Translating from English: Unit 4: Reformulating the Message

Reformulation is the visible result of the analysis and transfer stages of translation. Reformulation allows the message to take form in the target language. The translated message must conform to the target language syntax, preserve the illocutionary force of the source text, and be expressed in word choices that are appropriate to the target language. This stage is when you write down or videotape the translation in the target language. This unit focuses on six factors to be aware of during the reformulation process. The factors are reformulating the text as a whole, the main idea, locations of actors and objects, concepts and relationships, illocutionary force, and words.

1.      Reformulate the Text:

A.     Reformulate the Main Idea: Understand and then find the main idea of the whole text. Sometimes speaker may state a topic and sometimes you must infer the main idea from the text.

B.     Reformulate the location of Actors and Objects: Determine the location of the actors and objects helps you to find the main idea. Ask yourself questions to help organize the information in your mind.

·        Who or what is doing the acting or initiating the action?

·        Who or what is receiving the action?

·        What is the action?

·        What is the reaction?

C.     Reformulate Specific Concepts and Relationships: When interpreting into a signed language, you need to show the relationship between the actor and actions, by establishing locations and physical relationships for the actors and objects. How, use visualization.

D.     Reformulate Illocutionary Force: The grammatical arrangement provides us information whether the text is a statement, question, rhetorical question, or exclamation. These various types of utterances have specific functions or illocutionary force in communication. You must be sure to interpret the same from the source to the target language.

E.      Reformulate at the Word Level: Once you have a clear framework and overall meaning of the source text, you begin to develop specific word selection techniques. Some source language text will have equivalent lexical terms. That is easier but you can always substitute if the intent and context is the same. There are several methods of choosing lexical equivalents:

·        Borrowing: déjà vu

·        Modulation: a shift in the point of view i.e, “Is this seat taken?”, or “Is this seat free?”  or in ASL: “KITCHEN HAVE MILK”

·        Adaption: Select a culturally equivalent target language response. i.e, “bon appetit” = silence in English, or “dig in”  or when giving directions: “USE YOUR COMMON SENSE”… “