scholarly journals ON SKOPOS THEORY AND KU HUNGMING’S TRANSLATION OF LUNYU

Author(s):  
JIAN-WEN ZHANG

There are a variety of translations of Lunyu into English, among which Ku Hungming’s version is highly debated. Some people argue that Ku’s translation is too creative while other people believe his selection of wording is superior to that of others. Lin Yutang’s comments on Ku’s translation of Lunyu are, “His English is outstanding, which is rarely seen in the late two hundred years. His diction and word selection is outstanding.” As is pointed out by Jing Shuoyu, the purpose of translation is to help communication and understanding. Ku’s translation of Lunyu has made comparisons between well-known figures and books from the source and target cultures, it has also cited famous authors from the target culture. Therefore, it is argued in this article that Ku had decreased barriers between the source culture and target culture, hence the translator seemed ‘invisible’.

Author(s):  
Michelle Spinelli ◽  
Nicholas Kelling ◽  
Mark Morris ◽  
David Neira ◽  
Silvia Convento ◽  
...  

This study looks at the effects on users’ choices when presented with Product Reaction Cards (PRC) in parallel and sequential order. Participants were given brief tasks on two websites and presented with PRC in parallel or sequential order to describe their sentiments. We found that participants selected 25% more words in the sequential condition, including the selection of more positive words (23%). However, the sequential condition took on average 5 minutes longer to complete word selection. Therefore, it is important to understand that the PRC presentation modality can affect the quantity and the choice of vocabulary used by participants.


Author(s):  
Franz Pöchhacker

The paper discusses a number of theoretical and methodological issues which arise when professional simultaneous conference interpreting (SI) is studied in light of the basic tenets of the functionalist theory of translation and interpreting (T&I) proposed by Hans J. Vermeer (skopos theory). Based on a multi-level model of SI as a professional course of action the paper applies such functionalist notions as skopos, target culture, target-textual autonomy, and “coherence” to a case study of a three-day technical conference with professional SI between English and German.In essence, it is argued that, on a general conceptual level, modelling SI in the framework of the general functionalist theory of Vermeer serves to bring into focus the crucial translational issues of situation, text, and culture. On the other hand, applying skopos-theoretical concepts to the study of a corpus of authentic professional SI reveals some limitations of the extent to which the general functionalist notions fit the specific practice of SI.


2004 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
BERNARD GRELA ◽  
LULA RASHITI ◽  
MONICA SOARES

The purpose of this study was to evaluate children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their proficiency with the use of prepositions. Ten children with SLI were compared to 10 younger, normally developing children matched for mean length of utterance and 10 children matched for age. Each child was asked to produce 24 sentences containing locative (in, on) and dative (to) prepositions. Responses were coded for omission or word selection errors for the target prepositions. It was hypothesized that children with SLI would make more errors than the typically developing children. Omission errors would support a difficulty with syntax because of the role prepositions play in case marking. Word selection errors would support a deficit in the area of semantics. The results confirmed that children with SLI made more errors than the control group. The children with SLI made more errors in the selection of dative prepositions, indicating a difficulty linking the semantics of prepositions and verbs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 239
Author(s):  
Ihsan Nur Iman Faris

AbstractCultural contents contained in reading passages need to be treated carefully due to their influence to shapethe readers’ points of view. Since a test can include reading passages, careful selection of reading passages should also be conducted in a test development. This research is aimed at investigating what cultures are contained in the reading passages of the tests developed by the English teachers in a senior high school and the reasons why the reading passages were included. The methods employed in this research were textual analysis and case study. The data for textual analysis were collected from 24 reading passages from the tests developed by the English teachers of a senior high school in Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia. The information related to the problems of inclusion of cultural contents in the tests was collected from an interview. Among 24 reading passages in the tests, 10 reading passages were culture-neutral, while 14 reading passages contained cultural items.The findings show that in 14 reading passages, the culture contained are the target culture (40%) in the forms of naming, place, and season, the international culture (40%) in the forms of naming, place, and season,and the source culture (20%) in the forms of naming and place. Theunbalance proportion of the source culture can influence the readers’ mindset and the result of the test due to familiarity issue of the materials. Regarding why this proportion is found in the tests, the teachers were not aware of the cultural content issue. Therefore, the proportion was not intentionally made. The unawareness of teacher can lead to the inclusion of inappropriate cultural contents in the tests. Hence, based on the findings, it is recommended that teachers be more aware of cultural contents in reading passages and develop a test with a more balance proportion of cultural contents in reading passages.Keywords: Cultural contents, the source culture, the target culture, the international culture, reading passages. AbstrakIsi budaya yang terkandung dalam wacana harus diperlakukan dengan hati-hati karena bisa mempengaruhi sudut pandang pembaca. Dikarenakan tes mencakup wacana, pemilihan wacana secara hati-hati juga harus dilakukan dalam pengembangan tes. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menyelidiki budaya apa yang terkandung dalam wacana-wacana di dalam tes yang dikembangkan oleh guru bahasa Inggris di SMA dan alasan mengapa wacana tersebut dimasukkan. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah analisis tekstual dan studi kasus. Data untuk analisis tekstual dikumpulkan dari 24 wacana dari tes yang dikembangkan oleh guru bahasa Inggris dari SMA di Cianjur, Jawa Barat, Indonesia. Informasi yang berhubungan dengan masalah masuknya isi budaya dalam tes dikumpulkan dari wawancara. Di antara 24 wacana tes, 10 wacana netral dari budaya, sementara 14 mengandung temuan budaya. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa dari 14 wacana, budaya yang terkandung adalah budaya target (40%) dalam bentuk penamaan, tempat, dan musim, budaya internasional (40%) dalam bentuk penamaan, tempat, dan musim, dan budaya sumber (20%) dalam bentuk penamaan dan tempat. Proporsi budaya yang tidak imbang dapat mempengaruhi pola pikir pembaca dan hasil tes karena berkaitan dengan tingkat pengetahuan terhadap materi. Mengenai mengapa proporsi ini ditemukan dalam tes, guru tidak menyadari masalah konten budaya. Oleh karena itu, proporsi tidak sengaja dibuat. Ketidaksadaran guru dapat menyebabkan masuknya isi budaya yang tidak pantas ke dalam tes. Oleh karena itu, berdasarkan temuan, disarankan bahwa guru menjadi lebih sadar akan isi budaya dalam wacana dan mengembangkan tes dengan menjaga keseimbangan proporsi isi budaya dalam wacana.Kata kunci: Isi budaya, budaya sumber, budaya target, budaya internasional, wacana.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-267
Author(s):  
Rachel Weissbrod

T. S. Eliot’s early poems, as well as his letters and prose, contain expressions of anti-Semitism. This article deals with the way in which Hebrew translators and others involved in the production of translations, such as scholars contributing introductions, have treated this issue. Based on the premise that the image of a foreign author can be manipulated by the very selection of the texts to be translated, as well as by paratexts such as introductions and footnotes, it examines how Eliot has been presented to the Hebrew readership. Three approaches of presenting Eliot are described. The examination of these approaches leads to the conclusion that Eliot’s expressions of anti-Semitism did not significantly interfere with the construction of his image in the target culture despite the antagonism expressed by some translators and critics. Finally, the paper attempts to explain this indifference, which is particularly striking when compared to the ongoing debate about Eliot’s anti-Semitism in the English-speaking world.


1974 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph R. Duffy ◽  
Thomas G. Giolas

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between word predictability and sentence intelligibility. This relationship was examined by comparing intelligibility scores obtained with frequency-filtered sentences (CID Sentence Lists B and D and Revised List C) which were scored using key words empirically determined to be representative of three different degrees of predictability. We hypothesized that the scores obtained would be a function of the predictability status of the key words used in scoring. Results indicated significant differences between the three scoring procedures for each sentence list under two filtering conditions (420-Hz and 360-Hz low pass) and these differences were in the hypothesized direction. The results suggest that use of “easy-to-predict” words for scoring purposes will increase sentence intelligibility scores, while use of “difficult-to-predict” words will depress scores. We concluded that word predictability is a factor influencing sentence intelligibility and that careful selection of key words, based on their predictability status, is a method of controlling or influencing the intelligibility of sentences.


Author(s):  
Tim Arnold ◽  
Helen J. A. Fuller

The written word is a ubiquitous, critical, and time-sensitive design feature in the health care environment. Language critically influences understanding, decision making and subsequent actions. Words can influence usability, be confusing and cluttering, contribute to distraction and task disruption, and subsequently contribute to issues with clinician workload and patient safety. Design team members often hotly and at length deliberate over word selection during user centered design (UCD) efforts. Usability evaluation methods, when applied, can be valuable in facilitating a match between the system and the language spoken by users. In particular, usability evaluations can help designers identify confusing and ambiguous words and may suggest alternative choices. However, even with a hearty approach to design, word selection can be a bear of a task. This task can be time consuming, resource intensive, and frustrating for the design team, and suboptimal term selection may increase the risk of patient harm. The purpose of this paper is to encourage discussion on the use of natural language processing (NLP) approaches in facilitating local language awareness and informing UCD. The use of NLP in the health care domain is well documented when applied to narrative text for assisting in behind-the-scenes clinical decision support mechanisms and for assisting in risk analysis. Additionally, NLP may also be a valuable arrow in the designer’s quiver to inform conceptual design and the selection of user-facing terminology. This discussion attempts to expand upon documented uses of NLP in health care to its use in informing the selection of terminological design features with an emphasis on local design efforts in fostering safer patient care environments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 788-800
Author(s):  
Xiaochen Zheng ◽  
Ardi Roelofs ◽  
Kristin Lemhöfer

AbstractBilinguals usually select the right language to speak for the particular context they are in, but sometimes the nontarget language intrudes. Despite a large body of research into language selection and language control, it remains unclear where intrusion errors originate from. These errors may be due to incorrect selection of the nontarget language at the conceptual level, or be a consequence of erroneous word selection (despite correct language selection) at the lexical level. We examined the former possibility in two language switching experiments using a manipulation that supposedly affects language selection on the conceptual level, namely whether the conversational language context was associated with the target language (congruent) or with the alternative language (incongruent) on a trial. Both experiments showed that language intrusion errors occurred more often in incongruent than in congruent contexts, providing converging evidence that language selection during concept preparation is one driving force behind language intrusion.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 463
Author(s):  
Cathrine Norberg ◽  
Marie Nordlund

Despite the fact that textbooks are central in foreign language learning, only limited research has explored to what extent L2 textbooks support language learning and whether the content in them is relevant from a vocabulary perspective. This study investigates the vocabulary in seven English textbooks used in Swedish primary schools. A corpus has been constructed based on the words in the textbooks. By means of a concordancing software tool, the material has been analyzed by comparing the vocabulary between the books and to words on the New General Service List and in the VP-Kids corpus. The analysis shows that many words in the textbooks occur only occasionally in common everyday language use. It also demonstrates that there is great variation in the number and selection of words across the books indicating that there does not seem to be a common thought behind word selection in textbooks used in Swedish schools.


2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-51
Author(s):  
Oleksiy Tsurkan ◽  

The level of trust of police service depends on objectively transparent and unprejudiced requirements. That’s why we agree with necessity of using of the European approach in conducting «selection» for the duty in the National Police of Ukraine. It is because the main aim of creating a fundamentally new structure of the modern police of Ukraine starts directly with the selection for the service and be in accordance with European terms. The one of the most approaches of translation of legal terminology is the using of a system of law terms. There is mention in the jurisprudence that very necessary to achieve unambiguity of each term in the law texts and legislation. It is striving for the minimum required number of terms, but with the losing of those nuances that are necessary for public administration practice. The article focuses on the differences of the translation definitions of word «selection» that used in Ukrainian law texts and researches. Some researchers revealing the process of «selection» of personnel through the principles of systemic character as a procedure of differentiation staff according to their compliance with a certain type of activity and making the decision on the suitability or unsuitability of candidates. The author determinate etymological origin of the concepts «selection» in Ukrainian and differentiate the using of their translation. The research papers make a suggestion to putting forward changes in legal acts with the propose of remove the inaccuracy in the interpretation concepts. The system of «selection» of the staff of the civil service of Ukraine includes: defining the requirements for applicants for specific vacancy positions of the civil service; review and evaluation of internal and external sources of attraction of candidates, placement of ads on a set; competitive selection; acceptance for positions outside the competition (according to another procedure provided by the current legislation: the transfer system; appointment to the post; selection system; by contract); formation of personnel reserve; internship; assessment of frames. The notion of «selection» has a more meaningful and widespread value, indicating the need for its use in the legislation.


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