TRANSLATION STUDIES
Year:2003 | Volume:1 | Issue:2|Papers Count:11

An overview and description of the status quo of translation programs in Iran can shed light on the weight and direction of each course. A general sketch of the B.A. and M.A. programs and a review of the facts and figures can surely illuminate some points. The first point is the dominant position of English as a foreign language and Arabic as a second language in Iran. Another point is the variety of subjects taught and the interference of the goals of other courses with translation course. It is also obvious that the nominal title for the M.A. course,"motarjemi"; refers to "translator training"; however,a look at the course subjects and description reveals this fact to us that the content of the courseis indeed "translation studies". Actording to all M.A. students, it is quite misguiding to call this courseas "translator training".Based on this descriptive survey, a conclusion that can be drawn is that the "English teacher training" course will soon or late close up due to the saturation of the job market. However, the "translator training" and "translation studies" courses have gained popularity due to their applicability and the demand in the society, and thus they are flourishing. Among the reasons for the attraction of these courses, their professional specialized nature, and their ability to provide efficient tools for those who do not have the means to enter full-time jobs.

Amon6g the various approaches to translation, "word-for-word" and "sense-for-sense" translations are often considered as the two extreme sides. In the first method, which is a form-based strategy and the old focus in translating, formal correspondence is of prime importance, while in the second approach, which is a meaning-based procedure and the new focus in translating, it is the contextual consistency that is given priority over verbal concordance. The debate on the preference of content to form or vice versa, depending on the text type, is still constant in studying translation issues. Some favor literal approach, especially in translating literary and religious texts, whereas others believe in the primacy of content over form and prefer idiomatic procedure, so that the "message" or "sense" may not be distorted by the awkwardness resulting from literalism. The present article is an attempt to survey these notions in translation studies.

This paper deals with issues related to the application of computer in translation. Different professionals expect the computer to do various tasks: some expect the computer to help them save time by playing the role of an intelligent type writer for them; others expect the machine to provide a complete translation of a full text; and hence enable them to totally dispense with the human translator. Since ten years ago, research in hardware and software development has been growing rapidly due to various reasons, notably the mass production of PC's. This trend has helped to increase the hope among some researchers for discovering superior methods of machine translation.While providinga historical background of MT,this paper reviews and surveys different models and methods applied in MT and the problems existing in these methods, developments in computer technology and software production, as wellas achievements and failures of MT.

The importance of juornalistic text-types as a basis for language study cannot be ignored since they cause language learners to be familiar with and usemany different communicative skills of language (Baddock 1988). One of the practices for Iranian students of English translation has been the translation of journalistic texts. Observations and experiences have shown that Iranian students of translation some times find foreign journalistic text-types harder than domestic ones to translate. The study reported here has focused on this problem. The question this study tried to answer was whether there was a relationship between the schema (background knowledge) in the domestic journalistic text-types (in English) and a better translation performance on them compared with the foreign text ones. To answer the question 40 Iranian students of translation were selected and were tested two times: once on an article selected from domestic press (in English) and then on an article chosen from a foreign press. The statistics (T-test) used here indicated that the students' better performance on the domestic article is affected by the schema that is given to them by the text-type.

On discussing translating, a number of issues come to be taken for granted, as a result of which despite their importance they may never be discussed, and thus remain ambiguous. Some of these issues are theory-based and some others, disregarding theoretical dimensions, merely deal with practical aspects.There is a strong possibiliy that dealing with this aspect of the practice, can pave the way for solving the problems regarding translating through practice and take a positive measure with respect to teaching translating.Directionality seems to be one of these issues which is almost never probed into.It is the objective of this paper to investigate linguality in translation, so as to put forth a discussion in relation to determining the objectives of teaching translating.

Part of the knowledgewe obtain in our lifetime is immediate and without any liaison. Part of it is accessible through pre-programmed and constant practice.Translation competence is primarily achievable if the trainee is encumbered upon by adequate knowledge.The simultaneity of foreign language learning and translator training as well as becominga ware of translation techniques, as they are currently administered, is rather impossible. In the present paper, the author has enlisted a set of characteristics any good translator should be equipped with. A comprehensiv etranslator training curriculum has also been proposed for a six-year M.A. degree.

The present paper seeks to probe into translating poetry as a type of foregrounded language. To achieve the objective, it will first investigate the manner in which poetry is created. Attempts will also be made to deal with the process of foregrounding, describing the methods which translators adopt in translating poetry.Having this in mind, creation of poetry in the SL will be discussed followed by the steps taken by the translators in this connection, hoping to determine the translator's choice of lexical items as proper equivalents for those of the SL text.

This paper attempts to raise and analyze some problems in M.A. program in English-Persian translation (or "translation studies") in Iran, and to discuss some related issues and deficiencies encountered in this program. The author, as a graduate student of the said course in the Islamic Azad University, expresses his own views as well as those of other students admitted to the two major universities in Tehran offering M.A. programs in translation studies, i.e., Islamic Azad and AllamehTabatabai. He ends the article by affirming the relative success of the course.This survey was laid upon a critical review of the regulation booklet for the M.A. translation program published by the High Council for Curriculum Development, the Ministry of Culture and Higher Education in Iran. It criticizes the subjects, course descriptions as well as the proposed references outlined in this booklet. Furthermore, it deals with the existing deficiencies and obstacles in the way of achieving the real goals of the course.

It is necessary to investigate what a translator needs in order to translate a text from one language to another, to design a training programme. For this purpose, the mental activities that a translator goes through in order to comprehend a text and then convert it into another language are described. Based on this, suggestion is made concerning how to select students for an M.A. programme in translation and train them for this purpose.

This paper deals with a number of problems in French-Persian translation B.A. program in Iran, including simultaneity of language learning and translator training, inclusion of Persian to French translation subjects, instructors' lack of specialization, vagueness in subject matters to be taught and accidental encounters with translation problems in texts, choice of texts for translation based on personal preferences, inattention to the role of the mother tongue, i.e. Persian, in translation, lack of coordination between translation methods prescribed by instructors, and lack of cooperation between professional translators and academic instructor.