Chapter 19 – Translation process

19. Part 1

There is a traditional distinction between product-oriented study and process-oriented study of translation. This distinction is not very relevant since the product is the result of the process (Holmes, 1986).

The process should be viewed as an interrelation between the original text and the translated text..

In this process, the human mind of the translator project and select mentally a “virtual” metatext from which he creates the translated text.

IN this selection process, a choice (of words) has consequences affecting other parts of the translated text.

But at the base of the activity, there is a selection of elements that the translator considers most important, most relevant to recreate the meaning.

“Isolate a dominant, an element”, around which the meaningfulness take place.

The translator should particularly focus on the distinction between standard elements and marked elements of the prototext: Like in an artwork, the “innovations” that takes place over the classic “background” of the admitted model.

20. Part 2

The translation process includes an analysis stage (comprehension of the original document) and a synthesis stage (projecting the translated text).in which we foresee what our reader expect from us.

We write our translation in function of a “model reader”. If our real readers are close to the model, they will like the product. If not…they won’t understand.

BUT

If the translation is centred on the analysis, we will have a translation centred on the author of the prototext (Literal, or semantic translation, or adequacy principle), while if your translation is centred on your “model reader”, you will have a “reader-centred “(or communicative, or adapted) translation. (“Acceptability principle”)

Example: Martin Luther translated the Bible in German, taking into account the acceptability principle: He wanted the bible to be understood by the German mentalities of his time. The Roman Catholic considered this operation sacrilegious. Afterwards, however, the Roman Catholic proposed versions of the bible have been coming closer to the acceptability principle. (There are examples of comparison of samples of the bible). The adequacy principle makes the translation less understandable for the reader.