Detailed translation study

Introduction
It is well known that the use of literal translation has been criticized since the bible was translated. Critiques are backed up with the fact that literal translation is sometimes called word-for-word translation (as opposed to thought-for-thought translation). Because literal translation focuses on forms of language, it sometimes misses some of the meaning of those forms, since meaning is found not only in the forms of individual words, but also in relationships among words, phrases, idiomatic uses of words, and influences of speaker-hearer, cultural, and historical contexts. Despite these criticism, Nowadays, some literal translations are still found. They present the use of calques specially scientific translations. However, when a text is technical there are more possibilities for a translator to be creative so two translations of the same text can have different adjectives and both of them can be good. So, the aim of this paper is to prove that literal translation is used more frequently to translate scientific texts rather than technical texts.

Content

1. Methodology
1.1 General objective: to analyze different scientific and technical texts in L1 with their corresponding translations in L2.
1.2 Specific objective: to contrast the use of literal translation in both kinds of texts.
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1.3 Research area: scientific and technical articles and their translations
Source context: articles in English
Target context: articles in Spanish

1.4. Theoretical models of Translation
- The comparative model, to work specifically with the TT-ST and vice versa.

-The causal model, to deal with the effects of translation, namely the use of calques in scientific texts , extreme adjectives and comparisons in technical texts.

Texts might be defined by the translator, text type, genre and by languge. Research

Methods will involve text analysis and contrastive analysis if two texts or kinds of text

are compared. According to Katharina Reiss work in the 1970s, the text has to be seen

as a whole, as the level at which communication is achieved and at which equivalence

must be sought.(Reiss 19977/89:113-14). Her functional approach aims at systematizing

the assessment of translations and she links functions to the text types or communicative

situations in which they are used. There are four main characteristics of text types

summarized by Reiss(1977/89:108-109) but my focus is on two of them: the

informative and operative text types. The former one refers to information, knowledge,

opinion, how the language is used, the content or topic being the main focus of the

communication. The latter one induces a behavioral response, in other words, it

persuades the reader or receiver in certain way. The form of language is dialogic.

According to this classification of informative and operative texts I have chosen

English scientific and technical texts and their translations into Spanish as samples

for analysis and contrast. My aim is to concentrate on the use of literal translation on

both kind of texts.

What is literal translation?
According to Larson (1984), Literal translation is where the forms of the original are retained as much as possible, even if those forms are not the most natural forms to preserve the original meaning. Literal translation is sometimes called word-for-word translation (as opposed to thought-for-thought translation). Because literal translation focuses on forms of language, it sometimes misses some of the meaning of those forms, since meaning is found not only in the forms of individual words, but also in relationships among words, phrases, idiomatic uses of words, and influences of speaker-hearer, cultural, and historical contexts. Words often have different meanings in different contexts, but a literal translation often does not account for these differences. So literal translation often is not the most accurate form of translation.
A priority question a person must ask about any text is "What does it mean?" Then, a priority question a person must ask about any translation is "Does this mean the same as what the original means?" If the answer is no, then the translator needs to revise the translation until its meaning is faithful, true, accurate to the meaning of the original. If the translation is literal but doesn't preserve the meaning of the original, then that literal translation must be revised until it does. Being literal must never be the highest priority of normal translation. Having faithful preservation of meaning is the highest goal.


2. Tools

2.1Corpus 0:

Samples containing different vocabulary problems
- scientific texts presenting word to word translations
-scientific translation with the recurrence of calques

2.1.1. Characteristics and limits:

In order to narrow down the research, the texts which are used are English articles about periodontal disease and allergy with their corresponding translations into Spanish.

2.1.2Design and construction:
Corpus 0 will include four samples, two original texts in English, as the source language and two translations in Spanish, as the target language.

2.1.3 Analysis: establishment of textual groups:
-Source text 1 and target text 1will be analyzed in terms of similarities and differences
-Source text 2 and target text 2 will be analyzed in terms of similarities and differences
2.1.4. Transition: CORPUS 0 > CORPUS 1
During this stage, the different linguistic aspects of L1 and L2 will be detected to draw some conclusions.

2.2Corpus 1:

-Technical texts presenting descriptive language(extreme adjectives)
-Different outcomes of technical translations based on the same source text.

2.1.1. Characteristics and limits:
In order to focus on technical texts, two touristic brochures in English with their corresponding translations into Spanish are chosen.

2.1.2Design and construction:
Corpus 1 will include four samples, two original texts in English, as the source language and two translations in Spanish, as the target language.

2.1.3 Analysis: establishment of textual groups:

-Source text 3 and target text 3will be analyzed in terms of similarities and differences
-Source text 4 and target text 3 will be analyzed in terms of similarities and differences

3.Results

3.1 Strategies:

After analyzing the 4 texts and their translations a final conclusion will be drawn to prove whether my hypothesis is true or not, and if my research paper can be used as the starting point to conclude that literal translation is present in other scientific texts as well.

3.2: Translation models
Data of theoretical and causal models will be used to back up my results.

Bibliography:

Larson, Mildred L. 1984.Meaning-based translation: A guide to cross-language equivalence. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Munday, Jeremy 2001. Introducing Translation studies: Theories and applications. Routledge, London and New York
Jenny Williams and Andrew Chesterman. The Map: A beginner’s guide to Doing Research in translation studies. Shangai Foreign Language Education Press.
http:/mywebmd.com/content/article/1680.51336
http:/mywebmd.com/condition_center_content/alr/article/1625.50536
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