Skip to content

ON THE ISSUE OF TRANSLATION ADEQUACY ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Natalya Zhmayevapdf

Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor at the Department of Translation and Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, State Institution «South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University named after K. D. Ushynsky», Odesa, Ukraine

E-mail: zhmaeva@gmail.com

ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3382-0155

Svitlana Yukhymets

Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences,  Associate Professor at the Department of Translation and Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, State Institution «South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University named after K. D. Ushynsky», Odesa, Ukraine

E-mail: yukhymets.svetlana@gmail.com

ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3350-7310

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24195/2616-5317-2019-29-9


Key words: linguistic approach, communicative-functional approach, equivalence, invariant, adequacy, translation strategy, assessment criteria.


Diversification of translation services, adequacy and quality expectations in an increasingly globalized translation industry has accentuated the significance of translation quality assessment.

Under present circumstances the goal of translation is considered to be the reference point for an interpreter or a translator. It is the goal of translation that enables the choice of the translation strategy that meets the requirements of the specific nature and the features of the communicative situation of translation. Adequacy proves to be the primary parameter of translation quality assessment necessitating the need of its evaluation as a precondition for translators’ professional activity efficiency increase and development of didactic basics of translators’ professional training.

Translation adequacy assessment, i.e. achievement of the goal of translation is carried out with regard whether replication or alteration of the features of the source text (ST) takes place. Consequently, the criterion “Degree of Relevant Resemblance of the ST and Target Text (TT)” is singled out, within which the following sub-criteria are considered: relevant information rendering, ST genre and stylistic features rendering, ST formal and structural features rendering, ST pragmatic adaptation. The strategy of the communicative translation foresees obligatory rendering the listed features, within the latest two strategies their rendering is optional.

Moreover, the following translation adequacy assessment criteria are singled out: the correctness of data arrangement and the adequacy of linguistic arrangement. These criteria are considered to be normative requirements when assessing translation adequacy within any strategy of translation and do not provide any options.


References

Alekseeva, I.S. (2004). Vvedenie v perevodovedenie [Introduction into Translation Studies]. Moscow: Akademiia [in Russian].

Vitrenko, A.G. (2008). O «strategii perevoda» [On the Translation Strategy]. Vestnik MGLU – Sopostavitelnaia lingvistika i voprosy perevoda – MSLU Bulletin: Comparative Linguistics and Translation Issues, 536, 3-17. Moscow [in Russian].

Goncharova, E.A. (2005). Interpretatsiia teksta. Nemetskii iazyk [Text Interpretation. German]. Moscow: Vysshaia shkola [in Russian].

Derik, I.M., & Beliavska, K.O. (2014). Do pytannia pro rol osobystosti perekladacha u vybori stratehii perekladu khudozhnoi literatury [On the Issue of the Translator’s Role when Choosing Translation Strategy of Belles-Lettres], Naukovyi visnyk Pivdennoukrainskoho natsionalnoho pedahohichnoho universytetu imeni K. D. Ushynskoho. Linhvistychni nauky – Scientific Research Issues of South Ukrainian National University named after K. D. Ushynsky. Linguistic Sciences, 19, 18-23 [in Ukrainian].

Zhmayeva, N.S., Korolova, T.M. (2018). Stratehii, taktyky ta operatsii perekladu [Translation Strategies, Tactics and Operations]. Proceedings of XX International scientific conference “Practical Applications of Research Findings 2018”. (pp. 60-63). Morrisville: Lulu Press [in Ukrainian].

Iliukhin, V.M. (2000). Strategii v sinkhronnom perevode: na materiale anglo-russkikh i russko-angliiskikh kombinatsii perevoda [Strategies in simultaneous translation: based on English-Russian and Russian-English translations]. Candidate’s thesis. Moscow: MLU [in Russian].

Prunch, E. (2015). Puti razvitiia zapadnogo perevodovedeniia. Ot iazykovoi asimmetrii k politicheskoi [Ways of Development of Western Translation Studies. From Language Asymmetry to the Political One]. Moscow: Valent [in Russian].

Sdobnikov, V.V. (2015). Ispolzovanie kommunikativno-funktsionalnogo podhoda k otsenke kachestva perevoda [Use of communicative and functional approach in assessing the quality of translation]. Retrieved from https://www.sgu.ru/sites/default/files/textdocsfiles/2017/03/15/sdobnikov_v.v.pdf. [in Russian].

Sdobnikov, V.V. (2015a). Invariant perevoda: mif ili realnost? [Invariant of Translation: Myth or Reality?]. Proceedings from VII Mezhdunar. konf-tsii «Inostrannye iazyki v kontekste mezhkulturnoi kommunikatsii» – The Seventh International Conference “Foreign Languages in the Context of Intercultural Communication”. (pp.197-208). Saratov: PC “Nauka” [in Russian].

Sdobnikov, V.V. (2015b). Kommunikativnaia situatsiia kak osnova vybora strategii perevoda [Communicative Situation as the Basis of Choice of Translation Strategy]. Extended abstract of Doctor’s thesis. Moscow: Moskovskii gos. lingvist. un-t [in Russian].

Shlepnev, D.N. (2018). Strategiia perevoda i parametry strategicheskikh reshenii [Translation Strategy and Parameters of Strategic Decisions]. Perspektivy nauki i obrazovaniia – Prospects for Science and Education, 5 (35), pp. 161-170 [in Russian].

Wilss, W. (1983). Translation Strategy, Translation Method and Translation Technique: Towards a Clarification of Three Translational Concepts. Revuede Phonetique Appliquee, 66/68, 143-152.