Allusion Examples

Allusion is when an author references something external to his or

her work in a passing manner.

passing
[ pas-ing, pah-sing ]
SHOW IPA

SEE SYNONYMS FOR passing ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective
going by or past; elapsing:He was feeling better with each passing day.
brief, fleeting, or fortuitous; transitory:to take a passing fancy to something.
done, given, etc., in passing; cursory:a passing mention.
SEE MORE

adverb
surpassingly; exceedingly; very.

noun
the act of a person or thing that passes or causes something to pass.
a means or place of passage.

IDIOMS FOR PASSING
in passing, by the way; incidentally:The speaker mentioned his latest book in passing.
ORIGIN OF PASSING

Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; see origin at pass, -ing2, -ing1

OTHER WORDS FROM PASSING
pass·ing·ly, adverbpass·ing·ness, nounun·pass·ing, adjective

. VERB
To pass someone or something means to go past them without stopping.
As she passed the library door, the phone began to ring.  [VERB  noun]
Jane stood aside to let her pass.  [VERB]
I sat in the garden and watched the passing cars.  [VERB-ing]

2. VERB

When someone or something passes in a particular direction, they move in that direction.

He passed through the doorway into Ward B.  [VERB  preposition/adverb]
He passed down the tunnel.  [VERB  preposition/adverb]
As the car passed by, I saw them point at me and laugh.  [VERB  preposition/adverb]
Synonyms: go, move, travel, roll   More Synonyms of pass

3. VERB

If something such as a road or pipe passes along a particular route, it goes along that route.

After going over the Col de Vars, the route passes through St-Paul-sur-Ubaye.  [VERB  preposition/adverb]
The road passes a farmyard.  [VERB  noun]

4. VERB

If you pass something through, over, or round something else, you move or push it through, over, or
round that thing.
She passed the needle through the rough cloth, back and forth.  [VERB  noun preposition/adverb]
'I don't understand,' the Inspector mumbled, passing a hand through his hair.  [VERB  noun
preposition/adverb]

He passed a hand wearily over his eyes.  [VERB  no

 passing swiftly : TRANSITORY… the often fleeting nature of fame and

fortune 

 For example, an author may reference a musical artist or song, a great

thinker or philosopher, the author or title of a different text, or a major
historical event. Allusions are a type of poetic device. Another form of the
word allusion is allude.

To allude is to refer to something without explaining it, to hint at it.

Allusions can be problematic. Since they are not explained, allusions depend
on the reader knowing whatever external thing to which the author is
alluding.
 For example, T. S. Eliot wrote a poem called “The Waste Land,” which is
widely considered by scholars and academics to be one of the most
important poems of the 20th century.

Yet, “The Waste Land” is so densely packed with allusions that most casual
readers find it to be impenetrable.

That is to say, most readers don’t get it. This is the risk that writers take
when using allusions.
 Allusions are a type of poetic device that depend on the reader
possessing background knowledge on a thing that is not further
explained.

You should use them with caution for this reason. Still confused? Let’s go
over an example before I launch into the list:

We heard a kind of war-whoop, such as David might have emitted

when he knocked out the champion Goliath.
In this line (taken from O. Henry’s short story, “The Ransom of Red Chief“)
the speaker alludes to the biblical figures of David and Goliath. In the
context of “The Ransom of Red Chief,” this line is written as a smaller
character delivers a punishing blow to a much larger character.

This parallels how David dispatched Goliath in the story from the Bible,
which make it an allusion to the Bible. But, if you are unfamiliar with this
particular biblical story, then the allusion will be lost on you.

50 Examples of Allusion
1. My Mom has a Spartan workout routine.
2. Keith was speeding down the empty road in his Mustang and listening
to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on the radio.
3.
This was our Declaration of Independence and if Mom didn’t let us
go to that concert, she would be our King George III.
4. Some people are calling me the Tiger Woods of miniature golf.
5. Don’t go thinking you’re Robin Hood just cause you took an extra
peppermint from the candy jar.
6. You don’t have to be Albert Einstein to understand poetry.
7. She thinks that she loves me, and Christopher Columbus thought he
was in India.
8. Don’t wear an Abraham Lincoln hat on your first date.
9. We do serious work in my classroom. It isn’t the Mickey Mouse
Club over here.
10. Look, I’m no Mother Teresa. I’ve made my mistakes, but I’m
trying.
11. Come. Be the Cleopatra to my Mark Antony.
12. As I walked through the graveyard, Beethoven’s “Symphony
No. 9” played in my head.
13. Did you think that you were at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West
show when you met my parents?
14. When Donna got her income tax refund check in the mail, she
was so happy that she did the Moonwalk.
15. Plutarch was good, and so was Homer too.
if Shakespeare could write, than so can you.
16. Well, I’m no Hercules, but I could open that jelly jar for you.
17. Why does Cap’n Crunch always wear that Napoleon hat?
18. Why should I read “Hamlet” or study the Battle of Hamburger
Hill when the world is happening outside my window?
19. She reminded me of the mother Mary in her grace.
20. You don’t have to be William Shakespeare to write poetry.
21. If you keep pushing me, I’m going to turn into the Incredible
Hulk on you.
22. My sister’s house is not the Ritz-Carlton, but it is warm and
dry.
23. Just because someone has different political views than you
doesn’t make them Adolph Hitler.
24. We were listening to “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles,
right when it started raining.
25. He gets one three point shot in gym class and now he thinks that
he’s Steph Curry.
26. Just as I sat down to cry, a Bob Marley song came on the radio,
and I decided to dance instead.
27. What if George Washington really did tell lies? Who would
know?
28. Omar was walking down the block, whistling “The Farmer in
the Dell.”
29. Our city needs a real-life Batman.
30. You don’t have to be Michelangelo to copy and paste images of
Michelangelo’s artwork.
31. My mom tried to get me to watch a movie called Mona Lisa
Smile.
32. I want to grow those big fat Elvis sideburns.
33. When we saw my cousin in his army uniform, we all started
calling him G.I. Joe.
34. I’ll be your Romeo if you’ll be my Juliet.
 35. Kelly couldn’t help but to notice that the new boy was
reading Lord of the Flies during study hall.
36. He’s a nice guy, Janie, if you can get past his Krusty the
Clown haircut.
37. He took command of his home like he was Caesar in Rome.
38. Janice was listening to “Single Ladies” by Beyonce and putting
on her makeup.
39. I might have to do my flying Bruce Lee kick if you keep playing
with me.
40. That’s the kind of beard that Teen Wolf would grow.
41. Don’t wear those big red Ironman boots to the party.
42. The boy on the horse whistled “Yankee Doodle” on his way to
town.
43. She’s going to do her Marilyn Monroe thing over the vent.
44. Chrissy has a Lion King poster in her room.
45. Instead of going to the party, Kara stayed home and read The
Hunger Games.
46. My uncle was watching The Godfather and smoking a cigar.
47. She was reading a book of poems by Emily Dickinson and
listening to the sounds of nature.
48. As Thomas chased after the bus, he felt like he was Frodo
Baggins in The Lord of the Rings.
49. I’ve got the speed and power of a young Mike Tyson.
50. Go ahead, ask me anything. I’m like Google over here.
In review, allusions are references to external things. These things can
be famous people, literary texts, songs, historical events, and
more. Allusions are a cool way to bring the spirit of another work
into one’s text. But, be careful when using allusions because if your
audience is unfamiliar with the thing to which you are alluding, your allusion
will bellyflop. When I created this list of allusion examples, I tried to
reference HUGE historical figures, texts, and events, yet I wouldn’t be
surprised if some of these allusions were lost on you. The more obscure your
allusion, the less likely your readers are to connect with it. I hope that this
page helped you to better understand literary allusions.
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1 Comment
1. Sheri
  /  February 25, 2020

There are some good examples of allusion, but others are not. For example,
“Janice was listening to “Single Ladies” by Beyonce and putting on her
makeup.” is NOT an allusion. An allusion is a literary, cultural, mythological,
or historical reference that is not explained in the text in which it appears.
The writer assumes that readers will understand the reference. In the above
example, there is no reference to understand. Janice is listening to a song.
The song is titled Single Ladies. Beyonce sings the song.

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Naturalness: Some English (Morpho)syntactic Examples

By Oresnik, Janez

Read preview
 Article excerpt
ABSTRACT

In Slovenia, the natural syntax of the Klagenfurt brand has been extended to the study of the
behaviour of (near-)synonymous syntactic expressions, here called syntactic variants. Below our
work is illustrated with (morpho)syntactic eases from English. (Naturalness Theory applied to
English has so far not received much attention). About a half of the examples deal with the
syntactic behaviour of objects; the other half considers raising phenomena. The language
material is divided into consecutively numbered deductions in each of which the existence of a
(morpho)syntactic state of affairs is predicted on the basis of apposite assumptions and
Andersen's markedness alignment rules.

**********

The subject-matter of my paper is a (language-universal) theory developed in Slovenia by a

small group of linguists (under my guidance), who mainly use English, German, and Slovenian
language material as the base of verification. Our work owes much to, and exploits, the
(linguistic) Naturalness Theory as elaborated especially at some Austrian and German
universities; cf. Mayerthaler (1981), Wurzel (1984), Dressier et al. (1987), Dressler (2000).
Naturalness Theory has also been applied to syntax, notably at the University of Klagenfurt; the
basic references are Dotter (1990), Mayerthaler and Fliedl (1993), Mayerthaler et al. (1993,
1995, 1998). Within the natural syntax of the Klagenfurt brand, the Slovenian work group has
built an extension which studies the behaviour of (near-)synonymous syntactic expressions, here
called syntactic variants. Whenever two syntactic variants are included in the same naturalness
scale, and consequently one variant can be asserted to be more natural than the other, something
can be said about some grammatical properties of the two variants.

Within Naturalness Theory Mayerthaler (1981: 10) distinguishes sem- and sym-naturalness.
Since the present paper utilizes sem-naturalness only, Mayerthaler's distinction will not be
discussed. Sem-naturalness will simply be called naturalness in the continuation of the paper.
The predicate "natural" will be defined as simple (for the speaker) from the cognitive point of
view. This kind of naturalness is similar to traditional markedness, and the following
approximate equation can be stated as a first orientation of the reader: [alpha]markedness = -
[alpha]naturalness. It is practically impossible to compare markedness and naturalness in
(morpho)syntax seeing that the application of both in that field is in a state of flux.

Naturalness values will be stated in naturalness scales. The basic scale format is >nat (A, B)--i.e.
with respect to cognitive complexity, A is more natural than B. This is the speaker's viewpoint. It
is further assumed that, from the hearer's viewpoint, B is more natural than A. (This is based on
the assumption that the interests of the speaker and the hearer in a communicative situation are as
a rule antagonistic). A consequence of this that will play an important role in the continuation:
the scale >nat (A, B) can be substantiated by showing that A is more natural than B for the
speaker, and/or by showing that B is more natural than A for the hearer.

To cover any optional usage of A or B, this framework assumes the following two additional
formats derived from the basic format:
i) >nat (A + B, B), i.e. admitting both the more and the less natural variant is more natural than
admitting only the less natural variant;

ii) >nat (A, A + B), i.e. admitting only the more natural variant is more natural than admitting
both the more and the less natural variant.

Any scale in one of the two derived formats (i-ii) is asserted to be true whenever the
corresponding scale in the basic format >nat (A, B) is asserted to be true. Therefore, when a scale
couched in a derived format is used, it suffices to back up the corresponding scale in the basic
format. 

The Challenges of Translating

Literature

Published On - May 29, 2017

 Richard Brooks Inside Track

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Literary translation is the translation of creative and dramatic prose and poetry into other
languages. This includes the translation of literature from ancient languages and the translation
of modern fiction so that it can reach a wider audience.

xamples of fleeting in a Sentence

 I caught a fleeting glimpse of the comet. had a fleeting desire to jump into
the cool lake but kept on hiking

Recent Examples on the WebNow on hiatus, Soulia has had a chance to

go back and really look at the images: families wearing everything from
slacks to PJs, huddling together, trying to smile through
one fleeting  moment of normalcy in a time of staggering uncertainty. — USA
Today, "Front porch portraits document home life in the time of coronavirus," 1 Apr. 2020But
success for the football teams featured on the show has been a little
more fleeting.
The sands of time is an English idiom relating the passage of time to the sand in an
hourglass. The hourglass is an antiquated timing instrument consisting of two glass
chambers connected vertically by a narrow passage which allows sand to trickle from
the upper part to the lower by means of gravity.

Why is literary translation

important?
Literary translation is of huge importance. It helps to shape our understanding of the world
around us in many ways. Reading Homer and Sophocles as part of a classical education in school
helps to build an understanding of history, politics, philosophy and so much more.

Meanwhile, reading contemporary translations provides fascinating insights into life in other
cultures and other countries. In a fast-paced world so rife with misunderstanding and confusion,
such efforts to share knowledge and experiences across cultural boundaries should be applauded.

The history of literary translation

An entire history of literary translation is far too big for the scope of a single article. Indeed, The
Oxford History of Literary Translation in English runs to five whole volumes, such is the depth
and complexity of the subject. Suffice to say that literary translation has been taking place for
thousands of years.

History has seen countless translators come and go. Many of their names we will never know,
but some – King Alfred the Great and Geoffrey Chaucer, for example, who both translated
Boethius from the original Latin – had the power and influence to ensure that their translation
efforts were not lost to the sands of time.

What makes literary translation so

difficult?
The translation of literature differs greatly from other forms of translation. The sheer size of the
texts involved in literary translation sets it apart. Tackling a translation that runs to hundreds of
thousands of words is not a task for the faint-hearted. Nor is recreating poetry in a new language,
without losing the beauty and essence of the original work.

One of the key challenges of literary translation is the need to balance staying faithful to the
original work with the need to create something unique and distinctive that will evoke the same
feelings and responses as the original. This can be particularly challenging when it comes to
translating poetry.

Poems are written with incredible attention to detail. Not only are the words and phrases
important, but the number of syllables and the entire rhythm of the completed work. It’s a
challenging task to complete just in one language, let alone when trying to recreate a poet’s work
during a translation. Daniel Hahn, director of the British Centre for Literary Translation, sums up
the issue beautifully:

“There’s not a single word in any of the languages I translate that can map perfectly onto a word
in English. So it’s always interpretative, approximate, creative. Anything that is, itself, a
‘linguistic’ quality will by definition be anchored in a particular language — whether it’s idiom,
ambiguity, or assonance. All languages are different.”
As literary translators will attest, a single word can be extremely troublesome. The author of a
work of fiction has chosen that word for a good reason, so the translator must ensure that it is
faithfully delivered in the target language. However, what if no direct translation is available? Or
what if several options exist, each with a slightly different nuance? Urdu language translator
Fahmida Riaz outlines her approach to such thorny issues:

“Every piece you translate comes from the pen of an individual, so you have to give it an
individual treatment. I try to retain the ambience of the original culture, rather than the language,
as it is reflected in the text.”

Translating novels
Translating novels is just as tricky as translating poetry – and can often be more so. Best-selling
author Patrick Rothfuss explains that it is not just the length of the text involved which is
problematic:
“Names are important things. And real names, names that actually exist in the world, don’t make
a lot of literal sense. This is because real names tend to accrete and evolve over time.

“I work hard to create real-seeming names for things in my world. Names that give a strong
impression without actually saying anything. Names like Mincet lane, and Cricklet, and
Downings.

“These real-seeming (but in reality made-up) names sound really good in English, but they’re a
huge pain to translate.”
Then there’s the need to stay true to the original text while not translating it literally. It’s about
recreating the atmosphere of the original novel without translating it word for word. Humour,
irony, plays on words and plotlines revealed by implication rather than explanation all serve to
make this even harder.
A further complication is the assumed knowledge of the reader. References to customs, practices
and traditions may be easy to understand when reading a novel in one’s own language, but how
does a translator deliver that level of built-in knowledge to a reader in another country who may
be unfamiliar with the original language’s cultural quirks?

What skills does a literary translator need?

Clearly, literary translation requires a very particular skillset. The translation of literature is a far
more creative art than many forms of translation. When translating a pharmaceutical product
information leaflet, for example, it’s essential to deliver text that is a word for word
interpretation of the original. However, for the translation of prose and poetry, creative writing
ability is just as important as linguistic prowess.

Confidence in one’s ability is also essential. It’s fine to get bogged down with how to truly
represent the meaning of a sentence – or even a single word – but the translator also needs to
know when it’s time to make a choice and move on (and also when, several pages later, that
nagging doubt about going back and making changes needs to be listened to!).

The ability to deliver continuity is also essential –, particularly in long novels. Remembering
facts (like the minor character mentioned some 30,000 pages being the hero’s cousin by marriage
rather than blood) will save an awful lot of flicking backwards and forward to check things.

The state of the literary translation

industry
Over a decade ago, Bowker estimated that just 3% of the books published in the US were
translations. Research published by Literature Across Frontiers in 2015 confirmed that the
translation of literature for the English and Irish markets echoed this pitiful level. Despite the low
figure, there were some encouraging signs that literary translation into English was increasing.
Literature Across Frontiers (LAF) director Alexandra Büchler observed:
“The statistics show a steady growth of literary translations over the past two decades in absolute
numbers and this is very encouraging. General translations grew by 53% between 1990 and 2012
and literary translations by 66%. This is of course reflected in only marginal percentage growth
due to the growth in the overall publishing output.”
The LAF report also highlighted the diversity of source languages when it came to translation for
English and Irish readers. Swedish, Dutch, Norwegian, Arabic and Japanese were all among the
top ten languages translated. Eastern European languages, on the other hand, were woefully
underrepresented, meaning that:

“… we are clearly missing out on entire swaths of literary landscapes in our immediate
neighbourhood.”
Just as translation into English often ignores minor languages, so does literary translation into
other languages. The European Council of Literary Translators’ Associations reports that up to a
staggering 80% of all literary translations in smaller countries are from English. The translation
of literature from minor language to minor language is a huge gap in the field of literary
translation.

The changing face of literary translation

Literary translation has undergone something of a renaissance of late. The changing of the Man
Booker International Prize in 2016 to reward the translator of the winning novel on a par with the
author represented a significant shift in the importance of literary translation.

Also telling is Amazon’s eagerness to take on the translation of literature – clearly there is
money to be made from investing in literary translation. Its translation publishing arm,
AmazonCrossing, has risen rapidly to prominence, accounting for 10% of all translations in 2016
and backed by the financial strength to roam the world in its quest for exciting literature.
AmazonCrossing is now the most prolific publisher of translated fiction in the US. It covered 15
languages in 2016, including Indonesian, Hebrew, Russian, Chinese and Finnish.
This exciting growth bodes well for the future. The translation of literature is hugely important in
our modern society and Amazon is well-positioned to play a key role in promoting the sharing of
literature between countries, translating into English as well as into other languages. With so
many political and economic divides and injustices in the world, anything that can bring us
closer to understanding other cultures surely deserves to be celebrated.

If you’re an author or publisher looking to release literature in a different language, talk to our

team about what you’d like to achieve. We will be able to put you in touch with the perfect
linguist who’s ready to be your voice in their language.
PREVIOUS POST A Brief History of the Umlaut

Sifting through the Sands of Time

When you're on the beach, you're stepping on ancient mountains, skeletons of marine
animals, even tiny diamonds. Sand provides a mineral treasure-trove, a record of geology's
earth-changing processes.

Sand: as children we play on it and as adults we relax on it. It is something we complain

about when ft gets in our food, and praise when it's moulded into castles. But we don't often
look at it, If we did, we would discover an account of a geological past and a history of
marine life that goes back thousands and in some cases millions of years.

 
Sand covers not just sea-shores, but also ocean beds, deserts and mountains. It is one of
the most common substances on earth, And it is a major element in man made materials
too –concrete is largely sand, while glass is made of little else.

What exactly is sand? Well, it is larger than fine dust and smaller than shingle. In fact,
according to the most generally accepted scheme of measurement, devised by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, grains qualify if their diameter is greater than 0.06 of
a millimeter and less than 0.6 of a millimeter.

Depending on its age and origin, a particular sand can consist of tiny pebbles or porous
granules. Its grains may have the shape of stars or spirals, their edges lagged or smooth.
They have come from the erosion of rocks, or from the skeletons of marine organisms,
which accumulate on the bottom of the oceans, or even from volcanic eruptions.

Color is another clue to sand's origins. If it is a dazzling white, its grains may be derived
from nearby coral outcrops, from crystalline quartz rocks or from gypsum, like the white
sands of New Mexico. On Pacific Islands jet black sands form from volcanic minerals. Other
black beaches are magnetic. Some sand is very recent indeed, as is the case on
the island of Kaomagma in Hawaii, where a beach was created after a volcanic eruption in
1990, Motten lava spilled into the sea and exploded in glassy droplets.

Usually, the older the granules, the finer they are and the smoother their edges. The fine,
white beaches of northern Scotland, for instance, are recycled from sandstone several
hundred million years old. Perhaps they will be stone once more, in another few hundred
million.

 
 Sand is an irreplaceable industrial ingredient whose uses are legion: but ft has one vital
function you might never even notice. Sand cushions our land from the sea's impact,
and geologists say it often does a better job of protecting our shores than the most
advanced coastal technology.

1. A vast
host, multitude, or number of people or things.
"legions of photographers and TV cameras"
Sinonim:
Horde, host, throng, multitude, crowd
drove, ass, mob, rabble, gang, swarm
flock, herd, body, pack, score
mountain, army, sea, abundance, profusion
adjective
1. great in number.
"her fans are legion"
Sinonim:
Numerous, countless, innumerable, incalculable, immeasurable
He looked out at the sea of people

Proverb. a stopped clock is right twice a day. A normally unreliable person or

instrument can occasionally provide correct information, even if only by accident.

The square was a sea of people.

The square had a sea of people.

     


cite or appeal to (someone or something) as an authority for an action or in support of
an argument.
"the antiquated defense of insanity is rarely invoked today"
Sinonim:
cite
 refer to
adduce
instance
resort to
have recourse to
turn to
call into use
use
put into effect/use
Antonim:
waive
 call on (a deity or spirit) in prayer, as a witness, or for inspiration.
Sinonim:
pray to
call on
appeal to
plead with
supplicate
entreat
solicit
beseech
beg
implore
importune
petition
call for
request
obtest
obsecrate
impetrate
 call earnestly for.
"she invoked his help against this attack"


 Penguins show signs of stress

 Prehistoric insects spawn new drugs

 AUSTRALIA'S FIRST COMMERCIAL WIND FARM

 Succeeding in title role

 ' Salty' rice plant boosts harvests

 GOING DIGITAL

 Divers hunt for ruins of Pharos lighthouse

 Sifting through the Sands of Time

 The Undersea World of Sound

The increasingly complex challenges faced by today’s retail industry have been well
documented of late – challenges which are often compounded when exporting. Brands
and retailers need to address rapidly changing consumer behaviours and expectations,
as well as respond to the pressures of speedy delivery, regulatory demands and
fluctuating exchange rates – just to survive […]

By Surinder Singh

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Linguistic and Cultural Issues in Literary

Translation
by Mohammed Albakry
Northern Arizona University

Abstract

The article is a discussion of a case study of translating a short story

from Arabic into English. The discussion revolves around the
translation process and its reconstruction focusing on some of the
linguistic and cultural issues encountered in the original and how they
were resolved in the translation.
Linguistic and Cultural Issues in Literary Translation

his paper is based on my translation of a collection of short stories

"A night in Casablanca" by the late Moroccan writer Muhammad
Zefzaf. The critical introduction offered here is informed by
translating a number of his short stories. These short stories come from
two of Zefzaf's collections part 1 and part 2 published by the Ministry of
Morocco (Publications of the Cultural Affairs, Manshurat Wizarat Alsh'un
Althakafi'ia) 1999. The specific discussion of the translation process and its
reconstruction, however, will revolve around only one of these short
stories: The Nests.

most of what has been Zefzaf is well known in the Middle East and particularly
written about the Islamic the Northern African part of it. Owing to the special
world by the so-called cultural ties between France and North Africa, some of
experts on Islam and the his works have been translated into French, but, in
Middle East-who claim to general, little is known about him in other western
tell us the real truth languages. My rendition is the first translation of
about Islam and its Zefzaf's stories into English, and there could be no
people-has often focused more urgent cultural need to introduce writers like him
on war, political turmoil, to the American reader.
and religious conflict and
has often been colored Since the events of September 11, 2001, the
by ideological western world has developed a consuming interest
orientations. in Islamic life and culture. However, since then
most of what has been written about the Islamic
world by the so-called experts on Islam and the
Middle East—who claim to tell us the real truth
about Islam and its people—has often focused on war, political turmoil, and
religious conflict and has often been colored by ideological orientations.

As Edward Said (2002) points out, however, only good literature is

particularly capable of dispelling "the ideological fogs" that has for so long
surrounded the Middle East and obscured its people from the West. Said
argues that the West needs the kind of literature that can open up the
world of Islam as pertaining to the living and the experienced rather than
the ideological books that try to shut it down and stuff it into a box labeled
"Dangerous—do not disturb". And Zefzaf's stories are examples of that kind
of literature.

Zefzaf's stories, represented here by The Nests, offer a unique window into
the everyday, domestic life of ordinary people in a Muslim world steeped in
its own context, unfiltered by western sensibilities. In his stories, we are
 able to see ordinary moments in the lives of ordinary characters unfold
from the inside out. We see men and women who struggle to survive and
understand the meaning of life in a culture startlingly different yet
glowing with universal glimpses of love, hate, jealousy, fear, cynicism,
pathos, disappointment, regret, and bursts of insight into the human
condition.

Reconstruction of the Translation Process: Linguistic Issues

1. Narrative Style

Realism and attention to details in simple stark style characterize most of

Zefzaf's stories and this aspect poses no problems to the translator.

In some of his stories, however, Zefzaf is more experimental in his use of

literary styles. The Nests, for example, stylistically makes use of free direct
style as a narrative technique.

many and of various types.

"multifarious activities"
 having many varied parts or aspects.
"a vast multifarious organization"
Sinonim:
diverse
many
numerous
various
varied
diversified

Congruent with this narrative style, Zefzaf probes into the character's
multifarious thoughts and feelings without paying much attention to a
narrative sequence since the emphasis is not so much on the external
events as it is on the character's thought-events at a single moment.

Particularly challenging from the translation point of view is handling the

extensive use of free direct speech merged with the narration without any
overt indication by a reporting clause or a switch to indirect speech. The
following quote illustrates this point:

"He threw the letter under his feet and started to cry. How many nests
were built and destroyed! My God! What can a man do with himself?"

Here we have a descriptive sentence prefaced by the narrator's third

person pronoun 'he' whereas the next exclamatory statement can be an
expression of the character's consciousness or a commentary on this
consciousness. The following question, however, starts with the first person
possessive 'my' in an exclamation phrase, an indication that the utterance
represents the subjectivity of the narrated subject. In other words, two
different subjects of consciousness are present at the same time, but how
do we know whose perspective or subjectivity is represented at a specific
point in the discourse? This is a question that the translator of this literary
style has to face throughout the story.

The translation of this kind of literary style has to pay particular attention
to certain linguistic uses. For example proximal deictic adverbs and
demonstratives such as now, here, there, this, these, etc. invite the
inference of a speaking subjectivity. Other features like the use of third-
person pronouns and past tense suggest the presence of another voice
(Wright, 1995, p.153).

Zefzaf relays some of the subjective impressions of his nameless character

through the consciousness of that character, and, at the same time by
using the latter features, he manages to maintain the narrator's
perspective. Here is another example that illustrates this interaction or
tension between the two perspectives:

"He picks up radish roots, takes a drink and looks from behind the window
at the vases of flowers and the couple of doves flying together in return to
their place over the roof. Maybe they have a nest there. Every couple
above or under the earth builds some kind of nest for themselves, but it
might get destroyed before they leave each other or after their deaths.
Every nest is destined to be destroyed and people fight with all possible
means to destroy their nests. But he is not positive what the two doves
have on the roof, a nest, a hen, a cock or nothing. Whatever is hidden, no
one else can know when it is hidden behind walls or barriers."

The initial narrator's stance is indicated by the use of the third person
pronoun in the first descriptive two lines. In the following italic part, this
presence is dominated by the character's perspective, at least in terms of
the explicit features of narration. The passage, then, can be understood as
expressing the narrated subject consciousness. However, the experience is
not just narrated but also mediated by the narrator's didactic and intrusive
presence. As typical in this style, in many parts of the story the author
portrays the subjectivity of his character from the vantage perspective of
the reporting narrator and, through a process of empathy, identifies himself
with the character (see Brinton, 1995; p.173-175).

2. Semantic Prosody

Another area of sensitivity in the translation of this story is semantic or

discourse prosody (Baker, 2000; Stubbs, 2001). This is the aura of
meaning acquired by a lexical item "through its repeated association with
other items in the language (Baker, p.24) or "a feature which extends over
more than one unit in a linear string" (Stubbs, p.65). The pivotal
word nest/s in the translated story for example occurs 27 times and
interacts with a number of different mainly positive collocates such as the
adjective happy (5 times) and the verb build or rebuild (8 times). By
looking at the textual environment of this word, however, we find that the
author skillfully conveys a negative attitude towards its content by infusing
it with irony and casting doubt on its traditionally pleasant connotations.
Examples:

"Keeping his nest so people could say he has a happy nest...What matters
is that the nest is believed to be happy. Cheers to all, all is well...How
many nests were built and destroyed."

The overall effect is that the idea of the nest is a mythical construct that
people tenaciously believe in when they know that it is not true. The
challenge of the translation here is to capture the tone, the discourse
coherence and the attitudinal meaning served by this semantic prosody.

3. Syntax and Punctuation

Zefzaf's use of Standard Arabic throughout his stories is a feature of his

writing that facilitates the task of the translator. In spite of the standard
Arabic prose style, however, he could be a quirky writer especially in the
areas of syntax and punctuation.

The original literal arrangement of the clausal elements in the opening of

the story reads as follows:
[He] sits by the window. [He] lonely looks at that bright sky. The sky might
not be clear later. Some clouds or flocks of black birds might pass by. But
he got used to all that.

In the translation, these five sentences were compressed into two to

produce an acceptable English text with flow:

"Lonely, he sits at the window looking at the bright blue sky. The sky might
not be clear later when clouds or flocks of black birds pass by, but he got
used to all that."

In many cases, for the sake of clarity, I needed to shorten and simplify
without sacrificing the deliberately repetitive quality of the style. At
different places in the story, moreover, there was a need to sacrifice some
stylistic idiosyncrasies since these peculiarities were sometimes hard to
preserve. Calquing too reverently or following the distinctive syntax too
closely would impede comprehensibility and yield unidiomatic results.

Another challenging task is the less standardized and more fluid nature of
Arabic punctuation compared to English. The uses of commas, periods, and
paragraphing in Arabic are more subject to the writer's discretion and do
not necessarily have a one-to-one relationship with English. Moreover, a
series of question marks and a combination of a question mark and an
exclamation point is possible in Arabic to produce a dramatic effect. These
conventions, or lack thereof, are capitalized on in Zefzaf's writing but they
were normalized in the English translation so as not to violate the norms of
the target language.

4. Grammatical Gender

Finally, there is the issue of grammatical gender, which is more marked in

Arabic, and how to render it into English. Gender distinctions operate
massively and persistently in the Arabic language with the masculine being
the unmarked form as opposed to the neutrality, or at least the apparent
neutrality, in English. In reference to people, Zefzaf uses man and the
generic he, as is the convention in Arabic. However, he makes a nod to the
feminine pronoun in the following passage:

"They try to give the impression that they live in happiness. They lie to
themselves until the time people say God bless his or her souls."

This unusual nod, however, was not taken up after that and the Arabic text
reverted back to the regular use of the he-language. All the italicized
references in the immediate following passage contained overtly
masculinized singular references. In the English translation, it was deemed
appropriate and consistent with the spirit of the story to de-genderize and
pluralize these references. Even though the pronoun 'them' in the third line
as a reference to the antecedent 'deceased' in the second line might sound
ungrammatical from a prescriptive point of view, (that is if we consider the
antecedent singular) , it was considered a safe option:

"If they were well off, they would have a small obituary on a newspaper

page written by a poor journalist reading: "The deceased [man] (May
he [or she] rest in peace) departed this world to be with God." But who
gave them rest or peace? Only the One who can give rest and peace and
grant protection to the human soul knows why the lie of grieving the dead
[man] is over few days after their death, just as the lie of conjugal
happiness becomes revealed in time."

Cultural Issues

A literary translation is a device of art used to release the text from its
"dependence on prior cultural knowledge" (Herzfeld, 2003; p.110).
However, it is not an easy task to transplant a text steeped in one culture
into another. Particularly demanding from the translator's point of view is
the use of culturally specific metaphors and allusions.

1. Metaphors

Zefzaf's use of metaphors or similes is sparing and the few used pose no
significant problems in translation. The italic noun phrase at the end of the
following quotation might not be crystal clear but it is connotative and,
therefore, was literally translated:

"Always he sits there in the same place smoking, drinking, and trying to
remember many things that might take him back to the naked childhood."

Other than that, Zefzaf's metaphorical language seems to be affected by

the western idiom. And no more is this point well illustrated than in the
following italicized simile from the ending of the story:

"In a moment, he fell off his chair near the window bumping his head
against the wall. The sky remained bright while he was grunting like a hog
in a sty."

Such transparent similes pose no problems in understanding to the western

reader.

2. Allusions

The occurrence of allusions, however, is more challenging. Not only does

the translator of Zefzaf have to cope with the usual linguistic difficulties of
translating from such a foreign language as Arabic, but he also has to
handle different references and allusions. In some of its parts, the text of
this story is interspersed with diverse references: Qu'ranic, historical and
cultural. The following excerpts illustrate this point:

"How many strange things the human body carries without our being aware
of them! There are two angels for example, one on the right shoulder
recording the good deeds and the other on the left recording the bad
deeds. The human body may also be inhabited by devils, and in this body
there is also a spirit whose essence we cannot know since it is from a
command of the Lord."

In this excerpt, there is more than one allusion. The reference to demons
possessing human bodies is almost a universal superstitious belief shared
in many cultures and is in no need of explanation. The other two references
to the angels and the spirit, however, are more Islamic in their nature and
the English reader needs to be made aware of their scriptural origins:
"When the twin keepers [angels] receive him, the one seated on his right,
the one on his left, each word he utters shall be noted down by a vigilant
guardian" (Surah 50, verse 17). And "They ask you about the spirit, say:
"The spirit is from a command of my Lord and I have only given you
[people] a small amount of the knowledge" (Surah 17 verse 85); Qu'ran
(trans) Dawood 2000).

These references, and other similar in nature, are part of the prior cultural
knowledge taken for granted by the author writing for a predominantly
Muslim Arab audience. To give the closest approximation of the source
language, therefore, it was necessary to opt for 'glossing' or using
explanatory footnotes. Here is another example with an historical reference
that also requires the use of a footnote:

"When they divorced, he didn't think she would do that, but he soon knew
that a woman is capable of doing anything. Didn't she cause Adam to be
dismissed from Eden and waged a war against Ali (May God be pleased
with him)?"

The first reference to Adam and Eve in Eden is a biblical one and needs no
commentary to the western reader. The second allusion, however, derived
from Islamic history, might be a vague one to the western reader. It refers
to A'ishah, one of prophet Muhammad's wives and daughter of his first
caliph (successor). She played a significant role in supporting those who
were fighting against the fourth caliph Ali—a revered figure in Islamic
history especially for the Shiite sect. These cultural and historical allusions
give a certain density to the language and need to be explicated in the
translation to bring forth the richness of the text for the new readers.
Footnotes, however, can be rather intrusive, and, therefore, their uses
were minimized as much as possible. Sometimes, explanatory notes were
deemed unnecessary or were integrated into the body of the text. The
following citation is an example:

"His wife was pretty, and he used to buy her glasses, pottery, sweets and
rabbits slaughtered and live. And sometimes he even preferred her to his
two young children. But she used to hit him, beat her cheeks and thighs
[as some women do when they mourn their dead]."

The cultural reference to a husband buying pottery and rabbits slaughtered

and live as gifts to his wife are indicators of the local culture. Keeping this
reference adds a foreignizing fidelity and gives the original flavor of a
different culture. The reference does not need a footnote, however, since it
is clear from the contextual surroundings. The second reference is to the
custom of some women in the Middle East who beat their cheeks and
thighs as an ultimate sign of sadness when they are mourning their dead.
The bracketed note was inserted in the text to ensure that the significance
of this humiliating act on the part of the wife is not lost to the western
reader.

Conclusion

It is a great challenge dealing with a language that has a different feel and
nuance embedded more in culture than in literal meaning, but I hope that
this reconstruction of the translation process sheds some light on some of
the linguistic and cultural issues that might be encountered in literary
translation in general and from Arabic into English in particular.
Bibliography

Baker, Mona. (2000). Linguistic perspectives on translation. In The Oxford

guide to literature in English translation. (Ed) Peter France. Oxford
University Press. Oxford, New York. Pp.20-25.

Brinton, Laurel. (1995). Non-anaphoric reflexives in free indirect style:

expressing the subjectivity of the non-speaker. in Stein Dieter and Wright
Susan (eds.) (1995). Subjectivity and subjectivisation: Linguistic
Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge and New York.
Pp.173-194.

Dawood, N. J. (Trans). (1956, 2000). The Koran. Penguin classics. London,

New York.

Herzfeld, Michael. (2003). The unspeakable in pursuit of the ineffable:

Representations of untranslability in ethnographic discourse. In Paula G.
Rubel and Abraham Rosman Translating culture: Perspectives on
translation and anthropology. Berg: Oxford. New York.

Said, Edward. (2002). Impossible Histories: Why the many Islams cannot

be simplified. July 2002 issue of Harper's Magazine.

Stubbs, Michael. (2001). Words and Phrases: Corpus studies of lexical

semantics. Blackwell Publishers Inc. Massachusetts.

Wright, Susan. (1995). Subjectivity and experiential syntax" in Stein,

Dieter and Wright Susan (eds.) (1995). Subjectivity and subjectivisation:
Linguistic Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge and New
York. Pp.151-172.

Acknowledgment:

I would like to express my gratitude to Peter Owens from University of

Massachusetts, Dartmouth for his advice and help in translating this short
story.
A country of unmatched diversity
 
© Copyright Translation Journal and the Author 2004
URL: http://accurapid.com/journal/29liter.htm
 Last updated on: 07/19/2018 11:53:58

Machine Translation and Computer-Assisted

Translation:
a New Way of Translating?

by Olivia Craciunescu, Constanza Gerding-Salas, Susan Stringer-O'Keeffe

Abstract

This paper begins with a brief analysis of the importance of translation

technology in different spheres of modern life, followed by a concise
history of machine and computer-assisted translation. It then describes
the technology available to translators in this first decade of the twenty-
first century and examines the negative and positive aspects of machine
translation and of the main tools used in computer-assisted translation:
electronic dictionaries, glossaries, terminology databases, concordances,
on-line bilingual texts and translation memories. Finally the paper
considers the impact of these new technologies on the professional
translator, concluding that s/he will need to acquire new skills in order to
remain efficient and competitive in the field.

The Need for Translation Technology

dvances in information technology (IT) have combined with modern

communication requirements to foster translation automation. The
history of the relationship between technology and translation goes back
to the beginnings of the Cold War, as in the 1950s competition between the
United States and the Soviet Union was so intensive at every level that
thousands of documents were translated from Russian to English and vice versa.
However, such high demand revealed the inefficiency of the translation process,
above all in specialized areas of knowledge, increasing interest in the idea of a
translation machine. Although the Cold War has now ended, and despite the
importance of globalization, which tends to break down cultural, economic and
linguistic barriers, translation has not become obsolete, because of the desire on
the part of nations to retain their independence and cultural identity,  especially
as expressed through their own language. This phenomenon can clearly be seen
within the European Union, where translation remains a crucial activity.
the Internet with its IT has produced a screen culture that tends to replace
universal access to the print culture, with printed documents being
information and instant dispensed with and information being acceessed and
communication between relayed directly through computers (e-mail,
users has created a databases and other stored information). These
physical and computer documents are instantly available and can
geographical freedom for be opened and processed with far greater flexibility
translators that was than printed matter, with the result that the status of
inconceivable in the past. information itself has changed, becoming either
temporary or permanent according to need. Over the
last two decades we have witnessed the enormous
growth of information technology with the accompanying advantages of speed,
visual impact, ease of use, convenience, and cost-effectiveness. At the same
time, with the development of the global market, industry and commerce
function more than ever on an international scale, with increasing freedom and
flexibility in terms of exchange of products and services. The nature and function
of translation is inevitably affected by these changes. There is the need for
countries to cooperate in many spheres, such as ecological (Greenpeace),
economic (free trade agreements) humanitarian (Doctors without Borders) and
educational (exchange programs), etc. Despite the importance of English, there
is the commonly-held belief that people have the right to use their own
language, yet the diversity of languages should not be an obstacle to mutual
understanding. Solutions to linguistic problems must be found in order to allow
information to circulate freely and to facilitate bilateral and multilateral
relationships.

Thus different aspects of modern life have led to the need for more efficient
methods of translation. At the present time the demand for translations is not
satisfied because there are not enough human translators, or because
individuals and organizations do not recognize translation as a complex activity
requiring a high level of skill, and are therefore not prepared to pay what it is
worth. In other words, translation is sometimes avoided because it is considered
to be too expensive. In part, human translation is expensive because the
productivity of a human being is essentially limited. Statistics vary, but in
general to produce a good translation of a difficult text a translator cannot
process more than 4-6 pages or 2,000 words per day. The economic necessity of
finding a cheaper solution to international exchange has resulted in continuing
technological progress in terms of translation tools designed to respond to the
translator's need for immediately-available information and non-sequential
access to extensive databases.

This paper aims at examining the new technologies (machine translation,

electronic dictionaries, terminology databases, bilingual texts, grammatical
concordances, and translation memories) in order to determine whether they
change the relationship between the translator and the texts, and if so, then in
what way. We will try to answer the following questions:

 Which computer tools are genuinely useful to translators?

 Do the new technologies threaten the livelihood of the translator?
 Does automation imply the disappearance of translation as we know it?

A Short History of Machine Translation

It was not until the twentieth century that the idea of creating automatic
dictionaries appeared as a solution to the problem of linguistic barriers. In the
1930s two researchers worked independently towards the same goal: the
Franco-Armenian George Artsrouni and the Russian Petr Smirnov-Troyanskii.
The latter was the more important of the two because he developed the idea
that three stages are necessary for a system of automatic translation: first an
editor who knows the source language analyzes the words and converts them
into base forms according to their syntactic functions; then a machine organizes
the base forms into equivalent sequences in the target language; finally, this
rough version is corrected by a second editor, familiar with the target language.
Despite the significance of Troyanskii's work, it remained generally unknown
until the late 1950s.

The invention of the computer led very quickly to attempts to use it for the
translation of natural languages. A letter from Warren Weaver to the computer
specialist Norbert Wiener in March 1947 is considered to mark the beginning of
this process. Two years later, in July 1949, Weaver publicized his ideas on the
applications of the computer to translation and shortly afterwards a number of
universities in the United States initiated research into the field of machine
translation. In 1954 the first feasibility trial was carried out as a joint project
between IBM and the University of Georgetown. Although very limited in scope,
the demonstration was considered a success, leading to the financing of other
projects, both in the US and the rest of the world. The first versions of machine
translation programs were based on detailed bilingual dictionaries that offered a
number of equivalent words in the target language for each word listed in the
source language, as well as a series of rules on word order. The complexity of
the task made it necessary for developers to continue improving the programs
because of the need for a more systematic syntactical focus. Projects were
based on advances in linguistics, especially on the development of
transformational generative grammar models that appeared to offer new
possibilities for machine translation.

However, initial optimism soon disappeared. Researchers began to think that the
semantic barriers were insurmountable and no longer saw a solution on the near
horizon to the problem of machine translation. IBM and the University of
Washington produced an operating system called Mark II, but the results were
disappointing. By 1964 the US government was becoming so concerned about
the inefficiency of machine translation programs that it created the ALPAC
(Automatic Language Processing Advisory Committee) to evaluate them. In
1966 this committee produced a highly critical report that claimed that machine
translation was slow, inefficient and twice as expensive as human translation,
concluding that it was not worth investing money in research in this field.
Nevertheless, the report stressed the need to encourage the development of
tools to assist the translation process, such as computer dictionaries, databases
etc. Although criticized for its lack of objectivity and vision, the ALPAC report led
to a freeze on research into machine translation in the US for more than a
decade. However, research continued in Canada, France and Germany and two
machine translation systems came into being several years later: Systran, used
by the European Union Commission and Taum-météo, created by the University
of Montreal to translate weather forecasts from French to English.

Important advances occurred during the 1980s. The administrative and

commercial needs of multilingual communities stimulated the demand for
translation, leading to the development in countries such as France, Germany,
Canada and Japan of new machine translation systems such as Logos (from
German to French and vice versa) and the internal system created by the Pan-
American Health Organization (from Spanish to English and vice versa), as well
as a number of systems produced by Japanese computer companies. Research
also revived in the 1980s because large-scale access to personal computers and
word-processing programs produced a market for less expensive machine
translation systems. Companies such as ALPS, Weidner, Globalink (North
America and Europe), Sharp, NEC, Mitsubishi, Sanyo (Japan) needed these
programs. Some of the most important projects were GETA-Ariane (Grenoble),
SUSY (Saarbrücken), MU (Kyoto), and Eurotra (the European Union)

The beginning of the 1990s saw vital developments in machine translation with
a radical change in strategy from translation based on grammatical rules to that
based on bodies of texts and examples (for example, the Reverso Program).
Language was no longer perceived as a static entity governed by fixed rules, but
as a dynamic corpus that changes according to use and users, evolving through
time and adapting to social and cultural realities. To this day machine translation
continues to progress. Large companies are now using it more, which also
increases software sales to the general public. This situation has led to the
creation of on-line machine translation services such as Altavista, which offer
rapid email services, web pages, etc. in the desired language, as well as to the
availability of multilingual dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and free, direct-access
terminology databases.

The Translation Market

The development of machine translation is based on supply and demand. On the

one hand, there is new technology available, and on the other, political, social
and economic need for change. Yet, despite the advances, machine translation
still represents only a tiny percentage of the market. At the beginning of the
1990s the translation market was as follows (Loffler-Laurian, 1996):

 HUMAN TRANSLATION MACHINE TRANSLATION

 

Europe & the United 300 million pages 2.5 million pages
States

Japan 150 million pages 3.5 million pages

It can be seen that only 6 million pages were translated through machine
translation, compared with 450 million through human translation, i.e. MT
represented only 1.3% of the total. Market analysts predict that this percentage
will not change radically by 2007. They say that machine translation will remain
only about 1% of an over US $10 billion translation marketplace (Oren, 2004).
The languages for which there was most translation demand in 1991 were:

 English Japanese French German Russian Spanish Others

 

As 48% 32% 8% 5% 2% --- 5%

source
lang.

As 45% 24% 12% --- 5% 10% 4%

target
lang.

As expected, English dominates the market. The importance of Japanese reflects

the role of Japan in technology and foreign trade, which accounted for two-thirds
of translation volume at the end of the 1990s:

Business
  Foreign Adminis-
Trade Science Teaching Literature Journals tration
Technology

40% 25% 10% 10% 5% 5% 5%

At this stage it is important to make a distinction between two terms that are
closely related and that tend to confuse non-specialists: machine translation
(MT) and computer-assisted translation (CAT). These two technologies are the
consequence of different approaches. They do not produce the same results, and
are used in distinct contexts. MT aims at assembling all the information
necessary for translation in one program so that a text can be translated without
human intervention. It exploits the computer's capacity to calculate in order to
analyze the structure of a statement or sentence in the source language, break
it down into easily translatable elements and then create a statement with the
same structure in the target language. It uses huge plurilingual dictionaries, as
well as corpora of texts that have already been translated. As mentioned, in the
1980s MT held great promises, but it has been steadily losing ground to
computer-assisted translation because the latter responds more realistically to
actual needs.

CAT uses a number of tools to help the translator work accurately and quickly,
the most important of which are terminology databases and translation
memories. In effect, the computer offers a new way of approaching text
processing of both the source and target text. Working with a digital document
gives us non-sequential access to information so that we can use it according to
our needs. It becomes easy to analyze the sentences of the source text, to
verify the context in which a word or a text is used, or to create an inventory of
terms, for example. Likewise, any part of the target text can be modified at any
moment and parallel versions can be produced for comparison and evaluation.
All these aspects have profound implications for translation, especially in terms
of assessing the results, since the translator can work in a more relaxed way
because of the greater freedom to make changes at any time while the work is
in progress.

It is important to stress that automatic translation systems are not yet capable
of producing an immediately useable text, as languages are highly dependant on
context and on the different denotations and connotations of words and word
combinations. It is not always possible to provide full context within the text
itself, so that machine translation is limited to concrete situations and is
considered to be primarily a means of saving time, rather than a replacement
for human activity. It requires post-editing in order to yield a quality target text.

Cognitive Processes

To understand the essential principles underlying machine translation it is

necessary to understand the functioning of the human brain. The first stage in
human translation is complete comprehension of the source language text. This
comprehension operates on several levels:

 Semantic level: understanding words out of context, as in a dictionary.

 Syntactic level: understanding words in a sentence.
 Pragmatic level: understanding words in situations and context.

Furthermore, there are at least five types of knowledge used in the translation
process:

 Knowledge of the source language, which allows us to understand the

original text.
 Knowledge of the target language, which makes it possible to produce a
coherent text in that language.
 Knowledge of equivalents between the source and target languages.
 Knowledge of the subject field as well as general knowledge, both of
which aid comprehension of the source language text.
 Knowledge of socio-cultural aspects, that is, of the customs and
conventions of the source and target cultures.

Given the complexity of the phenomena that underlie the work of a human
translator, it would be absurd to claim that a machine could produce a target
text of the same quality as that of a human being. However, it is clear that even
a human translator is seldom capable of producing a polished translation at first
attempt. In reality the translation process comprises two stages: first, the
production of a rough text or preliminary version in the target language, in
which most of the translation problems are solved but which is far from being
perfect; and second, the revision stage, varying from merely re-reading the text
while making minor adjustments to the implementation of radical changes. It
could therefore be said that MT aims at performing the first stage of this process
in an automatic way, so that the human translator can then proceed directly to
the second, carrying out the meticulous and demanding task of revision. The
problem is that the translator now faces a text that has not been translated by a
human brain but by a machine, which changes the required approach because
the errors are different. It becomes necessary to harmonize the machine version
with human thought processes, judgements and experiences. Machine
translation is thus both an aid and a trap for translators: an aid because it
completes the first stage of translation; a trap because it is not always easy for
the translator to keep the necessary critical distance from a text that, at least in
a rudimentary way, is already translated, so that mistakes may go undetected.
In no sense should a translation produced automatically be considered final,
even if it appears on the surface to be coherent and correct.

Machine Translation Strategies

Machine translation is an autonomous operating system with strategies and

approaches that can be classified as follows:

 the direct strategy

 the transfer strategy
 the pivot language strategy

The direct strategy, the first to be used in machine translation systems, involves
a minimum of linguistic theory. This approach is based on a predefined source
language-target language binomial in which each word of the source language
syntagm is directly linked to a corresponding unit in the target language with a
unidirectional correlation, for example from English to Spanish but not the other
way round. The best-known representative of this approach is the system
created by the University of Georgetown, tested for the first time in 1964 on
translations from Russian to English. The Georgetown system, like all existing
systems, is based on a direct approach with a strong lexical component. The
mechanisms for morphological analysis are highly developed and the dictionaries
extremely complex, but the processes of syntactical analysis and disambiguation
are limited, so that texts need a second stage of translation by human
translators. The following is an example that follows the direct translation
model:

Source language text

La jeune fille a acheté deux livres
Breakdown in source language
La jeune fille acheter deux livre
Lexical Transfer
The young girl buy two book
Adaptation in target language
The young girl bought two books

There are a number of systems that function on the same principle: for example
SPANAM, used for Spanish-English translation since 1980, and SYSTRAN,
developed in the United States for military purposes to translate Russian into
English. After modification designed to improve its functioning, SYSTRAN was
adopted by the European Community in 1976. At present it can be used to
translate the following European languages:

 Source languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese,

and Greek.
 Target languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese,
Greek, Dutch, Finnish, and Swedish.

In addition, programs are being created for other European languages, such as
Hungarian, Polish and Serbo-Croatian.

Apart from being used by the European Commission, SYSTRAN is also used by
NATO and by Aérospatiale, the French aeronautic company, which has played an
active part in the development of the system by contributing its own
terminology bank for French-English and English-French translation and by
financing the specialized area related to aviation. Outside Europe, SYSTRAN is
used by The United States Air Force because of its interest in Russian-English
translation, by the XEROX Corporation, which adopted machine translation at
the end of the 1970s and which is the private company that has contributed the
most to the expansion of machine translation, and General Motors, which
through a license from Peter Toma is allowed to develop and sell the applications
of the system on its own account. It should be noted that in general the
companies that develop direct machine translation systems do not claim that
they are designed to produce good final translations, but rather to facilitate the
translator's work in terms of efficiency and performance (Lab, p.24).

The transfer strategy focuses on the concept of "level of representation" and

involves three stages. The analysis stage describes the source document
linguistically and uses a source language dictionary. The transfer stage
transforms the results of the analysis stage and establishes the linguistic and
structural equivalents between the two languages. It uses a bilingual dictionary
from source language to target language. The generation stage produces a
document in the target language on the basis of the linguistic data of the source
language by means of a target language dictionary.

The transfer strategy, developed by GETA (Groupe d'Etude pour la Traduction

Automatique / Machine Translation Study Group) in Grenoble, France, led by B.
Vauquois, has stimulated other research projects. Some, such as the Canadian
TAUM-MÉTÉO and the American METAL, are already functioning. Others are still
at the experimental stage, for example, SUSY in Germany and EUROTRA, which
is a joint European project. TAUM, an acronym for Traduction Automatique de
l'Université de Montréal (University of Montreal Machine Translation) was
created by the Canadian Government in 1965. It has been functioning to
translate weather forecasts from English to French since 1977 and from French
to English since 1989. One of the oldest effective systems in existence, TAUM-
MÉTÉO carries out both a syntactic and a semantic analysis and is 80% effective
because weather forecasts are linguistically restricted and clearly defined. It
works with only 1,500 lexical entries, many of which are proper nouns. In short,
it carries out limited repetitive tasks, translating texts that are highly specific,
with a limited vocabulary (although it uses an exhaustive dictionary) and
stereotyped syntax, and there is perfect correspondence from structure to
structure.

The pivot language strategy is based on the idea of creating a representation

of the text independent of any particular language. This representation functions
as a neutral, universal central axis that is distinct from both the source language
and the target language. In theory this method reduces the machine translation
process to only two stages: analysis and generation. The analysis of the source
text leads to a conceptual representation, the diverse components of which are
matched by the generation module to their equivalents in the target language.
The research on this strategy is related to artificial intelligence and the
representation of knowledge. The systems based on the idea of a pivot language
do not aim at direct translation, but rather reformulate the source text from the
essential information. At the present time the transfer and pivot language
strategies are generating the most research in the field of machine translation.
With regard to the pivot language strategy, it is worth mentioning the Dutch DLT
(Distributed Language Translation) project which ran from 1985 to 1990 and
which used Esperanto as a pivot language in the translation of 12 European
languages.

It should be repeated that unless the systems function within a rigidly defined
sphere, as is the case with TAUM-MÉTÉO, machine translation in no way offers a
finished product. As Christian Boitet, director of GETA (Grenoble) says in an
interview given to the journal Le français dans le monde Nº314 in which he
summarizes the most important aspects of MT, it allows translators to
concentrate on producing a high-quality target text. Perhaps then "machine
translation" is not an appropriate term, since the machine only completes the
first stage of the process. It would be more accurate to talk of a tool that aids
the translation process, rather than an independent translation system.

The following is a relatively recent classification of some MT programs based on

the results obtained from a series of tests that focused on errors and
intelligibility in the target texts (Poudat, p.51):

Address Characteristic
Translator s

Alphaworks http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/aw.nsf/html/ Translates

® mt English into
seven
languages;
transfer method

Compreno® http://www.abbyy-developers.eu Meaning-based

text analysis

E-lingo® http://www.elingo.com/text/index/html Twenty pairs of

languages
available;
transfer method

Reverso® http://trans.voila.fr Thirteen pairs

of languages
available;
transfer method

Systran® http://www.systransoft.com Twelve pairs of

languages
available; direct
transfer method
Transcend® http://www.freetranslation.com/ Eight pairs of
languages
available; direct
transfer method

Analysis of Some Errors in Machine-translated Texts

For the purpose of analyzing errors in machine-translated texts, it is revealing to

compare such a translation with that done by a human translator. An article
from Le Monde Diplomatique has been chosen, as this is a newspaper that is
originally written in French but which is then translated into 17 other languages.
In this case we will compare the French to English translations produced by
Systran, Reverso and a human translator.

SOURCE TEXT: Le Monde Diplomatique, September 2002

Depuis le 11 septembre 2001, l'esprit guerrier qui souffle sur Washington

semble avoir balayé ces scrupules. Désormais comme l'a dit le président George
W. Bush, "qui n'est pas avec nous est avec les terroristes".

  Reverso   Human translation

Systran
Since September 11, 2001,   Since September 11,   Since 11 September 2001
the warlike spirit which 2001, the warlike spirit the warmongering mood
blows on Washington which blows on in Washington seems to
seems to have swept these Washington seems to have have swept away such
scruples. From now on, swept (annihilated) these scruples. From that point,
like said it the president scruples. Henceforth, as as President George Bush
George W Bush, "which is said it the president put it, "either you are with
not with us is with the George W. Bush, "which us or you are with the
terrorists". (37 words) (who) is not with us is with terrorists." (36 words)
the terrorists". (35 +2
words)
The first point to be made is that MT is a translation method that focuses on the
source language, while human translation aims at comprehension of the target
language. Machine translations are therefore often inaccurate because they take
the words from a dictionary and follow the situational limitations set by the
program designer. Various types of errors can be seen in the above translations.

 Errors that change the meaning of the lexeme

1. Words or phrases that are apparently correct but which do not translate
the meaning in context:
Original: l'esprit guerrier

Systran: the warlike spirit

Reverso: the warlike spirit

HT: the warmongering mood

2. Words without meaning:

Original: comme l'a dit le président George W. Bush

Systran: like said it the president George W. Bush

Reverso: as said it the president George W. Bush

HT: as President George Bush put it

Although Reverso's translation is not completely correct, it

translates comme into "as", which is the correct choice for this context.

 Errors in usage

The translation is understandable in that the MT produces the meaning but does
not respect usage:

Original: semble avoir balayé ces scrupules

Systran: seems to have swept these scruples

Reverso: seems to have swept (annihilated) these scruples

HT: seems to have swept away such scruples

Original: qui n'est pas avec nous est avec les terroristes

Systran: which is not with us is with the terrorists

Reverso: which (who) is not with us is with the terrorists

HT: either you are with us or with the terrorists

As already mentioned, human translation concentrates on the target language,

preferring to depart from the source language, if necessary, in order to
reproduce meaning. For example, the human translator clearly chose "the
warmongering mood in Washington" as a better contextual translation of l'esprit
guerrier qui souffle sur Washington  than the more literal versions seen in the
machine translations.

Because MT aims primarily at comprehension and not at the production of a

perfect target text, it is important to follow two basic rules in order to make the
best use of programs. First, we need to recognize that certain types of texts,
such as poetry, for example, are not suitable for MT. Second, it is essential to
correct the source text, as even one letter can radically change meaning, as in
the following example: We shook  hand translates into "Nous avons secoué la
main"; but We shook  hands becomes "Nous nous sommes serrés la main". The
omission of an s in the source text is enough to make the machine translation
incomprehensible. It is of additional interest to note that the final s of serrés is a
mistake because the MT program does not take into account the subtleties of
French grammar with regard to the agreement of the past participle.

Computer-assisted Translation

In practice, computer-assisted translation is a complex process involving specific

tools and technology adaptable to the needs of the translator, who is involved in
the whole process and not just in the editing stage. The computer becomes a
workstation where the translator has access to a variety of texts, tools and
programs: for example, monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, parallel texts,
translated texts in a variety of source and target languages, and terminology
databases. Each translator can create a personal work environment and
transform it according to the needs of the specific task. Thus computer-assisted
translation gives the translator on-the-spot flexibility and freedom of movement,
together with immediate access to an astonishing range of up-to-date
information. The result is an enormous saving of time.

The following are the most important computer tools in the translator's
workplace, from the most elementary to the most complex:

Electronic Dictionaries, Glossaries and Terminology Databases

Consulting electronic or digital dictionaries on the computer does not at first

appear radically different from using paper dictionaries. However, the
advantages soon become clear. It takes far less time to type in a word on the
computer and receive an answer than to look through a paper dictionary; there
is immediate access to related data through links; and it is possible to use
several dictionaries simultaneously by working with multiple documents.

Electronic dictionaries are available in several forms: as software that can be

installed in the computer; as CD-ROMs and, most importantly, through the
Internet. The search engine Google, for example, gives us access to a huge
variety of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries in many languages, although it
is sometimes necessary to become on-line subscribers, as with the Oxford
English Dictionary. On-line dictionaries organize material for us from their
corpus because they are not simply a collection of words in isolation. For
example, we can ask for all words related to one key word, or for all words that
come from a particular language. That is to say, they allow immediate cross-
access to information.

For help with specific terminology there is a wide range of dictionaries,

glossaries and databases on the Internet. Le Nouveau Grand Dictionnaire
Terminologique developed in Quebec, Canada contains 3 million terms in French
and English belonging to 200 fields. Another important resource is
EURODICAUTOM, a multilingual terminology database created by the European
Union in 1973 that covers a variety of specialized areas, both scientific and non-
scientific (the list begins: Agriculture, Arts, Automation...). In addition, there are
web sites that offer information on terminology that is helpful to translators. One
such site is that of the TERMISTI research center attached to the Higher
Institute for Translators and Interpreters (ISTI) in Brussels
(http://www.termisti.refer.org) which provides information on the following:

 Dictionaries available on Internet such as those mentioned.

 Terminology networks such as RIFAL (Réseau international francophone
d'aménagement linguistique), RITERM (Red Iberoamericana de
Terminología)
 European terminology projects such as Human Language Technologies,
Information Society Technologies.
 Translation Schools
 Forums and diffusion/discussion lists
 Conferences
 Journals such as the International Journal of Lexicography, La banque des
mots, L'actualité terminologique, Méta, Terminogramme, Terminologies
nouvelles, Terminology, Terminometro, Translation Journal, Apuntes.

Concordances

Computer concordances do not replace tools such as dictionaries and glossaries,

but provide an additional method of handling texts for translation. They are
word-processing programs that produce a list of all the occurrences of a string of
letters within a defined corpus with the objective of establishing patterns that
are otherwise not clear. These letters may form part of a word, such as a prefix
or suffix for example, or a complete word, or a group of words. Specific
functions of concordances include giving statistical data about the number of
words or propositions, classifying words etc. in terms of frequency or
alphabetical order and, most importantly perhaps, identifying the exact context
in which the words occur. Information can be accumulated and stored as more
texts are translated, producing a database available for consultation at any time
in a non-sequential way.

Concordances are particularly valuable for translating specialized texts with fixed
vocabulary and expressions that have a clearly defined meaning. They ensure
terminological consistency, providing the translator with more control over the
text, irrespective of length and complexity. However, they are not so helpful to
literary translators, who are constantly faced with problems relating to the
polysemic and metaphorical use of language. Nevertheless, some literary
translators use concordances as they clearly have a potential role in all kinds of
translation.

On-line Bilingual Texts

A bilingual corpus normally consists of a source text plus its translation,

previously carried out by human translators. This type of document, which is
stored electronically, is called a bi-text. It facilitates later translations by
supplying ready solutions to fixed expressions, thus automating part of the
process. The growth of the translation market has led to increased interest on
the part of companies and international organizations in collections of texts or
corpora in different languages stored systematically on-line and available for
immediate consultation.

Translation Memories

Translation memories represent one of the most important applications of on-

line bilingual texts, going back to the beginning of the 1980s with the pioneering
TSS system of ALPS, later Alpnet. This was succeeded at the beginning of the
90s by programs such as Translator Manager, Translator's Workbench,
Optimizer, Déjà Vu, Trados and Eurolang, among others. In its simplest form, a
translation memory is a database in which a translator stores translations for
future re-use, either in the same text or other texts. Basically the program
records bilingual pairs: a source-language segment (usually a sentence)
combined with a target-language segment. If an identical or similar source-
language segment comes up later, the translation memory program will find the
previously-translated segment and automatically suggest it for the new
translation. The translator is free to accept it without change, or edit it to fit the
current context, or reject it altogether. Most programs find not only perfect
matches but also partially-matching segments. This computer-assisted
translation tool is most useful with texts possessing the following characteristics:

 Terminological homogeneity: The meaning of terms does not vary.

 Phraseological homogeneity: Ideas or actions are expressed or
described with the same words
  Short, simple sentences: These increase the probability of repetition
and reduce ambiguity.

A translation memory can be used in two ways:

1. In interactive mode: The text to be translated is on the computer screen

and the translator selects the segments one by one to translate them. After each
selection the program searches its memory for identical or similar segments and
produces possible translations in a separate window. The translator accepts,
modifies or rejects the suggestions.

2. In automatic mode: The program automatically processes the whole source-

language text and inserts into the target-language text the translations it finds
in the memory. This is a more useful mode if there is a lot of repetition because
it avoids treating each segment in a separate operation.

A translation memory program is normally made up of the following elements:

a. A translation editor, which protects the target text format.

b. A text segment localizer.

c. A terminological tool for dictionary management.

d. An automatic system of analysis for new texts.

e. A statistical tool that indicates the number of words translated and to be

translated, the language, etc.

Thus translation memory programs are based on the accumulation and storing
of knowledge that is recycled according to need, automating the use of
terminology and access to dictionaries. When translation tasks are repeated,
memories save the translator valuable time and even physical effort: for
example, keyboard use can be reduced by as much as 70% with some texts.
Memories also simplify project management and team translation by ensuring
consistency. However, translation memories can only deal with a text
simplistically in terms of linguistic segments; they cannot, unlike the human
translator, have a vision of the text as a whole with regard to ideas and
concepts or overall message. A human translator may choose to rearrange or
redistribute the information in the source text because the target language and
culture demand a different content relationship to create coherence or facilitate
comprehension. Another disadvantage of memories is that training time is
essential for efficient use and even then it takes time to build up an extensive
database i.e. they are not immediate time-savers straight out of the box.
Finally, it should be stressed that translation memory programs are designed to
increase the quality and efficiency of the translation process, particularly with
regard to specialized texts with non-figurative language and fixed grammatical
constructions, but they are not designed to replace the human translator.

Conclusion: The Impact of the New Technologies on Translators

It has long been a subject of discussion whether machine translation and

computer-assisted translation could convert translators into mere editors,
making them less important than the computer programs. The fear of this
happening has led to a certain rejection of the new technologies on the part of
translators, not only because of a possible loss of work and professional
prestige, but also because of concern about a decline in the quality of
production. Some translators totally reject machine translation because they
associate it with the point of view that translation is merely one more
marketable product based on a calculation of investment versus profits. They
define translation as an art that possesses its own aesthetic criteria that have
nothing to do with profit and loss, but are rather related to creativity and the
power of the imagination. This applies mostly, however, to specific kinds of
translation, such as that of literary texts, where polysemy, connotation and style
play a crucial role. It is clear that computers could not even begin to replace
human translators with such texts. Even with other kinds of texts, our analysis
of the roles and capabilities of both MT and CAT shows that neither is efficient
and accurate enough to eliminate the necessity for human translators. In fact,
so-called machine translation would be more accurately described as computer-
assisted translation too. Translators should recognize and learn to exploit the
potential of the new technologies to help them to be more rigorous, consistent
and productive without feeling threatened.

Some people ask if the new technologies have created a new profession. It could
be claimed that the resources available to the translator through information
technology imply a change in the relationship between the translator and the
text, that is to say, a new way of translating, but this does not mean that the
result is a new profession. However, there is clearly the development of new
capabilities, which leads us to point out a number of essential aspects of the
current situation. Translating with the help of the computer is definitely not the
same as working exclusively on paper and with paper products such as
conventional dictionaries, because computer tools provide us with a relationship
to the text which is much more flexible than a purely lineal reading.
Furthermore, the Internet with its universal access to information and instant
communication between users has created a physical and geographical freedom
for translators that was inconceivable in the past. We share the conviction that
translation has not become a new profession, but the changes are here to stay
and will continue to evolve. Translators need to accept the new technologies and
learn how to use them to their maximum potential as a means to increased
productivity and quality improvement.
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© Copyright Translation Journal and the Author 2004
URL: http://accurapid.com/journal/29bias.htm
Last updated on: 07/19/2018 11:53:58

Linguistic and Cultural Issues in Literary Translation

by Mohammed Albakry
Northern Arizona University

Abstract

The article is a discussion of a case study of translating a short story from Arabic
into English. The discussion revolves around the translation process and its
reconstruction focusing on some of the linguistic and cultural issues encountered
in the original and how they were resolved in the translation.

Linguistic and Cultural Issues in Literary Translation

his paper is based on my translation of a collection of short stories "A night

in Casablanca" by the late Moroccan writer Muhammad Zefzaf. The critical
introduction offered here is informed by translating a number of his short
stories. These short stories come from two of Zefzaf's collections part 1 and part
2 published by the Ministry of Morocco (Publications of the Cultural
Affairs, Manshurat Wizarat Alsh'un Althakafi'ia) 1999. The specific discussion of
the translation process and its reconstruction, however, will revolve around only
one of these short stories: The Nests.

most of what has been Zefzaf is well known in the Middle East and particularly
written about the Islamic the Northern African part of it. Owing to the special
world by the so-called cultural ties between France and North Africa, some of
experts on Islam and the his works have been translated into French, but, in
Middle East-who claim to general, little is known about him in other western
tell us the real truth languages. My rendition is the first translation of
about Islam and its Zefzaf's stories into English, and there could be no
people-has often focused more urgent cultural need to introduce writers like him
on war, political turmoil,
and religious conflict and
has often been colored
by ideological
orientations.
 to the American reader.

Since the events of September 11, 2001, the western world has developed a
consuming interest in Islamic life and culture. However, since then most of what
has been written about the Islamic world by the so-called experts on Islam and
the Middle East—who claim to tell us the real truth about Islam and its people—
has often focused on war, political turmoil, and religious conflict and has often
been colored by ideological orientations.

As Edward Said (2002) points out, however, only good literature is particularly
capable of dispelling "the ideological fogs" that has for so long surrounded the
Middle East and obscured its people from the West. Said argues that the West
needs the kind of literature that can open up the world of Islam as pertaining to
the living and the experienced rather than the ideological books that try to shut it
down and stuff it into a box labeled "Dangerous—do not disturb". And Zefzaf's
stories are examples of that kind of literature.

Zefzaf's stories, represented here by The Nests, offer a unique window into the
everyday, domestic life of ordinary people in a Muslim world steeped in its own
context, unfiltered by western sensibilities. In his stories, we are able to see
ordinary moments in the lives of ordinary characters unfold from the inside out.
We see men and women who struggle to survive and understand the meaning of
life in a culture startlingly different yet glowing with universal glimpses of love,
hate, jealousy, fear, cynicism, pathos, disappointment, regret, and bursts of
insight into the human condition.

Reconstruction of the Translation Process: Linguistic Issues

1. Narrative Style

Realism and attention to details in simple stark style characterize most of Zefzaf's
stories and this aspect poses no problems to the translator. In some of his stories,
however, Zefzaf is more experimental in his use of literary styles. The Nests, for
example, stylistically makes use of free direct style as a narrative technique.
Congruent with this narrative style, Zefzaf probes into the character's multifarious
thoughts and feelings without paying much attention to a narrative sequence since
the emphasis is not so much on the external events as it is on the character's
thought-events at a single moment. Particularly challenging from the translation
point of view is handling the extensive use of free direct speech merged with the
narration without any overt indication by a reporting clause or a switch to indirect
speech. The following quote illustrates this point:

"He threw the letter under his feet and started to cry. How many nests were built
and destroyed! My God! What can a man do with himself?"

Here we have a descriptive sentence prefaced by the narrator's third person

pronoun 'he' whereas the next exclamatory statement can be an expression of the
 character's consciousness or a commentary on this consciousness. The following
question, however, starts with the first person possessive 'my' in an exclamation
phrase, an indication that the utterance represents the subjectivity of the narrated
subject. In other words, two different subjects of consciousness are present at the
same time, but how do we know whose perspective or subjectivity is represented
at a specific point in the discourse? This is a question that the translator of this
literary style has to face throughout the story.

The translation of this kind of literary style has to pay particular attention to
certain linguistic uses. For example proximal deictic adverbs and demonstratives
such as now, here, there, this, these, etc. invite the inference of a speaking
subjectivity. Other features like the use of third-person pronouns and past tense
suggest the presence of another voice (Wright, 1995, p.153). Zefzaf relays some
of the subjective impressions of his nameless character through the consciousness
of that character, and, at the same time by using the latter features, he manages
to maintain the narrator's perspective. Here is another example that illustrates
this interaction or tension between the two perspectives:

"He picks up radish roots, takes a drink and looks from behind the window at the
vases of flowers and the couple of doves flying together in return to their place
over the roof. Maybe they have a nest there. Every couple above or under the
earth builds some kind of nest for themselves, but it might get destroyed before
they leave each other or after their deaths. Every nest is destined to be destroyed
and people fight with all possible means to destroy their nests. But he is not
positive what the two doves have on the roof, a nest, a hen, a cock or
nothing. Whatever is hidden, no one else can know when it is hidden behind walls
or barriers."

The initial narrator's stance is indicated by the use of the third person pronoun in
the first descriptive two lines. In the following italic part, this presence is
dominated by the character's perspective, at least in terms of the explicit features
of narration. The passage, then, can be understood as expressing the narrated
subject consciousness. However, the experience is not just narrated but also
mediated by the narrator's didactic and intrusive presence. As typical in this style,
in many parts of the story the author portrays the subjectivity of his character
from the vantage perspective of the reporting narrator and, through a process of
empathy, identifies himself with the character (see Brinton, 1995; p.173-175).

2. Semantic Prosody

Another area of sensitivity in the translation of this story is semantic or discourse

prosody (Baker, 2000; Stubbs, 2001). This is the aura of meaning acquired by a
lexical item "through its repeated association with other items in the language
(Baker, p.24) or "a feature which extends over more than one unit in a linear
string" (Stubbs, p.65). The pivotal word nest/s in the translated story for example
occurs 27 times and interacts with a number of different mainly positive collocates
such as the adjective happy (5 times) and the verb build or rebuild (8 times). By
looking at the textual environment of this word, however, we find that the author
skillfully conveys a negative attitude towards its content by infusing it with irony
and casting doubt on its traditionally pleasant connotations. Examples:

"Keeping his nest so people could say he has a happy nest...What matters is that
the nest is believed to be happy. Cheers to all, all is well...How many nests were
built and destroyed."

The overall effect is that the idea of the nest is a mythical construct that people
tenaciously believe in when they know that it is not true. The challenge of the
translation here is to capture the tone, the discourse coherence and the attitudinal
meaning served by this semantic prosody.

3. Syntax and Punctuation

Zefzaf's use of Standard Arabic throughout his stories is a feature of his writing
that facilitates the task of the translator. In spite of the standard Arabic prose
style, however, he could be a quirky writer especially in the areas of syntax and
punctuation.

The original literal arrangement of the clausal elements in the opening of the story
reads as follows:

[He] sits by the window. [He] lonely looks at that bright sky. The sky might not be
clear later. Some clouds or flocks of black birds might pass by. But he got used to
all that.

In the translation, these five sentences were compressed into two to produce an
acceptable English text with flow:

"Lonely, he sits at the window looking at the bright blue sky. The sky might not be
clear later when clouds or flocks of black birds pass by, but he got used to all
that."

In many cases, for the sake of clarity, I needed to shorten and simplify without
sacrificing the deliberately repetitive quality of the style. At different places in the
story, moreover, there was a need to sacrifice some stylistic idiosyncrasies since
these peculiarities were sometimes hard to preserve. Calquing too reverently or
following the distinctive syntax too closely would impede comprehensibility and
yield unidiomatic results.

Another challenging task is the less standardized and more fluid nature of Arabic
punctuation compared to English. The uses of commas, periods, and paragraphing
in Arabic are more subject to the writer's discretion and do not necessarily have a
one-to-one relationship with English. Moreover, a series of question marks and a
 combination of a question mark and an exclamation point is possible in Arabic to
produce a dramatic effect. These conventions, or lack thereof, are capitalized on in
Zefzaf's writing but they were normalized in the English translation so as not to
violate the norms of the target language.

4. Grammatical Gender

Finally, there is the issue of grammatical gender, which is more marked in Arabic,
and how to render it into English. Gender distinctions operate massively and
persistently in the Arabic language with the masculine being the unmarked form
as opposed to the neutrality, or at least the apparent neutrality, in English. In
reference to people, Zefzaf uses man and the generic he, as is the convention in
Arabic. However, he makes a nod to the feminine pronoun in the following
passage:

"They try to give the impression that they live in happiness. They lie to
themselves until the time people say God bless his or her souls."

This unusual nod, however, was not taken up after that and the Arabic text
reverted back to the regular use of the he-language. All the italicized references in
the immediate following passage contained overtly masculinized singular
references. In the English translation, it was deemed appropriate and consistent
with the spirit of the story to de-genderize and pluralize these references. Even
though the pronoun 'them' in the third line as a reference to the antecedent
'deceased' in the second line might sound ungrammatical from a prescriptive point
of view, (that is if we consider the antecedent singular) , it was considered a safe
option:

"If they were well off, they would have a small obituary on a newspaper page

written by a poor journalist reading: "The deceased [man] (May he [or she] rest in
peace) departed this world to be with God." But who gave them rest or peace?
Only the One who can give rest and peace and grant protection to the human soul
knows why the lie of grieving the dead [man] is over few days after their death,
just as the lie of conjugal happiness becomes revealed in time."

Cultural Issues

A literary translation is a device of art used to release the text from its
"dependence on prior cultural knowledge" (Herzfeld, 2003; p.110). However, it is
not an easy task to transplant a text steeped in one culture into another.
Particularly demanding from the translator's point of view is the use of culturally
specific metaphors and allusions.

1. Metaphors
 Zefzaf's use of metaphors or similes is sparing and the few used pose no
significant problems in translation. The italic noun phrase at the end of the
following quotation might not be crystal clear but it is connotative and, therefore,
was literally translated:

"Always he sits there in the same place smoking, drinking, and trying to
remember many things that might take him back to the naked childhood."

Other than that, Zefzaf's metaphorical language seems to be affected by the

western idiom. And no more is this point well illustrated than in the following
italicized simile from the ending of the story:

"In a moment, he fell off his chair near the window bumping his head against the
wall. The sky remained bright while he was grunting like a hog in a sty."

Such transparent similes pose no problems in understanding to the western

reader.

2. Allusions

The occurrence of allusions, however, is more challenging. Not only does the
translator of Zefzaf have to cope with the usual linguistic difficulties of translating
from such a foreign language as Arabic, but he also has to handle different
references and allusions. In some of its parts, the text of this story is interspersed
with diverse references: Qu'ranic, historical and cultural. The following excerpts
illustrate this point:

"How many strange things the human body carries without our being aware of
them! There are two angels for example, one on the right shoulder recording the
good deeds and the other on the left recording the bad deeds. The human body
may also be inhabited by devils, and in this body there is also a spirit whose
essence we cannot know since it is from a command of the Lord."

In this excerpt, there is more than one allusion. The reference to demons
possessing human bodies is almost a universal superstitious belief shared in many
cultures and is in no need of explanation. The other two references to the angels
and the spirit, however, are more Islamic in their nature and the English reader
needs to be made aware of their scriptural origins: "When the twin keepers
[angels] receive him, the one seated on his right, the one on his left, each word
he utters shall be noted down by a vigilant guardian" (Surah 50, verse 17). And
"They ask you about the spirit, say: "The spirit is from a command of my Lord and
I have only given you [people] a small amount of the knowledge" (Surah 17 verse
85); Qu'ran (trans) Dawood 2000).

These references, and other similar in nature, are part of the prior cultural
knowledge taken for granted by the author writing for a predominantly Muslim
Arab audience. To give the closest approximation of the source language,
 therefore, it was necessary to opt for 'glossing' or using explanatory footnotes.
Here is another example with an historical reference that also requires the use of
a footnote:

"When they divorced, he didn't think she would do that, but he soon knew that a
woman is capable of doing anything. Didn't she cause Adam to be dismissed from
Eden and waged a war against Ali (May God be pleased with him)?"

The first reference to Adam and Eve in Eden is a biblical one and needs no
commentary to the western reader. The second allusion, however, derived from
Islamic history, might be a vague one to the western reader. It refers to A'ishah,
one of prophet Muhammad's wives and daughter of his first caliph (successor).
She played a significant role in supporting those who were fighting against the
fourth caliph Ali—a revered figure in Islamic history especially for the Shiite sect.
These cultural and historical allusions give a certain density to the language and
need to be explicated in the translation to bring forth the richness of the text for
the new readers. Footnotes, however, can be rather intrusive, and, therefore,
their uses were minimized as much as possible. Sometimes, explanatory notes
were deemed unnecessary or were integrated into the body of the text. The
following citation is an example:

"His wife was pretty, and he used to buy her glasses, pottery, sweets and rabbits
slaughtered and live. And sometimes he even preferred her to his two young
children. But she used to hit him, beat her cheeks and thighs [as some women do
when they mourn their dead]."

The cultural reference to a husband buying pottery and rabbits slaughtered and
live as gifts to his wife are indicators of the local culture. Keeping this reference
adds a foreignizing fidelity and gives the original flavor of a different culture. The
reference does not need a footnote, however, since it is clear from the contextual
surroundings. The second reference is to the custom of some women in the Middle
East who beat their cheeks and thighs as an ultimate sign of sadness when they
are mourning their dead. The bracketed note was inserted in the text to ensure
that the significance of this humiliating act on the part of the wife is not lost to the
western reader.

Conclusion

It is a great challenge dealing with a language that has a different feel and nuance
embedded more in culture than in literal meaning, but I hope that this
reconstruction of the translation process sheds some light on some of the
linguistic and cultural issues that might be encountered in literary translation in
general and from Arabic into English in particular.
 Bibliography

Baker, Mona. (2000). Linguistic perspectives on translation. In The Oxford guide

to literature in English translation. (Ed) Peter France. Oxford University Press.
Oxford, New York. Pp.20-25.

Brinton, Laurel. (1995). Non-anaphoric reflexives in free indirect style: expressing

the subjectivity of the non-speaker. in Stein Dieter and Wright Susan (eds.)
(1995). Subjectivity and subjectivisation: Linguistic Perspectives. Cambridge
University Press. Cambridge and New York. Pp.173-194.

Dawood, N. J. (Trans). (1956, 2000). The Koran. Penguin classics. London, New

York.

Herzfeld, Michael. (2003). The unspeakable in pursuit of the ineffable:

Representations of untranslability in ethnographic discourse. In Paula G. Rubel and
Abraham Rosman Translating culture: Perspectives on translation and
anthropology. Berg: Oxford. New York.

Said, Edward. (2002). Impossible Histories: Why the many Islams cannot be

simplified. July 2002 issue of Harper's Magazine.

Stubbs, Michael. (2001). Words and Phrases: Corpus studies of lexical semantics.

Blackwell Publishers Inc. Massachusetts.

Wright, Susan. (1995). Subjectivity and experiential syntax" in Stein, Dieter and
Wright Susan (eds.) (1995). Subjectivity and subjectivisation: Linguistic
Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge and New York. Pp.151-172.

Acknowledgment:

I would like to express my gratitude to Peter Owens from University of

Massachusetts, Dartmouth for his advice and help in translating this short story.

A country of unmatched diversity

 

© Copyright Translation Journal and the Author 2004

URL: http://accurapid.com/journal/29liter.htm
Last updated on: 07/19/2018 11:53:58

Machine Translation and Computer-Assisted

 Translation:
a New Way of Translating?

by Olivia Craciunescu, Constanza Gerding-Salas, Susan Stringer-O'Keeffe

Abstract

This paper begins with a brief analysis of the importance of

translation technology in different spheres of modern life, followed
by a concise history of machine and computer-assisted translation.
It then describes the technology available to translators in this first
decade of the twenty-first century and examines the negative and
positive aspects of machine translation and of the main tools used
in computer-assisted translation: electronic dictionaries, glossaries,
terminology databases, concordances, on-line bilingual texts and
translation memories. Finally the paper considers the impact of
these new technologies on the professional translator, concluding
that s/he will need to acquire new skills in order to remain efficient
and competitive in the field.

The Need for Translation Technology

dvances in information technology (IT) have combined with

modern communication requirements to foster translation
automation. The history of the relationship between technology
and translation goes back to the beginnings of the Cold War, as in the
1950s competition between the United States and the Soviet Union was
so intensive at every level that thousands of documents were translated
from Russian to English and vice versa. However, such high demand
revealed the inefficiency of the translation process, above all in
specialized areas of knowledge, increasing interest in the idea of a
translation machine. Although the Cold War has now ended, and despite
the importance of globalization, which tends to break down cultural,
economic and linguistic barriers, translation has not become obsolete,
because of the desire on the part of nations to retain their independence
and cultural identity,  especially as expressed through their own language.
This phenomenon can clearly be seen within the European Union, where
translation remains a crucial activity.
the Internet with its IT has produced a screen culture that tends to replace
universal access to the print culture, with printed documents being
information and instant dispensed with and information being acceessed and
communication between relayed directly through computers (e-mail,
users has created a databases and other stored information). These
physical and computer documents are instantly available and can
geographical freedom for be opened and processed with far greater flexibility
translators that was than printed matter, with the result that the status of
inconceivable in the past. information itself has changed, becoming either
temporary or permanent according to need. Over the
last two decades we have witnessed the enormous
growth of information technology with the accompanying advantages of speed,
visual impact, ease of use, convenience, and cost-effectiveness. At the same
time, with the development of the global market, industry and commerce
function more than ever on an international scale, with increasing freedom and
flexibility in terms of exchange of products and services. The nature and function
of translation is inevitably affected by these changes. There is the need for
countries to cooperate in many spheres, such as ecological (Greenpeace),
economic (free trade agreements) humanitarian (Doctors without Borders) and
educational (exchange programs), etc. Despite the importance of English, there
is the commonly-held belief that people have the right to use their own
language, yet the diversity of languages should not be an obstacle to mutual
understanding. Solutions to linguistic problems must be found in order to allow
information to circulate freely and to facilitate bilateral and multilateral
relationships.

Thus different aspects of modern life have led to the need for more
efficient methods of translation. At the present time the demand for
translations is not satisfied because there are not enough human
translators, or because individuals and organizations do not recognize
translation as a complex activity requiring a high level of skill, and are
therefore not prepared to pay what it is worth. In other words, translation
is sometimes avoided because it is considered to be too expensive. In
part, human translation is expensive because the productivity of a human
being is essentially limited. Statistics vary, but in general to produce a
good translation of a difficult text a translator cannot process more than
4-6 pages or 2,000 words per day. The economic necessity of finding a
cheaper solution to international exchange has resulted in continuing
technological progress in terms of translation tools designed to respond to
the translator's need for immediately-available information and non-
sequential access to extensive databases.

This paper aims at examining the new technologies (machine translation,

electronic dictionaries, terminology databases, bilingual texts,
grammatical concordances, and translation memories) in order to
determine whether they change the relationship between the translator
and the texts, and if so, then in what way. We will try to answer the
following questions:

 Which computer tools are genuinely useful to translators?

 Do the new technologies threaten the livelihood of the translator?
 Does automation imply the disappearance of translation as we know it?

A Short History of Machine Translation

It was not until the twentieth century that the idea of creating automatic
dictionaries appeared as a solution to the problem of linguistic barriers. In
the 1930s two researchers worked independently towards the same goal:
the Franco-Armenian George Artsrouni and the Russian Petr Smirnov-
Troyanskii. The latter was the more important of the two because he
developed the idea that three stages are necessary for a system of
automatic translation: first an editor who knows the source language
analyzes the words and converts them into base forms according to their
syntactic functions; then a machine organizes the base forms into
equivalent sequences in the target language; finally, this rough version is
corrected by a second editor, familiar with the target language. Despite
the significance of Troyanskii's work, it remained generally unknown until
the late 1950s.

The invention of the computer led very quickly to attempts to use it for
the translation of natural languages. A letter from Warren Weaver to the
computer specialist Norbert Wiener in March 1947 is considered to mark
the beginning of this process. Two years later, in July 1949, Weaver
publicized his ideas on the applications of the computer to translation and
shortly afterwards a number of universities in the United States initiated
research into the field of machine translation. In 1954 the first feasibility
trial was carried out as a joint project between IBM and the University of
Georgetown. Although very limited in scope, the demonstration was
considered a success, leading to the financing of other projects, both in
the US and the rest of the world. The first versions of machine translation
programs were based on detailed bilingual dictionaries that offered a
number of equivalent words in the target language for each word listed in
the source language, as well as a series of rules on word order. The
complexity of the task made it necessary for developers to continue
improving the programs because of the need for a more systematic
syntactical focus. Projects were based on advances in linguistics,
especially on the development of transformational generative grammar
models that appeared to offer new possibilities for machine translation.

However, initial optimism soon disappeared. Researchers began to think

that the semantic barriers were insurmountable and no longer saw a
solution on the near horizon to the problem of machine translation. IBM
and the University of Washington produced an operating system called
Mark II, but the results were disappointing. By 1964 the US government
was becoming so concerned about the inefficiency of machine translation
programs that it created the ALPAC (Automatic Language Processing
Advisory Committee) to evaluate them. In 1966 this committee produced
a highly critical report that claimed that machine translation was slow,
inefficient and twice as expensive as human translation, concluding that it
was not worth investing money in research in this field. Nevertheless, the
report stressed the need to encourage the development of tools to assist
the translation process, such as computer dictionaries, databases etc.
Although criticized for its lack of objectivity and vision, the ALPAC report
led to a freeze on research into machine translation in the US for more
than a decade. However, research continued in Canada, France and
Germany and two machine translation systems came into being several
years later: Systran, used by the European Union Commission and Taum-
météo, created by the University of Montreal to translate weather
forecasts from French to English.

Important advances occurred during the 1980s. The administrative and

commercial needs of multilingual communities stimulated the demand for
translation, leading to the development in countries such as France,
Germany, Canada and Japan of new machine translation systems such as
Logos (from German to French and vice versa) and the internal system
created by the Pan-American Health Organization (from Spanish to
English and vice versa), as well as a number of systems produced by
Japanese computer companies. Research also revived in the 1980s
because large-scale access to personal computers and word-processing
programs produced a market for less expensive machine translation
systems. Companies such as ALPS, Weidner, Globalink (North America
and Europe), Sharp, NEC, Mitsubishi, Sanyo (Japan) needed these
programs. Some of the most important projects were GETA-Ariane
(Grenoble), SUSY (Saarbrücken), MU (Kyoto), and Eurotra (the European
Union)
The beginning of the 1990s saw vital developments in machine
translation with a radical change in strategy from translation based on
grammatical rules to that based on bodies of texts and examples (for
example, the Reverso Program). Language was no longer perceived as a
static entity governed by fixed rules, but as a dynamic corpus that
changes according to use and users, evolving through time and adapting
to social and cultural realities. To this day machine translation continues
to progress. Large companies are now using it more, which also increases
software sales to the general public. This situation has led to the creation
of on-line machine translation services such as Altavista, which offer rapid
email services, web pages, etc. in the desired language, as well as to the
availability of multilingual dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and free, direct-
access terminology databases.

The Translation Market

The development of machine translation is based on supply and demand.

On the one hand, there is new technology available, and on the other,
political, social and economic need for change. Yet, despite the advances,
machine translation still represents only a tiny percentage of the market.
At the beginning of the 1990s the translation market was as follows
(Loffler-Laurian, 1996):

 HUMAN MACHINE
  TRANSLATION TRANSLATION

Europe & the United 300 million pages 2.5 million pages
States

Japan 150 million pages 3.5 million pages

It can be seen that only 6 million pages were translated through machine
translation, compared with 450 million through human translation, i.e. MT
represented only 1.3% of the total. Market analysts predict that this
percentage will not change radically by 2007. They say that machine
translation will remain only about 1% of an over US $10 billion translation
marketplace (Oren, 2004). The languages for which there was most
translation demand in 1991 were:

 Englis Japanes Frenc Germa Russia Spanis Others

  h e h n n h
 As 48% 32% 8% 5% 2% --- 5%
source
lang.

As 45% 24% 12% --- 5% 10% 4%

target
lang.

As expected, English dominates the market. The importance of Japanese

reflects the role of Japan in technology and foreign trade, which
accounted for two-thirds of translation volume at the end of the 1990s:

Busines
  Foreig s
n Scienc Teachin Literatur Journal Adminis
Technolog Trade e g e s -
y tration

40% 25% 10% 10% 5% 5% 5%

At this stage it is important to make a distinction between two terms that

are closely related and that tend to confuse non-specialists: machine
translation (MT) and computer-assisted translation (CAT). These two
technologies are the consequence of different approaches. They do not
produce the same results, and are used in distinct contexts. MT aims at
assembling all the information necessary for translation in one program
so that a text can be translated without human intervention. It exploits
the computer's capacity to calculate in order to analyze the structure of a
statement or sentence in the source language, break it down into easily
translatable elements and then create a statement with the same
structure in the target language. It uses huge plurilingual dictionaries, as
well as corpora of texts that have already been translated. As mentioned,
in the 1980s MT held great promises, but it has been steadily losing
ground to computer-assisted translation because the latter responds
more realistically to actual needs.

CAT uses a number of tools to help the translator work accurately and
quickly, the most important of which are terminology databases and
translation memories. In effect, the computer offers a new way of
approaching text processing of both the source and target text. Working
with a digital document gives us non-sequential access to information so
that we can use it according to our needs. It becomes easy to analyze the
sentences of the source text, to verify the context in which a word or a
text is used, or to create an inventory of terms, for example. Likewise,
any part of the target text can be modified at any moment and parallel
versions can be produced for comparison and evaluation. All these
aspects have profound implications for translation, especially in terms of
assessing the results, since the translator can work in a more relaxed way
because of the greater freedom to make changes at any time while the
work is in progress.

It is important to stress that automatic translation systems are not yet

capable of producing an immediately useable text, as languages are
highly dependant on context and on the different denotations and
connotations of words and word combinations. It is not always possible to
provide full context within the text itself, so that machine translation is
limited to concrete situations and is considered to be primarily a means of
saving time, rather than a replacement for human activity. It requires
post-editing in order to yield a quality target text.

Cognitive Processes

To understand the essential principles underlying machine translation it is

necessary to understand the functioning of the human brain. The first
stage in human translation is complete comprehension of the source
language text. This comprehension operates on several levels:

 Semantic level: understanding words out of context, as in a dictionary.

 Syntactic level: understanding words in a sentence.
 Pragmatic level: understanding words in situations and context.

Furthermore, there are at least five types of knowledge used in the

translation process:

 Knowledge of the source language, which allows us to understand the

original text.
 Knowledge of the target language, which makes it possible to produce a
coherent text in that language.
 Knowledge of equivalents between the source and target languages.
 Knowledge of the subject field as well as general knowledge, both of
which aid comprehension of the source language text.
 Knowledge of socio-cultural aspects, that is, of the customs and
conventions of the source and target cultures.

Given the complexity of the phenomena that underlie the work of a

human translator, it would be absurd to claim that a machine could
produce a target text of the same quality as that of a human being.
However, it is clear that even a human translator is seldom capable of
producing a polished translation at first attempt. In reality the translation
process comprises two stages: first, the production of a rough text or
preliminary version in the target language, in which most of the
translation problems are solved but which is far from being perfect; and
second, the revision stage, varying from merely re-reading the text while
making minor adjustments to the implementation of radical changes. It
could therefore be said that MT aims at performing the first stage of this
process in an automatic way, so that the human translator can then
proceed directly to the second, carrying out the meticulous and
demanding task of revision. The problem is that the translator now faces
a text that has not been translated by a human brain but by a machine,
which changes the required approach because the errors are different. It
becomes necessary to harmonize the machine version with human
thought processes, judgements and experiences. Machine translation is
thus both an aid and a trap for translators: an aid because it completes
the first stage of translation; a trap because it is not always easy for the
translator to keep the necessary critical distance from a text that, at least
in a rudimentary way, is already translated, so that mistakes may go
undetected. In no sense should a translation produced automatically be
considered final, even if it appears on the surface to be coherent and
correct.

Machine Translation Strategies

Machine translation is an autonomous operating system with strategies

and approaches that can be classified as follows:

 the direct strategy

 the transfer strategy
 the pivot language strategy

The direct strategy, the first to be used in machine translation systems,

involves a minimum of linguistic theory. This approach is based on a
predefined source language-target language binomial in which each word
of the source language syntagm is directly linked to a corresponding unit
in the target language with a unidirectional correlation, for example from
English to Spanish but not the other way round. The best-known
representative of this approach is the system created by the University of
Georgetown, tested for the first time in 1964 on translations from Russian
to English. The Georgetown system, like all existing systems, is based on
a direct approach with a strong lexical component. The mechanisms for
morphological analysis are highly developed and the dictionaries
extremely complex, but the processes of syntactical analysis and
disambiguation are limited, so that texts need a second stage of
translation by human translators. The following is an example that follows
the direct translation model:

Source language text

La jeune fille a acheté deux livres
Breakdown in source language
La jeune fille acheter deux livre
Lexical Transfer
The young girl buy two book
Adaptation in target language
The young girl bought two books

There are a number of systems that function on the same principle: for
example SPANAM, used for Spanish-English translation since 1980, and
SYSTRAN, developed in the United States for military purposes to
translate Russian into English. After modification designed to improve its
functioning, SYSTRAN was adopted by the European Community in 1976.
At present it can be used to translate the following European languages:

 Source languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese,

and Greek.
 Target languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese,
Greek, Dutch, Finnish, and Swedish.

In addition, programs are being created for other European languages,

such as Hungarian, Polish and Serbo-Croatian.

Apart from being used by the European Commission, SYSTRAN is also

used by NATO and by Aérospatiale, the French aeronautic company,
which has played an active part in the development of the system by
contributing its own terminology bank for French-English and English-
French translation and by financing the specialized area related to
aviation. Outside Europe, SYSTRAN is used by The United States Air Force
because of its interest in Russian-English translation, by the XEROX
Corporation, which adopted machine translation at the end of the 1970s
and which is the private company that has contributed the most to the
expansion of machine translation, and General Motors, which through a
license from Peter Toma is allowed to develop and sell the applications of
the system on its own account. It should be noted that in general the
companies that develop direct machine translation systems do not claim
that they are designed to produce good final translations, but rather to
facilitate the translator's work in terms of efficiency and performance
(Lab, p.24).

The transfer strategy focuses on the concept of "level of

representation" and involves three stages. The analysis stage describes
the source document linguistically and uses a source language dictionary.
The transfer stage transforms the results of the analysis stage and
establishes the linguistic and structural equivalents between the two
languages. It uses a bilingual dictionary from source language to target
language. The generation stage produces a document in the target
language on the basis of the linguistic data of the source language by
means of a target language dictionary.

The transfer strategy, developed by GETA (Groupe d'Etude pour la

Traduction Automatique / Machine Translation Study Group) in Grenoble,
France, led by B. Vauquois, has stimulated other research projects.
Some, such as the Canadian TAUM-MÉTÉO and the American METAL, are
already functioning. Others are still at the experimental stage, for
example, SUSY in Germany and EUROTRA, which is a joint European
project. TAUM, an acronym for Traduction Automatique de l'Université de
Montréal (University of Montreal Machine Translation) was created by the
Canadian Government in 1965. It has been functioning to translate
weather forecasts from English to French since 1977 and from French to
English since 1989. One of the oldest effective systems in existence,
TAUM-MÉTÉO carries out both a syntactic and a semantic analysis and is
80% effective because weather forecasts are linguistically restricted and
clearly defined. It works with only 1,500 lexical entries, many of which
are proper nouns. In short, it carries out limited repetitive tasks,
translating texts that are highly specific, with a limited vocabulary
(although it uses an exhaustive dictionary) and stereotyped syntax, and
there is perfect correspondence from structure to structure.

The pivot language strategy is based on the idea of creating a

representation of the text independent of any particular language. This
representation functions as a neutral, universal central axis that is distinct
from both the source language and the target language. In theory this
method reduces the machine translation process to only two stages:
analysis and generation. The analysis of the source text leads to a
conceptual representation, the diverse components of which are matched
by the generation module to their equivalents in the target language. The
research on this strategy is related to artificial intelligence and the
representation of knowledge. The systems based on the idea of a pivot
language do not aim at direct translation, but rather reformulate the
source text from the essential information. At the present time the
transfer and pivot language strategies are generating the most research
in the field of machine translation. With regard to the pivot language
strategy, it is worth mentioning the Dutch DLT (Distributed Language
Translation) project which ran from 1985 to 1990 and which used
Esperanto as a pivot language in the translation of 12 European
languages.

It should be repeated that unless the systems function within a rigidly

defined sphere, as is the case with TAUM-MÉTÉO, machine translation in
no way offers a finished product. As Christian Boitet, director of GETA
(Grenoble) says in an interview given to the journal Le français dans le
monde Nº314 in which he summarizes the most important aspects of MT,
it allows translators to concentrate on producing a high-quality target
text. Perhaps then "machine translation" is not an appropriate term, since
the machine only completes the first stage of the process. It would be
more accurate to talk of a tool that aids the translation process, rather
than an independent translation system.

The following is a relatively recent classification of some MT programs

based on the results obtained from a series of tests that focused on
errors and intelligibility in the target texts (Poudat, p.51):

Address Characteristi
Translator cs

Alphaworks http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/aw.nsf/ht Translates

® ml/mt English into
seven
languages;
transfer
method

Compreno http://www.abbyy-developers.eu Meaning-

® based text
analysis
E-lingo® http://www.elingo.com/text/index/html Twenty pairs
of languages
available;
transfer
method

Reverso® http://trans.voila.fr Thirteen pairs

of languages
available;
transfer
method

Systran® http://www.systransoft.com Twelve pairs

of languages
available;
direct transfer
method

Transcend http://www.freetranslation.com/ Eight pairs of

® languages
available;
direct transfer
method

Analysis of Some Errors in Machine-translated Texts

For the purpose of analyzing errors in machine-translated texts, it is

revealing to compare such a translation with that done by a human
translator. An article from Le Monde Diplomatique has been chosen, as
this is a newspaper that is originally written in French but which is then
translated into 17 other languages. In this case we will compare the
French to English translations produced by Systran, Reverso and a human
translator.

SOURCE TEXT: Le Monde Diplomatique, September 2002

Depuis le 11 septembre 2001, l'esprit guerrier qui souffle sur Washington

semble avoir balayé ces scrupules. Désormais comme l'a dit le président
George W. Bush, "qui n'est pas avec nous est avec les terroristes".

  Reverso   Human translation

Systran
 Since September 11,   Since September 11,   Since 11 September
2001, the warlike spirit 2001, the warlike spirit 2001 the warmongering
which blows on which blows on mood in Washington
Washington seems to Washington seems to seems to have swept
have swept these have swept (annihilated) away such scruples.
scruples. From now on, these scruples. From that point, as
like said it the president Henceforth, as said it President George Bush
George W Bush, "which the president George W. put it, "either you are
is not with us is with the Bush, "which (who) is with us or you are with
terrorists". (37 words) not with us is with the the terrorists." (36
terrorists". (35 +2 words)
words)
The first point to be made is that MT is a translation method that focuses
on the source language, while human translation aims at comprehension
of the target language. Machine translations are therefore often
inaccurate because they take the words from a dictionary and follow the
situational limitations set by the program designer. Various types of
errors can be seen in the above translations.

 Errors that change the meaning of the lexeme

2. Words or phrases that are apparently correct but which do not translate
the meaning in context:

Original: l'esprit guerrier

Systran: the warlike spirit

Reverso: the warlike spirit

HT: the warmongering mood

2. Words without meaning:

Original: comme l'a dit le président George W. Bush

Systran: like said it the president George W. Bush

Reverso: as said it the president George W. Bush

HT: as President George Bush put it

Although Reverso's translation is not completely correct, it

translates comme into "as", which is the correct choice for this context.

 Errors in usage

The translation is understandable in that the MT produces the meaning

but does not respect usage:

Original: semble avoir balayé ces scrupules

Systran: seems to have swept these scruples

Reverso: seems to have swept (annihilated) these scruples

HT: seems to have swept away such scruples

Original: qui n'est pas avec nous est avec les terroristes

Systran: which is not with us is with the terrorists

Reverso: which (who) is not with us is with the terrorists

HT: either you are with us or with the terrorists

As already mentioned, human translation concentrates on the target

language, preferring to depart from the source language, if necessary, in
order to reproduce meaning. For example, the human translator clearly
chose "the warmongering mood in Washington" as a better contextual
translation of l'esprit guerrier qui souffle sur Washington than the more
literal versions seen in the machine translations.

Because MT aims primarily at comprehension and not at the production of

a perfect target text, it is important to follow two basic rules in order to
make the best use of programs. First, we need to recognize that certain
types of texts, such as poetry, for example, are not suitable for MT.
Second, it is essential to correct the source text, as even one letter can
radically change meaning, as in the following example: We
shook hand translates into "Nous avons secoué la main"; but We
shook hands becomes "Nous nous sommes serrés la main". The omission
of an s in the source text is enough to make the machine translation
incomprehensible. It is of additional interest to note that the
final s of serrés is a mistake because the MT program does not take into
account the subtleties of French grammar with regard to the agreement
of the past participle.

Computer-assisted Translation

In practice, computer-assisted translation is a complex process involving

specific tools and technology adaptable to the needs of the translator,
who is involved in the whole process and not just in the editing stage.
The computer becomes a workstation where the translator has access to
a variety of texts, tools and programs: for example, monolingual and
bilingual dictionaries, parallel texts, translated texts in a variety of source
and target languages, and terminology databases. Each translator can
create a personal work environment and transform it according to the
needs of the specific task. Thus computer-assisted translation gives the
translator on-the-spot flexibility and freedom of movement, together with
immediate access to an astonishing range of up-to-date information. The
result is an enormous saving of time.

The following are the most important computer tools in the translator's
workplace, from the most elementary to the most complex:

Electronic Dictionaries, Glossaries and Terminology Databases

Consulting electronic or digital dictionaries on the computer does not at

first appear radically different from using paper dictionaries. However, the
advantages soon become clear. It takes far less time to type in a word on
the computer and receive an answer than to look through a paper
dictionary; there is immediate access to related data through links; and it
is possible to use several dictionaries simultaneously by working with
multiple documents.

Electronic dictionaries are available in several forms: as software that can

be installed in the computer; as CD-ROMs and, most importantly, through
the Internet. The search engine Google, for example, gives us access to a
huge variety of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries in many languages,
although it is sometimes necessary to become on-line subscribers, as
with the Oxford English Dictionary. On-line dictionaries organize material
for us from their corpus because they are not simply a collection of words
in isolation. For example, we can ask for all words related to one key
word, or for all words that come from a particular language. That is to
say, they allow immediate cross-access to information.
For help with specific terminology there is a wide range of dictionaries,
glossaries and databases on the Internet. Le Nouveau Grand Dictionnaire
Terminologique developed in Quebec, Canada contains 3 million terms in
French and English belonging to 200 fields. Another important resource is
EURODICAUTOM, a multilingual terminology database created by the
European Union in 1973 that covers a variety of specialized areas, both
scientific and non-scientific (the list begins: Agriculture, Arts,
Automation...). In addition, there are web sites that offer information on
terminology that is helpful to translators. One such site is that of the
TERMISTI research center attached to the Higher Institute for Translators
and Interpreters (ISTI) in Brussels (http://www.termisti.refer.org) which
provides information on the following:

 Dictionaries available on Internet such as those mentioned.

 Terminology networks such as RIFAL (Réseau international francophone
d'aménagement linguistique), RITERM (Red Iberoamericana de
Terminología)
 European terminology projects such as Human Language Technologies,
Information Society Technologies.
 Translation Schools
 Forums and diffusion/discussion lists
 Conferences
 Journals such as the International Journal of Lexicography, La banque des
mots, L'actualité terminologique, Méta, Terminogramme, Terminologies
nouvelles, Terminology, Terminometro, Translation Journal, Apuntes.

Concordances

Computer concordances do not replace tools such as dictionaries and

glossaries, but provide an additional method of handling texts for
translation. They are word-processing programs that produce a list of all
the occurrences of a string of letters within a defined corpus with the
objective of establishing patterns that are otherwise not clear. These
letters may form part of a word, such as a prefix or suffix for example, or
a complete word, or a group of words. Specific functions of concordances
include giving statistical data about the number of words or propositions,
classifying words etc. in terms of frequency or alphabetical order and,
most importantly perhaps, identifying the exact context in which the
words occur. Information can be accumulated and stored as more texts
are translated, producing a database available for consultation at any
time in a non-sequential way.
Concordances are particularly valuable for translating specialized texts
with fixed vocabulary and expressions that have a clearly defined
meaning. They ensure terminological consistency, providing the translator
with more control over the text, irrespective of length and complexity.
However, they are not so helpful to literary translators, who are
constantly faced with problems relating to the polysemic and
metaphorical use of language. Nevertheless, some literary translators use
concordances as they clearly have a potential role in all kinds of
translation.

On-line Bilingual Texts

A bilingual corpus normally consists of a source text plus its translation,

previously carried out by human translators. This type of document,
which is stored electronically, is called a bi-text. It facilitates later
translations by supplying ready solutions to fixed expressions, thus
automating part of the process. The growth of the translation market has
led to increased interest on the part of companies and international
organizations in collections of texts or corpora in different languages
stored systematically on-line and available for immediate consultation.

Translation Memories

Translation memories represent one of the most important applications of

on-line bilingual texts, going back to the beginning of the 1980s with the
pioneering TSS system of ALPS, later Alpnet. This was succeeded at the
beginning of the 90s by programs such as Translator Manager,
Translator's Workbench, Optimizer, Déjà Vu, Trados and Eurolang, among
others. In its simplest form, a translation memory is a database in which
a translator stores translations for future re-use, either in the same text
or other texts. Basically the program records bilingual pairs: a source-
language segment (usually a sentence) combined with a target-language
segment. If an identical or similar source-language segment comes up
later, the translation memory program will find the previously-translated
segment and automatically suggest it for the new translation. The
translator is free to accept it without change, or edit it to fit the current
context, or reject it altogether. Most programs find not only perfect
matches but also partially-matching segments. This computer-assisted
translation tool is most useful with texts possessing the following
characteristics:

 Terminological homogeneity: The meaning of terms does not vary.

 Phraseological homogeneity: Ideas or actions are expressed or
described with the same words
 Short, simple sentences: These increase the probability of repetition
and reduce ambiguity.

A translation memory can be used in two ways:

1. In interactive mode: The text to be translated is on the computer

screen and the translator selects the segments one by one to translate
them. After each selection the program searches its memory for identical
or similar segments and produces possible translations in a separate
window. The translator accepts, modifies or rejects the suggestions.

2. In automatic mode: The program automatically processes the whole

source-language text and inserts into the target-language text the
translations it finds in the memory. This is a more useful mode if there is
a lot of repetition because it avoids treating each segment in a separate
operation.

A translation memory program is normally made up of the following

elements:

a. A translation editor, which protects the target text format.

b. A text segment localizer.

c. A terminological tool for dictionary management.

d. An automatic system of analysis for new texts.

e. A statistical tool that indicates the number of words translated and to

be translated, the language, etc.

Thus translation memory programs are based on the accumulation and

storing of knowledge that is recycled according to need, automating the
use of terminology and access to dictionaries.

When translation tasks are repeated, memories save the translator

valuable time and even physical effort: for example, keyboard use can be
reduced by as much as 70% with some texts.

Memories also simplify project management and team translation by

ensuring consistency.

However, translation memories can only deal with a text simplistically in

terms of linguistic segments; they cannot, unlike the human translator,
have a vision of the text as a whole with regard to ideas and concepts or
overall message.

A human translator may choose to rearrange or redistribute the

information in the source text because the target language and culture
demand a different content relationship to create coherence or facilitate
comprehension.

Another disadvantage of memories is that training time is essential for

efficient use and even then it takes time to build up an extensive
database i.e. they are not immediate time-savers straight out of the box.

Finally, it should be stressed that translation memory programs are

designed to increase the quality and efficiency of the translation
process, particularly with regard to specialized texts with non-figurative
language and fixed grammatical constructions, but they are not designed
to replace the human translator.

Conclusion: The Impact of the New Technologies on Translators

It has long been a subject of discussion whether machine translation and

computer-assisted translation could convert translators into mere editors,
making them less important than the computer programs.

The fear of this happening has led to a certain rejection of the new
technologies on the part of translators, not only because of a possible loss
of work and professional prestige, but also because of concern about a
decline in the quality of production.

Some translators totally reject machine translation because they

associate it with the point of view that translation is merely one more
marketable product based on a calculation of investment versus profits.

They define translation as an art that possesses its own aesthetic criteria
that have nothing to do with profit and loss, but are rather related to
creativity and the power of the imagination.
 To this tiny corner of the world inspirational Would be something of an
understatement

This applies mostly, however, to specific kinds of translation, such as that

of literary texts, where polysemy, connotation and style play a crucial
role. It is clear that computers could not even begin to replace human
translators with such texts.

Even with other kinds of texts, our analysis of the roles and capabilities
of both MT and CAT shows that neither is efficient and accurate enough to
eliminate the necessity for human translators. In fact, so-called machine
translation would be more accurately described as computer-assisted
translation too. Translators should recognize and learn to exploit the
potential of the new technologies to help them to be more rigorous,
consistent and productive without feeling threatened.

Some people ask if the new technologies have created a new profession.
It could be claimed that the resources available to the translator through
information technology imply a change in the relationship between the
translator and the text, that is to say, a new way of translating, but this
does not mean that the result is a new profession.

However, there is clearly the development of new capabilities, which

leads us to point out a number of essential aspects of the current
situation. Translating with the help of the computer is definitely not the
same as working exclusively on paper and with paper products such as
conventional dictionaries, because computer tools provide us with a
relationship to the text which is much more flexible than a purely lineal
reading. Furthermore, the Internet with its universal access to
information and instant communication between users has created a
physical and geographical freedom for translators that was
inconceivable in the past.

Kita mempunyai keyakin yang sama

We share the conviction that translation has not become a new

profession, but the changes are here to stay and will continue to evolve.
Translators need to accept the new technologies and learn how to use
them to their maximum potential as a means to increased productivity
and quality improvement.

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