The effect of translation on the practise of translation (former The role of translation for quality in bible translation

Translation typically is a performance-based discipline that has a theoretical and a practical core. Theory and practice cannot be easily and clearly defined, the boundaries are somewhat fuzzy. Several translation theories have evolved, and each one determines practice in some way, although no translation theory in the scientific sense of ‘theory’ really exists, most of these have the character of models that provide principles for translation.

I shall discuss the effect of theory on the type of translation, and I shall ask how the adoption of a particular theory affects the actual translation work, i.e. how useful the theory is in practice.

This question is extended to translation quality. Most translation theorists agree that translation should aim at clarity, naturalness, and faithfulness/accuracy (plus acceptability).

My presentation will briefly touch upon different translation frameworks: Nida’s equivalence model, Nord’s skopos theory, Wilt’s frames of reference, and relevance theory (a linguistic theory which, strictly speaking, is not a translation theory but helps with explaining translation phenomena).

The paper will present a poll asking Bible translators what theory and practical principles they use in their daily work, what they perceive as the most difficult areas in translation, and where they look for answers when solving problems.

Regarding the quality of a translation, the presentation concludes that the translation theory adopted does not matter as much as (a) the practical translation principles applied, and (b) the linguistic awareness of the translator (and also that of the advisor/consultant).