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only the transfer of the sign representation of the message in its
initial code but also the socio-cultural context in which it is
embedded. The socio-cultural context comprises extralinguistic
elements conducive to the explication and reinforcement of
communication. But translational communication, on the other hand,
cannot be equated with the mere transfer of the 'invariant under
transformation'. It is a teleological process; a goal-directed
activity. Unlike 'traditional' theories of translation, eg.
Catford's linguistic theory of translation, which are basically
source-oriented, translation should be conceived as a window on
alien cultures, the aim being the universalization of human culture
at large. Toury modifies his definition of translation to
encompass communication in translated messages within a certain
cultural-linguistic system, with all the relevant consequences for
the decomposition of the source message, the establishment of the
invariant, and the recomposition of the initial message in the
receptor language.
Translated messages should neither be over-communicated nor
under-communicated, but just adequately communicated.
Communication should not be expected to transcend the limits of the
'invariant' while decomposing and recomposing the initial and the
resultant message. The neutrality rather than the identity of the
translator deserves to be observed in translational communication
otherwise the target message would be far more creative, in fact,
completely other than the source message.
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