MOSTOVI 2000/XXXIV 29
David Katan
Language Transfer:
What Gets Distorted or Deleted in Translation
Why translate?
To a large extent, what can get distorted or de¬
leted depends on how a translation is ap-
proached. If translation is considered to be a
lexico-grammatical exercise, then what can
get lost will be in terms of grammatical accu-
racy, appropriacy, and in particular le mot
juste\ that elusive word or expression that
would perfectly translate the original. Trans-
lators in this čase are craftsmen or women at-
tempting to reconstruct that perfect copy.
They are attentive to detail, and in particular
to the lexico-grammatical pieces.
Detail is important, just as bricks are when
building a house. But perfectly chosen bricks
laid by the perfect bricklayer will not by
themselves ensure a house fit to live in, nor
one which fits into the general environment.
What we need is an architect conscious of the
local context. The translator as architect will
be very aware of the general layout of the
translated text, how it fits in with other texts
(the genre), and how it will be received by the
reader. S/he will have a keen eye for both in-
temal and landscape design. What can get lost
for this type of translator is in terms of re¬
ceived meaning, reader expectation (genre)
and reader response (the perlocutionary ef-
fect).
Limiting the translator’s freedom to act
will be a number of factors: time, the clienfs
specific needs, the publisher’s and so on. The
one group which does not usually apply any
pressure is the target reader. It is, I suggest,
the translator’s responsibility to react prima¬
rij to the needs of the presumed reader, while
taking due regard to those who exert more di-
rect pressure; 1 because the meaning of a text,
and hence translation quality can be summed
up in terms of the quality of reader reaction.
Loss of text meaning
How much meaning that can get lost depends
very much on the level of culture at play
(Katan, 1999: 30-33). At a technical level,
communication is explicit. This is the lan¬
guage of Science, maths, and logical relations.
There is no meaning outside the text. Hence a
technical definition of, for example a second
leaves no space for interpretation or further
imagination and has the same technical mean¬
ing vvhatever language it is transferred to.
There is, however, an interlocutor’s interpre¬
tation or re-elaboration of what might sound
like technical time; such as Back in a second
or Dinner s at 8 o 'clock. In these two cases,
few people would read the times literally; but
then, only when we know the situation, the
type of person and his or her behaviour pat-
tems could we have a clear idea ofhow long a
second is, or at what time exactly the guests
should start apologising for being late. Each
country, and each culture within that country
(context of culture) will have a generally ac-
cepted way of behaving in particular situa-
tions (context of situation).
Translations too are subject to a country’s
accepted way of doing things; and many
seemingly technical texts, such as labelling,
For an example of how the demands of the
original author, the publisher and the needs
of the target reader have been mediated, see
Katan (forthcoming)Miscellania, Trieste
30 MOSTOVI 2000/XXXIV
guarantees and instructions, are subject to do-
mestic rules, regulations, moreš and style.2
This is particularly clearly evident when com-
parisons are made, not of translations but of
equivalent texts, original texts which are spe-
cifically written for particular language/cul-
ture readers. Small differences between them
can have extreme consequences, such as the
difFerent printed wamings to be found on a
packet of an Italian-made round ofpištol caps
(bold type as in the original in both the French
and the English):
Not recommended for children
under 8 years
The waming in Italian (the original language)
considers a very dilferent age - 36 months:
Non adatto ad un bambino
di eta’ minore di 36 mese
The Italian reading is much more liberal,
which perhaps says as much about local mo¬
reš as it does about follovving EU directives or
other regulations. The translator is often re-
stricted by his/her own house rules ; or alter-
natively is too concemed with the lexico-
grammatical considerations to consider the
target country’s particular needs or expecta-
tions. The following text is an example brick
by brick translation from the Italian, con-
gratulating the customer on his/her choice of
Blackwell shoe : 3
Compliments! You chosed the Blackwell
shoes realised with materials ofhigh quality.
The leather, carefully selected in the
2 These differences are discussed in SchafFner
& Kelly-Holmes (eds) (1995).
3 This particular text was noticed first by
Piotr Kuhiwczak (1995: 236), and is re-
ported in Katan (1999: 137)
specialised slaughter-houses, after difFerent
proceeding ofmanufacture, becomes softier
and supplier.
The analytical translator will notice immedi-
ately the grammatical inaccuracies. A more
“correct” translation at the technical level
would be as follows:
Compliments! You chose the Blackwell shoes
made with high quality materials. The leather
has been carefully selected from the
specialised slaughter houses. The leather has
been through a number ofmanufacturing
processes which have rendered it softer and
more supple.
However, what really affects the target reader
in the UK or the US is not the grammar or the
spelling but the Anglo-American sensitivity to
animals. So, the translator aware of target-cul-
ture reader response should manipulate the
text through subtle generalisation, distortion or
deletion to orient the reader to an equivalent
positive reaction. The most important change
needed here is deletion of slaughter houses as
the target readers are particularly sensitive
about animal čare, and do not wish to be re-
minded about how they die. A more culturally-
sensitive translation would be the following:
Thank you for having chosen Blackwell
shoes. They have been carefully made from
the finest quality materials. The selected
leather has been treated to make it soft and
supple [...].
or
Your Blackwell shoes have been carefully
made from the finest quality materials [...].
This raises an important point conceming a
translator’s obligations or responsibilities,
and in particular his or her right to manipulate
a text in this way.
MOSTOVI 2000/XXXIV 31
Translation theory and practice
With regard to this question, currently popu-
lar translation theory in Europe has embraced
the idea that manipulation takes plače from
the very moment that the (commercially stra-
tegic, political or ideological) decision is
made to choose a text for translation. In a
sense any deliberate change to the status quo
entails a manipulation, in particular when
there is no one-to-one agreed objective
equivalent across languages to adhere to. The
translator, in fact, has a wide choice in how to
change, transform, and hence manipulate the
original text. Ever since Cicero there has been
a debate about whether the transformation
should be faithful to the source text or should
be free, to concentrate on the function of the
text rather than the form. In the 1960’s, Peter
Newmark codified the two possibilities as se¬
ruantic (respecting the original writer’s source
words and world) or communicative (aiming
towards equivalent effect in the target cul-
ture). However, in both cases, judgement was
based on the original text itself and the lexico-
grammar very much more than the interplay
of text, local context and reader interpreta-
tion.
More recently, the discipline ofTranslation
Studies (see Bassnett, 1991) has changed the
focus away from the original text to that of
the target text and reader. Meaning, it is sug-
gested, is not absolute, but rather is created
through reference to what is shared between
writer and reader. These two must not only
share a common language, but they must also
share the same background (context of situa-
tion and culture) to be able to add what does
not need to be stated in the text.
Hence, the new text is no longer to be seen
as a copy or imitation of the original text, but
an original text in its own right. The transla¬
tion scholar, Venuti (1992: 8) States that a
translation “releases [the target text] from its
subordination to the [original] foreign text
and makes possible the development of a
hermeneutic that reads the translation as a text
in its own right, ...” In short, as Arrojo
(1997: 23) notes “the reader begins to be rec-
ognised as an active producer of meaning
whose interference is not merely tolerable but
inevitable”.
So, retuming to comparisons of equivalent
texts, it is clear that in the past translators
have been concemed with translating and
crafting translations, rather than with creating
original texts based on the interplay of text
and the context. This has led to the formation
of a new school of thought which talks about
how rather than whether or not to manipulate
the target text. The school is, in fact, called
The Manipulation School. My understanding
of manipulation is somevvhat different to
Venuti’s in that he is very concemed about
power and ideology in translation. My under¬
standing is based on a negotiation of mutual
needs and restraints.
As I see it, manipulation needs to be used
by the translator to counter what Lefevre
called the refraction that any text undergoes
when it crosses cultural boundaries. At one
extreme, such as the translation of a software
manual, the translator should manipulate the
text to such an extent that it becomes a local
text. Nothing is left in the text to locate it out-
side of the target culture. At the other ex-
treme, the translator may translate the text de-
viating from the form as little as possible,
making the foreignness transparent. At this
point the reader refracts the text meaning to
fit his/her own world. Any part of the text
which does not fit the reader's world is simply
deleted or distorted until it does.
My understanding of the translator’s task is
to manipulate the text just enough for the
reader to read and understand it without dis-
torting or losing the intended cognitive effect.
This means that every translation should be
tackled on its own merits and be translated for
32 MOSTOVI 2000/XXXIV
a particular readership. The translator should
constantly monitor the degree of potential re-
fraction and manipulate accordingly. The
overriding criteria should be, first, that the
target text reads as an original text - not as a
translation; and second, that the reader’s
needs and expectations are respected as much
as, ifnot more than, ali the other pressures.
Let us take an example to see how this
might operate in practice. Below is a good,
“faithful” translation from a piece by Enzo
Biagi, a well-known and highly respected
Italian joumalist and commentator.
I don’t commemorate the Dead, as you can
read in the calendars once a year and I’m not a
devotee ofcemeteries either: someone said that
ifyou keep going there, you’ll end up staying
there. And I don’t even have this paradoxical
worry either: but I do believe that a memory, or
a thought, counts as much as a
chrysanthemum. I understand the gentle
gesture, the flower or the candle [...] and I also
respect the consolatory conversation that takes
plače by a tombstone [...] but I’ve always
been moved by Pirandello’s choice [...]. And
it’s also our Spoon River. [...] On November
2nd I was a long way from home [... ]
It may surprise the Slovene reader to know
that it is clear from this English text alone
(without recourse to the original) that much of
Biagi’s intended meaning will be distorted or
lost when read in an Anglo-American cogni-
tive environment. At many levels, what is
shared between Biagi and his original intended
reader, has not been transferred to the target
reader. A Slovene reader would share much
more of Biagi’s world than any typical British
or American reader. What then has been lost?
Levels of Sharedness
Environment and Behaviout4
For the reader to fully understand, s/he will
need to have access to a similar array of ency-
clopaedic knowledge as the writer: technical,
geographical, historical, literary, and so on.
This means that a translator must not only be
sufficiently bi-lingual but also sufficiently bi-
cultural to share both worlds - and to be able
to compare the different cognitive effects.
The text is always an abbreviation of a full
semantic representation. And, in fact, we use
abbreviations and acronyms specifically be-
cause there is an implicit assumption that their
full meaning is shared. During a seminar on
this very subject, a number of translators ex-
plained to me that pharmaceutical products
are sold with two types of medical informa-
tion leaflet inserts: one for the doctor, and one
for OTC products. It took some time before it
was realised that some intended meaning had
been lost, due to the translator’s assumption
that I shared the full meaning of OTC. Like
many other acronyms, the meaning must be
made explicit in the text; usually through a
translation couplet,5 i.e. abbreviation plus full
lexical meaning, with one or the other in
brackets, such as: over the counter (OTC)
products.
With regard to the extract above, the target
reader will not attach any particular meaning
to the Dead or the calendars. Importantly, as
the Longman Dictionary of Language and
Culture States “The connotations ... are often
4 The Levels refer to the Logical Levels
Model taken from NeuroLinguistic Pro-
gramming, and discussed at length in Katan
(1999)
5 Peter Newmark’s book (1982) is an excel-
lent practical guide to translation proce-
dures, such as the use of translation couplets
and triplets, translation labels, transcription,
through translations (calques) and many
other. His more recent book (1988) covers
much the same ground, but is less complete
on this particular aspect.
MOSTOVI 2000/XXXIV 33
essential to the full understanding of a pas-
sage [...] and so this Information is clearly
stated in the defmition”. However, according
to the dictionary, a chrysanthemum is not con-
noted to cemeteries or the Dead in any way
whatsoever. It is only “a garden plant with
large brightly coloured bushy flowers”.
The candle, on the other hand, represents
more of a distortion. It is used in Britain and
in America to commemorate the Dead, but is
traditionally white and is not usually placed
on gravestones. So, the picture entertained by
Biagi comes across partially deleted and par-
tially distorted - and in urgent need of ma-
nipulation.
We need to carry the reader ffom what is
shared (the theme) towards what is new (the
rheme), as follows:
I don’t commemorate the Dead, according to
the November 2nd Ali Soul’s Day tradition
marked in ali the Italian calendars. And
I’m not a devotee of cemeteries either.
Someone said that ifyou keep going there,
you’ll fmish up staying there. And I don’t
have this paradoxical fear either, but I do
believe that a memory, or a thought is worth
as much as a flower. Ofcourse I can
understand the gentle gesture, the cemeterv
flower (the chrysanthemum) or the
flickering red cemeterv candle. ... I also
respect the consoling communion over the
grave.[...] But Ihave always been moved by
the choice Pirandello made.[...] It’s also
our version of the Spoon River tombstone
poems we know so well. On November 2nd I
was a long way from home.
The addition of a coordinated adjective group
complex is another possibility (e.g.flickering
red). The pre-head elements create natural
sounding additions, just large enough, in this
čase, to make explicit the mainly visual cog-
nitive effect cued by the Mediteranean/Catho-
lic visualisation of candle. One further quali-
fication may also be provided by an extra co-
hesive tie, cemetery, clarifying not onIy the
candle lunction but also, being in juxtaposi-
tion with the chrysanthemum nominal group,
highlighting the importance of the two sym-
bols: cemeteryflowers andflickering red cem-
etery candles.
A final result might look like the follow-
ing:
Strategies and Values
Each culture has its own idea of what consti-
tutes good style. Meaning can get lost in
translation by adopting an inappropriate style,
and ultimately a translated text runs the risk
of not being read or not being treated seri-
ously as an authoritative text. This is a further
downside of the brick by brick approach to
translating. Below is a short extract from a
four sided leaflet which attempts to explain
the ticket-punching system adopted by the
Italian railways.
Just for you, a ticket office
that looks like a leaflet.
34 MOSTOVI 2000/XXXIV
FS SINGLE TICKETS
These tickets can be used for up to two
months from the date of issue inclusive.
Different periods and conditions may be
based on other tariff regulations. Tickets are
only valid if they are stamped prior to train
departure by means of the appropriate ticket-
stamping machines or ifpassengers, of their
own initiative, pay a charge ofLire 10,000 to
the train staffbefore departure. In the event of
the machine being out of order or unavailable,
passengers can validate their tickets at the FS
ticket office or else, by asking the train staff
of their own initiative vvithout having to pay
any extra charge.
Othenvise, besides the charge ofLire 10.000,
a fine ofLire 30.000 will be imposed.
This style follovvs the Italian (which in some
ways is very similar to the Slovene). The
strategy is based on the belief that good writ-
ing style is formal and, more importantly,
should be oriented to the expressive needs of
the original text producer. The producer needs
to assert his or her authority or expertise, and
does so by creating a rich and complex style,
which includes ali the details and eventuali-
ties. It is up to the reader to make his or her
way through the text and to decide what to fo-
cus on. It is very important that an appropriate
distance is kept between the (informed or ex-
pert) writer and the (uninformed or non-ex-
pert) reader. This is done through the use of
insider style: specialist vocabulary, high infor-
mation load and also high-context language.
High-context language takes us back to the
idea of sharedness. If an expert is writing,
s/he cannot explain everything, but must
assume a certain pre-acquired knowledge.
Hence there will be a tendency to presume
that the simple concepts are obvious. These
would be explained to children not to adults.
The use of this style tends to reassure the
reader that the writer is indeed an expert - and
not just anybody. The intended reader will
tend to respect a use of language which is
slightly above his or her usual register, and
vvhich is rich enough to be to be worked at
and to be retumed to to glean further informa-
tion. In many ways, it is a verbal corollary of
an oil painting, and when crafted by masters
of this style is indeed quite remarkable.
This style, with regard to transactional
writing is in almost in net contrast to what is
considered good style in the Anglo-American
culture. Any Anglo-American text book on
written style will stress the overriding impor-
tance of clarity, concision and reader’s needs;
in short K1SS (Keep it Short and Simple). The
more Mediterranean style on the other hand
might be abbreviated (by a KISS oriented
writer) to K1LC (Keep it Long and Complex).
The best known literary quotation in the Eng-
lish language is a perfect example of the KISS
approach:
Syntax\
infmitive
conj. + adverb
infmitive
Pronoun subject
Verb
Complement
Tobe
or not
to be:
that
is
the question
The basic principle for good writing in Eng-
lish is: one sentence, one idea. The value be-
hind this is the orientation to the reader. The
text should be reader friendly (which, logi-
cally, is a notoriously difficult expression to
translate into writer-oriented cultures). There
is a general unconscious belief that in techni-
cal and scientific writing, as well as in other
expert writing a trne expert can also write
simply.
Following this reader friendly approach,
MOSTOVI 2000/XXXIV 35
the translator’s task is to first contexf the
readership and the target context of culture.
Like the conscientious architect, the translator
should compare his or her translation with the
overall style (genre) of the local target envi-
ronment. Clearly, individual cases will call
for increased domestication of the text, which
will then blur totally into the local landscape,
whereas there will be other cases which will
call for more foreignisation or focus on the
unusual. In ali cases the translator should
work within the bounds of reader expectation
and tolerance range.
A cursory look at any English rail Informa¬
tion leaflet will reveal what the reader will be
expecting from a leaflet explaining Italian
trains. First, there is a Anglo-American orien-
tation to common or colloquial expressions
(e.g.: “Kids just love travelling by train”
rather than “children thoroughly enjoy travel¬
ling by train”); active rather than the passive
tenses (e.g.: “You can buy a Railcard ...”
rather than “A Railcard can be bought ...”);
and a serious effort to engage in a conversa-
tion with the reader, anticipating the reader’s
possible worries or concems. This is done in a
number ofways. The reader is addressed per¬
sonalni “you” rather than “one” or recourse
to the passive tense. Most importantly, in this
publicity/informational genre, is the use of
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions). The
question is highlighted in bold, and is then an-
swered immediately below, for example:
What do I get from the Network Railcard?
33% off the normal adult fare in the
Network railcard area on ali these tickets:
Cheap Day Singles and Retums
6 This term comes from E. T. Hall (1983: 61)
and refers to how much information or
knowledge is shared between reader and
writer.
Standard Day Singles and Retums
Standard Singles and Open Retums
Network Awaybreaks
Network Stayaways
Ali zones One Day Travelcards
(subject to a minimum fare)
Up to 3 adults can travel with you for the
same discounted fare each.
Up to 4 accompanying children (aged 5-15)
can travel with you for a full fiat fare of £1
each.
Other elements to note are the use of graphics
(bullet points, font size and bold) to highlight
the more important information. The reader is
constantly shepherded through the text, and is
given the essential information in a sequen-
tial, “logical” order, an approach which is
highly favoured. According to Kaplan (1972)
culture-preferred rhetorical pattems vary im-
mensely. The Anglo-American approach
tends to operate linearly with an “and/but” or
pros/cons” division acting in parallel:
English Semitic
Oriental Slavic
A KILCy approach (Oriental and Slavic)
will tend to add more detail or background in¬
formation as the text progresses, widening,
rather than focussing on, the main issues. In
this way a KILCy text can cover more eventu-
alities, while a KISSy one is obliged to sim-
plify the reality. It is no accident that William
36 MOSTOVI 2000/XXXIV
ofOccam, the Medieval Franciscan scholastic
philosopher, was bom in England. His thesis,
known as Occam 's razorwas that ali unneces-
sary facts or constituents in the subject under
analysis should be eliminated.
My suggestion with regard to the Italian
railway leaflet is to follow suit and make the
text not a translation but an original text, con-
structed for a possibly harassed and confused
rail traveller:
Italian rail tickets.
What you need to know.
SINGLE TICKETS
Validity:
Unpunched, 2 months
unless othenvise specified.
What to do:
Punch ticket in the platform ticket-punch.
They are yellow and are placed close to
platform entrance.
If you don’t punch?
Inform the ticket inspector on the train and
pay L. 10.000 excess.
or
risk paying excess + L. 30.000 fme
And if there’s no ticket-punch?
Validate ticket at the ticket office
or
Inform the ticket inspector on the train.
No excess payable
Orientations
We have already mentioned orientations in
the previous section as values. Values relate to
what we aspire to. We judge our values to be
better than others. For example, Chesterton
(1997: 150) in the volume Translation as
Intercultural Communication, States: “I will
stick my neck out and claim that clarity will
survive as an ethical linguistic value long af-
ter the postmodernist textual anarchists are
dead and buried”. Orientations on the other
hand are not readily open to points of view.
They are, instead, the basic filter through
which we organise our understanding of real-
ity. Very rarely is this aspect ofmeaning taken
into account when translating, usually be-
cause it is so much part of a particular lan-
guage and culture that it is difficult even to
imagine a different way of orienting towards
reality - let alone attempt to translate the par¬
ticular meaning involved.
At times the orientation surfaces in text,
rather than lying in the shared context. A
good example is the attempted translation of
the Nike slogan: Just Do It. This slogan con-
jures up, through the syntax, semantics and
stress, strong American orientations (among
others) tovvards activity, environment, indi-
vidualism and time. 7 In short: the American
Can Do way.
No other language-culture shares the same
packages of orientations, nor can they create
the same dramatic effect, immediacy or possi-
bilities translating the words brick by brick. In
fact the Nike team involved in appraising the
translations were either “dismayed” or, in the
čase of the Japanese translation: “horrified”.
7 Cultural orientations are explained in detail
in Part 3 ofKatan (1999: 161-242)
MOSTOVI 2000/XXXIV 37
“We said ‘No’ Don’t translate it!”8 Another
possible answer to this problem would be to
leave the syntax and the semantics, and to
concentrate on the orientations and associated
feelings which can be carried across to the
target culture. This is discussed further in
Katan (1999: 155-157).
I should like to conclude by leaving the
reader with the following translation of Just
Do It into Slovene suggested by Anton
Omerza. The reader's response is the best
guide to what has been deleted or perhaps
gained with the adoption of the nicely asso-
nant obstacle-removing: Nemaproblema.
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8 Business Week (25/4/1992: 32)