What happened to translation in 1970s?
Author: Eman Mohamed Sayed Ahmed Aly Master’s Degree, The American University of SharjahIntroduction
In his book “Introducing Translation Studies”, Jeremy Munday (2012) introduces the changes that happened to contrastive linguistics, and, in turn, to translation in the 1970s onward. First, some translation concepts and theories changed and reconceived: equivalence, text types and text purpose. The Status of some approaches came to prominence: discourse analysis, for example. Moreover, this period witnessed the rise of a number of approaches, ideas, and terms such as descriptive approach, poly-system theory, the Manipulation School, and cultural turn. In addition, new approaches and concepts were incorporated: gender research, and postcolonial translation. Thus, I believe translation witnessed massive change in each decade after the 1970s; in other words, new approaches and concepts were introduced and practiced in the study of translation. This paper explores the changes of translation that took place in the 1970s and the later years based on the data and studies introduced by Munday, Gentzler, and Simon.
Contrastive Linguistics and Corpse-Based Studies
In the 1970s, contrastive linguistics witnessed a decline, but resurfaced in the late 1990s with the suggestion of “ corpus- based approach” as “ a new paradigm in translation studies” ( Laviosa 1998a). The creation of an electronic corpse of a text enabled computer corpora to improve the quality of linguistic evidence when it comes to collocations and other lexical items. In translation studies, the use of computer corpora helped in the advancement of translation studies through raising questions testing hypothesis
about the applicability and utility of computer corpora to translation ( Munday 2012).
The Rise of Text Types and Text Purpose and Equivalence
Before the 1970s, particularly in the 1960s, Nida’s notion of dynamic equivalence and scientific theory of translation contributed a lot to translation. However, Nida’s views were highly criticized by Edwin Gentzler. In Germany, even though linguistics-oriented science of translation has continued, the notion of equivalence has come into question. In his book “Contemporary Translation Theories”, Edwin Gentzler (2001) views dynamic equivalence as a design to convert the receptors, regardless of their culture, to the dominant discourse. Hence, Gentzler’s conception of equivalence is different from Nida’s typical notion. Moreover, Germany supported theories revolving around text types and text purpose.
Furthermore, in the early 1990s, Halliday’s influence of discourse analysis and systematic functional grammar, which views language as a communicative act in a sociocultural context came to be prominent ( Munday 2012).
The Rise of Descriptive Approach
In the late 1970s and 1980s, Tel Aviv was the center that witnessed the rise of a descriptive approach, where Gideon Toury started the idea of ‘polysystem, in which, among other things, different literatures and genres, including translated and nontranslated works, compete for dominance’ (Munday 2012). Later, in the 1990s, Bassnett and Lefevere introduced the term ‘cultural turn’, in their volume Translation, History and Culture (1990) ( Munday 2012)
In her book ‘Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission’ , Sherry Simon discusses the issue of gender translation and postcolonialism. She states that ‘cultural studies allows us to situate linguistic transfer within the multiple ‘post’ realities of today: poststructuralism, postcolonialism and postmodernism’ ( Simon 1996). Hence, more light is casted on the necessity to translate from third world countries which are of less political power and minor contribution.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is no doubt that translation witnessed drastic changes in the years that followed the 1970. Equivalence as a concept perceived by Nida in the 1960s has changed. Discourse analysis came to prominence. Moreover, descriptive approach, polysystem theory, the Manipulation School, and cultural turn have all come to clear attention. In addition, gender research, and postcolonial translation were conceived by Simon. Hence, translation studies proved the fact that translation is not a stagnant filed; instead, it is renewable and ready to change.
References
- Gentzler, E. (2001). Contemporary translation theories. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
- Munday, J. (2012). Introducing Translation Studies (3rd ed.). NY, New York: Routledge.
- Simon, Sherry (1996) Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission, London and New York: Routledge.