Translation and interpreting terminology
Introduction
In working to improve the standing and standards of the profession, practitioners in Australia (and elsewhere perhaps) are handicapped by the lack of a uniform and consistent set of terms with which we can describe the very complex thing we do. Not only does it mean that individuals are sometimes lost for words, it also means that two individuals who are enthusiastic ambassadors of T&I may yet be presenting images that seem quite different because of the idiosyncratic terminology used, but which are, at heart, the same message.
This glossary has been developed to remedy this problem. (Please go to the end of the glossary for more detailed explanation of its development and intent.)
As far as possible the definitions reflect current usage within the industry, but only where that usage is well established and consistent between people, or consistent between sets of terms that seek to describe the whole of a particular thing or concept, in analytical terms. In other words in such a way that every part of the whole is accounted for, but where there is no overlap in the individual terms.
There are many colloquial usages amongst T&I practitioners that fail these tests and so this document attempts to tidy up these areas of overlap or contradiction and propose stricter conventions of usage. (Especially words like “Domain”, “Profession”, “Community”, “Business”, “check”, “edit” etc) I have also consulted a number of references to ensure that wheels are not being reinvented, and have found similarly that there are many terminological issues still open, and have in places taken the liberty of attempting closure. (The reader is especially advised to see “translation” before looking up anything else in this glossary).
A further point is that the established reference works that exist, still seem to be oriented more towards those teaching or theorising about T&I, rather than those purely concerned with making a living from it. So this terminology is presented also as another step towards the voice of the profession attaining the prominence it warrants.
I have attempted to make the degree to which usage is established clear, and where it is not established at all I have added comments, (rightly described as outright value judgements of the author), in boxes, on the practicalities of introducing such terms and conventions of use.
As ever, this work is work in progress. You are all invited to contribute to and further that progress.
Entries are set out in the following fashion. Words italicised (in the first instance per entry only) will be found elsewhere in the terminology. The user may be directed to them if they are highly relevant.
[term] ([nouns that are modified by an adjective]) [type of word] [definition][(number of reference relied on or consulted)] [Alternative terms if any] [opposite if relevant][Further reading]
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Comments detailing my opinion of the current usage of the term and on the practical issues to be aware of if the term is used in the way recommended here. |
Chris Poole
3rd February 2005
The Terminology
accreditation n. A credential awarded by NAATI to people who have demonstrated a certain level of ability to interpret or translate, and an understanding of socio-cultural and ethical issues. This ability and understanding may be demonstrated by either sitting for and passing an exam set by NAATI., completing a course in Australia that is approved by NAATI., or completing a translation and interpreting course overseas that is accepted by NAATI. There are currently three levels of accreditation that are commonly awarded: “Professional”, “Paraprofessional”, which is a lower level of skill than Professional and is also awarded by exam or course completion, and “Recognition”, which is awarded as an interim measure to rare or emerging language speakers for which no exams have been set, on the basis of evidence of experience as a translator or interpreter. (7)
accuracy n. Property of a translation where all information contained in the SL text, speech or sign, has been reproduced in the TL text, speech or sign.
ad hoc adj. This modifies the nouns “interpreting” and “translation” and thereby describes work carried out by people who are employed as something other than translator or interpreter, or indeed who are not being paid at all. Generally this arises out of a failure on the part of those whose interests may be adversely affected by poor T&I, to adequately safeguard their interests by establishing a commercial relationship within which the provider of the service may be properly held to account for the quality of the service. (This may include of course the situation where such risks are insignificant or said parties non-existent, for example where an individual is translating for their own pleasure or at their own risk or where students are translating as part of their studies). This in turn is often due to the lack of awareness, in both parties, of the existence of credentials that would otherwise indicate the willingness and ability of a person to enter into such a relationship, with the associated fact that people providing ad hoc T&I services are less likely to have training, qualifications or ability.
agency n. A company, whether owned privately or by the government, that coordinates the provision of translation services to the market by drawing on a panel or pool of freelance sub-contractors.
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NOTE: The word also has wide currency, especially in the Community Domain, meaning “arm of the government” and pertinently, purchaser of T&I services, which can cause confusion. |
area n. See field.
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This is another of the very poorly or undefined terms that otherwise overlap with terms like domain or sector, meaning variously; the industry in which the practitioner’s clients work such as law, health, media, education and so on; or the subject of the speech or text to be translated. |
AUSIT Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators. The national professional association for practitioners.
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There is one other national association: ASLIA, Australian Sign Language Interpreters Association, and several other State based organisations. |
back translation n. A translation (T2) of another translation (T1) into the SL of T1, by a translator who does not have access to the T1SL text or speech.
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This is a method sometimes used to check the quality of a translation, and sometimes to check the quality of a translation process (such as machine translation, or the work of a particular translator). As a method of checking anything it completely lacks effect or credibility and can often be highly misleading, to the detriment and damage of both client and translator. It is however perceived by many clients to be effective and many practitioners are not aware of the defects in the methodology and carry out this work at the request of clients. |
bilingual adj. Describes a person fluent in two languages, but not necessarily having any ability to interpret or translate. Employed, they may be known as “language aides” (7). See “ad hoc”.
business (domain, interpreting, translation) adj. A Domain of the Market or type of work. This is a domain where it is assumed that an economic agent such as an individual or company has freely chosen to purchase translation services on the basis of their own judgment regarding the benefit versus the cost. The economic agent may be involved in import or export; they may be involved in marketing, or the fulfillment of an existing contractual obligation, or in legal proceedings. They may also be involved in a non-profit activity such as a study tour or international conference, or even simply individuals wishing to correspond with other individuals. That most of these activities are supported by industries that are ultimately sustained by the free exchange of goods or services for money (colloquially called “business”), does not preclude this last instance, which is still a choice to purchase the service for the perceived benefit, where this benefit is defined at the discretion of the individual rather than the state. By this definition of course, what is commonly called “literary translation” may also be included, because the work may be performed as part of a business transaction. This would be true even when undertaken speculatively by an individual because it involves a personal freely choosing to allocate resources to the work.
This domain is characterised by the clearly commercial relationship that will exist between the purchaser of the service and the translator. This will lead to a much sharper definition of the service being purchased with the associated criteria for judging quality and delivery being much stricter, often including specific business outcomes. This is in sharp contrast to the Community Domain where the definition of the service being purchased rarely includes more than acceptable standards of translation ability and ethical conduct. The adjective “business” does not meaningfully modify the nouns “interpreter”, “translator” or “language”.
briefing n. Provision of contextual or background information to an interpreter or translator.
calque n. an expression in one language formed by the translation of an expression in another.
checking n. A stage of written translation where the draft is compared to the SL text and all information is confirmed as having been accurately reproduced. Checking is normally dealing with problems arising out of poor SL comprehension skills, poor TL production skills and carelessness, such as mistranslation, additions and omissions. Must be carried out by an experienced translator though not necessarily a TL native speaker. Checking is not “editing” nor is it “proof-reading”.
chuchotage n. Simultaneous interpreting in a whisper for the benefit of a person who is listening to speech in a language in which they are not fluent. Also “whispering” and “whispered interpreting”,
client n. The party purchasing translation services.
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The, or any, NESB person is referred to by some people as “The client”. This is a hangover from the days when an interpreter with an NESB person on one side and a “professional” (doctor, lawyer etc) on the other, sitting in a triangle, was taken to be the only setting that was representative of the industry. This is an extremely narrow view, causing confusion and leaving people ill-equipped to discuss the industrial relations and business aspects of the industry. |
collocation n. “Collocation is the relationship between two words or groups of words that often go together and form a common expression.” The word “often” here makes this definition lifted from the web (12) less useful. Errors of collocation are common in language produced by non-native speakers. The concept is useful to translators therefore as enabling them to pinpoint problems in a translation such as collocations that are not permissible or not preferable.
colloquial adj. Of usage. Use of a word or expression without necessarily conforming to the strict meaning of the word.
community (domain, interpreting, translation) adj. A Domain of the Market or type of work. Where interpreting or written translation is being provided in order to facilitate the operation of the government or community-oriented, domestically-based, non-profit NGOs, in respect of individuals, or groups of individuals, or particular language groups within the care or jurisdiction of that government and who are not fluent in the official language of that government. Typically, though not definitively (in Victoria, Australia) this includes all clinical medicine (even where patient is paying their own costs) police, courts (criminal jurisdictions only) Centrelink, DHS, education etc.
This domain is characterised by the following things. The responsibility to provide effective translation is entirely the government’s, and the obligation that drives that responsibility is publicly stated and expressed in terms of public policy. It is assumed (though not always the case in practice) that the individuals neither intend, nor know how, to arrange for this service to be provided, nor have any capacity to judge the quality or effectiveness of that service. Under this assumption (and often in practice) the NESB individuals consequently have no choice in who they must rely on for these services, no say in the allocation of resources, and very little mechanisms of accountability that would take into account the views of the individuals regarding the quality of the service. The individuals may also have very poorly formed expectations with regard to the definition of quality in translation services. All of these factors restrict the operation of market forces.
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There are several other terms which vie for application to this activity but which do not enjoy wide acceptance nor are they useful as a system of analysis. These include “Community Based Interpreting”, and “Public Service Interpreting”, and these terms themselves have led people inadvertently to speak of “the profession of Community interpreter”. It is argued here that this is meaningless. “Community interpreting” can be required in any language and be performed by any competent interpreter, so the adjective “community” adds nothing to understanding of the world when applied to the nouns “interpreter” or “language”. The author has written extensively on this topic and this material is available. (10) |
complex adj. (text, language etc) This word is often used in an attempt to categorise SL text or speech for translation, as justification for charging certain prices or allocating work to certain practitioners. Where it is defined at all, it is usually only by oblique reference to the area or sector, with little thought given to whether it is actually linguistically complex. Linguistic complexity is certainly a measurable attribute of a text or speech.
consecutive (interpreting) adj. Mode of interpreting where the interpreter waits for the speaker to finish an utterance of reasonable length (given the interpreter’s memory and or note taking skills) before they translate it. Opp. Simultaneous interpreting
context n. 1. “The linguistic environment of a lexeme that contributes to its relevant meaning in order to extract its sense” (5) 2. This word is also often used colloquially to describe settings, modes, areas etc. The first sense given here is more useful for this exercise.
contextual knowledge n. Any information other than the text or speech that is to be translated, but which determines the relevant meaning and sense of that text or speech or any part thereof, and which therefore enables the translator to translate accurately and faithfully. Also “background knowledge” and “contextual information”.
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This is a very common and important topic of discussion amongst practitioners as they are keenly aware of its importance to their work, but clients are notorious for not appreciating this. NOTE: In T&I training and education either this, or “Contextual studies” are often taught. These are in turn much broader subjects, that might be more appropriately called “general knowledge”, when compared to the specific knowledge that a person must have in order to translate. |
dialogue interpreting n. Obsolete categorisation of interpreting that assumed the majority of interpreting settings conform to a stereotypical three-way situation, and relied on a vague definition of length of utterance to distinguish it from “consecutive interpreting”. (7)
diplomatic adj. Domain of the Market. Any translation work carried out in order to facilitate the relationship between one sovereign state or international NGO and another, where that work is paid for by one of those parties. As well as government delegations and treaty negotiations, may also include activities such as trade missions where the objective is clearly to improve the business prospects of one or both nations, aid organisations’ activities and development projects in developing countries, or any interpreting and translation activities that take place in military or intelligence gathering activities. The power structures, mechanisms of accountability, definitions of success etc in this domain will be significantly different from those in the Business and Community Domains.
domain n. A subdivision of the market for translation that is characterised by
l the power structure that exists between the translator, and the representatives of the two or more languages which are being translated, if present;
l the mechanisms by which the services of the translator are sought, offered, retained, delivered, measured, accounted and paid for;
It may also be further loosely characterised, but not defined, by the numbers of intermediaries involved in the marketing and generation of work, the type of work available and the market price for translation. There are three domains: “Community”, “Business” and “Diplomatic”. (See ad hoc) which account for all paying work for translators and interpreters. The domain in which T&I work takes places has absolutely no bearing on the field, subject or topic of the speech or text that is being translated.
draft n. adj. Any, or descriptive of, written translation at a stage of partial completion, i.e. before checking, editing or proof-reading.
editing n. Changes made to a draft translation in order that it meets any of a number of criteria including but not limited to: conformity with existing precedents, internal consistency, naturalness, appropriate register, grammatical correctness, etc insofar as those attributes existed in the SL text. A translation that meets those criteria is generally regarded as being “faithful” or more technically, “dynamically” or “functionally equivalent” (4 esp. Nida & Taber 1969/1982:200, and de Waard & Nida 1986). Editing is normally dealing with problems that arise out of poor TL production skills of the draft translator, and relies less on reference to SL for guidance than does the process of checking. Must be carried out by an experienced translator who is a TL native speaker. NOTE: This is a strict meaning applicable to T&I, which excludes the broader meaning of editing for length, or to create attributes of the TL text not present in the SL.
emerging language n. Language (in a given geographical area) for which there is a growing demand that is not matched by supply of accredited interpreters. See “Rare language”.
faithful adj. A faithful translation, apart from conveying the information contained with the SL speech or text, also reproduces the style of, and functions the same way as the SL speech or text, including having the same effect on the receptors of the translation as would be experienced by the receptors of the SL speech or text, by reproducing all the pragmatic features of the SL. (4)
false friend (also faux amis) n. A loan word that is incorrectly assumed to mean the same thing it meant in the language from which it was borrowed.
field n. If the words and other linguistic elements subject to translation in a given translation task constitute coherent sentences, then in so far as these may deal with propositions or speech acts that refer in some way to some human activity that is otherwise categorised and named, then the “field” of that translation would be that named, human activity. Examples would be “chemistry”, “politics”, “engineering” and so on, or may be more specific subdivisions of these into areas, subjects and topics (see below).
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The use of words such as “field”, “area”, “subject”, “topic” and so on is very loose and this definition is not established, but it might be useful to treat these four words as a hierarchy of specificity with topic being the most specific. I.e. area – medicine, field – orthopedics, subject – rehabilitation of certain patient, topic – what happened to her leg this morning.
A “field” (or area) is not a domain, or a mode, or a setting, (although considerable confusion exists as to the meaning and application of these various terms). The easiest way to demonstrate this is by observing that the very same set of words, say from a doctor giving expert evidence in a court from prepared notes, may have to be interpreted there (mode: consecutive interpreting, setting: court room, domain: community) then translated into another language for research purposes (mode: translation, domain: business) and presented at an international conference sponsored by a government which is also being interpreted (mode: simultaneous interpreting, setting: conference, domain: diplomatic) and all the while the field remains (say) medical.
Neither are fields a particularly useful method of analysis as there is no finite set of “fields” which could account for all translation tasks, without overlapping, and as all practitioners know, rare is the text or speech that remains neatly confined to a single field, area, subject or topic.
There is a tendency to categorise people according to the way in which they specialise, referring to it as their “field”, such as “legal interpreter” or “medical interpreter”. The use of the word in this way adds little to our understanding of the nature of the work being carried out. Such categorisation is only reasonable in commercial terms, in that the practitioner has chosen to specialise in a combination of mode, setting and perhaps sector. |
fluent a. Term used colloquially in this industry most often to describe second language ability. A more detailed and strict definition for the T&I industry might be based on the definition of “Communicative Proficiency” as set out in the “Canadian Language Benchmarks 2000: Theoretical Framework (13)”, consisting of the following five elements, each of which would be expected in the second language fluency of a professional T&I practitioner (NOTE: these are not to be confused with the “Competencies” being developed in Australia as the basis for VET sector courses):
1) Linguistic competence is the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary at a sentence level. It enables the building and recognition of well-formed, grammatically accurate utterances, according to the rules of syntax, semantics, morphology, and phonology/graphology.
2) Textual competence is the knowledge and application of cohesion and coherence rules and devices in building larger texts/discourse. It enables the connection of utterances and sentences into cohesive, logical and functionally coherent texts and/or discourse.
3) Functional competence is competence to convey and interpret communicative intent (or function) behind a sentence, utterance or text. It encompasses macro-functions of language use (e.g., transmission of information, social interaction and getting things done/persuading others, learning and thinking, creation and enjoyment) and micro-functions, or speech acts (e.g., requests, threats, warnings, pleas, etc.), and the conventions of use.
4) Socio-cultural competence focuses on appropriateness in producing and understanding utterances. These include rules of politeness; sensitivity to register, dialect or variety; norms of stylistic appropriateness; sensitivity to "naturalness"; knowledge of idioms and figurative language; knowledge of culture, custom and institutions; knowledge of cultural references; and uses of language through interactional skills to establish and maintain social relationships.
5) Strategic competence manages the integration and application of all the other language competence components to the specific context and situation of language use. It involves planning and assessing communication, avoiding potential or repairing actual difficulties in communication, coping with communication breakdown, and using affective devices. Most of all, its function is to ensure effectiveness of communication "transactions".
freelance practitioner n. A translator who offers their services to both Translation Agencies and end users on a subcontract or contract basis respectively.
genre n. A method of categorising literature. Also used occasionally to categorise SL text or speech for translation.
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There is no list of “genre” that comprehensively accounts for every possible type of literature nor any list that has been universally accepted. Given that literature at least consists of texts displaying a fairly high degree of finish and conscious intent, the word “genre” is even less effective as a method of categorising the SL speech or text of translation which may display none of these things. The word “genre” is nevertheless used in this way from time to time, effectively serving as nothing more than a vague synonym for sector or domain or area etc. depending on the user and instance. The reasons which we might want to categorise literature and SL for translation are also very different, with the latter being more important than the former (because pricing of translation work and/or allocation of work to practitioners in some sectors of the market rely on various ad hoc system of categorising texts such as “technical” or “complex”). |
industry n. Used in this document to refer to all the T&I practitioners working for money.
information n. Features of the SL text, speech or sign, the existence of which is generally accepted without dispute, including but not limited to number, identity, date, name, order, orientation, hierarchy, and subject – object – agent, hypernym, hyponym and other syntactic and logical relationships.
interpret vt. 1. To translate speech or sign orally. (4) This is the sense that is relevant to this industry. 2. To explain. See below.
interpretation n. Rendering of speech, text or other event that seeks to explain or make it intelligible (see interpreting for which it is sometimes mistaken)
interpreter n. One who interprets
interpreting n. The oral translation of speech or text. See also sight translation. (1)
literal (of translation) adj. 1. Often used incorrectly to describe unnatural (see “natural”) translation, or translation defective in some other way. Strictly, it is the opposite of “figurative” which in turn describes “figures of speech” (deviations from standard meaning) and especially “figures of thought” or “tropes” (deviations from standard order or usage) both for rhetorical effect, such as simile, metaphor, etc. (Also “direct translation”). Only figurative language can be translated “literally”. Allegations of “literal translation” should be examined closely to see whether they are in fact this, or whether the person simply finds the translation disagreeable for some reason. (6) 2. Also incorrectly requested as an attribute of a translation (often by legal practitioners), where for example the translation fails for some reason to meet the expectation of the person making the request, who suspects that the translator is adding something to or omitting something from the translation, neither of which they suspect would occur if translated “literally”. None of these expectations or suspicions or putative remedies have the slightest bit of validity. 3. In this context it can also be a synonym for “word-for-word” or “verbatim translation”, the former being defined as translation “made on a level lower than is sufficient to convey the content unchanged while observing TL norms” (4) or where each lexeme is “translated” without regard for structure at any higher level such as phrase, sentence etc.
No useful translation can be produced according to any of these methods, which are largely the product of the imaginations of non-translators, except where they are used to carry out linguistic analyses of foreign speech or text, which is a metalinguistic task.
(Further recommended reading : “Verbatim Interpretation: an Oxymoron” by Holly Mikkelson http://www.acebo.com/papers/verbatim.htm )
literary translation n. Translation of texts classed as literature. Can take place in the Business, Community or Diplomatic Domains.
loan word n. Although according to (3) it is any word “borrowed” from another language, clearly the date on which a word was borrowed can vary wildly. “Loan words” are those of which there is a general awareness that they were borrowed recently, as opposed to the very low awareness that may have entered the language centuries ago.
LOTE acr. Language Other Than English
market n. All the possible sources of paying work for translators. The market can be divided into three “domains”: community, business and diplomatic. It may also be divided into “sectors” or “areas”, such as medicine, law, education, manufacturing, banking etc. Domains and sectors overlap and intersect with one another, as do modes.
metalingustic adj. A metalanguage is any language used to talk about language. Of course in practice, the language in question, if used by English speakers, may be indistinguishable from English, except for some technical terms and awkward constructs not normally encountered in common parlance. But any discourse that refers to language and linguistic matters is metalinguistic. This is important for T&I practitioners who, it may be argued, have an ethical obligation to be able to discuss and explain their work, and inter alia both SL and TL, in such a way that their clients gain access and insight into the problems that the practitioner is being paid to solve. For example, as a method of checking the quality of a translation, simply re-translating or back-translating the same SL text or speech are of little use to a monolingual client. Metalinguistic comment is the only ethically accountable way to explain to someone why a translation is good or bad.
mode n. The word “mode”, like “domain”, is used widely in this industry, with variations in intended meaning also spread widely. It is proposed here that a strict definition be adopted as follows.
The mode of translation dictates the mental resources required to perform the work. There are a number of modes of translation. The two most widely encompassing modes are spoken to spoken, and written to written, being known colloquially within this industry as “interpreting” and “translation” respectively. But there are many other combinations and subdivisions of these two modes such as consecutive and simultaneous interpreting, written to spoken and vice versa, summarising and those modes involving broadcasting, internet text, subtitling, formal speeches and telephone intercepts.
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“Mode” is also closely related to the setting which dictates the physical resources required to perform the work. Consideration of a particular mode will often include the setting, and it will tend to characterise the experience for all involved and as a result of this, the development of a practitioner’s career is often aligned closely with a particular mode and/or setting, such as court or conference interpreting, or written translation. Hence the colloquial practice of referring to oneself by mode i.e. “I’m an interpreter”. This then contributes to the idea that there discrete groups of people who are either interpreters or translators, or both. Clearly, given a large enough market and enough practitioners, there may be large discrete groups of people who only do one or the other. There is no evidence to date that demonstrates that this is the case in Australia, and it also tends to obscure the fact that, at a level more basic than selection of a particular mode/setting as a career path, all practitioners are drawing largely on the same set of skills and knowledge to perform their work, regardless of mode. This generally retards development of the industry because it artificially segments it, preventing the increase in power and understanding that would come from a clear perception of the common ground and interests that all translators and interpreters share. |
Modes are not to be confused with “domains” as they can all overlap (or be combined in people’s perception, as in “Community interpreter”).
monolingual n. adj. Person, or of a person, who speaks only one language.
NAATI. (Rhymes with “party”) National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters. The body that examines and accredits practitioners, and approves courses.
native language n. The language one acquires greatest proficiency in during childhood. Generally the language in which one is most fluent. Also “L1”, “first language”, “Mother tongue”
native speaker n. of a person in relationship to a given language, which is their native language.
natural adj. naturalness n. property of a translation where it displays no errors typical of a non-native speaker.
NESB adj. Non-English Speaking Background (person). This acronym enjoyed popularity in Australian Government publications for several years, but in 2004 started to be replaced by the acronym “CALD” or “Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (person, community etc)”.
nuance n. Very subtle difference in the sense of a lexical unit. Successful reproduction of nuance in TL may not take place at the level of lexeme.
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This word is very popular amongst people with no training in linguistics or translation as an indicator of quality in translation, e.g. that it “captured every nuance”. |
panel n. adj. The list of, or descriptive of, freelance practitioners to whom agencies allocate work.
pragmatic (feature, effect, value etc) adj. Functional or non-linguistic feature of the SL text or speech. The parts of language that do things other than convey information. (See also style) Successful reproduction of pragmatic features makes a translation “faithful” . Mention is often made of “visual cues” and “body language” in relation to interpreting. These are all pragmatic features. NOTE: The word “pragmatic” has a strict meaning in linguistics quite different from its colloquial meaning. Also “Para lingual”. (Further reading: BLAKEMORE, D., 1992. Understanding utterances: An introduction to pragmatics. Oxford. Blackwell. AUSTIN, J.L., 1962. How to do things with words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.)
practitioner n. Person who works as an interpreter and/or translator.
precedent n. Previous translation of word or expression in SL which has become well established, requiring the translator to adhere to this rather than translate anew. Most commonly applies to proper nouns, reported speech etc but can apply to any word that may have been previously translated.
proofreading n. Examining a translation to confirm there are no errors due to fatigue, carelessness, laziness etc such as typos, spelling mistakes etc. Proofreading is not checking nor is it editing and reference to SL is not required. Proofreading cannot be effectively carried out by anyone involved in the drafting, checking or editing of that text, and will generally be most efficiently carried out by a TL native speaker, but they need not be a translator.
profession n. The collective body of persons practicing a particular occupation requiring advanced training in some liberal art or science and which involves mental rather than manual work. (1)
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This word has a talismanic quality that prevents many people from reflecting on its strict meaning. Like many words it has many senses and it is used quite selectively by people in this industry, sometimes to mean high standards, sometimes just to mean worth lots of money. The concept is critical to many key issues for the industry and a more detailed definition has been published separately. (11) |
professional (standard, conduct etc) adj. appropriate to or representative of a profession.
professional, the n. Often used to refer to a doctor or lawyer or some other English speaker in a setting involving two people for whom consecutive interpreting was being performed
rare language n. A language (in a given geographical area), the demand for which is insufficient to constitute, by itself, a fulltime living for a single interpreter in that area.
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This definition is not established. The word is more often linked to “emerging” to denote more crudely, languages for which in practice there is a certain level of demand that agencies are not able to service. But a language can clearly be “rare” without being “emerging” and vice versa. Similarly, failure of agencies to meet demand for T&I services can occur in languages that are rare, or emerging, or both, or neither. See “emerging”. There are also a number of other terms, similarly undefined and all seeming to refer to the same thing “new”, “of urgent need”, “of limited diffusion” etc |
register n. “A property of discourse that takes into account the nature of the relationships amongst speakers; their socio-cultural level; the subjects treated; and the degree of formality and familiarity selected for a given utterance or text”. (5) Colloquially often described as “level of politeness”. Register is a pragmatic feature.
sector n. Loose term referring to the industry in which a practitioner’s clients work, such as health, law etc.
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This term is used very loosely and without definition. It seems meaningful to say that an interpreter is working in the health sector. But a sector is not a domain, nor it is an area. |
sense n. The meaning of a lexical unit distinguished from other meanings of the same lexical unit. (3)
setting n. A description of the environment where an interpreter works, that specifically addresses all the physical demands that a particular job makes of an interpreter, including number of people and their various roles, seating, sitting and standing arrangements, nature of control exercised over the discourse (i.e. chaired or unchaired meeting, courtroom etc) presence or absence of acoustic isolation, visibility and sightlines and so on. Many settings are known by name such as “courtroom”. Use of the word “context” instead of “setting” is to be avoided (See context and mode)
sight translation n. The act of reading a SL document and producing a more or less instant oral translation.
sign vi. vt. The act of communicating in sign language.
simultaneous interpreting n. Mode of interpreting where speech is translated while it is being spoken (usually with a delay of no more than a few seconds). Often performed with the aid of interpreter’s booth or some other method of acoustic isolation of interpreter from speaker and listener/s so as not to distract them (see also “Chuchotage”).
Skopos theory n. First articulated by Reiss and Vermeer in 1985, it makes functional equivalence more important than formal equivalence (see editing above). That it remains the name of a “theory” suggests that those who developed and teach it are perhaps less familiar with professional practice than they are with ad hoc work.
source language n. The language of the text or utterance that is being translated. Also “SL”.
specialisation n. Translators, like any business-people, will naturally derive greatest returns from work with which they have the greatest familiarity (many other factors remaining equal) and so will tend to maximise the amount of work they do of that type, or “specialise”. It is a fact that accounts of successful specialisation will be given by practicing translators that nevertheless display the confusion between “field”, “setting”, “mode” and “domain” described above. Specialisation will usually consist of specialisation in a particular combination of these, or of their subdivisions.
strict (meaning) adj. Referring to the precise meaning of a word as governed by an internally consistent system of terminology, such as the one you are reading now. Opp. “Colloquial”.
style n. Attribute of SL text or speech other than information. Including but not limited to lexis; density and type of figurative language; sentence structure; prosody; rhetorical aims and effects. Overlaps significantly with pragmatic features.
subject n. see field.
summarising n. Deliberately incomplete translation of speech or text. The translation may purport to be the “gist”, or those parts of the speech or text that the translator deems on behalf of the person or people for whom they are translating to be important or of interest. But this inevitably obliges the translator to judge things for which they are not trained or qualified, and for which they can therefore not be held to account as a professional practitioner. The practice is therefore questionable, unless of course the client has been duly advised of these issues, and instructs the translator to summarise, at the client’s risk.
T&I abbr. “Translation and Interpreting” used to refer to this industry. Includes signing. Also “T/I” and “TI”.
target language n. the language in which the translation is produced. Also “TL”.
terminology n. Colloquially this refers to terms and linguistic units of currency limited to a particular field, area, subject, sector or period. Also “Technical terminology”, “special terminology”, “jargon” etc.
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The importance of knowledge of technical terminology is grossly overstated by practitioners, mainly because they have imported, uncritically, the expectation amongst their clientele that this represents a major difficulty in translation. Non-translators do this because it is one of the few difficulties that are visible to non-translators. The expectation is also founded on a lay definition of “limited currency” which also has no valid basis in linguistics whatsoever, and so is of no use in trying to understand T&I. |
topic n. The most specific way of delineating the matter dealt with in speech or text. A subdivision of “subject”. See field.
translation n. 1. The transfer of meaning from one language to another, whether written, spoken or signed; accurately reproducing all the information, and faithfully reproducing the style, register and all other pragmatic features of the original, in the translation. (1, 2, 9 etc)
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The convention of limiting use of the word “translate” (and its derivatives) to written translation, and “interpret” (and its derivatives) to oral translation, is so well established within the T&I industry that many practitioners are unaware of the original and current definition (above) and generally object to exceptions to this usage. This happens quite often as the convention has very little currency outside the industry, e.g. regular reference made in the media to someone speaking “through a translator”. For the sake of brevity only however, the word “translate” (and its derivatives) is used throughout this glossary to refer to all modes unless specified. This is only for the sake of brevity however; no argument is hereby put that “translators and interpreters are all the same”. |
2. The product of translation i.e. the text or speech produced by a translator.
transcription n. transcribe vt. The recording in writing of electronically recorded speech, in the same language.
transliteration n. The recording of speech or text that is expressed in one language, in the writing system or system of phonetic notation of another language, reproducing the phonetic characteristics as faithfully as possible, without necessarily reproducing the meaning.
triage n. The assessment of a large volume of written material in order to identify those parts requiring translation, and to allocate priorities in the translation of various parts.
Coming Soon!
This terminology has been developed in order to encourage a degree of consistency in the discussion, examination and debate of issues related to translation and interpreting.
It is based on work originally done by Victorian/Tasmanian Branch of AUSIT for The Victorian Language Services Project Group, a part of DIMIA (Department of Immigration, Multiculturalism and Indigenous Affairs), in 2002. Whilst drafted initially by the author, it also benefited from feedback from all the members of that group which included agency operators, government representatives and end users. The first draft was also extensively reviewed and debated by over twenty people on the AUSIT ebulletin, a mailing list for practicing translators and interpreters in Australia, in August 2002. This version contains material added subsequent to those reviews and has been submitted for comment to NAATI and several other prominent authors and practitioners for their critical input. It is hereby submitted to you for the same purpose.
If you can think of terms that are directly relevant to the T&I industry that do not appear here please submit them with your definitions. If you can provide evidence in the form of citations etc that successfully refute these definitions please send those too.
The author is currently (March 2005) working on the following:
Chunking
Paraphrase, to
Gloss, to
Lexical networks
Common grave problem
Non-identical twin problem
Near pair problem
Garden Path sentence
Note-taking
References:
1. Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary, Unabridged 1959
2. The Macquarie Dictionary 1982
3. Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics ed. Matthews, P. H. 1997
4. Shuttleworth, M., Cowie, M, Dictionary of Translation Studies 1997
5. Translation Terminology ed. Delisle, J., 1999
6. A Glossary of Literary Terms ed. Abrams M. H. 1981
7. Concise Guide for Working with Translators and Interpreters in Australia NAATI 2003
8. Gentile, A., Ozolins, U., Vasilakakos, M., Liaison Interpreting: A Handbook 1996
9. Crystal, D The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language 1987
10. Poole, C. Notes on Domains. Unpublished
11. Poole, C. Definition of a Profession Published in the AUSIT newsletter 2003
12. http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/advdicts/collocation.htm
13. Reproduced with kind permission from the copyright holder: Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks, and author Grazyna Pawlikowska-Smith. http://www.language.ca/
