Translation Competence: An SFG-Based Approach

It’s a commonplace to point out that translation is an understanding and relocation of meaning from one socio-cultural space to another. However, it is exactly this transportation of meaning, in its manifold dimensions, across language barriers which is a sine quo non of every translation activity and which puts to test a translator’s multifarious translational skills, viz. translation competence. It therefore stands to reason to conclude that developing translation competence, the linchpin of any cross-cultural communication, together with its inter-related constituents should be elevated to a position of centrality at academic settings. There have been proposed many different sub-competences for translation competence among whom Neubert (2000) enumerates as many as five, namely language, textual, subject, cultural and transfer competences with transfer competence occupying the center ground and the rest providing a solid footing for the actualization of the transfer skills. What can then be conducive to augmentation and sharpening of these skills is the internalization of some conceptual tools such as the metalinguistic toolkit Systemic Functional Grammar (henceforth SFG) offers. This study was an endeavor to examine the role of SFG on developing translation competence. According to this linguistic theory, language comprises two major strata, namely extra-linguistic (context of culture and context of situation) and linguistic (Metafunctions and Lexico-grammar) levels. Therefore, it enables the user to analyze Lexico-grammar and thereby realize the multidimensional meanings in texts. Additionally,as it links Lexico-grammar, Metafunction and Socio-cultural context, SFG provides the necessary tools for translation trainees to read texts analytically, address translation problems effectively, develop translation strategies appropriately and hence to make translation decisions confidently.

کلیدواژه ها:

Decision-making Strategies ، Metalanguage ، Systemic Functional Grammar ، Translation Competence ، Translation Skill