Chapter 1: Mais Issues of Translation Studies
1. What are the different definitions of “translation” according to Roman Jakobson?
Can you provide some examples of each definition?
- Jakobson’s definitions draw on “semiotics”
- semiotics: science of communication through signs and sign systems, of which language
is but one (Cobley 2001)
- interlingual translation, or ‘translation proper’: translation from one language to another
à e.g. ENG – NL
à Original: The cat is on the roof
Translation: De kat zit op het dak
- intralingual translation, or ‘rewording’: translation within the same language (rephrasing
or explaining something in different words in the same language
à e.g. adaptation of an encyclopaedia for children
à Original: She passed away
Translation: She died
- intersemiotic translation, or ‘transmutation’: translation from one sign system to another
(such as from verbal language to visual art, music, or symbols)
à e.g. a poem is turned into a painting
à e.g. film adaptation of a book
2. What is the scope of the discipline of Translation Studies?
= discipline concerned with “the complex of problems clustered round the phenomenon of
translating and translations” (Holmes 1998b/2004, 181)
- began in the 2nd half of the 20th century = “young” discipline
- visibility of discipline:
à training: specialized translating and interpreting programmes
à publications: conferences, books, and journals
à analytical instruments: anthologies, databases, encyclopaedias, handbooks
à international organizations: European Society for Translation Studies (EST),
à international Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS)
,3. What do you know about the history of the discipline of Translation Studies?
- pre-20th century: before TS as a discipline
à translation was primarily seen as a craft or art, not a scientific field of study
à thinkers like Cicero, St. Jerome, and later Martin Luther reflected on translation,
often debating literal vs. free translation
à renaissance and Enlightenment translators focused on faithfulness to the source and
stylistic elegance
- no systematic academic study yet (mostly practical or philosophical reflections)
- 1950s – 1970s: founding phase of TS
- translation began to be studied more systematically, especially after World War II, with
the rise of machine translation and structural linguistics
- focus on equivalence: attempts to define how closely a translation matches its original
à e.g., Nida’s formal vs. dynamic equivalence
- emergence of the term “Translation Studies” (first used by James S. Holmes in 1972)
à H proposed a “map” of TS, dividing it into pure (theoretical, descriptive) and
applied branches
- 1980s – 1990s: Cultural Turn
à scholars like Susan Bassnett, André Lefevere, and Itamar Even-Zohar shifted focus
from language to culture
à translation seen as rewriting shaped by ideology, politics, and power
à rise of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) (e.g., Toury) and Polysystem Theory
à emphasis on norms, target culture, and the role of translation in shaping literature
and ideology
- 2000s – present: interdisciplinary expansion
à TS becomes more interdisciplinary, interacting with:
1) Sociology (Bourdieu-influenced studies of translators' agency and institutions)
2) Gender Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Digital Humanities, and Cognitive Science
à new areas emerge:
1) Audiovisual translation (AVT)
2) localization and machine translation
3) corpus-based studies
4) translation ethics and activism
5) increasing attention to non-Western traditions, multilingualism, and decolonizing
translation
, 4. What do you know about Holmes’ map? What are the differences between Holmes’
map and the van Doorslaer map?
Holmes’ map van Doorslaer map
- comes from ‘Name and nature of translation - development since Holmes
studies’, paper by James S. Holmes (1972/1988) - distinction between “translation” and
à crucial to development of the field “translation” studies”
- = visual representation of Holmes’s map by Toury à translation: focused on act of translating
(1995: 10) à TS: analysis of translations
approaches, theories, research methods, applied translation studies
- ‘pure’, ‘theoretical’ and ‘applied’ branches
- “pure” areas: focused on: - translation:
1) the description of the phenomena of translation à lingual (interlingual, intralingual)
à product-oriented: examines existing à media (printed, audiovisual, electronic)
translations (comparative analysis) à mode (retranslation, self-translation,
à function-oriented: which texts were translated pseudo-translation, sight translation)
where and when (nowadays = sociology and à field (political, journalistic, technical,
historiography of translation) literary, religious, scientific, commercial)
à process-oriented: psychology of translation, i.e. - translation studies:
what happens in translator’s mind (e.g. eye- à approaches (cultural approach, linguistic
tracking research) approach)
2) the establishment of general principles to à theories (general translation theory,
explain and predict such phenomena polisystem theory)
, à research methods (descriptive, empirical)
à applied translation studies (criticism,
didactics, institutional environment)
- “applied” areas: applications to the practice of - also contains a basic transfer map of
translation, such as: terminology:
à translator training: teaching methods, testing à strategies (overall orientation of a
techniques, curriculum design translated text; e.g. literal translation)
à translation aids: dictionaries, grammars... à procedures (specific techniques applied at
à translation criticism: evaluation of translations a given point in text)
(marking of students, reviews of published à errors
translations) à rules/norms/conventions/laws/universals
à translation tools
5. What are the differences between “pure” an “applied” areas in Translation
Studies?
pure applied
- goal: describe, analyse, and theorize translation - goal: apply translation theory and research
phenomena in real-world contexts
- focus: academic and theoretical - focus: practical and professional
- subdivisions: - subdivisions:
à Theoretical Translation Studies: Develops à translator training: how translators are
general or partial theories of translation (e.g. taught
equivalence, Skopos, norms) à translation aids: use of tools like CAT
à Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS): tools, dictionaries, NMT
describes real-world translations and how they à translation criticism: evaluating
function across cultures and times translations
includes: product-oriented (texts), process-oriented (cognitive processes), function- à translation policy: language and
oriented (social/cultural impact)
translation planning in institutions
e.g. study analyzing how metaphors are translated in
political speeches across cultures e.g. developing a curriculum for training legal
translators using findings from cognitive
translation research
1. What are the different definitions of “translation” according to Roman Jakobson?
Can you provide some examples of each definition?
- Jakobson’s definitions draw on “semiotics”
- semiotics: science of communication through signs and sign systems, of which language
is but one (Cobley 2001)
- interlingual translation, or ‘translation proper’: translation from one language to another
à e.g. ENG – NL
à Original: The cat is on the roof
Translation: De kat zit op het dak
- intralingual translation, or ‘rewording’: translation within the same language (rephrasing
or explaining something in different words in the same language
à e.g. adaptation of an encyclopaedia for children
à Original: She passed away
Translation: She died
- intersemiotic translation, or ‘transmutation’: translation from one sign system to another
(such as from verbal language to visual art, music, or symbols)
à e.g. a poem is turned into a painting
à e.g. film adaptation of a book
2. What is the scope of the discipline of Translation Studies?
= discipline concerned with “the complex of problems clustered round the phenomenon of
translating and translations” (Holmes 1998b/2004, 181)
- began in the 2nd half of the 20th century = “young” discipline
- visibility of discipline:
à training: specialized translating and interpreting programmes
à publications: conferences, books, and journals
à analytical instruments: anthologies, databases, encyclopaedias, handbooks
à international organizations: European Society for Translation Studies (EST),
à international Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS)
,3. What do you know about the history of the discipline of Translation Studies?
- pre-20th century: before TS as a discipline
à translation was primarily seen as a craft or art, not a scientific field of study
à thinkers like Cicero, St. Jerome, and later Martin Luther reflected on translation,
often debating literal vs. free translation
à renaissance and Enlightenment translators focused on faithfulness to the source and
stylistic elegance
- no systematic academic study yet (mostly practical or philosophical reflections)
- 1950s – 1970s: founding phase of TS
- translation began to be studied more systematically, especially after World War II, with
the rise of machine translation and structural linguistics
- focus on equivalence: attempts to define how closely a translation matches its original
à e.g., Nida’s formal vs. dynamic equivalence
- emergence of the term “Translation Studies” (first used by James S. Holmes in 1972)
à H proposed a “map” of TS, dividing it into pure (theoretical, descriptive) and
applied branches
- 1980s – 1990s: Cultural Turn
à scholars like Susan Bassnett, André Lefevere, and Itamar Even-Zohar shifted focus
from language to culture
à translation seen as rewriting shaped by ideology, politics, and power
à rise of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) (e.g., Toury) and Polysystem Theory
à emphasis on norms, target culture, and the role of translation in shaping literature
and ideology
- 2000s – present: interdisciplinary expansion
à TS becomes more interdisciplinary, interacting with:
1) Sociology (Bourdieu-influenced studies of translators' agency and institutions)
2) Gender Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Digital Humanities, and Cognitive Science
à new areas emerge:
1) Audiovisual translation (AVT)
2) localization and machine translation
3) corpus-based studies
4) translation ethics and activism
5) increasing attention to non-Western traditions, multilingualism, and decolonizing
translation
, 4. What do you know about Holmes’ map? What are the differences between Holmes’
map and the van Doorslaer map?
Holmes’ map van Doorslaer map
- comes from ‘Name and nature of translation - development since Holmes
studies’, paper by James S. Holmes (1972/1988) - distinction between “translation” and
à crucial to development of the field “translation” studies”
- = visual representation of Holmes’s map by Toury à translation: focused on act of translating
(1995: 10) à TS: analysis of translations
approaches, theories, research methods, applied translation studies
- ‘pure’, ‘theoretical’ and ‘applied’ branches
- “pure” areas: focused on: - translation:
1) the description of the phenomena of translation à lingual (interlingual, intralingual)
à product-oriented: examines existing à media (printed, audiovisual, electronic)
translations (comparative analysis) à mode (retranslation, self-translation,
à function-oriented: which texts were translated pseudo-translation, sight translation)
where and when (nowadays = sociology and à field (political, journalistic, technical,
historiography of translation) literary, religious, scientific, commercial)
à process-oriented: psychology of translation, i.e. - translation studies:
what happens in translator’s mind (e.g. eye- à approaches (cultural approach, linguistic
tracking research) approach)
2) the establishment of general principles to à theories (general translation theory,
explain and predict such phenomena polisystem theory)
, à research methods (descriptive, empirical)
à applied translation studies (criticism,
didactics, institutional environment)
- “applied” areas: applications to the practice of - also contains a basic transfer map of
translation, such as: terminology:
à translator training: teaching methods, testing à strategies (overall orientation of a
techniques, curriculum design translated text; e.g. literal translation)
à translation aids: dictionaries, grammars... à procedures (specific techniques applied at
à translation criticism: evaluation of translations a given point in text)
(marking of students, reviews of published à errors
translations) à rules/norms/conventions/laws/universals
à translation tools
5. What are the differences between “pure” an “applied” areas in Translation
Studies?
pure applied
- goal: describe, analyse, and theorize translation - goal: apply translation theory and research
phenomena in real-world contexts
- focus: academic and theoretical - focus: practical and professional
- subdivisions: - subdivisions:
à Theoretical Translation Studies: Develops à translator training: how translators are
general or partial theories of translation (e.g. taught
equivalence, Skopos, norms) à translation aids: use of tools like CAT
à Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS): tools, dictionaries, NMT
describes real-world translations and how they à translation criticism: evaluating
function across cultures and times translations
includes: product-oriented (texts), process-oriented (cognitive processes), function- à translation policy: language and
oriented (social/cultural impact)
translation planning in institutions
e.g. study analyzing how metaphors are translated in
political speeches across cultures e.g. developing a curriculum for training legal
translators using findings from cognitive
translation research
