MONA BAKER

In other words: A coursebook of translation

Routledge
Introduction
Marginalidad de la traduccin: Translators have contantly complained that translation is
underestimated as a profession (2)
There is no dout that the lo! status accorded to translation as a profession is "un#ust$% ut one
has to admit that this is not #ust the fault of the general pulic& The translation community itself
is guilty of underestimating not so much the value as the comple'ity of the translation process
and hence the need for formal professional training in the field (2)
(nli)e medicine and engineering% translation is a very young discipline in academic terms& It is
only #ust starting to feature as a su#ect of study in its o!n right% not yet all ut in an increasing
numer of universities and colleges around the !orld (*)
+i)e any young discipline% it needs to dra! on the findings and theories of other related
disciplines in order to develop and formali,e its o!n methods- ut !hich disciplines it can
naturally and fruitfully e related to is still a matter of some controversy& .lmost every aspect of
life in general and of the interaction et!een speech communities in particular can e
considered relevant to translation% a discipline !hich has to concern itself !ith ho! meaning is
generated !ithin and et!een various groups of people in various cultural settings (*) /s un
area demasiado e'tensa de investigacin% 0o let us #ust start y saying that% if translation is ever
to ecome a profession in the full sense of the !ord% translators !ill need something other than
the current mi'ture of intuition and practice to enale them to reflect on !hat they do and ho!
they do it& (*)
1 Importancia de la +ing23stica para la traduccin% pero 4a)er hace la salvedad de 5ue se
trata m6s ien de la ling23stica moderna% 5ue estudia el lengua#e no en s3 mismo sino 5ue
recurre a otras disciplinas como la ling23stica del te'to y la pragm6tica (*17) This book
atte!ts to e"!lore soe areas in which odern lin#uistic theor$ can !ro%ide a basis
for trainin# translators and can inform and guide the decisions they have to ma)e in the
course of performing their !or) (7)&
1
8&8& .out the organi,ation of this oo)
4a)er hala de la organi,acin de su liro en niveles (de la palara% la gramatica y el te'to: dice
5ue se trata de uan divisin artificial% ya 5ue todas est6n relacionadas) 9ero Moreover% decisions
ta)en at% say% the level of the :ord or gramatical category during the course of translation are
influenced y the perceived function and purpose of oth the original te't and the translation
and have implications for the discourse as a !hole (7) 9or m6s articial 5ue sea% la divisin del
lengua#e en 6reas discretas es ;til para los o#etivos del an6lisis
& 0ore el t<rmino e&ui%alencia: se adopta en su liro for the sa)e of convenience =ecause
most translators are used to it rather than ecause it has any theoretical status& It is used here
!ith the proviso that although e5uivalence can usually e otained to some e'tent% it is
influenced y a variety of linguistic and cultural factors and is therefore al!ays relative
& 0ore el te'to& In other !ords% te't is a meaning unit% not a form unit% ut meanings of
individual forms one cannot interpret the meaning of the te't as a !hole& Translating !ords and
phrases out of conte't is certainly a futile e'ercise% ut is e5ually unhelpful to e'pect a student
to appreciate translation decisions made at the level of te't !ithout a reasonale understanding
of ho! the lo!er levels% the individual !ords% phrases% and grammatical structures% control and
shape the overall meaning of the te't& (>)
8&2& /'amples% 4ac)1translations and the languages of illustration
/l alcance del t<rmino BA'K(TRAN)*ATION (traducciones 5ue hace de una lengua meta al ingl<s%
es decir% traduce hacia la lengua fuente nuevamente% en otros t<rminos% para mostrar lo 5ue se
di#o en la lengua meta- esto se dee a la incapacidad de muchos lectores de comprender todas
las lenguas metas 5ue 4a)er toma) 4ac)1translation% as used in this oo)% involves ta)ing a te't
(original or translated) !hich es !ritten in a language !ith !hich the reader is assumed to e
unfamiliar and translating it as literally as possile into /nglish = ho! literally depends on the
point eing illustrated% !hether it is morphological% syntactic% or le'ical for instance (?)
& @ontra la tesis de la imposiilidad de la traduccin y a favor de la necesidad de la traduccin&