Translation

Translation is the rendering of a text into another language. Applied to literature, the term connotes the art of recomposing a work in another language without losing its original flavor, or of finding an analogous substitute. Translation is the transformation of signs and meanings, (especially languages), where these are initially unknown or alien, into a known and familiar set of signs and meanings.

Nida regards translation as a scientific subject and points out that “the transference of a message from one language to another is a valid subject for scientific description”. He proposes the concept of dynamic equivalence and defines translation as “the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style”.In his opinion, translation is an art; the best translations are those which are not usually viewed as translation but the original.
According to Peter Newmark, “often, though not by any means always, it is rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text”. In his opinion, translating a text should begin with a detailed analysis of a text, such as the intention of the text and of the translator, its readership, attitude, to name just a few. In addition, Newmark also considers translation as “a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language”.
In Bassnett’s opinion, translation is not only a kind of pure lingual activity but also a kind of communication intra-culture and inter-culture. In other words, translation is not a mere linguistic transfer but a cross-cultural activity. She proposes that the cultural aspects should be takeninto consideration for the study of translation, especially for the equivalence of source text and target text.
In cultural paradigm, translation is usually seen as a rewiring. And the central issue is to study the mutual influence of cultural aspects such as poetics, ideology and patron. Besides, translation is also viewed as reading and understanding. As a fiction usually has multiple plots and can be lead to multiple results, all understanding can be called translation, not merely the version to the original one. And what’s more, to some extent, there is even no original one; all texts are translations of translations. In social and psychological paradigm, as psychological aspect is introduced into translation studies. Translation is not only connected with text, but also with a nation’s identity.

Sources:

⠀ Translation | Article about translation by The Free Dictionary Translation Definitions in Different Paradigms | LONG | Canadian Social Science (flr-journal.org)