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Translation is a craft in which the translator tries to substitute a written message in the source language for another written message in the target language. The act of translation, in simple terms, involves three main stages; at the very first stage, the translator reads and understands the source text.
At the next stage, the translator moves from the source text toward the target text and finally at the last stage the translator produces the target text. The second stage can be regarded as the most important stage in the act of translation. During this stage, the translator struggles to free him/herself from the source text and whatever it may imposes in order to reach the target text. This step is the most crucial one in the act of translation; it is at this stage that good translators may stand out.
During this step, the translator refers to the target language-usually his/her native language- to find the best way to reproduce the source text message. Obviously translators who are more competent in the target language, in particular those who are familiar with written conventions of the target language, are more successful. This kind of knowledge may help the translator to find the best possible way from among the available ones to reproduce the source text message in the target language. In other words, having thorough knowledge of target language writing system and its different genres can aid translator in picking up the best means to reproduce the source text message in target language.
The last stage in the act of translation is writing the target text. It is reproducing the source text message in target language. At this point, the translator’s writing skills are directly involved; the translator acts as a writer and writes a text in target language. At this stage, the translator’s writing ability is the key to success. The translator here should have a real talent for writing in his/her own language as any clumsiness in the language of translation may affect the translation as whole.
The general term “writing” in this context may refer to two distinct areas: writing knowledge and writing skill. Writing knowledge is what translators need at the second stage, i.e. in moving from the source text toward the target text. At this point, having knowledge about the target language writing conventions as well as different genres in the target language is needed. Writing skill, on the other hand, is the ability to write a well-formed text in the target language. At the final stage of translation, the translator needs to be able to write a fully-fledged text in target language.



Date: 2013-09-09 , Views: 10380