History of Translation (18th and 19th centuries)

These centuries have two main characteristics: The Enlightenment, a spiritual,

cultural and intellectual movement which had the desire for the universal
knowledge. The international relationships had been intensified so people
started to travel to enrich their training. Afterwards, the Romanticism appeared.
It can be seen as a reaction against the Enlightenment, which emphasized the
individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the
spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental.

During these periods translations appeared in other languages such as French,

Italian, Spanish, Turkish, and Russian. Shakespeare started to be translated,
Turkish books as "One Thousand and One Nights", and Greek classics as "The
Iliad" and "The Odyssey."

These centuries saw the confrontation between theoretical and practical

tendencies in translation. On the one hand, the disloyal beauty; and on the
other hand the ugly loyalty. It was, without any doubt, the problem that received
most attention in the reflections of those who wrote about translation, for
example, Alexander Fraser Tytler on “Essay on the principles of translation.”

Sometimes, as it is evident in numerous criticisms of translations, Gallicism

used to appear in the process of translation. Gallicism is the habit of using
words or twists taken from French. It was due to inadvertence or lack of
expertise of the translator, unaware of their own language and often falls into
the ease of semantic translation or syntactic.

These centuries were moments of effervescence for translation. It was

considered as a factor of cultural enrichment. The settlement of languages and
its recognition as vehicle of culture and science transmission made translation
were multiplied. Throughout this time translators manifested an unequivocal
desire for social service.
Bibliography

Francisco Lafarca & Luis Pegenaute. Historia de la Traducción en España.

Salamanca. 2004.

Alexander Fraser Tytler. On the Principles of Translation. Everyman’s Library.

1907

https://www.britannica.com/art/Romanticism

https://www.kent.ac.uk/ewto/projects/anthology/antoine-galland.html

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/alexander-pope

https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/hieronymus/pdf/04_05/04_05_071.pdf
Activities:

1. Why translation had an important role during the 18th and 19th centuries?

2. According to Alexander Fraser Tytler, what are the three principles of

translation?

3. What is “disloyal beauty” and “ugly loyalty?

4. What is Gallicism?

5.