Theories of translation: From normative approaches towards sociocultural description

This study questions normative approaches to translation and attempts to develop a descriptive model which is historical-relative and socio-historical.;The first part of the study discusses normative theories of translation, which tend to be theories of translatability. They are concerned with establishing certain rules or criteria which make translation possible or which allow for the assessment of translation. Linguistic and text-oriented models of translation limit translation to the transfer of data. They are based on the notions of "equivalence" and "unit of translation." Since they keep translation to an invariant "core," they are both essentialist and normative.;The second part of the study explores possible solutions to the problems encountered in normative approaches to translation. A hermeneutic model, for instance, emphasizes that translation is an interpretative process. In this model, translation is seen as a re-creative act and the translator's task is to find "equivalents" of understanding. However, hermeneutic approaches to translation seldom take into account the historical and socio-cultural conditions surrounding and informing both the translation process and its resulting products, translations. Moreover, they tend to ignore the motivations underlying the translation process.;A descriptive model of translation is needed to arrive at an understanding of the complex phenomenon of translation. Such a model recognizes the transformative and teleological nature of translation. Translation is an appropriative act and a social activity which is motivated by certain objectives. More specifically, translated literature occupies a unique position in the contact and communication between different cultures. Translation is best seen as a form of cultural negotiation. Only an investigation into the cultural circumstances that motivated the translator's decisions will lead us away from normative approaches to translation.