The project: detailed guidelines
Introduction: pre-translation analysis
The introduction will include a strategic pre-translation analysis of the source text.
The purpose of the pre-translation analysis is NOT merely to describe the source text, but to establish a strategy for translating it.
This means that it is not enough to provide a descriptive account of the ST, simply stating that the ST is informative or that it was aimed at readership of this or that level of expertise: your pre-translation analysis needs to focus on the implications of the features discussed to the translator’s strategy or approach.
In the attempt to establish a strategy for translating the source text, the pre-translation analysis can look at the extra-textual and intra-textual factors, such as: ST sender/text producer, ST readers/recipients, text type, medium, intention/function, register, subject matter, presuppositions, text composition, lexis etc. etc. (see Nord 1991 for further guidance).
REMEMBER that your analysis needs to be strategic: a descriptive account would only identify some or all of the above features, whereas a strategic one would focus on how features identified influence the translator’s approach. It should be clear now that there is absolutely no need to identify and discuss all of these features: you need to prove you have possessed the necessary level of the translator’s awareness to identify and analyze those features that will have or have had an impact on your overall strategy and specific decisions.
All claims need to be adequately supported, i.e. it is not enough to say ‘this is an informative text (Newmark 1995)’. You need to show how you arrived at this claim, i.e. point to linguistic (and not merely content-related) determinants of a given text type.
One possible way of looking at the aspects to include in your pre-translation analysis is by answering the following questions (but please note that the actual analysis you include in your project should not be limited to these only!):
1. Exactly why should I not just sit down with a dictionary and get on with translating this text without even reading it through first?
2. How will what I discover about this text by reading it and examining its context help me to create a strategy for translating? (e.g. if I discover that a large number of ST lexical items are not lexicalized in the TL, what will I do about it? Will I decide on each one as I come to it or will I have some kind of consistent approach, and, if so, on what will I base this approach?)
3. Regarding the parallel texts: am I going to look at any? Why? How do they help? Why/how have they been chosen? Why do I regard them as parallel? In what sense: lexically, stylistically? How reliable do I think they are? Why?
(From CIoL Moderator’s recommendations)
You may also discuss the research you are going to carry out, i.e. your strategy for identifying the sources (such as the internet, dictionaries, glossaries, terminology banks, experts, translators’ forums, parallel texts etc.) that you hope will help you during the translation process. You will be required to document and assess their use and relevance in the commentary, when discussing specific problems.
See also: Munday, J. (2012) “Research and commentary projects” (Chapter 12). In: Introducing Translation Studies. Theories and applications (third edition). London and New York: Routledge.
You should discuss your pre-translation analysis with your language-specific supervisor in the first session. Remember about completing a reflective report after the session.