article+reflections+by+Ezgi+Uluer

**What is translation, (Article 7)**

**This article basically talks about the meanings of pragmatic equivalence, the equivalence of meaning, functional and discoursal equivalence, cultural equivalence, equivalence across levels.**

**To me, translation is understanding a text deeply and trying to give the same senses and meanings to another language community. As it is mentioned in this article, defining the meaning of translation is not an easy job. Like some other important terms, this is used without definition. By linguists it is seen as a transference of meaning from one set of patterned symbols into another.** **This article also mentions about how language can be analyzed. Formal level; phonology or graphology, morphemes and lexical items (words), sentences and semantics (meaning). Other then this there is a pragmatic meaning which is investigated in context. Also, other modes of communication, gestures or images, participant’s background and cultural knowledge, their thoughts, emotions and intentions are important to infer the meaning and analyze a language.** **The article also mentions about the difference between utterance and a sentence. According to the article, utterance may not be grammatically completed or it may not conform to the grammatical norms. While sentences are grammatically completed units. However, many utterances are also sentences, but it is false to say that all sentences are utterance. I think a translator should know this differences to do her or his job perfectly. As it is mentioned in the article translator is the one to make other language speaker's to understand. The events in the translated version should loyal to the original one. Loyalty is important while translating. The reader should read more or less to same events while reading the translated work. Therefore finding the equivalent value in the language is important.**

**Therefore to some up it is crucial to find equal value in languages that you are translating to. As a translator you need to give the same message to the reader. Therefore it is very important to know both of the language's culture, grammar, conventions etc.**

**This article helped me to understand what translation is. I could see the language from different perspectives thanks to this article. The most striking things that from this article; I understood that utterances and the sentences are not the same thing. I understood the importance of knowing the language from many ways and also knowing the equivalences to give the exact meaning that the original text gives, I have learnt about pragmatic theory concentrates on how receivers get the messages.**

**Since this article taught me new perspectives about language, in my teaching career I will be aware of the cultural differences in the languages while I am teaching. Sometimes, some of the things in English culture is rude for the Turkish culture. Since I know the importance of the cultural difference to give the intended message, I will be very careful in such cases.**
 * To Be a Good Translator **

By Leila Razmjou

BA in English Translation

MA in Applied Linguistics (TEFL )

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/trans/articles/To%20Be%20a%20Good%20Translator.htm

In this article Leila Razmjou begins with how important translating is in this globalized world. Communication and transferring the information is needed for development and this transferring the information from different cultures is possible only with translation. "the whole world is undergoing complex changes in different areas such as technology and education. These changes necessarily have an important bearing on systems of higher education, including translator training programs." (Razmjou, 2002)

As i mentioned above Razmjou believes that translating is a must to allow the movement of information. To allow the movement of information between cultures, we nee translators but good translators. In our lesson's in Selma's presentation we discussed who is a good translator and we came to the conclusion that there is noo good translator, because the idea is more subjective. However we were all agree that translators should have some qualities and skills. Here Razmjou also qustions " what skills are needed to promote translating ability? And how can one become a good translator?" And she mentions about a good translator.

Razmjou thinks that translators should have both active and passive knowledge. She claims reinforcing the passive knowledge will improve active knowledge. For this, translator should read alot. It is crucial to know the source and target languages to enable the translation. Therefore translators should read alot and everykind of books.

Other then reading, translators should be good writers. They should have an ability to write correctly and smoothly. Razmjou claims that writing is translator's first job. "Editing and punctuation improve the quality and readability of the translation" (Razmjou, 2002).

Besides reading and writing, a translator should have a good ear to for both source and target languages. They should be able to pick up different idioms, expressions in both languages. Therefore one should improve "intuition". "Intuition is not something to be developed in a vacuum; rather, it needs practice and a solid background. It needs both the support of theory and the experience of practice. Language intuition is a must for a competent translator." (Razmjou,2002)

Translator's understanding of the discourse should be very high. To raise this understanding, a translator should be aware of the cultural differences.

Other then these some technical skill are needed like using dictionaries. Every students do not know how to use a dictionary effectively. In different contexts, words mean different things. Monolingual dictionaries are very useful for them.Students need to practice to find the intended meaning.

"Translation trainees also need to be familiar with the syntax of indirect speech and various figures of speech in the source language such as hyperbole, irony, meiosis, and implicatures. Awareness of these figures of speech will reinforce students' creativity and change their passive knowledge into active skill." (Razmjou,2002) Other then these points, to be an effective and good translator, one should choose a specific area for herself or himself. For example, a translator may intense on literary works and keep translating the literature books etc. Even more specifically, a translator may choose to translate the same author's works. "the more familiar is the translator with the style of a writer, the better the translation will be." (Razmjou, 2002) Therefore, to conclude, being a good translator requires some skills and deep knowledges of both the source language and the target language. ."Only a sophisticated and systematic treatment of translation education can lead to the development of successful translators."(Razmjou, 2002) This article's content is actually similar to the article 7th's content in some respect. Both of them emphasize the importance of knowing the cultural differences, language units etc. This article helped me to understand what are the main features that a translator should have to be a good translator. This article was also beneficial for my teaching career. Actually both of the articles helped me to understand the more or less same thing. When i am teaching to my students i will not only teach the grammatical features, i will also teach the cultural differences. I will try to create context for them to show in which context which words should be used because thanks to the these two articles i know how important it is to know the contextual meanings of the words.