Module 02 Basic Concepts Relating to Translation

What’s Inside Basic Definition and Concepts in Translation

Websters New World Dictionary From Latin, translatus, transferred; used as a past participle of transferre. 1.To change from one place to another - to change from one position, condition, transfer 2.To put into words of a different language. 3.To change into another medium or form (to translate ideas into action) 4.To put into different words; rephrase or paraphrase in explanation. 5.To retransmit (a telegraphic message) by means of an automatic machine.

The Art of Translation [Translation] is an exacting art that demands creative expression, philosophical precision, minute knowledge of historical and cultural contexts, and a nuanced sense of style in both the source and target languages.” American Literary Translators Association, “Promotion and Tenure.”

Four Dimensions of Translation “ Texts are not written in a vacuum. Like language, literature pre-exists it practitioners. Writers are born into a certain culture at a certain time. They inherit that culture’s language, its literary traditions (its poetics), its material and conceptual characteristics (microwaves and the ideas of Freud in twentieth century American culture; chamber-pots and the ideas of the Enlightenment in eighteenth century England) – in a word its universe of discourse – and its standards” Andre Lefevere (1992): Translating Literature: practice and theory in a comparative literature context. New York: Modern Language Association of America, p. 86.

Culture: “Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” Edward B Tylor, Primitive Culture, Cited by. E.L. Schusky and T.P Culbert (1978): Introducing Culture, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs NJ, P. 5.

Ideology “ An Ideology…derives from the taken-for-granted assumptions, beliefs and value-systems which are shared collectively by social groups. And when an ideology is the ideology of particularly powerful social group, it is said to be dominant. Thus, dominant ideologies are mediated through powerful political and social institutions like the government, the law and the medical profession. Our perception of these institutions moreover, will be shaped in part by the specific linguistic practices of the social groups who comprise them.” P. Simpson (1993), Language, Ideology and Point of View. London: Routledge, p. 5.

Poetics “A poetics can be said to consist of two components: one is an inventory of literary devices, genres, motifs, prototypical characters and situations, and symbols: the other a concept of what the role of literature is, or should be, in the social system as a whole” Andre Lefevere (1992): Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of literary Fame. London: Routledge, p. 86.