Comprehension in Translation

If we ask people who know English whether they understand the following sentence “This car is very powerful” they all say they do. Their comprehension is based on two elements. One is their knowledge of the words and grammar of the English language. But this is not enough. In different contexts and in different situations the word “powerful” may mean different things: “a powerful car “in the advertisement is not the same as “ a powerful method” for solving a problem, or “a powerful man” in felling trees, though the three “powerfuls” do not have smth in common. Similarly, the word “car” can mean not only an automobile, but also according to Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language it means “a streetcar; an elevator cage; a part of the balloon which carries people and equipment.” “Understanding” the above sentence means that those hearing or reading it can imagine automobile, probably big, that can run very fast. This is where the second element of comprehension comes in: besides knowledge of the language comprehension implies knowledge of the outside world, called extralinguistic knowledge or encyclopedic knowledge or background knowledge.

Comprehension varies from non-comprehension to full comprehension.

Total non-comprehension of verbal statements is extremely rare, since the situation and/or content almost always say smth about its meaning.

The problem of full comprehension is rather more difficult to deal with. The subjective feeling of comprehension that arises in the reader’s or listener’s mind is not always a reliable indicator of the actual level of comprehension. A good illustration of this fact is found in a typical phenomenon which occurs often in the translator’s profession: when first reading a text before agreeing to translate it, practitioners may feel that it poses no comprehension problems, but difficulties crop up when they start working on it. The feeling of comprehension is related to the following four elements:

1- The Receiver’s familiarity with the linguistic structures and vocabulary of the text;

2- The length and the complexity of sentences. Short sentences and simple structures generate the feeling that the text is easy to understand, but it may turn out to be wrong when the text’s content must be used for operational purposes;

3- The comfort threshold depends on functional requirements. Sometimes people listening or reading a foreign text think they understand it; but when asking questions about it they can’t answer them. It’s so called “adjustment to life.” It is the phenomenon of recognizing words and phrases but not their understanding;

4- As we mentioned above the comprehension increases when knowledge increases. This knowledge is especially important in literary, diplomatic, and political texts. On the other hand the large majority of speeches made in technical and scientific conferences and most scientific and technical texts do not require an extensive knowledge of stylistic and cultural aspects of the Source Language. When in a particular professional environment the translator is fortunate enough to be in a position to select the texts to be worked on and refuse others, a rather modest passive knowledge of the Source Language may get him through the task with the choice of an easy text. In interpreting, since speeches are not heard in advance, and since the unexpected is to be expected, comprehension of the Source language must be very high.

It should be noted that it is very important to know the mother-tongue of the Sender, because such problems as errors in word usage and grammar, strange accent can arise.