Literal translation

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v · Latin: "verbum pro verbo") rather than conveying the sense of the original. (This distinction is valid only when a literal translation does not accurately convey the sense, which is not invariably true.) In translation studies, "literal translation" denotes technical translation of scientific, technical, technological or legal texts.[1] In translation theory, another term for "literal translation" is "metaphrase"; and for phrasal ("sense") translation — "paraphrase." When considered a bad practice of conveying word by word (lexeme to lexeme, or morpheme to lexeme) translation of non-technical type literal translations has the meaning of mistranslating idioms, [2] for example, or in the context of translating an analytic language to a synthetic language, it renders even the grammar unintelligible. Term in translation studies Usage The term "literal translation" often appeared in the titles of 19th-century English translations of classical, Bible and other texts. Cribs Literal translations ("cribs," "ponies", or "trots") are sometimes prepared for a writer who is translating a work written in a language he does not know. For example, Robert Pinsky is reported to have used a literal translation in preparing his translation of Dante's Inferno (1994), as he does not know Italian.[citation needed] Similarly, Richard Pevear worked from literal translations provided by his wife, Larissa Volokhonsky, in their translations of several Russian novels.[citation needed] Poetry to prose Literal translation can also denote a translation that represents the precise meaning of the original text but does not attempt to convey its style, beauty, or poetry. There is, however, a great deal of difference between a literal translation of a poetic work and a prose translation. A literal translation of poetry may be in prose rather than verse, but also be error free. Charles Singleton's translation of The Divine Comedy (1975) is regarded as a prose translation. As a bad practice "Literal" translation implies that it is probably full of errors, since the translator has made no effort to convey, for example, correct idioms or shades of meaning. Examples A literal English translation of the German word "Kindergarten" would be "children garden," but in English the expression refers to the school year between pre-school and first grade. Literal translations in which individual components within words or compounds are translated to create new lexical items in the target language (a process also known as “loan translation”) are called calques, e.g., “beer garden” from German “Biergarten.” Literal translation of the Italian sentence, "So che questo non va bene" ("I know that this is not good"), produces "Know(I) that this not goes(it) well," which has English words and Italian grammar. Machine translation Early machine translations (as of 1962[3] at least) were notorious for this type of translation as they simply employed a database of words and their translations. Later attempts utilized common phrases which resulted in better grammatical structure and capture of idioms but with many words left in the original language. For translating synthetic languages, a morphosyntactic analyzer and synthesizer is required. The best systems today use a combination of the above technologies and apply algorithms to correct the "natural" sound of the translation. In the end though, professional translation firms that employ machine translation use it as a tool to create a rough translation that is then tweaked by a human, professional translator. Pidgins Often, first-generation immigrants create something of a literal translation in how they speak their parents' native language. This results in a mix of the two languages in something of a pidgin. Many such mixes have specific names, e.g. Spanglish or Germish. For example, American children of German immigrants are heard using "rockingstool" from the German word "Schaukelstuhl" instead of "rocking chair". Mistranslations Literal translation of idioms is a source of numerous translators' jokes and apocrypha. The following famous example has often been told both in the context of newbie translators and that of machine translation: When the sentence "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (дух бодр, плоть же немощна, an allusion to Mark 14:38) was translated into Russian and then back to English, the result was "The vodka is good, but the meat is rotten" (спирт, конечно, готов, но мясо протухло). This is generally believed to be simply an amusing story, and not a factual reference to an actual machine translation error.[4] See also Metaphrase Translation Dynamic and formal equivalence Calque Young's Literal Translation (of the Bible) All your base are belong to us References What is a literal translation? from LinguaLinks Library ^ Olive Classe, Encyclopedia of literary translation into English, vol. 1, Taylor & Francis, 2000, ISBN 1884964362, p. viii. ^ John Hutchins, "The whisky was invisible", or Persistent myths of MT, MT News International 11 (June 1995), pp. 17-18. ^ John Hutchins, MT News International 11 (June 1995), pp.17-18 ^ John Hutchins, MT News International 11 (June 1995), pp.17-18 Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую Diocese of Tunsberg Prelusive EP Look at other dictionaries: literal translation — translation that translates the exact words of the original …   English contemporary dictionary Literal translation — Дословный перевод …   Краткий толковый словарь по полиграфии Young's Literal Translation — Bible translation infobox translation title=Young s Literal Translation full name=Young s Literal Translation of the Holy Bible abbreviation=YLT complete bible published=1862 textual basis= translation type=extremely literal copyright=Public… …   Wikipedia Green's Literal Translation — Bible translation infobox | translation title= full name= Literal Translation of the Bible other names= abbreviation= language=English NT published= OT published= complete bible published=1985 apocrypha books= author info=Jay P Green derived from …   Wikipedia Analytical-Literal Translation — The Analytical Literal Translation is, as the name implies, a very literal translation of the New Testament. It also includes aids within the text to help readers better understand the text. The new ALT is the first New Testament version to be… …   Wikipedia translation — translation, version, paraphrase, metaphrase can all denote a restating in intelligible language of the meaning or sense of a passage or work or the passage or work that is the product of such a restatement. Translation implies a turning from one …   New Dictionary of Synonyms Literal — may refer to:*Literal and figurative language, taken in a non figurative sense. *Literal translation, the close adherence to the forms of a source language text. *Terminal symbol in regular expressions and in descriptions of formal grammars.… …   Wikipedia literal — [lit′ər əl] adj. [ME litterall < MFr litteral < LL litteralis < L littera, LETTER1] 1. of, involving, or expressed by a letter or letters of the alphabet [literal notation] 2. following or representing the exact words of the original;… …   English World dictionary Translation — For other uses, see Translation (disambiguation). Translator redirects here. For other uses, see Translator (disambiguation). Contents 1 Etymology 2 Theory …   Wikipedia TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATORS — The earliest Jewish translations, apart from possible examples in the Bible, are the Greek version of the Pentateuch and, later, other books of the Bible, which were made to fill a need in the Greek speaking Jewish community of Alexandria and… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. 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