Exploring Translation Theories

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Preface
1 What Is a Translation Theory?
1.1 From Theorizing to Theories
1.2 Why People Do Not Understand Other Theories
1.3 What Kind of Translation Is this Book About?
1.4 How this Book Is Organized
1.5 Why Study Translation Theories?
1.6 How Should Translation Theories Be Studied?
Summary
2 Equivalence
2.1 Equivalence as Transformation, Aim, and Promise
2.2 Dynamic Equivalence as Naturalness
2.3 Equivalence Vs Structuralism
2.4 Relevance Theory
2.5 Where Did Equivalence Come From?
2.6 Some Virtues of Equivalence-Based Theories
2.7 Frequently Had Arguments
2.7.1 Equivalence Presupposes Symmetry Between Languages
2.7.2 Theories of Equivalence Make the Start Text Superior
2.7.3 The Tests of Equivalence Have No Psychological Basis
2.7.4 New Information Cannot Be ‘Natural’
2.7.5 Equivalence Hides Imperialism
2.7.6 Naturalness Promotes Parochialism
Summary
Sources and Further Reading
Suggested Projects and Activities
3 Solutions
3.1 Only Two Kinds of Translation?
3.2 Three Text Types So Three Kinds of Translation?
3.3 Four Or Five Kinds of Language?
3.4 Only One Aim for Translation?
3.5 Seven Or So Solution Types?
3.6 Solution Types for Many Languages?
3.7 Some Virtues of Solution Types
3.8 Frequently Had Arguments
3.8.1 The Translator Should Be On One Side Or the Other
3.8.2 Translation Solutions Should Protect the Target Language
3.8.3 The Selection of Translation Solutions Depends On the Directionality
3.8.4 All Binarisms Stem From the ‘Regime of the Sign’
3.8.5 The Categories Do Not Work in the Space of Reception
3.8.6 Text Tailoring Is Not Translation
3.8.7 Translating Is More Than Problem Solving
Summary
Sources and Further Reading
Suggested Projects and Activities
4 Purposes
4.1 Skopos as the Key to a New Kind of Theory
4.2 Origins of the Skopos Approach
4.3 Justa Holz-Mänttäri and the Theory of the Translator’s Expertise
4.4 Purpose-Based ‘Good Enough’ Theory
4.5 Who Really Decides?
4.6 An Extension Into Project Analysis
4.7 Some Virtues of Purpose-Based Theories
4.8 Frequently Had Arguments
4.8.1 We Translate Words, Not Functions
4.8.2 Purposes Are Identified in the Start Text
4.8.3 The Concept of Purpose (Or Skopos) Is Essentialist
4.8.4 The Skopos Theory Is Unfalsifiable
4.8.5 The Theory Does Not Address Invariance as an Underlying Default Norm
4.8.6 Purpose Analysis Is Mostly Not Cost-Effective
4.8.7 The Well-Trained Translator Is a Self-Serving Notion
4.8.8 The Theory Cannot Resolve Cases of Conflicting Purposes
4.8.9 The Theory Contradicts the Ethics of Truth and Accuracy
4.8.10 Translators Should Only Translate
Summary
Sources and Further Reading
Suggested Projects and Activities
5 Science
5.1 What Happened to Equivalence?
5.2 Main Theoretical Concepts
5.3 Translation Shifts (Big and Small)
5.4 Systems and Polysystems
5.5 Norms
5.6 ‘Assumed’ Translations
5.7 Target-Side Priority
5.8 Translation Tendencies Or ‘Universals’
5.8.1 Lexical Simplification
5.8.2 Explicitation
5.8.3 Equalizing
5.8.4 Unique Items
5.9 Laws
5.10 Reports of Science in Russian
5.11 Systems and Laws in Translation Process Studies?
5.12 Some Virtues of Attempting Science
5.13 Frequently Had Arguments
5.13.1 Scientific Descriptions Do Not Help Train Translators
5.13.2 The Target Side Cannot Explain All Relations
5.13.3 The Theories All Concern Texts and Systems, Not People
5.13.4 The Focus On Norms and Universal Tendencies Promotes Conservative Positions
5.13.5 Descriptive Theory Cannot Say How Norms Emerge
5.13.6 The Definition of ‘Assumed Translations’ Is Circular
5.13.7 Scientific Theory Is Unaware of Its Historical Position
5.13.8 Scientific Descriptions Create an Illusion of Causation
5.14 The Future of Science-Based Theories
Summary
Sources and Further Reading
Suggested Projects and Activities
6 Uncertainty
6.1 Why Uncertainty?
6.2 The Uncertainty Principle
6.3 Quine’s Principle of the Indeterminacy of Translation
6.4 Accepting Similarity
6.4.1 Semiosis as a Forward Movement
6.4.2 Game Theory: Open Or Closed Semiosis?
6.4.3 The Translation as an Event: Don’t Look Back
6.5 Using Indeterminacy as a Way of Translating
6.5.1 Heidegger and Productive Indeterminacy
6.5.2 Walter Benjamin and the Fall From Certainty
6.5.3 Jacques Derrida and the Picking Apart of Essentialism
6.6 Hermeneutics and Dialogue With the Other
6.7 Ways of Seeking Understandings
6.7.1 Theories of Experience and Illumination
6.7.2 Constructivism
6.7.3 Spirit Channelling
6.7.4 Theories of Consensus
6.7.5 Theories of Empathy, Charity, and Passing Theories
6.8 Cooperation Theory
6.8.1 Cooperation
6.8.2 Risk Management
6.8.3 Trust as a Response to Uncertainty
6.9 So How Should We Translate?
6.10 Some Virtues of Indeterminist Theories
6.11 Frequently Had Arguments
6.11.1 The Theories Are Not Useful to Translators
6.11.2 The Theorists Are Not Translators and Do Not Care About Translation
6.11.3 The Theories Lead to a Lack of Rigour
6.11.4 Indeterminism Is of No Consequence
6.11.5 These Theories Are Merely Oppositional
6.11.6 Deconstruction Prescribes What Translations Should Be Like
6.11.7 These Theories Take Us Beyond What a Translation Is Expected to Be
Summary
Sources and Further Reading
Suggested Projects and Activities
7 Automation
7.1 Automation as a Response to Uncertainty
7.2 What Is Localization?
7.3 What Is Internationalization?
7.4 Standardization and Adaptation in Localization Projects
7.5 Is Localization New?
7.6 Automation and the Imposition of the Paradigmatic
7.6.1 Automatic Text Generation
7.6.2 Translation Memories
7.6.3 Content Management Systems
7.6.4 Non-Linear Authoring and Reception
7.7 Neural Machine Translation
7.8 Do We Need to Re-Define Translation?
7.9 Some Virtues of Automation Studies
7.10 Frequently Had Arguments
7.10.1 Automation Kills Good Jobs
7.10.2 Automation Disempowers the Translator
7.10.3 Utterances Cannot Be Recycled
7.10.4 Localization Is a Part of Translation
7.10.5 There Is Nothing New in Localization
7.10.6 Automation Reduces the Quality of Texts and Communication
7.10.7 Automation Creates Universal Sameness
7.10.8 More Translation Means Less Language Learning
7.11 Automation, Localization, and the Future of Languages
Summary
Sources and Further Reading
Suggested Projects and Activities
8 Cultural Translation
8.1 A New Kind of Translation?
8.2 Homi Bhabha and ‘non-Substantive’ Translation
8.3 Translation Without Translations: Calls for a Wider Discipline
8.3.1 Jakobson and Semiosis, Again
8.3.2 Even-Zohar’s Call for Transfer Theory
8.4 Translation Across All Sciences and Beyond
8.4.1 Translation Sociology
8.4.2 Ethnography as Cultural Translation
8.4.3 Political Psychoanalytics as Translation
8.4.4 Ecology as Translation
8.5 Generalized Translation
8.6 Some Virtues of Cultural Translation
8.7 Frequently Had Arguments
8.7.1 These Theories Only Use Translation as a Metaphor
8.7.2 Cultural Translation Is an Excuse for Intellectual Wandering
8.7.3 Cultural Translation Is a Space for Weak Interdisciplinarity
8.7.4 Cultural Translation Can Be Studied Entirely in English
8.7.5 Cultural Translation Is Not in Touch With the Translation Profession
8.7.6 We Need Liberation From the ‘Reductionist Paradigm’
Summary
Sources and Further Reading
Suggested Projects and Activities
Postscript: Where’s the Evidence?
References
Index