constructing pathways to translation - Higher Education Commission

2.7.3 BASIC TEXT DESIGNS
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From the translator’s point of view, what is interesting about discourse relations is that
they provide patterns which facilitate retrieval of rhetorical purposes, for example
argumentative pattern is achieved by what Nash calls ‘balance’ a shift between a
proposition and counter-proposition is signalled. Thus, inviting the synthesis of
conflicting claims, but in the absence of explicitly marked relationships between various
units involved in such a pattern, translators have to ensure that Text Coherence is upheld
through the perception of some underlying continuity.
Crombie as cited in Hatim and Mason (1990) suggests that readers accumulate evidence
of the way a text is put together, following a macro pattern e.g. situation � problem�
solution � evaluation. With in such a pattern, discourse function can be discerned such
as making a concession and then countering it, concession � counter – expectation as is
represented in the figure:
Concession – Contra
Expectation
Result - Reason
Condition (as directive) –
Consequence Means -
purpose
The worst thing about having a dinner party is
cleaning up the debris after wards
However, you don’t have to worry about this
particular problem any longer
Just phone us at DIALAMAID and we’ll send
some one round to go it for you
Figure 2.15 Prose Text Design (Adapted from Hatim andMason,1990:182)
Problem
Solution
Variation on these basic structural formats is always possible. It may be important to
underline that translators often have to work with Source Texts which are far from being
well-constructed. Indeed, this is quite frequently the case. In order to be able to identify
deviation, one has to have a clear idea of norm. In deciding that a Text is poorly
constructed, the translator must have a notion of the conventions to which the Text is
expected to conform. It is only the intervention of the translator that will rid the target
version from design shortcomings in the Source Text. The purpose of Text structure is to
serve a rhetorical purpose, and in striving to achieve Equivalence, the translator seems
first and foremost to relay that purpose, making modifications accordingly.