Unit 01 Wat is translation.docVIP

Unit 01 What is translation? DEFINITIONS OF TRANSLATION Translation is a phenomenon that has a huge effect on everyday life. How can we then go about defining the phenomenon of ‘translation’ and what the study of it entails? If we look at a general dictionary, we find the following definition of the term translation: Definition 1 Translation n. 1 the act or an instance of translating. 2. a written or spoken expresstion of the meaning of a word, speech, book, etc. in another language. (The Concise Oxford English Dictionary) The first of these two senses relates to translation as a process, the second to the product. This immediately means that the term translation encompasses very distinct perspectives. The first sense focuses on the role of the translator in taking the original or source text (ST) and turning it into a text in another language (the target text, TT). The second sense centres on the concrete translation product produced by the translator. Definition 2 Translation An incredibly broad notion which can be understood in many different ways. For example, one may talk of translation as a process or a product, and identify such sub-types as literary translation, technical translation, subtitling and machine translation; moreover, while more typically it just refers to the transfer of written texts, the term sometimes also includes interpreting. (Dictionary of Translation Studies, Shuttleworth and Cowie 1997:181) This definition introduces further variables, first the ‘sub-types’, which include not only typically written products such as literary and technical translations, but also translation forms that have been created in recent decades, such as audiovisual translation, a written product which is read in conjunction with an image on screen (cinema, television, DVD or computer game). Moreover, the reference to machine translation reveals that translation is now no longer the preserve of human translators but, in a professional context, increasingly a pro