Embedded Files
1. Written/visual versus audio/aural medium considerations
Written translations
o Designed to be seen and read
o Static
· Readers can easily control information flow (can stop, pause, reread)
· Relatively easy access to larger contexts
o If desired readers can more actively engage with the information in a text (e.g. highlight info in the text, make notes in the text, etc., stop and ponder what they have read, etc.)
o Checking includes attention to formatting (visual) components - cues that help the reader process information in meaningful ways
o Abundance of paratextual aids
· Sub-headings; sentence & paragraph breaks (i.e. visual discourse markers); punctuation marks
· Footnotes, cross-references, glossaries
o Practical consultant checking & revision benefits
· Ability to search; perform consistency checks; make comparisons
· Relatively easy to pinpoint and revise small portions
o Translators are usually anonymous with regard to the printed text
Audio translations
o Designed to be heard
o More difficult for listener to control information flow (especially if listening in a group, but even for individuals listening to their own devices). If a listener hears something that they don’t understand and stops to think about it, they miss the part of the message that follows the thing they didn’t understand.
o Listeners have less control of information; more difficult to actively engage with the message
o Difficult to access larger contexts (much higher dependence on the listener's memory)
o Added potential benefits and dangers inherent in voice communication
· Benefits
- Meaning can be 'encoded' in intonation, stress, pauses, amplification, emotion, alternating speakers, etc.
- Life/living aspects of human speech
- A speaker’s voice, especially in a small language community, can be recognized and can be beneficial if there is no danger to the speaker and if the speaker has a good reputation
- Dangers
- It is difficult for a TC (and TA) to ascertain the impact of paralinguistic features of a translation unless very fluent in target language
- Ways to mediate/have some control of paralinguistic features - better native speaker reviewer training and producing final recordings using selected speakers
- A speaker’s voice, especially in a small language community, can be recognized and can be a danger in a sensitive situation or if the speaker has or later receives a bad reputation
o Practical consultant checking & revision challenges
- Clarity and naturalness issues are extremely important
· Revisions much more difficult than for written (also a tendency to introduce new omissions and errors when rerecording large passages)
· Need for ongoing awareness that meaning encoded in written formatting (sentence & paragraph breaks; punctuation marks; etc.) may not be coming across in the spoken version
· Working with audio recordings
· Dependence on aural vs visual reference points
· Presenting adequate context for checkers to be able to respond to questions
2. Back translations
o Producing useful back translations requires ongoing training (best provided by or a least guided by the consultant)
o Most consultants (especially expat) want a transcribed version of the oral back translation in Render.
o Some practical reasons
a. audio back translations are cumbersome to work with
b. difficult to compare the translation with a source (original & other)
c. most consultants tend to view one of their primary duties to be ensuring accuracy
o Consultant-translation team interaction via recorded notes can feel very inefficient
o Some options currently being used (these assume the presence of a Translation Adviser who serves as an intermediary between TC and translators)
1. Render produced transcriptions of audio back translations pasted into a Paratext back translation project and the TC interacts with the team via PT notes
2. Emailed written notes (with MS Word attachments, etc.)
3. WhatsApp and/or Zoom conversations
o Some options for producing back translations outside of Render
1. Paratext interlinearizer applied to a transcribed (using even an ad hoc orthography) version of the audio translation
2. Directly typing the back translations into Paratext or a Word doc and then into Paratext
o Misc.
o Literal back translations can be especially important for OBT consultants who usually don’t have a copy of the written text of the translation to refer to during checking.
3. Testing in the community
o Importance of training the translation teams for effective comprehension and acceptability testing of the translation in various speaker communities, first in a workshop setting and then outside the workshop setting
4. Translation Adviser
Note: the following probably apply equally to written or oral translation
o A consultant's indispensable advocate in the field
· Translation-wise; personnel-wise, etc.
o Contributions by importance
i. Motivation
ii. Interpersonal relations
iii. LWC and target language expertise
iv. Translation expertise
5. Importance of checking larger discourse units
o Due to the tendency for the audio source to be served up (translated) in discrete pieces that can appear to be disconnected to the larger context
o Especially important in OBT projects due to the need for a high degree of clarity and naturalness in the oral translation
6. Generally higher level of consultant involvement at least in the beginning
o OBT projects emphasize just-in-time, on-the-job training best done with TC involvement
o General lack of available exegetical & translation expertise
TC needs to reinforce and follow-up initial traini
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