TRANSLATIO N T H EO R I E S

BEFORE TH E T W E N T I ET H
CENTURY
PRESENTED BY:
DEXIE PONCE
LIEZEL B. GAMAO
I. ‘WORD-FOR-WORD’ OR ‘SENSE-FOR-SENSE’

A. GEORGE STEINER (1998:319) TRIAD IN TRANSLATION

• Literal (word-for-word)
• Free (sense-for-sense)
• Faithful (fidelity)

B. CICERO AND ST. JEROME

II. EARLY CHINESE & ARABIC TRANSLATION
A. EGYPTIAN BORN TRANSLATION SCHOLAR BAKER (1997) TWO
TRANSLATION METHODS:

• First method (word-for-word)

• Second method (sense-for-sense)
III. MARTIN LUTHER

IV. FAITHFULNESSS, SPIRIT AND TRUTH

• Flora Amos
• Luis Kelly- The True Interpreter (1979)
V. EARLY ATTEMPTS AT SYSTEMATIC TRANSLATION THEORY

A. JOHN DRYDEN’S CATEGORIES

• Metaphrase
• Paraphrase
• Imitation
B. ETIENNE DOLET’S PRINCIPLES IN TRANSLATION

• The translator must perfectly understand the sense and material of the
original author, although he should feel free to clarify obscurities.
• The translator should have a perfect knowledge of both SL and TL, so as not to
lessen the majesty of the language
• The translator should avoid word-for-word renderings.
• The translator should avoid Latinate and unusual forms.
• The translator should assemble and liase words eloquently to avoid
clumsiness
C. ALEXANDER FRASER TYTLER’S GENERAL LAWS/RULES IN TRANSLATION
• The translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the
original work.
• The style and manner of writing should be the same character with that
of the original.
• The translation should have all the ease of the original composition

D. YAN FU’S THREE TRANSLATION PRINCIPLES

• Xin (fidelity/faithfulness/trueness)
• Da (fluency/expressiveness/intelligibility/comprehensibility)
• Ya (elegance/gracefulness)
E. FRIEDRICH SCHLEIERMACHER’S TYPES OF TRANSLATION

• The ‘Dolmetscher’, who translates commercial texts;

• The ‘Ubersetzer’, who works on scholarly and artistic
texts.
End.