WRITTEN EXAMINATION |
A. ADVICE-GUIDELINES FOR THE WRITTEN EXAMINATION
The written examination in English for candidates of the ΕΣΔΔ / ΕΣΤΑ, involves:
a) writing a dictated English text and translating it into Greek and
b) translating a Greek text into English.
I. DICTATION
Dictation was introduced for the first time in this examination in 2007, making it more difficult but also more objective. It is rather naïve to think that dictation means just making a copy of what the examiner reads. On the contrary, candidates with poor listening comprehension and spelling skills may face a lot of problems. Consequently, they may not only produce an incomprehensible text but they will later have to translate something irrelevant to what they have heard. To avoid such a nasty experience, you have to revise all the spelling rules and practice a lot through extensive listening and reading. You should also prepare your own material for dictations, tailoring it to your needs. Listening comprehension material for Advanced or Proficiency level exams can be adapted to ideal dictation texts.
Provided you overcome basic listening difficulties – there are students who miss the beginnings of texts, neglect the next part when thinking about meaning etc – you should focus on spelling mistakes.
Here are some tips for dealing with spelling errors:
Ø Make an inventory of common errors
e.g. writing not writting
Ø Focus on the inconsistencies in English spelling
e.g. words containing the sound /f/ written as f, ph or gh (faint, photo, cough)
Ø Learn these spelling or pronunciation rules
1. c sounds /k/ before I, e or u (car, copy, cut) but /s/ before i, e, or y ( civil, certificate, cycle)
2. write ie when the sound is long e, except after c. e.g. believe, chief, piece, relief, receive, deceit.
EXCEPTIONS: either, neither, leisure, seize, weird.
3. Write ei when the sound is not long e, especially when the sound is long a /ei/
e.g. weight, reign, height, neighbour, eight.
EXCEPTIONS: lie, pie, friend, mischief.
4. –cede, -ceed or sede?
All the words with this sound end in –cede e.g. recede, concede etc.
The only words in ceed are: exceed, proceed and succeed.
The only word in sede is: supersede.
Ø Mind the prefixes …
anti-, dis-, im-, in-, mal-, mis-, un-, over-, under-, out-, de-, em-, en-, re-, bi-, co-, com-, con-, sub-, sym-, syn-, trans-, uni- etc.
… and the suffixes
-ness, -ly, -er, -less, -ing, -ed, -ous, -ful etc.
which may change not only the meaning but also the spelling
e.g. grace+ full = graceful
happy + ness = happiness
true + ly = truly etc.
Ø Beware of homonyms, homographs, homophones
for/fore/four, aloud/allowed, pear/pair, I’ll/aisle, male/mail etc.
(At the beginning of the book you’ll find some sentences or short texts to practice your spelling skills).
Ø Punctuation matters
Learn the names of all these marks:
. full stop or period
! exclamation mark or exclamation point
, comma
; semicolon
: colon
“” quotation marks
’ apostrophe
II. TRANSLATION
Learning how to translate is a –related but- different process from language learning. There used to be the impression that if someone is taught vocabulary and grammar, he/she is ready to translate. Nowadays, however, a simple translation following some basic grammar rules and vocabulary analogies can be produced by a computer. The fact that translators still earn their living by translating implies that there is something more to translation than vocabulary and grammar rules: it’s called meaning. Translation is about understanding the meaning of the text and then producing a different embodiment of the initial message. Although we believe that there is no set of rigid rules for translation, in order to assist you in your preparation for the exams, we provide you with some rough guidelines and advice for translation, which will hopefully help you in developing your translation skills.
COMPREHENSION IS THE FIRST STEP
During the written examination in English, you may be hasty because of the time limit or more confident in the case of translating from English into Greek, and for this reason immediately start translating sentence-to-sentence. This is exactly what you should not do. In order to produce a good translation, the first thing you should do is to read through the whole text and to understand its meaning. Only through understanding what the writer of the original text wants to say, can you transfer the message of the text in the target language effectively. Ideally, strip down your sentences entirely before creating new ones in the target language.
Ø Decode before re-encoding
TRANSLATION: FAITHFUL OR FREE?
When translating a text, sooner or later we find ourselves faced with the question: faithful or free translation? The answer is that… it depends. Most times,
a faithful, word-for-word translation is unintelligible or even hilarious in the target language. However, a free translation may be better in transferring the meaning of the original text, but it can lead to significant differences in the style of the two texts. Hence, the truth lies somewhere in the middle…
a faithful, word-for-word translation is unintelligible or even hilarious in the target language. However, a free translation may be better in transferring the meaning of the original text, but it can lead to significant differences in the style of the two texts. Hence, the truth lies somewhere in the middle…
Ø Neither too faithful, nor too free
It is essential for a successful translation to transfer the meaning of the original text to the target language, without adding or subtracting (much) from it. As
it was previously noted, the effort to stick to the original text, through a word-for-word translation, leads to complicated and, finally, incomprehensible sentences. An effort to impress can have the same result, as some people tend
to use complex words and phrases while sacrificing the meaning of the text. Be careful then, as translation should be clear and comprehensible.
it was previously noted, the effort to stick to the original text, through a word-for-word translation, leads to complicated and, finally, incomprehensible sentences. An effort to impress can have the same result, as some people tend
to use complex words and phrases while sacrificing the meaning of the text. Be careful then, as translation should be clear and comprehensible.
Ø Clarity is linked to simplicity
MAINTAIN THE STYLE OF THE ORIGINAL TEXT
Clarity, however, does not make room for an abuse of simplicity. The texts that you will be translating for the written exams of ΕΣΔΔ / ΕΣΤΑ, are of a technical or scientific nature. Even when they are extracts from newspaper
articles, they have a certain style and terminology that corresponds to their subject. Thus, if a text is technical, specialized, etc., it should be translated as such, i.e. with the relevant style, delivery and terminology.
articles, they have a certain style and terminology that corresponds to their subject. Thus, if a text is technical, specialized, etc., it should be translated as such, i.e. with the relevant style, delivery and terminology.
Ø A translation should be comprehensible, not simplified
MIND THE TERMINOLOGY
The texts you will be asked to translate as ΕΣΔΔ / ΕΣΤΑ candidates, contain technical terms which are relevant to the fields in which you are examined at the first and second stage of the examination. In the final part of this book, you will find a relevant glossary which contains the main and most important terms from the fields of economics, politics and international relations, state organisation, administration and management, mass media, and the environment. This list of terms, of course, is far from being exhaustive; however, an attempt to learn such terms by heart from a list can be quite boring and fruitless. We would, therefore, recommend that you keep this glossary as a guide in your study while reading as many English texts as possible, in order to become familiar with the meaning and use of these terms. From the Anglo-Saxon press, for example, the weekly magazine The Economist and the Financial Times newspaper, contain wonderful articles – of not only economic
nature as their titles might imply.
nature as their titles might imply.
Ø Be familiar with the particular terminology
WHAT LANGUAGE IS THIS?
Another problem that we frequently face, related to the wider issue of “faithful or free translation”, is the shift of expressions from the source language to the target language. Many people have the impression that if an expression is translated faithfully, it is also translated correctly. This couldn’t be more wrong. In order to understand if a phrase is correctly translated, you should always ask yourselves: can this be said in Greek / English? Does it make sense? In order to achieve a good result, you should always see the text you are writing, not as a translation, but as an original text. It goes without saying that you shouldn’t be fooled by the word order as Greek and English syntax have little in common. You must be on your toes to ensure that the output reads as well as the original.
Ø A translation should appear as natural as an original Greek / English text
EDIT YOUR WORK
You know that a seriously flawed translation will affect your whole performance in the exams. Give yourself some time for a final pass to double-check grammar, syntax and style before handing in your paper.
Ø An accurate and polished translation=your passport to success