Literal Equivalents Research Articles

Risk perception and risk management in legal translation: a questionnaire survey

ABSTRACT While risk as a concept has aroused interest in Translation Studies in recent years, empirical research on the topic is still lacking. Mostly regarded as an adverse factor, risk has close conceptual links to translation quality and translation ethics. Legal translation is a field in which risk awareness and risk management are of the utmost importance given the values at stake. Curiously, the number of lawsuits or formal complaints against translators is very low. A questionnaire survey was conducted among Czech legal translators to provide insights into their perception of risk and risk management methods. The results show that legal translation is mostly regarded as riskier than other areas of translation and that risk perception partly depends on previous exposure to the field. Translating into a foreign language, though potentially risky, is almost unanimously considered inevitable. Literal equivalents are perceived as safer than loose equivalents, but loose equivalents tend to be preferred with increasing practice. Complaints from clients are extremely rare and never have serious consequences. Current developments in the industry, such as the increasing use of internet resources and machine translation, are likely to have an impact on risk perception and risk management in the future.

Translation of English Verbs Belonging to the Lexico-Semantic Group of Human Behavior into Russian and German (Based on W. Thackeray’s Novel “Vanity Fair”)

This article examines the use of English verbs related to human behavior in W. Thackeray’s novel “Vanity Fair” and their translations into German and Russian. Based on the analysis of lexicographic sources, the structure of the lexico-semantic group of behavioral verbs in English, German, and Russian was analyzed. Common transformations employed to translate such verbs from English into German and Russian were identified. The most representative examples were picked from the novel. Particular attention was given to the relationship between the translation methods and each target language, as well as between the source language and the target languages. The Russian and German translations of the novel were compared for accuracy in conveying all details. Using componential analysis, a semantic classification of the selected verbs, depending on the type of behavior they describe, was compiled for the three languages. The results obtained led to the following conclusions. The behavioral verbs in W. Thackeray’s novel “Vanity Fair” are most often translated into Russian and German with literal equivalents of the original lexemes. However, lexical and grammatical substitutions were also revealed: their usage depends on grammatical structure, lexical compatibility, and linguistic standards. The German translation proved to be more plausible than the Russian one. This could be because English and German are both Germanic languages and belong to the same branch of the Indo-European language family. In the Russian translation, multiple transformations of the original text are used more often. They are meant to convey the author’s ideas rather than the exact lexicographic meanings of separate words. The findings of this study contribute to the development of the theory and practice of translation and provide a deeper insight into W. Thackeray’s worldview.

Substituting Anthropomorphisms?

Abstract With the theological dimensions of the Septuagint (LXX) gaining interest, this paper focuses on anthropomorphisms—instances attributing human-like traits to God—as a noteworthy element of LXX-theology, where the avoidance of such attributions is considered indicative of a more transcendent conception of God. The article examines the anthropomorphism of God’s “mouth” in the Pentateuch, particularly the unique translation in Num 20:24. Doing so, the study reveals a discrepancy in translating the human and divine “mouth,” employing more literal equivalents for the former and less-literal equivalents for the latter, contributing to the characterization of LXX-Numbers as anti-anthropomorphic. The examination of Num 20:24, where a different Vorlage is posited, underscores the importance of meticulous analysis in understanding the Greek translation of anthropomorphisms, and suggests the need for nuanced assessments.

The linguistic validation of the gut feelings questionnaire in Turkish

Background‘Gut feelings’ are frequently used by general practitioners in the clinical decision-making process, especially in situations of uncertainty. The Gut Feelings Questionnaire (GFQ) has been developed in the Netherlands and is now available in English, French, German, Polish, Spanish, and Catalan, enabling cross-border studies on the subject. However, a Turkish version of the GFQ is lacking.ObjectivesA Turkish version of the GFQ.MethodsA linguistic validation procedure was conducted, which took place in six phases: forward translation (step 1), backward translation (step 2), first consensus (step 3), cultural validation (step 4), second consensus (step 5), and final version (step 6).ResultsThe absence of literal equivalent of the term ‘gut feelings’ in Turkish was determined. The word ‘intuition’ was chosen as the Turkish literal equivalent of ‘gut feelings’. There were also some challenges in finding the exact meanings of words and expressions in Turkish literature. However, we succeeded in finding adequate and responsible solutions. A Turkish version of the GFQ is available now.ConclusionWith these validated GFQs, Turkish GPs can facilitate studies of the role of ‘gut feelings’ in clinical reasoning.

Metaphor processing: Referring and predicating

The general consensus emerging from decades of empirical investigation of metaphor processing is that, when appropriately contextualised, metaphorically used language is no more demanding of processing effort than literally used language. However, there is a small number of studies which contradict this position, notably Noveck, Bianco, and Castry (2001): they maintain that relevance-based pragmatic theory predicts increased cognitive costs incurred in deriving the extra effects that metaphors typically yield, and they provide experimental results that support this prediction. In our study, we first surveyed and assessed the tasks and stimulus materials of many experiments on metaphor processing from the 1970's to the present day. The most telling result was an apparent disparity between the processing of metaphorical language used predicatively versus referentially. We then ran two self-paced reading experiments to test our hypothesis that when used as a predicate, metaphorical language is no more costly than literal language, but when used referentially, it does incur extra costs, even given a preceding biasing context. In the first experiment, all metaphorical referring expressions were in subject position so occurred early in the sentence; in the second experiment, we controlled for any effect of sentence position by placing metaphorical referring expressions in object position, thus later in the sentence, similar to the predicate metaphors. In both cases, metaphorical referring incurred significantly greater costs relative to literal equivalents than did metaphorical predication, with no effect of sentence position. We end with a brief analysis of why the referential use of metaphor is special and effort-demanding.

FEATURES OF THE TRANSLATION OF MILITARY JARGONISM FOR MILITARY EQUIPMENT AND WEAPONS FROM UKRAINIAN INTO ENGLISH WITH THE HELP OF MACHINE TRANSLATION

The article analyzes the peculiarities of the translation of military jargon to denote military equipment and weapons from Ukrainian to English using the GoogleTranslate service. It was determined that the terminological vocabulary is created to ensure optimal mutual understanding between specialists of a certain field, which is characterized by a specific standardized terminology system, typical grammatical and syntactic constructions in texts characteristic of this discourse. The object of our study is the professional jargon of the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which differs from the literary language in the use of specific, expressive vocabulary and phraseology in the process of communication, which are characterized by synonymy with words in general use and sometimes peculiarities of pronunciation. The translation of military slang is generally quite a difficult task, because there are lexemes that do not exist in English, so the context is of great importance when translating terms, which allows you to find out the general meaning of the word from the meanings of its components. The main mistake when translating military jargon is that translators sometimes try to find a literal equivalent of a Ukrainian term. During the research, it was found out that it is not possible to translate military slang using the Google Translate service, due to the fact that there are no materials for slang, jargon, and professionalism in the translation databases. However, Google Translate translates the military jargon terms themselves quite successfully. For the translation of military jargons, only the author's translation of a professional translator who knows military vocabulary and, in particular, jargonisms, can be used.

Task Effects in Irony Comprehension in English as a Foreign Language.

Irony comprehension involves understanding implicit attitudes communicated on top of the explicit, literal meaning. Because of the double-binding stemming from the explicit-implicit incongruity, irony is assumed to be cognitively taxing when communicated in the native language (NL), and even more so in the foreign language (FL). Prior studies investigating irony comprehension in the FL indicated that irony may be processed with similar speed and accuracy in the foreign and the native language, and that irony comprehension efficiency in the former might be lower. Building on these findings, this study investigates if the tasks participants perform when reading irony in their FL affect the efficiency of irony comprehension. We invited 150 advanced Polish users of English to take part in one of two tasks. Participants were asked to read 3- to 5-sentence-long-scenarios, ending in literal (Literal Praise, Literal Criticism) or ironic comments (Ironic Praise, Ironic Criticism) and to either (1) make true/false judgments (T/F task; N = 83), or to (2) judge the emotional value in emotive decision task (EDT; N = 67). A full spectrum of verbal irony employed to communicate ironic praise and criticism, and their literal equivalents: literal praise and literal criticism, was tested. A three-way mixed ANOVA with 2× Valence (Praise, Criticism), 2× Mode (Literal, Ironic) as within-subject repeated-measures, and 2× Task (True/False, Emotive Decision) as a between-subject independent measure, revealed that efficiency of irony comprehension was differently modified by the two tasks. Therefore, we argue that irony comprehension in English as a foreign language is task-constrained.

Iraqi EFL Learners’ Cultural Schematization: A Cultural Approach to Role Schema and the Learners’ Non-Native Like Production of Some Official Titles

Non-native like expressions were observed in Iraqi EFL learners' oral production during their conversation course as they restored to literal translation to compensate for their inadequate knowledge of the English lexicon. Their choice of literal equivalents was not arbitrary but a schema-driven selection. In the case of official titles, for example, learners employed their cultural schematization to the conceptual contents of English official titles, unaware of its potential difference from the English schematization. This study explores the possible cultural role schemas underlying Iraqi EFL learners' frequent use of 'president' in some official titles. It seems that various central role schemas are associated with these titles and that there is no particular unified schema underlies the word 'president'. Actually, a variety of schemas interact together, formulating the role schemas and their relevant linguistic instantiations in English and Arabic in light of their natives' thinking styles and ways of perceiving the world.

An Analytical Study of the Translations of Genesis 1:26-27 in the Akuapem-Twi Bible

In Ghana, the Western missionaries who introduced Christianity into the country reduced some Ghanaian languages into written form and then translated the Bible into these languages. After the missionaries left the country, the task of Bible translation was continued by Ghanaians to make the Bible accessible to various linguistic groups in the country. Out of the numerous problems that Bible translators encounter in their work is the non-availability of a word in the receptor languages to carry the exact meaning of a word in the source language. This and other challenges sometimes lead to obscurity in the translated text and the resulting theology. Of interest to the present paper, is the translation of Genesis 1:26-27 into Akuapem-Twi mother- tongue. As an exegetical study, the source texts were semantically and morpho-syntactically analysed and their renderings in the Akuapem-Twi Bible were compared. The philosophy behind the texts under study in the Akan/Twi Bibles could be largely, formal or literal equivalence (word-for-word). Though in some instances in all the Twi dialects and some other instances, in one or two dialects, the translators employed the dynamic equivalence (thought-for- thought) approach. In each of the instances, the approach adopted has either aided or distorted the interpretation of the target text. The rendering of the text (Gen.1:26-27) in the Akuapem-Twi Bible presents deviations from the source text and should consequently be revised and reread. For instance, after a careful study of ancient (source) texts such as the Masoretic Text, Septuagint and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and their comparison with the Akuapem-Twi Bible translation concerning Genesis 1:26-27, this paper argues that the Hebrew verb āsāh (v. 26), translated as bcc, “created” could be rendered as yɔɔ/yjj, “made” and the pronoun, ‘ōṯo (v. 27), presented as wɔn, “them” should be interpreted as no, “him,” in order to establish literary consistency with the source texts. Keywords: Bible Translations, Akan Bibles, Akuapem-Twi, Genesis 1:26-27

Research on Translators’ Translation Activities in the Context of Globalization and Nationalization

In the 21st century, we often need international exchanges. As an interdisciplinary subject, translation plays an important role in connecting two languages. In the process of translation, the translator should transform the source language into target language on the basis of accuracy, fluency, that is, faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance. Translation not only serves as an integration of foreign cultures but also the maintenance of the national culture. It has obvious characteristics of globalization and nationalization. In the process of English-Chinese translation, the translator needs to correct his attitude, understand foreign culture, and accept foreign culture in an open and inclusive attitude, so as to promote the further cultural integration. In the process of Chinese-English translation, the translator certainly needs to preserve his own national and cultural characteristics. It is infeasible to only seek literal equivalence and completely ignore the local characteristics. The translator’s understanding of globalization and nationalization directly affects translation quality. To improve translation quality, translators need to strive for a balance between globalization and nationalization.

BATTLE OF CULTURES: TRANSLATING FIGURATIVE INSULTS IN REMY SYLADO’S CA-BAU-KAN

Translating figurative insults is one of the challenging features of literary translation because these expressions are often culture-bound and produce specific effect. This study seeks to propose a translation produced using predominantly foreignizing approach in an attempt to preserve the original effects, connotations, and nuances of the source text and to examine the extent to which foreignization and domestication can work together when used to deal with certain text types. The source text is taken from Remy Sylado’s novel Ca-Bau-Kan: Hanya Sebuah Dosa, particularly figurative verbal insults between several characters because of their offensive and hilarious double-effect unique to the Betawi culture of Indonesia. Analysis found 9 non-substitutions, 14 partial substitutions, and 7 total substitutions of figurative images, which reflects the translator’s foreignizing tendency. However, there are also some domesticating strategies in order to avoid gross awkwardness and/or loss of effect due to target language constraints and the connotative neutrality of perfect literal equivalents. This study demonstrates that the foreignization approach can be applied with little domestication when the source text shows high originality and the target language has the right linguistic devices to accommodate it.KEYWORDS: Culture, Trnaslating, Remy Sylado, Ca-Bau-Kan

Penerjemahan Kanyouku dalam Novel Shikisai wo Motanai Tazaki Tsukuru to Kare no Junrei no Toshi Karya Haruki Murakami

Idioms in Japanese are called kanyouku. This study aims to describe the kanyouku translation strategies and procedures contained in the novel. The theory used in this study are the theory of idiom translation strategy according to Baker (1992) and the theory of translation procedures according to Vinay & Darbelnet in Venuti (2000). This research is a qualitative descriptive research. The data in this study are the kanyouku of the upper limbs contained in the novel Shikisai wo Motanai Tazaki Tsukuru to Kare no Junrei no Toshi (2013) by Haruki Murakami and its translation in Indonesian "Tsukuru Tazaki Without Color and the Year of His Pilgrimage" (2018) which is translated by Ribeka Ota. From the result of the analysis of 35 kanyouku it was found that the kanyouku translation strategy used by the translator was a strategy using an idiom of similar meaning and form and a paraphrasing strategy. While the translation procedures used are literal translation, transposition and equivalence.

Metaphorical models and the translator’ s approach to scientific texts

Indeed, the utility of theory-constitutive metaphor seems to lie largely in the fact that they provide a way to introduce terminology for features of the world whose existence seems probable, but many of whose fundamental properties have yet to be discovered. Theory constitutive metaphors, in other words, represent one strategy for the accommodation of language to as yet undiscovered causal features of the world. (Boyd 1979:364)In this article we investigate the mechanisms behind the urge for better and new understanding. Our hypothesis is that these are generally related to and inspired by metaphorical reasoning. The existing cognitive model of a source domain of understanding is used to structure and categorise a target domain. The metaphorical model is an underlying schema which is not fully expressed propositionally and lexically. The traces and results of metapho¬rical thinking are in metaphorical lexicalisations. We challenge the princi¬ple of traditional Vienna school terminology theory which claims that because unambiguous communication is the ideal in scientific communica¬tion, it is preferable to replace a metaphorical term by its literal equivalent. We show how in the life sciences the gestalt-like metaphorical model which was at the basis of better understanding and new discovery continues to have an important role in didactic as well as in scientific texts which treat the same or related subjects. The discipline of terminology theory could work out guidelines for the description of metaphorical models starting from the metaphorical lexicalisations which are the traces which metaphorical think¬ing leaves in a language. Translators who are aware of the impact of metaphorical reasoning on lexicalisation in scientific language will develop the ability to distinguish between metaphorical models which are language and culture independent and those which are not.

Metaphorical expressions originating from human senses: Psycholinguistic and affective norms for German metaphors for internal state terms (MIST database)

Internal states, e.g., emotions, cognitive states, or desires, are often verbalized by figurative means, in particular by embodied metaphors involving human senses, such as touch, taste, and smell. The present paper presents a database for German metaphorical expressions conveying internal states with human senses as their source domains. 168 metaphorical expressions from the source domains of vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and temperature combined with literal equivalents were collected and rated by 643 adults. The agreement between the metaphor and an equivalent literal expression, as well as emotional valence, arousal, and familiarity values were assessed using a 7-point Likert scale. Between the metaphorical expressions and their equivalents, familiarity, but not valence or arousal differed significantly while agreement ratings indicated high similarity in meaning. The novel database offers carefully controlled stimuli that can be used in both empirical metaphor research and research on internal state language. Using part of the stimuli in a sentence completion experiment revealed a significant preference for literal over metaphorical expressions that cannot be attributed to higher familiarity levels.

INSUFFICIENT INTERPRETATION OF METAPHOR IN THE QURANIC TRANSLATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SELECTED VERSES’ TRANSLATIONS BY PICKTHALL AND ARBERRY

Quranic verses are full of metaphoric phrases and compound metaphors which can be said to be the biggest challenge for its translators to the other languages. There is no doubt that a number of renown Western scholars and orientalists have translated Quran in different languages including English but keeping in view the cultural and religious difference, usually even renown translators and scholars like Pickthall and Arberry seem unable to totally apprehend and transfer the intended meaning of the Arabic metaphors of Quran. In this article, it has been tried to discuss and highlight the impact of this deficiency of Western scholars and untranslatability of Arabic metaphor into English without proper command and in-depth knowledge of the Arabic language. The methodology is based on the basic theories of Translation Studies in this regard, especially presented by Peter New Mark and Eugene Nida i.e. literal translation, semantic translation, equivalence, domestication and foreignization

Penerjemahan Klausa Transitif Dari Bahasa Arab ke Dalam Bahasa Indonesia

The objective of this research was to obtain an overall view of translation of transitive clause from Arabic to Indonesian. This study used a qualitative approaching using a content analysis methode. The data used in this study is Arabic transitive clause including its translation procedures and its translation accuracy into Indonesian. The data source in this study is Himar Al-Hakim novel by Taufik Al-Hakim chapter 1-3 and its translation on Indonesia ‘Keledai yang Bijak’ translated by Harits Fadly.The results of this study indicate that the transitive clause of Arabic uses a standard clause 1 pattern (Verb[S] - Object) which is 79%. When viewed from the grammatical structure, the translation of the transitive clauses of Arabic in Indonesian is not always a transitive clause. In certain cases, transitive clauses can be translated into intransitive clauses, passive clauses, non-verbal clauses and even translated into phrases.There are nine procedures used by translators: literal procedures, modulation, transposition, cultural equivalence, functional equivalence, naturalization, recognized-translation, transference and deletion. In general, it can be said that most of the translations are accurate translations, although there are also eight inaccurate translations because there is a deviation of the meaning and omission of the meaning caused by the author's mistake in choosing the equivalent word and the failure of the author in understanding the source text.

Universality and Language Specificity: Evidence from Arab and English Proverbs

All languages have proverbs that reflect their community’s attitudes, thoughts, values, and beliefs. Similarities between proverbs of different languages can be accounted for in cognitive semantics as motivated by shared human experience and universal schemas. At the same time, differences in the proverbs can be linked to the general idea of cultural diversity and hence language specificity in proverbs. This paper investigates twelve Arabic proverbs from a cognitive semantics viewpoint to determine their underlying schemas. The main aim is to arrive at a better understanding of the universal and language-specific nature of the Arabic proverbs. The methodology employed in the analysis is to explicate and determine, utilizing a cognitive semantics framework, whether the twelve Arabic proverbs have literal equivalence in English with shared schemas. In this regard, the Arabic proverbs and their English counterparts that have shared schemas are evidence for universality. While Arabic proverbs that have no literal equivalence in English and hence no shared schemas are good candidates in support of language specificity. Some of the proverbs might have shared schema but still, exhibit some variations that could be a manifestation of diversity of values and cultural background. Based on the analysis presented in this study, the Arabic proverbs examined fall into three categories: (i) proverbs that demonstrate universal construals; (ii) proverbs that demonstrate universal construal with variations; and (iii) proverbs that demonstrate language-specific construals.

It is not always a matter of time: Addressing the costs of metaphor and metonymy through a speed-accuracy trade-off study.

One of the most debated topics in figurative language studies is whether the access to non-literal meanings is direct or indirect. Although models that argue for longer processing times for figurative compared to literal meanings have been largely criticized, figurative language is often associated with increased cognitive work. We investigated whether such greater cognitive work is indicative of more time-consuming processes or rather lower availability of figurative meanings, and whether there are differences between figurative types. We used a multi-response Speed-Accuracy Trade-off paradigm, where a meaningfulness judgment task was combined with a response deadline procedure to estimate speed and accuracy independently for metaphorical (Those dancers are butterflies) and metonymic sentences (That student reads Camilleri), compared with literal equivalents. While both metaphors and metonymies showed lower asymptote, that is, they were judged less accurately than literal counterparts, only metonymies were associated with a processing delay. Moreover, the difference in asymptote with respect to the literal condition was greater for metaphor than for metonymy. These findings indicate that the process that derives metaphor and metonymy is more complex than the process that derives literal meanings, even more so for metaphor. The processing delay, however, is present only in the case of metonymies. Taken together, our study offers key findings that reconcile a lively debate on the time course of figurative language comprehension, showing that the cost of non-literal meaning is not always a matter of time, and depends also on the figurative type. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

SPECIFIC FEATURES OF STUDYING CROSS-CULTURAL TEXTS IN CLASSES OF UKRAINIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

The urgency of the problem is to study the Ukrainian language in a foreign language environment based on cross-cultural texts that help students adapt to the country of residence and be acquainted with its realities. The objective of the study is to emphasize the need for selecting texts and didactic materials with consideration of feasibility and practical application of a particular information and the development of communicative competence; to prove the expediency of diversification of tasks and examples as one of the best ways of explaining foreign communicators this or that phenomenon, depending on a situation; to share the experience of teaching the Ukrainian language among non-communicators. A detailed analysis of current research and publications is conducted. The focus is on communicative, personal-oriented, cultural, and level methods, on the importance of visualization, pre-text and post-text exercises, various questions, descriptive interpretation of rarely used vocabulary, extended vocabulary, etc. Research methods used: descriptive, comparative, empirical approaches. The main task in the process of learning a foreign language is highlighted, namely an understanding the concept in context: there are certain meanings in a foreign language for which there are no literal equivalents in the native language, for example, phraseological units. Formulation of post-text questions, paraphrasing the text parts, additional interpretation, comparative analysis – this is an opportunity to encourage students to talk, activate critical thinking, and help them understand Ukraine, Ukrainian realities and Ukrainians. However, the texts should be updated in accordance with the communicative situation, emphasizing the phrases necessary in everyday life. The teacher’s task is to develop students as well-educated personalities, so it is advisable to ask a variety of questions during the discussion, which help not only assess students and find out how well they understand the material, but also promote the development of speech. Thus, the teacher's challenge is to choose carefully the content of texts in order to adapt the foreign students to the language environment, which would promote Ukraine in the world, contribute to the formation of linguistic knowledge about Ukraine.

The Power of Literal Equivalence in Model Counting

The past two decades have seen the significant improvements of the scalability of practical model counters, which have been quite influential in many applications from artificial intelligence to formal verification. While most of exact counters fall into two categories, search-based and compilation-based, Huang and Darwiche's remarkable observation ties these two categories: the trace of a search-based exact model counter corresponds to a Decision-DNNF formula. Taking advantage of literal equivalences, this paper designs an efficient model counting technique such that its trace is a generalization of Decision-DNNF formula. We first propose a generalization of Decision-DNNF, called CCDD, to capture literal equivalences, then show that CCDD supports model counting in linear time, and finally design a model counter, called ExactMC, whose trace corresponds to CCDD. We perform an extensive experimental evaluation over a comprehensive set of benchmarks and conduct performance comparison of ExactMC vis-a-vis the state of the art counters, c2d, Dsharp, miniC2D, D4, ADDMC, and Ganak. Our empirical evaluation demonstrates ExactMC can solve 885 instances while the prior state of the art could solve only 843 instances, representing a significant improvement of 42 instances.