Translation Theory
A Term used to refer to the entire discipline of Translation Studies. Thus Popovic defines translation Theory as a “discipline engaged in the systematic study of translation”, whose task consists of “modeling the translational process and text”. (Shuttleworth) “The body of knowledge that we have and have still to have about the process of translating” (Newmark)
Key figures of translation studies
1972 conference on comparative literature James Holmes: the name and nature of translation studies Mary Snell-Hornby: Translation studies: an integrated approach Mona Baker/Susan Bassnett in the UK Eugene Nida: Toward a science of transalting/Edward Gentzler in the US
Although the practice of translating is long established,
The study of the field developed into an academic discipline only in the second half of the 20th century. From the late 18th century to 1960s, the translationgrammar pedagogy; 翻译教学vs教学翻译 The American translation workshop: I.A. Richards. Comparative literature Contrastive analysis Linguistic-oriented approach of translation in the 195060: E. Nida, Toward a Science of Translation. The “bible” of translation studies.
What is Translation Studies?
A term used to describe the ‘discipline which concerns itself with problems raised by the production and description of translations.’(Lefevere:1978) The term was suggested by the Dutchbased US scholar James Holmes in his key defining paper delivered in 1972
Different definitions of translation
The term translation itself has several meanings: it can refer to the general subject field, the product or the process.(Munday,00) An incredible broad notion which can be understood in many different ways. For example, one may talk of translation as a process or a product, and identify such sub-types as literary translation, technical transmachine translation; more over , while more typically it just refers to the transfer of written texts, the term sometimes also includes INTERPRETING. (Shuttleworth,97)
Partial Theory of Translation
Medium-restricted theories: machine/computer; written/spoken; consecutive/simultaneous Area-restricted theories: specific languages or groups of languages and/or cultures, e.g., contrastive linguistics and stylistics Rank-restricted theories: specific level of the word or sentence; Text-type-restricted theories: specific types or genres, e.g., literary, business, legal, technical Time-restricted theories: e.g., the history of translation Problem–restricted theories: e.g., equivalence
Session I Beginning of A Translation Studies Safari
School of Interpreting and Translation Studies
GDUFS
Who is the Instructor?
Mr. Junfeng ZHAO(赵军峰) Bsc ( Petroleum Geology, Yangtze University), MA(English Language & Literature, Wuhan University), MBA ( Gloucestershire Business School, UK), Ph.D in Forensic Linguistics, GDUFS Professor, School of Interpreting and Translation Studies Vice Dean(2001-2005), School of English for Int’l Business Director of MTI Education Centre, GDUFS Tel: 36207376(H) E-mail: benjizhao@
Translation studies safari: a guided tour through the wilds of translation studies
Mapping of translation studies Different definitions of translation A brief history of translation Methodologies of translation The process of Chinese/English translation Art or science Translatability Creativity vs conformity Translation and language learning Encyclopedic requirement for a translator
Descriptive Translation Studies(DTS)
Examination of: (1) the product (product-oriented DTS): description, analysis, comparison of ST and TT (2) the function(function-oriented DTS): In the recipient sociocultural situation, i.e. context rather than text (3) the process(process-oriented DTS): The psychology of translation, the blackbox, TAP( thinking aloud protocols)
Mapping of Translation Studies
(Toury 1995:10)
Translation Studies Pure Theoretical
General Partial
Applied Descriptive(DTS)
Product Process Function Oriented Oriented Oriented Translator Translation Translation Training Aids Criticism
Medium area rank text-type time problem restricted restricted restricted restricted restricted restricted
The Holmes/Toury ‘Map’
The objectives of the ‘pure’ areas of research are: 1.the description of the phenomena of translation (descriptive translation theory) 2.the establishment of general principles to explain and predict such phenomena.