Literal is not always easier

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel A. Jiménez-Crespo ◽  
Joseph V. Casillas
Keyword(s):  
Translation Studies ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Computational Approaches ◽  
Parallel Corpus ◽  
Time To Completion ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Time Served ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Editing Process

Abstract “Literal translation” is a popular construct in Translation Studies. Research from computational approaches has consistently shown that non-literal translations, i.e., renderings semantically and syntactically different or not close to the source text, are more difficult or effortful to produce than literal ones. This paper researches whether literal translations are systematically less effortful to process than non-literal ones using comparable corpus data. The effort incurred in processing literal translations from a parallel corpus is compared to that of processing the most frequent non-literal renderings found in previous comparable corpus studies. Ten professional translators edited a text using a mock translation environment setup using the keylogger Inputlog. The task was presented as a regular editing process with a full cohesive text presented segment pair by segment pair. Time served as a proxy for overall cognitive effort. We analyzed time from presentation to type (TTP) and time to completion of segment edit (TC), or complete editing events. Results showed that processing efforts are indistinguishable between categories, suggesting that cognitive effort to edit non-literal default translation candidates is not always higher when compared to the most frequent literal translations from a parallel corpus.

scholarly journals IMPLICIT LOGICAL-SEMANTIC RELATIONS AND A METHOD OF THEIR IDENTIFICATION IN PARALLEL TEXTS

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Goncharov ◽  
◽  
O. Yu. Inkova ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
Semantic Relations ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Parallel Corpus ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Original Definition ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Parallel Texts ◽  
Logical Semantic

One of the main characteristics of logical-semantic relations (LSRs) between two fragments of a text is that these relations can be either explicit (expressed by some marker, e.g. a connective) or implicit (derived from the interrelation of these fragments’ semantics). Since implicit LSRs do not have any marker, it is difficult to find them in a text (whether automatically or not). In this paper, approaches to analysing implicit LSRs are compared, an original definition for them is offered and differences between implicit LSRs and LSRs expressed by non-prototypical means are described. A method is proposed to identify implicit LSRs using a parallel corpus and a supracorpora database of connectives. Based on the well-known statement that LSRs can be explicitated by adding connectives in the translation, it is argued here that through selecting pairs in which fragments where a connective is used to express an LSR in the translation correspond to those containing any of the translation stimuli standard for this connective in the source language, it is possible to get an array of contexts in which this LSR is implicit in the source text (or expressed by means other than connectives). This method is then applied to study the French causal connectives car, parce que and puisque using a Russian-French parallel corpus. The corpus data are analysed to obtain information about LSRs particularly about cases where the causal LSR in Russian is implicit, as well as about the use of causal connectives in French. These results are used to show that the method proposed allows to quickly create a representative array of contexts with implicit LSRs, which can be useful in both text analysis and in machine learning.

scholarly journals Exploring theoretical functions of corpus data in teaching translation

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 177
Author(s):  
Éric Poirier
Keyword(s):  
Language Translation ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Business Economics ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Translation Study ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Specialized Texts ◽  
Definition Of

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2016v36nesp1p177As language referential data banks, corpora are instrumental in the exploration of translation solutions in bilingual parallel texts or conventional usages of source or target language in monolingual general or specialized texts. These roles are firmly rooted in translation processes, from analysis and interpretation of source text to searching for an acceptable equivalent and integrating it into the production of the target text. Provided the creative and not the conservative way be taken, validation or adaptation of target text in accordance with conventional usages in the target language also benefits from corpora. Translation teaching is not exploiting this way of translating that is common practice in the professional translation markets around the world. Instead of showing what corpus tools can do to translation teaching, we start our analysis with a common issue within translation teaching and show how corpus data can help to resolve it in learning activities in translation courses. We suggest a corpus-driven model for the interpretation of ‘business’ as a term and as an item in complex terms based on source text pattern analysis. This methodology will make it possible for teachers to explain and justify interpretation rules that have been defined theoretically from corpus data. It will also help teachers to conceive and non-subjectively assess practical activities designed for learners of translation. Corpus data selected for the examples of rule-based interpretations provided in this paper have been compiled in a corpus-driven study (Poirier, 2015) on the translation of the noun ‘business’ in the field of specialized translation in business, economics, and finance from English to French. The corpus methodology and rule-based interpretation of senses can be generalized and applied in the definition of interpretation rules for other language pairs and other specialized simple and complex terms. These works will encourage the matching of translation study theories and corpus translation studies with professional practices. It will also encourage the matching of translation studies and corpus translation studies with source and target language usages and with textual correlations between source language real usages and target language translation real practices.

scholarly journals A corpus study of splitting and joining sentences in translation

Corpora ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Frankenberg-Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Strong Tendency ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Parallel Corpus ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Parallel Text

The use of corpora in translation studies has risen dramatically over recent years, contributing towards a growing body of empirical research focussing not only on what differentiates translated from non-translated language, but also on the changes or shifts that translators make from source to target texts. Most of these studies are centred on sub-sentential elements, such as the contrastive use of particular lexis or grammar. However, translation shifts can transcend the level of the sentence. For example, sentences can be split or joined in translation, or there can be complex shifts that combine the two. While there is some research on sentence splitting, there do not seem to be many studies about sentence joining, or indeed sentence splitting and joining together. This study seeks to address this gap. Using a bi-directional parallel corpus of Portuguese and English fiction, over 90,000 source-text sentences and their corresponding text in translation were analysed from a quantitative perspective, and a closer look was taken at a sample of over 1,000 parallel text segments involving sentence joining and splitting. The main findings were that in both translation directions (1) there was a strong tendency for sentence preservation, (2) the differences between sentence splitting and joining were not significant, and (3) changes in sentence boundaries were predominantly associated with the standardisation or normalisation of syntax and a tendency for explicitation.

The L2 syllabus: corpus or contrivance?

Corpora ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry Shortall
Keyword(s):  
Natural Frequency ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Frequency Data ◽  
Present Perfect ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Real Language ◽  
Corpus Data

Corpus linguists have argued that corpora allow us to present lexical and grammatical patterns to language learners as they occur in real language, thereby exposing the learner to authentic target language (Mindt, 1996; Biber et al., 2002; Sinclair, 2004). And there is now a growing body of empirical research into how corpus studies can benefit ELT materials design and development (Ljung, 1990, 1991; Römer, 2004, 2005). This study investigates how the present perfect is represented in a spoken corpus and in ELT textbooks. The objective is to see whether corpus frequency data can make textbook present perfect presentation represent reality more accurately, and also whether there are sometimes pedagogic aims that may override frequency considerations. Results show that textbooks fail to represent adequately how present perfect interacts with other verb forms to create hybrid tenses such the present perfect passive. Textbooks also over-represent the frequency of structures such as the present perfect continuous. Adverbs such as yet and already are much more frequent in textbooks than in the corpus. Textbook writers seem to deliberately exaggerate the frequency of such adverbs, and arguably use them as tense markers or flagging devices so that learners will expect to see present perfect when they see yet and already. This suggests that disregard for natural frequency data may be justifiable if pedagogic considerations of this kind are taken into account. So, while corpus data provides important and useful frequency data for the teaching of grammar, pedagogic objectives may sometimes require that frequency data is disregarded.

The ACTRES parallel corpus: an English–Spanish translation corpus

Corpora ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlén Izquierdo ◽  
Knut Hofland ◽  
Øystein Reigem
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Research Group ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Spanish Translation ◽  
Parallel Corpus ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
The University

This paper describes the compilation of the ACTRES Parallel Corpus, an English–Spanish translation corpus built at the Department of Modern Languages at the University of León (Spain) by the ACTRES research group. The computerisation of the corpus was carried out in collaboration with Knut Hofland and Øystein Reigem, from the Department of Culture, Language and Information Technology, Aksis, at the UNIFOB/University of Bergen (Norway). The corpus is conceived as a powerful tool for cross-linguistic research in the fields of Contrastive Analysis and Descriptive Translation Studies. It was the need to bridge the gap between these disciplines and to extend applications that encouraged the building of a parallel corpus as a suitable tool to achieve these goals. This paper focusses on the practical aspects of building the corpus. A brief account of the research which prompted this endeavour precedes the description of this process. 4 4 This paper is an account of the building of the ACTRES Parallel Corpus, so no empirical results from research done on the basis of the corpus are reported here. Concerning new insights drawn from the actual use of P-ACTRES in English–Spanish translation and contrastive projects, there is an extended bibliography at: http://actres.unileon.es/

scholarly journals Slovak thinking on audiovisual translation and the issue of the second-hand translation of Russian documentary films

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Historical Explanation ◽  
Cultural Space ◽  
Audiovisual Translation ◽  
The Russian Language ◽  
Limited Diffusion

The paper, in its first part, outlines the Slovak research into audiovisual translation (AVT) from the 1950s up to the present, paying attention to the most important scholars as well as publications that helped to shape and establish the discipline within Slovak translation studies. It is based on the ongoing bibliographical research and the historical explanation mapping the development of AVT research in Slovakia by I. Tyšš – e.g. his publication Myslenie o audiovizuálnom preklade na Slovensku: 1952 – 2017 (Thinking on Audiovisual Translation in Slovakia: 1952 – 2017, 2018) – as well as on own findings covering the last two years. In more detail, the first part of the paper highlights that it was primarily thanks to a younger generation of translation studies scholars – especially E. Perez (née Janecová), L. Paulínyová (née Kozáková) and J. Želonka – that in 2012 the Slovak research into AVT finally became systematic. The second part of the paper is devoted to the phenomenon of the so-called second-hand translation of originally Russian audiovisual works that may be observed in Slovakia in recent years. The questionable nature of this phenomenon is stressed since the Russian language is not a language of limited diffusion and definitely not remote in relation to the Slovak cultural space. On the example of two documentary films – Под властью мусора (Held Captive by Rubbish, 2013) and Дух в движении (Spirit in Motion, 2015), the author discusses and analyses the problems that occur when translating originally Russian AV works into Slovak through the English language, i.e. the negative shifts resulting from mis-/overinterpretation of the source text, translation by omission, wrong order of dialogues, cultural specifics and incorrect transcription.

scholarly journals Possible Worlds in Translation: Coleman Barks’s Rendition of a Story from Rumi’s Masnavi

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vahid Medhat ◽  
Hossein Pirnajmuddin ◽  
Pyeaam Abbasi
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Narrative Worlds ◽  
The Way

This article applies the theory of possible worlds to the field of translation studies by examining the narrative worlds of original and translated texts. Specifically, Marie-Laure Ryan’s characterization of possible worlds provides an account of the internal structure of the textual universe and the progression of the plot. Based on this account, one of the stories from Rumi’s Masnavi is compared to Coleman Barks’s English translation. The possible worlds of the characters and the unfolding of the plots in both texts are examined to assess the degree of compatibility between the textual universes of the original and the translated texts and how significant this might be. It also examines how readers reconstruct the narrative worlds projected by the two texts. The analysis reveals some inconsistencies in the way the textual universes of the original and translated texts are furnished and in the way readers reconstruct the narrative worlds of the two texts. The inability of translation to fully render the main character results in some loss in terms of the pungency and pithiness of the original text. It is also shown that the source text presents a richer domain of the virtual in comparison, suggesting a higher degree of tellability in the textual universe of the Masnavi’s narrative.

scholarly journals Termini in der technischen Übersetzung: Rettungsanker, Tyrannen – oder auch nur Wörter?

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Oster
Keyword(s):  
Translation Studies ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Specific Study ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Cultural Specificity ◽  
Technical Translation ◽  
Language Pair

The understanding of ‘term’ in traditional terminology theory reduces the lexical problems of technical translation to a mere substitution of the source-text term by a target-text term. In translation studies however , a number of issues have been highlighted which are not covered by traditional terminology theory, e.g. cultural specificity or the importance of textual and pragmatic considerations. This paper first analyses how the new communication and cognition-oriented approaches to terminology account for these aspects of technical translation. Then it briefly presents results of a language-pair and domain-specific study which allows us to exemplify some of the issues that have been discussed and to reach some specific conclusions for the translator of this linguistic combination.

Building a New-Generation Corpus for Empirical Translation Studies: The Dutch Parallel Corpus 2.0

2021 ◽  
pp. 75-100
Author(s):  
Ryan Reynaert ◽  
Lieve Macken ◽  
Arda Tezcan ◽  
Gert De Sutter
Keyword(s):  
Translation Studies ◽  
Parallel Corpus ◽  
New Generation
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