Translation Theories

The theory of translations is rather young and belongs to linguistic disciplines. As a part of philology it is inconceivable without the organic combination of both linguistic and literary methods(on structural methods of investigation).

Practical translation is a creative process that should be distinguished from the theory of translation as a science. Theory is defined as a structure in which each step depends on preceding steps. It is a system of generalized knowledge in one or another area of human activity.

The objectives of the theory of translation.

The functions of translation

We may outline the main functions of translation as following

Scientific and technical – it fosters the progress in various fields of science and technology in all countries of the world.

Social and political - it provides the dissemination of political ideas, of social and political knowledge in different field of science.

Cultural - it is also a perfect means of sharing achievements and enriching national literatures and cultures.

Linguistic - it promotes the enrichment of lexicon and of the means of expression in the target language.

Educational – one of the means of teaching foreign languages

Translation studies is the new academic discipline related to the study of the theory and phenomena of translation. By its nature it is multilingual and also interdisciplinary, encompassing languages, linguistics, communication stud­ies, philosophy and a range of types of cultural studies.

The objectives of the theory of translation are

· to provide an overview of translation studies as an academic discipline.

· to present translation theory as a component of this discipline and outline some of the issues it aims to address.

· to outline the various perspectives from which different scholars have attempted to develop a theory of translation.

· to formulate aims and tasks of rendering,

· to show ways and means of solving problems of translation,

· to establish lexical, grammatical and stylistic correspondences and divergences between two languages

· to point out possible ways of their rendering from one language into the other.

But one has to remember that theory of translation is not and has nothing to do with a collection of recommendations how to translate. Very often the translator follows some advice the science offers but most cases in translation practice require quite original and individual solutions. The translator’s success depends on his proficiency and theoretical knowledge, as well as his ability to use the accumulated practical experience and achievements of the past.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11