But - What does it mean? A case study of a clinical report

• Autores: Ian A. Willians
• Localización: Livius: Revista de estudios de traducción, ISSN 1132-3191, Nº 10, 1997, págs. 227-237
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • A high degree of isomorphism is often assumed to exist between fairly closely related languages in the translation of scientific, especially medical, texts. This isomorphism may be reflected in the communicative situation, specific genres and their associated formats, and down to the terminology, much of which is derived from, and created from, Greek and Latin. On the other hand, each language is known to have its own peculiarities and preferences. The tension generated between these two opposing forces can lead to anomalies, particularly if, in the translation process, the sentence is taken as the largest translation unit. We report a case of "malignant equivalent frequency syndrome" presenting as a dysfunction in the transfer of coordinated BUT sentences to structures of equivalent frequency, which was associated with disturbed textual patterns and impaired communicative function. Expression of other closely related syntactic structures was normal, but some microstructural elements were either altered or absent. Textual analysis indicated a breakdown in the mapping of the higher levels of meaning onto the surface texture. The results suggest that communicative intention, textual patterns and information structure, as well as surface features, must be taken into account in the translation bi this kind of text.