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Identify a Relevant and Realistic Topic
So far you have read about the translating experiences of others
and have recalled your own. The next step is to identify a relevant
and realistic topic for research. The word "relevant"
refers to a topic that directly deals with issues in translation
itself; "realistic" refers to a topic that can be
dealt with in a B.A. thesis given the constraints of time and
resources. Why do we place special emphasis on being "relevant"
and "realistic" at all?
First, doing translation exercises has always been an effective
way to achieve language proficiency. Hence, translation is
usually regarded as part of foreign language teaching and
learning. People are often confused about whether a problem
is a translation problem or a language problem. Take trainees
D and F above, for example. Both of their experiences describe
difficulties in translating, which result from inadequate
command of the English language. To be more precise, D's experience
concerns the trainee's limited English vocabulary while F's
involves the interference of the trainee's mode of thinking
in his native language with his way of expression in the English
language. Although satisfactory language proficiency is a
prerequisite for training in translation, translatorial behaviors
can and should be investigated independently of the factor
of language proficiency because the translational phenomenon
often presents problems and issues that have little to do
with language proficiency. Hence both experiences are not
relevant to research focusing on the translational phenomenon
itself.
Second, a B.A. program usually allows you four to eight weeks
to work on your thesis. On the one hand, you may not have
access to the necessary literature to do a fairly comprehensive
survey of the area under study. Hence you have to evaluate
the feasibility of what you propose to investigate. Consider
the financial problems in the translation industry raised
by trainee K, for example. Such problems are far from what
you can tackle in a B.A. thesis. Therefore, this kind of experience
would probably not lead to any realistic topic for you. On
the other hand, since you have taken a course in linguistics,
you may feel at home with issues to do with the role of linguistic
workings in translation because you can conduct a detailed
analysis of the texts in your hand. Hopefully, the analytic
results would shed light on your conception of the translational
phenomenon.
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