Comprehension of the Source Text: Reading for Meaning Transfer
Comprehension is the first invisible skill tested on the ATA exam. You cannot translate what you have not fully understood, and graders penalize errors of meaning more heavily than almost any other category. Train yourself to read the source text twice: once for gist and once for structure.
Concepts to master
- Propositional meaning: who did what to whom, when, and with what scope. Identify the main clause and subordinate clauses before drafting.
- Pragmatic meaning: what the author intends to accomplish (warn, persuade, instruct, inform).
- Cohesion and reference: pronouns, ellipsis, and definite articles often point backward. Track every referent.
- Ambiguity and underspecification: some source sentences permit two readings. Decide which reading the context supports and translate that one consistently.
- False friends and polysemy: a familiar-looking word may carry a technical sense in context.
Traps in exam questions
- Translating a word in isolation rather than its sentence role.
- Missing negation scope, especially with double negatives or "unless/except" constructions.
- Flattening modality: "may," "should," and "must" carry distinct legal or ethical weight and must survive translation.
- Overlooking implicit subjects in pro-drop languages or agentless passives.
- Confusing a term's general sense with its domain-specific sense (e.g., "consideration" in contract law versus everyday usage).
Worked example
Source: "Unless the parties agree otherwise in writing, the supplier shall not be liable for delays caused by events beyond its reasonable control."
A weak rendering treats "unless" as "if" and drops the written-form requirement. A strong reading identifies: condition (written agreement to the contrary), prohibition (no liability), cause (events beyond reasonable control), and modality (shall not = firm exclusion). Draft only after you can restate the sentence in plain source language.
Rule of thumb
If you cannot paraphrase the sentence in the source language without looking at the words, you do not yet understand it well enough to translate it.