The Role of Background Knowledge in Translation Quality
الموضوعات : نشریه زبان و ترجمه
1 - Department of Translation Studies, Imam Reza International University, Mashhad, Iran
الکلمات المفتاحية: Drama, Drama translation, background knowledge, linguistic knowledge, subject-matter knowledge,
ملخص المقالة :
It is well established that knowledge has strong effects on text comprehension and memory. There are a few studies about the role of background knowledge on translation quality. The major aim of the present study is to investigate the role of background knowledge in translation quality of drama. For this aim, the literary translations of two groups were compared. There were one experimental group and one control group in the present study. The participants in both groups were given a pretest. The pretest examined the quality of translation. Based on Farahzad’s model of translation quality assessment (Farahzad, 1992), the qualities of the translations were studied. Then, the students in the experimental group received special treatment (Farahzad, 1992). They acquired good background knowledge of the play of An Enemy of the People based on Strangman and Hall's model of activation of background knowledge (Strangman et al., 2009). They studied the play and analyzed its different aspects. The students in the control group did not improve their background knowledge about the source text. They did not receive any treatment. After the treatment, the two groups were given a post-test and were asked to translate the text which was extracted from the play. The results of the present study show that having access to background information and subject matter knowledge has an effect on translation quality.
Benhaddou, M. (1991). Translation quality assessment: a situational/textual model for the evaluation of Arabic/English translations. [PhD Thesis, University of Salfor]. http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/2082
Dancette, J. (1997). Mapping meaning and comprehension processes in translation. Cognitive processes in Translation and interpreting .
Davis, J. (2002). Teaching Japanese-to-English Translation. Japan Association of Translators. https://jat.org/news/articles
Drama. In. (2011). American heritage dictionary of the English language.
Farahzad, F. (1992). Testing achievement in translation classes. In C. Dollerup & A. Loddegaard (Eds.), Teaching Translation and Interpreting: Training Talent and Experience. Papers from the First Language International Conference, Elsinore, Denmark, 1991 (pp. 344). John Benjamins Publishing Company .
Graves, M. F., Cooke, C. L., & Laberge, M. J. (1983). Effects of previewing difficult short stories on low ability junior high school students' comprehension, recall, and attitudes. Reading Research Quarterly, 262-276 .
Hirsch Jr., E. D. (1988). Cultural Literacy: what every American needs to know. Random House USA Inc .
Kim, H. (2006). The Influence of Background Information in Translation: Quantity vs. Quality or Both? Meta :Journal des traducteurs, 51, 328. https://doi.org/10.7202/013260ar
Kintsch, W. (1988). The Role of Knowledge in Discourse Comprehension: A Construction-Integration Model. Psychol Rev, 95(2), 163-182. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.95.2.163
Macizo ,P., & Bajo, M. T. (2009). Schema activation in translation and reading: A paradoxical effect. Psicológica (Valencia), 30(1), 59-89 .
Marzano, R. J. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement : research on what works in schools. Alexandria, VA : Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, [2004] ©2004.
Journal of language and translation, Volume 13, Number 4, 2023 179
Creative Commons License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike
International License
https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/999967906202121
McNamara, D. S., & Kintsch, W. (1996). Learning from texts: Effects of prior knowledge and text coherence. Discourse processes, 22(3), 247-288. https://doi.org/10.1080/01638539609544975
Moravcsik, J. E., & Kintsch, W. (1993). Writing Quality, Reading Skills, and Domain Knowledge as Factors in Text Comprehension. Can J Exp Psychol, 47(2), 360-374. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0078823
Stevens, K. C. (1980). The effect of background knowledge on the reading comprehension of ninth graders. Journal of reading behavior, 12(2), 151-154Strangman, N., Hall, T., & Meyer, A. (2009). Background knowledge instruction and the implications for UDL implementation .
Tran, H. T. The importance of background knowledge to students learning translation and interpreting. University of Hufs, Vietnam.Zuber-Skerritt, O. (1988). Towards a Typology of Literary Translation: Drama Translation Science. Meta, 33(4), 485-490. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.7202/004168a
