Source Text Research Articles

The early days of Tibetan Studies in Europe: some textual and historical considerations regarding I.J. Schmidt (1779–1843) and his German translation of The Wise and the Foolish

ABSTRACT The second half of the eighteenth and the nineteenth century saw the beginnings of Tibetan Studies in Europe through first translations, grammars, and dictionaries. Vital for this development was the Moravian autodidact Isaak Jakob Schmidt (1779–1847), also considered founder of Mongolian Studies, and his successor at the St Petersburg Academy of Science, Anton Schiefner (1817–1879). These scholars saw themselves as researchers of “Oriental languages” and published mostly in German. A notable piece within the works of Schmidt is his 1843 founding text and translation of Der Weise und der Thor (“The Wise and the Foolish,” Tib. mDzangs blun), a collection of Buddhist narratives illustrating the workings of karma. Schiefner later (1852) added corrections to Schmidt’s voluminous work. This paper aims at analysing Schmidt’s contributions to understanding East Asia and Tibet via this pioneering rendition of the stories contained in The Wise and the Foolish. Focus is on the textual sources employed, namely the Tibetan Buddhist canon (Kanjur), and the reception of the translation. Schiefner’s corrections are also considered. This article further reflects on the historical contexts of Schmidt’s life and wishes to add to our comprehension of Buddhist translations in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe.

Popular science as inter-epistemic translation: a case study

ABSTRACT Responding to a challenge raised by Douglas Robinson in the conclusion of his book Translationality (2017: 200–202), the recently launched EPISTRAN project 1 uses concepts, methods and theories from Translation Studies to investigate the semiotic processes (verbal and nonverbal) involved in the transfer of information between different ‘epistemic systems’. This paper, produced under its auspices, analyses a popular science article from the National Geographic magazine as an instance of inter-epistemic translation. Taking as its source text a research article previously published in the scientific journal Child Psychology, it compares the two with a view to determining the strategies used by the author to re-package the research for a new readership. It concludes that these are no different, in essence, to those employed in conventional interlingual translation, and argues that consideration of the processes involved can shed light not only on the ‘operating norms’ at work in the production of popular science but also on the construction of (specialised and non-specialised) discourses more broadly.

An Earlier terminus ante quem for the Epistle of James? The Influence of James on Clement of Alexandria’s Transmission of 1 Clement 17

Abstract: The current terminus ante quem for the Epistle of James is the third century, with the first clear quotations of the epistle located in Origen. Aside from a few contentious correspondences with the Apostolic Fathers, no earlier allusions to James have received any serious consideration. I argue that an earlier reference should in fact be detected in Origen’s predecessor, Clement of Alexandria. In book 4 of his Stromata , the Alexandrian quotes from 1 Clement 17, a text that presents the figure of Job as an exemplum of humility. Clement significantly alters his source text in such a way that seems to betray knowledge of James, producing a synthesis of Joban tradition in early Christianity. If this claim is substantiated, it would effectively push the terminus ante quem for James back by one generation, to the late second century c.e.

Linguistic complexity of elementary mathematics word problems and their translations

Because word problems present mathematical information through a scenario, they are language-intensive and require mathematical and reading comprehension skills to solve them. In addition, they are linguistically complex, which makes them challenging for all learners, especially multilingual learners. Given the rising number of dual-language bilingual programs in the United States—which have the goal of simultaneously supporting content and language learning—it is important to understand the linguistic complexity of word problems and their translations. Therefore, we adopted a sociolinguistic perspective to recognize the inextricable relationship between language and mathematics and conducted a linguistic content analysis of Grades 1 and 4 addition/subtraction word problems in a widely used U.S. elementary curriculum. We analyzed the ways in which word problems were linguistically complex and how complexity differed between English, French, and Spanish translations. We found that word problems were complex due to vocabulary inconsistencies, assumed cultural knowledge, verb tenses, and errors. The French and Spanish translations also had more errors and inconsistencies than the English source text. Findings have implications for curriculum and assessment developers related to multilingual editing and linguistic and contextual consistency, as well as for teachers to support students’ engagement with language and mathematics.

التناوب اللغوي والهوية المشتتة في ترجمة عابد إسماعيل لرواية فادية فقير اسمي سلمى

ode-switching is a sociolinguistic phenomenon that refers to the shift between various languages in speaking or writing and it is employed by speakers or authors for different linguistic, social and political reasons. This study examines the significance of code-switching in the formulation of diasporic identity in the Syrian poet and translator Abed Ismael's translation of the Jordanian-British author Fadia Faqir's My Name Is Salma (2007). The researchers propose that authors in diaspora use code-switching so as to return home linguistically/textually. However, we argue that the use of code-switching poses problems in the translation of the source text. -The methodology in this study follows a descriptive approach to analyze data concerning code-switching that Faqir employs in the original novel and their translations by Ismael. The researchers classify and list the codes used by both writers and study the connections between them. Faqir’s usage of code switching is based on her construction of Arab culture as a culture of shame, which is foreign to the English culture. Via the employment of code switching, Ismael also shows that everything is foreign for Salma in England. Exoticism and fragmentation lead to a state of indecisiveness and in-betweenness that demands sacrificing identity, language, and even home.

PENGGUNAAN METODE JIGSAW DALAM PEMBELAJARAN MATA KULIAH TRANSLATION UNTUK MENGHASILKAN KEEFEKTIFAN DALAM MENYELESAIKAN TERJEMAHAN

Translation learning is a complex process that requires a profound understanding of both the source and target languages. This study aims to explore the use of the Jigsaw method in the context of translation course learning, with a focus on enhancing students' effectiveness in completing translations. The Jigsaw method is a cooperative learning approach where students work in small groups to understand parts of the material and then take responsibility for teaching that material to other group members. This study integrates the Jigsaw method into translation learning by utilizing complex and varied source language texts. Students are divided into small groups and assigned tasks to study specific sections of the text to be translated. After thoroughly understanding their respective sections, they regroup with other members who have studied different parts. Through collaboration and discussion, students exchange information and discuss translation strategies. The results of this study indicate that the use of the Jigsaw method significantly enhances students' effectiveness in completing translations. Collaboration among students allows for the exchange of ideas and strategies that can improve their understanding of the source text and produce more accurate and detailed translations. Additionally, through this cooperative learning process, students also develop important social and communication skills essential in the translation profession.

Austronautic Registers: Translation Strategies and Acceptability

<span>This study aims to investigate the translation strategies to translate the astronautic registers as well as the acceptability aspect of the translation. The data comprise 74 astronautic registers in the source text and translated version of <em>The Martian</em> novel. A questionnaire with inputs from the respondents is also put into consideration. The results show that 6 translation strategies consist of translation by a more general word (12%), translation by a more neutral or less expressive word (22%), translation by loan word and loan word plus explanation (17%), translation by paraphrase using related words (31%), translation by paraphrase using unrelated words (15%), translation by omission (3%). This implied most of the registers actually has a similar equivalent in the TL, but the form has to be modified in the TL to capture the main message. Furthermore, in terms of acceptability, 58% data are acceptable, 35% data are less acceptable, and 7% data are unacceptable. It indicates there are still a high number of translations that fail to capture the intended meaning of the registers, bear no nuance as a technical term, and sound unnatural in the TL.</span>

A chapter from the history of labial harmony in Hungarian: A curious case of alternation and variability

AbstractThis paper looks at the alternations introduced by the Old Hungarian regressive labialization of front vowels through the example of a lexical set, the derivational family based on the stem dics- ‘glory, praise’. This alternation was highly variable, but in a patterned way. All the data found in the Old Hungarian codices have been investigated with the help of the online Old Hungarian Corpus, and the distribution of the relevant forms has been mapped, along with a discussion of a highly interesting exceptional form recurring in several of the source texts.

Valorativity of time-remote source text as a problem of cognitive-discursive Translation studies (case study of Ukrainian retranslations of Shakespeare’s Tragedies)

The article addresses an issue of reproduction of evaluation category in the translated text drawing on cognitive-discursive translation studies. The objective of the study is to reveal the potential of valorativity of the units of the original and justify the ways of translational reproduction of this potential in units of translation in terms of the cognitive-discursive paradigm. This is a case study of the tragedy “Macbeth” by W. Shakespeare (1605) as a time-remote original work and its Ukrainian retranslations, the authors of which are Panteleimon Kulish (1900), Todos Osmachka (1930), Yurii Koretskyi (1940), Borys Ten (1986), Oleksandr Hryaznov (2008). The article substantiates the definition of new terminology, namely “cognitive-discursive translation studies”, “valorativity”, “valorative cognitive variant”. The article focuses on the nature of cognitive-discursive paradigm, which is rooted in the interaction of language structures and cognitive processes. The paradigm proves to be the most relevant for considering the valorativity of the text, as it studies it in the context of human cognitive activity and takes into account the impact of linguistic elements on the perception and interpretation of the text. The article reveals that the effectiveness of the selection of means for the reproduction of valorativity of a time-remote original work is determined by the general cultural code of the authors of retranslations and the nature of the translators’ idiostyle and individual authorial worldview. The study affirms that both lexical- semantic and lexical-grammatical transformations were effective in translating evaluative units of the original text using valorative cognitive variants. At the same time, the valorative potential of the original unit when using valorative cognitive variants is either strengthened, or weakened, or transformed as the opposite one.

An experimental study of the impact of machine translation on translation quality

The article is devoted to the study of the impact of machine translation (MT) engines (Onlinedoctranslator and DeepLTranslate) on the quality of target text in the field of psychiatry. The translation quality was determined by the number of errors and quality of rendering psychiatric terminology. The modern translation market offers many online engines designed to help with and accelerate the translation of texts in the field of psychiatry, which is in a state of constant developing, evolution and changes. It is important to determine whether there is a difference in the efficiency of different MT engines. In conducting our research, we formulated a hypothesis, selected a psychiatric text rich in psychiatric terminology, compiled a bilingual dictionary based on the selected text, selected MT engines and the procedure of evaluating errors, analyzed target texts in terms of general quality and psychiatric terminology, processed the experimental data and represented the results in tables providing an expert assessment of the empirical data and formulated conclusions. In conducting the experiment, the hypothesis was confirmed: different MT engines provide different quality of translation. According to the results of the study, DeepL Translate was found to be more efficient. However, errors of all types still occur, so a thorough post-editing of the target texts is required. It was also found that there is an important area in the field of psychiatry, which the researched MT systems cannot cope with. This area is a matter of tact, which requires an understanding of the nuances of the source text and appropriate subject knowledge.

Культурный трансфер в семиотической модели перевода (на примере художественного текста Дж. Хеллера)

The goal of the work is to identify the influence of temporary discursive practices on specific translation decisions. From this goal follow specific tasks in this work: to present discursive and interpretive models of translation; correlate the provisions of these concepts with real translation practice; use factual material to show translation decisions determined by temporary discursive practice. The article also explores ways to convey culturally significant information, provides successful and controversial cases of solving translation tasks through linguistic means. Translation problems, including literary translation, in contemporary philological and cultural studies are interdisciplinary. Only at the intersection of semiotic concepts and literary approaches it is possible to determine the accuracy and completeness of translation decisions in the practice of literary translation. In turn, the study of the issue of cultural transfer in this case, based on various translations of J. Heller’s novel, allows us to overcome the limiting framework of purely philological approach in translation studies. Comparing the work of translators with respect to the same text - in our case, “Catch-22” fills the-abstract concept of the “translator’s figure” with real content, especially when considering the socio-cultural environment that influenced the specificity of translation decisions. The article represents an analysis of current issues in the theory and practice of literary translation. The work offers a review of modern translation models, primarily a discursive model of translation, interpretative concept and the perception of translation as an interpretation of the source text in the existing discursive practice. This research is funded by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Grant No. AP23485752).

Into the World, to the People – Some Remarks on the New Adaptationof Reymont’s Novel The Peasants [Chłopi

The article discusses the interpretation of The Peasants [Chłopi] by Władysław Reymont in DKand Hugh Welchmans’ 2023 fi lm adaptation of the novel. Numerous omissions in comparisonwith the source text primarily affect the fi lm’s portrayal of the village cluster/community. A particularepisode analyzed through references to the novel and the 1970s serialized fi lm adaptationis the ending of Jagna’s story.

Cultural Perspectives in English Translation: The Story of Crow and Snake From Panchatantra

The problem is that although the culture and language are blended, the linguistic elements sometimes roughly demonstrate cultural dimensions in translated products. In other words, a cultural translation usually demands an understanding of linguistic i.e. culturally bound terms and expressions as well as extra-linguistic elements including cultural ones. Since literature is a nation’s cultural resource, the issue becomes even more complicated when literary translation is being involved. To our knowledge, there is no original Panchatantra left in India and all we have today are translations in different languages. To this end, the Persian version has always been considered the source text since the book was first translated into Persian in 550 CE. Therefore, the English translation of the story Crow and Snake is selected from Panchatantra as the target text and investigated employing Bassnett and Lefevere’s (1992) Cultural Theory with a focus on interpretive Discourse Analysis (DA) as analytical frameworks. The Persian text is the translation of Monshi, reprinted in 2010 and the English translation was done by Ryder in 1925. The findings reveal that the relationship between language and culture still remains complicated, and yet the lack of cultural understanding among the translators leads to violation and distortion of the intended messages and meanings embedded in source texts. It is quite safe then to say that the lack of cultural knowledge highly influences the translation

New Non-legal Sources of Thet Autentica Riocht and Other Old Frisian Law Texts

Abstract This article identifies new Latin sources and new Latin and vernacular analogues for noteworthy non-legal passages in late Old Frisian law texts. Several items in Thet Autentica Riocht from Codex Unia and the related “Autentica-Sammlung” preserved in Codex Aysma are shown to descend from Insular catechetical triads (including a triad popularized by Alcuin) that were also adapted by the authors of Old English and Old Norse homilies. Other passages in the Autentica collections can be traced to the works of Gregory and Isidore (likely via a florilegium like the Liber scintillarum), to popular twelfth- and thirteenth-century theological texts like the Stella clericorum and Peter Cantor’s Verbum adbreviatum, and to the Disticha Catonis. Meanwhile, a late, variant conclusion to The Seventeen Statutes is shown to utilize an inexpressibility motif derived from the apocryphal Visio Sancti Pauli that is deployed in similar ways in Old English and Old Norse texts. The identification of these sources and analogues has significant implications for the textual criticism of the Old Frisian works and can also help improve our understanding of their relationship to other medieval European vernacular religious traditions.

Deformations in translating modern Ukrainian war fiction into English – A psycholinguistic study of "Інтернат"/<i>The Orphanage</i> by Serhiy Zhadan

The article is focused on analysing linguistic deformations in translating modern Ukrainian war fiction into English. The research material is the novel "Інтернат"/ The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan and its translation into English. Translation deformations, or "deforming tendencies" (Berman, 2000), are viewed as systemic psycholinguistic distortions, arbitrary and non-arbitrary, of formal and content source text characteristics. Three main groups of translation deformations have been identified in the text under analysis - lexical, stylistic, and grammatical. Lexical deformations include calque translation, concretisation and modulation. Due to their low frequency, they are not viewed as typical. Stylistic deformations fall into synonymous substitution, logisation, explication, expressivation, modernisation, antonymous translation, and compensation. Synonymous substitution and logisation are the most frequent types; therefore, they may be considered prototypical. They are mainly concerned with reproducing characters’ names and descriptions, names or descriptions of military and civil vehicles and tools, colloquial expressions and 'surzhyk'. Grammatical deformations constitute the most significant group. They comprise substitutions and permutations of different types, deletion of words/phrases/sentences, addition of words/phrases, and changes in punctuation. The style of Serhiy Zhadan is characterised by specific syntactical-stylistic features, such as the tendency to use extremely long sentences, high frequency of repetitions of different types, and specific punctuation. Therefore, deleting repetitions, intensifiers, discourse markers, and even sentences is the most recurrent type of grammatical deformation, followed by substitution–division of sentences, which may be treated as prototypical grammatical deformations in the analysed text. Disclosure Statement The authors reported no potential conflicts of interest. * Corresponding author: Diana Kalishchuk, 0000-0003-1952-5176diana.kalishchuk@vnu.edu.ua

TRACING THE FOOTPRINT OF WORLD ENGLISHES ON MACHINE TRANSLATION TOOLS

With the rise in the population who uses English as a Foreign or Second language, World Englishes has become more focus of English language teaching field specialists. As a consequence, English varieties which are present in supplementary tools used in the process of language teaching and learning took on a new meaning. As one of the commonly used supplementary tools is machine translation tools, the current study aims to explore the machine translation outputs tendency considering grammar-based, spelling-based, and lexical variations between varieties of Englishes regarding Google Translate outputs. Source texts were extracted from Turkish National Corpus. A total of seventy-three Turkish to English machine translation outputs were examined regarding two dominant varieties, American English and British English, with the aim of figuring out the machine translation tendency of translation outputs. The analysis of the research showed that Google Translate provides users with mostly American English compared to British English.

Do translation universals exist at the syntactic-semantic level? A study using semantic role labeling and textual entailment analysis of English-Chinese translations

Albeit extensive studies of translation universals at lexical and grammatical levels, there has been scant research at the syntactic-semantic level. To bridge this gap, this study employs semantic role labeling and textual entailment analysis to compare Chinese translations with English source texts and non-translated Chinese original texts. The research has found substantial evidence for translation universals like explicitation, simplification, and levelling out at the syntactic-semantic level, which is illustrated by significant differences between syntactic-semantic features of Chinese translations and those of English source texts and Chinese original texts. This suggests a distinct syntactic-semantic uniqueness of Chinese translations, wherein the overall features exhibit an “eclectic” characteristic, showcasing contrasting outcomes such as explicitation identified as S-universal and implicitation deemed T-universal. This could be attributed to the gravitational pull from the two language systems. In the inspection of specific semantic roles, features of agents and discourse markers are found to be evidence for both S-explicitation and T-explicitation, potentially reflecting the role of socio-cultural factors in shaping the uniqueness of syntactic-semantic features of Chinese translations. These findings further underscore the complexity inherent in translation, highlighting its function as a dynamic balance system.

Bringing ‘Such Matters Upon the Stage’: Women Exemplars in A Warning for Fair Women (1599) and Golding’s A Briefe Discourse (1573)

This essay argues that the unnamed playwright of the 1599 tragedy A Warning for Fair Women adapts Arthur Golding’s 1573 (rpt 1577) pamphlet to reshape the heroine from a negative example of adultery and the beneficiary of church-induced repentance into a positive model of motherhood and spiritual agency aided by another woman. Missing from Golding’s account, the play’s main source and the fount of subsequent reportage on the murder of George Sanders, is attention to women’s spiritual agency and their friendship. I compare the play and source text to argue that the playwright’s emendations of Golding’s material omit or minimize certain elements, including the moralizing tone, to advance a more positive view of women than critics have recognized.

Procedurally generated AI compound media for expanding audial creations, broadening immersion and perception experience

Recently, the world has been gaining vastly increasing access to more and more advanced artificial intelligence tools. This phenomenon does not bypass the world of sound and visual art, and both of these worlds can benefit in ways yet unexplored, drawing them closer to one another. Recent breakthroughs open possibilities to utilize AI driven tools for creating generative art and using it as a compound of other multimedia. The aim of this paper is to present an original concept of using AI to create a visual compound material to existing audio source. This is a way of broadening accessibility thus appealing to different human senses using source media, expanding its initial form. This research utilizes a novel method of enhancing fundamental material consisting of text audio or text source (script) and sound layer (audio play) by adding an extra layer of multimedia experience – a visual one, generated procedurally. A set of images generated by AI tools, creating a story-telling animation as a new way to immerse into the experience of sound perception and focus on the initial audial material. The main idea of the paper consists of creating a pipeline, form of a blueprint for the process of procedural image generation based on the source context (audial or textual) transformed into text prompts and providing tools to automate it by programming a set of code instructions. This process allows creation of coherent and cohesive (to a certain extent) visual cues accompanying audial experience levering it to multimodal piece of art. Using nowadays technologies, creators can enhance audial forms procedurally, providing them with visual context. The paper refers to current possibilities, use cases, limitations and biases giving presented tools and solutions.

ANALYSIS OF FUNCTIONAL SPEECH ADAPTATION STRATEGIES IN MILITARY TRANSLATION

The research is focused on the aspect of functional speech adaptation of language interpreters who are gaining practical experience at the initial stage in the sphere of foreign-language military-professional communication and paying special attention to the search for original speech strategies to achieve the targets of the translation process in the most efficient way. The critical objective of the article is to theorize the functional speech adaptation and underscore the need and importance to develop interpreters’ unique creative strategies in the process of their adaptive professional maturation for the due carrying out of normal and special translation tasks under the conditions of operational military activities abroad. A detailed review of the scientific sources is carried out concerning research into definitions of linguistic terms such as: “adaptation,” “speech adaptation,” “speech strategies.” The author’s definition of the core of the term “Functional speech adaptation” is given and its main differences are outlined versus the definitions of the linguistic categories “adaptation” and “pragmatic adaptation” proposed by Russian linguistic theorists earlier. The most effective strategies for interpreting are reviewed, viz.: implementation of an interpreter’s anticipation, a strategy for target text forming from the ground of precision information, and a strategy for source text segmentation into minimal translation cells. The study applies the methods of definitional analysis, comparative analysis of theoretical principles with their generalization, theoretical synthesis of the concepts’ definitions, linguistic description method and linguistic modeling. The results of the conducted research make a significant contribution to studying functional speech adaptation of military interpreters in the implementation of interpreting and translation tasks on the foreign military sub-languages material. Moreover, the results of the study can be used for future research purposes of translation studies, theoretical and applied linguistics.