INTRODUCING TRANSLATION STUDIES CHAPTER 1: MAIN ISSUES OF TRANSLATION STUDIES THE CONCEPT OF TRANSLATION: With the word “translation” we consider the written one, while the oral translation is called interpreting or in- lerpretation, The practice of translating is long established. but the discipline of translation studies is new. ‘Translation was born in the ancient Rome and much of translation theory derives from the study of classical Greek, Latin and from the study of the Bible. But there are also the studies of Maria Tymoezko, that are based on other cultures and not on sacred texts. In Latin several verbs were used to refer to translational activities, because it was much practiced: vertere, convertere, transvertere, iransferre. Cicero said that a translator should “convertere” texts as “orator” not as “interpres”. So Cicero translated not word for word, bul sease for sense, because he wanted lo keep the same ideas and the forms, he focused on the sense of the text and he preserved the general style and force of the Language. Also the English term derives from the Latin. Today “translation” has several meanings: 1, The phenomenon of anslating, 2. The translated text 3. The process, so translating ‘The process involves the SOURCE TEXT (ST) in the source language, and the TARGET TEXT (TT) inthe target Language. JAKOBSON (who belongs o the communicative stage ofthe translation studies ~a period that starts from 1950-) was a Russo-American structuralist, who discussed on linguistic meaning and equivalence. He distin- ‘guished 3 different types of translation in his work “On linguistic aspects of translation” 1, INTRALINGUAL TRANSLATION or rewording: i's an interpretation of verbal sign of the same Lan- ‘guage. For example the summary or the paraphrase, so rewrite the same text in order to simplify it 2. INTERLINGUAL TRANSLATION or translation proper: an interpretation of verbal sign of different languages. 3. INTERSEMIOTIC TRANSLATION or transmutation: it involves different codes and signs. It is the translation from a code to another, for example from verbal signs to non verbal signs, There's a debate about the difference between translation, adaption, version etc. and Sandra Halverson claims that translation is a prototype and it has basic core features. Maria Tymoezko discusses the concept of translation. She has a conceptual orientation, because she thinks ‘that we can’t always use a lexical fidelity to the original text, So the target text will show a big change of form compared to the source. What is translation studies? ‘Translation studies isan academic rstarch area that has expanded in recent years.Holmes in “The name and , Mona Many experts have talked about this new discipline called “Translation studi nature of translation studies", Mary Snell-Homby in “Translation Studies: An integrated approal baker in “The Routledge Encyclopedia of translation’ ‘Translation studies have become more prominent because of 3 reasons: 1, The expansion in specialized twanslating and interpreting programs 2. The prokiteration of conferences, hooks and journals on translation 2. The increase of international organizations EARLY HISTORY OF THE DISCIPLINE The practice of translation was fundamental forthe early dissemination of cultural and religious texts ‘The first who discussed about translation were CICERO AND HORACE during the first century BCE, and STJEROME during the 4th century CE. St Jerome translated the Greek Septuagint Bible inte Latin and so he affected the later ranslations of the Seriptures. Later, in Europe, the translation of the Bible was the cause of ideological conflicts for years, especially dur- ing the Reformation in 16th century. So the practice of vanslation is long established, while the study of the field was developed enly during the 20th century ‘There are 4 different phases of the translation studies: 1. The linguistic stage: before the 1950, The translation was studied as & Language-learni and the grammar translation was very commen, (Civero, Horace, St. Jerome, Martin Luther, Dryden, Tytler, Schleienmacher) 2. The communicative stage: fiom 1950. Thanks to translation workshops, the comparative literature and the contrastive Linguistics spread. The comparative literature consists in studying and comparing literature ‘wansnationally andl transculturally. The contrastive linguistics consists in studying two languages in contrast in order to find the differences between therm, (akobson, Vinay, Darbelnet, Nida, Catford) In 1960s Vinay. Darbelnet and Nida developed a more systematic and linguistic-oriented approach to the study of translation. ‘The translation was viewed in a scieatifie way and Nida defined it a science in his work “Toward a science of translating”. The Gcuman Wilss gave his work the same title: “Ucbersetzungwissenschaft” 3. Funetionist stage: trom |970, Newmark 4. Ethical/aesthetie stage: irom 2000 ‘The subject of tanslation is characterized by interdisciplinarity and this has become more evident in the last years and helped the development of the translation studies.Transation Stas ——~ ilaoe Trandation Trandaton Transation Thecrctca y~™ fda Press Fein or ar eas Mekon Ama RaakTeusType Tine Pom rected euriced resuited rewrite rested rested se palicy crim Figure 1. Holmes’ map (based on Holmes 1988) THE HOLMES/TOURY MAP James S. Holmes developed this discipline in his work “The name and nature of translation”, that is consid- ered the founding statement of the discipline. Holmes thought thatthe discipline of translation had limitations because it was still linked to other older discipline, like languages or linguistics, and it was not viewed as @ distinct discipline, So he developed a framework where he shows what the translation studies, Pure areas of research are: the description of the phenomena of translation and the translation theory. ‘The theoretical branch is divided into general and partial ‘The descriptive branch is also called descriptive translation studies (DTS). It may examine: ~The Product: Product-oriented DTS. It examines existing translations, so it analyzes ST and TT “The function: Funciion-oriented DTS. It describes the function of translation in the sociocultural context. For example subtiiling contemporary cartoons in Arabic. - The process: process oriented DTS is the psychology of translation, so what happened in the mind of the translator ‘The paral theoretical is divides into: -Medium restricted theories: subdivide according to translation by machine or humans. ~Acea resiricted theories: ate restricted to specific languages or groups of languages or cultures. -Rank restricted theories: are linguistic theories ‘Text type restricted theories: concern types and genres -Time restricted concems theories and translations limited to a specific period, -Problem restricted theories: concem certain problems such as equivalence.—__—_z The Applied Branch of TS. ex methods techniques design | erablation At ae 2 : translations CAT Gols dictionaries grammars Te machine translation iline use of translation software databases _ internet ‘The applied branch Another important map has been developed by Van Doorslaer. He distinguished Translation and translation studies. ‘The first is divided into: © Lingual mode Media + Mode + Field ‘The second is divided into + approaches + theories ‘© research methods ‘+ applied translation studiesCHAPTER 2: TRANSLATION THEORY BEFORE THE 20" CENTURY Word for word or sense for sense? ‘There's a debate that has dominated the Translation theory before the 20" century: the word for word and sense for sense translation. Newmark has analyzed this debate and calls it the pre-linguisties period of translation, This debate dates back to Cicero and St Jerome. Marcus Tullius Cicero explains his approach to translation in De optimo genere oratum, He wrote that he did not translate as an interpreter but as an orator, keeping the same ideas and forms, so the figures of thought, So in so doing it, he did not tanslate word for word but sease for sense. ‘The interpreter is intended as a word for word translator, while the orator tried to produce a speech that moves the listeners thanks to a sense for sense translation, This practice went against the Roman tradition where the translation was word for word. Also Horace criticized the word for word translation and this influenced Si Jerome, the most famous western translator and protector of the translators. He cites Cicero to justify his own translation of the Christian Bible. Jerome translated the New Testament correcting the eaulier Latin translations from Greek. For the Old Testa~ ment he seturned to the Septuagint: it is a translation of the Hebrew bible and it has been described as the first major translation in western culture, Jerome compared the Greek Septuagint translation with the Hebrew original and note where the two versions differed, So he formulated his theory in De optima genere interpre- ‘andi, a letter addressed to his triend. Here he freely announced that in translating from the Greek he ren~ dered not word for word but sease for sense He defined the word for word translation “literal translation”, and the sense for sense “Pree translation”, He rejected the word for word translation because it produced an absurd translation and dida’t allow main- taining the sonse of the source text, also because of the syntax, that is considered part of the mystery of the Bible We can see the importance of the translation of sacred texts also in China and the Arab world An example is the Chinese translation of Buddhist sutras from Sanskrit, This phenomenon was analyzed by Hung and Pollard. They have been inspired by Civero and St. Jerome and they rejected too the word for word translation, because the texis were mostly oral, so there was different source texts and the translations were all different and often incomprehensible HUMANISM AND THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION ‘Before the arrival of the Printing press in Europe, so in the 15th century. texts were copied by hand and this, Jed co errors, Jerome's version of the Bible was unstable because of attempts to correct his translation and addiction the Latin was controlled by the Chureh in Rome. ‘The European Humanist movement wanted the liberation of the Language fom the power of the Church to recover the classical Latin and Greek. In the 15th century the Protestant reformation lead to a schism within Christianity and the Bible had been ‘ranslated also in vernacular languages. ‘But the translation could diverge fiom the Church being judged heretical and of being banned. interpretation and so the Wanslators could run the risk of This happened to those translators who wanted to make texts available to a wider pubic, such as Tyndale and Dolet‘Tyndale was an English theologian-iranslator and a linguist. He wrote an English version of the Rible during his exile, that has been used as the basis of the Geneva Bible. Bur this version was banned and confiscated and Tyndale was abducted and tried for heresy and executed, Dolet was condemned for the addiction of the phrase “rien de tout” in a passage about what existed after Death, It has been intended as if Dolet doesn’t believe in immortality, for this reason he was bumed. ‘The Humanist advances in the study and knowledge of Greek and Hebrew lead to the revelution of Bible translation. An example is the Erasmus's edition of the Gireek New Testament in 1516. ‘The most famous example of non literal translation of the Bible is Mastin Luther's translation into East Cen~ ‘al German of the New Testament and later Old Testament. His use of a regional Language lead to a revolu~ tion of translation and to the reinforce of that form of German Language as standard. Luther defended his accusation that he altered the Holy Scriptures in his Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen of 1530. This letter reminds Dolet. Luther had been eriticized for the addition of the word allein because there \was no equivalent Greek word in the ST. But he used it for emphasis, So Luther, like St Jerome, rejected a word for word translation because it was unable to convey a corrected ‘meaning of the ST FAITHFULLNESS SPIRIT TRUTH Louis Kelly and Flora Amos identify dee words that are linked with translation: FIDELITY: this concept is related to the figure of the fidus interpres. Fidelity means faithfulness to the ‘meaning rather than the words of the author. SPIRIT: has two meanings: the creative energy or inspiration, or for St Augustine the Holy spirit of God, ‘TRUTH: for Si Augustine is related to the spirit, for St Ferome meat ‘means the content of the text s the authentic Hebrew Bible. For Kelly These 3 elements are interconnected in translation, (On the other hand Rener does not consider these 3 elements, but he analyzes continuity of translation dur- ing the history: in the ancient Rome the study of language was divided in 2 pasts: GRAMMAR: privileged words with values of propriets (acceptability), puritas (purity) and perspecuitas (clarity). A word should be accepted as an integral part of the Language and commonly understood. RHETORIC: valued clegantia (elegance) and dignitas (dignity). So the stylistic features, like structure shythm and musicality. ‘These elements influenced the Italian humanist Leonardo Bruni EARLY ATTEMPTS AT SYSTEMATIC TRANSLATION THEORY The firs translators who created a systematic approseh to translation theory are: DRYDEN. DOLET, TYILER DRYDEN (betvcea 1500 and 1600) He was an English poet and translator of the 17th century. He gave a brief description of the translation process in the preface of his translation of Ovid's Epistles. He reduced translation to 3 categories so hee cre- ated a triadic model: Metaphase: it’s the literal word for word translationParaphrase: i's the faithful sense for sense translation Imitation: i’ the free translation and itis not sense for Sense or word for word, itis called also adaptation, Dryden criticized the metaphase, because it’s a word far word translation, and rejected the imitation because in the imitation the translator is too visible and writes what he supposes that the author would have said. So he prefers Paraphrase, However in the dedication of his translation of Virgil's Aeneid, he shows a change of his point of view, be- tween paraphrase and literal translation, DOLET 1500) ‘Was important for the development of the French Lengusge. Inbis 1540 manuscript “La maniére de bien traduire d'une langue en aulire” he set cut S principles in order oLimportance: the translator must perfectly understand the sense and material ofthe oviginal author + he should havea perfect knowledge of the SL and TL + Should avoid word for word tanslation + Should avoid Latinate and unusual forms + Should correctly asseanble words to avoid clumsiness (scootdinazions) {The sense isto translate sense for sense and avoid word for word, ‘YTLER (operates around 1790) With his “Essay on the prineiples of translation” he made the first Comprehensive and systematic study of ‘ranslation in 1790 He focuses on the target Language, son the reader, nd he defines 3 general law = The translation should communicate the same ideas ofthe original work. = Thestyle and manner of writing ofthe TT should be the sume ofthe ST ~The tT should have the sume case of the ST ‘The first law is similar to Doers first wwo principles, because both of them think that the translator should have a perfect knowledge of the original text and should give a faithful transfusion of the seuse and meaning. ‘The second law is similar to Dolet’s fifth principles, because it deals with the style. ‘The most difficult law is the last, that deals with the ease of the translation ‘So_Tytlet focuses on the faithfulness both of the form and the meaning. SCHLEIERMACHER He operated around 1700 and 1800, He was influenced by the philosopher Herder.He's considered the founder of modern Protestant theology and modern hermeneutics (the interpretation of ancient texts and documents) He produced his work “Uber die verschiedenen Methoden des Ubersetzens” His hermencutics focuses on an interpretation based not on absolute truth but on the individual's inner feel ing and understanding He distinguishes two different types of translator: the Dolmetscher: translates commercial texts the Obersetzer- translates scholarly and artistic texts The lust one has more difficult but a more creative task because the Language ofartistic and scholarly texts is bound to the culture. ‘He moves beyond the word for word and sense for sense translation. He wanted to bring the ST writer and the TT reader together, so he ties to move the writer towards the reader and the reader towards the writer. He distinguishes two methods: -Naturalizing method: thet brought the foreign text in Line with the pattems of the TL. Schleiermacher prefers this method. -Alionation method: does the opposite because it emphasizes the value of the foreign, This two methods are called by Venuti “Domestication” and “Foreignization” ‘Translation theory of the nineteenth and early twentieth century in Britain. In Britain the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century focused on the status of the ST and the form of the TL. Important was the polemic between Newman and Arnold, Newman proposes the foreignness of the werk by the archaic translation and proposes a translation which could perfectly reach the au- dience. Arnold advises his audience to put their faith in scholars who are the only ones qualified to compare the effect of the TT to ST. In the society of the 19-20 century it was preferable to read the work in the original language so the translation was just for a selected élite in Britain. ‘Toward contemporary Translation Theory George Steiner lists a number of 14 writers who have said something fundamental or new about translation’. The list ineludes Saint Jerome, Luther, Dry- den and Schleiermacher. The modern theorician of the translation studies pointed out that the main problem of the translation was that criteria for judgement of them were vague and subjective. In or- der to avoid this vagueness and contradictions, translation theory tried to refine the concept of literal and free. CHAPTER 3: EQUIVALENCE AND EQUIVALENT EFFECT The previous debate was that between word for Word and sense for sense translation,While during the 19th and 20th century, the new debate was between meaning and equivalence, and the au- thors who discussed it where: Roman Jakobson, Nida, Newmark and Koller. JAKOBSON (during the 1960s) In his paper “On linguistic aspects of translation” he distinguished 3 rypes of iranslation: intralingual, inter- Hingual, intersemiotis With interlingual he refers to translation between two different languages. From this, he examines the LIN- GUISTIC MEANING AND THE EQUIVALENCE. Jakobson was inspired by the Swiss linguist De Saussure, who distinguished the LINGUISTIC SYSTEM-LANGUE and the specific individual utterances=parole, He distinguished also the signifierthe spoken and written signal; and he signified=ihe concept. This wwe create together the SIGN, Acconting to Saussure, the sign is arbitrary and unmotivated, because there are no objective laws that unify that signifier to that signified, The bond is conventional. Jakobson deals with the problem of equivalence in meaning between words in different languages. He states, that there is ordinarily no full equivalence between code-units” ‘There are two theories: LINGUISTIC UNIVERSALISM: states that the languages may differ in the way they convey the meaning and in the realization of that meaning, but there’s a common way of thinking and experiencing the world. LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY or DETERMINISM: states that different languages bring (0 a different con- ceptualization of the world. For this reason there is the question of translatability In Jakobson’s description interlingual translation involves subtitling messages in one language not for separate code units but for entire messages in some other languages. For the message to be equivalent’ in ST and TT, the code units will be different sine they belong to two different sign sys- tems (languages) . Jacobson said that the equivalence is the cardinal problem of language and the main concem of linguistics’. The main differences between languages occur at: 1. The level of gen- der 2. The level of aspect (verb morphology) 3. The level of semantic fields (Geschwister: brothers and sisters). Only “poetry” is considered “untranslatable” by Jakobson and requites ‘creative transpo- sition’. The question of meaning, equivalence and translability is a constant of translation studies NIDA (trom the 1940) ‘Nida is an important theorist of translation who had a more systematic approach, He tries to translate the Bible with a more scientific method by incorporating the recent works of linguistic. His major works are “Toward a Science of Translating” and “The theory and practice of translation” in col~ laboration with Taber. Nida was inspired by the theories of Chomsky: ‘Chomsky theorized a generative-transformational model, in which the sentence is composed by a deep struc= ture (tee phrase-structure rules) that is transformed to produce the Surface structure (characterized by phono- logical and morphemic rules). The most basic of this structure are kernel sentences that are simple active declarative sentences. Nida incorporates Chomsky’s theory into his science of translation and created the 3 stage system of trans- lation, composed by ANALYSIS, TRANSFER, RESTRUCTURING.The Surface structure of the ST is analyzed, the elements of the deep structure can be found, they are trans- ferved in the translation process and then restructured semantically and stylistically into the Surface ef the TT. SOURCE LANGUAGE RECEPTOR LANGUAGE TXT ‘TRANSLATION ANALYSB, RESTRUCTURING TRANSEER ‘Nida thinks that words have not a fixed meaning, but the meaning depends on the context and the meaning varyies according to the culture. ‘The meaning can be: LINGUISTIC MEANING: depends on the different linguistic structures. For ex. His house-his has the ‘meaning of possession. His kindnese=his has the meaning ofa quality of him. REFERENTIAL MEANING: the denotative dictionary meaning. EMOTIVE OR CONNOTATIVE MEAN! NG: the association a word produces. ‘There are many techniques that can help the translator in recognizing the different meanings ofa word: HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURING: differentiates series of words according to their level. COMPONENTIALANALYSIS: identities Specific features of a range of related words. SEMANTIC STRUCTURES ANALYSIS: it’s Nida’s favorite technique. It analyzes the different meaning of the word according to its characteristic and focusing on the context. Nida states that some words (such as spirit) are complex semantic terms and their meaning varies according to the context and the culture of the ST, ‘The techniques of semantic structure analysis are important to clarify ambiguities produced by the cultural differences Nida mov away fiom the old debate berween literal and free translation. He distinguished two types of EQUIVALENCES: FORMAL EQUIVALENCE: focuses the attention on the message in its form and content, The TT should ‘match as closely as possible the elements and the form of the ST. So it maintains also the source culture, DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCE: it focuses on the message, and the goal is naturalness. The translator should. find the most natural equivaleat to the source-language message. So the receptor of the TT should receive the same message of the ST. To do this, the translator uses adjustments of grammar and cultural references. The foreignness is minimized, It's a reveptor-oriented equivalence and it is based on the principle of eq ‘one of the four hasie requirements of a translation. These ate: lent effect or response. It is 1. Making sense2. Conveying the spirit and the manner of the ST 3. Having a natural and easy form of expression 4, Producing a similar response. Discussion of the important Nida’s work: the principle of equivalent effect and the concept of equivalence have been heavily criticized for a number of reasons: Lefevere felt that equivalence still overly concemed with the word level, while Van der Broeck and Larose considered the equivalence effect or response to be impossible. Qian Hu expressed the implausibility of this the equivalence response because in different languages the meaning of words are never equivalent (the same). Even the closest natural equivalent word in languages can have a contradictory meaning in another one. Even cultural references make impossible the equivalence between a language and an- other one. Furthermore, the techniques to analyze and transforming kemels into TT surface are so systematic that is debatable that a translator could follow these procedures in practice. Edwin Gen- tizer denigrated Nida's work for its theological and proselytizing standpoint since for Gentzler the dynamic equivalence serves the purpose of converting the receptor. was Despite these criticisms Nida’s systematic linguistic approach to translation has exerted a consider- able influence on many translation scholars in UK and Germany. NEWMARK (functionist stage because he works from 1980s) ‘Works during the 20th century (1900) and writes “Approzches to Translation” and “A textbook of transla~ tion”. He was inspired by Nida but he thinks that the equivalent effect is inoperant if the text is out of the TL space and time, For example the works of Homer, translated in modem British English cannot produce the same effect on the reader as the oral ST. ‘Newmark distinguished: COMMUNICATIVE TRANSLATION: similar to Nida’s dynamic equivalence. It attempts to produce on the reader of the TT the same effect as the reader of the ST. SEMANTIC TRANSLATION: similar to Nida’s formal equivalence. It attempts to render the same contex- ‘tual meaning of the ST, focusing on the semantic and syntactic structures of the original Semantic translation differs from literal translation because it respects context and give explanations. about it. Newmark preferred a literal translation because it sticks very closely to ST lexis and syn- tax. However if there’s a conflict between the two forms of translation (communicative or semiotic) for Newark the most acceptable is the communicative one. Discussion of Newmark: ‘Newmark's semantic translation and communicative translation have often been quoted in the litera~ ture of translation history and they have received far less discussions then Nida’s theories. New- mark has been criticized for his strong prescriptivism and the language of his evaluations still present traces of the “pre-linguistic era’: translations are smooth and awkward while translation self is an art (Semantic) or a craft (communicative). But Newmark’s work provides an ample guid- ance or advice for trainee and has a practical relevance to translation. He also emphasized both the aesthetic principles of writing and the ethical truth-seeking function for translating.KOLLER (Funetioniost stage, works between 1970s and 1980s) He works in Heidelberg and wrote “Einfuchrung in die Uebersetzungewissenschatt”. He examined the con- cep! of equivalence and correspondence, CORRESPONDENCE: deals with contrastive linguistic. It compares two Language systems and describes differences and similasities. I is based on Saussure’s langue. EQUIVALENCE: relates to equivalent items to specific ST-TT pairs and context. He differentiates 5 types of equivalence relations: | DENOTATIVE EQUIVALENCE 2CONNOTATIVE * CHAPTER 4: STUDYING TRANSLATION PRODUCT AND PROCESS During 1950s and 1960s, some experts proposed a linguistic approach to translation and have proposed de- tailed ists or taxonomies in order to categorize what happens in translation. These are: VINAY AND DARRE! CATFORD's linguistic approach. VINAY AND DARBELNET (communicative stage, they work around 1950s and 19603) They proposed a comparative stylistic analysis of French and English, so they looked at text in both lan- ‘guages and they identify different translation procedures and strategies,‘These two terms are very different because Procedures=specific technique used by the translator (for ex. Borrowing), while strategy~is an overall orientation (for ex. Free translation) Vinay and Dasbelnet distinguish TWO STRATEGIES and SEVEN PRODCEDURES. STRATEGIES: 1, DIRECT TRANSLATION=literal translation 2. OBLIQUE TRANSLATION=free translation PROCEDURES: 1. Borrowing: the SL word is transferred directly to the TL. 2. Calque: is a special kind of borrowing where the SL expression or structure is transferred in a literal trans- lation, 3. Literal translation: i's « word for word translation, very common between languages of the same family and culture. According to Vinay and Darbelnet, literal translation is the best way for a good translation, but sometimes the translator can judge it unacceptable for grammatical or syntactic reasons. In these cases the strategy is the OBLIQUE TRANSLATION. ls procedures are: 4. Transposition: A change of one part of speech for another, for example noun for verb, without changing the sense. It ean be: -obligatory -optional 5. Modulation: changes the semantics of the SL, because even if the literal uanslation is grammatically cor- rect, it can be unidiomatic in the TL. Modulation can be obligatory or optional An example: You're quite a stranger -> We don’t see you anymore. 6, Equivalence: when languages describe the same situation by different stylistic or structural means, It is very used for idioms and proverbs 7. Adaption: it’s the change of the cultural reference when a situation of the ST doesn’t exist in the target cul ture. So words that belong to the culture of the ST are replaced by words of the culture of the TT maintaining the same sense. There are other supplementary procedures: Amplification= when the TL uses more words than the SL Loss, gain and compensation A lost in translation is inevitably, because itis impossible to mainain the ex: act meaning and siructures of the ST, but this is compensate thanks to a gain, False friend: is a word of the SL that is similar to another of the TL but they have different meanings. Exploitation= implicit information of the ST is rendered explicit in the TT Generalization the use of a more general word in TT According to Vinay and Darbelnet, the levels of translation are 3: + Thelexicon+ The syntactie structures + The message ‘They distinguish also SERVITUDE AND OPTION ‘Servitude= refers to obligatory transposition and modulation due to a difference between the two Language system, Option= refers to a non obligatory change that the translator uses because of its own style and preferences. Vinay and Dasbelnet also give $ analytical steps that help the translator in moving from the ST te TT |. identify the units of translation (according to the two authors, a unit of translation is the smallest seg ment of the utterance whese signs are so linked that they could not be tanslated individually) Examine the SL text evaluating the descriptive, affective and intellectual content reconstruct the metalinguistic content of the ms sage Evaluate the stylistic effect 5. Produce and revise the TT CATFORD (communicative stage, he works around 1960s) He gave inspiration to Koller and its distinction between Cortespondence and equivalence because he devel ‘oped the difference between formal correspondent and textual equivalent, ‘When the two concepts diverge, there is a translation shift= the departure from formal correspondence {in the process of going from the SL to the TL. ‘There are two kinds of shift + Alevel shift: something which is expressed by grammar in a language and by lexis in the other + Category shifts: divided into: 1, Structural shifts: involve a shift in the grammatical structure Cass shifts: shifts inside the spocch 3. Unit shits 4 Inte system shifts 4.4 The cognitive process of translation ‘Translation shrift analysis seeks to describe the phenomenon of translation by analyzing and class fying the changes that can he observed by comparing ST-TT pairs. This interpretive model of translation champed in Paris from the 1960 onwards by Danica Seleskovitch and Marianne Lederer and initially applied to the study of conference interpreting, explains translation as an overlapping tage process involving:1) Reading and Understanding using linguistic competence and ‘world knowledge” to grasp the sense of ST. 2) Deverbalization is an essential intermediate phase if the translator wants to avoid transcord- ing and calques. It is an explanation of the process of translation where the transfer is through sense and not words. 3) Re-expression where the TT is constituted and given form based on the deverbalized under- stand of sense. 4) Verification where the translator revisits and evaluates the TT. ‘This model might appear quite similar to Nida’s model of analysis but the interpreting model focal- ized on the deverbalized cognitive process. In fuct, the deverbaliztion is undeveloped theoretically partly because of the problems of observing the process (it is a non-verbal state in the mind. ‘The relevance theory, the important work of Ernst-August Gutt considered translation as an exam- ple of a communication based around a cause-and effect model of inferencing and interpretation. ‘The author (communicator) gives the hearer communicative clues that allow the inference to be made. Translator decides wheter to translate descriptively or interpretively and what the degree of resemblance to the ST should be and so on. These decisions are based on the translator's evaluation of the cognitive environment of the receiver. To succeed the translator and receiver must share ba- sic assumptions about the resemblance and the translator's intentions must agree with the receiver's expectation. Roger Bell draws on linguistic concepts such as transitivity, modality and cohesion and on psy- cholinguistic processing. He posits a process that involves analysis and synthesis each of which oc curs in 3 areas (syntax, semantics and pragmatics) the model remains hypothetical since Bell does not support it with empirical evidence. Other theorists have adopted methods such as think-aloud protocol where the translator is asked to verbalize his thought process and such as technological innovations such as the Translog software which records the key-strokes made by the translator on the keyboard and eye-trackers which record the focus of the eyes on the text. ‘Chapter § Functional Theories of Translation‘Text type Katharina Reiss’s work in the 1970 builds on the concept of text equivalence. Her ap- proach aims initially at systematizing the assessment of translations. Reiss links the three functions to their corresponding language ‘dimensions’ and to the text types or communicative situations in which they are used. 1) Informative: the language is referential and logical: the topic is the main focus of the com- munication. 2) Expressive: Creative composition and use of aesthetic dimension of the language. Form, structure and message are both important. 3) Operative: Inducing behavioral responses. The aim of the appellative function is to appeal or to persuade the reader. The language is dialogic, the focus is appellative 4) Audio medial texts such as films and visual and spoken advertisement whieh provides vis- ual images and music too Reiss’s text types and varieties are represented in her graphic, Reiss states that the transmission of the predominant function of the ST is the determining factor by which the TT is judged. She sug- «gested methods of translations according to text type 1) The TTofan informative text should transmit the full referential or conceptual content of the ST. The translation should be in plain prose without redundancy but with explanations if required. 2) The TT ofan expressive text should transmit the aesthetic and artistic form of the ST. The translation should use the identifying method in which the translator should use the stand point of the ST author. 3) The TT of an operative text should produce the desired response in the TT receiver. The translation should employ an adoptive method, creating an equivalent effect among the read- 4) Audiomedial texts require the ‘supplementary method supplementing written words with visual images and music Reiss also lists a series of intralinguistic and extralinguistc instruction criteria to reach the ad quacy in a TT: - intralinguistic criteria: semantic, lexical, grammatical and stylistic feautures. - extralinguistic criteria: situation, subject field, time, place, receiver, sender and effective impli- cations. Although interrelated the importance of these criteria varies according to the text type. There are oc- casions when the communicative function of the TT may differ from that of the ST. Discussion of the text type approach 1)Criticism to Reiss method is summarized by Fawcett. One of the criticism is why there should only be three types of language function, Nord accepts this criticism too by fecling the need to add a fourth ‘phatic’ function, taken from Roman Jakobson’s typology. 2) There are also criticisms about how Reiss” proposed translation methods are to be applied in the case of a specific text. Even the apparently logical “plain prose” method for the informative text ean be questioned. 3) Another criticism is the strict differentiation between text types. In fact, some types of texts can have two classifications. Co-existence of functions within the same ST and the use of the same T for a variety of purposes are evidence of the fuzziness (confusione) that fits uneasily into Reiss’s clear division. Finally thetranslation method depends on far more than just text type. The translator's role and purpose and the sociocultural pressures also effect the translation strategy that is adopted. Mary Snell-Homby’s ‘integrated approach’ In her book Translation Studies: An Integrated Approach Mary Snell-Homby reviews and attempts to integrate a wide range variety of different linguistic and literary concepts in an integrated ap- proach transiation Snell-Homby uses the notion of prototypes in order to categorize the text types. Depending on the text type she incorporates culture, history, literature, socioculture and area sth and for legal economic, medical and scientific translation, the study of the revelant specialized sub- ject, The diagram drew by Hornby is to be read as a series of lines from left to right. It is a stratification model proceeding from the most general (A) to the most particular (F), In the level A she set out: Literary translation, General language translation, Special language trans- lation, In the Level B she indicates prototypical basic text types (Bible, newspaper, legal language texts, poetry) in the Level C she shows the non-linguistic discipline that influence translation (sociocultural study, cultural, historical aspect, studies of special subject) The level D covers the translation process municative function of the TT. ‘ding the understanding, the TT focus and the com- The level E covers areas of linguistics relevant to translation Area F deals with phonological aspects, such as altemation, rhythm and speakability of stage trans- lation and film dubbing, Inconsistencies of this method: 1. Undefinite categorization of text in a specific translation type . (ete. Film: literary trans 2. The cultural aspect can be relevant for many specialistic translation texts and not just for the literary texts. 3. Speakability need not to be restricted to literary works, THE TRANSLATORIAL ACTION MODEL BY HOLZ (1980S) It was inspired by the communication theory and action theory. The aim was to provide a model and guidelines that can be applied to a wide range of professional translation situations, ‘The interlingual translation is described as a translatorial action from a source text and as a comniu- nicative process involving a series of roles and players which are ‘+ The initiator: who needs the translation + The commissioner: who contact the translator © The ST producer: who produced the original text© The TT producer: the translator + The TT user: who uses the TT + The TT receiver: the final recipient of the TT ‘The Translatorial action focuses on producing a TT that is functionally communicative for the re ceiver; this means that the TT must be functionally suitable in TT culture, not the mere copy of the ST, In this model, the ST is analyzed according to: + The content, divided into factual information and overall communication strategy ‘+ Form, divided into terminology and cohesive clement. Skopos Theory Skopos is the Greek word for ‘aim’ “purpose” and was introduced into translation theory in the 1970s by Hans J.Vermeer as a technical term for the purpose of a translation and for the act of trans- lating. ‘The major work on skopos theory is Grundlegung einer allgemeine Translationstheorie (WVermeer+Reiss). ‘opos theory focuses on the purpose of the translation which determines the translation methods and strategies that have to be employed in order to produce a functionally adequate result (transla~ tion). ‘This result is the TT, called traslatum and must be functionally adequate, for this reason in skopos theory is crucial to know how the ST has to be translated and what are the functions of the TT. ‘The first part of the work of Reiss and Vermeer shows a detailed explanation of the skopos theory, the second part is about special theories that adapt Reiss's functional text type to skopos theory. Ruk s of Skopos Theory: 1) A traslatum is determined by its skopos. 2) ATT is an offer of information in a target culture and TL concerns an offer of information in a source culture and source language. (the ST and TT are related to their function in theit respective linguistic and cultural aspects) 3) ATT does not initiate an offer of info in a clearly reversible way (irreversibility of a text: the function of a translaturm in its target culture is not necessary the same as in the soruce cul- ture) 4) ATT must be internally coherent 5) ATT must be coherent with the ST 6) The 5 rules stand in a hierarchical order with the skopos rule predominating. 4-5 Corehence rule/ Fidelity rule ‘Coherence rule (intratextual coherence) : the TT must be considered coherent by the TT receivers so the text has to give circumstances and knowledge to the reader. Fidelity rule ( intertextual coherence) : states that there must be coherence between the translatum, and the ST. Specifically between the ST info received by the translator, the text interpretation of the traslator, and the info received by the readers.An important advantage of the skopos theory is that it allows the possibility of the same texts being translated in different ways according to the purpose of the TT and the commission which is give to the translator. In order for the translation action to be appropriate for the specific case, the skepos needs to be stated explicity or implicity in the commision. The commision is compromising a goal and should negotiate, together with the translator the goal that the translation should achieve. The nature of the TT is determined by its skopos and its adequacy (relations between the ST and TT as a consequence of observing a skopos during the translation process). If the TT fulfills the skopos out- lined by the commission, its functionally and communicatively adequate. When the function is the same both for ST and TT that is called constancy, but it usually an exception. Discussion of skopos theory Nord and Schaeffer discuss ‘ome criticisms made by other scholars . These are: 1) The skopo theory is meaat to be a general theory but is only valid for non-literary texts cos they have no specific purpose and are far more complex stilystically 2) Reiss'text type approach and Vermeer's skopos theory consider different functional phenomena and. ‘eannot be consideredumped together. 3) Skopos theory does not pay sufficient attention t the linguistic nature of the ST nor to the reprodue- tion of microlevel fezutures in the TT. Even if the skopos is fullfilled the texts can be stylistically or semantically inadequate. ‘Translation-oriented Text analysis Christiane Nord’s Text Analysis in Translation presents a more detailed functional model incorpo- rating elements of the text analysis, which examines text organization at the sentence level. Nord first makes a distinction between two basic types of translation product which are: - documentary translation: serves as document which is a source culture communication between the author and the ST recipient. For instance, the literary translation where the TT allows the TT re- ceiver to have access to the ideas of the ST, Other examples: word-per-word and literal translation, - instrumental translation serves as an independent message transmitting instrument in a new communicative action in the target culture and is intended to fulfill its communicative purpose. The TT receivers read the TT as through it were a ST written in their own language. The function of ST and TT are the same, Ex, Computer manual CHAPTER 6: DISCOURSE AND REGISTER ANALYSIS APPROACHES In the 1990s some authors were inspired by Christiane Nord’s text analysis model, so they developed the dis course and register analysis. But the text analysis concentrates on describing the Way in Which texts are orga nized, while the discourse analysis concentrates on the way Language communicates meaning, ‘The most important authors are: HALLIDAY with his systemic functional modelHOUSE “Translation quality assessment: a model revisited” MONA BAKER: “In other words” HATIM AND MASON HALLIDAY He elaborated the SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR model. It concentrates on the Language as communication. In halliday’s model there is a strong interrelation between the linguistic choices. the aims of the form of communication aad the sociocultural framework, For example, the sociocultural environment influences all the other elements, such as the discourse. The dis. ‘course influences the genre (the text type, that can be informative, appellative or expressive, according to Buhler), the geare influences the register, the register influences the discourse semantics, that influences the lexico grammat ‘The REGISTER is a complex term that links 3 elements: ELELD= wiat the text is about and how this experience is represented TENOR= the relationship between participants Feld is associated to IDEATIONAL= provides representation ofthe world or an event Tenor is associated to INTERPERSONA\ snacts social relationships ‘Mode is associated to TEXTUAL= it concerns the cohesion of the text, ‘These three discourse semanties are realized thanks to Lexicogrammatical elements: ideational-> subject-specific terminology interpersonal->pronouns textual->cohesion JULIANE HOUSE: TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT He wrote a model for the translation quality assessment to highlight mismatches/errors in translation. Dif- ference between mismatches and errors: an e1tor is folally wrong, a mismatch is not totally wrong. She hases her model on the comparison of ST and TT profile (lexical, syntactic, textual realization) House was influenced by Hailidayan model and she analyses the same register elements as Halliday, so the field, the tenor and the made. ‘House distinguishes two 1ypes of anslation: OVERT TRANSLATION: itis clearly a translation and wants to show the souree text. This when the ST is characterized by a specific culture and audience js necessary COVERT TRANLSATION: it appears as an independent text. I's a hidden translation. This is possible when the text is not linked to a particular culture or audience. In covert translation we can find a cultural fl- ter sometimes, that the translator has to apply to modify the cultural elements and also the register to give the impression the TT is an original text.MONA BAKER ‘She wrote “In oiher worls: a coursebook on translation”, She looks at equivalence at a series of levels: at ‘word, above word, grammar, thematic structure, cohesion and pragmatic levels ‘She applics the systematic approach particularly to: thematic and information structures, cohesion, pragmatic level ‘Thematic and information structures: itis characterized by RELATIVE MARKEDNESS. The translator should be aware of the relative markedness, because what is marked varies actoss the languages. Cohesion: is produced by the grammatical and lexical links which help a test hold together. There ate § types of cohesion: 1. Reference: it’s a semantic relation 2. Substitution: a substitution 3. Ellipsis: an element is supplied 4. Conjunction 5. Lexical cohesion: is a lexical relation produced by the selection of vocabulary Pragmatic level: according to Mona Baker, pragmatics is the study of Language in use. It’s the study of the meaning as conveyed and manipulated by participants in a communicative situation (so not as generated by the linguistics system). The three major concepts of pragmaiics are. COHERENCE: is related to cohesion and depends on the receiver’s expectations and experience of the world, So it may be different between the ST and TT. PRESUPPOSITION: is related to coherence, It is defined as pragmatic inference. It is connected with the linguistic and extralinguistic knowledge of the sender and the receiver. IMPLICATURE: another form of pragmatic inference. It is what the speaker means or implies rather than what he says. Grice developed the concept of implicature and described a set of rules called MAXIMES that ‘operate in normal conversation: 1. QUANTITY: give the amount of information that is necessary, not too much oF too little. 2. QUALITY: say only what you know to be true 3. RELEVANCE: what you say should be relevant to the conversation 4. MANNER: say what you need to say ina way that is appropriate to the message you wish to convey 5. POLITENESS: HATIM AND MASON They are influenced by House 6 register analysis and Baker's pragmatic analysis but they go Beyond them. ‘They think that Language and texts are considered to he realizations of sociocultural messages and power re- lations. According to them, a DISCOURSE is defined as modes of speaking and writing which involve social ‘groups in adopting a particular attitude towards areas of sociocultural activity. ‘They identify dynamic and stable clement in a text (TEXT: @ unit of structure which is deployed in the service of an overall rhetorical purpese, eg to expound or argueDISCOURSE: a systemically organized set of statements and values of an institution, IDEOLOGY: the set of beliefs and values which inform an individual’s or institution’s view of the world and assist their interpretation of events, facts or other aspects or experience] CHAPTER 7 SYSTEMs THEORIES In 1970s authors moved away from the models of 1960s, which are register and discourse analysis and sko- pos theory. They elaborated the systems theory. POLYSYSTEM THEORY Itwas developed in 1970s by Fven-Zohar, WHO WAS INSPIRED BY THE FORMALISTS AND STRUC- TURALSTS. in fact he belongs to the functienist stage. According to him, the /iterary work should not be studied in isolasion, bat as a part of the literary system Literature is considered as part of the social, cultural. literary and hisiorical framework and each element of the system influences the others Even-Zoher states that the polysystem isa multiple system, a system of various systems which ate intear- ‘Translated literature may occupy a primary or a secondary position in the polysystem. Itoccupies the primary position when: ~ A Young literature is being established and so refers to other more established literatures = A literature is peripheral or weak and also this refers to the other literary types which itis lacking (che a lei maneano) = There is vacuum in the literature of the country Itoccupics a secondary position when it represents a peripheral system within the polysystem, this because the system focuses on conservative elements and so the translated literature is not important, ‘The different positions influence the translation strategies: if itis primary, translators don’t follow the target literature models, while if it secondary, translators use target-culture models. Gentlzer states that the polysystem brought advantages in the translations, these are: literature is studies alongside the secial, historical and cultural forces -Zohar moved away ftom the isolated study of individual texts towards the study of translation within the cultural and literary system he moves away also from the definition of equivalence TOURY ‘Toury developed the methodology of DESCRIPTIVE TRANSLATION STUDIES(DTS) According to Toury, translation first occupies a position in the social and literary systems of the target cul ture. He proposes a three phase methodology for systematic DTS: 1 Situate the text within the target culture system2. Undertake o textual analysis of the ST and TT in order to identify relationships between corresponding segments in the 1wo teats. Toury calls these segments “coupled pairs”. This lead to identification of the ‘translation shifts. This second step is linked to Toury’s concept of an adequate translation, but he also admits that in practice no translation is fully adequate. Moreover, in different translations the coupled paits, or seg~ ‘ments, are not always the same. 3. Attempt generalizations in the two texts in order to reconstruct the process of translation So Toury’s aim was to reconsiruct the NORMS that have been in operation in the translation. in fact Toury considers the translation to be an activity governed by norms and these narms determine the equivalence in the transtation. ‘Toury states that the norms used in the translation can be reconstructed from feo types of source: 1. The examination of the texts, so the correspondences between the ST and TT segments. 2. The explicit statements by the authors According to Toury, there are different types of norm: - INITIAL NORMS: teters to the choice of the translator to realize the translation towards the ST (so the TT will be adequate) or towards the TT (so it will be acceptable) - PRELIMINARY NORMS: are TRANSLATION POLLICY (refers to the selection of texts) and DI- RECINESS OF TRANSLATION (if there are intermediate languages or not) - OPERATIONAL NORMS: relate to the choices in the text, they can be MATRICIAL NORMS (re- fer to the completeness of the text) or TEXTUAL LINGUISTIC NNORMS (the lexical and syniac~ tic choices) Toury also developed two laws of translation: 1. The law of the growing standardization: refers to the disruption of the ST patterns in order to use linguistic options that are more common in the TL 2. The law of interference: refers to linguistic options of the SL that are copied and used in the TT. This can be negative. (CHESTERMAN: is another author who focuses on the norms. He developed two types of norms -PRODUCT OR EXPECTANCY NORMS: refers to what the reader expects from the TT. -PROFESSIONAL NORMS: ACCOUNTABILITY NORM: is ethical, the translator accepts responsibility for the werk; COMMUNICATION NORMS: is social, translater is an experi who works for the communica~ tion; RELATION NORM: refers to the linguistic choices of the translator. THE MANIPULATION SCHOOL: wos born with the influence of Toury and Even-Zohat. The Manipula- tion school is the product of a Group of scholar. They view translation as a complex and dynamic system, as an interrelation between practical case studies and theoretical models and they are interested in the norms that govem the production of translation, So they have a strong link to the polysystem theory and to the DTS. LAMBERT AND VAN GORP: are two authors who published “On describing translation”, their work where they developed a scheme for the comparison of the ST and TT. ‘The scheme is divided in 4 parts: 1. Premilinary data: information on the text2. Macro level: narrative structure 3. Micro level: lexic, grammatical patterns, narrative point of view 4, Systemic context: imtertextual relations CHAPTER 8 CULTURAL AND IDEOLOGICAL TURNS: ‘Susan Bassnett and Andre Lefevere moved away from the linguistic theories of translation and focused on. the interaction between auslation and culture, because culture influence translation, so translation is uot. ‘only linguistic phenomenon but also cultural. So they move away from the translation as text to translation as culture and politics. This is what Snell-Homby calls “THE CULTURAL TURN’ In the essay ‘Translation, History and Culture” Rassnett and Lefevere developed the concept of the cultural urn and show the areas where cultural studies have influenced translation studies: translation as rewriting, translation and gender, translation and posteolonialism. LEFEVERE: he worked with comparative literature and he was influenced by the manipulation school and the polysystem theory. [Ie focuses on the concept of translation as rewriting, The motivation of the rewriting can be: IDEOLOGICAL: the translator conforms or rebels to the dominant ideclogy -POETOLOGICAL: the translator conforms or rebels to the poeties According to Lefevere translation is the most obviously recognizable type of rewriting and it is the most in- ‘luential because it can bring the original text out of its culture of origin, According to lefevere the lit vem, in which translation functions is controll main factors: 1. PROFESSIONALS within the literary system: can be crities, reviewers, who decide on the poetics 2. PATRONAGE: outside the literary system. The can be influential individuals, groups of people, institu. tion which regulate the distribution of literature. They influence 3 elements: the ideological component: the choice of the subject and the representation the economie component: refers to the payment of Writers and rewriters ihe status component: refers to the expectation of the patron A dominant poetics is composed by: LITERARY DEVICES: symbols, genres ‘THE CONCEPT OF THE ROLE OF LITERATURE: the relation of literature to the social system in which it exists TRANS LATION AND GENDER Sherry Simon approaches to translation fiom a gender studies angle, She sees a Language of sexism in trans~ lation studies because the image of dominance. fidelity, faithfulness and betrayal Tris also possible to sce a connection between the status of translation, which is considered inferier to origi- nal writing, and the role of women, who is repressed in literature and society. Simon talks about a translationproject, where the translation is feminist and has to be faithful towards the writing project, because the writer and the translator are both important, ‘Simon refers also to some important women translators, for example Garnett for the Russian literature, She translated Russian works into English, in order to make the works available also to English people. THE TRANSLATION OF GAY TEXTS Harvey analyzes the translation of the gay Language in the texts. So he deals with the concept of Language and identity. He links the linguistic characteristics of camp to cultural identity through the QUEER THE- ORY. He states that ifin the ST there are many characteristics typical of the gay Language it would bea problem in translating them, in fact often they disappear in the TL. POSTCOLONIALISM CHAPTER 9 ‘THE ROLE OF THE TRANSLATOR: Lawrence Venuti VENUTI is an important translator who insists on the importance of the sociocultural context and the value ‘of translation and for this reason he eriticized Toury's norms hecause they don’t deal with any value. They are value-free. However Venuti states that these values are implicit in Toury's norms. ‘Venuiti wrote “The Translator’s invisibility” where he tells his own experience as translator, Here he devel- ‘oped his important concept of the INVISIBILITY OF THE TRANSLATOR. INVISIBILITY is a term he uses to describe the translator's situation and activity in contemporary British ‘and American cultures. According to him this invisibility is produced by: -the way translators translate fluently into English, to produce @ fluent, idiomatic and readable TT, so they create an illusion of transparency. the way the translated text are read in the target culture, ‘Venuti distinguishes two types of translation: DOMESTICATION: is dominating in British and American wanslation culture. It involves an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text, so the foreignness of the TT is minimized. It is similar to Schleienmacher de~ scription of translation that moves the author toward the reader. FOREIGNIZATION: is also called minoritizing and itis a translation where the translator is visible, be- cause he docsn't use a Language near to the target culture but he semains near to the ST culture and many times uses also slangs. With the foreignization, the text doesn’t appear as an original text, but itis clearly a translation and the translator is visible. Iti a strategie cultural intervention which seeks to send the reader broad. It is similar to Schleiermacher translations where it’s the reader that moves toward the author. This is. ‘Venuti's preferred strategy. ‘Domestication and foreignization are not opposite. but they are par of a continuum in a translation, ‘They de- pend on an cthical level thatthe translator considers before doing the translation, BERMAN He precedes and influences Venuti Accomding (o him, tanslaion isan “spreuve', a tral, because: for the target culture is an experience af the strangeness af the foreign text and culture the forcign text is uprooted from its or nal Language contextBerman refused the naturalization, or Domestication as Venuti called it later. Acconding to Berman, the ethi- cal aim of translation is to give the foreign as foreign, for this reason he refuses naturalization, and be influ~ ences Veauti’s strategy of foreignization, ‘However, Berman thinks that during translation may occur some textual deformation. The examination of the form of deformation is called “Negative analytic” . He identifies 12 deforming tendencies that ar: RATIONALIZATION: modification of syntactic structure CLARIFICATION: explicitation of concepts EXPANSION: adding some elements, ENNOBLEMENT: the translator wants to improve the original text rewriting it with a more elegant style. QUALITATIVE IMPOVERISHMENT: replacement of words and expressions with TT equivalents QUANTITATIVE IMPOVERISHMENT: ‘THE DESTRUCTION OF RHYTHMS ‘THE DESTRUCTI ERLYD THE DESTRUCTION OF LINGUISTIC PATI NINGS ‘THE DESRUCTION OF VERNACULAR NETWORKS. i EFEACEMENT OF THE SUPERIMPOSITION OF THE LANGUAGE: Berman also identif a positive analytic that is the literal translation. CREATIVITY of translation has become an important theme in translation studies, 2s well as the pasition- ability of the translator. ‘One of the most important authors whe deal with the theme of the pesitionability of the translater is Maria ‘Tymoczko. She thinks that the ideology of a translation resides not only in the text translated, but also in the ‘anslator and in the audience, for the reason the translator is “in between". The translator is not a neutral me~ diator in the communicative act, he is an ethical agent of the social change and Carol Maier defines it as an “un intervenient being ‘THE POWER NETWORK OF THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY: literary translation is an economic ac- tivity. The publishing industry influences the translation and may bring to the weakness of the translator's role in the network. Faweett deseribes this network as amounting to a power play, resulting in produets shaped by editors into a domesticating translation, Moreover, the editors and the publishers have the power to decide which works ean be translated und usually they choose works that are easily assimilated into the target culture. For many authors the best way to achieve success is to translate into English, ‘THE RECEPTION AND REVIEWING OF TRANSLATION‘The link between the publishing industry and the reception of a translation is analyzed by Meg Brown. She stresses the role of reviews that are important in order to informs the public and prepare the readership to the ‘work, She is inspired by RECEPTION THEORY and she examines the way a werk conforms to, challenges ‘or disappoints the reader's aesthetic horizon expectation. She can do this thanks to the reviews, for example ‘many people prefer a fluent, natural and idiomatic translation, linked to the invisibility of the translator by Vert Morcover, Genette identifies 2 types of paratextual elements: Peritents: that appears in the text and are provided by the author (title) Epitexts: not material elements and not linked to the text, for example marketing, reviews, The review can be analyzed synchtonieally or diachsonically. CHAPTER 10; PHILOSOPHICALAPPROACHES TO TRANSLATION During the 20* century, some theorists analyzed the interrelation between translation anh philosophy. The ‘most important authors were: STEINER: with his hermeneutic motion, RA POUNI ): with the energizing of language BENJAMIN: with the pure language of translation DERRIDA: with the deconstruction movement STEINER He focuses on the hermeutic approach to translation. According to him, the hermeneutic approach is the in- vestigation of what it means to understand a piece of oral or wnitten speech, and the attempte to diagnose this process, So Steiner focuses on the psychological and intellectual functioning of the mind of the translator. He states that the translation is not a seience but an exact ast, with precisiojns that are intense but unsystematic.The hermeneutic motion consist of four moves: 1. INITIATIVE TRUST: is the first move of the translator and itis when the translator believes that there is something in the ST that ean be understood, But there two risks: that the something may be ‘come nothing or everything 2. AGGRESSION: when the translator enters into the text, for this reason Steiner also calls this “pene= tation”. This can bring to the risk of exhausting the text, however tha translation ean be even better than the original 3. INCORPORATION: the ST meaning exctracted by the translator in the second passage, is now brought to the TL. The assimilation can be a complete domestication or a permanent strangeness. 4. COMPENSATION: is the enhancement (miglioramento) of the ST because it is transferred also to another culture, it gains more value, ‘There two main philophical concepts in Steiner's theory’ ‘THE RESISTANT DIFFERENCE: occurs when the translator esperiences the foreign language in a different ‘way from his mother tounge, and when the differences between two languages impose on the translator. This can prevent the translator from penetrating the original text. ‘THE ELECTIVE AFFINITY: when the translator recognize himself into the text and can penetrate it According to Steines, a translation is good whene these two elements balance one another. EZRA POUND. Pound and Benjamin betong to the age of philosophic poetic theory and definition. Pound was always experimental and focused on the expressive qualities of the language, seeking to energize language by clarity, zhythm, sound, rathere than sense, He privileged the creative form of the sign, particu- larly while he was studying Chinese. Pound’s experimentalism and challenging of the poetic doctrine continue to provide inspiration to the fol- lower translators and theorists, including Venuti, who finds in his translations a form of foreignization BENJAMIN He focuses on the philosophy of language and rejected the modem rationalistie view of language. He saw language 2s magical and its mission was to reveal the spiritual content, According to him, the task of the translator is to find the pure language that is hidden in the text. This because the translated text is not seprate from the source text, but he gives the original “continued life”. According to Benjamin, the liberation of the language to achieve the TT can occur only if the translator allows the TL to be affected by the foreign language. This dates back to Schleiermacher's alienation and itis linked to Venuti's foreignization. DECOSTRUNCTION Decostrunetion isa concept developed dusing the 20" century, thanks to the French philesopher Derrida and (Churistopher Norts. ‘This moevement rejects the primacy of meaning fixed in the word and instead foregrounds or deconstructs the ways in which a text undermines its own assumptions and reveals its internal contradictions. ‘Nontis states that desconstruction is an activity of reading whgich remains closely tied 10 the textWhile Derrida concentrates on the concept of the relevance of a translation. In doing these he was influenced by Saussure, who distinguished the signified and the signifier of a word. Derrida states that the relevance of a translation relies on the supposed stabiulity of the signified and the signifier relationship. Abuse fidelity: Lewis argues for a different translation strategy, the abusive fidelity. This involves experi ‘mentation with the expressive and rhetorical patterns of language, supplementing the ST and giving it a ren- ‘wed energy, The translator has to compensate for the inevitable losses in translation,