Timeline

Roman rhetorician and politician. In his work De optimo genere oratorum (46 BCE) he outlines his approach to translation as avoiding the then normal practice of ‘word-for-word’ translation (see St Jerome), which replaced each individual word of the ST with its closest grammatical equivalent in the TL, aiming instead to reproduce the ‘general style and force of the language’. In Western translation theory Cicero is often identified with the concepts of literal and free translation. ‘Literal’ translation – ‘Literal’ translation, as opposed to ‘free’ translation, is understood as a type of translation that adheres closely to the surface structures of the ST message, both in terms of semantics and syntax. The term ‘literal translation’ has been used by scholars in different ways. In the 1950s, Vinay and Darbelnet use it as synonym of what they call direct translation and also to refer to one of the three procedures used in direct translation whereas the term ‘free’ translation is used within the framework of oblique translation (see Vinay and Darbelnet) . Antoine Berman on the other hand, uses the term to refer to the ‘signifying process’ that allows translators to bring the sense of the foreign into the TT (see Antoine Berman).‘Free’ translation – ‘free’ translation, as opposed to ‘literal’ translation, attempts to recreate a text that sounds natural in the TL and therefore does not necessarily adhere closely to the SL elements and structures. (See also ‘sense-for-sense’ in St Jerome).

Buddhist monk who undertook the translation of the Sanskrit Sutras. In the third preface to the translation of the Prajñāpāramitā (382 CE), he identified the shiben (‘losses’, where meaning was subject to change in translation), and the buyi (‘difficulties’ or ‘not deviating from the text’). Dào’ān’s writings were very influential to many, including the translator and commentator Kumārajīva.

Theologian and historian who in 395 completed his translation of the Bible commissioned by Pope Damasus. This would later become known as the Latin Vulgate. As a basis for it, St Jerome took not only the Greek Septuagint, the traditional reference, but also the Hebrew version of the Bible, in what was a controversial decision at the time (see Greek Septuagint). Thus, St Jerome was the first to note differences between the two versions. St Jerome explained that he had translated ’not “word-for-word” but “sense-for-sense”’, therefore setting out the dichotomy that would dominate much of the study of translation until the 20th century. ’word-for-word’ – ‘word for word’ translation, as opposed to its opposite ‘sense-for-sense’ translation, refers to a form of translation in which a SL word is replaced by the closest TL correspondent (see also ‘literal translation’ in Cicero). ‘sense-for-sense’ – ‘sense-for-sense’ translation, as opposed to its opposite ‘word-for-word’ translation, attempts to translate the meaning of the word within its context and within target language requirements. (See also ‘free’ translation’ in Cicero). ‘fidelity’, ‘spirit’ and ‘truth’ – The use of these concepts has varied through time. Fidelity, or faithfulness, was dismissed by the Roman poet Horace (65 – 8 BCE) as literal ‘word–for–word’ translation. However, at the end of the seventeenth century fi trans had come to be identified with faithfulness to the meaning rather than the words. Spirit similarly has been used in various ways: the Latin word spiritus denotes creative energy or inspiration, proper to literature, but St Augustine (354-430 CE) used it to mean the Holy Spirit of God, and his contemporary St Jerome employed it in both senses. Much later, spirit lost the religious sense and was used in the sense of the creative energy of a text or language. For St Augustine, spirit and truth (Latin veritas) were intertwined, with truth having the sense of ‘content’; for St Jerome, truth meant the authentic Hebrew Biblical text to which he returned in his Latin Vulgate translation. In the twelfth century, that truth became fully equated with ‘content’.

Italian humanist who translated philosophical works of the Classical Greek and Latin authors and occupied high ecclesiastical office. Bruni placed strong emphasis on retaining the style of the original author, which he saw as an amalgam of the order and rhythm of the words and the ‘polish and elegance’ of the original. He felt that this was the only correct way to translate.

German priest and theologian who was a leading figure of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. He translated first the New Testament (1522) and later the Old Testament (1534) into East Central German, which went a long way to reinforcing that form of the German language as standard. To the accusation that he had altered the Holy Scriptures in his translations, he countered by saying that he was translating into ‘pure, clear German’ and rejected a ‘word-for-word’ translation (see St Jerome) strategy since it would be unable to convey the same meaning as the ST. Protestant Reformation – European Christian reform movement of the early 16th century that objected to some of the established doctrines, rituals and structure of the Catholic Church. The Protestant movement challenged the Church control over thinking and religion through the translation of the Latin version of the Bible into vernacular languages. It was preceded and influenced by the European Humanist movement of the 14th and 15th centuries, which advocated the recovery of classical Latin and Greek and their secular writers. The translation of any book which diverged from the Church’s interpretation could be considered heretical, being censured or banned, and the translators ran the risk of entering into conflict with the Church. Such was the case of Tyndale and Dolet and Martin Luther, a crucial figure in the Reformation (see also William Tyndale and Étienne Dolet) . The Protestant Reformation was to lead to a huge schism within Christianity.

English scholar and translator, he was said to have mastered ten languages, including Hebrew. His English Bible, produced in exile, was later used as the basis for the Geneva Bible (1560) and King James Version (1611). It was banned and copies confiscated on the orders of King Henry VIII. Tyndale was abducted, tried for heresy and executed in the Netherlands in 1536.

French scholar and translator. In his 1540 manuscript La manière de bien traduire d’une langue en aultre he set out five principles of the process of translation in order of importance. He was condemned by the theological faculty of Sorbonne in 1546, apparently for adding, in his translation of one of Plato’s dialogues, the phrase rien du tout (‘nothing at all’) in a passage about what existed after death. This led to the accusation that Dolet did not believe in immortality and he was burned at the stake.

English poet and translator. In the preface to his translation of Ovid’s Epistles in 1680, Dryden reduces all translation to three categories: (1) metaphrase, or ‘word by word and line by line’ translation, which corresponds to literal translation; (2) paraphrase: ‘[where the author’s] words are not so strictly followed as his sense’ and which this more or less corresponds to faithful or sense-for-sense translation; and (2) imitation, a free adaptation (see ‘literal translation’ in Cicero and word-for-word and sense-for-sense translation in St Jerome) .

Scottish historian and professor. His treaty ‘Essay on the principles of translation’ (1790) constitutes one of the first comprehensive and systematic studies of translation. Tytler defines a ‘good translation’ as being oriented towards the target language reader and set out three general ‘laws’ or rules that should guide a good translation: (1) it should fully represent the ideas of the original, (2) it should render the style of the original and (3) should have the ease of the original composition.

German theologian and philosopher. In his seminal lecture Über die verschiedenen Methoden des Übersetzens ‘On the different methods of translating’ he expounded a Romantic approach to interpretation based not on absolute truth but on the individual’s inner feeling and understanding. He distinguished two types of translator: Dolmetscher and Übersetzer. Schleiermacher considers there to be only two paths open for the ‘true’ translation: to move the writer to the reader or to move the reader to the writer, Schleiermacher’s preferred approach. In order to achieve this, the translator must adopt an ‘alienating’, rather than a ‘naturalizing’ method. Schleiermacher’s influence has been considerable (see Venuti and Walter Benjamin and hermeneutics).;xNLx;;xNLx;Dolmetscher and Übersetzer– According to Schleiermacher, a ‘Dolmetscher’ works on commercial texts, whereas an ‘Übersetzer’ works on scholarly and artistic texts. ‘alienating’ or ‘foreignizing’ is described by Schleiermacher as a method of translation in which the value of the foreign is emphasised by “bending” TL word-usage to try to ensure faithfulness to the ST;xNLx;;xNLx; ‘naturalizing’ – The second method of translation described by Schleiermacher, by which the foreign text is brought in line with the typical patterns of the TL.

Classics scholars in Victorian Britain who engaged in a public and acrimonious debate over the preferred strategy for the translation of Homer. Newman sought to emphasize the foreignness of the work by a deliberately archaic (or mock-archaic) translation that set itself against the prevailing translation practice of the day. This was opposed by Matthew Arnold, who criticized Newman’s poor usage and advocated a more transparent translation method that paid homage to the grand style of Homer. According to Arnold, whose argument won the day, scholars are the only ones qualified to evaluate the effect of a translation.

Chinese thinker and translator who proposes three translation principles of xìn (fidelity / faithfulness / trueness), dá (fluency / expressiveness / intelligibility / comprehensibility) and yă (elegance / gracefulness). These concepts became central to much twentieth-century Chinese translation practice and theory, even if they have since been criticized by more linguistic theorists (see ‘fidelity’, ‘spirit’ and ‘truth’ in St Jerome) .

Literary critic and essayist, philosopher and translator. Benjamin saw language as magical and its mission to reveal spiritual content. In his seminal essay ‘The Task of the Translator’ (1923), he suggests that translation serves to ‘express the central reciprocal relationship between languages’, not by seeking to be the same as the original but by bringing together the two different languages in a ‘pure’ and higher language. The strategy to achieve this is through literalism which allows the pure language to shine through.

In their Stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais (1958, Comparative Stylistics of French and English, 1995) they carried out a comparative stylistic analysis of French and English, noting differences between the languages and translation shifts and identifying different translation ‘strategies’ and ‘procedures’. Vinay and Darbelnet described two different strategies for translation: Direct and Oblique translation. They also classified the procedures that occur in the process of translation and the constraints of ‘servitude’ and ‘option’. Direct and Oblique translation: According to Vinay and Darbelnet, direct translation occurs when two languages show close correspondence in terms of lexis and structure. Oblique translation applies when restructuring is involved. (compare with literal translation and free translation in Cicero).;xNLx;;xNLx;These two strategies cover between them seven translation procedures: 1 Direct translation uses the procedures of Borrowing, Calque and Literal translation. 2 Oblique translation covers the procedures of Transposition, Modulation, Équivalence and Adaptation. These categories operate at different levels of language: the lexicon, the syntactic structures and the message. ‘Servitude’ and ‘option’: In Vinay and Darbelnet’s model, ‘servitude’ refers to the obligatory transpositions and modulations due to a difference between the two language systems, whereas ‘option’ refers to non-obligatory changes that may be due to the translator’s own style and preferences, or to a change in emphasis. It is ‘option’, according to Vinay and Darbelnet, that should be the translator’s main concern. Translation strategies and procedures In the technical sense a strategy is an overall orientation of the translator (e.g. towards ‘free’ translation or ‘literal’ translation [see in Cicero], towards the TT or ST, towards ‘domestication’ or ‘foreignization’ [see Venuti]) whereas a procedure is a specific technique or method used by the translator at a certain point in a text (e.g. The borrowing of a word from the SL, the addition of an explanation or a footnote in the TT).

Russian-American structural linguist. In his paper ‘On linguistic aspects of translation’ (1959/2004), he describes three categories of translation: intralingual, interlingual and intersemiotic. Working from the relationship between signifier and signified set out by Saussure, he examines the problem of equivalence in meaning between words of different languages. Intralingual, interlingual and intersemiotic translation: Three categories of translation described by Jakobson (1959/2004): ‘Intralingual’ translation, or ‘rewording’, is an interpretation of verbal signs by other signs in the same language. For example, a rewording of an expression in Spanish from a Spanish source text. ‘Interlingual’ translation, or ‘translation proper’ is ‘an interpretation of verbal signs by means of some other language’. For example, a translation of a text from Arabic to Mandarin. Intersemiotic’ translation is the ‘interpretation of verbal signs by means of signs of non verbal-signs systems’. For example, a book adapted as a film. Equivalence in meaning – for Jakobson, a key issue in translation is equivalence in meaning between ‘code-units’ of different languages or ‘sign systems’. Because each language is a different system, full equivalence between code units in ST and TT is not usually possible (e.g., be in English, sein in German, etc., breaks down into ser and estar in Spanish and is absent in Russian and Arabic). Such cross-linguistic systemic differences do not mean that a message is necessarily untranslatable into another verbal language, just that some adjustment needs to be made using translation procedures (see ’Translation strategies and procedures’ in Vinay and Darbelnet). Equivalence is a recurrent, important and at times controversial concept in modern translation theory (see also Formal and dynamic equivalence and Equivalent effect in Nida and Equivalence in Koller). Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) – Swiss linguist whose seminal work led to the establishment of semiology and structural linguistics. His Course in General linguistics (published posthumously in 1916) analyses language as a formal system of signs. It is divided into two components: langue, which refers to the abstract system internalized by a given speech community, and parole, the individual acts of speech that put language into practice. The linguistic sign is composed of the signifier and the signified.

Literary and translation theoretician born in Slovakia (then part of Czechoslovakia), whose work is linked to the tradition of the Prague School of structural linguistics. In his book Umění prěkladu (1963), known in western Europe through its German translation Die literarische Übersetzung: Theorie einer Kunstgattung (Levý 1969) and now translated into English as The Art of Translation (2011), he introduces the literary aspect of the ‘expressive function’ or style of a text. Paying special attention to poetry in his analysis, he sees literary translation as both a reproductive and a creative labour with the goal of equivalent aesthetic effect (see also ‘Equivalent effect’ in Nida).

American Baptist minister, linguist and translator, he had enormous experience organizing the translation of the Bible into indigenous languages. He applied analytical concepts from Noam Chomsky’s generative-transformational grammar in his ‘scientific’ approach towards translation theory and lexical meaning (Nida 1964, Nida and Taber 1969/1974). Nida described two types of equivalence in translation: formal and dynamic equivalence. For Nida, the success of a translation depended above all on achieving an equivalent effect. Lexical meaning – Nida analyses three types of meaning: (1) linguistic meaning (the relationship between different words, for example, his return may mean when he returned. (2) referential or denotative meaning, which is the dictionary meaning of a word. (3) connotative or emotive meaning, the associations a word may have. So, he went to France and he swanned off to France may have the same referential meaning but the connotative meaning is different, the latter suggesting a negative view of what he has done. Formal and dynamic equivalence and equivalent effect These concepts represent two general orientations proposed by Nida (1964). Formal equivalence is focused on the message of the ST, which produces a TT which follows the content and the linguistic structures as closely as possible. In dynamic equivalence, the message of the ST is transferred in such a way that the effect on the receptor is as similar as possible to the effect on the ST reader (known as the principle of equivalent effect). This requires the translator to adjust the text to the target culture. This move towards a receptor-oriented approach represented a radical departure from ‘free’ and ‘literal’ translation (see Cicero). In Nida and Taber (1969/74), ‘formal correspondence’ is used in place of ‘formal equivalence’ and ‘functional equivalence’ in place of ‘dynamic equivalence’. (See also Equivalence in meaning in Jakobson and Equivalence in Koller) Noam Chomsky American linguist and cognitive scientist. His generative-transformational grammar of the 1950s-60s considers language to be a body of knowledge innate and universal to all. Sentences and structures are analysed as a series of related levels governed by rules that move from deep structure through transformational rules to a surface structure.

In his book A Linguistic Theory of Translation (1965), Catford applies advances in linguistics to translation by following the linguistic model of Firth and Halliday (see House) . Catford distinguishes between formal correspondence and textual equivalence in translation, two concepts that will later be developed by Koller (see separate entry for Koller). Catford also makes a detailed description of the translation shifts that take place in the translation process. Formal correspondence and textual equivalence: Catford defines ‘formal correspondent’ in translation as ‘any TL category (unit, class, element of structure, etc.) which can be said to occupy, as nearly as possible, the “same” place in the “economy” of the TL as the given SL category occupies in the SL’(Catford 1965: 27), whereas ‘textual equivalent’ refers to ‘any TL text or portion of text which is observed. . . to be the equivalent of a given SL text or portion of text’ (ibid.). (See Equivalence in meaning in Jakobson). Translation shifts: Catford coined the term to describe ‘departures from formal correspondence in the process of going from SL to TL’. He considers two kind of shifts (a) level shifts (when something is expressed by grammar in one language and by lexis in another) and (b) category shifts, these later subdivided into structural, class, unit (or rank) and intrasystem shifts. (See also Vinay and Darbelnet).

German linguist and translation scholar whose work views the text rather than the word or sentence as the level at which communication is achieved and equivalence (see Equivalence in Nida and Koller) must be sought. Based on Karl Bühler’s earlier categorization of the three functions of language, Reiss formulated a functional model of genre and text type which describes three types of text: informative, expressive and operative. Each of these text types requires a different type of translation method and the translation of the predominant function of the ST should be the determining factor guiding the translation.

Dutch-based scholar who named and defined the field of translation studies as a distinctive discipline. Holmes put forward an overall framework, describing what translation studies should cover, comprising two branches: 1.the ‘pure’ branch, subdivided into a ‘descriptive’ branch (which deals with the description of what happens in translation and is known as Descriptive Translation Studies [see Descriptive translation Studies and Gideon Toury]), and the ‘theoretical’ branch (which deals with the establishment of general principles to explain and predict translation phenomena) ;2.an ‘applied’ branch (which refers to translator training, tools and criticism).

Literary critic, essayist and academic. In his influential book After Babel (1975) Steiner approaches translation from the point of view of hermeneutics. Steiner proposes a totalising model, which he terms hermeneutic motion. Hermeneutics – Term derived from the Greek verb hermeneuein meaning to interpret. Originally used to refer to the interpretation of the Bible, the German Romantics of the eighteenth and nineteenth century widened its use to refer to the theory, methodology and processes involved in interpreting all types of text with the aim of discovering its meaning. It focuses on how the recovery of meaning is influenced by the fact that texts are distant in time and culture. In translation, it was George Steiner who advanced the application of hermeneutics. Hermeneutic motion – Based on hermeneutic theories, and on a conception of translation not as a science but as an ‘exact art’, George Steiner proposes the model of hermeneutic motion to recover ST meaning and transfer it to the TT. It comprises four stages: (1) trust (in which the translator believes there is meaning in the ST); (2) aggression (in which the translator ‘enters’ the text, extracts the meaning and takes it away); (3) incorporation (in which the meaning is brought into the TT); and (4) compensation (which compensates for the loss of the ST).

House’s model of translation quality assessment starts from a criticism of ‘Skopos’ theory and other approaches oriented towards the target audience because of their neglect of the ST (see ‘Skopos’ Theory and Hans J. Vermeer). This leads to the classification of two different types of TT: overt translation and covert translation. Translation quality assessment – House bases her model on comparative ST–TT analysis, leading to the assessment of the quality of the translation, highlighting ‘mismatches’ or ‘errors’. Drawing on Halliday’s systemic functional grammar, it is centred on a Register analysis of both ST and TT according to Field, Tenor and Mode. Overt translation and covert translation – For Juliane House, an ‘overt translation’, such as the translation of a novel, does not present itself as an original text to the TT audience – its status as a translation is clear. In ‘covert translation’, for example a user’s manual for a product, a TT has an equivalent function to the ST in its discourse environment. Both ST and TT address their respective receivers directly. Anything which might remind the target audience of the origin and discourse environment of the ST passes through a ‘cultural filter’. According to House, the distinction overt-covert translation is a cline rather than a pair of binary opposites: a text can be more, or less, covert/overt. Both concepts can be traced back to Schleiermacher’s alienating and naturalizing approaches (see Schleiermacher; also compare with Foreignization and Domestication in Venuti). Michael A. K. Halliday – Halliday’s systemic functional grammar (SFL) is geared to the study of language as social semiotic. It sees meaning in the writer’s linguistic choices and systematically relates these choices to a wider sociocultural framework. The sociocultural environment or ‘Context of Culture’ is the highest level, and in part conditions the genre, understood in SFL as the conventional text type that is associated with a specific communicative function. Genre itself helps to determine other elements in the systemic framework such as Register, in SFL a technical term that links the variables of social context to language choice and comprises three elements: (1) Field: what is being written about, e.g. the price for a delivery of goods; (2) Tenor: who is communicating and to whom, e.g. a sales representative to a customer; and (3) Mode: the form of communication, e.g. written or spoken, formal or informal.

Israeli scholar based in Tel Aviv who in the 1970s developed the polysystem theory of translation which moves away from the isolated study of individual texts towards the study of translation within the cultural and literary systems in which it functions (See separate entry for Polysystem theory; see also Toury)

German translation theorist based in Norway. He proposes a hierarchy of five types of equivalence according to the communicative situation. Equivalence refers to the translational relationship between a ST unit and a TT unit and corresponds to Saussure’s concept of parole (see Saussure in Jakobson). For Koller, equivalence needs to be arranged hierarchically. He identifies five types of equivalence (denotative, connotative, text-normative, pragmatic and formal). This is a more detailed categorization than Nida’s formal and dynamic equivalence. (See ‘Formal and dynamic equivalence’ in Nida) Correspondence A concept from contrastive linguistics that describes the resemblance and difference between words and structures in their linguistic forms. In Koller’s model, correspondence falls within the field of contrastive linguistics, which compares two language systems, and describes differences and similarities contrastively using Saussure’s concept of langue (see Saussure in Jakobson). Examples given by Koller are the identification of false friends and signs of interference.

Israeli scholar who worked with Even-Zohar in Tel-Aviv and built on polysystem theory to develop a general theory of translation (see Itamar Even-Zohar and Polysystem theory). Toury is the founder of the branch of empirical Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) with the aim of ‘reconstructing’ the norms that are in operation in the translation process through the cumulative identification of norms, of probabilistic ‘laws’ or ‘universals of translation’ (see also Descriptive Translation Studies). Norms of translation – term developed by Toury to refer to regularities of the translation behaviour as determined by observation of translation products and processes and the identification of tendencies. In Toury’s theory, it is a non-prescriptive concept and is said to occupy a point on a continuum of ‘socio-cultural cosntraints’ between two extremes of idiosyncracies and ‘absolute rules’. Toury proposes the identification of three different kind of norms: (1) initial (concerning the translator’s orientation toward the norms of the ST and the norms of the TT, see ‘adequate’/‘acceptable’ translation), (2) preliminary (relating to the translation process, such as translation policy and directness of translation) and (3) operational (matricial and text-linguistic norms) (see also Andrew Chesterman) Adequate and acceptable translation. If a translation oscillates towards the ST, then the TT will be ‘adequate’; if the target culture norms prevail, then the TT will be ‘acceptable’. Poles of adequacy and acceptability are on a continuum since no translation is ever totally adequate or totally acceptable. Translation shifts – For Toury, shifts are inevitable, norm-governed and ‘a true universal of translation’. These may be obligatory and non-obligatory (see ‘servitude’ and ‘option’ in Vinay and Darbelnet), the latter being of greater interest since they reveal the choices made by the translator (see Vinay and Darbelnet and Catford). Toury refers to the use of a hypothetical intermediate invariant or tertium comparationis against which to gauge translation shifts. Translation equivalence – A concept developed by Toury for Descriptive Translation Studies. For Toury, it is a ‘functional–relational concept’ different from the traditional notion of equivalence (compare with the concept of equivalence in Jakobson, Nida and Koller). As in functional theories, equivalence is assumed between a TT and a ST. Analysis does not then focus prescriptively on whether a given TT or TT-expression is ‘equivalent’ to the ST or ST-expression. Instead it focuses on how the assumed equivalence has been realized and as a tool for uncovering the decision-making process and the factors that have shaped the translation. ‘laws’ of translation – Within the framework of Descriptive Translation Studies, Toury aims to establish probabilistic laws of translation through the identification of norms of translation. He proposes two laws: (1) the law of growing standardization (stating that potential TL choices are sometimes ignored) and (2) the law of interference (which states that the lexical syntactic form of the ST influences the TT and produces non-normal patterns). Pym (‘On Toury’s laws and how to translate’, 2008) suggests resolving the apparent contradiction between the two by stressing that the use of one rather than the other will depend on the socio-historical conditions under which translation occurs.;xNLx;;xNLx;Universals of translation – Term used to refer to features that are considered to characterize translated language and texts in whatever language pair, such as lexical and syntactic simplification, explicitation and normalization to TL patterns. They are linked to the concept of laws of translation, a weaker form of universal. Because of their capacity to analyse large amounts of data, methods from corpus-based translation studies are useful in identifying patterns that can lead to the deduction of universals (see separate entry for Corpus-based translation studies). Tertium comparationis is an invariant against which a ST-TT pair of text segments can be measured to gauge any shift in meaning.

Professor of Comparative Literature who founded the Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Warwick, UK. Her many works include the foundational text Translation Studies, first published in 1980, and Postcolonial Translation Studies (1999, edited jointly with Harish Trivedi). She is a leading figure in the Cultural turn (see separate entry for Cultural turn) . André Lefevere (1945-1996) Belgian translation theorist who worked in comparative literature departments in Leuven (Belgium) and the USA (University of Texas at Austin). His work in translation studies, associated with the Cultural turn (see separate entry for Cultural turn) , developed out of his strong links with Polysystem theory and the Manipulation School (see separate entries for Polysystem Theory and the Manipulation School) . For Lefevere translation was a powerful form of ‘rewriting’ in which ideology plays a pivotal role (see Translation and Ideology).

UK-based translation theorist. Newmark’s approach departs from Nida’s receptor-oriented focus (see Nida) and rejects the idea that full equivalent effect can ever be fully achieved in translation (e.g., in the case of very old texts). Newmark proposes instead the concepts of semantic and communicative translation.;xNLx;;xNLx;Semantic translation and communicative translation. For Newmark, semantic equivalence attempts to recreate as far as possible the contextual meaning of a ST in a TT within the syntactic and semantic limitations of the TT. This concept is different from literal translation (see Cicero) in that it considers and respects context, interprets and even explains when necessary. Communicative translation aims to recreate as far as possible the same effect on its TT receptor as the ST has on the ST audience. It is therefore more TT oriented than semantic translation. The concepts of semantic and communicative translation are similar to Nida’s dynamic and formal equivalence (see ‘Formal and dynamic equivalence’ in Nida).;xNLx;

German linguist and translator scholar who, first on his own in the 1970s and later working with Katharina Reiss (see separate entry for Katharina Reiss), developed the skopos theory of translation. In their co-authored book Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie ‘Groundwork for a General Theory of Translation’, Reiss and Vermeer aim for a general translation theory for all texts. The first part sets out a detailed explanation of Vermeer’s skopos theory, whereas the second adapts Reiss’s functional text-type model to the general theory.

French theorist and translator whose work preceded and influenced Venuti (see separate entry for Venuti). Berman deplored the general tendency to negate the foreign in translation by the strategy of ‘naturalization’, which would equate with Venuti’s later domestication. He used the terms ‘negative analytic’ and ‘positive analytic’ to describe the process of translation, negative analytic and positive analytic – ‘Negative analytic’ describes the system of textual deformation that conceals or eliminates foreignness in translation. Contrasting to this process is the ‘positive analytic’ that allows translators to bring the sense of the foreign into the TT through a creative process of literal translation, which for Berman has a more specific meaning (‘translation of the letter’) than the conventional use (see Cicero).

Austrian-based scholar and translator whose work, Translation Studies: An Integrated Approach (1988/95), reviews and attempts to integrate a wide variety of different linguistic and literary concepts in an overarching ‘integrated approach’ to translation based on text types.

Nord’s model of translation put forward in her book Text Analysis in Translation (1988/2005) is a detailed functional translation-oriented text analysis model which examines text organization at or above sentence level. Nord’s model enables understanding of the function of the features and the selection of translation strategies appropriate to the intended purpose of the translation. Her model stresses the importance of a ‘functionality plus loyalty’ principle. She distinguishes two basic types of translation: documentary translation and instrumental translation.;‘functionality plus loyalty’ principle – Rather than the fulfilment of TT purpose being the overriding principle in translation, as in ‘Skopos’ theory (see ‘Skopos’ Theory and Hans J. Vermeer), Nord maintains that there also needs to be a relationship between the ST and the TT. Purpose must be compatible with author intention, and loyalty to this intention restricts the possible interpretations made by the translator. documentary and instrumental translation – In Nord’s model, documentary translation functions as a document of a source culture communication. The documentary TT allows the receiver access to the ideas of the ST but in full knowledge that it is a translation. With an instrumental translation, on the other hand, the TT receivers read the TT as though it were a ST written in their own language and the function may be the same for both ST and TT.

In their Discourse and the Translator (1990) and The Translator as Communicator (1997), Hatim and Mason apply Halliday’s linguistic model to the analysis of translation (see Juliane House), paying particular attention to the realization in translation of ideational (e.g. transitivity) and inter-personal functions (e.g. modality) as well as cohesion (see Mona Baker). Translation analysis aims to identify marked (prominent or unusual) forms and ‘dynamic’ and ‘stable’ elements in a text. More stable elements may be translated literally while more dynamic elements require more creative responses on the part of the translator.

Lefevere was a Belgian translation theorist who worked in comparative literature departments in Leuven (Belgium) and the USA (University of Texas at Austin). His work in translation studies, associated with the cultural turn (see separate entry), developed out of his strong links with polysystem theory and the Manipulation School. For Lefevere, translation was a powerful form of ‘rewriting’ in which ideology plays a pivotal role.;xNLx;;xNLx;‘Translation as rewriting’: This term was coined by Lefevere to describe the power factors that govern the transformation of literary texts in translation and their reception, acceptance or rejection. These include issues such as power, ideology, institution and manipulation. Lefevere points out that the institutions (e.g. the State, publishers, schools and universities) and individuals in such power positions are the ones that control the consumption of translated literature by the general public. They are described as: (1) professionals within the literary system, who partly determine the dominant poetics; and (2) patronage outside the literary system, which partly determines the ideology.;xNLx;

In the influential In Other Words (1992/2011), Baker looks at equivalence at a series of levels: at the level of lexical meaning, above word level, at the level of grammar, textual equivalence and pragmatic equivalence (compare with ‘Formal and dynamic equivalence’ in Nida and ‘Equivalence’ in Koller). Baker’s later work includes important work on narrative theory and translation. textual equivalence – Mona Baker draws on Halliday (see Juliane House) for her analysis of thematic (word order) and information structure and cohesion. An important point for ST thematic analysis is that the translator should be aware of the relative markedness (prominence or unusualness) of the structures which can help understand the choices made by speakers and writers when conveying a message. This in turn can help the translator to decide whether it is appropriate to translate using a particular marked form.; pragmatic equivalence – Pragmatics is the study of language and meaning in communicative situations. Baker considers the major pragmatic concepts of coherence (the overall hanging-together of the arguments of a text) and implicature (the process of implying meaning). Cohesion – This term refers to the grammatical and lexical links which help a text hold together. A single instance of cohesion is termed a tie. In Halliday and Hasan’s seminal model of cohesion in English (1976) there are five types of tie: (1) reference (pronouns, comparatives, demonstratives); (2) substitution and ellipsis; (3) conjunction; (4) collocation; and (5) lexical cohesion through repetition, synonymy, semantic fields, etc.

American translator and translation theorist. Venuti contests Toury’s ‘scientific’ descriptive model with its aim of producing ‘value-free’ norms and laws of translation (see Norms of translation in Gideon Toury and Andrew Chesterman). Venuti takes into account the value-driven nature of the social and political institutions that influence translation. In this context, he analyses the US and UK hegemony in the publishing industry. Venuti introduced the terms translator’s invisibility and domestication and foreignization to refer to translation practices which are available to the translator. The translator’s invisibility – Drawing on his own experiences as translator of experimental Italian poetry and fiction, Lawrence Venuti introduced the term to describe the translator’s situation and activity in contemporary British and American cultures where translators are ‘invisible’ because of fluent translation practices which produce an ‘illusion of transparency’; and because translated texts are typically read in the target culture as if they were originals. Venuti discusses invisibility in relation to two types of translation practice: domestication and foreignization. Domestication – Venuti introduced the term ‘domestication’ and its opposite ‘foreignization’, drawing on Schleiermacher (see naturalizing and alienating in Schleiermacher). Venuti considers this strategy dominant in the context of the British and American translation tradition. For Venuti, it is a type of fluent translation practice which minimises the foreignness of the text and leads to the translator’s invisibility. Foreignization – Venuti introduced the term ‘foreignization’ and its opposite ‘domestication’, drawing on Schleiermacher (see alienating and naturalizing in Schleiermacher). Foreignization aims to make the receiving culture aware of the linguistic and cultural difference inherent in the foreign text. This is to be achieved by a non-fluent, estranging translation style. Foreignization may involve lexical and syntactic borrowing and calques, reflects the SL norms and reminds the target culture readers that they are dealing with a translation.

– British scholar based in Finland whose work on norms of translation builds on the theories of Toury (see separate entry for Gideon Toury). He has also developed the concept of ‘consilience’ or coming together of various trends of translation study. Norms of translation: Chesterman suggests a different classification of norms compared to Toury: (1) product/expectancy norms (which refer to the TT reader’s concept of translation and expectations regarding the TT) and (2) professional norms, including an ethical norm of accountability (the translator accepts responsibility for the translated work), a norm of communication (ensuring satisfactory communication) and of relation (of the ST to the TT). (See also norms of translation in Toury). Consilience: Chesterman has proposed the concept of ‘consilience’, or coming together of various trends of translation study research, which aims to overcome the linguistics-cultural studies divide. He proposes a classification of four ‘complementary [though overlapping] approaches’ to research into translation: (1) the textual, (2) the cognitive, (3) the sociological and (4) the cultural.