Translation: Theory and Practice in Dialogue RRParker_FM_Final.inddParker_FM_Final.indd i 44/13/2010/13/2010 44:54:31:54:31 PPMM Continuum Studies in Translation Series Editor: Jeremy Munday, Centre for Translation Studies, University of Leeds, UK Published in association with the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS), Continuum Studies in Translation aims to present a series of books focused around central issues in translation and interpreting. Using case studies drawn from a wide range of different countries and languages, each book presents a comprehensive examination of current areas of research within translation studies written by academics at the forefront of the field. The thought-provoking books in this series are aimed at advanced students and researchers of translation studies. Translation as Intervention Edited by Jeremy Munday Translator and Interpreter Training: Issues, Methods and Debates Edited by John Kearns Translation Studies in Africa: Central Issues in Interpreting and Literary and Media Translation Edited by Judith Inggs and Libby Meintjes Forthcoming: Cognitive Explorations of Translation: Eyes, Keys, Taps Edited by Sharon O’Brien Self-Translation: Brokering Originality in Hybrid Culture Edited by Anthony Cordingley Words, Sounds and Image in Translation Edited Rita Wilson and Brigid Maher RRParker_FM_Final.inddParker_FM_Final.indd iiii 44/13/2010/13/2010 44:54:31:54:31 PPMM Translation: Theory and Practice in Dialogue Edited by Antoinette Fawcett, Karla L. Guadarrama García and Rebecca Hyde Parker RRParker_FM_Final.inddParker_FM_Final.indd iiiiii 44/13/2010/13/2010 44:54:31:54:31 PPMM Continuum International Publishing Group % e Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704 11 York Road New York London SE1 7NX NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com © Antoinette Fawcett, Karla L. Guadarrama García, Rebecca Hyde Parker and Contributors 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-0-8264-4385-4 (hardback) 978-0-8264-4467-7 (paperback) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire RRParker_FM_Final.inddParker_FM_Final.indd iivv 44/13/2010/13/2010 44:54:31:54:31 PPMM Series Editor’s Preface The International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS) provides a global forum for scholars and researchers concerned with transla- tion and other forms of intercultural communication. The Association facilitates the exchange of knowledge and resources among scholars in different parts of the world, stimulates interaction between research- ers from diverse traditions, and encourages scholars across the globe to explore issues of mutual concern and intellectual interest. Among the Association’s activities are the organization of conferences and workshops, the creation of web-based resources and the publication of news- letters and scholarly books and journals. The Translation Series published by Continuum in conjunction with IATIS is a key publication for the Association. It addresses the scholarly community at large, as well as the Association’s members. Each volume presents a themati- cally coherent collection of essays, under the co-ordination of a prominent guest editor. The series thus seeks to be a prime instrument for the promotion and dissemination of innovative research, sound scholarship and critical thought in all areas that fall within the Association’s purview. Jeremy Munday University of Leeds, UK RRParker_FM_Final.inddParker_FM_Final.indd vviiii 44/13/2010/13/2010 44:54:31:54:31 PPMM Preface One of the most important questions in the discipline of Translation Studies, or perhaps in any discipline, is this: What is the relationship between theory and practice? There are many possible forms that answers to this question might take, and it is perhaps helpful to look at such answers as relating to three pairs of oppos- ing issues. Firstly, there are the effects of theory on practice, and the effects of practice on theory. Secondly, there is the opposition between theory as descrip- tion, and theory as tool. And, thirdly, there are theories of translation, and theories from outside translation. The first pair is in many ways the most tricky, and seems to go to the heart of what it means to link theory and practice. There is an obvious way of seeing the effect of theory on practice: you take the theory and apply it. But theories cannot always, or even usually, be applied. If a theory is a model, a mental rep- resentation of an action or set of actions, incorporating to varying degrees metaphors, ways of seeing, and also explanations, then it is difficult to see what “application” would actually mean. On a very simple level perhaps it just means that we take the picture we have of the world to be a true one and attempt to make our actions match that picture. Often, as Iser (2006: 10) points out, we have to construct a method or strategy based on this mental picture in order to apply it to a real situation. Thus our mental picture of translation might see it as violence, as a mirror, as a veil, as an appropriation, and we might attempt to formulate a method of translation that acts out, or avoids acting out, the details of our view. The converse of this approach is to consider the effects of practice on theory. If we see translation, for example, as something that causes violence to an original text, then consideration of an actual translation will help us to refine our view of the sort of violence that is done. Usually both sides work in tandem. As we try to carry out translations that fulfil our idea of what we think a translation is, we also refine our idea of what a translation is based on what is possible, or what works. But it should be remembered that translation theories are not only theories of what translation is. This is certainly a fundamental question, but in fact many if not most theories take for granted (rightly or wrongly) that we know RRParker_FM_Final.inddParker_FM_Final.indd xxii 44/13/2010/13/2010 44:54:32:54:32 PPMM xii Preface what it is, and theorize instead particular aspects of it: its ethics, its processes, its effects, its reception, the way it works in a specific culture. The vast majority of theories are partial. The second pair of opposing ideas is related to the first. If theories describe what we do, how can they be tools? And yet that they can be tools cannot be in doubt once one has read the articles in this volume. In fact they are tools because they are ways of seeing, and ways of seeing affect how we translate. Not only is this true of metaphor-theories (a translation is an act of violence, a pane of glass, a veil) but also of theories about what we do and why: feminist texts need to be translated in certain ways; our view of an Eastern European country will affect how we translate; different views of grammar and style will lead us to judge different translations as closer or more or less literary or more or less acceptable. Because theories like these make us aware of how language works, how cultures work, how literature works, they enable the translator to take more factors into account. In this sense they are not just pictures but also tools. And then there is the third opposition, between theories from within and from outside Translation Studies. It is striking just how many of the theories discussed here are not actually theories of translation. There are theories of meaning, of language, of style, of gender, just to name the most obvious. None of these originated as translation theories. But in the moment they interact in our minds with views of translation they become translation theories: pictures of aspects of translation. The papers selected with such care by the editors of this volume give differ- ent answers to all the above questions, but one thing that emerges from them all is the ubiquity and the enormous importance of theory. One reason for this is simply that every translator has a theory. It is like gardening. I must have some basic idea of the seasons, of growth, of the soil and plant nutrition, or I will be unable to produce anything beyond weeds. But it is possible to go fur- ther. I can learn the constituents of soil and the different theories of its deple- tion and renewal. I can learn about theories of planting and the phases of the moon. Such theories may be necessary, interesting, useful, or a hindrance, depending on one’s point of view. What is clear is that I cannot have no theory. That is not an option. So it is, too, with translation. The minimum require- ments of anyone’s theory are likely to be to do with what translation is, what it preserves, what it loses, what it is for. From this basis, theories can be built up as they interact with practice, with knowledge, with the theories of other peo- ple, with theories from outside translation studies, and with one’s own theories about other things: language, culture, reading, meaning, and so on. RRParker_FM_Final.inddParker_FM_Final.indd xxiiii 44/13/2010/13/2010 44:54:32:54:32 PPMM Preface xiii Theories constantly change and grow.