Wednesday, October 31, 2012

 Translation –IV

Level :IV
Taught by T.Ayman Al-shmory 

Firstly ,this workshop will deal with various concepts of translation  which is essential concern with ''Meaning '' according to  Roger T.Bell's book entitled "Translation and Translating :Theory and |Practice'' in  both parts 2and3. Manifestly, the main purpose of such concern is to illustrates  that without nderstanding what the text to be the L2 users ,the translator would be hopelessly lost. From this point , we will take in our accounts so many concepts which we already discussed with our teacher during this semester as follows:
 What is meant by meaning?
Meaning is the proposition, content , massage, or the notion of a text ,taking into our account Semantics ,Socio-linguistics ,Pragmatics, and Discourse Analysis. Of course the meaning is the main core for translators during the process of translation as translation is the process of rendering the meaning the meaning of a text from one language is usually called the source Language (SL) into another Language that is usually called the Target Language (TL).Accordingly our teacher who declares that  Meaning for Meaning is the message of the Proposition of the text  which is related to the three levels of meaning ;Illocutionary ,Illocutionary and perlocutionary .
Specifically and to begin with, we shall turn our attention to speech act since   we need to show the relationships between speech acts which are realized through the utterance ,attempting to go beyond the literal meaning of words and structures by classifying utterances, according to their implicit rather than explicit functions ,speaker may use a declarative /assertive to make a request or an interrogative to express reproof. In addition to  it is the action which is intended in the utterance of a sentence. Speech acts may be direct (e.g. Get out!) or indirect (e.g. it's hot in here = Open a window).(DaL) How often do we say exactly what we really mean? This is one of the things that most often fools computers performing machine translation . Searle asserted that speech encompasses at least three kinds of acts: (1) locutionary acts, in which things are said with a certain sense or reference (as in “the moon is a sphere”); (2) illocutionary acts, in which such acts as promising or commanding are performed by means of speaking; and (3) perlocutionary acts, in which the speaker, by speaking, does something to someone else (for example, angers, consoles, or persuades someone). The speaker's intentions are conveyed by the illocutionary force that is given to the signs—that is, by the actions implicit in what is said. To be successfully meant, however, the signs must also be appropriate, sincere, consistent with the speaker's general beliefs and conduct, and recognizable as meaningful by the hearer.                                                                  
Moreover many focuses we have already concentrated :
A)-syntactic meaning which means  formal relations among signs   Sentence-Elements. (syntactic aspect) For example, “kiss” belongs to an expression class with other items such as “hit” and “see,” as well as to the conventional part of speech “verb,” in which it is part of a subclass of operators requiring two arguments (an actor and a receiver). In “Mary kissed John,” the syntactic role of “kiss” is to relate two nominal arguments (“Mary” and “John”), whereas its semantic role is to identify a type of action. Unfortunately for descriptive semantics, however, it is not always possible to find a one-to-one correlation of syntactic classes with semantic roles. For instance, “John” has the same semantic role—to identify a person—in the following two sentences: “John is easy to please” and “John is eager to please.” The syntactic role of “John” in the two sentences, however, is different: In the first, “John” is the receiver of an action; in the second, “John” is the actor.
For example,
a)-Window is opened(adj).
b)-Window is open (n)
Through both examples, it is clear that during translating them into Arabic , almost the same   فُتحت النافذة او النافذة مفتوحةwould be translated into:                               
  we starts giving information and then new information new to achieve the clarity.
 But intoالمولود الجديد not   Another example, New-born baby .This phrase would be translated  
حديث الولادة
For gaining clarity and understanding  translation must be free and oriented –target as shown above.
Therefore, translators tend to study meaning aspects in relation to many subjects and areas such as Semantics ,Pragmatics ,Socio-linguistics and Discourse Analysis. Previous scholars of translation have exerted great efforts to enlighten the way ,suggesting techniques and approaches for no-expert translators so that they will be able to transform the SL text meaning into TL meaning in a very precise and exact way.
In Semantics, for example, the meaning is discussed in terms of connotation and denotation ''direct and indirect'' and ,Sense and reference .''

 A)-DENOTATION VERSUS CONNOTATION
An aspect of MEANING of a word or phrase associated with the subjective emotive overtones it
evokes. Also called ‘affective’ or ‘emotive’ meaning, connotative associations are difficult to capture in dictionary DEFINITIONS, which therefore tend to concentrate on the more objective referential aspects DENOTATION). There are two aspects to the meaning of a word. We also say that there is a "core" meaning to every word, as well as some additional meaning. The "core" meaning is the meaning of a word in its literal sense. We call this the denotative meaning. The additional meaning is what we add according to our feelings about the term. This is the connotative meaning such as  He is Fox انه ثعلب  denotive meaning  انه ماكر  connotative meaning .
Another good example is the disease called cancer. The denotation of "cancer" is the mere disease that can be described by growing tumors, malfunctioning organs, etc. The connotation of cancer is all the emotional additions, as "cruel", "frightening", "hard to heal", etc. While the denotation of a lexeme is subject to language change in the broad sense, the connotation may change according to the taste en vogue. A few decades ago, "fur coat" had a connotation of value and high social status. Nowadays, "fur coat" evinces a connotation of "animal murder", "cruelty", "ignorance", and so on. In short, the wearer of such a coat might find that people judge her (or him) differently. It may be pointed out that though the denotation of a word usually remains more or less the same, The connotation of a word changes with the passage of time . In many cases of it changes from one cultural to another and in some cases it changes from individual to another.
Denotation
An aspect of MEANING that relates a word or phrase to the objective REFERENT it expresses. Also called referential’ or ‘cognitive’ meaning, this is the usual topic of the explanation of words (DEFINITION), while the more subjective or emotive aspects  (CONNOTATION) are difficult to agree upon and capture in the dictionary. Therefore ,the meaning of denotation needs to be understood in the relation to the meaning of connotation.
The approaches for approaching the explanation and description of Word-meaning. ''Sense and Reference''.
A)-Referential Theory is the way of approaching the explanation of Word-meaning which would express the relationship between word and the entity in some terms such as 'word X refers to entity Y'.
R' efers to the idea which is outside Language
S'refers to something inside the language. As illustrated  the example below :

-Shadi is a good student .He studies hard.
It'se understood that ''Shadi'' which is the subject is a word man but has relationship to him. The pronoun ''He 'refers to what is before inside the language which is ''Shadi '
ودخل ادهم الى غرفة قدري ولكمة على انفه                                                                               (SL)
-He came to Qadri's room and punished him on the nose. (TL)
He might be given a name to ensure clarity and to avoid misunderstanding.            Adhm came in the room to punish Qadri on the noise.

sense
One of several MEANINGS that can be established for a word or phrase and covered by a EFINITION in a reference work. Because of the multiple meanings of words, particularly core items in the basic vocabulary, compilers of dictionaries have for centuries tried to rationalise, discriminate and display these senses for the benefit of users, but there has not always been consistency even within one dictionary. The problem of SENSE DISCRIMINATION which is difficult enough in monolingual general dictionaries (how many meanings are there in band?) is compounded in bilingual dictionaries by that of uneven translation equivalents (each of the separate senses of band may be expressed by a different word in the other language). The number and nature of variable senses of a word
may be due to POLYSEMY (related by extension from an ‘original’ meaning or BASIC SENSE: band
‘ribbon’ > ‘belt’ > ‘range’ > ‘track’) or HOMONYMY (accidental similarity: band 1 ‘ribbon’ (etc.) versus band 2 ‘group of musicians’), but these sometimes shade into one another. Distinct senses are used to subdivide dictionary entries into sections (SUBLEMMA), but the ordering of these sub-senses (by etymology? by semantic ‘logic’? by frequency?) is not always clear.
B)-componential Analysis
An approach in SEMANTICS in which meanings are discussed in terms of sets of components. By extending the technique of analyzing phonemes in terms of ‘distinctive features’ (such as voice, labi-ality or constriction) to the level of meaning, linguists have attempted to decompose LEXEMES into ‘contrastive 'semantic features or components  .In a view of this approach ,the meaning of a word can be discussed and understood as a togetherness of  a certain  component of meaning .just as an atom can be analyzed in terms of its constitutes  electron ,proton and neutrons, the meaning of a word can be also be analyzed in terms of certain semantic components .In the view of this approach , set of words likes the following can be used as illustrations of how the meaning of a word can be factorized into several components :  
, e.g. 'man=+human +male+ adult''  man into - FEMALE and +ADULT, woman into +FEMALE and +ADULT, boy into -FEMALE and -ADULT, and girl into +FEMALE and -ADULT.

Another examples,      


actress
Aacdadشؤفق
 

  A)-                                                   
 



                                                                           Human             female    adult


Lion
                                          B)-                                       

 



                                                              Animal      male        strong         wild/furious







Headwalls
                                               c)-
 




         Part of wall             made of bricks about surface of Earth                Function as productive              barriers /fence  

 This method has been  claimed to be useful in definition writing. However, it is debat-able whether componential analysis can be applied to more than a few tightly structured SEMANTIC FIELDS such as kinship terms.
 Meaning Postulates
An approach in SEMANTICS in which meanings are discussed in terms of hyponym, synonymy, and antonym  . One can say that Meaning Postulates  is the study of the relations between words Because it is the idea of understanding the meaning which relate meaning  to meaning through the convention of set theory .
1.    Synonymy:
Synonymy refers to the case in which two or more words have more or less the same meaning as another word in the same language. A translator may resolve to follow this technique in cases in which he/she feels that another word having more or less the same meaning could be more appropriate than the one that is used already after translation. For instance, a translator, having finished translating a text, feels that a word is used while another word with the same meaning might be better in such contexts, so he decides to change it and use the other one for the sake of clarity or some other appropriate purposes. The example below clarifies this point:
SL: بدأ فصل الخريف.
TL: Autumn began.
In the example above, the translator translated the Arabic word (الخريف) into “autumn”. In some cases, however, the translator may change this word and use the word “fall” instead; i.e. for American readership the translator may choose the word “fall” to satisfy their needs and ensure clarity in translation.
2.       Hyponymy:
Hyponymy refers to the case in which two or more words are classified as elements of category included within the meaning of a specific word. A translator may resolve to follow this technique in cases in which he/she feels that the meaning could be better understood if the general term is used instead of the specific term provided that the meaning is retrieved. For instance, a translator, having finished translating a text, feels that a word is used while a more generic word with a wider meaning might be better in such contexts, so he decides to change it and use the other one for the sake of clarity or some other appropriate purposes. The example below clarifies this point:
SL: I am in the restaurant eating Sushi.
TL: أنا في المطعم أتناول السوشي
In the example above, the translator translated the English, of Chinese origins, word “Sushi” into (السوشي). In some cases, however, the translator may change this word and use the word (الطعام) or even mention the meal itself like (غدائي) instead; i.e. for Arabic readership who are known for sure to be ignorant of this kind of food the translator may choose a word with a more generic meaning that includes the meaning of concerned word to satisfy the readership needs and ensure clarity in translation. It should be noted here that the word that is intended to undergo this technique should not a thematic word in the subject matter of the original text.
B)-Antonym
The SENSE RELATION obtaining between words or phrases of opposite meaning. Antonymy can becomplementary’, with one member of a pair implying the negation of the other: alive = not dead; ‘conversive’ or ‘reciprocal’, with the meaning of one member of a pair presupposing that of the other: buy/sell; or ‘graded’(‘gradable’), with two concepts being compared: clean versus dirty, bigger/better than…. The term can also be used to refer to the phenomenon of one word having two opposite senses, e.g. sanction ‘permit’ or ‘penalise’.
In Pragmatics, for example , they study how meaning can operate differently from place to another and from society to another .Accordingly, we can say an interaction in a certain society and in a certain situation creates a certain meaning or result that is different from similar interaction in different situation or society .The study of the meaning of the words as well as sentences is highly operating in relation to the text ,considering the focus ,message, Purpose ,and other interaction factors It takes three levels of meaning ,Lecutionary ,illocutionary, and Prelocutionary. For example, suppose that the teacher in the Class then he said: ''shut up''.                                                                                      -
-I think you were born in Hogs Norton '' Locutionary meaning ''which means what the cultural meaning ''connotative meaning '' of the text is.                       -You are an impolite person ''illocutionary meaning'' which means what is the mind of text's speaker.                                                                                  
-Behave well '' perlocutionary meaning'' which means what the text wants the other to do . 
                                                                                                                               The thesaurus
It a way which provides us with a model for storing groups  of words and phrases )in a number of ways : where they are (a) Synonym or (b) (b) antonym or (c) related in other ways.therfore it the idea of understanding the meaning.
for more information
Thesaurus
1 A type of REFERENCE WORK which presents the vocabulary of a language, language variety or subject discipline by systematically tracing  synonym networks between words within
semantic domains. The title thesaurus signify-ing a ‘lexical storehouse’ has been in use for a long time for large (sometimes polyglot) dictionaries.

Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used. It also studies how lects differ between groups separated by certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity, religion, economic status, gender, level of education, etc., and how creation and adherence to these rules is used to categorize individuals in social class or socio-economic classes. There are many varieties of it .
 People who can't understand each other speak different language ,but who can understand each other and who show consistent differences in their speech ,speech different dialects of the same  language.
Dialect : the special way a group of people speak a language . It is cuased by geaographical division or social status. For example,
-          Arabic language is spoken in different ways by people from different countries such as Egyptians talk differently from Yemenis.
-          Accent is the way of pronouncing words when there is a standard pronunciation-à speakers who deviate from that are often said to speak with an accent.
Accent is pronouncing the word same word differently .we have an American Accent ,Arabic Accent and Indian Accent .                                                                                                                   
register
A variety of language associated with a particular situational context, such as an occupation or social activity. Such DIAPHASIC INFORMATION is indicated in dictionaries by formality or style LABELS. For instance ,
How do you do
How are you doing
There is funy story here when a boy comes to the master greeting him how are you doing Sir The master slaps him  refusing such greeting  .
 the  translation will be     ولكن كيف حالك يا سيدي ,رافضاً أن يُخاطب كصديقاُ له  لا تقل كيف الحال يا سيدي
 ولكن كيف حالك _
 EUPHEMISM A word or phrase associated with the USAGE of
polite society, often contrasted with SLANG genteelism .In other words ,the use of a word , phrase  or expression which is more natural ,higher  or indirect to instead of other  a direct harsh ,unpleasant or offensive term. This brief dialogue illustrates this point
A: how is he?
B:a mail of a door
During the translation , (b) would be translated into : وجدته ساكنا which means he is dead .

Jargon A word or phrase associated with a subject field which is clear to the experts using it, but not to  outsiders. Jargon shares with other special-language varieties like SLANG an in-group orientation which outsiders often criticise. Jargon dictionaries attempt to explain specialised usage for the benefit of the non-initiated, sometimes in pseudo-humorous and/ or critical fashion, while technical or TERMINOLOGICAL DICTIONARIES have less of a bridge-building _ HARD WORD, LANGUAGE FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES, TECHNICAL LANGUAGE.
Taboo word
A word, phrase or name the use of which is considered unacceptable for social reasons, e.g.
sacred or sexual expressions. The translators should omit those words ,appreciating the cultural aspects.
   In sociolinguistics  translators' purpose is to know all the social and cultural external factors of the SL that affect meaning in order to reflect them in the TL. That is mainly because social and cultural  shaping to great extent the meaning of this text .A good example of that is a social and cultural factors that stand behind Shakespeare's expression of ''a summer day '' in romantic poem .in Britain ''summer day'' is a lovely day that is considered as a good opportunity for lovers to enjoy the beauty of nature and to meet outside  the House. An Arabic translator should be aware of this information in   Arabic because ignoring such information will  make the locutionary dictionary meaning translation of this expression brings a huge misunderstanding. This simply because of what is meant summer day in Arabic .It is a horrible hot day makes staying home is the best  alternative . In other words, professional translators take into their considerations illocutionary and perlocutionary meaning in addition to the elocutionary dictionary meaning in order to avoid a failure in conveying the text message; for example, the phrase ''summer day'' will be translated into ''spring day'' that corresponds to the Arabic cultural backgrounds and their concept ,which is actually ''the intended meaning'' of the writer.
In pragmatics , ,translators' aim is to understand how the meaning is used in social-interaction for the purpose of transferring the meaning successfully from the SL into TL. In certain society and place ,people  interact with each other using different level of formality to shoe respect , morality and vice versa ; such words and phrases are just used to mean the opposite ;for instance, if a student ''came late '' to his class, the teacher will ask him about the reason beyond ''being early''. Another example is when somebody calls his friend ''the wisest man'' just to mean ''the most stupid man''. Therefore, translators must be acquainted with such varieties used by certain people and certain place in order to avoid misunderstanding.
What is discourse analysis ?
discourse analysis A branch of LINGUISTICS concerned with language not as words or sentences, but as (spoken as well as written) text in context. Discourse analysis focuses on conversational and other face-to-face interaction (and is thus close to SOCIOLINGUISTICS), while TEXT LINGUISTICS is more associated with the study of written and printed text and the factors that contribute to its structural cohesion. Both approaches profit from the evidence provided by CORPUS LINGUISTICS, and both have potential application to lexicography, e.g. in the analysis of the complexity and transparency of dictionary entries.
In discourse analysis ,translators' intention is to classify the meaning of the text through the context , use , purpose ,and thought in addition to shared knowledge .Firstly, they look  for the meaning of word in relation to its context in the sentence . In other words ,the meaning of the word is a part of context .
Secondly , such words like '' water'' can function as a noun like;I like water' or verb as 'I water the plant'; these can never be translated unless you look for its use or function  in the context to avoid such failure when rendering the meaning . Also, Such words ,phrases or sentences cannot be translated except if we know the purposes of uttering them; for example , the sentence ''he has a gun '' can be translated into two ways according to the speaker's purpose that is known through the situation and the society in which it is said . So, if it is translated into Yemeni society ,Yemenis will not understand either the purpose of this sentence is to show  possession or to show danger. But if is translated in European socirty ,Europeans will understand it as warning of danger ,stating that ''he is killer or criminal '' ,or it could be translated into'' he is terrorist''. Thus ,translators must pay attention to the purpose of such text and all other else to avoid ambiguity and even misunderstanding .Finally , Nida has added another point in addition to the above points suggested by Oxford University to be taken in our consideration when translating ,which is ''thought''. Thought means the image that such phrase brings to the mind of the audiences. It suggests us that we must take in our account the affect of such words on the audiences . It is, in other words, interrelated to ''the purpose'' idea suggested by Oxford University ,but the purpose idea deals with SL text whereas Nida's idea ''thought'' deals with TL text. One can say that thought is a TL oriented concept while ''purpose'' is a tl oriented concept.
It is also worthy to mention a very important term ''shared knowledge'' which has been deeply discussed in Discurse analysis . Share knowledge refers to an idea or concept that is known by certain people in a certain place; for example, if a student from level four calls his classmate a Estragon ,one of the main character in Samuel Beckett'splay'' Waiting forGodot'', to describe his classmate's weakness in the presence of a student from third level, who has not come across this course , the third level student will not understand what the fourth level student means whereas the classmate will understand the message easily even though both of them are in the same place. Therefore, translators must be acquainted with such ideas spreading among societies in order to avoid misunderstanding.

In semantics ,translators' purpose is to study the meaning in terms of denotation, connotation ,direct ,indirect and sense and reference . The denotation meaning is the basic meaning of the words; for example, the word 'lion'' means wild animal that lives in forest .However, the connotation meaning refers to the ideas and qualities that are more than the basic meaning of word ;for instance , the word ''lion'' connotes braveness and courage .So, if somebody is described as a lion ,it means he is brave but not that kind of animal. Therefore ,translators must have background about the indications of words beyond their basic meaning to avoid misunderstanding .
To sum up , translators tend to study all meaning aspects through so many subjects such as pragmatics ,semantics, social-linguistics and Discourse analysis in order to avoid misunderstanding when translating any written and spoken text.
Sentence
is an ideal string of words formal in accordance with the grammatical rules of a language .As a unit of grammar ,it is higher than the clause ,just as the clause is higher than phrase and the phrase is higher than the word. For example ,
I gave Ali a astonishing book yesterday.أعطيت على كتاب  رائع  

 Utterance
An utterance is any stretch of language spoken by a person at a certain time and places and on a certain occasions .Like a sentence ,it is by definition a meaningful stretch of language .it is also need not be in the form of a complete sentence having a clearly identifiable subject and clearly identifiable verb. It may well be in the form of only a word or a clause operating as a full of sentence. let us consider the following three pieces of conversation:

(a ) Q:will you be here tomorrow ?
A: Yes.
(b) what time is he arriving here tomorrow ?
A:At seven o'clock in the morning.
(c)  When did he arrive here yesterday ?
A:After I had finished all my work.

The first answer is in the form of a word , the second one is in the form of a phrase and third one is in the form of a clause .Irrespective of its grammatical status ,each one of the three stretches of language will be an utterance when spoken .Therefore as an utterance is essentially the spoken form of a language ,it can be characterized in terms of the accent and the voice quality of the speaker.


Proposition
Proposition is the semantic content of a simple declarative sentence . Just as the sentence is essentially a grammatical concept, the proposition is essentially a semantic concept . Thus it is a semantic notion . The following are some examples of a proposition.
-       Ayman is a teacher.
-       You are late .
-       He resembles his father.
-       The book is on the table.
context
1 The part of a text where a particular WORD, PHRASE or TERM occurs (also called ‘verbal
context’ or ‘co-text’)._ CONCORDANCE.2 The setting or circumstances with which a
WORD, PHRASE or TERM is associated (also called ‘situational context’, ‘context of use’ or
‘environment’).  
According to Austin's view ,utterances are basically of two types: Constative utterances and performative utterances. This distinction between explicit and implicit performatives leads to the difference between Locutionary and illocutionary acts. An utterance can be described as a locutionary act with a loctutionary meaning or as an illocutionary force. For example, if a mother says to a child watching the television ,
'' IT's 10 o'clock ''
This utterance can be understood at two different levels of meaning .It can also be understood as a simple reference to time ;and translated into
انها تشير الى الساعة  العاشرة
And it can be understood as a suggestion that the child should now stop watching the television and go to bed: and then  translated into :
حان وقت الخلود الى النوم
The simple reference to time constitutes the locutionary meaning of this utterance but this utterance has also got the illocutionary force of a suggestion .utterances issued with the purpose of apologizing ,congratulating, comparing ,condoling ,describing ,naming ,narrating ,warning, praising ,greeting, thanking ,accusing ,and complaining are some of the examples of what Austin means by illocutionary acts.


Best regards !!!    
S. Ahmed Al-dali  
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Translation –IV
Level :IV
Taught by T.Ayman Al-shmory

Firstly ,this workshop will deal with various concepts of translation  which is essential concern with ''Meaning '' according to  Roger T.Bell's book entitled "Translation and Translating :Theory and |Practice'' in  both parts 2and3. Manifestly, the main purpose of such concern is to illustrates  that without understanding what the text to be the L2 users ,the translator would be hopelessly lost. From this point , we will take in our accounts so many concepts which we already discussed with our teacher during this semester as follows:
 What is meant by meaning?
Meaning is the proposition, content , massage, or the notion of a text ,taking into our account Semantics ,Socio-linguistics ,Pragmatics, and Discourse Analysis. Of course the meaning is the main core for translators during the process of translation as translation is the process of rendering the meaning the meaning of a text from one language is usually called the source Language (SL) into another Language that is usually called the Target Language (TL).Accordingly our teacher who declares that  Meaning for Meaning is the message of the Proposition of the text  which is related to the three levels of meaning ;Illocutionary ,Illocutionary and perlocutionary .
Specifically and to begin with, we shall turn our attention to speech act since   we need to show the relationships between speech acts which are realized through the utterance ,attempting to go beyond the literal meaning of words and structures by classifying utterances, according to their implicit rather than explicit functions ,speaker may use a declarative /assertive to make a request or an interrogative to express reproof. In addition to  it is the action which is intended in the utterance of a sentence. Speech acts may be direct (e.g. Get out!) or indirect (e.g. it's hot in here = Open a window).(DaL) How often do we say exactly what we really mean? This is one of the things that most often fools computers performing machine translation . Searle asserted that speech encompasses at least three kinds of acts: (1) locutionary acts, in which things are said with a certain sense or reference (as in “the moon is a sphere”); (2) illocutionary acts, in which such acts as promising or commanding are performed by means of speaking; and (3) perlocutionary acts, in which the speaker, by speaking, does something to someone else (for example, angers, consoles, or persuades someone). The speaker's intentions are conveyed by the illocutionary force that is given to the signs—that is, by the actions implicit in what is said. To be successfully meant, however, the signs must also be appropriate, sincere, consistent with the speaker's general beliefs and conduct, and recognizable as meaningful by the hearer.                                                                  
Moreover many focuses we have already concentrated :
A)-syntactic meaning which means  formal relations among signs   Sentence-Elements. (syntactic aspect) For example, “kiss” belongs to an expression class with other items such as “hit” and “see,” as well as to the conventional part of speech “verb,” in which it is part of a subclass of operators requiring two arguments (an actor and a receiver). In “Mary kissed John,” the syntactic role of “kiss” is to relate two nominal arguments (“Mary” and “John”), whereas its semantic role is to identify a type of action. Unfortunately for descriptive semantics, however, it is not always possible to find a one-to-one correlation of syntactic classes with semantic roles. For instance, “John” has the same semantic role—to identify a person—in the following two sentences: “John is easy to please” and “John is eager to please.” The syntactic role of “John” in the two sentences, however, is different: In the first, “John” is the receiver of an action; in the second, “John” is the actor.
For example,
a)-Window is opened(adj).
b)-Window is open (n)
Through both examples, it is clear that during translating them into Arabic , almost the same   فُتحت النافذة او النافذة مفتوحةwould be translated into:                               
  we starts giving information and then new information new to achieve the clarity.
 But intoالمولود الجديد not   Another example, New-born baby .This phrase would be translated  
حديث الولادة
For gaining clarity and understanding  translation must be free and oriented –target as shown above.
Therefore, translators tend to study meaning aspects in relation to many subjects and areas such as Semantics ,Pragmatics ,Socio-linguistics and Discourse Analysis. Previous scholars of translation have exerted great efforts to enlighten the way ,suggesting techniques and approaches for no-expert translators so that they will be able to transform the SL text meaning into TL meaning in a very precise and exact way.
In Semantics, for example, the meaning is discussed in terms of connotation and denotation ''direct and indirect'' and ,Sense and reference .''

 A)-DENOTATION VERSUS CONNOTATION
An aspect of MEANING of a word or phrase associated with the subjective emotive overtones it
evokes. Also called ‘affective’ or ‘emotive’ meaning, connotative associations are difficult to capture in dictionary DEFINITIONS, which therefore tend to concentrate on the more objective referential aspects DENOTATION). There are two aspects to the meaning of a word. We also say that there is a "core" meaning to every word, as well as some additional meaning. The "core" meaning is the meaning of a word in its literal sense. We call this the denotative meaning. The additional meaning is what we add according to our feelings about the term. This is the connotative meaning such as  He is Fox انه ثعلب  denotive meaning  انه ماكر  connotative meaning .
Another good example is the disease called cancer. The denotation of "cancer" is the mere disease that can be described by growing tumors, malfunctioning organs, etc. The connotation of cancer is all the emotional additions, as "cruel", "frightening", "hard to heal", etc. While the denotation of a lexeme is subject to language change in the broad sense, the connotation may change according to the taste en vogue. A few decades ago, "fur coat" had a connotation of value and high social status. Nowadays, "fur coat" evinces a connotation of "animal murder", "cruelty", "ignorance", and so on. In short, the wearer of such a coat might find that people judge her (or him) differently. It may be pointed out that though the denotation of a word usually remains more or less the same, The connotation of a word changes with the passage of time . In many cases of it changes from one cultural to another and in some cases it changes from individual to another.
Denotation
An aspect of MEANING that relates a word or phrase to the objective REFERENT it expresses. Also called referential’ or ‘cognitive’ meaning, this is the usual topic of the explanation of words (DEFINITION), while the more subjective or emotive aspects  (CONNOTATION) are difficult to agree upon and capture in the dictionary. Therefore ,the meaning of denotation needs to be understood in the relation to the meaning of connotation.
The approaches for approaching the explanation and description of Word-meaning. ''Sense and Reference''.
A)-Referential Theory is the way of approaching the explanation of Word-meaning which would express the relationship between word and the entity in some terms such as 'word X refers to entity Y'.
R' efers to the idea which is outside Language
S'refers to something inside the language. As illustrated  the example below :

-Shadi is a good student .He studies hard.
It'se understood that ''Shadi'' which is the subject is a word man but has relationship to him. The pronoun ''He 'refers to what is before inside the language which is ''Shadi '
ودخل ادهم الى غرفة قدري ولكمة على انفه                                                                               (SL)
-He came to Qadri's room and punished him on the nose. (TL)
He might be given a name to ensure clarity and to avoid misunderstanding.            Adhm came in the room to punish Qadri on the noise.

sense
One of several MEANINGS that can be established for a word or phrase and covered by a EFINITION in a reference work. Because of the multiple meanings of words, particularly core items in the basic vocabulary, compilers of dictionaries have for centuries tried to rationalise, discriminate and display these senses for the benefit of users, but there has not always been consistency even within one dictionary. The problem of SENSE DISCRIMINATION which is difficult enough in monolingual general dictionaries (how many meanings are there in band?) is compounded in bilingual dictionaries by that of uneven translation equivalents (each of the separate senses of band may be expressed by a different word in the other language). The number and nature of variable senses of a word
may be due to POLYSEMY (related by extension from an ‘original’ meaning or BASIC SENSE: band
‘ribbon’ > ‘belt’ > ‘range’ > ‘track’) or HOMONYMY (accidental similarity: band 1 ‘ribbon’ (etc.) versus band 2 ‘group of musicians’), but these sometimes shade into one another. Distinct senses are used to subdivide dictionary entries into sections (SUBLEMMA), but the ordering of these sub-senses (by etymology? by semantic ‘logic’? by frequency?) is not always clear.
B)-componential Analysis
An approach in SEMANTICS in which meanings are discussed in terms of sets of components. By extending the technique of analyzing phonemes in terms of ‘distinctive features’ (such as voice, labi-ality or constriction) to the level of meaning, linguists have attempted to decompose LEXEMES into ‘contrastive 'semantic features or components  .In a view of this approach ,the meaning of a word can be discussed and understood as a togetherness of  a certain  component of meaning .just as an atom can be analyzed in terms of its constitutes  electron ,proton and neutrons, the meaning of a word can be also be analyzed in terms of certain semantic components .In the view of this approach , set of words likes the following can be used as illustrations of how the meaning of a word can be factorized into several components :  
, e.g. 'man=+human +male+ adult''  man into - FEMALE and +ADULT, woman into +FEMALE and +ADULT, boy into -FEMALE and -ADULT, and girl into +FEMALE and -ADULT.

Another examples,      

actress
Aacdadشؤفق
 

  A)-                                                   
 



                                                                           Human             female    adult

Lion
                                          B)-                                       

 



                                                              Animal      male        strong         wild/furious






Headwalls
                                               c)-
 




         Part of wall             made of bricks about surface of Earth                Function as productive              barriers /fence  

 This method has been  claimed to be useful in definition writing. However, it is debat-able whether componential analysis can be applied to more than a few tightly structured SEMANTIC FIELDS such as kinship terms.
 Meaning Postulates
An approach in SEMANTICS in which meanings are discussed in terms of hyponym, synonymy, and antonym  . One can say that Meaning Postulates  is the study of the relations between words Because it is the idea of understanding the meaning which relate meaning  to meaning through the convention of set theory .
1.    Synonymy:
Synonymy refers to the case in which two or more words have more or less the same meaning as another word in the same language. A translator may resolve to follow this technique in cases in which he/she feels that another word having more or less the same meaning could be more appropriate than the one that is used already after translation. For instance, a translator, having finished translating a text, feels that a word is used while another word with the same meaning might be better in such contexts, so he decides to change it and use the other one for the sake of clarity or some other appropriate purposes. The example below clarifies this point:
SL: بدأ فصل الخريف.
TL: Autumn began.
In the example above, the translator translated the Arabic word (الخريف) into “autumn”. In some cases, however, the translator may change this word and use the word “fall” instead; i.e. for American readership the translator may choose the word “fall” to satisfy their needs and ensure clarity in translation.
2.       Hyponymy:
Hyponymy refers to the case in which two or more words are classified as elements of category included within the meaning of a specific word. A translator may resolve to follow this technique in cases in which he/she feels that the meaning could be better understood if the general term is used instead of the specific term provided that the meaning is retrieved. For instance, a translator, having finished translating a text, feels that a word is used while a more generic word with a wider meaning might be better in such contexts, so he decides to change it and use the other one for the sake of clarity or some other appropriate purposes. The example below clarifies this point:
SL: I am in the restaurant eating Sushi.
TL: أنا في المطعم أتناول السوشي
In the example above, the translator translated the English, of Chinese origins, word “Sushi” into (السوشي). In some cases, however, the translator may change this word and use the word (الطعام) or even mention the meal itself like (غدائي) instead; i.e. for Arabic readership who are known for sure to be ignorant of this kind of food the translator may choose a word with a more generic meaning that includes the meaning of concerned word to satisfy the readership needs and ensure clarity in translation. It should be noted here that the word that is intended to undergo this technique should not a thematic word in the subject matter of the original text.
B)-Antonym
The SENSE RELATION obtaining between words or phrases of opposite meaning. Antonymy can becomplementary’, with one member of a pair implying the negation of the other: alive = not dead; ‘conversive’ or ‘reciprocal’, with the meaning of one member of a pair presupposing that of the other: buy/sell; or ‘graded’(‘gradable’), with two concepts being compared: clean versus dirty, bigger/better than…. The term can also be used to refer to the phenomenon of one word having two opposite senses, e.g. sanction ‘permit’ or ‘penalise’.
In Pragmatics, for example , they study how meaning can operate differently from place to another and from society to another .Accordingly, we can say an interaction in a certain society and in a certain situation creates a certain meaning or result that is different from similar interaction in different situation or society .The study of the meaning of the words as well as sentences is highly operating in relation to the text ,considering the focus ,message, Purpose ,and other interaction factors It takes three levels of meaning ,Lecutionary ,illocutionary, and Prelocutionary. For example, suppose that the teacher in the Class then he said: ''shut up''.                                                                                      -
-I think you were born in Hogs Norton '' Locutionary meaning ''which means what the cultural meaning ''connotative meaning '' of the text is.                       -You are an impolite person ''illocutionary meaning'' which means what is the mind of text's speaker.                                                                                  
-Behave well '' perlocutionary meaning'' which means what the text wants the other to do . 
                                                                                                                               The thesaurus
It a way which provides us with a model for storing groups  of words and phrases )in a number of ways : where they are (a) Synonym or (b) (b) antonym or (c) related in other ways.therfore it the idea of understanding the meaning.
for more information
Thesaurus
1 A type of REFERENCE WORK which presents the vocabulary of a language, language variety or subject discipline by systematically tracing  synonym networks between words within
semantic domains. The title thesaurus signify-ing a ‘lexical storehouse’ has been in use for a long time for large (sometimes polyglot) dictionaries.

Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used. It also studies how lects differ between groups separated by certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity, religion, economic status, gender, level of education, etc., and how creation and adherence to these rules is used to categorize individuals in social class or socio-economic classes. There are many varieties of it .
 People who can't understand each other speak different language ,but who can understand each other and who show consistent differences in their speech ,speech different dialects of the same  language.
Dialect : the special way a group of people speak a language . It is cuased by geaographical division or social status. For example,
-          Arabic language is spoken in different ways by people from different countries such as Egyptians talk differently from Yemenis.
-          Accent is the way of pronouncing words when there is a standard pronunciation-à speakers who deviate from that are often said to speak with an accent.
Accent is pronouncing the word same word differently .we have an American Accent ,Arabic Accent and Indian Accent .                                                                                                                   
register
A variety of language associated with a particular situational context, such as an occupation or social activity. Such DIAPHASIC INFORMATION is indicated in dictionaries by formality or style LABELS. For instance ,
How do you do
How are you doing
There is funy story here when a boy comes to the master greeting him how are you doing Sir The master slaps him  refusing such greeting  .
 the  translation will be     ولكن كيف حالك يا سيدي ,رافضاً أن يُخاطب كصديقاُ له  لا تقل كيف الحال يا سيدي
 ولكن كيف حالك _
 EUPHEMISM A word or phrase associated with the USAGE of
polite society, often contrasted with SLANG genteelism .In other words ,the use of a word , phrase  or expression which is more natural ,higher  or indirect to instead of other  a direct harsh ,unpleasant or offensive term. This brief dialogue illustrates this point
A: how is he?
B:a mail of a door
During the translation , (b) would be translated into : وجدته ساكنا which means he is dead .

Jargon A word or phrase associated with a subject field which is clear to the experts using it, but not to  outsiders. Jargon shares with other special-language varieties like SLANG an in-group orientation which outsiders often criticise. Jargon dictionaries attempt to explain specialised usage for the benefit of the non-initiated, sometimes in pseudo-humorous and/ or critical fashion, while technical or TERMINOLOGICAL DICTIONARIES have less of a bridge-building _ HARD WORD, LANGUAGE FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES, TECHNICAL LANGUAGE.
Taboo word
A word, phrase or name the use of which is considered unacceptable for social reasons, e.g.
sacred or sexual expressions. The translators should omit those words ,appreciating the cultural aspects.
   In sociolinguistics  translators' purpose is to know all the social and cultural external factors of the SL that affect meaning in order to reflect them in the TL. That is mainly because social and cultural  shaping to great extent the meaning of this text .A good example of that is a social and cultural factors that stand behind Shakespeare's expression of ''a summer day '' in romantic poem .in Britain ''summer day'' is a lovely day that is considered as a good opportunity for lovers to enjoy the beauty of nature and to meet outside  the House. An Arabic translator should be aware of this information in   Arabic because ignoring such information will  make the locutionary dictionary meaning translation of this expression brings a huge misunderstanding. This simply because of what is meant summer day in Arabic .It is a horrible hot day makes staying home is the best  alternative . In other words, professional translators take into their considerations illocutionary and perlocutionary meaning in addition to the elocutionary dictionary meaning in order to avoid a failure in conveying the text message; for example, the phrase ''summer day'' will be translated into ''spring day'' that corresponds to the Arabic cultural backgrounds and their concept ,which is actually ''the intended meaning'' of the writer.
In pragmatics , ,translators' aim is to understand how the meaning is used in social-interaction for the purpose of transferring the meaning successfully from the SL into TL. In certain society and place ,people  interact with each other using different level of formality to shoe respect , morality and vice versa ; such words and phrases are just used to mean the opposite ;for instance, if a student ''came late '' to his class, the teacher will ask him about the reason beyond ''being early''. Another example is when somebody calls his friend ''the wisest man'' just to mean ''the most stupid man''. Therefore, translators must be acquainted with such varieties used by certain people and certain place in order to avoid misunderstanding.
What is discourse analysis ?
discourse analysis A branch of LINGUISTICS concerned with language not as words or sentences, but as (spoken as well as written) text in context. Discourse analysis focuses on conversational and other face-to-face interaction (and is thus close to SOCIOLINGUISTICS), while TEXT LINGUISTICS is more associated with the study of written and printed text and the factors that contribute to its structural cohesion. Both approaches profit from the evidence provided by CORPUS LINGUISTICS, and both have potential application to lexicography, e.g. in the analysis of the complexity and transparency of dictionary entries.
In discourse analysis ,translators' intention is to classify the meaning of the text through the context , use , purpose ,and thought in addition to shared knowledge .Firstly, they look  for the meaning of word in relation to its context in the sentence . In other words ,the meaning of the word is a part of context .
Secondly , such words like '' water'' can function as a noun like;I like water' or verb as 'I water the plant'; these can never be translated unless you look for its use or function  in the context to avoid such failure when rendering the meaning . Also, Such words ,phrases or sentences cannot be translated except if we know the purposes of uttering them; for example , the sentence ''he has a gun '' can be translated into two ways according to the speaker's purpose that is known through the situation and the society in which it is said . So, if it is translated into Yemeni society ,Yemenis will not understand either the purpose of this sentence is to show  possession or to show danger. But if is translated in European socirty ,Europeans will understand it as warning of danger ,stating that ''he is killer or criminal '' ,or it could be translated into'' he is terrorist''. Thus ,translators must pay attention to the purpose of such text and all other else to avoid ambiguity and even misunderstanding .Finally , Nida has added another point in addition to the above points suggested by Oxford University to be taken in our consideration when translating ,which is ''thought''. Thought means the image that such phrase brings to the mind of the audiences. It suggests us that we must take in our account the affect of such words on the audiences . It is, in other words, interrelated to ''the purpose'' idea suggested by Oxford University ,but the purpose idea deals with SL text whereas Nida's idea ''thought'' deals with TL text. One can say that thought is a TL oriented concept while ''purpose'' is a tl oriented concept.
It is also worthy to mention a very important term ''shared knowledge'' which has been deeply discussed in Discurse analysis . Share knowledge refers to an idea or concept that is known by certain people in a certain place; for example, if a student from level four calls his classmate a Estragon ,one of the main character in Samuel Beckett'splay'' Waiting forGodot'', to describe his classmate's weakness in the presence of a student from third level, who has not come across this course , the third level student will not understand what the fourth level student means whereas the classmate will understand the message easily even though both of them are in the same place. Therefore, translators must be acquainted with such ideas spreading among societies in order to avoid misunderstanding.

In semantics ,translators' purpose is to study the meaning in terms of denotation, connotation ,direct ,indirect and sense and reference . The denotation meaning is the basic meaning of the words; for example, the word 'lion'' means wild animal that lives in forest .However, the connotation meaning refers to the ideas and qualities that are more than the basic meaning of word ;for instance , the word ''lion'' connotes braveness and courage .So, if somebody is described as a lion ,it means he is brave but not that kind of animal. Therefore ,translators must have background about the indications of words beyond their basic meaning to avoid misunderstanding .
To sum up , translators tend to study all meaning aspects through so many subjects such as pragmatics ,semantics, social-linguistics and Discourse analysis in order to avoid misunderstanding when translating any written and spoken text.
Sentence
is an ideal string of words formal in accordance with the grammatical rules of a language .As a unit of grammar ,it is higher than the clause ,just as the clause is higher than phrase and the phrase is higher than the word. For example ,
I gave Ali a astonishing book yesterday.أعطيت على كتاب  رائع  

 Utterance
An utterance is any stretch of language spoken by a person at a certain time and places and on a certain occasions .Like a sentence ,it is by definition a meaningful stretch of language .it is also need not be in the form of a complete sentence having a clearly identifiable subject and clearly identifiable verb. It may well be in the form of only a word or a clause operating as a full of sentence. let us consider the following three pieces of conversation:

(a ) Q:will you be here tomorrow ?
A: Yes.
(b) what time is he arriving here tomorrow ?
A:At seven o'clock in the morning.
(c)  When did he arrive here yesterday ?
A:After I had finished all my work.

The first answer is in the form of a word , the second one is in the form of a phrase and third one is in the form of a clause .Irrespective of its grammatical status ,each one of the three stretches of language will be an utterance when spoken .Therefore as an utterance is essentially the spoken form of a language ,it can be characterized in terms of the accent and the voice quality of the speaker.


Proposition
Proposition is the semantic content of a simple declarative sentence . Just as the sentence is essentially a grammatical concept, the proposition is essentially a semantic concept . Thus it is a semantic notion . The following are some examples of a proposition.
-       Ayman is a teacher.
-       You are late .
-       He resembles his father.
-       The book is on the table.
context
1 The part of a text where a particular WORD, PHRASE or TERM occurs (also called ‘verbal
context’ or ‘co-text’)._ CONCORDANCE.2 The setting or circumstances with which a
WORD, PHRASE or TERM is associated (also called ‘situational context’, ‘context of use’ or
‘environment’).  
According to Austin's view ,utterances are basically of two types: Constative utterances and performative utterances. This distinction between explicit and implicit performatives leads to the difference between Locutionary and illocutionary acts. An utterance can be described as a locutionary act with a loctutionary meaning or as an illocutionary force. For example, if a mother says to a child watching the television ,
'' IT's 10 o'clock ''
This utterance can be understood at two different levels of meaning .It can also be understood as a simple reference to time ;and translated into
انها تشير الى الساعة  العاشرة
And it can be understood as a suggestion that the child should now stop watching the television and go to bed: and then  translated into :
حان وقت الخلود الى النوم
The simple reference to time constitutes the locutionary meaning of this utterance but this utterance has also got the illocutionary force of a suggestion .utterances issued with the purpose of apologizing ,congratulating, comparing ,condoling ,describing ,naming ,narrating ,warning, praising ,greeting, thanking ,accusing ,and complaining are some of the examples of what Austin means by illocutionary acts.


Best regards !!!    
S. Ahmed Al-dali  
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