Translation
The process of the translation
In the book "Teoría y Práctica de la traducción" (Theory and Practice of Translation) it is claimed that there are two phases in the process of translation: the understanding stage of the original text, and the expression or transmitting of the message, of the content, into the target text.
In the understanding phase of translation, the sense of the source code is decoded, in an activity called semasiological (coming from the Greek, sema, sense or meaning). In the expression phase, this sense is decoded again in the target text; this phase is also called onomasiological (from the Greek, onoma, name).
At the decode stage of the sense phase, the translator must find, first of all, the segments which compose the original text. He/She must establish the minimum units with sense. The segment can be a word, sentence or even one or several sentences (for instance, a whole text) in the text of the translation.
In the encode phase in the target language, the translator must maintain the sense of the original segment in a segment of the target language, having the temperament into account. The link between the original segment and the target segment is called translation unit.
Both phases are recursive, and these do not have to be successive, the translator can get the sense of the original text again, once the sense of the target text has been decoded again.
After this procedure, simple at fist sight, there is a difficult cognitive operation. In the translation, to decode the whole sentence of the original text again, the translator has to interpret and analyse all its characteristics consciously and methodically. This translation process requires a deep knowledge of the grammar, semantics, syntax and set phrases or similar of the target text, as well as the speakers’ culture.
The translator must have this knowledge to decode the sense again in the target text. These aspects are usually more important in the translation, actually, and therefore, deeper than the ones in the source text. That is the reason why most of translators translate into their own language.
Furthermore, it is vital that the translators have a background on the field they translate.
In the last years, studies that have been realized have allowed us to understand better the cognitive process.