Résumés
Abstract
Despite growing interest in the study of translation in Thailand, relatively little has been published on contemporary Thai translation practices. This study presents a first attempt to explore legal translation into Thai, using both a purpose-built parallel corpus of international treaties translated from English into Thai, and a monolingual corpus of non-translated Thai legislation. Drawing on previous corpus-based studies concerned with general features of translation, we ask whether there is evidence of explicitation (Becher 2010a) in our translated data and whether “unique items” (Tirkkonen-Condit 2002) are underrepresented. We pursue these questions through a study of the translation of the passive voice into Thai, and focus in particular on the Thai passive markers ถูก /thùuk/, โดน /doon/, and ได้รับ /dai-rup/, which we consider unique items in Thai. The study finds that, despite some writers’ antipathy to the passive voice in Thai, most English passives are translated into Thai using the passive voice, and that in those instances where the active voice is used in the translation, there is rarely any explicitation involved, as explicit agents are rarely added in Thai. We do not find any evidence to support the hypothesis that unique items are underrepresented in translation. On the contrary, the unique items studied appear to be overrepresented in translation into Thai.
Keywords:
- legal translation,
- corpus-based translation studies,
- passive voice,
- Thai,
- English
Résumé
Malgré l’intérêt croissant pour la traductologie en Thaïlande, il n’existe que peu de publications sur les pratiques contemporaines de traduction thaïe. Cet article présente une première tentative d’exploration de la traduction juridique en thaï, en utilisant à la fois un corpus parallèle de traités internationaux traduits de l’anglais vers le thaï, et un corpus monolingue de législation thaïe non traduite. En nous appuyant sur des études de corpus antérieures portant sur les caractéristiques générales de la traduction, nous cherchons à savoir s’il existe des preuves d’explicitation (Becher 2010a) et si certains « éléments uniques » (Tirkkonen-Condit 2002) sont sous-représentés dans nos données traduites en thaï. Pour répondre à ces questions, nous étudions la traduction de la voix passive en thaï, tout en considérant les marqueurs passifs ถูก /thùuk/, โดน /doon/ et ได้รับ /dai-rup/ comme des éléments uniques en thaï. L’étude révèle que, malgré les réticences de certains auteurs à utiliser la voix passive en thaï, la plupart des passifs anglais sont traduits par un passif en thaï. En outre, dans les cas où la voix active est utilisée, il est rarement question d’explicitation. Nous ne trouvons aucune preuve à l’appui de l’hypothèse selon laquelle les éléments uniques sont sous-représentés dans la traduction. Au contraire, les éléments uniques que nous étudions semblent être surreprésentés dans la traduction en thaï.
Mots-clés :
- traduction juridique,
- traductologie de corpus,
- voix passive,
- thaï,
- anglais
Resumen
A pesar del creciente interés por el estudio de la traducción en Tailandia, se ha publicado relativamente poco sobre las prácticas contemporáneas tailandesas de traducción. Este estudio presenta un primer intento de explorar la traducción legal al tailandés, utilizando tanto un corpus paralelo de tratados internacionales traducidos del inglés al tailandés y construido específicamente para la presente investigación, como un corpus monolingüe de legislación tailandesa no traducida. Basándonos en estudios de corpus previos, relacionados con aspectos generales de traducción, exploramos si se recurre a la explicitación (Becher 2010a) y si los «elementos únicos» (Tirkkonen-Condit 2002) están subrepresentados en la traducción tailandesa. Planteamos estas preguntas a través de un estudio de la traducción de la voz pasiva al tailandés, teniendo en cuenta los marcadores pasivos tailandeses ถูก /thùuk/, โดน /doon/ y ได้รับ /dai-rup/ como aspectos que no tienen equivalente en inglés. Del estudio se desprende que, a pesar de la reticencia de algunos escritores a utilizar la voz pasiva en tailandés, la mayoría de las oraciones pasivas en inglés se traducen a dicha lengua usando esta voz, y que en los casos en que se usa voz activa, rara vez se recurre a una explicitación. No encontramos ninguna evidencia que respalde la hipótesis de que los elementos únicos estén subrepresentados en la traducción. Más bien se produce lo contrario: los elementos únicos que estudiamos parecen estar sobrerrepresentados en la traducción al tailandés.
Palabras clave:
- traducción jurídica,
- traductología basada en corpus,
- voz pasiva,
- tailandés,
- inglés
Parties annexes
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