1.1 What is translation?
The answer to this question varies from person to person because each takes a perspective different from the other. Etymological study of the word “translation” and “翻译”. Translation: from ME translacioun, from MF or L translation ; an act, process or instance of translating. (Webster, p.2429)
Translatology
Instructor: Hua Xianfa
Course Description

Translatology, interdisciplinary in nature, is an independent discipline and regarded as a science to study translation. It is a comprehensive course subject consisting of general translatology, theoretical translatology and applied translatology. It is about general laws of translation, studies of translation with special reference to Chinese and English, and methods to apply theories to practice.
B. From the perspective of the function of translation:


Steiner: Translation it is that openeth the window, to let in the light; that breaketh the shell, that we may eat the kernel. Peter Newmark: Translation is an instrument of education as well as of truth precisely because it has to reach readers whose cultural and educational level is different from, and often “lower” or earlier, than that of the reader of the original. (1988:6)

Translation: a polysemic word
The
term translation itself has several meanings: it can refer to the general subject field, the product (the text that has been translated) or the process (the act of producing the translation, otherwise known as translating). (Munday, 2001:5)
Chapter I General Translatology
Introduction General translatology addresses the description of the phenomenon of translation by focusing on such questions as the definition of translation, the nature of translation, types of translation, criteria of translation, procedures of translation, and disciplines related to translation and translation studies.

The course of Translatology aims at providing students with traditional perspectives as well as latest developments in translation studies so as to raise their ability to pursue theoretical researches; it also aims at analyzing and solving problems which constantly occur in the process of translation by focusing on contrastive studies between Chinese and English and, between the Chinese culture and the English culture. It will combine theory with practice so closely that lectures will be delivered with good examples and practice will be done with specific principles as guidelines. Translation exercises will help consolidate what has been learned and discussion will promote exchanges of ideas.
A. From the perspective of the process of the action itself:

The process of translation between two different written languages involves the translator changing an original written text (the source text or ST) in the original verbal language (the source language or SL) into a written text (the target text or TT) in a different verbal language (the target language or TL). (Munday, 2001:5)
E. From the perspective of cross-cultural communication
Jin Di & Nida: Translation is simply a form of interlingual communication.(1987)
Chinese definition of translation


Translation can be classified into different types from different standpoints by different people. A. From the standpoint of signs involved in translation: Roman Jacobson: interlingual translation, intralingual translation, intersemiotic translation (interpretation of verbal signs by means of none verbal signs ) (On Linguistic Aspects of Translation)

nslating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style. (1969:12) John Catford: Translation may be defined as follows: The replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL). (1965:20) Bahudarov: Translation is a process in which the parole of one language is transferred into the parole of another with the content i.e. meaning unchanged.
C.From the perspective of aesthetics:
Translation
is an art that involves the recreation of an work in another language for readers with a different background.(Malcolm Cowley)
D. From the perspective of the nature of translation:

Peter Newmark: Translation is first a science, which entails the knowledge and verification of the facts and the language that describes them—here, what is wrong, mistaken or truth, can be identified; secondly, it is a skill, which calls for appropriate language and acceptable usage; thirdly, an art, which distinguishes good from undistinguished writing and is the creative, the intuitive, sometimes the inspired, level of the translation; lastly, a matter of taste, where argument ceases, preferences are expressed, and the variety of meritorious translations is the reflection of individual differences. (1988:6)