Practice tasks

I. Specify the creative and professional approaches to translating the following sentence.

One legendary Chanel creation, hand-embroidered by celebrated Maison Lesage, is said to have sold for 230 000 euros.

Говорят, что одно из знаменитых платьев от Шанель, украшенное ручной вышивкой, выполненной славными мастерицами дома моды Мишоне, пару лет назад было продано за 230 тысяч евро.

Use the following algorithm:

Step 1

First of all, the translator should find some background information concerning the sphere of activity Maison Lesage is engaged in. The article, entitled La maison lesage and published on the Internet site http://chanel-news.chanel.com/en/archives/la-maison-lesage/ in April 10th, 2009 gives a clear insight into the area of specialization of this company.

Read the abstract:

The story began in 1858, when Charles Frederick Worth opened his haute couture fashion house, and started making use of the prodigious talent of the embroiderer Albert Michonet, whose studio was purchased by Albert and Marie-Louise Lesage in 1924. This was the beginning of a period of fruitful and close collaboration with the best-known names of the time.

In 1949, on the death of his father, François Lesage took over management of the company at the tender age of 20. For 50 years, he has cleverly combined the skills of a traditional craft with meeting the pioneering requirements of the new generation of fashion designers.

For each haute couture collection, François Lesage, and his team of designers and embroiders, develop a hundred new embroidered pieces, which are added to some forty thousand samples created since 1858 and which have today become the inspiration for many designers.

Conclusion 1:

Step 2

Taking into account the historical period the described events took place (the end of the 19-th and the beginning of the 20-th century) it might be supposed that sewing and embroidering were traditionally female-dominated professions.

Conclusion 2:

Step 3

And now it’s time to demonstrate your comprehensive mastery of grammar, syntax and vocabulary of both the source and target languages. Fill in Column A with the words and phrase from the sentence which correspond to the points in Column B.

A	B
	Complex Subject
	Neutralization + occasional substitute
	Specification

II. Below there are two versions of translation of the text from Russian into English. Analyze them and say which one sounds more appropriate for the English language and why.

Общественное производство всегда бывает связано с преобразованием природы либо стихийным, хищническим, либо плановым, обуславливающим воспроизводство ресурсов, масштабы которого все увеличиваются.

В силу этого, изучение географической оболочки может быть успешным лишь при детальном познании влияния человеческого общества на природу, обусловленного способом производства.

Version 1:

Social production is always connected with alteration of nature, either uncontrolled, ruthless or planned, conditioning reproduction of resources, the scale of which is constantly increasing, in view of all of which, the study of the earth’s crust can be successful only with detailed study of the human effect on the environment, conditioned on the methods of production.

Version 2:

Industry will always alter the environment, but this can be done either in an unregulated, even rapacious way or else properly regulated, stipulating that resources must be renewed on an ever-broadening scale. So that studying the environment can be meaningful only if there is also a detailed study of man’s impact on his environment, and that depends on what production methods he employs.

III. Look at the texts extracts and decide which type of translation you would classify them in (Fill in the table given below). Underline key words which help you define the type of translation.

Text 1

English text

Russian translation

Globalization has recently become a potent competitive force in business operations, with multinational firms aiming to compete better by concentrating certain activities at specific sites in the world wherever local conditions are most favourable. A car manufacturer might construct wheels in France, engines in Germany, and then assemble the car in the USA. The same principle applies to IT, but perhaps even more so because, in contrast to car components, the transport of information around the world is instantaneous and relatively cheap with modern telecommunications. The primary question becomes not so much whether to globalize IT, but rather which specific IT activities to globalize and how far to globalize them.

В последнее время глобализация считается мощной конкурентоспособной силой в управлении предприятиями. Это происходит благодаря тому, что многонациональные компании стремятся успешно конкурировать путем концентрации определенных видов деятельности в конкретных странах, где условия являются наиболее благоприятными. Производитель автомобилей может изготавливать колеса во Франции, двигатели в Германии, а собирать машины в США. Тот же самый принцип относится и к ИТ, но, возможно, даже в большей степени, потому что в отличие от деталей автомобиля, передача информации по всему миру происходит моментально, а сам этот процесс является относительно дешевым благодаря современным телекоммуникациям. Главным вопросом становится не столько глобализация ИТ, сколько, какие конкретно ИТ внедрять на предприятиях в других странах и как это делать.

Text 2

English text

Russian translation

Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie   Mrs Darling loved to have everything just so, and Mr. Darling had a passion for being exactly like his neighbours; so, of course, they had a nurse. As they were poor, owing to the amount of milk the children drank, this nurse was a prim Newfoundland dog, called Nana, who had belonged to no one in particular until the Darlings engaged her. She had always thought children important, however, and the Darlings had become acquainted with her in Kensington Gardens, where she spent most of her spare time peeping into perambulators, and was much hated by careless nursemaids, whom she followed to their homes and complained of to their mistresses.

Д.Барри. Питер Пэн Перевод с английского И.П.Токмаковой. Миссис Дарлинг любила, чтобы все в доме было как надо, а мистер Дарлинг любил, чтобы было не хуже, чем у людей. Поэтому они никак не могли обойтись без няни. Но поскольку они были бедны - ведь дети просто разоряли их на молоке,- в нянях у них была большая черная собака-водолаз, которую звали Нэна. До того как Дарлинги наняли ее к себе на службу, она была просто ничьей собакой. Правда, она очень заботилась о детях вообще, и Дарлинги познакомились с ней в Кенсингтонском парке. Там она проводила свой досуг, заглядывая в детские колясочки. Ее страшно не любили нерадивые няньки, которых она сопровождала до дому и жаловалась на них их хозяйкам.

Text 3

English rhyme	Russian translation
For want of a nail The shoe was lost, For want of a shoe The horse was lost, For want of a horse The rider was lost, For want of a rider The battle was lost, For want of a battle The kingdom was lost, And all for the want Of a horse shoe nail.	Не было гвоздя – подкова пропала. Не было подковы – лошадь захромала. Лошадь захромала – командир убит. Конница разбита, армия бежит. Враг вступает в город, пленных не щадя, Оттого, что в кузнице не было гвоздя. (Перевод С. Маршака)

Types of Translation

№	Type of translation	Text 1	Text 2	Text 3
	According to the overall ST function: informativeorliterary
	According to the translation approach used in producing the target text: semantic or communicative
	According to the degree of modification introduced in the translation: literal or free
	According to the integrality of translation, i.e. the amount of the ST translated: full or selective
	According to the medium of translation: oral or written
	According to the ways of employing the newest technologies: computertranslation or web-based human translation

IV. The text in the table below is part of the speech by President Barak Obama at the New Economic School 07.09.2009 (Выступление президента Барака Обамы в Российской экономической школе) Carry out the analysis of the ST- TT pair taking into consideration the most important aspects of the translator’s competence and ethics of translation and answer the following questions:

1. Is the translator familiar with the pertinent subject matter of the speech?

2. In-depth understanding of cultural norms is an essential constituent of the process of translation. Does the translator take into account this factor in his Russian version?

3. Does the translator follow the tone of the speaker?

4. How can you evaluate his linguistic competence with regard to both SL and TL?

5. Does the translator demonstrate the ability to reformulate the original utterances according to the norms of the TL?

Original text

Russian translation

These are contributions that are not contained by Russia's borders, as vast as those borders are. Indeed, Russia's heritage has touched every corner of the world, and speaks to the humanity that we share. That includes my own country, which has been blessed with Russian immigrants for decades; we've been enriched by Russian culture, and enhanced by Russian cooperation.

Все эти достижения выходят за пределы России, сколь бы громадной она ни была. Нет такого уголка в мире, где не ощущалось бы русского влияния - неотъемлемой составляющей мирового культурного наследия. Не миновало оно и мою страну, которая, на счастье, имела возможность десятилетиями давать приют русским эмигрантам, обогащаться достижениями русской культуры и развиваться благодаря сотрудничеству с Россией.

http://www.sras.org/obama_nes_speech_in_russian_translation

SEMINAR 2

Дата добавления: 2015-07-10