CHAPTER 7

LITERAL TRANSLATION
• What is literal translation
• Varieties of close translation
• The translation of poetry
• Faithful and false friends
• Elegant variations
• Back-translation test(BTT)
• Natural translation
• Accepted translation
LITERAL TRANSLATION
• Definition:
The SL grammatical constructions are converted to the
nearest TL equivalents, but the lexical words are again translated singly,
out of context.

• Example:
This is my laptop

‫یہ میرا لیپٹاپ ہے‬

 VARIETIES OF CLOSE TRANSLATION

• Word for Word translation:

Transferring of SL grammar and
word order as well as the primary meaning of all SL words.
• Example:
This:‫ یہ‬is:‫ ہے‬a:
‫ ایک‬house:‫ر‬++‫گ‬
+‫ھ‬
. This is a house
‫یہ ایک گھر ہے‬
CONTINUED
• One-to-One translation:
Each SL word has corresponding TL word, but their
primary meaning may differ.

• Example:
a horse: ‫وڑا‬++‫گ‬
+‫ک ھ‬+‫ای‬
• The Translation poetry:
According to Peter Newmark;
The translation of Poetry is the field where most emphasis is normally
put on
CONTINUED
the creation of a new independent poem, and where literal translation is usually
condemned.
• In translating the poem, one the literary genres, the translator are also likely to
face similar problems;
• Linguistics,
• Literary and aesthetic,
• Socio cultural problem
• Example:

Rubaiyat by Omer Khayyam

Translated by Edward Fitzgerald
FAITHFUL AND FALSE FRIENDS
• Faithful Translation:
It is transmitting the message of the
original text while for others it is evoking the ‘same’ feelings and
provoking the same ‘effect’ on the readers of the translation as on
the receivers of the original text.
• Example:
A Wayne shop
. ‫ایک شراب کیدکا ۔ن‬
THANK YOU
CONTINUED
• False friends:
“False friends” , or more correctly “False cognates”,
are pair of words from two different languages which looks similar but can
have entirely different meanings.

• Example:
In French the word is sensible and in English
the word is sensitive.
ELEGANT VARIATIONS
• Definition:
Elegant variation in poetry may occur because of a
translator’s need to use a word which fits the scansion and rhyme poetry
of the phrase or sentence.

• Example:
The replacement of word “fire” with “blaze” and
“conflagration”.
BACK TEST TRANSLATION

• Definition:
Back translation involves the translation of a text which
itself is a translation back into the original language.

• Example:
source language: to imapair
Target language: ‫رنا‬
++‫ب ک‬+‫را‬+‫خ‬
. Back translation: to affect.
ACCEPTED TRANSLATION

• Definition:
Some transparent institutional terms are translated
literally in atleast western European languages even though the TL cultural
equivalents have widely different functions:

• Example:
“President”, “Senate”, “Chancellor”, “Mayor.
NATURAL TRANSLATION
• What we might find an acceptable literal translation of an ordinary language
unit is that you find it unnatural.

• The t
• The translator’s creat natural effects in target language according to the
readers culture.

• Example:
. In western culture girls wear White gown so the translator
translate with red wedding dress.