Faithfulness of translation

Composed by: X.Avazov
Confirmed by: M. Omonova

Card 1
1. What does the term “faithfulness of translation” mean?

Faithfulness in translation defines how a translated document follows the source and how much it keeps the original message. However, this doesn’t mean the original text must remain as close to the original as it can be.

The goal of any translator is to transmit the translated text to an audience in a faithful way that reflects its style. For some documents it is not an easy job. Particularly when the translation or interpretation of a text involves interpreting many references and specific terms in a certain culture.
Translators must understand terms very deeply so that they can present documents in a suitable way for the target audience. They need to be able to not over-simplify or translate terms literally, because they could loose the original meaning.
2. What is situational equivalence?stylistic equivalence?

Situational or Factual Equivalence

The content or sense of the utterance is conveyed by different grammatical and lexical units.
Situational equivalence is observed when the same phenomenon is described in a different way because it is seen from a different angle, e.g.
The police cleared the streets.
Unemployed teenagers are often left without means of gaining food and shelter.
Hold the line.
The Commonwealth countries handle a quarter of the world’s trade.
This type of equivalence also comprises the translation of clichés, orders, warnings and notices, phraseological units and set expressions, formulae of politeness, etc.
There were no survivors.
Fragile – обережно, скло;
Keep off, wet paint – не сідати, пофарбовано;
Many happy returns of the day – вітаю з днем народження.
In this way, the third type of equivalence conveys the sense, the meaning of the utterance without preserving its formal elements.

3. What is the subject matter of the theory of translation?

The theory of translation is subdivided into general theory, dealing with the general characteristics of translation, regardless of its type, and special branches, concerned with a theoretical description and analyses of the various types of translation, such as the translation of fiction poetry, technical and scientific literature, official documents, etc.

The general theory of translation has a clearly defined subject matter; the process of translating in its entirely, including its results with due regard for all the factors affecting it. Each special branch depends and specifies the general theory for it is the job of the general theory to reflect what is common to all types and varieties of translation while the special branches are mainly concerned with the specifics of each genre
In the world of translation, subject matter expertise refers to the translator's knowledge of the material being translated. In other words, if your texts are legal documents being translated from English to Arabic, does the translator have an understanding and expertise in the American and Arabic legal system