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Introducing translation studies: Theories and Applications By Jeremy Munday
Chapter 1 Main issues of Translation Studies
The term translation had been first attested in 1340 and derived from the Latin translation (‘transporting’).
Nowadays, the term has assumed several meanings:
1. The general subject field or phenomenon.
2. The final product – ‘the text that has been translated’.
3. The process of producing the translation.
The core elements of translation that most scholars and professionals agree upon include:
1. Written text.
2. Transfer or mediation.
3. From one language to another.
The translation of a written text deals with the transfer or mediation of written texts; a major distinction
must be made indeed between written translation and oral translation. To be clear, translation (implies a
written text) and interpreting (oral text) differ significantly.
In interpreting:
1. The source language (original) text is presented only once and cannot be reviewed or replayed.
2. The target language (“translated”) text is produced under time pressure with little, if any, a chance
for correction and revision.
The process of translation between two different languages involves the changing of an original written
text (called the source text, ST) in the original verbal language (the source language, SL) into a written text
(the target text, TT) in a different verbal language (the target language, TL). However, may happen that
there is no clearly defined source text.
The traditional ST-TT configuration is the most prototypical of ‘interlingual translation’, as underlined by
Jakobson; according to him, there are three main categories:
1. Intralingual translation: also called ‘rewording’, it’s an interpretation of verbal signs employing
other signs of the same language (e.g., summarizing a text, rewriting it, rephrasing or paraphrasing,
etc.).
2. Interlingual translation: ‘translation proper’, it’s an interpretation of verbal signs employing some
other language.
3. Intersemiotic translation: ‘transmutation’, it’s an interpretation of verbal signs employing signs of
non-verbal sign systems (e.g., from an oral speech in American English to American Signs Language
or into a movie, painting, etc.).
The traditional focus of Translation Studies has been investigated through the years by many scholars and
researchers, leading to the creation of numerous and different definitions depending on the culture and
the time the authors had disclosed them.
Some authors have paid attention to how translation (i.e., the process or the activity) should be carried out.
Others have concentrated on what translation should be and on its result: the product.
This multiplicity of perspectives, governed by culture, purpose, language pair, and genre, makes a single or
common definition of translation difficult. So, translation can be defined as the process or the product of
