Translation theory

LECTURE III
THE IMPORTANCE OF VARIOUS THEORIES IN TRANSLATION


PLAN

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  The content of translation.
  
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  Translation theory in Europe
  
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  Translation theory in Central Asia
  

Translation is means between two cultures and translator/interpreter is a mediator between two nations. It is always necessary to translate or interpret written or oral text when the owners of two languages communicate each other. That’s why we can say that translation has been existed from ancient times. Translator’s task is to substitute any text in written form and interpreter’s task is substitute any text in oral form.

In the field of translation studies, owing to the factors such as the interests of scholar, cultural and historical reasons, scholars usually choose a definition of translation as the research orientation in a certain period of time.
Throughout the history of translation studies, hundreds of theorists have pointed out various kinds of definitions for translation. They defined translation from the perspectives of object, character, purpose, role, etc. And the concept of translation, therefore, is developing and improving for years.
And in the following, most famous and representative definitions will be chosen to get comprehension about translation.

1. 
   John. Cunnison Catford’s Definition. The ideas are best expressed in his work A Linguistic Theory of Translation. In the beginning of the book, he proposes: “Translation is an operation performed on languages: a process of substituting a text in one language for a text in another. Clearly, then, any theory of translation must draw upon a theory of language— a general linguistic theory.” (Catford, 1965, p.1). From the perspective of functional linguistics, he defines translation as: “the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)” (p.20).
   
2.