Lesson 4

P20114 : Types of Translation

This lesson discusses the various types of translation. Translation is broadly classified into 6 types: viz. Literal & Metaphase Translation, Amplification, Close or Accurate Translation, Paraphrase or Abridgement, Adaptation and Transcreation.

    Literal translation is word for word translation. This type of translation is not effective and often fails to capture the flavour of the original text. Amplification is the kind of translation that attempts to provide more information than the original. This is mainly done in order to overcome the problem of explaining certain socio- cultural connotations in an alien language. Close or accurate translation is an exact rendering of the content, style and social and cultural milieu of the original text. In Abridgement, the translator understands the text and rewrites it very briefly in the target language. In Adaptation, as the term signifies, the translator takes the plot or the narrative structure or the characters of the original and changes it to suit the requirements of the target language. In Transcreation, the translated text strongly bears the cultural and idiomatic flavour of the target language that, it no longer reads like a translation but an original work in the target language. Translations can also be classified on the basis of subject as literary translation, scientific translation, technical translation etc.

    Some of the other kinds of translation are translation of religious texts, translation of epics, translations for children, translation of film scripts and interpretation or translation of speeches. Each of these types requires special skills and is governed by certain principles.