFrenchforthepurposeofservingtheinterestsofitsauthors,theyhadtomakesenseoutofitandcorrectit.
III.Justifyingadeverbalizationapproachininterpretingclasses
OnceTranslationisunderstoodasacommunicationserviceassetoutinSectionIIabove,justifyingdeverbalizationintheinterpretingclassroomisrelativelyeasy,becausestudentsrealizewithinaveryshorttimehowcomplexanddifficultspeechproductioncanbeandhowofteninfelicitiesandevenerrorsoccurinspontaneousspeech.Notonlydotheyobservetheminotherspeakers,buttheypainfullyexperiencethemintheirownspeechproduction.ThedeteriorationoflinguisticoutputqualityinstudentsspeakingtheirnativelanguageduringexercisesinconsecutiveinterpretingwasoneofthephenomenaIfoundmoststrikingwhenIwasafirstyearinterpretingstudent
myself;
itlaterbecamethefocusofanempiricalstudyinwhichIuseditasanindicatoroftherelativedifficultyofconsecutiveandsimultaneousinterpreting(Gile1987).
Onceinterpretingstudentsareawareofthesedifficulties,theycanextrapolateonthebasisoftheirownexperienceandunderstandinaveryconcrete,personalway,reinforcedwithmanyfieldobservations,howstress,ortheinfluenceofaforeignlanguageintheimmedia