This course offers you basic but valuable techniques used by a good translator in the translation between English and Chinese. We’ll discuss what is translation, what is good translation, and learn about how to produce good translations. All the examples used in this course are taken from the course instructor's own translations of various genres and topics of writing. These examples are elaborated on to show you how to understand the idea, style and tone of the writer, the historical and cultural context of the writing, as well as the explicit and implied meanings of words, the grammatical structures of sentences, and the logic of sentences and paragraphs in order to achieve faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance in the translation. After completing this course, you will know what makes a qualified professional translator and acquire the abilities and skills that such a translator needs
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Translation in Practice
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A Brief Introduction to Translation
This module discusses why translation matters, what is translation, and what is good translation. It also gives an overview of the content of the entire course.
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Yuan YaoAssociate Professor
[MUSIC]
Welcome to the Translation in Practice course.
This course discusses translation basics, including the translation process,
translation techniques, cultural elements in translation, and
translation of different genres of writing.
Why do we learn translation, because translation matters.
Why does translation matter?
This subject is so huge and complex that it cannot be summed up in
one sentence or one page or one lesson.
Maybe we can narrow it down and ask,
what contributions translation makes to our life, to our world?
But that's still to big a question.
Let's ask it in another way.
Without translation, what would happen to our life,
to the technologies we're so use to, to literature and arts that we enjoy?
To our religious and spiritual experiences, to our political, social,
professional, and personal life?
According to the study of anthropologists,
there are more than 6,000 human languages in the world.
It's not known how many of these languages are written.
Let's hypothesize there are 600.
How many languages can one read?
It's said that a Lebanese linguist can read 40 different languages,
that's really amazing.
But for many of us,
it would be difficult even to be able to read two or three languages.
Without translation, it would be impossible for even the most
gifted linguists who read, and through reading, to learn any facts,
thoughts, feelings, written in any language they don't know.
[MUSIC]
Giordano Bruno said in the 16th century,
from translation all science had its offspring.
I would say, from translation all branches of learning developed.
Results of academic's research in one language and made available to researchers
of other languages through translation, who may then advance the study.
Without translation, they may not benefit from the work of their fellow researchers
and get inspirations from them.
[MUSIC]
Translators of King James' Bible,
after completing the translation in the 17th century, wrote to the readers.
Translation it is that openeth the window to let in the light
that breaketh the shell, that we may eat the kernel.
That putteth aside the curtain, that we may look into the most holy place.
That removeth the cover of the well, that we may come by the water.
Without that translation, the English-speaking people would not
have had the opportunity to bathe in the light or to come by the water.
Similarly, Martin Luther's translation of the Bible into German in the 16th century,
brought about not only the religious reform in Germany, but
also the revival of the German language and even the German nation.
Actually, in every area of human life that we can look at,
we see the active role translation plays.
The history of Roman civilization and
the Roman Empire would have been different if the ancient Greek books on philosophy,
arts and science were not translated into Latin.
The great Renaissance would also have been different without the translation of
the great works produced in ancient Rome into the vernacular languages of Europe.
After the Industrial Revolution, translation was an important means through
which the European countries could know as much as possible about their competitors.
In the 19th century, Japan opened its door to the world, after realizing gaps
between Japan and the Western countries through the translation of Western works.
Throughout history,
world literature has been made available to readers through translation.
It is translation that enables the writers and
their works to reach as many readers as possible.
This is also true with books on arts, philosophy, history,
psychology, education, social studies, and many other subjects.
Without translation, we cannot be inspired and touched by the thoughts,
perspectives, experiences and feelings in them.
To become ever more open-minded, learned,
sympathetic, to know the world and ourselves better.
Today, in this globalized world, translation continues to be
exceptionally important for nations to interact, for companies to operate.
For students and
teachers to learn the latest development in their fields of study.
For everyone of us to be informed about the news in the world,
to travel, to read, to watch films, etc., etc.
This course, Translation in Practice, lays a foundation in translation,
which I hope will get you involved in translation work.
And through your translations make contributions to the development
of the language and culture, science and technology, and international exchanges.
I also hope that this course will make it possible for
you to be inspired and touched by the thoughts, perspectives,
experiences, and feelings expressed in a foreign language.
In this course, you're going to see what makes a qualified professional translator.
And you are going to acquire some of the abilities and
skills that a qualified professional translator needs.
You are going to navigate the lessons on how to analyze the meanings of words,
the structures of sentences, the logic of paragraphs.
How to understand the meanings between the lines, the tones and
the styles of the source language text.
How to express the meanings of words and the author's ideas and
tones in the target language?
How to translate the cultural elements, and a lot more.
Now, let's start our navigation together.
[MUSIC]
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