Example
A housewife normally expects a recipe to contain instructions for the preparation of a certain dish, and, indeed, that is why she reads it. Her attention is directed at the content of the text (e.g. what ingredients will she need, what has she got to do?). Recipes usually have a rather conventionalized form, not only with regard to their composition (first a list of ingredients, then the instructions in chronological order) but also with regard to syntactical structures (e.g. imperatives, parataxis) and lexical features (e.g. terminology and formulaic expressions, such as "bring to the boil", "stirring constantly", etc.). The reader will only become aware of the text form if it is not as expected: if, for example, the recipe is written as a poem or if the list of ingredients is missing.
The expectation of the receiver can sometimes lead to a certain tolerance. For example, when reading a menu, whose text function can clearly be inferred from the situation, but which is translated badly into their own language, tourists in a foreign country may not feel annoyed, as they normally would, but rather amused by the orthographic mistakes or unidiomatic collocations as long as they get some information about what to eat or drink.
Normally, of course, the text producer will try as far as possible to meet the expectations of the addressed audience. There are cases, however, where an author disregards or even deliberately ignores the addressees' expectations in order to make them sit up and take notice or to make them aware of certain patterns of thinking, etc.
Checklist
The following questions may help to find out the relevant information
about the addressed audience and their expectations:
What information about the addressed audience can be inferred from the text environment?
What can be learned about the addressees from the available information about the sender and his/her intention?
What clues to the ST addressee's expectations, background knowledge etc. can be inferred from other situational factors (medium, place, time, motive, and function)?
Is there any information about the reactions of the ST receiver(s) which may influence translation strategies?
What conclusions can be drawn from the data and clues obtained about the addressee regarding
other extratextual dimensions (intention, place, time, and function), and
the intratextual features?
Medium
Speech vs. writing
The concept of medium or channel has to be interpreted rather broadly. We refer to "medium" as the means or vehicle which conveys the text to the reader (in communication theory, "channel" stands for sound waves or print on paper). The translator is, however, interested less in the technical distinctions and more in the aspects of perceptibility, storage of information and the presuppositions of communicative interaction.
First of all we have to ask whether the text is being transmitted in a face-to-face communication or in writing. The means of transmission affects not only the conditions of reception, but more particularly also those of production. It determines how the information should be presented in respect of level of explicitness, arrangement of arguments, choice of sentence types, features of cohesion, use of non-verbal elements such as facial expressions and gestures, etc. The effect of the chosen medium on the intratextual factors can be illustrated by looking at the deictic aspect: situational references, which in face-to-face communication do not have to be verbalized explicitly because the participants are a part of the situation, must be expressed much more clearly in written communication.
In face-to-face communication, deictic expressions, such as here, by my side, or today, or expressions referring to the participants of communication, such as all of us, or as the speaker before me correctly remarked, are unambiguous. However, in a written text they can only be decoded correctly in connection with the information on time, place, sender, receivers, etc. given in the text itself or in the text environment, such as title page, imprint, introduction lead, etc.
The categories of speech and writing cannot, however, always be separated completely, as there are spoken texts which are reproduced in a written form (e.g. a statement made by a witness) and written texts which are spoken (e.g. lectures). Crystal & Davy (1969) therefore introduce the concept of complex medium, comprising "language which is spoken to be written, as in dictation, or language written to be spoken, as in news-broadcasting", and even subclassifications such as "language written to be read aloud as if written".
This shows that for our purposes it would not be wise to aim at a mere "labeling" of texts as regards medium. What we have to do is elicit specific features of the medium such as coincidence or discontinuity of text production and reception, indirect or direct form of communication, spontaneity of text production, opportunities for feedback operations, one-way communication, etc.
What to find out about the medium
In spoken communication, the dimension of medium includes the technical devices for information transfer (such as telephones or microphones), and these, of course, affect the production, reception and comprehension of the text. In written communication, on the other hand, it is the means of publication that is referred to as the "medium", i.e. newspaper, magazine, book, multi-volume encyclopedia, leaflet, brochure, etc., as well as subclassifications such as business news, literary supplement, etc.
The dimension of medium is relevant because it provides some clues as to the size and identity of the addressed audience. The readership of a national daily newspaper is not only much larger, but usually represents a different level of education and information with different expectations and different standards of stylistic quality from that of a medical, not to mention a neurosurgical, journal. The cheap paperback edition of a novel would be expected to reach a wider public than an expensive, multi-volume collection of Cantonese love poems. A personal letter is directed at one individual receiver whereas a standard business letter can be addressed to any number of companies on a mailing list, and a poster on an advertising board is targeted at anyone passing by, etc., etc.
In addition, the specification of the medium may give some clue as to the sender's intention (e.g. in the case of a poster or a picture postcard) and to the motive for the communication (e.g. in the case of a death announcement in a newspaper). Since the range and conventions of medium use may vary from culture to culture and from one generation to another, the specification of medium may even give some idea of the time and place of text production.
Although the choice of a particular medium obviously provides pre-signals for the receiver's expectations regarding the intended text function, function and medium must not be automatically associated or even equated. The receivers' expectations are certainly based on their experience with the medium in question, but, again, a particular sender may intend to surprise or disappoint the receiver by using a medium for a purpose quite different from that usually associated with it. For the translator it is important, too, to take into account the fact that the "same" media may have quite different functions in another culture.
As a general rule, however, the medium determines the receiver's expectations as to text function. A leaflet distributed at the entrance of a famous church is expected to contain basic information on the objects of interest in the form of a guided tour. The text in a guidebook usually has the functions of information plus advertising, and an article in an encyclopedia is expected to provide detailed information not only on the positive but also on the negative aspects of a place.
This plan draws your attention to some of the main features of the building. More details may be obtained from guide books on sale in the shop. The Nave, begun in 1291 and finished in the 1350's in the Decorated Gothic style, is one of the widest Gothic naves in Europe. It is used for services throughout the year. The pulpit on the left commemorates Archbishops Temple and Lang, and the brass lectern has been used since 1686. The Great West Window is being repaired and cannot at present be seen. (First paragraphs of the information leaflet Welcome to York Minster. There is a plan with numbers on the opposite page.)
THE MINSTER (by the late Chancellor F. Harrison)
Beloved to Yorkshiremen, renowned the world over. This is true. Of great and noble churches in this country, probably three attract the greatest number of visitors. These three are Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral and York Minster). (...) The east window deserves a note of its own. Seventy-six feet high and thirty-two feet broad, containing therefore more than two-thousand square feet of medieval glass - the great window at Gloucester Cathedral measuring seventy-two feet by thirty-eight feet, and containing more than two-thousand-three-hundred square feet of glass, but not wholly coloured - this great and grand window never ceases to excite admiration and wonder. The master-glazier, John Thornton, of Coventry, received for his work, in all, the sum of Ј 55 in three years, worth in modern currency - Ј 2,000? Who knows, even approximately? This was the pay of only one man. (From the brochure City and County of the City of York, Official Guide, 112 pages. I have left out the 12 pages on the history of the Minster.).
There are many small old churches, quaint and often glorious towers and the breathtaking spectacle of the Minster. It took two-and-a-half centuries, from 1220 to 1470, to complete this poem in stone. Inside, a kaleidoscope of light explodes from windows of medieval stained glass that are among the art treasures of the world. (Last of the three paragraphs on York, from the book AA Illustrated Guide to Britain, 544 pages)
York Minster is the largest of England's medieval cathedrals. The result of 250 years of building, it shows a variety of styles. The transepts are the earliest part of the present building, dating from 1220-1260; the nave, chapter house, and vestibule were built in 1291-1345 in Decorated style; the choir in 1361, the central tower in 1400-1423, and the western towers in 1433-1474 in early and late Perpendicular. The Minster contains some of the earliest glass and the biggest acreage of stained glass in Britain. The lancet lights of the "Five Sisters" in the north transept are a particularly fine example of 13th-century grisaille glass. (Paragraph on York Minster - under the heading "York" -from The New Caxton Encyclopedia, 18 vols.)
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