Polysemy and synonymy: Their management in Translation Studies dictionaries and in translator training. A case study
LeonaVan Vaerenbergh
Hogeschool Antwerpen
Abstract
The use of the same term with different meanings and the use of different terms with somewhat analogous meanings are not exceptional phenomena in scientific language. This article deals with polysemy and synonymy, and consists of three parts. The introductory part gives a brief description of the dictionaries and encyclopedias published up to the present time and justifies the choice of the examples in this case study, namely the polysemic term coherence and four synonymous pairs of concepts and terms: documentary/instrumental translation, overt/covert translation and interlingual interpretive/interlingual descriptive communication as well as direct/indirect translation. The second part offers a comparison between the various dictionaries and encyclopedias and shows how the polysemic term coherence and the related pairs of concepts/terms are dealt with. It also indicates how the profusion of terminology could more effectively meet the needs of everyone who is engaged in translation and Translation Studies. The purpose of the third part is to demonstrate that in the training of translators, it is necessary to dispose of a metalanguage and that terminological diversity as a reflection of theoretic-conceptual diversity may be seen as an opportunity.
In preparation of their Translation terminology, Delisle et al. conducted a study of eighty-eight teaching handbooks published after World War II that “yielded a count of no less than 1419 terms in fifteen handbooks, corresponding to 838 concepts” (1999: 108). They stress that, from a pedagogical standpoint, “a profusion of terms and a plethora of synonyms” (ibid.) are as problematic as a total absence of metalanguage. Other researchers also point out the proliferation of terminology, among them Salevsky, who explicitly mentions the fuzziness and polysemy of Translation Studies terminology (1994: 229).
References
Baker, Mona
ed.1998Routledge encyclopedia of Translation Studies. London and New York: Routledge.
Baker, Mona and Braňo Hochel
1998 “Dubbing”.
Baker 1998
. 74–76.
Beaugrande, Robert-Alain de and Wolfgang U. Dressler
1981Introduction to text linguistics. London: Longman.
Chesterman, Andrew
1999 “Dictionary of Translation Studies [review]”. Target 11:1. 172–175.
Classe, Olive
ed.2000Encyclopedia of literary translation into English. 2 volumes. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.
Delisle, Jean, Hannelore Lee-Jahnke and Monique C. Cormier
eds.1999Terminologie de la traduction/Translation terminology/Terminología de la traducción/Terminologie der Übersetzung. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Delisle, Jean, Hannelore Lee-Jahnke and Monique C. Cormier
2003Terminologie van de vertaling. Vertaald en bewerkt door Henri Bloemen and Winibert Segers. Vantilt.
Directive 2004 27/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 amending Directive 2001/83/EC on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use
2000Translation and relevance: Cognition and context. Manchester and Boston: St Jerome.
Harvey, Keith
1998 “Compensation”.
Baker 1998
. 37–40.
Hatim, Basil
1998 “Pragmatics and translation”.
Baker 1998
. 179–183.
House, Juliane
1997Translation quality assessment: A model revisited. Tübingen: Gunter Narr. [Tübinger Beiträge zur Linguistik, 410.]
House, Juliane
1998 “Quality of translation”.
Baker 1998
. 197–200.
Kittel, Harald, Armin Paul Frank
et al.eds.2004Übersetzung/Translation/Traduction. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Übersetzungsforschung/An international encyclopedia of Translation Studies/Encyclopédie internationale de la recherche sur la traduction. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter. [HSK, 26.1]
1985Text and translation. Leipzig: Verlag Enzyklopädie. [Übersetzungswissenschaftliche Beiträge, 8.]
Nord, Christiane
1991Text analysis in translation: Theory, methodology, and didactic applications of a model for translation-oriented text analysis. Translated from the German by Christiane Nord and Penelope Sparrow. Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi.
Nord, Christiane
1997Translating as a purposeful activity: Functionalist approaches explained. Manchester: St Jerome.
Reiß, Katharina and Hans J. Vermeer
1984Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie. Tübingen: Niemeyer. [Linguistische Arbeiten, 147.][ p. 253 ]
Risku, Hanna
1998Translatorische Kompetenz: Kognitive Grundlagen des Übersetzens als Expertentätigkeit. Tübingen: Stauffenburg. [Studien zur Translation, 5.]
Salevsky, Heidemarie
1994 “Warum und wozu ein Wörterbuch der Translationswissenschaft?” TEXTconTEXT 9:3/4. 225–234.
Schäffner, Christina
1998 “Skopos theory”.
Baker 1998
. 235–238.
Schmitt, Peter A.
2006 “Evaluierung von Translationsleistungen: Merkblatt zu den Klausur-Korrekturen/Anmerkungen”. http://www.paschmitt.de/ (27.07.2006).
Shuttleworth, Mark and Moira Cowie
1997Dictionary of Translation Studies. Manchester, UK: St Jerome.
Stolze, Radegundis
19972. Übersetzungstheorien: Eine Einführung. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.
Truffaut, Louis
2004Abécédaire partiel et partial de la traduction professionnelle. Ilustrations allemand-français. 3 volumes. Bruxelles: Éditions du Hazard. [Collection Traductologie.]
Van Vaerenbergh, Leona
2006 “Covert, instrumentell, interlingual deskriptiv: Der Stellenwert der multilingualen Textredaktion in Theorie und Praxis der Translation”. Carmen Heine, Klaus Schubert and Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast, eds. Text and translation: Theory and methodology of translation. Tübingen: Gunter Narr 2006 105–128. [Jahrbuch Übersetzen und Dolmetschen, 6.]