Translation theory

Translation is, of course, a rewriting of an original text⁷.
Lefevere views translating as a process of rewriting and points out that rewriting is basically determined by two factors—ideology and poetics. Unlike the traditional translation theorists, Lefevere shifts the focus of translation to the relationships among politics, culture and translation, which present a new perspective for translation study.
Translation is not a mere linguistic transfer but a cross-cultural activity⁸.
In Bassnett’s opinion, translation is not only a kind of pure lingual activity but also a kind of communication intra-culture and inter-culture. She proposes that the cultural aspects should be taken into consideration for the study of translation, especially for the equivalence of source text and target text.
We can count many definitions of translation which help to recognize the content of translation. The following definitions also related to the content of translation by famous translation studies theorists:
«Translation is a specific oral or written activity aimed at the recreation of an oral or written text (utterance) existing in one language into a text in another language, accompanied by keeping the invariance of content, qualities of the original and author`s authenticity» (A. Lilova);
«Translation is a type of speech activity, aimed at transmitting a message, doubling the components of communication in those cases, when there is a discrepancy between codes used by the sender and the receiver of the message» (R. K. Minyar-Beloruchev);
«Translation is a process (and its result) caused by social necessity of information (content) transmitting, expressed in a written or oral text in one language by the means of an equivalent (adequate) text in another language» (V. S. Vinogradov);
“The main content of translation is creative process, the word art consist of recreating with other language devices” (G. Salomov);
“Translation – complicated form of human activity is creative process consists of recreating speech expression created in one language saving its form and content on the basis of other language devices ” (K. Musayev);
“Translation is transferring or substituting speaker’s speech, aouther’s work, different documents and information from one language into another language” (I.Gofurov);
“Translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a representation of an equivalent text in a second language. During the process of translation the speaker should focus on each message: who the sender of the message is, the intention or purpose of the speaker, when and where the action is taken place and how the message is delivered” (O. Muminov).
The main concern of translation theory is to determine appropriate translation methods for the widest possible range of texts3 and to give insight into the translation process, into the relations between thought and language, culture and speech.
There are several aspects of this branch of linguistics:
• General theory of translation, whose object is general notions typical of translation from any language.
• Specific (or partial, in terms of Holmes) theory of translation that deals with the regularities of translation characteristic of particular languages - for example, translation from English into Uzbek/Russian and vice versa.
• Special (partial) theory of translation that pays attention to texts of various registers and genres.
Language system is the part of semiotics dealing with sign systems.
Therefore, semiotic theories may be applied to language functioning. According to the semiotic approach, translation is language code switching. When translating, we switch from one language to another one.
American linguist Roman Jakobson in his article “On Linguistic Aspects of
Translation” 5 spoke of three possibilities of code switching:
1) Intralinguistic translation, or rewording, i.e. interpreting verbal signs through other signs of the same language. This can be done on diachronic level: Chaucer’s text is translated into modern English. When done on synchronic level, this kind of code switching is called a paraphrase. We often deal with paraphrasing when trying to explain or define things. For example, to explain the meaning of the phrase I am not much of a cook, we can paraphrase it by I do not like to cook, or I do not cook well. In the theory of translation, this type of code switching is called a transformation.
2) Interlanguage translation, i.e. substituting verbal signs of one language by verbal signs of another language, or switching from one language code to another one. This type of code switching is translation proper, the object of Translation Studies.
3) Intersemiotic translation, i.e. substituting signs of one semiotic system by signs of a different semiotic system. In its broad meaning, the term implies transmutation and can be illustrated by decoding some ideas and themes expressed, for example, in a poem through the “language” of music or dance.
Other linguists adhere to the semiotic approach to translation. J. Catford, for example, defines translation as “the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL).”