1st Edition

Translation in Systems Descriptive and System-oriented Approaches Explained

By Theo Hermans Copyright 1999
    204 Pages
    by Routledge

    204 Pages
    by Routledge

    The notion of systems has helped revolutionize translation studies since the 1970s. As a key part of many descriptive approaches, it has broken with the prescriptive focus on what translation should be, encouraging researchers to ask what translation does in specific cultural settings. From his privileged position as a direct participant in these developments, Theo Hermans explains how contemporary descriptive approaches came about, what the basic ideas were, and how those ideas have evolved over time. His discussion addresses the fundamental problems of translation norms, equivalence, polysystems and social systems, covering not only the work of Levý, Holmes, Even-Zohar, Toury, Lefevere, Lambert, Van Leuven-Zwart, Dhulst and others, but also giving special attention to recent contributions derived from Pierre Bourdieu and Niklas Luhmann. An added focus on practical questions of how to investigate translation (problems of definition, description, assessment of readerships, etc.) makes this book essential reading for graduate students and indeed any researchers in the field. Hermans' account of descriptive translation studies is both informed and critical. At the same time, he demonstrates the strength of the basic concepts, which have shown considerable vitality in their evolution and adaptation to the debates of the present day.

    Preamble: Mann's Fate


    1. An Invisible College


    Names
    Invisible Colleges
    Manipulation College?


    2. Lines of Approach


    'Diagnostic rather than hortatory'
    Decisions, Shifts, Metatexts
    A Disciplinary Utopia


    3. Points of Orientation


    4. Undefining Translation


    5. Describing Translation


    First Attempts
    Transemes?
    Real Readers
    Checklists
    Comparative Practice


    6. Working with Norms


    Decisions and Norms
    Toury's Norms
    Chesterman's Norms
    Norm Theory
    Studying Norms


    7. Beyond Norms


    Laws?
    Translation as Index
    Equivalence?
    Historicizing Theory


    8. Into Systems


    Polysystem's Sources
    Polysystem's Terms
    Polysystems in Action
    Polysystem's Limitations


    9. More Systems?


    Mass Communication Maps
    System, Ideology and Poetics
    Translation as Field and Habitus


    10. Translation as System


    Expectations Structure
    Translation as a Social System
    Self-reference and Description


    11. Criticisms


    12. Perspectives

     

    Biography

    Theo Hermans