A Descriptive Study of the English Translation Process of Iranian Novice Translators

Document Type : research article

Authors

Abstract

The translator’s multilateral role as a
user and processor of the source text as well as the producer of the target
text in today’s multi-cultural and multilingual communications has always drawn
researchers’ attention to examining translators’ actions and behavior including
the translation process of  novice
translators This study, outlined in the framework of Descriptive Translation
Studies (DTS), explains the processes undertaken by Iranian novice translators
while translating an expository text from English to Persian. Eight novice
translators took part in the study and three methods of Think Aloud Protocol
Technique, Observation and Retrospective Interview were used to gather the
data. All the actions of the translators were encoded and categorized according
to the steps introduced in Grounded Theory Method Data Analysis and were
examined on Rhetoric, Conceptual and linguistic levels and divided into four
stages of Planning, Comprehending, Transferring and Monitoring. This study
specifies that all novice translators went through all the stages and levels in
the process of translating an expository text from English to Persian. However
their main focus was on the linguistic level.

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