Techniques Flashcards

A 'semantic' translation approach (Newmark) prioritizes:

Answer: Staying close to the source author's meaning and style

Semantic translation favors fidelity to the source text's nuance and the author's intent.

A 'communicative' translation approach (Newmark) prioritizes:

Answer: Producing an effect on the target reader similar to the source reader's

Communicative translation focuses on readability and the reader's response in the target culture.

Dynamic equivalence (Nida) is characterized by:

Answer: Aiming for the same response in target readers as the original had

Dynamic equivalence seeks equivalent effect rather than matching form word for word.

Formal equivalence (Nida) emphasizes:

Answer: Matching the form and content of the source as closely as possible

Formal equivalence stays faithful to source structure and wording, even at some cost to naturalness.

Which technique is most useful when subtitling, where space and time are limited?

Answer: Reduction / condensation

Subtitling often requires condensing dialogue to fit reading-speed and character limits.

Back-translation is primarily used to:

Answer: Check the accuracy of a translation by translating it back to the source language

Back-translation verifies fidelity by rendering the target text back into the source for comparison.

Naturalization (a borrowing variant) involves:

Answer: Adapting a borrowed word to the target language's pronunciation and spelling

Naturalization adjusts a loanword to fit target-language phonology and orthography.