WHAT IS

TRANSLATION
STUDIES?
ITS Power Point 5
10 October 2007
Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS 07 FLUP

Brief historical overview

TRANSLATION as an academic subject is
only about 50 years old.
Before: T was mainly used for language
teaching (thus secondary status in
academia)
1960s-1970s: communicative approach in
TEFL
1960s-1970s: translation workshop (USA);
comparative literature; contrastive
analysis
Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS
07 - FLUP

 1950s and 1960s: more systematic,

scientific (mainly linguistic) approach
to T:
e.g., Vinay and Darbelnet (1958),
George Mounin (1963); Nida (1964);
Catford (1965);
EUGENE NIDA
Toward a Science of Translating,
1964
Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS
07 - FLUP

Eugene Nida

Rome,
Universit La Sapienza, 2004
(with me and Dr. Hirci)

Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS

07 - FLUP

What name to give to the

new, budding discipline?
bersetzungswissenschaft used by
Wolfram Wills (Uni Saarlandes,
Saarbrcken), Werner Koller
(Heidelberg), Otto Kade and Albert
Neubert (Leipzig School)
Translatogy?? (FR:Translatologie;
PT,ES: Traductologia; IT:
Traduttologia, etc.)
Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS
07 - FLUP

TRANSLATION STUDIES
The name and nature of translation
studies by James S. Holmes (19241986), paper given at the translation
section of the Third International
Congress of Applied Linguistics,
Copenhagen, 1972,
founding statement for the field
(Gentzler:92)
Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS
07 - FLUP

 [Holmes] realized as did few others that the

1950s had heralded a revolution in translation
studies (van den Broeck, 1988,1994:3)
Holmes highlighted the existence of 3 main
impediments to the further development of the
discipline:
- scholars and researchers scattered in different
fields and therefore lack of common channels of
communication;
- the seemingly trivial matter of the name for
this field of research; van den Broeck,
1988,1994:68)
- lack of any general consensus as to the scope
and structure of the discipline (ibid.:71)

Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS

07 - FLUP

Holmes concludes that :

the most appropriate name for the discipline in
English is TRANSLATION STUDIES (TS), for this
term would avoid a lot of confusion and
misunderstanding;
There should be communication channels able to
reach all scholars in the field, from whatever
background;
TS can be divided into 2 main research areas:
PURE

APPLIED

Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS

07 - FLUP

Pure TS has 2 main goals (descriptive and

theoretical):
1. to describe the phenomena of translating and
translation(s) as they manifest themselves in
the world of experience (Descriptive
Translation Studies, DTS)
2. to establish general principles by means of
which these phenomena can be explained and
predicted. (Translation Theory, TTh)

Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS

07 - FLUP

Holmess map of TS
Figure 1 Holmes conception of translation studies (from Toury
1991:181); in Mundays book on p.10. Also available at:
http://isg.urv.es/library/papers/holmes_map.doc

Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS

07 - FLUP

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The Holmes Map

of Translation Studies (1)
James S Holmes seminal The Name and
Nature of Translation Studies (1972) set out
to orient the scholarly study of translation. It
put forward a conceptual scheme that
identified and interrelated many of the things
that can be done in translation studies,
envisaging an entire future discipline and
effectively stimulating work aimed at
establishing that discipline. Historically, this
was a major step forward, none the least
because it involved a frontal attack on the
hazy but self-assured categories that had
long been used to judge translations.
Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS
07 - FLUP

11

The Holmes Map

of Translation Studies (2)
Holmes categories were simple, scientifically framed, and
hierarchically arranged: Applied was opposed to Pure, the latter was
broken down into Theoretical and Descriptive, then Descriptive
divided in turn into Product Oriented, Process Oriented and Function
Oriented, and so on. Figure 1 (previous slide) shows the apocryphal
graphic form these categories received later from, I believe, Gideon
Toury, who saw it as a legitimate point of departure (it is also in Toury
1995: 10). Many wonderful things found a place in this map; a few
more
have benefited from the modifications and variants proposed since
(notably Lambert 1991, Snell-Hornby 1991, Toury 1991, Toury 1995).
Of course, translation studies cannot be reduced to this one map, and
the map itself has been evolving dynamically, along with the lands it
purports to represent.
from: Intercultural Studies Group, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
http://isg.urv.es/library/papers/holmes_map.doc

Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS

07 - FLUP

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DESCRIPTIVE TS
DTS focuses on 3 areas of research:
PRODUCT (synchronic; diachronic)
FUNCTION (translation sociology or
socio-translation studies)

PROCESS (psychology of translation or

psycho-translation studies)

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07 - FLUP

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The results of DTS research can then

be applied to Tth to develop:
a general theory of translation (very
ambitious)
partial theories restricted according to:

Medium
Area
Rank
Text type
Time
Problem
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APPLIED TS
TRANSLATOR
TRAINING

TEACHING
METHODS

TESTING
TECHNIQUES

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07 - FLUP

CURRICULUM
PLANNING

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APPLIED TS
TRANSLATION
AIDS

IT APPLICATIONS

DICTIONARIES

GRAMMARS

Translation software
On-line databases
Use of Internet
Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS
07 - FLUP

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APPLIED TS
TRANSLATION
POLICY

PLACE AND ROLE

OF TRANSLATORS
IN SOCIETY

PLACE AND ROLE

OF TRANSLATING
IN SOCIETY

Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS

07 - FLUP

PLACE AND ROLE

OF TRANSLATIONS
IN SOCIETY

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APPLIED TS
TRANSLATION
CRITICISM

REVISION

EVALUATION
OF TRANSLATIONS

Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS

07 - FLUP

REVIEWS

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Gideon Toury
points out that :
Theoretical, descriptive and applied
areas of TS influence one another,
BUT
Holmess divisions represent a flexibile
separation of the various areas of TS,
which had very often been confused,
thus pointing to the great potential
of the discipline.
Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS
07 - FLUP

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?????????????
Whats missing in Holmess map?
Social networks & working practices:
who are the players in the T
process / the translatorial activity
(Holz-Mnttri,1984) (see Robinson,
Fig. 7, 216)

Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS

07 - FLUP

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TASK 2
Work in pairs, make notes and be
prepared to give feedback to the
class:
Is translation theory relevant for
practising translators?

Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS

07 - FLUP

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Munday: Introducing TS
1. Main issues in TS
2. T until mid-20th century
3. 1960s: some focus on the receiver: Nida,
Newmark, Koller
4. Linguistic models: Catford
5. 1970s-1980s: Text-type models and
skopostheorie (Reiss, Vermeer) ; textlinguistic approach (Nord)
6. 1990s: discourse-oriented approaches
(House, Baker, Hatim, Mason)
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7. The Manipulation School (Even-Zohar,

Toury)
8. Other cultural approaches (gender TS and
post-colonials TS)
9. Invisibility and naturalizing (Berman,
Venuti)
10. Philosophical issues:lang and T
11. Interdisciplinary approach to TS: Mary
Snell-Hornbys integrated approach
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Think about the following points

and be prepared to actively discuss
them in class.
a. Is a graduate or a postgraduate
qualification a prerequisite for
working as a professional translator
in your country?
b. If someone (individual, company,
etc.) needs a translation in your
country, how do they go about
obtaining it? Try to trace the phases
of the process.
Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS
07 - FLUP

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Homework
REMEMBER to READ:
FOR 10 OCT.
Intro+Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 (The Users
View; The Translators View) from Robinsons
Becoming a Translator (BAT).
FOR 11 OCT.
Introducing TS (Munday) Chapter 2

Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS

07 - FLUP

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BYE BYE

Elena Zagar Galvo - ITS

07 - FLUP

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