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Translation Assessment

The document discusses translation criticism and quality assessment, emphasizing the importance of fidelity, cultural accuracy, and naturalness in translations. Key linguistic factors include semantics, grammar, pragmatics, style, cultural context, and consistency, all of which contribute to a high-quality translation. Examples illustrate how accurate translations maintain the original's meaning and tone while being appropriate for the target language and culture.

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21 views4 pages

Translation Assessment

The document discusses translation criticism and quality assessment, emphasizing the importance of fidelity, cultural accuracy, and naturalness in translations. Key linguistic factors include semantics, grammar, pragmatics, style, cultural context, and consistency, all of which contribute to a high-quality translation. Examples illustrate how accurate translations maintain the original's meaning and tone while being appropriate for the target language and culture.

Uploaded by

dieptrachquang26
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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1.

Newmark - Chapter 17: Translation Criticism (A Textbook of


Translation)
- Translation Criticism: involves evaluating a translation based on its fidelity to
the original text and how well it conveys the message. Newmark emphasizes
the importance of analyzing all aspects of the text, including surface meaning
and deeper cultural context.
- Linguistic factors:
 Equivalence: The translator must achieve semantic and pragmatic
equivalence between the source and target texts.
 Style: The translation must reflect the original style, including tone, word
choice, and sentence structure.
 Cultural accuracy: Translators need to understand and appropriately convey
cultural elements from both the source and target languages.

2. Lưu Trọng Tuấn - Chapter 5: Translation Quality Assessment (An


Introduction into Translation Theories)
- Assessing the quality of a translation involves not only accuracy in word
choice but also grammar, vocabulary, style, and context. Lưu Trọng Tuấn
highlights that a good translation should reflect the meaning of the original text
while being appropriate for the target language and culture.
- Linguistic factors:
 Grammar: The grammatical structure in the translation must be accurate
and suitable for the target language.
 Vocabulary: Word choice should be contextually appropriate, capturing not
only literal meaning but also cultural significance.
 Context and pragmatics: The translation should retain the meaning and
pragmatics of the source language while being natural in the target
language.

3. Mikkelson - Chapter 23 + 24: Quality + Assessment (The Routledge


Handbook of Interpreting)
- Quality in translation and interpreting: Mikkelson focuses on both written
translation and interpreting, emphasizing that quality is assessed not only by
equivalence of meaning but also by fluency and naturalness in the target text.
The translation should be clear, accurate, and free from misunderstandings.
- Linguistic factors:
 Consistency: The translation should maintain consistent use of terms and
grammar throughout.
 Naturalness: The translation must deliver the message naturally, avoiding
awkward or forced language from the source.
 Linguistic and cultural norms: The translator must respect the linguistic and
cultural norms of the target language, avoiding inappropriate terms or
structures that could confuse the reader or listener.
All three sources agree that a high-quality translation must be accurate,
culturally appropriate, natural, and consistent between the source and target
languages.

Linguistic elements
1. Semantics (Ngữ nghĩa)
- Lexical meaning: Ensuring that the words in the translated text convey
meanings equivalent to those in the source text.
- Implication: Conveying implied, figurative, or hidden meanings of the
original text without distorting the core message.
- Polysemy: Handling words with multiple meanings depending on context,
ensuring correct interpretation.
2. Grammar (Ngữ pháp)
- Sentence structure: The translation must follow the grammatical structure
of the target language.
- Tense and time: Accurately reflecting tense and time references as
intended in the source text.
- Syntactical relationships: Preserving the logical relationship between
sentence components (subject, verb, object, etc.).
3. Pragmatics (Ngữ dụng)
- Context: The translated text must be appropriate for the context in the
target language, whether formal or informal.
- Purpose: The translation must retain the original purpose of the text, such
as informing, persuading, or entertaining.
- Communicative function: Maintaining the intended communicative
function of the source text (e.g., commands, requests, suggestions).
4. Style (Phong cách)
- Tone: Preserving or adapting the tone of the source text, such as formal,
informal, passionate, or humorous.
- Personal or specialized style: Reflecting the original style based on the
author or the text type (e.g., legal, scientific, literary texts).
5. Cultural Context (Văn hóa)
- Idioms and proverbs: Accurately translating idiomatic expressions and
proverbs to maintain cultural relevance and meaning.
- Customs and traditions: The translation must respect and reflect the
cultural elements of both the source and target languages.
- Cultural references: Ensuring cultural-specific references in the source text
are interpreted correctly and translated appropriately.
6. Naturalness (Tính tự nhiên)
- Fluency: The translated text should sound natural, not rigid or overly literal
from the source language.
- Readability: Ensuring the target audience can easily understand the content
without confusion caused by awkward phrasing or unnatural language use.
7. Consistency (Sự nhất quán)
- Terminology: Maintaining consistent use of technical terms or key words
throughout the translation.
- Structure: Ensuring consistent sentence structure and word choice
throughout the text to avoid confusion or shifts in style.
8. Phonology (Ngữ âm)
- Rhyme and sound: Particularly important in poetry or literary works, where
sound and rhythm help convey emotion or meaning.

Example:
Original Text (English): "The minister delivered a fiery speech, full of passion
and conviction, urging the audience to support the reform."
=> Translation 1 (Flawed Vietnamese Translation): "Vị bộ trưởng đã phát
biểu một bài diễn văn bốc lửa, đầy cảm xúc và niềm tin, kêu gọi khán giả ủng
hộ cải cách."
=> Translation 2 (Accurate and Natural Vietnamese Translation): "Bộ trưởng
đã có một bài phát biểu hùng hồn, đầy tâm huyết, kêu gọi mọi người ủng hộ cải
cách."

1. Semantic and Stylistic Equivalence


- Translation 1 has a problem with using "bốc lửa" (literally "fiery") and
"cảm xúc" ("emotions"), which do not fit the context of a political speech.
These words make the translation sound unnatural and too casual for the formal
tone of the original text. This is a failure in achieving stylistic equivalence.
- Translation 2 corrects this by using "hùng hồn" (meaning "eloquent" or
"forceful") and "tâm huyết" ("passion" or "dedication"), which are more
suitable for a political context and reflect the tone of the original speech.
=> Translation 2 maintains the formal style of the original text, achieving
both semantic and stylistic equivalence.

2. Quality in Grammar and Pragmatics


- Translation 1 uses "khán giả" ("audience"), but in a political context, words
like "mọi người" ("everyone") or "cử tri" ("voters") are more appropriate.
"Khán giả" is more commonly used for entertainment settings, so the pragmatic
function (i.e., the intention behind the speech) is not properly conveyed in
Translation 1.
- Translation 2 uses "mọi người" ("everyone"), which is more contextually
appropriate and pragmatically correct for addressing a political crowd,
maintaining the call-to-action intention of the original.
⇒ Translation 2 aligns grammatically and pragmatically with the original
text's meaning and context.

3. Consistency and Naturalness


- Translation 1 includes "bốc lửa" ("fiery"), a word that feels forced and
unnatural in the context of a political speech. This diminishes the fluency and
makes the translation inconsistent with the norms of the target language.
- Translation 2 uses words that flow naturally, avoiding awkward phrasing. It
ensures consistency in tone and meaning, adhering to the norms of political
discourse in Vietnamese.
⇒ Translation 2 conquers naturalness, fluency, and adherence to linguistic
and cultural norms.

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