INTRODUCTION
Through the creation of the present
collaborative work, intended as a unique task, you can read and analyze some
important activities that will help you to improve your knowledge about
translation techniques. So among them you can see the following: First, the
translated text and the feedback of each student. Second, the texts about the
problems faced and techniques applied, and finally the charts in which each
student express his or her differences between strategy, method and technique.
So we hope this work be a contribution not
only to improve our translation techniques, but also a process to learn from
other cultures.
1. TRANSLATED TEXT AND THE
FEEDBACK OF EACH STUDENT.
1.1. Jorge Gámez’s translated text and
the feedback.
CHOCOLATE,
THE DIVINE DRINK THAT CONQUERED EUROPE.
It was on April 3rd, 1502 when Christopher
Columbus came, once again, from Port of Seville. His idea was to find a short
sea way from Central America which will take him directly to Asia. So it was
his fourth voyage through the New World, and the route had its difficulties. It
happened that one day, in the middle of a storm, the navigator and his men were
obliged to land. It seems that they intercepted then a Mayan´s ship carrying a
cargo with a few almonds which were not really important to Columbus. Surprisingly,
the Admiral had the first contact with the seeds of the cacao tree.
Over two
hundred years later, Madrid consumed more than five tons of chocolate per year.
Based upon currently chronicles, there was no street in the capital where it
was not sold. This fact can teach us that a bad experience is not always
decisive in our lives, since chocolate comes from the almonds that Columbus had
discarded at all.
We do not know exactly what was the first contact
between Spanish and the chocolate drunk who was consumed by both Mayans and
Aztecs, for whom this product was very important. It was The Mayans who left
written the first history consumption references in the called Madrid Codex,
preserved in the Museum of America. On their owns, the Aztecs thought that the
seeds where chocolate was obtained, were but only the materialization of
Quetzalcoatl, god of wisdom.
From
Tenochtitlan to Madrid
Cocoa was
such important to the Aztecs, that they use almonds as if they were coins.
Peter Martyr from Argentina, an Indian chronicler, said about it: "They
exchange coins not made of metal, but of small nuts of certain trees which look
like almonds". On the other hand, in order to understand better the
exchanges made in the Aztec world, the Spaniards drew up some tables of
equivalence. Thank them, we know right now that a hare paid in cocoa had the
same price of a prostitute´s services as well.
At the
beginning, the Spaniards showed rejection about chocolate because according to
the chronicler Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, lips were as bloodstained after
drinking it. Apart from that embarrassed situation, their bitter and peppery
tastes were not the elements available to convince them. In addition to this,
in his History of Nuovo Mondo, Girolamo Benzoni was capable to sharing the idea
to people that "Chocolate” looked
like a chocolate drink for pigs to be consumed by humanity." However, in
the sixteenth century it was brought to Spain and was presented to Charles V by
Hernán Cortés. It was from that moment that its acceptance would be increased,
reaching high levels sales.
Success
of Chocolate
In the
opinion of several authors, the monks were responsible to spread the chocolate
consumption in monasteries. But with the time, the Cistercians would be who
will get greater fame as chocolate drinkers. In spite of that, not all
religious were in favor of consumption. In this sense, the Jesuits believed
that chocolate was contrary to poverty and mortification precepts. Since the
nutritious beverage was also drunk in fasting time, a debate between advocates
and opponents of this custom was opened soon.
It was in
the seventeenth century when an answer was given to the question. It would come
from the hand of Cardinal François Marie Brancaccio who would just finish
saying: "Liquidum non frangit jejunum", it means, "the liquid
does not break the fast." It
happened that the Church accepted the consumption of drinking chocolate.
Exactly in the seventeenth century, to
serve a hot chocolate as a drink became indispensable part of the
"celebration", a ritual kept for the nobles offered to their visitors
as a snack. It used to be accompanied by biscuits and other sweets for dipping.
It is interesting to know, that if the snack party
took place in winter time, it was normal to eat it around the firesides, on the
podiums of the living rooms, between cushions and tapestries. But, on the
contrary, If chocolate starring a summer snack, it was served with “a snow on cup,"
a glass of ice cream. Since chocolate was drunk very thick, the stains that
were produced by the spill were very annoying.
But one day in 1640, Sir Pedro Alvarez de Toledo and
Leiva, viceroy of Peru and first Marquis of Mancera, came up with a solution.
He invented a container consisting of a small tray with central clamp, which
was holding the gourd; a small mug without a handle within the chocolate was
poured. In honor of its inventor, the tray would be called as mancerina.
According to the social level of the people who served the snack, the
mancerinas could be made of silver, porcelain or clay.
The
Habit comes to Versailles
Chocolate consumption in Spain knew a widely
disseminated throughout the seventeenth century and it was announced in the
confectioneries as the "drink that comes from the Indies." The habit
of drinking chocolate was so spread that even the ladies of the nobility asked
for it to be served in half of the long and boring church sermons. Bishops, who
were offended for this custom, prohibited this form of consumption.
Soon, the
rest of Europe, especially France, adopted this sweet tradition. One of the
responsible for this was Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip III, who exported
the habit of snacking and breakfast chocolate after her wedding to Louis XIII.
Maria Teresa of Austria, daughter of Philip IV and wife of Louis XIV,
strengthened this activity by taking chocolate from time to time in her new
country.
As
soon as the Bourbons came to Spain they were very fond of chocolate. Among
them, Felipe V
and his son Charles III, who used to have breakfast with this
drink. It was exactly Carlos III, in order
to create an industry that placed
the foundations for the economic development of the country, who allowed the exclusive monopoly between Real Madrid and
the Captaincy General of Venezuela exchange.
Thanks to
the centralized system that characterized his reign, the monarch organized an
institution responsible for the managing trade, called Royal Company
Guipuzcoana de Caracas. Then, the product reached the Spanish tables through
grocery stores.
It was also
in the eighteenth century when the chocolate broke into the pastry. Juan de la
Mata used it as an ingredient to prepare dry candies in some recipes from her
book Art pastries. De la Mata himself was a forerunner of the chocolate mousse
by inventing what he called chocolate mousse, something very alike to the
mousse.
The making of the product that would be drunk then, was responsibility of the grinder. He traveled around the country with a curved stone on the back. Following the technique called the Metate, consisting of ground, kneeling, and said stone, cocoa beans. Slowly, and with great effort, designed a uniform liquid mass, well -known as cocoa paste. Since then, The Valencian lawyer Marcos Antonio Orellana speaks of it in this poem: "O divine chocolate / grind that you kneel / folded hands you beat / and eyes to heaven you drink!
Everything changed from the nineteenth century,
when the Industrial Revolution techniques favored further cheapened consumption
and cost. Soon, tea and coffee were moving to chocolate, which began to
associate with revelers and night owls. Gone were the days when he was
considered divine character, as he wrote Valle-Inclan: "Cocoa language of
Anahuac / gods is bread or Cacahuac".
1.2. Yoxelin Tatiana Bolaños’s translated text
and the feedback.
MADAGASCAR THE GREAT INDIAN ISLAND
Walking this paradise of giant trees, unique animals and coral beaches
I went to Madagascar to admire the baobabs of
Morondava, but I found an island 1,600 kilometer long that loved me for its
varied landscapes: paddies, lush vegetation, animals as curious as lemurs and
magnificent beaches south and north.
In
Madagascar almost all it starts in the capital, Antananarivo (Tana for
friends), a noisy city that spreads by 18 hills, with street markets, a lake
and a palace. In Tana I became familiar with the local currency the ariary, I
learned that rice is the staple food and rented with my friend Patrick a French
guide who has spent years on the island, an SUV vehicle to go to Morondava.
Tana
Leaving everything changes. The urban chaoses are diluted and overlook the
Highlands, A green landscape of rolling hills, red soil and paddy fields.
" The mixture of Africa and Asia in the landscape because the
Indonesian island peopled ",
Patrick tells me .We passed many Taxi Brousse , minibuses loaded in excess
whose drivers risk their lives to earn a few minutes.
In
Antsirabe, 160 km south of Tana, the pousse - pousses (carts pulled by a man)
Asian confirm the vocation of the island. Here the road is diverted to
Morondava through a landscape where meadows where grazing zebu alternate with
sugar cane plantations and forests depleted illustrating deforestation of the
island. A mouthwatering samosas (typical South Asian dumplings) served lunch in
one of the many stops next to the road.
Shortly before the first baobabs Morondava appear, reigning over the
rice fields. They are the type Adansonia grandidieri, reaching 30 meter high.
Baobabs only grow in Africa and the west coast of Australia, but in Madagascar
live up to seven species. Hence to be known as "the mother island of
baobabs” although the British writer Gerald Durrell (1925-1995) preferred
fauna, whose protection is still devotes Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.
Just
at the entrance of Morondava a poster announces the school Le Petit Prince with
a drawing of the Prince de Saint-Exupery. Beyond, a dusty streets and a beach
battered by cyclones Morondava become a soulless population.
When
evening falls we approach the so-called Avenue of the Baobabs, close to the
city. The slanting light of evening shadows lengthen and beautifies the red
trunks, while a cart moving on the road. "I came from Tokyo just to see
this," Japanese confesses me with tears of emotion.
A few steps, a few baobabs entwine their
trunks: the tree lovers.
About 200 kilometers north of Morondava is the
Tsingy Bemaraha Park. It's like an enchanted forest of stone, with sharp
limestone pinnacles that also populate the reserve of Ankarana in the north.
Here we must be careful with the fady, the Malagasy word for taboo and
indicating, for example, you should never point a tomb with your finger.
Madagascar is a large island you learn as you go devouring kilometers.
In my journey south, herds of zebu and Malagasy shepherds, wrapped in colorful
blankets, foreshadow the arrival in Ambositra. In this city jams pousse -
pousses are repeated, but there is also a special agitation as Savika parties
are held. We followed the crowd to a stadium where young people compete trying
to mount threatening zebu horns.
A
few kilometers away, around Fianarantsoa they are an ideal place for trekking
through rice fields and village’s minimal field. But it is in the gorges of
Isalo Park with lakes and waterfalls, where the view of the ringed brings me
back to Madagascar lemurs dreamed. Improvised settlements seekers sapphires,
fever Madagascan gold, preceding later the return of baobabs in the region
Tulear, a population that has sandy beaches and restaurants serving steak
flavored zebu with spices on the island especially vanilla.
A
few days later we flew north to the island of Nosy Be, where tropical
vegetation surrounds beaches where fish, lobster and black coral abound. On the
east coast of Madagascar there is a similar paradise in Sainte -Marie Island
with palm fringed beaches and crystal waters.
Back
on land, we follow the north coast by taxi - brousse to Diego Suarez, a city
which left its mark French colonial presence. It was here that pirates founded
in the seventeenth century, the utopian republic of Libertalia. "The
spoils were divided equally," Patrick tells me, "but did not have the
local population. One day down the Madagascan Mountains and ended with everyone
and everything. “Long ago there is nothing of that ephemeral pirate republic,
but on the main street of Diego Suarez a painted recalls the utopia that
reigned in the north of this island dream.
1.3. Omar Castaneda’s translated text and the
feedback.
DI GARDA LAKE
Panoramic route between spa towns and majestic
villages.
In
the north of Italy, right where the plains lead to the Alpes, is located the
region of the lakes, in which natural sceneries coexist, the historic legacy
and artistic wealth. Close to the most visited cities like Milán, Verona or
Trento, the water mirror that is the Garda lake empowers itself of the space
and cheats the travelers, by making them believe that it is a calm sea in the
south side, meanwhile in the north side it reminds more a Norwegian fiord.
Besides, a soft micro-weather becomes the surroundings of the biggest lake in
Italy (370 km2) in a vegetable garden where southern crops like la vid, el
limonero, la palmera y el laurel are grown. Therefore, since the roman epoch
until XIX century, the aristocracy has raised villages on the side of this
Lombard Lake, which sides also belong to the regions of Trentino and Véneto.
The
spa locality of Sirmione, placed in the south side of the lake, is the place of
beginning of this tour for the 150 km of the Gardesana, the sinuous road around
the lake and gives us impressive views; other option, although it is slower, is
traveling on boats that join many towns.
Srimione is located in a peninsula that ends in the Rocca Scaligera
castle (XIII century), surrounded by walls. The beaches are the other
attraction of the place, likewise the Grutas of Catulo, where we see the
remains of a Roman village in which is believed was the home of the poet from
the (I century B.C.) that names it, remains are conserved likewise baths,
backyards and the privileged position on the lake.
From
Sirmeone there are only 11 kilometer to Desenzano, the capital of the lake and
also its most populated municipality. There, is recommended to walk the small
streets of the historic center and visiting the church Santa Maria Maddalena
(XVI century), where you can admire the Last Supper by Tiepolo.
The tour goes up for the western side, surrounding
majestic villages, farming houses and vineyard hills, on the road emerges the
attractive stages like Saló, a locality linked to the memory of Benito
Mussolini, although today it shines more thanks to its Renaissance palaces.
After some kilometers you arrive to Gardone Rivera, where the aristocracy from
XIX century built villages Art Déco like Vittoriale Degli Italiani, today a
museum, or the one that occupies the Foundation André Heller, which shows a
beautiful botanical garden.
You get now
to one of the most wooded zones in Garda, in which many hill walker routs are
proposed, there you find Tignale, famous for its sanctuary hanging on a hill
and Limone Sul Garda, town of Venice buildings and perfumed for citrus.
This way
you get Riva Del Garda, the most septentrional locality of the lake and also
one of the most beautiful. In it lived back in 1912 D.H. Lawrence, who besides
finding here the inspiration for several of his books, said that “the Garda is
beautiful as the beginning of the creation”. In Rivan you find many classic
mansions, the restaurants located on the side of the lake and also the
travelers who take it like a base of routs toward the near Alpes.
You go down
now on the east side till Malcesine, a town that the painter Gustav Klimt
immortalized back in 1913. It is very close to the svelte castle Scaligero,
which includes a room dedicated to Goethe who mentioned him in his trip to
Italy (1813). A cable railway goes up to Baldo mount (1760 m) with one of the
best views over Garda.
2. TEXT ABOUT PROBLEMS FACED
AND TECHNIQUES APPLIED.
2.1.
Jorge Gámez’s problems faced and techniques applied.
As soon as I started making the translation of the
text from Spanish to English, I really found that many words and expressions
were very difficult or hard for me to be translated, even from the source
language, especially those which came from Aboriginal Dialects and Idioms.
In addition
to this, I had to use the dictionary, as a useful tool, to look them up in
order to have a clear idea of the meaning and besides the type of translation
needed and the problems that I must face.
So here you
can see the written text about the problems faced in regards of words and
expressions which were difficult or hard to translate as well as the
explanation of the techniques that were applied for best results. For example
in these words and expressions as follow: Maya, Madrid, Peru, cocoa, fashion
and mousse the technique applied is “Borrowing” because they were taken
directly from the Spanish language to the English one without any translation.
A few problems faced with the translation of the words Maya which comes from
the Aztec Dialect and thus Mousse that belongs to the French language.
On the
other hand, there are words and expressions like Seville, chronicles,
chronicler, Cistercians, Don Pedro Alvarez de Toledo, Juan de la Mata and
Marcos Antonio Orellana in which the technique applied was only “ Calque” due
to it refers to a phrase borrowed from another language and is translated
literally word-for-word. Therefore, there were no problems faced to make a
direct translation of them.
In this
same sense, “Transposition” was done as a technique applied in all these
phrases: chocolate drinkers, podiums living rooms, The gourd-christene
mancerina, Royal Company Guipuzcoana, Chocolate mousse, Oh, divine chocolate
and Industrial Revolution Techniques since It is part of the oblique
translation intended when the structural
or conceptual elements of the source language are not able to be translated
directly without altering the meaning or upsetting the grammatical and stylistics
elements of the target language.
Based upon
Transposition, There was a problem faced according to Spanish Syntax Grammar
because in the Spanish language, for instance, adjectives are written after the
noun, but in English is the contrary, they come before the noun which they modify.
However,
there were expressions such as Christopher Columbus, Mayans and Aztecs,
Girolamo Benzoni, Nuovo mondo, Liquidum non frangit jejunum, Marquis of
Mancera, Anne of Austria, Philip III, Felipe V and his son Charles III,
Captaincy General of Venezuela and Valle- Inclan which needed a “Literal
translation”. It is intended as a word-for-word translation that can be used in
some languages and not others dependent on the sentence structure. Problems
faced were found in phrases e.g. Girolamo Benzoni, Nuovo mondo, Liquidum non
frangit jejunum because they are Italians while another word like Valle-Inclan
comes from the Anahuac Dialect.
Finally,
There were not only cases of Literal translation as mentioned in the paragraph
mentioned before, but also three examples of “Compensation” or “ Cultural
transposition” like in the words Quetzacoalt, Metate and Cacahuac which their
source dialect is Anahuac, another problem faced to me to translate into
English. If we check about the concept of Compensation it can be used when
something can not be translated and the meaning that is lost is expressed
somewhere else in the translated text.
It is important to remember, according to
Louise M. Haywood´s opinion from the University of Cambridge that translation
is not just a movement between two languages but also between two cultures. So
Cultural transposition is present in all translation as degrees of free textual
adaptation departing from maximally literal translation, and involves replacing
items whose roots are in the source language culture with elements that are
indigenous to the target language.
2.2.
Yoxelin Tatiana Bolaños’s problems faced and techniques applied.
When
performing reading "Madagascar, the great Indian Islam" to the English
language, I found many difficulties in recognizing some words, which to me were
totally unknown, for example asiatica, deforestation, off-road, as well as
native word of India which I unknown and I did spend a lot of time to discover
this kind of words. From the foregoing, it was necessary to use the dictionary
and translator to improve the understanding of the text and to make a good
translation of the text.
Due to the number of words from the
country of India, which I took directly without translating apply the technique
of Borrowing, just apply the technique of calque it was to translate phrases
for word to give meaning to prayer, finally when I was with phrases that should
change its grammatical form used the technique transposition to say for example
green landscape, had forgotten that he must first place the adjective and the
noun after.
Thanks to these techniques I was able to
finish my translation with success, learn new words and would improve my
language skills.
2.3. Omar Castaneda’s
problems faced and techniques applied.
I do not consider I had problems by translating the text I chose, I consider it a challenge, this has been my X time translating a text from Spanish into English, in my work as an interpreter for tourists and businessmen I have had many different challenges that I have to deal with the strategies that come immediately to my mind, I chose the reading about Di Garda Lake because it is what I do in my everyday life, I take people on tours around the area of Cesar region and the text described an area the same way we do it here, this work led me to understand once more that translating is basically the same than interpreting, however interpreting is more exciting.
This course also led me to understand the concepts of the different types of translation techniques, it does not matter how many times I have done this kind of work I am going to thank this course my whole life for teaching me the professional concepts once and forever, and I am going to have in mind the direct and oblique translation techniques next time I have to do a translation.
I am a pragmatic person, this time I give credit to the technique when it comes to concepts and to conclude my point of view about the work, I just focus on communication; I think languages are for that purpose, Communication, it is the reason why we are studying English and people who are or will be our students will have the same purpose when learning another language. I do not worry about making things perfect, I only care about the process of communication and put the facts the way they are to both parties in the communication process.
3.
Differences between method, strategy and techniques
3.1
Jorge Gámez’s chart about differences between method, strategy and techniques.
DIFFERENCES
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METHOD
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STRATEGY
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TECHNIQUE
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- It refers to the way a particular translation process is carried out
in terms of the translator´s objective. There are many translations methods
e.g. The Interpretative-communicative, the Literal, the Free and the
Philological.
- A method is a plan for
presenting the language material to be learned and should be based upon a
selected approach.
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- A strategy is a plan of action resulting from strategy or intended
to accomplish a specific goal.
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Strategies are the procedures used by the translator to solve problems that
emerge when carrying out the translation process with a particular objective
in mind.
- A series of
competencies, steps or processes that favor the acquisition, storage, and
utilization of information.
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- A technique is a very specific, concrete stratagem or trick designed
to accomplish an immediate objective.
- Techniques are also the activities
that are carried out in the classroom, according with a method and an
approach.
- Technique is a procedure or skill for completing a
specific task.
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3.2. Yoxelin Tatiana
Bolaños’s chart about differences between method, strategy and techniques.
METHOD
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STRATEGY
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TECHNIQUE
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The manner in which the translator faces the entire original text the
translation process develops according to certain principles.
The method is chosen by the translator individually conscious and
consistent throughout the entire text. In Hurtado (2004: 251-253) we see a
fairly accurate classification of the main methods of translation used when
translating:
1. Interpretive-communicative.
It focuses on understanding and sense of restatement of the
meaning of the original text
Applying this method function and textual genre is maintained.
2.Literal Method:
Reproducing the linguistic system starting.
3. Free Method:
There are two levels: the adaptation and the free version.
The free version represents a major departure from the original text
that
Adaptation (eg removal of characters, scenes, etc.)
4. Philological method:
It characterized in that added
to the translation and philological notes with comments, historical etc.
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We can identify the
strategy translator as individual and external procedures, consistent and no
consistent, verbal nonverbal, internal (cognitive) used by the translator to
solve the problems found in the translation process and improve its
effectiveness in accordance with their specific needs.
The strategies are thus
directly related to the resolution of problems interacting with the general
knowledge of the translator.
Diaz-Barriga and Hernández
(2001) identified four types of strategies:
1. self-regulatory. high-level strategies
2. Support. Resource management strategies.
in the motivational level
and
appropriate learning
context for implementing operations
Learning. Maintain
concentration, reduce anxiety, they are given the
Study time, maintain
attention, etc.
3. Learning. Procedures that the student uses deliberately, flexible and adaptive
processes to enhance significant learning information.
4. Teaching.
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Procedure visible in the
result of the translation
used for equivalence
translator micro units
Support, cataloged
techniques compared to the original. the
Relevance of using one
technique or another is always functional, depending on the type textual translation
mode, the purpose of the translation and method chosen.
It could be enumerated as follows: direct
translation techniques and techniques oblique translation,
Direct Translation Techniques:
It used when structural and conceptual
elements of the
source language can be
transposed into the target language
Borrowing
Word incorporated into
another language without translating.
Calque
Meanings of words are
transferred.
Literal translation
It is respecting the
author's style follows word for word the original text.
Oblique Translation Techniques:
Are used when the
structural or conceptual elements of
the source language cannot
be directly translated without altering meaning or upsetting
The grammatical and
stylistics elements of the target language.
Transposition.
It consists of replacing a part of the discourse on the other
without changing the
meaning of the message
Modulation:
Changing perspective, focus or category thinking (abstract for concrete,
causing the effect, medium results, the part for the whole, etc.)
Equivalence:
That realizes the same situation using a completely different reaction.
Adaptation:
When a recognized equivalence between two used
Situations.
Compensation.
It is introduced elsewhere in the text an item information or stylistic
effect that could not be placed on the same place on the original text.
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3.3. Omar Cataneda`s chart about differences between method, strategy and techniques.
DIFFERENCES
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METHOD
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STRATEGY
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TECHNIQUE
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Translation method refers to the way a
particular translation process is carried out in terms of the translator’s
objective.
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Strategies are the procedures (conscious or
unconscious, verbal or nonverbal) used by the translator to solve problems
that emerge when carrying out the translation process with a particular
objective in mind
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A technique is the result of a choice made by
a translator; its validity will depend on various questions related to the
context, the purpose of the translation, audience expectations, etc.
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