Linguistic and Cultural Knowledge as Prequisites to Learning Professional Translation

2.2.3. Third Year Translations' Evaluation

2.2.4. 2.2.3.1. Objectives

This part of the qualitative study attempts to evaluate a sample of third year students' translations. Its aim is to determine the general level of third year students' translation competence.

2.2.3.2. Research Questions

Through this evaluation, we intend to answer the following question:

· What is the level of translation competence acquired in three years of study by students selected in the established way?

The process of evaluation was guided by the following questions:

· How is the quality of their translations?

o Is the original meaning conserved?

o Are the source text key characteristics preserved?

o What is the quality of expression in the target language?

o Are translation problems, if any, solved?

2.2.3.3. Sampling

The sample included 30 translations. They were produced for the third year first semester exam in Arabic-English-Arabic translation. The translations were randomly selected. The sample size constitutes 22 % of the whole population.

2.2.3.4. Tests Materials and Administration

To start with, a general description of the involved source texts should be presented. The provided English source text (ST) is a translation, itself, of a Japanese literary text. This information is not supplied; however, it could be deduced from the text's source (see Appendix D). The text was about 100 words long, and the students were given one hour and a half to translate it. As it was a translation from Japanese, it included almost no problems of translating English culture. The text contained few literary linguistic devices: mainly some metaphors in the first sentence.

On the other hand, the provided Arabic ST was originally written in Arabic. Similarly, it was about 100 words long, and one hour and a half is the time students were given to translate it. It had an academic character. The language was modern and formal, and the sentences, rather long. Content was empty of purely Arabic cultural elements.

Both texts' styles, however, reflected the character of their respective languages. This can be perceived, among other things, in their use of tenses, sentence length, typical expressions and specific structures.

2.2.3.5. Translations' Evaluation

The evaluation was mainly qualitative. Levels were, however, determined and translations belonging to each level, quantified. The objective was to provide information about the proportions of the existing levels in relation to the sample, and hence to the population.

The evaluation method we adopted is an adaptation of Waddington's (2001) holistic method described in this study's literature review. In fact, Waddington's method was meant only for translation into English as a foreign language. As a result, we had also to adapt the method to the requirements of translation from English as a foreign language into Arabic as a first language.

2.2.3.4.1. Arabic-English translations' evaluation Qualitative Description

Arabic-English translations' evaluation was made according to three aspects of the students' performance: quality of expression in the target language (TL), dealing with translation problems, and accuracy of transfer of ST content. As designed by Waddington (2001), a scale of five levels has been set up. Each level was described in a qualitative way, so that a clear idea be made about the relevant students' performance. Following is a table describing the method.

Table 8: Description of Arabic-English Translation Levels

Level	Accuracy of transfer of ST content	Expression in the target language (TL)	Dealing with translation problems
5	Complete transfer of source text information; only minor revision needed to reach professional standard.	Almost all the translation reads like a piece originally written in English; there may be minor grammatical, lexical or spelling errors.	Successful
4	Almost complete transfer; there may be one or two insignificant inaccuracies; requires certain amount of revision to reach professional standard.	Large sections read like a piece originally written in English; there are a number of grammatical, lexical or spelling errors.	Almost completely successful
3	Transfer of the general idea(s) but with a number of lapses in accuracy; needs considerable revision	Certain parts read like a piece originally written in English, but others read like a	Adequate
	to reach professional standard	translation; there are a considerable number of grammatical, lexical and spelling errors.
2	Transfer undermined by serious inaccuracies; thorough revision required to reach professional standard.	Almost the entire text reads like a translation; there are continual grammatical, lexical or spelling errors.	Inadequate
1	Totally inadequate transfer of ST content; the translation is not worth revising.	The candidate reveals a total lack of ability to express himself adequately in English.	Totally inadequate

Source: Adapted from Waddington (2001)

Level One

The translations found to fit into the first level were characterized by a total incapacity of expression in English. There are many omissions, and no correct sentences could be found. A total dependence on Arabic, Algerian and French linguistic backgrounds is obvious. Language is awkward and content, incoherent. Sentences without any logical meaning are frequent. Some examples are presented in the following tables.

Table 9: Examples of Level One Translations of Some Arabic Source Text Items.

ST item	Translation			Comment
First sentence of the ST	"So if we want to go back in our humanity, and lating (with Travelling) we Travel with the machine and knowing what we do			Awkwardness and incoherence. Probable incomprehension of the ST idea. The use of "lating" to translate "ci.L" seems
			with it. "			to mean "lasting", which is in its turn inappropriate. The whole sentence fails to transfer the meaning of the first ST sentence, and of whatever other meaning. N.B. The item "go
						back" is provided in the exam's glossary.
			"they were may go back of human, and they used the motor have to make of good culture..."			N.B. The first word
						of the whole translation "they" is not capitalized.
			"If we went back us of Humanity... "
111 _)%t I		· · · ·	Abilité volonté désir volentine		· ·	Use of French words. Attempt to adapt a French word.
L..à j^.1-4^1= t-..;.ià		· · ·	"they went to take of eys the right is important" "we will put our intention in an important reality in a good place" "we must to look very well the reality of important..."			Total inability of expression in English.
'KID CJA^14c. -^1
mle. j.5...q
us ,z.,.i.. ù j.1... :tee et:" C^.J.J. ^111.A CJI			"No way if no volonty and no way if no culture"
ue			"agriculte"			Totally inadequate
			"exitate"
i ci-4 ^1..) i ^.1-4.-. 44^1. Lliffi L:154 j 4_,Ia :u11../.11 ^.°U^1 Ill		·	"I draw for you a volonté a methode to revising, all this going to suffer and endure and a hope very precise"			Total inability of expression in English.
i ..»° i 4.0^8 (3,0 - . u.......là JALI

Level Two

Second level translations were characterised by continuous vocabulary, grammatical and spelling errors. The frequency and the seriousness of these errors indicated incapacity of accurate transfer of whatever idea. It could be noticed that the student was willing to express a precise idea, which implied a more or less sound comprehension of the Arabic text. The student seemed to struggle not to omit items, trying to find an equivalent. However, using items from the Arabic, Algerian and French linguistic backgrounds was quite perceptible. The following table presents some examples of translation phenomena characterising this level.

Table 10: Examples of Level Two Translations of Some Arabic Source Text Items

ST item	Translation examples	Comment
111 j't1	· Volenty · Wantness	· Anglicising a French word · Lack of vocabulary accuracy		_Ill 'il...L^.)1
You can never...just if, ...but if,	Lack of knowledge of the appropriate equivalent (unless) leading to inappropriate literal translation, hence to meaning inaccuracy.
· Road, · way, · direction, · mithodry · doctrine	Lack of vocabulary knowledge
· Lettre,	Clear use of French

	·	letterary			background	:%.1^.t I
	appareil				t-..;.ià L'il^..^1-4^1à y....à L'ide .. .1^4 4 . ". ^1:'e .. ^1 L'itg.a1 ^....4.410 ID e:')
· ·	"We should put besides/ between/in our eyes ..." " we must see a reality of the importance in a high place"		Inappropriate literal translations
· ·	"to still" "a lot of time"	· ·	The majority of translations use "still" as a verb. Inadequate translation
· ·	Illitirate your mind rich your mind		Inadequate translation

Some examples of the errors found in this level's translations are displayed in the following table:

Table 11: Examples of Linguistic Errors Found in Level Two Arabic-English Translations

Correct form	Grammatical errors	Spelling errors		Lexical errors	If we want to
"If we wanted to" -Transfer of the Arabic use of past tense (U.li 1:1J )				...to keep on using...
"...to kept on using" Infinitive vs. past participle use.				which
	wish			machine
	mechine			trY
	tray			quantity
	quentity			chose
	shose			still
	steel			enough
	inaf			more
	mor			likewise
		Like the wise		You can't get
"you can't getting"				Culture and
The culture and the will

will critics commentors moral concret

Level Three

In addition to the characteristics presented earlier, translations belonging to the third level involved two contradictory levels of competence. On the one hand, a sound mastery of the English sentence structure was perceived. Besides, there were only a small number of inappropriate literai translation occurrences. This implied a certain amount of independence from first and second languages' logic.

On the other hand, there were relatively serious vocabulary errors leading to transfer inaccuracies. Signs of superficial comprehension of the ST were also noticed in some translations. Indeed, important details of principle ideas were often omitted. In addition, some grammatical errors related to certain grammatical categories such as irregular verbs, were frequent. Examples follow.

Table 12: Examples of Level Three Translations of Some Arabic Source Text

Items

ST item		Translation			Comment	("Su-à 4-4^1 11
· ·	"our abstract sicle" " kind aspect in ourselves"	· ·	The ST intends "moral" Better but inaccurate		CJ-^3_9 `3^113 J j ZNI caà:Là tela a?...)..
	" and remain using the machine as we like"		The idea of "dominating the machine" is omitted.		.491lAd...
	"even you try"		Inadequate
·	basic	·	Inadequate

	· plan		· Inaccurate	_Laic.,Lii.,...
Culture your mind	Inappropriate		e3.^31
Incontournable decision	Interference with an irrelevant French word.		111 _)%t I
"Good will" "willing"	Inappropriate

Kinds of language errors made in this level's translations are illustrated in the following table.

Table 13 : Examples of Linguistic Errors Found in Level Three Arabic-English Translations

Correct forms	Lexical errors	Spelling errors		Grammatical errors	You have chosen
		"you have choosed"		should
	chould			control
	controle			draw
	drow			which
		who		careful
	carreful			analysis
analyse				critics
criticians				Want to
Wanna (stylistic)

A number of adequate translations were found in level three texts. Here are some examples.

Table 14: Examples of Level Three Adequate Translations to Some ST Items

ST item			Adequate translation	`,L..ià t-..;.ià L'il^..^1-4^1Là ^1
· ·	"we must bear in mind an important reality" "we should take into consideration the very important fact that... "
· ·	"and remain mastering the machine while using it" "...having good command of it"		tel=
	stimulated
	"no matter how hard you try"

No translations were found to fit in either of the remaining levels, namely four and five.

Quantitative Description

Frequency distribution of translations in relation to the five levels is displayed in the following table.

Table 15: Distribution of Arabic-English Translations Levels

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5		Students' number Percentage
8 27%	14 46%	8 27%	0 0%	0 0%		n = 30

Figure 7: Distribution of Arabic-English Translation Competence Levels'