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STRATEGIES OF TRANSLATION PROCESS

There are numerous translation strategies available to translators such as modification, transposition, paraphrasing, literal translation, calquing etc. All of these strategies are essential at various times when dealing with various different texts. The problem facing us as translators is that depending on which theory of translation we subscribe to, one or more of these strategies may be prohibited, or at best, inconsistent with the spirit of the particular theory. Indeed, these strategies are so different in terms of their effects that it seems impossible that they could be comfortably incorporated within a single theory. For example, the more formal linguistic approaches might have difficulties in permitting the use of paraphrasing, primarily because they do not regard paraphrases as real translations. With approaches based on formal equivalence at its most conservative, anything other than word-for-word translation would be unacceptable. Yet as translators, we use virtually all of these strategies at various stages, sometimes even within a single project, text or paragraph. And this seems to be part of the problem with much of the literature on translation, namely that a translator can have one overall aim for the translation, for example a target-orientated translation, but still use approaches and strategies ranging from literal translation to radical paraphrasing, addition and omission without compromising the communicative purpose of the translation process.

There exist important areas that need to be considered when translating technical texts:

1. we need to concentrate on the needs of the target audience this is who the translation is produced for and these are the judges of whether a translation is actually good or not;

2. we need to understand what it is the target audience needs and wants;

3. we need to remember that it is necessary to add, change or remove information as part of the translation process in order to achieve effective communication via a technical text.

Underlying the translation process is a translation strategy or a configuration of strategies that provide the framework within which translation decisions are made. Each translation situation calls for a different translation strategy and each translator has his or her own translation strategy or set of strategies. Although these strategies constitute the backbone of the translation process, the literature on translation rarely discusses them. There seems to be some confusion over the definition of the term “strategy”. In the literature, translation strategies are often referred and equated to methods, techniques, procedures and types. Contrary to the common belief, translation types are not production strategies. They are the outcomes of a strategy that begins with a decision to take a certain approach to translation and to choose a certain type of translation (literal, semantic, communicative and so on). 

Before any serious attempt is made to define translation strategies, it is important to define the term strategy itself since it seems that different translation researchers and practitioners use it in somewhat different senses. The Webster’s Dictionary defines strategy as:

1. the science or art of planning and directing large-scale military movements and operations.

2. the use of or an instance of using this science or art.

3. the use of a stratagem.

4. a plan or method for achieving a specific goal.

Of relevance to our discussion of translation strategies is definition. A strategy is a plan or method for achieving a specific goal.  In this sense, we can define a translation strategy as the overall plan or blueprint employed by the translator to achieve a specific translation goal. A strategy consists of techniques, procedures, and methods that bear on the translation product as it develops. 

Translation strategy has been recently examined by translation researchers such as Snell-Hornby (1988). He believes that translation strategies consist of identifying and creating multiple relationships in both cultural association and language at the semantic and phonological levels. 

Viewing strategies as problem-solving mechanisms, Lorscher argues that translation strategies have their starting point in the realization of a problem by the translator who employs these strategies to solve the problem. However, a problem is first recognized and identified, then a solution is devised, implemented, monitored and controlled. Thus, within a framework of decision making, it can be argued that the starting point of a translation strategy is in the solution phase since selecting a strategy involves a decision to choose a solution from among alternatives.

The ultimate goal of any translation strategy is to solve the underlying problem of translation-mediated communication and to remove the external and internal constraints imposed on the translation process in order to unlock potential alternatives. 

Bibliography

A.Darwish, A (1999), Towards a Theory of Constraints, work in progress, draft version 0.2, Melbourne, Australia.

Jody Bryne (2006) Technical Translation. University of Sheffield, UK.

Lorscher (1991) Translation Quality Assessment: Where Can Theory and   Practice Meet? In: The Translator 6(2)

Snell-Hornby M. Translation Studies: an In­tegrated Approach. -   Amsterdam, 1988.