How is translation related to linguistics studies? Thread poster: jyuan_us
|
|---|
jyuan_us 
United States
Local time: 08:39
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
After some 20 years of translation practice, I believe I have been exposed to numerous language-related issues that deserve research at the academic level. I'm interested in doing some formal research work but I don't know how to get started.
When I looked at the articles about Linguistics on Wiki, I found that linguistics is divided into a lot of subdisciplines. To my surprise, translation is the least talked about in the circle of linguistics. ( I'm talking about the formal syste... See more After some 20 years of translation practice, I believe I have been exposed to numerous language-related issues that deserve research at the academic level. I'm interested in doing some formal research work but I don't know how to get started.
When I looked at the articles about Linguistics on Wiki, I found that linguistics is divided into a lot of subdisciplines. To my surprise, translation is the least talked about in the circle of linguistics. ( I'm talking about the formal system of academic lingusitics instead of the so-called applied linguistics.).
A fundimental question to ask is how you can formulate a study question in a lingusitics study in the persepective of a translator? Or make it broader, how can you establish a study topic in linguistics as related to translation?
Thank you for yoru input.
[Edited at 2011-05-24 20:05 GMT]
[Edited at 2011-05-25 04:24 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Vitals
Lithuania
Local time: 15:39
English to Lithuanian
+ ...
| Applied Linguistics | May 24, 2011 |
Hi there,
I remember writing a certain paper on Translation during a course of Applied Linguistics during my MA years. Maybe this could be the "way" for you, too?
All the best,
VS
[Edited at 2011-05-24 20:14 GMT]
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 14:39
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Wrong presumption in your question. | May 24, 2011 |
Linguistics as a science is a broad field.
Linguistic skills or disciplines are all interrelated and mutually integrated, hence translation (also a linguistic discipline) can't be discussed or viewed totally separately in isolation, like you are implying. In translation, you will be using various linguistic skills simultaneously.
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 08:39
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | If you can look at the definition of linguistics | May 25, 2011 |
Lingua 5B wrote:
Linguistics as a science is a broad field.
Linguistic skills or disciplines are all interrelated and mutually integrated, hence translation (also a linguistic discipline) can't be discussed or viewed totally separately in isolation, like you are implying. In translation, you will be using various linguistic skills simultaneously.
You will find that linguistics is quite different to what most people would understand it. It is a social science defined and elaborated in here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics.
We as translators use the words linguist or linguisitic all the time but these words in the science of linguisitics tend to mean very differently than we think. And a topic in translation is not neccessarily a topic in linguistics. The reason is that a translation study could contribute to the theory and practice of translation but not neccessarily to the science of linguisitics at all. For example, if you study how a best-seller has been translated into another language, it is definately a good topic for the science of translation (if it is a science), but such a research could have no value at all to the science of linguistics.
I have a lot of misconceptions and find it hard to relate translation to linguistics. Hence the topic.
[Edited at 2011-05-25 04:27 GMT]
[Edited at 2011-05-25 04:31 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 08:39
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Are you sure translation is a linguistic discipline? | May 25, 2011 |
Lingua 5B wrote:
hence translation (also a linguistic discipline) can't be discussed or viewed totally separately in isolation.
Are you sure translation is a linguistic discipline in the sense of linguistics? Some websites list translation as an applied linguistics but I'm talking about linguistics in its conventional sense.
If you conduct a research to find out what words tend to be mistranslated into another language, it is a good research of translation study but it doesn't fit into anywhere of the linguistics science. So, to me, so far, translation study is not even a sub-type of linguistics.
Please remember, linguists ( as used in the circle of linguistics, not translators) tend to study one language at a time. They don't care about how that language is translated into another at all. Although there is a sub-discipline of comparative analysis in linguistics, their approach is very different to how we as translators compare 2 particular languages.
[Edited at 2011-05-25 04:28 GMT]
[Edited at 2011-05-25 06:34 GMT]
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 08:39
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | It will be very helpful if you can share the abstract of your thesis with us | May 25, 2011 |
Vitals wrote:
Hi there,
I remember writing a certain paper on Translation during a course of Applied Linguistics during my MA years. Maybe this could be the "way" for you, too?
All the best,
VS
[Edited at 2011-05-24 20:14 GMT]
If not, it will also help if you could list its title and your study questions here. Thank you!
| | | | Phil Hand
China
Local time: 20:39
Chinese to English
| I've done both, and they feel very different | May 25, 2011 |
Hi, Jyuan.
I did linguistics at university, and I'm now doing an MA in translation studies, so I've got some experience in both fields. They are very different kinds of disciplines, with different approaches, assumptions and skill sets.
Linguistics is very concerned with being a science: it measures things numerically, builds models and theories, and aims for objectivity. In areas like phonetics and phonology, there are some great models, and we've achieved some good in... See more Hi, Jyuan.
I did linguistics at university, and I'm now doing an MA in translation studies, so I've got some experience in both fields. They are very different kinds of disciplines, with different approaches, assumptions and skill sets.
Linguistics is very concerned with being a science: it measures things numerically, builds models and theories, and aims for objectivity. In areas like phonetics and phonology, there are some great models, and we've achieved some good insights into speech sounds. In grammar and semantics, not so much - human language is hard, so it's slow work, and people have only been doing linguistics as a science for about 100 years.
Translation studies is even younger than linguistics as an academic discipline. It grew out of the practice of translation, and is much more concerned with researching real translation situations than with setting up models. There's a lot of judgment involved, and not so much time spent trying to remain perfectly objective. Translation studies definitely a social science, while linguistics tries to work as much like a hard science as possible.
If you're interested in doing something translation-related, then I would say translation studies is the field you want to be looking at. You can find a lot of the basic texts online on Chinese websites: try Bassnett (Translation Studies) and Venuti (Translation Studies Reader) as introductions. You can also have a look at some of the journals (Babel, Meta, JoSTrans, Target, The Translator) to see what other people are writing about. But the nice thing about translation studies as a field is that it's very open. You don't have to have a very thorough theoretical background to work in it - experience is enough, if you have something interesting to say.
And you really should: Chinese English is horribly understudied (or rather, there are a lot of people studying it in China, but most of them aren't very good), but it's clearly going to be the biggest language pair in the translation world for a long time. We need more people working out how to do it right, and writing about it. ▲ Collapse
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 08:39
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Phil, your post has helped resolve a lot of misconceptions | May 25, 2011 |
Phil Hand wrote:
Hi, Jyuan.
I did linguistics at university, and I'm now doing an MA in translation studies, so I've got some experience in both fields. They are very different kinds of disciplines, with different approaches, assumptions and skill sets.
Linguistics is very concerned with being a science: it measures things numerically, builds models and theories, and aims for objectivity. In areas like phonetics and phonology, there are some great models, and we've achieved some good insights into speech sounds. In grammar and semantics, not so much - human language is hard, so it's slow work, and people have only been doing linguistics as a science for about 100 years.
Translation studies is even younger than linguistics as an academic discipline. It grew out of the practice of translation, and is much more concerned with researching real translation situations than with setting up models. There's a lot of judgment involved, and not so much time spent trying to remain perfectly objective. Translation studies definitely a social science, while linguistics tries to work as much like a hard science as possible.
If you're interested in doing something translation-related, then I would say translation studies is the field you want to be looking at. You can find a lot of the basic texts online on Chinese websites: try Bassnett (Translation Studies) and Venuti (Translation Studies Reader) as introductions. You can also have a look at some of the journals (Babel, Meta, JoSTrans, Target, The Translator) to see what other people are writing about. But the nice thing about translation studies as a field is that it's very open. You don't have to have a very thorough theoretical background to work in it - experience is enough, if you have something interesting to say.
And you really should: Chinese English is horribly understudied (or rather, there are a lot of people studying it in China, but most of them aren't very good), but it's clearly going to be the biggest language pair in the translation world for a long time. We need more people working out how to do it right, and writing about it.
Thank you for thoroughly and clearly analyzing the difference between linguistics and translation study.
[Edited at 2011-05-25 06:31 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 14:39
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
jyuan_us wrote:
So, to me, so far, translation study is not even a sub-type of linguistics.
[Edited at 2011-05-25 06:34 GMT]
What does it belong to then? It concerns words, syntactic functionality, writing, semantics, vocabulary, grammar and many other linguistic skills, so how can it not be a sub-type of linguistics?
[Edited at 2011-05-25 08:22 GMT]
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 08:39
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | They are related | May 25, 2011 |
Lingua 5B wrote: jyuan_us wrote:
So, to me, so far, translation study is not even a sub-type of linguistics.
[Edited at 2011-05-25 06:34 GMT] What does it belong to then? It concerns words, syntactic functionality, writing, semantics, vocabulary, grammar and many other linguistic skills, so how can it not be a sub-type of linguistics? [Edited at 2011-05-25 08:22 GMT]
At least both disciplines deal with languages. However, the research methodology and objectives are totally different. Translation studies is NOT a sub-discipline of Linguistics. Translation studies doesn't belong to Linguistics. It is an independent branch of learning.
If you analyze the issue from a scientific point of view, you will find linguistics can be more logically listed together with Anthropology, Psycology or Sociology than with translation studies.
[Edited at 2011-05-25 10:40 GMT]
[Edited at 2011-05-25 10:43 GMT]
| | | | ukuca
Local time: 15:39
Turkish to French
| Translation Studies | Jan 19, 2013 |
Lingua 5B wrote: jyuan_us wrote:
So, to me, so far, translation study is not even a sub-type of linguistics.
[Edited at 2011-05-25 06:34 GMT] What does it belong to then? It concerns words, syntactic functionality, writing, semantics, vocabulary, grammar and many other linguistic skills, so how can it not be a sub-type of linguistics? [Edited at 2011-05-25 08:22 GMT]
Well, what about literature? it too concerns with all that you've counted. Would you say it's a sub-type of Linguistics as well?
| | | | | Hi, Jyuayan. of course linguistics is a much broader discipline than translation. | Jan 19, 2013 |
jyuan_us wrote: Lingua 5B wrote:
Linguistics as a science is a broad field.
Linguistic skills or disciplines are all interrelated and mutually integrated, hence translation (also a linguistic discipline) can't be discussed or viewed totally separately in isolation, like you are implying. In translation, you will be using various linguistic skills simultaneously.
You will find that linguistics is quite different to what most people would understand it. It is a social science defined and elaborated in here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics. We as translators use the words linguist or linguisitic all the time but these words in the science of linguisitics tend to mean very differently than we think. And a topic in translation is not neccessarily a topic in linguistics. The reason is that a translation study could contribute to the theory and practice of translation but not neccessarily to the science of linguisitics at all. For example, if you study how a best-seller has been translated into another language, it is definately a good topic for the science of translation (if it is a science), but such a research could have no value at all to the science of linguistics. I have a lot of misconceptions and find it hard to relate translation to linguistics. Hence the topic. [Edited at 2011-05-25 04:27 GMT] [Edited at 2011-05-25 04:31 GMT]
It does not even have to deal with any translation issues at all. It has more to do with philosophy than with speaking multiple languages, or performing any type of translation. It started, in fact, as a branch of philosophy -- the philosophy of language. Some linguists are monolingual.
That said, paradoxically, linguistics is very important for any translation practice, or studies. Certain concepts are essential in order to understand the process of translation correctly. Other things are, though extremely interesting, just more of an art for the art's sake.
[Edited at 2013-01-19 16:49 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
| Are translators linguists? | Jan 20, 2013 |
I always thought it strange, that in English, a translator is a linguist. According to my definition, most of us aren't. (I am though, a linguist turned translator).
When I studied English (back in the Dark Ages), linguistics was more or less defined as Phil mentions above. A "scientific" approach to language(s), subdivided in syntax/grammar, phonology, phonetics, semantic plus what I forgot in all those years. One characteristic of linguistics is, that it doesn't deal with written ... See more I always thought it strange, that in English, a translator is a linguist. According to my definition, most of us aren't. (I am though, a linguist turned translator).
When I studied English (back in the Dark Ages), linguistics was more or less defined as Phil mentions above. A "scientific" approach to language(s), subdivided in syntax/grammar, phonology, phonetics, semantic plus what I forgot in all those years. One characteristic of linguistics is, that it doesn't deal with written language. No way "translation" can be part of linguistics according to that definition, and in Dutch, nobody will refer to a translator as a linguist (although that may change because of the immense influence of English).
The other branch of language studies would be philology, dealing predominantly with written language, etymology, (comparative and general) literature, and whathaveyou.
I don't know if "translation" even could be included in philology. I also doubt - sorry for this - that translating is (worth) a study. So far, nobody - including a lecturer in "translation" - has been able to convince me it is. They mention a few tricks, but that's about it.
Cheers,
Hans ▲ Collapse
| | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » How is translation related to linguistics studies? | Protemos translation business management system | Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!
The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.
More info » |
| | TM-Town | Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business
Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
