Fundamentals of Translation

INTRODUCTION

A long-standing precept in the field of translation is that translators should have solid, native or native-like proficiency in their languages. Also related to this idea is the belief that once in possession of the necessary linguistic proficiency, reading ability will follow. As a result, reading has received limited attention in translation studies. In this book, we devote an entire chapter to reading, (i) to highlight the significance of reading for translation and translation practice, (ii) to provide the readers of this book with some basic concepts about reading processes and (iii) to guide them in using this knowledge toward a more complete understanding of translation.

If considered at all, reading in translation has been traditionally conceptualized as a language-decoding process. However, current research in language and reading tell us that a text is not a static object and that reading comprehension is a much more complex activity than a “simple” decoding activity. The misguided belief that reading is decoding and that there is an objective meaning hidden in the text has in turn facilitated the view that translation consists of recoding the decoded meaning into another language, namely, reproducing the objective meaning present in the source text. By providing a more accurate notion of reading, this chapter also presents a more accurate view of translation.

This chapter summarizes what reading as an interactive process means for the practice of the translator, including concepts such as background knowledge and its relation to specialized texts, new and old information, word meaning as activation of a potential meaning within a particular text and the translator as a reader.

Reading comprehension: An interactive process

Top-down and bottom-up models of reading comprehension

In a bottom-up model of comprehension, reading proceeds from smaller units on to larger ones: from letters, to words, to sentences, to paragraphs and texts. It is a serial process that moves up from part to whole.