Journal of Language and Translation Studies
Year:2014 | Volume:47 | Issue:1|Papers Count:6

Over the past one hundred and fifty years, due to a huge number of translations from different languages into Persian, certain norms of language use have changed and certain others are in the process of changing. As one of the most frequent syntactic properties of most languages, especially English, the nominal style is a most likely candidate for transfer through translation into Persian, a language in which the use of the verbal style is admittedly more dominant. This research addresses the following question: since literalism is the prevailing translation method in Iran, is there a tendency towards the nominal style in non-literary translated texts? To this end, two large corpora of translated and original Persian texts of expository nature were selected. The former group consisted of translations done by both famous and not very famous translators. The purpose of examining the translations was to find out which style was dominant: nominal or verbal. A comparison of the corpora showed that in original Persian books as well as translated books done by well-known translators, there was a tendency toward the verbal style as the number of nominal sentences found in these books was very low. But in the texts translated by not very famous translators, the number of nominal sentences was significantly higher than the number of verbal sentences.

This study is critically engaged to compare and contrast T. S. Eliot’s poem, “The Waste Land”, with its corresponding Persian translations in order to analyze strategies adopted by Iranian translators to deal with the metaphorical nature of his poetry in terms of Peter Newmark’s theory of translation in English and SirusShamisa’s approaches to classifying metaphors in Persian. Moreover, it argues whether the frameworks presented by Newmark and Shamisa for metaphor are applicable to poetry translation and literary metaphors or they need some additions or deletions. To this end, Eliot’s heavily metaphorical and allusive “The Waste Land” was studied along with its seven Persian translations. In spite of the fact that translators made much endeavor trying to keep SL’s metaphors, it should be mentioned that the two categories of metaphors in two languages, according to Newmark and Shamisa, are rather distinct. Unfortunately, in Persian, there is no framework or foundation for translation. This condition can lead to failure while translating from non-identical languages or cultures. In addition, convincing evidence exists that there is a link between imitation and the dominant strategy.

Rend is, according to Hafiz, a superior or perfect man. In his Divan (collection of poems), Rend is defined as a person who has a paradoxical character in his manifestation and a moderate one inwardly. Rend is neither exorbitant nor negligent. In view of Andre Gide, Hafiz was a perfect artist worthy to be followed. Gide, like Hafiz, was in search of high honor. He wished the Fruits of Earth to be considered like Hafiz’s Divan as an epistle of honor. Gide being in harmony with Hafiz, imagined his Rend in the body of Menalc. The common features between Rend and Menalc were investigated in Hafiz’s ghazals and Gide’s works. To aim this, first, using an analytical approach based on comparative literature, a definition and a brief analysis of Rend and its features have been studied to compare Hafiz’s Rend and Gide’s Menalc. Giving examples of these two and finding their common thoughts, the effect of Hafiz on Gide has been shown.

This qualitative study attempted to determine the approaches of select Iranian translator educators for assessing students’ translation quality. So, a purposive sample of twelve experienced, specialist translator educators at major universities across Iran was invited for interviews. The analysis of the interview data revealed the approaches they advocated and so applied to assessment of students’ translation quality. The Iranian translator educators’ approaches were then compared and contrasted with distinguished models and approaches to translation assessment. Using the procedure of grounded theory, a method of qualitative data analysis, the interview data was coded and analyzed. The results showed that there are many similarities and common areas among the translator educators in approaching students’ translation quality assessment. To a great extent, these approaches conform to the approaches and models of translation quality assessment presented by international TQA theorists and that the only difference lies in the degree of importance of the assessment criteria depending on different translation courses, the text type and genre.

It is through language and translation as the important elements which animate the lives of different human societies that we come to know our culture and know the world. We can never neglect the exchange and cultural development as the result of the translation. We try to do a search about the translation in the field of the interjections. An interjection is a word category invariable, allowing the speaking subject, express spontaneous emotion (joy, anger, surprise, sadness, admiration, pain, etc). If the interjection does not deserve a specific treatment of grammar, it plays a very clear role in the transmission of meaning. That is why translation is difficult and important. As corpus, we chose The Little Prince and the translations made by Shamlou and Nadjafi Ghazi. We also try to analyze the examples to compare and find the qualities of each translation.

Translating children’s literature is a challenging enterprise; easy at the first sight, but rather difficult in practice. It is assumed by some translators that because children’s works are intended for an audience/ readership of young age, they are simple and easy to deal with in every way. Even some naïve translators consider such works as texts whose words, grammatical structures and rhetoric in translated versions do not need any particular precaution, care, and/or creativity. However, at least translation of children’s works of fiction and poetry has proved that things are in fact otherwise. Among the challenges to be mentioned in this connection is to retain the characteristics of the overall atmosphere of the original. The lion’s share of this is represented in how properly “tone” is transferred from the source text into the target text. In what follows, a range of samples from Persian translations, both in prose and poetry, are introduced, their translational inadequacies are traced, and are finally re-translated to improve their quality.