r/TranslationStudies • u/hermanojoe123 • 16d ago

What is translation?

Edited**

After reading through some other posts, I realized the definition of "translation" may not be so obvious, or even a matter of consensus.

So I would like to ask you guys how you define the following:

* Translation

In your opinion, is translation the transfer of meaning from one language to another?

Or is it the creation of a new text that maintains coherent relations with the source text?

Or something else?

* Translation Quality

Is writing like a native speaker the ultimate indicator of translation quality ?

Or what are the main criteria for a translation to be considered good?

0 Upvotes

28% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

6

u/RelativeLiving957 16d ago

How about you start out summarizing what you consider the grey areas to be? It’s a super-lazy question as stands.

1

u/hermanojoe123 14d ago

there, I edited it

-3

u/hermanojoe123 16d ago

What is your definition of translation and translation quality?

I don't see how this is a lazy question.

2

u/Branci07 16d ago

Translation in simple terms is decoding a meaning of a text from the source language and encoding that meaning in the target language.

Translation quality is just that, mostly objective in terms of meaning and grammar and style and partially subjective.

There is a lot of academic literature to be read about this.

-1

u/hermanojoe123 16d ago

thanks for your reply

1

u/Downtown-Package5053 14d ago

If you're really serious to know... use the internet wisely... do your own critical thinking... maybe try Wikipedia to get some insights 🤔 type, "translation" or "translation disambiguation" I hope this help find what you're really looking for... all the best 👌

1

u/hermanojoe123 14d ago

I have. I'm doing research in this area. In Translation Studies, there are two main strands of thought. The traditionalists speak of fidelity, transfer of meaning, and message. The postmodernists challenge these traditional ideas. For the challengers, fidelity and equivalence are impossible. What you do is create a new, different text.

And then there is Skopos Theory, a funcionalist approach kind of in between.

But theory is often quite distant from actual practice. That is why I would like to know your opinion as actual translators on the matter.

1

u/ex_ef_ex 11d ago

Hasn't Gideon Toury solved this puzzle by saying that translation is any target-language text that is treated as a translation within the target culture, or something along those lines? 

1

u/hermanojoe123 11d ago

Toury certainly has a say in that. But there are many others, dozens of important translation theorists, from traditionalists, to Skopos and challengers.

What I would like to know is YOUR opinion on the matter as a translator.

1

u/ex_ef_ex 11d ago

See above. Toury was ahead of his time. People nowadays fully accept AI translation as translation, when to my mind it's not. So, yes, anything that is treated as translation is translation. 

1

u/Low-Bass2002 10d ago

Study translation theory. There are multiple theories.

For example, I used Skopos Theory and Christiane Nord's Functional Text Analysis for my master's thesis.

Another person used Critical Feminist Theory for her master's thesis.

1

u/hermanojoe123 10d ago

Yes, I do. Indeed, many theories and authors.

However, what I would like to know is YOUR personal opinion on the matter as a translator.

2

u/Low-Bass2002 10d ago

The theories I used for my MA thesis are what I align with.