The Influence Of Toury's Translation Theory On Contemporary Translation Study

Gideon Toury is a distinguished contemporary translator and a professor of Translation Theory in Tel Aviv University. His research mainly involves descriptive translation studies, translation norms and translator training. Based on polysystem theory, he proposes a target-oriented approach and attaches importance to descriptive translation studies.In addition, rather than focusing on the one-to-one notion of correspondence in traditional study of translation, Toury extends his research to a broad and dynamic system in which he describes the relationship between translated text and cultures concerned by empirical method and he also examines the social, cultural and historical elements that influence translator's decision-making, offering a new perspective for researchers studying translation. His excellent achievement in the study of translation theory not only has a great impact on contemporary western translation study but also offers inspiration to the development of contemporary translation study in China.The thesis begins with an overview of Toury's translation theory and its theoretical foundation, followed by the introduction of the contribution of Toury's translation theory to translation study. The third chapter, illustrated by examples, demonstrates how Toury's translation theory has exerted an influence on the contemporary western translation study by the methods of influence research and comparative research. The last chapter presents the inspiration of Toury's theory for the development of translation theory and translation practice in China. At the end of the thesis, conclusion is drawn that Toury categorizes translation norms and translational phenomena under the descriptive translation studies, bridging the gap between translation theory and actual translation practice, which brings enlightenment to the study of translation and promotes its development as well.