Main Issues of Theory of Translation

1. The Concept of Translation: a Brief History

The term translation 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).

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). (Introducing Translation Studies, p. 5)

Throughout history, written and spoken translations have played a crucial role in interhuman communication. The first traces of translation date from 3000 BC during the Egyptian Old Kingdom, where inscriptions in two languages were found. The practice of translation was discussed by, for example, Cicero and Horace (first century BCE) and St Jerome (fourth century CE). Their writings were to exert an important influence up until the 20-th century. For example, St Jerome’s approach to translating the Greek Septuagint into Latin would affect later translations of the Scriptures. Indeed, in Western Europe the translation of the Bible was to be the battleground of conflicting ideologies. In China, it was the translation of the Buddhist sutras that inaugurated a long discussion on translation practice.

It should be mentioned that in academic circles translation was previously relegated to just a language-learning activity. But today thanks to cross-cultural communication translation got enhanced importance and we see the rapid growth in this area, particularly over the last decade.

3. Is Translation an Art or a Craft?

Translation is a means of interlingual communication. But is it an art or a craft?

This question has been under debate for many years. According to Natalia Strelkova “Ideally, the translator is like a talented artist who when he looks at his sitter or a landscape, sees something more than the ordinary viewer – he sees the essence of what is in front of him. A good translator always processes the textual information to allow the reader to see what he sees and feel what he is feeling. He acts as an invisible bridge between the author and the reader. That is what makes translation an art. On the other hand, mastery of craft is important, too, for an inept, ineffectual translator or interpreter can wreak havoc on any effort at communication”. (N. Strelkova. Introduction to Russian-English Translation. New York, 2012, p. 1)

The following example is just a case in point.

The company prides itself on having spent hardly a penny on conventional advertising throughout its history.

Компания гордится тем, что потратила едва ли пенни на обычную рекламу на протяжении своей истории.

1. To translate this sentence correctly, we will have to analyze its components on different levels, namely, lexical, grammatical and stylistic:

- (in Britain) penny is a unit of money equal to one hundredth of a pound;

- the perfect gerund having spent is used as an object;

- the adverb hardly gives some expressiveness to the utterance.

2. Then we should “decode” and reformulate these elements according to the norms of the Russian language.

The translation of the given above sentence involves some lexical and grammatical manipulations, such as: generalization: having spent hardly a penny – практически без всяких затрат; addition: conventional advertising – традиционные способы рекламирования товара; addition: throughout its history – на протяжении всей истории своего существования; moving the phrase throughout its history to the beginning of the sentence.

Taking all these facts into account, this sentence can be translated like that:

Компания гордится тем, что на протяжении всей истории своего существования она использовала традиционные способы рекламирования товара практически без всяких затрат.

This step-by-step analysis demonstrates that any translation requires specific skills which are called translator’s competence. It means that the translator must possess not only profound knowledge of both languages – the ST and the TT, but also to be able to employ some creative tactics. So, we can say that translation is simultaneously a craft and an art consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and statement in one language by the same message and statement in another language.

3. Theory of Translation as a Linguistic Science and Translation Studies as an Academic Discipline

The core of the translation theory is the general theory of translation which is concerned with the fundamental aspects of translation inherent in the nature of bilingual communication and therefore common to all translation events, irrespective of what languages are involved or what kind of text and under what circumstances was translated.

The basis of this theory is linguistics in the broadest sense of the word, that is, macrolinguistics with all its new branches, such as psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, text linguistics, communicative linguistics, etc.

The task of the theory of translation is to provide students, researchers and professional translators with theoretical description of the translation phenomenon.

The aims of the theory of translation are:

1) to describe general linguistic principles of translation;

2) to elaborate the principles of types of translation;

3) to define the notion of equivalence and / or adequacy in translation;

4) to describe the process (the notion) of translation from the scientific point of view;

5) to reveal pragmatic and social-linguistic factors of translation;

6) to define the notion of norm in translation (for example, professional norms, which regulate the translation process itself, linguistic norms as related to the language system, communicative norms as related to communicative behavior, production norms which concern the methods and strategies by which a correct product can be achieved, etc. (Current Issues In Language and Society Volume 5, Issue 1-2, 1998, Cristina Schaffner The Concept of Norms in Translation, Studies, p. 1)

One of the outstanding scientists who influenced the development of the theory of translation was Eugene Nida. (He is also famous for his translation of the Bible).

Central to Nida’s work is the move away from the old idea that an orthographic word has a fixed meaning and towards a functional definition of meaning in which a word ‘acquires’ meaning through its context and can produce varying responses according to culture. (Introducing Translation Studies, p. 39)

Fyodorov stresses that translation theory is an independent linguistic discipline, deriving from observations and providing the basis for practice. He believes that all experience is translatable and rejects the view that language expresses a peculiar mental word-picture (словесное изображение).

Comissarov sees translation theory moving in three directions:

1) the denotative (informational translation);

2) the semantic (precise equivalence);

3) the transformational (transposition of relevant structures).

Translation studies is the academic discipline related to the study of the theory and phenomena of translation. By its nature it is multilingual and also interdisciplinary, encompassing any language combinations, various branches of linguistics, comparative literature, communication studies, philosophy and a range of types of cultural studies (культурология) as well as sociology and historiography. (Introducing Translation Studies, p. 1)

Translation studies contains elements of social science and the humanities (гуманитарные науки) and deals with the systematic study of the theory, the description and the application of translation, interpreting or both these activities.

Translation studies has become more prominent in recent years due to:

1) a proliferation of specialized translating and interpreting courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, which are mainly oriented towards training future professional translators and interpreters.

2) a proliferation of conferences, books and journals on the theory and practice of translation (The Journal of Translation and New Voices, The Linguist, The ITI Bulletin and In Other Words).

3) The work of such international organizations as the Canadian Association for Translation Studies, the European Society for Translation Studies, etc., which bring together translation studies scholars nationally and internationally.

This thesis can be illustrated with the following example: the book by Jeremy Munday INTRODUCING TRANSLATION STUDIES. Theories and applications contains material on historical sources, the works on ethics, ideology, sociology, historiography and other branches of science.

4. Classification of the Types (Methods) of Translation

Different types of translation can be singled out depending on the predominant communicative function of the source text or the form of speech involved in the translation process. Thus we distinguish between the following types of translation:

№	Criterion	Characteristics of the type of translation
	According to the overall ST function we distinguish between informative and literary translation.	1. Informative translation is rendering into the target language non-literary texts, the main purpose of which is to convey a certain amount of ideas, that is, to provide information to readers. The source texts can be represented by scientific and technical texts, newspaper materials, official papers, public speeches, political and propaganda materials, advertisements, etc. 2. Literary translation (novels, short stories, plays, poems, etc.) involves various lexical, grammatical and stylistic techniques as each genre calls for a specific arrangement and makes use of specific artistic means to impress the reader.
	According to the translation approach used in producing the target text, translations can be characterized as semantic or communicative.	Semantic translation attempts to render, as close as the semantic and syntactic structures of the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the original. It is appropriate for translation of serious literature, autobiography, ‘personal effusion’, any important political or other statement (Introducing translation studies, p. 44-45) whose content is addressed to specialists. Ex: the translation of legislation and legal documents. Communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original (Introducing translation studies, p. 44-45) whose content is addressed to the general reader. Ex: the translation of Pushkin’s poems.
	According to the degree of modification introduced in the translation, it can be literal or free.	1) ‘literal’ translation / word-for-word translation (дословный перевод) consists in mechanical substitution of the elements of the original text for their equivalence in the language of the TT (Ex: to play with fire – играть с огнем); 2) ‘free’ translation / sense-for-sense translation (вольный перевод) means rendering the most essential things of a ST without formal correspondences being taken into account. ((Introducing Translation Studies, p. 20)
	According to the integrality of translation, i.e. the amount of the ST translated, translation can be either full or selective.	Selective translationis a translation of selected parts of a document (the extraction of information). It covers not only translation of certain passages in a text but also abstracts or summaries prepared on the basis of a ST in another language. (Roda P. Roberts, Towards a Typology of Translations, p. 74) Full translationis a translation of the whole piece of writing, whose content is so important for the recipient that it should be translated into the TL in detail. The most widely used methods of full translation are literal translation, semantic translation and communicative translation.
	According to the medium of translation the translation can be oral and written.	1. Oral translation is commonly known as interpreting or interpretation. There are two main kinds of oral translation – consecutive (последовательный) and simultaneous (синхронный перевод). In consecutive translation the translating starts after the original speech or some part of it has been completed. In simultaneous interpretation the interpreter is supposed to be able to give his translation while the speaker is uttering the original message. 2. Written is the reproduction of the content of the original document by means of the language of translation in written form. The Russo-American linguist Roman Jakobson (Jacobson 1959/2000 'On Linguistic Aspects of Translation') makes a very important distinction between three types of written translation: 1. intralingual translation - translation within the same language, which can involve rewording, or paraphrase; 2. interlingual translation - translation from one language to another, and intersemiotic translation - translation of the verbal sign by a non-verbal sign, for example music or image. Back-translation and adaptive translation are another two types of written translation. "Back-translation"is a translation of a translated text back into the language of the original text, made without reference to the original text. Adaptive translation represents the concept of the original but it is different because a created text cannot be substituted for the original text completely. Adaptive translation is characterized by the following features: simplification + interpretation. Its aim is to make the TT clear to certain groups of people who don’t possess certain professional or other types of knowledge to understand this material if it were translated word-for-word.
	According to the ways of employing the newest technologies we distinguish between computertranslation and web-based human translation.	Computer-assisted translation (CAT) is a form of translation wherein a human translator creates a target text with the assistance of a computer program. The machine supports a human translator. Web-based human translation is generally favored by companies and individuals that seek more accurate translators. In view of the frequent inaccuracy of machine translators, human translation remains the most reliable, most accurate form of translation available.

5. Ethics of Translation and Translator’s Competence

Criterion	Its characteristics
Preparation and qualification	Professional translators need comprehensive mastery of grammar, syntax and vocabulary of both the source and target languages (linguistic competence), and in-depth understanding of cultural norms.
Knowledge of the subject of translation	Professional translators must have knowledge of the pertinent subject matter.
The relationship between the author	1. Professional translators should refuse to translate from a TT unless with the consent of the author. 2. If they want to alter some part of the text, they may do it only with the author's consent
The relationships with colleagues	1. In the case of co-translation, the names of all the translators must appear on TT. 2. A translator must refuse work detrimental to a fellow translator.
Confidentiality	A translator must respect professional secrets. He must not divulge any information obtained during the performance of his services, including access to documentation or reports.
Impartiality	A translator should remain neutral, unbiased and impartial with regard to either party's gender, disability, race, ethnicity or national origin, age, educational level, socioeconomic status, religious or political beliefs.

The translator’s competence is the ability to render a target language text into a source language text in accordance with all agreements. It consists of the following sub-competences: linguistic, cultural, textual, subject, research, and transfer competence.

Translator’s Competence

Competence	Its characteristics
Linguistic	The translator should have a perfect knowledge of both SL and TL.
Cultural	Cultural competence comprises four components: 1) awareness of one's own cultural worldview; 2) attitude towards cultural differences; 3) knowledge of different cultural practices and worldviews; 4) cross-cultural skills.
Textual	It consists in being proficient in combining linguistic forms to produce a written or oral text in different genres or text types.
Subject	Knowledge of the ST subject is essential as it allows the translator to provide clear insight into the core ideas of the original work in the TT.
Research	The translator should have the ability to acquire and process information.
Transfer	To make the TT accurate and complete, the translator must know the principles guiding translation, such as processes, methods, procedures, and so forth.

For example, the Chartered Institute of Linguists’ (IoL) Diploma in Translation is the most widely known initial qualification for translators in the UK. Its Notes for Candidates gave the following criteria for assessing the translation:

1) accuracy: the correct transfer of information and evidence of complete comprehension;

2) the appropriate choice of vocabulary, idiom, terminology and register (регистр, стиль; уровень (произношения, чистоты речи и т. п.));

3) cohesion (связность), coherence (логичность, последовательность, обоснованность) and organization, etc. (Introducing Translation Studies, p. 31)

Lecture 2

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