AUSIT Webinar | 20230228 Meaning-Based Translating and Interpreting Part 3

Making correct and valid linguistic choices when translating and interpreting, especially in the ‘pressure-cooker’ environment of interpreting, requires practitioners to have a good understanding of the principles which underlie the transfer of meaning between languages. This understanding is also invaluable on the occasions – which are bound to occur sooner or later – when clients or other professionals challenge us on the linguistic choices we’ve made.

This training event is intended to build on, and discuss in greater detail, some of the issues covered in two previous webinars on Meaning-based Translating and Interpreting conducted on 07 May 2018 (general overview) and 28 May 2019 (equivalence at the word level). Both of these are available – now free of charge for AUSIT members – on the AUSIT website, if you didn’t have an opportunity to participate at the time. This training event is designed to be a stand-alone session, but as background to it you may find it useful to view either or both of those previous sessions (especially the first).

This training event will focus on the transfer of meaning, and the various ways of achieving a suitable degree of equivalence, at the level of phrases. The content will include the following:

– by way of background, a quick review of the concept of translating and interpreting being ‘meaning-based’, and the concept of ‘equivalence’ of meaning;
– why phrases (encompassing the two areas of collocations and idioms/fixed expressions) present problems for translators and interpreters;
– what collocations are, and the specific ‘translation challenges’ they pose;
– similarly, the specific translation challenges posed by idioms, sayings, and fixed expressions; and
– acceptable strategies for dealing with these translation challenges.