translation studies. retrospective and prospective views

Language mistakes can be made either by English learners or by
native speakers who can lose their way in complicated structures like:
‘Teenage drivers are twice as likely to have accidents than the average’
(Swan, 2005:62). In order to identify an incorrect use of English language,
there are several indexes like:
1. The use of vernacular or slang forms (for example:
Ann’s dumped her bloke’)
2. Native speakers’ mistakes (for example, ‘Seasons
Greeting’s’)
3. The use of dialect forms (for example, ‘I don’t know
nothing’)
4. Foreign learners’ mistakes (for example, ‘I not
understand’)
5. Alternative usage: forms used by some standards
speakers and avoided by others (for example, ‘different to’; ‘less
people’)
Texts from newspapers headlines or small ads are known for their
lack of ordinary grammatical signaling devices such as articles or
auxiliaries.
This new English language is a challenge for us the teachers because
we should explain its rules to our students. For example, if we were to
speak of the language that newspapers use, we can say that an English or
American article can confuse students due to their ‘short, concrete, mainly
Anglo-Saxon words’ which are used for three main reasons:
‘i. they take up less space, having fewer syllables;
ii. they have a forceful quality that makes an immediate impact’.
(Russel, 2001:170)
Nicholas Bagnall calls words like: probe –used for in-depth
investigation, slash for making sweeping or random cuts or slam for
criticizing severely, buzzwords because they convey the impression of
urgent and exciting activity.
In red-top tabloids we often see colloquial English language and
sometimes even slang put together when reporting serious social and
political problems. Here is an example of such an uncommon mixture:
‘BOOZE IS RUIN OF BRITAIN
Heavy boozing is taking a whopping 3.3 pounds billion toll on
Britain.
Sizzled employees unable to work properly- or who go sick- cost
INDUSTRY 2.8 billion pounds. Treating alcohol-related illnesses leaves the
NHS with a 200 million pounds hangover. Meanwhile the bill for CRIME
and ROAD ACCIDENTS fuelled by drink is 257 million pounds, Alcohol
Concern revealed yesterday.’(11 May 2000)
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