Descriptive translation studies (DTS)

Descriptive translation studies (DTS)
Norms
DTS, Toury
Proposes methodology for studying
translation in which:
 methodology and research techniques are explicit
 individual studies can be compared, tested,
replicated
DTS methodology
1. Situate text in TC system, look at significance
and acceptability
2. Compare ST and TT for shifts, study
relationship between ‘coupled pairs’ of ST
and TT segments
3. Draw implications for decision-making in
future translation
(Steps 1 and 2 repeated for other text pairs)
(Ultimate goal: reconstruction of norms and
formulation of laws of translation behaviour)
Toury’s norms I
 “the translation of general values or ideas shared by
a community – as to what is right and wrong,
adequate and inadequate – into performance
instructions appropriate for and applicable to
particular situations, specifying what is prescribed
and forbidden as well as what is tolerated and
permitted” (Toury 1995: 55)
 Sociocultural constraints, acquired through education
and socialisation
 Norms used also to evaluate behaviour in the
community
Toury’s norms II
Descriptive category, not prescriptive
Studied through regularity of behaviour
Contribute to answer question of why
translators tend to make certain decisions
rather than others
 Competence = set of all options available
 Performance = options actually selected
 Norms = options regularly selected in given
sociohistorical context
Toury’s categories of norms I
1. Initial norm

general choice about overall orientation (ST or
TT): adequacy-acceptability continuum
2. Preliminary norms

translation policy, i.e. selection texts to translate,
and directness of translation (e.g. from SL or via
intermediate language)
Toury’s categories of norms II
3. Operational norms
 guide decision-making during translation
A. Matricial norms: help determine macrostructure
of text, e.g. translate all or part, segmentation of
text, etc.
B. Textual-linguistic norms: sentence construction,
word choice
Toury’s laws I
Aim to formulate general laws of translation
behaviour which would “state the inherent
relations between all the variables found to
be relevant in translation” (1995: 16)
Problematic (see Hermans 1999: 92)
 all variables?
 relevant how?
 all forms of translation?
Not laws but hypotheses to be tested?
(Chesterman 1997)
Toury’s laws II
Example of translational law:
 “in translation, textual relations obtaining in the
original are often modified, sometimes to the
point of being totally ignored, in favour of [more]
habitual options offered by a target repertoire”
(Toury 1995: 268)
 Addition of conditioning factor: “the more
peripheral this status [of translation in a given
subculture], the more translation will
accommodate itself to established models and
repertoires” (Toury 1995: 271)
Chesterman’s norms I
Also non-prescriptive, but ‘exert prescriptive
force’
1. product or expectancy norms
•
expectations of reader about translation
2. process or professional norms
•
•
•
•
regulate translation process itself
accountability norm (ethical - loyalty)
communication norm (social – Grice’s cooperative
principle)
relation norm (linguistic – relation of relevant
similarity between ST and TT)
Chesterman’s norms II
 Accountability and communication norms
concern communication, not specific to
translation
 Wider coverage than Toury’s norms
 bring perspectives other than the translator’s into
the picture
Toury’s ‘equivalence’ vs Chesterman’s
‘relevant similarity’
Norms vs conventions I
Conventions
 regularities in action which may be arbitrary but
perpetuate themselves because they serve some
common interest
 conventions can become norms:
“If a convention has served its purpose sufficiently
well for long enough, the expectation, on all sides,
that a certain course of action will be adopted in a
certain type of situation may grow beyond a mere
preference and acquire a binding character. At
that point we can begin to speak of norms”
(Hermans 1999: 81)
Norms vs conventions II
 Norms: “stronger, more prescriptive versions of
social conventions” (Hermans 1999: 81), so directive,
we are not just expected to behave that way but
ought to, to be considered as behaving ‘properly’,
‘correctly’ (social pressure, sanctions)
 Norms can be strong (obligations, prohibitions) or
weak (permissions, non-obligations, nonprohibitions)
Studying norms
Norms are not directly observable
Textual and extratextual sources of evidence
for norms:




translations
bibliographies of translation
paratexts (e.g. prefaces, footnotes)
metatexts (statements from translators, editors;
professional codes of conduct, reviews of
translations, etc.)
 extratextual data (training activities, textbooks,
prizes, etc.)
References and further reading I
Baker, Mona (1998) ‘Norms’, in Mona Baker (ed.) Routledge Encyclopedia of
Translation Studies, London & New York: Routledge, pp. 163-165.
Chesterman, Andrew (1993) ‘From ‘Is’ to ‘Ought’: Laws, norms and strategies
in translation studies’, Target 5(1): 1-20.
Chesterman, Andrew (1997) Memes of Translation – The Spread of Ideas in
Translation Theory, Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Du-Nour, Myriam (1995) ‘Retranslation of Children’s Books as Evidence of
Change of Norms’, Target 7(2): 327-346.
Hermans, Theo (1991) ‘Translational Norms & Correct Translations’, in Kitty
van Leuven-Zwart & Ton Naaijkens (eds) Translation Studies: the State of
the Art, Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 155-169.
Hermans, Theo (1995) ‘Toury’s Empiricism Version One’, The Translator 1(2):
215-223.
Hermans, Theo (1996) ‘Norms and the Determination of Translation: A
theoretical framework’, in Román Álvarez and M. Carmen-África Vidal (eds)
Translation, Power, Subversion, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp. 25-51.
References and further reading II
Hermans, Theo (1999) Translation in Systems: Descriptive and Systemoriented Approaches Explained, Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
Lambert, José and Hendrik van Gorp (1985) ‘On Describing Translations’, in
Theo Hermans (ed.) The Manipulation of Literature: Studies in Literary
Translation, London & Sydney: Croom Helm, pp.42-53.
Schäffner, Christina (ed.) (1999) Translation and Norms, Clevedon:
Multilingual Matters.
Toury, Gideon (1991) ‘What are Descriptive Studies into Translation Likely
to Yield apart from Isolated Descriptions’, in Kitty van Leuven-Zwart &
Ton Naaijkens (eds) Translation Studies: the State of the Art,
Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 179-192.
Toury, Gideon (1995) Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond,
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

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