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2. The development of translation studies has gone through different approaches along history. Attach the following terms to the dates when each one of them took a special relevance: language learning, translation workshop, comparative literature, contrastive analysis. Then, give a brief explanation of how each concept is related to translation studies. Until 1960: Language Learning 1960-1970: Translation Workshops and Comparative Literature 1960-1980: Contrastive Analysis Language Learning: Translation used to be regarded as a mere method to learn a second language. Translation Workshops: Translation was promoted in the USA through these workshops which served as a platform to introduce new translations into the target culture and to discuss the finer principles of the translation process and of understanding texts. Comparative Literature: This approach involved studying and comparing literature from different nations and cultures. Translation was, then, needed to access to texts originally written in diverse languages. Contrastive Analysis: This comparative study of two languages aimed to spot general and specific dissimilarities between them. Much of the data in these studies was provided by translations.
3. In the summary of the unit, we read: “(…) The discipline as we now know it owes much to the work of James S. Holmes”. Describe his role in the development of the subject of translation studies. Holmes’s paper The name and nature of translation studies has been generally regarded as the foundation of the field. He proposed a framework for translation studies as a distinct discipline without the limitations imposed so far by the existing disciplines, but taking into consideration research and expertise from different fields related to translation. His explanations were presented later by Toury in what has been known as Holmes’s map. Translation studies are divided into pure and applied areas. The pure areas objectives are descriptive (a description of the phenomena) and theoretical (the establishment of general principles to explain and predict such phenomena). The applied areas are relevant for translator training (providing methods, techniques, etc), translation aids (such as dictionaries, grammars, etc.), and translation criticism (evaluation and review of translations).
4. Holmes’s role was crucial in the delineation of translation studies. His map is still used as a point of departure. What omissions, though, can be signalled according to other experts? Nowadays, the restrictions related to descriptive and theoretical branches might include a discoursetype as well as a text-type. Other scholars would discuss the need to include interpretation as a subcategory of human translation while others would consider it a parallel but distinct field, with a different name ‘Interpreting studies’. According to Pym, Holmes’s map lacks any reference to the individual style, the processes of decision-making and the working practices of translators.
5. Discuss the interdisciplinary nature of translation studies. Since the 1970s, and under the influence of Holmes’s map, translation studies started a process that would lead this science to become interdisciplinary. Along the years, some of its trends and concepts
TRANSLATION STUDIES
have been rejected, while others have emerged with force. Amongst the most influential ideas were contrastive analysis, the view of language as a communicative act in a sociocultural context, the polysistemic theory, and the culturally oriented approach that has continued up to our time. Interdisciplinarity is not an easy concept to define as ‘it exists in the interstices of the existing fields’ (McCarty 1999). It challenges the conventional way of thinking by establishing and promoting new avenues where different types of knowledge and technologies converge. As we have already stated, the relation of translation studies with other disciplines is not fixed; rather, it has shifted over the years constantly. Analysing translation studies from a systemic point of view, McCarthy points out that ‘conventional disciplines have either a primary or a secondary relationship with a new interdiscipline’. Among the fields that have a primary relationship with translation, we can find linguistics, modern languages and languages studies, comparative literature, cultural studies, philosophy, sociology, and history. Other fields of study —that could be included within the secondary relationship— deal with the area of applied translation studies, which focus on translator training and translation aids. In this specific area of translator training, additional instruction can be required according to the specific texts the trainees will be working on, such us finance, law, medicine, science, etc., as well as in CAT (computer-assisted translation). In view of the facts, the professional translator must be a person with a vast amount of knowledge that is keen on improving his ability to analyse and scrutinise, and open to new approaches in this interdisciplinary field.