Translation –

an academic
discipline
Translation as an academic discipline

2nd half of the XXc.

2
 Before?

I. Practice with occassional reflections

3
 Before?
II. Part of language learning in modern language courses

GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

• late 18c. - 1960s • 1960s - 1970s
• language learning through translating texts • stressed placed on communicating meaning
• translation as a tool for learning teaching and • the importance of learning in a natural context
learning
• secondary importance

4
 Before?

III. Translation workshop

- USA, 1960s
- a way of introducing new translations into the target
culture and also as a way of discussing principles of the
translation process and of understanding a text

5
 Before?

IV. Comparative literature

- the study of the relation between literature and
other spheres of human activity, including history,
politics, philosophy, art and science

6
 Before?

V. Contrastive analysis
- linguistic approach to translation 1950s – 1960s

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 The birth of
translation as a
discipline
1.

Eugene Nida 1964

Toward a Science of Translating
 The birth of
translation as a
discipline
2.

James Holmes 1988

The name and nature of
translation studies
The Holmes / Toury map
Translation studies

PURE APPLIED

Theoretical Descriptive

Translator Translation Translation

General Partial training aids criticism

Product Process Function

oriented oriented oriented

Medium Area Rank Text-type Time Problem

restricted restricted restricted restricted restricted restricted
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 The tasks of a translation theory…

(1) to identify and define a translation problem,

(2) to indicate all the factors that have to be taken
into account in solving the problem
(3) to list all the possible translation procedures,

(4) to recommend the most suitable translation

procedure, plus the appropriate translation.

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 Translation methods

1. Word-for-word translation
2. Literal translation
Focus on ST
3. Faithful translation
4. Semantic translation

5. Adaptation
6. Free translation
Focus on TT
7. Idiomatic translation'
8. Communicative translation

9. Back translation
 WORD-FOR-WORD TRANSLTION

 the rendering of text from one language to another one word at a

time with or without conveying the sense of the original text,
 the translation which gives priority to lexical correspondences and
may result in ungrammatical sentences,
 It preserves the original word order,
 It seeks to match the individual words of the original as closely as
possible to individual words of the target language,
 It can be used in scientific,, technical, technological or legal texts.

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 LITERAL TRANSLTION

I. = word-for-word translation
II. = a translation that is as close as possible to the original form and content
while still ensuring TL grammaticality (but not naturalness); the transfer
between languages may take place above the word level (collocations,
clauses, sentences)
There is still a high priority to rendering the form of the ST as closely as possible,
but is less concerned with the style or aesthetics of the ST.
It can work between similar languages and only for certian texts.

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 FAITHFUL TRANSLTION
 It attempts to reproduce the precise contextual meaning of the
original within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures (=
words taranslated in context).
 It 'transfers' cultural words and preserves the degree of grammatical
and lexical 'abnormality' (deviation from SL norms) in the
translation.
 It attempts to be completely faithful to the intentions and the text-
realisation of the SL writer.

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 SEMANTIC TRANSLTION
 Attempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic
structures of the SL allow, the exact contextual meaning of the ST.
 It emphasizes the “loyalty” to the ST.
 It takes more account of the aesthetic value (that is, the beautiful and
natural sound) of the SL text, compromising on 'meaning' where
appropriate.

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 ADAPTATION
 Changing the translation in such a way as to suit the target reader
(the themes, characters, plots are usually preserved, the SL culture
converted to the TL culture and the text rewritten.
 It is a modification, a paraphrase. It is very distant from the formal
and lexical aspects of the ST.
 The „freest” form of translation
 Mainly used in drama and poetry. It can be occassionaly used when
close translation is not possible.

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 FREE TRANSLTION
 It reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without
the form of the original – the general meaning of the ST, but it may
or not follow the organisation of the ST.
 Usually it is a paraphrase much longer than the original.
 It concentrates on conveying the meaning of the ST disregarding the
formal or structural aspects of the ST.
 This is sometimes taken to mean sense-for- sense translation but it
has been seen as taking a variety of forms.

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 IDIOMATIC TRANSLTION
• It makes every effort to communicate the meaning of the ST in the
natural forms of the TL.
• It reproduces the 'message' of the original but tends to distort
nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialisms and idioms where
these do not exist in the original.

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 COMMUNICATIVE TRANSLTION
 It gives priority to the informative function of the ST or reproduces
on TL readers the effect obtained on readers of the original.
 It attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in
such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable
and comprehensible to the readership.
 It attempts to produce on the reader an effect as close as possible to
that obtained on the readers of the SL.
 It is suited for those texts (the majority) where originality of
expression is not an important aspect

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 BACK TRANSLTION
• The aim of this double translation is
English Polish to verify similiarities between the ST
and TT and to detect errors and
omissions.
• This comparison of two texts in
terms of accuracy is used for
proofreading e.g. in medical texts.

medical student → student medycyny → student of medicine

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