Legal Translation Assignment: translate the text Binding Memorandum of Understanding between Charity Fund Kasiyetty Zhol and Samsung Medical Center, Republic of Korea.

Aim: to apply theoretical knowledge into practice translating legal texts.

Literature and resources:

• Lecture 13 – Translation of legal texts.

• www.multitran.ru

• www.macmillandictionary.com

Translation techniques Direct Translation Techniques

Direct Translation Techniques are used when structural and conceptual elements of the source language can be transposed into the target language. Direct translation techniques include:

Borrowing

Borrowing is the taking of words directly from one language into another without translation. Many English words are "borrowed" into other languages; for example software in the field of technology and funk in culture. English also borrows numerous words from other languages; abbatoire, café, passé and résumé from French; hamburger and kindergarten from German; bandana, musk and sugar from Sanskrit. Borrowed words are often printed in italics when they are considered to be "foreign".

Calque

A calque or loan translation is a phrase borrowed from another language and translated literally word-for-word. Examples that have been absorbed into English include standpoint and beer garden from German Standpunkt and Biergarten; breakfast from French déjeuner (which now means lunch in Europe, but maintains the same meaning of breakfast in Québec).

Literal Translation

A word-for-word translation can be used in some languages and not others dependent on the sentence structure:

Oblique Translation Techniques

Oblique Translation Techniques are used when the structural or conceptual elements of the source language cannot be directly translated without altering meaning or upsetting the grammatical and stylistics elements of the target language.

Transposition

This is the process where parts of speech change their sequence when they are translated (blue ball becomes boule bleue in French). It is in a sense a shift of word class. Grammatical structures are often different in different languages. He likes swimming translates as Er schwimmt gern in German.

Modulation

Modulation consists of using a phrase that is different in the source and target languages to convey the same idea: Te lo dejo means literally I leave it to you but translates better as ‘You can have it’. It changes the semantics and shifts the point of view of the source language. Through modulation, the translator generates a change in the point of view of the message without altering meaning and without generating a sense of awkwardness in the reader of the target text.

Reformulation or Equivalence

Here you have to express something in a completely different way, for example when translating idioms or advertising slogans. The process is creative, but not always easy.

Adaptation

Adaptation occurs when something specific to one language culture is expressed in a totally different way that is familiar or appropriate to another language culture. It is a shift in cultural environment. Should pincho (a Spanish restaurant menu dish) be translated as kebab in English? It involves changing the cultural reference when a situation in the source culture does not exist in the target culture