Translation 1 Chapter 1 Unit 1 Chapter 2 Translation Techniques UNIT 1 TECHNIQUE 1 GUESSING MEANING OF NEW / UNFAMILIAR WORDS Objectives 1 Identify new/unfamiliar word in the sentence 2 Understand mea[.]
Chapter 2: Translation Techniques UNIT 1: TECHNIQUE GUESSING MEANING OF NEW / UNFAMILIAR WORDS Objectives: Identify new/unfamiliar word in the sentence Understand meaning of new/unfamiliar word Guessing meaning of new/unfamiliar word in context Apply technique of guessing meaning of new/unfamiliar word in EV and V-E translation Chapter Unit 1: Technique Guessing meaning of new/ unfamiliar words DO YOU KNOW? Success in translating a document requires a translator to use various problemsolving skills One of these skills is that it is almost impossible for a translator to know the exact meaning of every word he/she reads, especially when translating from another language to his/her native language However, by developing guessing ability, he/she will often be able to understand enough to arrive at the total meaning of a sentence, a paragraph or a document as a whole In using the context to decide the meaning of a word a translator has to use: background knowledge knowledge of the subject matter he/she is translating knowledge of grammar and sentence structure ability to understand the author’s ideas USEFUL HINT • Although there is no formula that you can memorize to improve your ability to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words, you should keep the following points in mind HINT: Use the meaning of (i)the other words in the sentence (or paragraph) and (ii) the meaning of the sentence as a whole to reduce the number of possible meanings Use grammar and punctuation clues that point relationships among the various parts of the sentence to the Be happy with a general idea about the unfamiliar word; exact definition or synonym is not always necessary Learn to recognize the situations in which it is not necessary to know the meaning of the word TASK Each of the following sentence contains the word ‘wungle’, which is a nonsense word in English In each sentence it is used in a different way, and clearly a different kind of word Look carefully at each one to see the different functions it performs Write your guess in the spaces provided I stopped a wungle in the street and asked him the way to the post office We paid to go into the zoo and saw the wungles The earth in my garden is so rich that my wungles are growing nicely The experience gave me a strong feeling of wungle They saw not just one but the whole wungle of them He was unfortunately rather wungled last night I am pleased that it was all so wungleful We were disappointed at how wungly they treated us Congratulation on doing it so wunglefully 10 She spends every Saturday night at home wungling TASK • Without using dictionary, you know the meaning and the types of the following words? If not, try to guess and write your guess (even in Vietnamese) in the spaces provided pounce ……… pelt ……… adapt ……… gregarious ……… inveigh ……… ravenous ……… ……… salvage slither ……… • Now you will see the words again Concentrate on developing your ability to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words using context clues Read each sentence carefully, and write a definition, synonym, or description of the italicized word on the line provided For example: Some people have no difficulty making the necessary changes in their way • adjust of life when they move to a foreign country; others are not able to adapt as easily to a new environment TASK 2: PRACTICE Now the same ……… We watched as the cat came quietly through the grass toward the bird When it was just a few feet from the victim, it gathered its legs under itself, and pounced ……….When he learned that the club was planning to admit women, the colonel began to inveigh against all forms of liberalism; his shouting attack began with universal voting and ended with a protest against divorce ……… The snake slithered through the grass ……… The man thought that the children were defenseless, so he walked boldly up to the oldest and demanded money Imagine his surprise when they began to pelt him with rocks ……… Unlike his gregarious sister, Jane is a shy, unsociable person who does not like to go to party or to make new friends ……… After a day of hunting, Harold is ravenous Yesterday, for example, he ate bowls of soup, salad, a large chicken, and a piece of chocolate cake before he was finally satisfied ……… After the accident, the ship went down so fast that we weren’t able to salvage any of our personal belongings Now translate the sentences from 1-7 into Vietnamese and check your translation with that of your friends TASK 3: VIETNAM NEW TECHNOLOGY IN TREE PLANTING •Read the passage below and translate it into Vietnamese Write your translation in the space provided You are not allowed to use dictionary The gradual deforestation of the upstream riverine areas of Northwest and northern Centre of Vietnam has led to a number of damaging environmental effects The immediate effect of the removal of root systems and overhead shelter is to expose the earth to wind attrition, resulting in soil erosion Subsequently, when trees no longer remove ground water, a second consequence of deforestation is a rise in water table, resulting in a great incident of flooding and salinity Both these problems pose a serious threat to agriculture, the most important sector of the country’s •This is one part of a longer translation exercise After the exercise, some of the students were asked if they had any problems while translating it Below are some of their answers Student I started translating right away However, some difficult structures slow me down a lot I feel comfortable with Vietnamese sentences, but the English words did confuse me at first Student Many new words They prevented me from translating I understand the idea of the whole passage, but I have left some sentences just translated I didn’t the translation well enough Maybe I will it again Student I have never read anything about forestry, so I really got shocked when I read the passage I usually translate something more common, not anything specific like that Student I feel it difficult to understand the passage My translation doesn’t sound Vietnamese at all Why did people write English that way? Student I understand the passage, but it is not easy to give Vietnamese equivalents to some of the phrases, isn’t it WHO ARE YOU? Thank you! TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC VINH VINH UNIVERSITY