I'm taking a course "Introduction to Translation" and while i'm reading about the things a translator should do before translating a text is to see what are the salient linguistic features in the text? Can you please provide me with examples on that?
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I’m voting to close this question because it looks like a homework question with no attempt to own research prior to asking.– Be Brave Be Like UkraineCommented Oct 13, 2020 at 1:17
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1 Answer
Linguistic features is an extremely broad phrase. In context of translating, the things I would take particular note of include:
- register: a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting, a sociolect, ethnolect, etc.
- dialect, slang,
- jargon: "the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity or group"
- tense / aspect : these may not have 1 - 1 mappings
- lexical aspect
- alliteration
- puns & double entendres
- idiomatic expressions
- cultural proverbs, e.g. a kotowaza in Japanese
- assumed social knowledge that is evident in certain language use, like detecting or displaying sarcasm, irony, and more nuanced tones in writing
- changes in script, orthography, use of capitals, italicization, small caps, quotes, underlining: for example, how do you represent all capitals in a language with two letter cases, in a language that has only majuscules ?
In my opinion, those are things that would be examples when translating. However, feature has a plethora of meanings in linguistics. In semantics, it could refer to a semantic class or category. In phonetics, say, a place of articulation. In morphology, a lexical category or inflectional category.
