گروه مترجمین لیان

Joseph F. Graham in his article Theory for Translation (p.24) asks the question if the time-honoured act of translation really is a subject that begs to be theorized. It seems to me that this is indeed the case if the wealth of literature on the subject available today is any indication. Early attempts at theory can be traced back over 2000 years to Cicero and Horace, with the key question being whether a translator should be faithful to the original text by adopting a “literal” (word-for-word) approach or whether a “free” (sense-for-sense) approach should be taken. This discussion continued right through to the second half of the 20^th century when more systematic analyses were undertaken by Western European theoreticians. These systematic analyses, which elevated translation studies from its role of being primarily a language-learning activity, centred on theories of translation in new linguistic, literary, cultural and philosophical contexts (Munday p.162). It is the linguistic approach that is the subject during the course of this discussion.

The linguistic approach to translation theory focusing on the key issues of meaning, equivalence and shift began to emerge around 50 years ago. This branch of linguistics, known as structural linguistics, features the work of Roman Jakobson, Eugene Nida, Newmark, Koller, Vinay, Darbelnet, Catford and van Leuven-Zwart. It wasn’t long however, before some theorists began to realize that language wasn’t just about structure – it was also about the way language is used in a given social context. This side of the linguistic approach is termed functional linguistics (Berghout lecture 7/9/05), with the work of Katharina Reiss, Justa Holz-Mänttäri, Vermeer, Nord, Halliday, Julianne House, Mona Baker, Hatim and Mason figuring prominently.

Of course other theorists have contributed to the development of a linguistic approach to translation, but the abovementioned have been singled out for discussion primarily because of their influence, and also because they are perhaps the most representative of the trends of the time.

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