JEREMY MUNDAY

CHAPTER I
Main issues of translation studies
To wszystko co tu będzie napisane dotyczy WRITTEN TRANSLATION głównie 😊
1. Oral translation- also interpretation, interpreting. Otto Kade defines it as a form of
translation (in the wider sense) in which (a) the source language text is presented only
once and thus cannot be reviewed or replayed, ad (b) the target language text is
produced under time pressure, with little chance for correction and revision.

In view of the very different requirements and activities associated with interpreting it
would be best to consider interpreting as a parallel field or ‘sub-discipline’ under the
title ‘ interpreting studies’. The same situation is with audiovisual translation and
sign language translation.

2. Translation- this English term first attested in around 1340 and derives either from Old
French translation or more directly from the Latin translation (‘transporting’). It
comes from the participle of the verb transferre (‘to carry over’).

Translation today has several meanings:

 The general subject field or phenomenon (‘I studied translation at university’)
 The product- that is, the text that has been translated (they published the Arabic
translation of the report)
 The process of producing the translation, known as translating (‘translation service’)

So when translating a product manual from Chinese into English, the ST is Chinese and TT is
English. However, internalization and communication practices have meant that this
traditional conceptualization of translation needs to be broaden to include those concepts in
which there is no clearly defined source text. This may be because:
 There are multilingual versions of the same text, each of which is deemed equally
valid.
 An ‘unstable’ source text that is subject to constant updating and adaptation (each of
which requires a modification of existing target texts rather than a completely new
translation)- in example a multilingual website
The traditional ST to TT configuration is the most prototypical of interlingual translation.

3. Roman Jakobson’s three categories of translation:

  Intralingual translation (rewording)- an interpretation of verbal signs by means of
other signs of the same language
 Interlingual translation (translation proper)- an interpretation of verbal signs by
means of some other language.
 Intersemiotic translation (transmutation)- an interpretation of verbal signs by means
of signs of non-verbal sign systems.
These definitions draw on semiotics- the general science of communication, through signs
and sign systems. Translation is not always limited to verbal languages, for example
intersemiotic translation occurs when a written text is translated into a different mode
(music, film, painting).
Intralingual translation would occur when we produce a summary (rewrite) the text in the
same language, for example a children’s version of an encyclopaedia. It also occurs when we
rephrase an expression in the same language.
Interlingual translation (between two different verbal sign systems) has been the traditional
focus of translation studies. However , the very notion of ‘translation proper’ and of the
stability of source and target has been challenged.
Transcreation- the creative adaptation of video games and advertising in particular
Localization- the linguistic and cultural adaptation of a text for a new locale

4. S. Halverson claims that translation can be better considered as a prototype

classification, that is, that there are basic core features that we associate with a
prototypical translation, and other translational forms which lie on the periphery.
Much of translation theory has until recently also been written form a western perspective and
initially derived from study of Classical Greek and Latin and Biblical practice
5. M. Tymoczko- discusses the very different words and metaphors for ‘translation’ in
other cultures, indicative of conceptual orientation where the goal of close lexical
fidelity to an original may not therefore be shared, certainly in the practice of
translating sacred and literary texts.
Example: Bengali rupantar (=change of form), Hindi anuvad (=following), Arabic tarjama
(=biography)
Each of them construes the process of translation differently and anticipates that the target text
will show a substantial change of form compared to the source.
6. The study of translation as an academic subject only really began in the second half of
the twentieth century. It is now known s ‘translation studies’ thanks to James S.
Holmes, who proposed both a name and a structure for the field (but the context has
now advanced)
Holmes describes the discipline as being concerned with ‘complex of problems clustered
round the phenomenon of translating and translation’.
 7. Four visible ways in which translation studies has become more prominent:

 Demand for translation has grown, so there has been a vast expansion in specialized
translating and interpreting programmes.
 The past decades have also seen a proliferation of conferences, books and journals
on translation in many languages. Ex: Babel, Meta Target. Additionally, there is a
whole host of other journals devoted to single languages, modern languages, applied
linguistics, comparative literature etc.
 As the number of publications has increased so has the demand for general and
analytical instruments, such as anthologies, databases, encyclopaedias, handbooks
and introductory texts.
 International organizations also prospered.

8. An early history of the discipline

The practice of translation was crucial for the early dissemination of key cultural and religious
texts and concepts. In the west – Cicero and Horace, St Jerome (his translation of the Greek
Bible into Latin affected later translation of the Scriptures).
While the practice of translation is long-established, the study of the field developed into
academic discipline only in the latter part of the twentieth century.
Translation was formerly studied as a language-learning methodology (the schools were
dominated by grammar translation- study of grammatical rules and structures of the foreign
language- later they developed alternative forms of teaching such as direct method and
communicative approach) or as a part of comparative literature, translation ‘workshops’
and contrastive linguistic courses.

9. The Holmes/ Toury ‘map’ (WAŻNY TYPO)

The development of the translation studies was introduced by Holmes (The name and the
nature of translation studies)
Holmes drew attention to the limitations imposed at the time because translation research ,
lacking a home of its own, was dispersed across older disciplines (language, linguistic). He
also stressed the need to forge ‘other communication channels, cutting across the traditional
disciplines to reach all scholars working in the field, from whatever background’.
Holmes’s framework (describing what translation studies cover)
‘Pure’ areas of the research: the description of the phenomena of translation and the
establishment of general principles to explain and predict such phenomena (translation
theory)
The theoretical branch is divided into general theories (referring to those writings that seek
to describe or account for every type of translation and to make generalizations that will be
relevant for translation as a whole) and partial theories (theoretical studies are restricted
according to the parameters discussed below).
The descriptive branch of ‘pure’ research is known as descriptive translation studies. It
may examine:
 The product (product-oriented DTS)- examines existing translations. It may involve
the description or analysis of a single ST-TT pair or a comparative analysis of several
TTs of the same ST (into one or more TLs). These smaller-scale studies can build up
into a larger body of translation analysis looking at a specific period, language or text/
discourse type.
 The function (function-oriented DTS)- means the description of the function of
translation in the recipient sociocultural situation. It is a study of contexts rather than
texts.
 The process (process-oriented DTS)- is concerned with the psychology of translation,
in example it is concerned with trying to find out what happens in the mind of
translator.
The results of DTS research can be fed into the theoretical branch to evolve either a general
theory of translation or, more likely, partial theories of translation ‘restricted’ according to:
 Medium-restricted theories- subdivide according to translation by machine and
humans, with further subdivisions
 Area-restricted theories- are restricted to specific languages or groups of languages
and/or cultures
  Rank-restricted theories- are linguistic theories that have been restricted to a level of
(normally) the word or a sentence
 Text-type restricted theories- look at the discourse types and genres; e.g. literary,
business and technical translation.
 Time-restricted theories- referring to translations and theories limited according to
specific time frames and periods.
 Problem-restricted theories- may refer to certain problems such as equivalence or to
a wider question of whether so-called ‘universals’ of translations exist.
Several different restrictions may apply at any one time.
Example: New English translations of the novels by Marcel Proust are restricted in terms of:
text-type, time.
The applied branch of Holmes concerns applications to the practice of translation:
 Translator training- teaching methods, testing techniques, curriculum design
 Translation aids- such as dictionaries and grammars
 Translation criticism- the evaluation of translations (marking of students and reviews
of published texts)
Translation policy- translation scholars advising on the place of translation in society,
including the place, if any, should occupy in the language teaching and learning curriculum.

Drawbacks to the structure:

 The divisions in the map as a whole are in many ways artificial, and the theoretical,
descriptive and applied areas do influence one another.
 The main merit of the divisions is that they allow a clarification and a division of
labour between the various areas of translation studies which, in the past, have often
been confused.
 The divisions are still flexible enough to incorporate developments such as the
technological advances of recent years.

Updated structure:
Particularly the translation aids with the explosion in the use of computer- assisted translation
tools (CAT tools) and in automatic online translation.
 10. The van Doorslaer ‘map’
The Benjamins Translation Studies Bibliography
In the new maps the distinction is drawn between translation and translation studies.
Translation looks at the act of translating and is subdivided into:
 Lingual mode ( interlingual, intralingual)
 Media (printed, audiovisual, electronic)
 Mode ( covert/overt translation, direct/ indirect translation, mother tongue/other
tongue translation, pseudo-translation, retranslation, self-translation, sight translation)
 Field (political, journalistic, literary, religious, scientific, commercial, technical)
Translation studies is subdivided into:
 Approaches (cultural or linguistic approach)
 Theories (general or polysystem translation theory)
 Research methods (empirical, descriptive)
 Applied translation studies (criticism, didactics, institutional environment)
Map of linguistic maneuverers:
This consists of strategies, procedures/ techniques, ‘errors’, rules/laws/conventions and
translation tools.
This distinction is the important one:
A strategy is the overall orientation of a translated text while a procedure is a specific
technique used at given point in a text (borrowing, calque).
11. Interdisciplinarity
It challenges the current conventional way of thinking by promoting and responding to new
links between different types of knowledge. Translation studies would itself be the Phoenician
trader among longer-established disciplines. It has a potential relationship with disciplines
such as:
 Linguistics (semantics, pragmatics, applied/contrastive/ cognitive linguistics)
 Modern languages and languages studies
 Comparative literature
 Cultural studies (gender and postcolonial studies)
 Philosophy
 Sociology
 History
 Creative writing
Some current projects are also multidisciplinary, involving the participation of researchers
from various disciplines, including translation studies. (even areas such as computing and
multi-media). Also dealing with area of applied translation studies come to the fore (translator
training in the specific discipline- law, politics, medicine etc.)
Over time the interdisciplinarity and specialization of the subject have become more
evident and theories and models have continued to be imported from other disciplines but also
forged form within translation studies itself.