1. TRANSLATION THEORY
EXAM TOPICS AND/OR QUESTIONS
1/ The Emergence of Translation Theory
2/ Translation Theory and Contrastive Lingusitics
3/ Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics
4/ Socio-linguistic Approaches to Translation Theory from a Historical Perspective
(The Hungarian translation of Sh’s As You Like It as a source for a case study)
5/ Translation Theory and Psycholinguistics
6/ Translation Theory and Text Linguistics
7/ Lingusitic Models of the Translation Process:
a/ the denotative (situative) model
b/ the transformational model
c/ the semantic model
d/ the equivalence model
8/ Some Aspects of Translation Practice (needed only for the recognition and identification of a few common translation procedures to be attached to your exam question proper!)
WARNING!!! The texts that follow are not my own creations. They are based on and heavily draw upon Klaudy Kinga: A fordítás elmélete és gyakorlata, Scholastica, Budapest, 1994 and Languages in Translation, Scholastica, Bp They can only be used as an auxiliary material to prepare for the exam in Translation Theory. No other use of these texts is permitted! P. Lieli

2. LECTURE I The Emergence of Translation Theory I
I/1 The nature of translation:
is governed by objective rules as well as allows subjective decisions;
I/2 The tool of translation:
two languages; two languages cannot be made to function as naturally as one language;
I/3 The object of translation:
all kinds of texts;
I/4 Is there any continuity in translation theory?
historical traditions;
contrastive, stylistic, sociolinguistic observations;
I/5 Translation as a trade:
since cca. the mid 20th c. a mass activity and source of income;

3. LECTURE I The Emergence of Translation Theory II
I/6 Translation as a subject of (college) courses:
some theoretical foundations also need to be given.
Requirements:
a theoretical summary of translators’ experience;
fixation of some of its objective rules;
a unified terminology;
a generally accepted system of basic concepts.
I/7 Translation as an object of linguistic research:
interest in the process of translation itself;
modelling and formulating rules;
applied vs theoretical research.

4. LECTURE I The Emergence of Translation Theory III
I/8 The appearance of linguistics:
a huge variety of highly specialised texts (from political speeches to instruction manuals) that cannot be descibed in terms and concepts of literary translation;
new approaches, methods and terminology, more exact than those of literary science;
translations studied in „laboratory conditions”.
I/9 Literary vs linguistic approach to translation, main differences (see table):
Literary approach
Linguistic approach
studies artistic texts
studies texts of the most various contexts
studies outstanding translators
takes interest in the work of a mass of translators and interpreters
studies individual, unusual, original or surprising solutions
describes frequently occurring procedures
assessment of the outcome
assessment of the process itself
normative or prescriptive
descriptive
evaluation
avoidance of evaluation

5. LECTURE I The Emergence of Translation Theory IV
I/10 Translation theory and contrastive linguistics
after the 2nd WW:
increasing interest in learning foreign languages +translation as a mass phenomenon → emergence of contrastive linguistics - synchronic comparison of genetically non-related languages
Contrastive linguistics
Translation theory
Compares systems
Compares texts
Compares complete systems
Selects items problematic for translation
Compares elements of the same level
Compares items belonging to different levels
Comparison is usually two-way
Comparison is usually unidirectional
Categories of its own

6. LECTURE I The Emergence of Translation Theory V
Contrastive Text Linguistics
Translation Theory
studies texts that are not translations of each other. Text A and Text B are realisations of language A and language B respectively and are representatives of the two languages independently of each other
collates realisations of the two languages that are mutually dependent, sets up relations of equivalence between A-language and B-language texts
I/11 Translation theory and contrastive text linguistics
Recently, contrastive works in text linguistics have also appeared: translation theory is often identified with contrastive text linguistics.
However, there is an important difference:

7. LECTURE I The Emergence of Translation Theory VI
I/12 Intralinguistic and extralinguistic elements of the translation situation
intralinguistic: the two languages involved;
extralinguistic: human participants
general context of the translation situation: geographical, historical cultural, political, religious, etc conditions.
I/13 Translation theory as product of interdisciplinary research:
Contribution to translation theory made by:
contrastive linguistics;
(contrastive) text linguistics;
psycholinguistics;
sociolinguistics.

8. LECTURE I The Emergence of Translation Theory VII
I/14 Attitudes to translation theory of
language teachers: emphasis on language skills and proficiency;
practising translators: no theory is needed for a good translation;
researchers: why should translation theory be expected to help improve the quality of translations?
All told, the experience of the past two thousand years or so has not yet been theoretically summarised, systematised and generalised. However, the work has already begun and gathered pace, which also has its importance for the practice of translation, so it also belongs to applied linguistics.

9. LECTURE I The Emergence of Translation Theory VIII
I/15 A definition of translation theory:
a branch of applied linguistics that studies the process, result and function of translation with a view to all the intra- and extralinguistic factors characterising the translation situation.
Intralinguistic, or, simply, linguistic elements: SL and TL (texts)
extralinguistic factors: the SL sender, the TL recipient and the translator (combining both functions in one person);
the SL context (historical, social, cultural, etc.) and
the TL context (also historical, social, cultural, etc.).
Translation in the broadest sense implies:
1/ the written translation of a written text,
2/ the oral translation of a written text (improvisative or sight-reading tr.),
3/ the oral translation of a sounding text (interpreting), which can be either:
a/ synchronic/simultaneous
or:
b/ consecutive (the oral translation of a sounding text by sections),
4/ the written translation of a sounding text