Abstract:

The processes of globalisation elevated the significance of translation which takes an important place in many fields, and is broadly recognized. Translators are important link between the source text and the target text, as they decide if the text which is to be produced for the target readers needs to be transferred or transformed. During the training, it is important for translators to gain the needed competences, cultural and linguistic ones among them (Schäffner, 2002; Kelly, 2005; Pym, 2011; Bennett, 2013). Thus, to possess the ability to transfer a source language text into a target language text, translators need profound knowledge of both languages, as well as cultural understanding of the cultures of the languages. Thus, translator training should focus on the language as well as cultural awareness a lot. Future translators should be aware that transformations of a text usually appear because of the differences of languages and cultures, meaning that translators must not only learn the languages, but also they have to gain knowledge about the target culture and its peculiarities. Furthermore, in order to produce a text of high quality, texts have to be adapted with the help of particular operations, i.e. transadaptation. If translators decide that the text must be transformed they introduce particular operations in order to change the text. Bielsa and Bassnett (2009) state that a text undergoes transformations when it is moved beyond the boundaries of the language. These operations, which are employed during the translation are chosen by a translator and their usage can either help to make the text a high quality product or introduce ambiguity, mistranslation and etc. The article focuses on linguistic as well as cultural training of future translators.

The aim of the article is to analyse linguistic operations used in international news translation from English to Lithuanian with the focus on cultural aspect used for translators’ training. 55 texts and their translations were analysed; in total 2864 examples of linguistic transformations were found and analysed according to the classification proposed by Gambier (2006).

The results of the analysis of linguistic transformations of international news indicate that dominant linguistic operations are deletion, addition and substitution; re-organisation being a less commonly used strategy. Subsequently, the examples were presented for 26 4th year BA translation students who were asked to identify linguistic operations according to Gambier’s (2006) classification and provide insights on their choices. The results of the research reveal that linguistic as well as cultural awareness is a key aspect of translators’ training in order to use operations correctly and avoid mistakes.

References:
[1] E. Bielsa, S. Bassnett, Translation in Global News. London, New York: Routledge, 2009. ISBN 10:0-415-40972-1.
[2]C. Schäffner, The Role of Discourse Analysis for Translation and in Translator Training. UK: Multilingual Matters, 2002.
[3] K. Bennett “English as a Lingua Franca in Academia”, The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 169-193, 2013. DOI: 10.1080/13556509.2013.1079885093-1. Routledge.
[4] K. Dorothy, A Handbook for Translator Trainers. London: Routledge, 2005.
[5] A. Pym, “Training translators” in The Oxford Handbook of Translation Studies (Edited by Kirsten Malmkjær and Kevin Windle), 2011.

Keywords:

Translation, translators’ training, linguistic operations, translation studies, cultural training.