FORMAL TRANSLATION & WORD FOR WORD TRANSLATION | NEP

 

A. Formal Translation & Word-for-Word Translation

• Formal Translation:
• Aim: Formal translation aims To achieve a close correspondence between the source and target languages, preserving both meaning and form as much as possible.
• Characteristics:
• Emphasizes accuracy to the source text.
• Considers grammatical structures, stylistic nuances, and cultural context.
• Strives for natural and fluent expression in the target language while maintaining the original author's intended meaning and tone.
• May involve some degree of literalness, but prioritizes achieving a balanced and nuanced translation.
• Example:
• Translating a legal document where precision and accuracy are paramount.
• Translating a literary work while preserving the author's unique voice
• Word-for-Word Translation:
• Aim: To directly translate individual words or short phrases from the source language into the target language.
• Characteristics:
• Often disregards grammatical and syntactical differences between languages.
• Can result in awkward, unnatural, or even nonsensical translations.
• Useful for initial analysis of the source text to understand its basic structure but is not considered a suitable approach for high-quality, readable translation.
• Levels of Word-for-Word Translation:
• Verbal Level:
• Focuses on translating individual words without considering their grammatical function or the overall sentence structure.
• Example: "The house is big" translated as "La casa es grande" (Spanish) - direct translation of individual words.
• Literal Level:
• Translates short phrases or word combinations while maintaining the original word order.
• May result in grammatically incorrect or unnatural phrases in the target language.
• Example: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" might be translated literally, even if the word order is different in the target language.
• Lexical Level:
• Focuses on finding the closest lexical equivalent for each word in the target language.
• Considers the word's semantic range, connotations, and cultural associations.
• Aims for a more accurate translation at the word level, but still may not produce a fluent or idiomatic translation.

Key Differences:

Feature	Formal Translation	Word-for-Word Translation
Focus	Meaning and form	Literal equivalence
Approach	Considers context, style, and target language norms	Prioritizes direct translation of individual words
Result	Natural and fluent translation	Often awkward and unnatural
Suitability	Most translation tasks	Limited use, primarily for initial analysis

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