The Effect of Pragmatic Factors on the Definition of Equivalence in Translation  

Oleh:

Ruuskanen, Deborah D.K.

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Language Sciences (Full Text) vol. 18 no. 3-4 (1996), page 883-895.
Topik: translation studies; translation equivalence; pragmatics; semantics; poetics; professional translation; terminology; ideal reader; cognitive linguistics
Fulltext: 18_03-04_Ruuskanen.pdf (1.16MB)

Isi artikel

The on-going debate on the definition of equivalence in translation studies has focused on the attempt to establish a semantic relationship between languages that was as close to one-to-one as possible for each semantic unit. The recent variable approach to translation (see e.g. Hewson and Martin 1991) has allowed the consideration of pragmatic factors into this debate. While trying to lay the ghosts haunting cultural relativity in translation, Malmkjaer (1993) evoked Quine and Davidson to show that the philosophy underlying translation studies could also allow a number of different pragmatic factors to be considered in defining equivalence. With the final addition of the poetics of translation in a cognitively based approach (Tabakovska 1993), the framework was ready for the investigation of the pragmatic factors actually used by practicing translators in setting up a working definition of equivalence. In this study, professional translators were asked which questions they put to clients before accepting a commission, and were then asked to comment on how the answers to these questions affected the subsequent translation assignment. The creation of an ideal "implied reader" (lser 1978) by the translator is posited, and a variable definition of equivalence is proposed, based on the pragmatic factors translators reported using. Some applications of this definition are also discussed.

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