Constructing a Sociology of Translation.pdf

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Bridge concepts in translation sociologyAndrew ChestermanUniversity of Helsinki, FinlandTranslation sociology brings back the notion of quality to centre-stage in translationstudies, and at the same time adds to the field’s social relevance. A sociologicalapproach allows us to highlight “bridge concepts” which connect textual,cognitive and cultural perspectives, and can thus help to unify the discipline.These bridge concepts include the notion of causality; translation practice, discourseand habitus; and translation norm, brief, and strategy. By making explicitthe links between different kinds of causality, this approach may even take a fewsteps towards the goal of consilience: the idea of uniting different branches ofknowledge.IntroductionThis paper outlines a conceptual map of contemporary translation studies inwhich the sociological point of view is central. A number of key concepts arepresented which play a bridging role between different research perspectives andmay thus be useful in tying together the various parts of the research area. Perhapsthe most important of these is the notion of causality, which implies a movebeyond descriptivism. As soon as we begin to ask why, rather than what, we openup new avenues of research questions. (Recall the title of Toury 1995: DescriptiveTranslation Studies and beyond.)We can also make translation research more relevant to the needs of society,in particular to the needs of professional translators. It is often pointed out thatmuch translation research appears to lack social relevance (see e.g. Fraser 1996,Chesterman and Wagner 2002: Chapter 1).Consider, for instance, the issue of translation quality, which is of obvious socialrelevance. Contemporary corpus research on translation universals has paidrelatively little attention to the implications of this research for translation quality.In a major recent collection of papers on translation universals (Mauranenand Kujamäki 2004) the subject index lists only four references to quality in the
172 Andrew Chestermanwhole book. The dominant paradigm for this corpus research is a descriptive one.Indeed, over the past two or three decades, descriptivism has become a majorslogan in translation studies as a whole. The idea started out as a reaction to whatwas labelled the “prescriptivism” of so-called traditional work, which aimed totell translators what they should do rather than simply analyse and describe whatthey do do. One result of this trend has been the way that the notion of quality hasbeen seen as belonging to the applied branch of the field rather than the descriptivebranch (following the Holmes map, originally published in Holmes 1987: 16).However, Holmes was also one of the first scholars to talk about the need for atranslation sociology (1988: 95), as part of descriptive studies. If translation sociologyincludes the description of translation effects, that is translation reception,quality assessment can become a natural part of the descriptive branch. This pointof view is a causal one: translations cause effects, including those we call qualityassessments.Translation sociology is a relatively new area within translation studies, stakingout new research questions for instance between textlinguistics and culturalstudies. A Popperian can easily see this as a response to the problems resultingfrom the current research paradigms. Translation sociology is particularly fruitfulas a source of what I would like to call “bridge concepts”. By this, I mean conceptswhich capture overlaps between other notions, and thus enable us to cross bordersand set up new viewpoints.Why might such bridge concepts be useful? There are two main reasons.First, as I argue below, translation studies is becoming increasingly fragmented,as it extends its already interdisciplinary field of interest into other neighbouringareas. If we wish to maintain some kind of coherence in the field, we need to lookfor ways of connecting different approaches. This may mean developing moreabstract concepts, and/or shaping research around bridge concepts, in the searchfor a greater degree of consilience (see the concluding section). Second, it is oftenthe case that both significant new research problems and fruitful insights andhypotheses arise in border areas, where fields meet. A good example is the newresearch on consciousness, which draws on neuropsychology, cognition research,philosophy, and other fields. “Consciousness” is thus itself a bridge concept. Anotheris the sociobiological study of human behaviour. Disciplines often developvia hybrids, as for instance psycholinguistics and sociolingustics have flourishedwithin the mother discipline of linguistics. Bridge concepts may help us to focuson such potentially useful hybrids.I will now outline the position of translation sociology in relation to otherresearch perspectives, and then proceed to examine some of the bridge conceptsit can offer.
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Constructing a Sociology of Transla
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Constructing a Sociologyof Translat
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Table of contentsIntroduction: The
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IntroductionThe emergence of a soci
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Introduction 31990), translation st
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Introduction 5By way of illustratio
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Introduction 7ing defined as “the
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Introduction 9process is reminiscen
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Introduction 11transcend the equiva
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Introduction 13of translation, and
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Introduction 15ideological dimensio
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Introduction 17transnational transf
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Introduction 19key concepts to cond
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Introduction 21dimension in transla
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Introduction 23become active under
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Introduction 25364), and such expec
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Introduction 27foundation and conso
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Introduction 29tion when they comme
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Introduction 31a micro-contextual l
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Introduction 33Fuchs, Martin. 1997.
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Introduction 35Silbermann, Alphons
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part iThe debate on the translator
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0Erich Prunčwhich - despite a subs
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2Erich Prunčwith the signifiers wh
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Erich Prunčgiven society has to ac
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Erich Prunčstory about the famous
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8Erich Prunčsmall social groups. W
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50 Erich Prunčto interpretation. T
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52 Erich Prunčsearch for an adequa
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5Erich PrunčHermans, Theo. 1999. T
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5Erich PrunčSnell-Hornby, Mary. 21
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58 Theo Hermansenty Greek translato
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0Theo Hermansfor a year and a half,
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2Theo Hermanscurrently up to sevent
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Theo Hermansand made sense of selec
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Theo Hermansclosure suggests autono
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8Theo Hermansthe modern world, the
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70 Theo Hermanstions are produced o
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72 Theo HermansLuhmann’s term for
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7Theo Hermans3. To locate her own a
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part iiBourdieu’s influence in co
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80 Jean-Marc Gouanvicêtre la tradu
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82 Jean-Marc Gouanvictions, ses col
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8Jean-Marc Gouanvicvent que la trad
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8Jean-Marc Gouanvic“L’habitus
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88 Jean-Marc GouanvicL’illusio li
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90 Jean-Marc Gouanvicaméricain). L
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92 Jean-Marc Gouanvicdes formes, tr
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9Johan Heilbron and Gisèle Sapirot
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9Johan Heilbron and Gisèle Sapirot
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98 Johan Heilbron and Gisèle Sapir
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100 Johan Heilbron and Gisèle Sapi
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102 Johan Heilbron and Gisèle Sapi
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The location of the “translation
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Page 126: The location of the “translation
Page 130 and 131: Locating systems and individualsin
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Page 142 and 143: Translations “in the making” *H
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Page 176: Translations “in the making” 19
Page 181 and 182: 17Andrew Chestermanpeople and their
Page 183 and 184: 17 Andrew Chestermancontributory co
Page 185 and 186: 178 Andrew ChestermanNorms, brief,
Page 187 and 188: 180 Andrew Chestermanple talk and w
Page 189 and 190: 182 Andrew ChestermanBrown, Gillian
Page 192: part ivConstructing a sociologyof t
Page 195 and 196: 188 Daniel Simeoniapparent in Engli
Page 197 and 198: 190 Daniel Simeonito distinguish be
Page 199 and 200: 192 Daniel Simeonireferences to tra
Page 201 and 202: 19 Daniel SimeoniEurope but certain
Page 203 and 204: 19 Daniel Simeonidinary practice in
Page 205 and 206: 198 Daniel Simeonifor Tuscany. His
Page 207 and 208: 200 Daniel Simeonidressed to third
Page 209 and 210: 202 Daniel Simeoninorms by social a
Page 211 and 212: 20 Daniel Simeonisus Cultural Trans
Page 213 and 214: 20 Yves Gambierpour obtenir une rec
Page 215 and 216: 208 Yves Gambierau service des domi
Page 217 and 218: 210 Yves Gambier(plutôt centrée s
Page 219 and 220: 212 Yves Gambier- Les associations,
Page 221 and 222: 21 Yves Gambiercisions? Quels sont
Page 223 and 224: 21 Yves GambierBourdieu, Pierre and
Page 226 and 227: Notes on contributorsAgorni Mirella
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Notes on contributors 221publicatio
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Author indexAÁlvarez, Román 11And
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Subject indexAactant 23-24Actor-Net
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Benjamins Translation LibraryA comp
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19 cArr, Silvana e., roda P. robert
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