An Introduction to the English Language System

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An Introduction to the EnglishLanguage System
Lingua e Traduzione Inglese I

• Dott. M. Gatto
• Lingue e Culture per il Turismo

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• All texts point outwards to context and depend
  upon context for their interpretation, which
  means that they carry their context within them.

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J.R.FirthContext of situation

• Partecipants
• Situation
• Action

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• Potrebbe passarmi quel libro per favore?
• Prego?
• Vorrei leggere quel libro
• Prego
• Grazie
• Prego

• Could you give me that book please?
• Sorry?
• I would like to read that book
• Here you are
• Thank you
• Youre welcome

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M.A.K. HallidayRegister

• Field
• Tenor
• Mode

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FIELDsubject matter or topic

• e.g.
• e.g.
• assolvere gt absolve/acquit

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TENORrelationship between the partecipants

• e.g.
• Frozen gt Visitors should make their way at once
  to the upper floor by way of the staircase
• Formal gt Visitors should go up the stairs at once
  
• Consultative gt Would you mind going upstairs
  right away please?
• Casualgt Time you went upstairs, now?
• Intimate gtUp you go, chaps!

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TENOR

• a lot of
• to start with
• on top of that
• whats more
• anyway
• talking about

• much/many
• firstly
• furthermore/moreover
• in addition
• However
• as to/ as for

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TENOR

• Sorry, I couldnt come yesterday because my kids
  got sick (informal)
• I apologize for not coming yesterday.
  Unfortunately my children were not very well
  (formal)

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There was another problem to be solved how to
protect bank deposits from the risk of
disappearing into thin air as a result of the
overwhelming losses which were threatening to
bring down the three main banks.
Cera anche un altro problema da risolvere come
proteggere i depositi bancari dal rischio di
dissolversi nellaria in seguito alle perdite
schiaccianti che minacciavano le tre banche
principali.
Restava inoltre scoperto il problema della
salvaguardia dei depositi bancari esposti al
rischio di volatilizzarsi a fronte della gran
massa di perdite che ormai schiacciava i tre
principali Istituti di credito.
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MODEthe role language is playing in the
interaction

• written
• spoken
• written to be spoken

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Difference in register

• 1) A baby who wont stop crying can drive anyone
  to despair. You feed him, you change him, you
  nurse him, you try to settle him, but the minute
  you put him down lie he starts to howl. Why?
• The most common reason baby cries is hunger. Even
  if ...
• 2) The compelling sound of an infants cry makes
  it an effective distress signal and appropriate
  to the human infants prolonged dependence on a
  caregiver. However, cries are discomforting and
  may be alarming to parents, many of whom find it
  very difficult to listen to their infants crying
  for even short periods of time...

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MalinowskiContext of culture

• Awareness of cultural differences and
  similarities is essential to the interpretation
  of meaning gt is essential to translation
• CULTURE the system of values, beliefs,
  conventions, which maintain cohesiveness within a
  particular group

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Cultural relativism

• e.g. Sapir-Whorf
• The way we see the world is determined by the
  language we speak
• BUT
• what about translatability?

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A few examples

• ITALIANO

• INGLESE

• il rosso delluovo
• infanzia (0-12)

• yellow
• infancy (0-2)/
• childhood (2-12)

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• CAFFE

• COFFEE

• Ristretto
• Corretto
• Macchiato
• Espresso
• Lungo

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• SNOW
• Eskimos have six ways to refer to snow,
  corresponding to different situations (falling,
  on the ground, soft, drifting)
• LAMB OF GOD
• In Bible translation for Eskimos it was
  translated as the SEAL of God

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To sum up... Translatability depends on the
degree to which the source text is embedded in
its own culture. The more culture-bound a text
is, the more difficult it is to translate. The
less culture bound a text is, the less it needs
to be adapted to suit the TL readership. We
should speak of a sliding scale of
translatability, largely depending on the degree
to which a text is embedded in SL culture.
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More examples

• Necrologio

• Obituary

• E mancata allaffetto dei suoi cari
• XXXXX XXXXXX
• La ricordano a quanti lhanno conosciuta e amata
  i figli X con Y, Z con K, e i nipoti tutti.
• I funerali avranno luogo il giorno alle ore
  presso la chiesa

• On September 30, XXXX YYY, aged 89 years,
  beloved wife of ZZZZ, much loved mother of KKKK.
• Funeral service in (place) on (date) at (time)

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• A merenda mangiavano castagne, o pane con olio e
  aceto, e poi se avevano finito i compiti potevano
  scendere a giocare in piazzetta (I.SVEVO)
• At tea-time they ate chestnuts, or bread with
  oil and vinegar, and then, if they had finished
  their homework, they could go and play in the
  small piazza (TRANSLATION)

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And now

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vTne_UVjVjWs

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HOMEWORK

• M. Ulrych, Translating Texts, Chapter 3