Evaluating the Evaluator

A Novel Perspective on Translation Quality Assessment
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-032-08308-7
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 296 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 435 g

Reihe: Routledge Advances in Translation and Interpreting Studies

This book offers a theoretical framework for assessing translation quality grounded in supportive argumentation. The volume outlines a systematic framework for translators and translation critics to substantiate their decisions and judgments on a translation’s quality and in the case of negative criticism, put forward a more effective translation solution. The book traces the decision-making process underpinning translation practice, considering the different factors surrounding a particular translation to inform the most appropriate translation strategy, such as the temporal and geographical relationship between source and target texts, special provisions required by clients, timeframe, qualifications, and sociocultural and political issues. The framework posits that such factors should underpin any arguments used by the translator in adopting a given strategy and in turn, that any criticism of a translation’s quality must be in line with the same argumentative structure. Applied to a corpus of translation examiners’ reports of translation, the book demonstrates how this framework can act as a tool to be scaled to fit the needs of the different actors of a translation – translators, critics, and scholars. This book will be of interest to scholars in translation studies and practicing translators.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bittner, Hansjörg

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Hermeneutik
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Übersetzungswissenschaft, Translatologie, Dolmetschen
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Sprachwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction

The quality of translation: different approaches
Juliane House
Malcolm Williams
Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast and Klaus Mudersbach
Ernst-August Gutt
Other approaches to translation quality
Approaches to translation quality in the twentieth century
Approaches to translation quality in the twenty-first century

Preliminary assumptions
Defining translation quality and translation quality assessment
Some thoughts on measuring quality
Some thoughts on achieving good quality
Revisiting overt and covert translation
Refining the concept of overt/covert translation: overview
Refining the concept of overt/covert translation: detailed discussion
The problem of subjective evaluation
The problem of subjectivity from a philosophical point of view
The process of translation quality assessment
The problem of subjectivity from a translation studies point of view
How to curb the subjective in translation quality assessment
Towards evaluating the evaluator
Some views on how to evaluate translations
The evaluation of commented translations

Quality factors of translation
The translator’s daffodil
Underlying assumptions
Factor categories
Source text
Language pairs in translation and source text analysis (Nord)
Sender and sender’s intention
Audience and medium
Place and time of communication
Motive for communication and text function
Source text defects
Summary of source text factors
Text form
Intratextual factors
Subject matter and content
Text composition and non-verbal elements
Lexis, syn

Über Autor(innen)

Hansjörg Bittner served as a lecturer at Eastern Mediterranean University (English Literature) and at the University of Hildesheim (Translation Studies). His publications cover poetics, translation theory, and audiovisual translation. A practising translator, he is currently a lecturer at Hof University of Applied Sciences, teaching business English and technical English.