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Three Paradigm Shifts in Translation Studies: An Overview

Dr. Hosni Mostafa El-daliAssociate Professor of Linguistics

Department of LinguisticsUnited Arab Emirates University

E-mail: hasan.mostafa@uaeu.ac.ae

Presented at the International Conference on Language, Literature and Culture in Education (LLCE 2014), 7-9 May, 2014, Nitra, Slovakia.

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Introductory Remarks: Why?

The interest in translation is growing

Cultural exchanges have been widening

International communication has been intensifying

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Knowledge has been increasingly expanding

Today human communication depends heavily on translation

The phenomenon of translation has become fundamental

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The Purpose

Theoretical and Pedagogical

A. Theoretical

This study is an attempt to outline the scope of the discipline of TS, to give some indication of the kind of work that has been done so far.

It is an attempt to demonstrate that TS is a discipline in its own right. It is a vastly complex field with many far – reaching ramifications.

B. Pedagogical: Using Translation in FL Classroom: Why and How?

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Rationale

1. Translation has a very wide and rich history. Since its birth, translation was the subject of a variety of research and conflicts among theorists. This fact gives its history a changing quality.

2. In my attempt to examine such a changing quality, the present study discusses the relationships between the changing definitions of translation and the turns of TS: (1) Linguistic Turn; and (2) Cultural Turn; and (3) Social and Psychological Turn.

3. Thomas Samuel Khunn’s Paradigm Theory.

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Linguistics and TS

Translation was initially studied as a linguistic

phenomenon, as a process of meaning transfer via

linguistic transcoding. Consequently, Translation

Studies was conceived as a linguistic discipline.

Justification

Since linguistics deals with the study of language and how this works;

Since the process of translation entails language,

The relevance of linguistics to translation should never be in doubt.

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F. de Saussure’s ideas of structuralism lays the foundation of modern linguistics, and from 1940s on, TS begins to be integrated closely with modern linguistics, and the concept of structuralism.

One of the first to propose that linguistics should affect the study of translation was Jakobson (1959).

In 1965, Catford opened his “A Linguistic Theory of Translation” with the following assertion:

“Clearly, any theory of translation must draw upon a theory of language – a general linguistic theory”.

Fawcett (1997) points out that:“without a grounding in linguistics, the translator is like somebody who is working with an incomplete toolkit”.

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Up to the end of the 1970’s, as Snell-Hornby reports, most linguistically-oriented theories were centered around the concept of equivalence.

The Problem of Equivalence

It is a central concept in the theories of most scholars working within a linguistic paradigm. And, it has been particularly criticized by theorists invoking a cultural frame of reference.

It has been analyzed, evaluated and extensively discussed from different points of view, and has been approached from many different perspectives.

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Roman Jakobson (1959)Nida (1964)Catford (1965)House (1977)Baker (1992)Halliday (2001)

1. Due to inevitable differences between languages, there could never be a full equivalence between code-units.

2. The concept of “Equivalence” is essential to any definition of translation, and as Snell-Hornby (1988) observes, “all definitions of translation could be considered variations on this”.

Nida defines translation as the transference of messages from one language to another.

Newmark views translation as the meaning exchange between two languages.

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Cultural Turn

John L. Austin’s “Speech Act Theory” and the Pragmatic Turn of TS the Context.

Since 1980s, TS was characterized by the so-called “Cultural Turn”. What happened was a shift from linguistically-oriented approaches to culturally-oriented ones.

Snell-Hornby has defined translation as a “Cross-cultural Event”.

Vermeer claimed that a translator should be “Pluricultural”.

Ivir states that “translating means translating cultures, not languages”.

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Cultural Turn

Accordingly,

Translation was defined as text production, as retextualising a SL-text according to the TL conventions. The text, then, moved into the centre of attention.

Vermeer’s theory “Skopos Theory”

(A) Translation is a specific kind of communicative action;

(B) Each action has a specific purpose;

(C) Therefore, the most decisive criterion for

any translation is its purpose.

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Cultural Turn

Another theory was introduced by Toury (1995): A norm-based theory of translation.

A norm-based theory of translation focuses on regularities of translation behavior and the situational, or cultural features (norms) which may account for these regularities.

The past fifteen years or so have seen the focus of TS shift away from linguistics and increasingly to forms of cultural studies, including,

1. Postcolonialism2. The concepts of identity and non western

traditions.3. The effects of globalization on translation.4. Translation universals5. Technological advances, and their role in

transforming the working conditions of the translators.

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Paradigm No. (3)

Social and Psychological Turn

As the name implies, social and psychological turn has close relation with the study of psychology and sociology.

In the book, “Translation and Identity in the Americans: New Directions in Translation Theory”, Edwin Gentzler (2008) proposes that:

“The next turn in TS should be a social-psychological one, expanding a functional approach to include social effects and individual effects” (p. 180).

The introduction of Psychoanalysis plays a great role for TS, as it draws our attention to identity studies.

Jean Laplanche; Sigmund Freud*, Jacques Lacan*

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Paradigm No. (3)

Freud believes that the mental condition of human being is composed of three stages: Id, Ego, and Superego. Only if we keep the three ones in balance can we maintain health. In most cases, our neurosis owes to the repression of “id” and we usually translate our mental condition into dream.

Jacques Lacan associated Freud’s theory with language study. He regards Unconsciousness as the essence of language: “I am not where I think, and I think where I am not”.

Since our mental condition now is influenced by the memory of the past, psychoanalysts usually try to recreate the sights of the past so as to find out the specific demand which is repressed.

As Gentzler (2008: 184) points out, “through the process of transference, an alternative translation is possible; one that is less repressive”.

Accordingly, based on the studies in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Latin America and Caribbean, Gentzler proposes that:

It is translation that forms people’s identity in the Americans.

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A translator, then deals with two different languages + two different cultures.

Taking account of culture does not necessarily mean having to dismiss any kind of linguistic approach to translation.

Even from a linguistic point of view, language and culture are connected.

In order to enhance the role of culture when translating, it is not at all necessary to reject the fact the translation is primarily a linguistic activity. On the contrary, if we aim at a cultural goal, we will best do so through linguistic procedures.

As Manfredi (2007: 204) affirms: Culturally-oriented and linguistically-oriented approaches to translation are not necessarily mutually exclusive alternatives.

He is a bilingual mediating agent between monolingual communication participants in two different language communities (House, 1977)

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The Soviet Scholar Juri Lotman.

No language can exist unless it is steeped in the context of culture.

No culture can exist which does not have at its center, the structure of natural language.

Language, then, is the heart within the body of culture.

It is the interaction between the two that results in the continuation of life-energy.

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In the same way that the surgeon, operating on the heart, cannot neglect the body that surrounds it, so the translator treats the text in isolation from the culture at his peril.

Language is not a simple matter of vocabulary and grammar; it can never be separated from the culture it operates in.

Edward Sapir

Benjamin Lee Whorf

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Language is a guide to social reality, and human beings are at the mercy of the language that has become the medium of expression for their society.

Experience is largely determined by the language habits of the community.

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Chesterman considers that the growth in TS as an interdiscipline has led to fragmentation. The alternative is to adopt the term “Consilience” which has its roots in the ancient Greek concept of the unity of knowledge.

According to Chesterman, this term is relevant since modern Translation Studies announces itself as a new attempt to cut across boundaries in the search for a deeper understanding of the relations between texts, societies, and cultures.

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Those who recommended nothing but English in an English lesson neglect many important facts:

B. Pedagogical View

1. FL learners translate in their minds and think in their own language, and this can not be controlled.

2. The unknown (L2 patterns) can not be explained via something less known (the L2)

3. Mother-tongue is first in terms of acquisition and proficiency; it is so ingrained that no amount of direct method drill can override its influence.

4. There are individual differences among students; the weaker students may have difficulties in grasping a point in the foreign language.

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B. Pedagogical View

Accordingly,

1. Disregarding the mother-tongue and considering it “a bogey to be shunned at all costs” is a myth.

2. The teacher who says, “I forbid the use of the pupil’s own language in my class; nothing but English”, is deceiving himself.

3. It is better to capitalize on the students’ knowledge of the mother-tongue, than to pretend it is not there.

4. There are many situations in which a few words in the mother-tongue will help clarify something students may not have comprehend in English.

5. It is a myth to believe that the best criterion for effective target language teaching is the total absence of the mother-tongue in the classroom.

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B. Pedagogical View

6. Absence of the mother-tongue may result in meaningless and mechanical learning situations in which one may learn how to repeat a phrase or a sentence in a foreign language, without knowing what is means.

7. Using the mother-tongue wisely can enhance the element of “meaningfulness” in the teaching process.

• Students become motivated and active if they really understand what is going-on. So, it is important not to disregard the learners’ need for comprehension of what they learn.

• Mother-tongue plays a vital role in diminishing or eliminating the psychological factors that have on inhibiting effect on FL teaching and learning.

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B. Pedagogical View

8. Mother-tongue use helps create a climate that alleviates the learners’ tension, insecurity and anxiety.

9. Finally, it must be kept in mind, however, that

Mother-tongue should be used as little possible, but as much as necessary. It should be rule-governed, not be freely or randomly used.

Unlimited use of MT is so harmful that it discourages the learner from thinking in English.

FL teachers should guard against mental translation. They can: (1) permit their students to express themselves within their linguistic capacities. (2) They can use students’ native culture as content in the English language classroom (familiar content can positively affect students’ comprehension of L2).

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B. Pedagogical View

With careful and functional mother-tongue use, intelligibility can be achieved, and the time saved (by giving difficult meanings in the mother tongue, can be used for more practice in the target language.

Maximum exposure to the foreign language without understanding is the real waste of time and effort of both teachers and learners.

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In Conclusion, The problem does not lie in whether mother-

tongue has a place in FL teaching/learning on not, but in how much of it is permitted.

Many factors determine the quantity to be used:

A) The maturity level of our learners and their linguistic level.

B) Teachers’ competence.

C) The material to be taught.

D) The availability of the teaching materials.

It is the individual teacher who sensitizes when to switch codes and when not to. It is also the teacher who can decide the pragmatic quantity to be used because what is workable in a certain class may not be so in another.