Defining Translation Studies: A Comprehensive Guide for Students
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11 cards
Question: What are the three major kinds of research in Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS)?
Answer: Product-oriented, function-oriented, and process-oriented DTS.
Question: What is the primary focus of product-oriented Descriptive Translation Studies?
Answer: Describing existing translations, starting with individual (text-focused) descriptions and then comparative analyses of translations of the same text.
Question: What are typical stages or scales of study within product-oriented DTS?
Answer: Individual translation description, comparative translation description, and surveys of larger corpora (restricted by period, language, and/or text or
Question: Give examples of how a corpus is commonly restricted in product-oriented DTS.
Answer: By historical period, target language, and text/discourse type—for example, seventeenth-century literary translations into French or medieval English
Question: What ambitious long-term goal is mentioned for product-oriented DTS?
Answer: The possible development of a general history of translation (diachronic and synchronic surveys of translations).
Question: What does function-oriented Descriptive Translation Studies study?
Answer: The function of translations in the recipient socio-cultural situation—contexts rather than texts.
Question: What kinds of questions does function-oriented DTS pursue?
Answer: Which texts were or weren't translated at a certain time/place, and what influences those translations exerted in the recipient culture.
Question: What related field could develop from greater emphasis on function-oriented DTS?
Answer: Translation sociology or socio-translation studies (study of translations' social functions and effects).
Question: What is the focus of process-oriented Descriptive Translation Studies?
Answer: The mental process or act of translation—what happens in the translator's mind while creating a target text.
Question: Why has process-oriented DTS been difficult to investigate systematically?
Answer: Because the translation process is unusually complex and there has been little systematic laboratory investigation into the translator's mental proces