Principles of translation
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The document summarizes Savory's views on translation from his book The Art of Translation. According to Savory, a good translation should read like an original work and capture the freshness of the original while being easy to read. A translator must understand not just the words but the intended meaning behind the original text. Savory believes it is important for a translator to be familiar with the original work and culture to best convey the author's message and experience to a new audience. There are various schools of thought on the principles of translation, and Savory outlines differing opinions on whether a translation should strictly follow the words, ideas, style or allow additions from the translator.
Principles of translation
- 1. B. Jigjidsuren Principles of translation
- 2. In his book The Art of Translation, Savory (1957) says that a translation should be able to pass itself off as an original and show all the freshness of an original composition. According to him a translation must be such as may read with ease and pleasure (Savory 11957:52). He says that translation, the surmounting of the obstacles, is made possible by the equivalence of thought that lies behind its different verbal expressions (p.13). Savory also suggests that a mere linguistic knowledge and literary capacity will not ensure the best translation.
- 3. A degree of sympathy, and even, more, a degree of familiarity with respect of the work that is being translated are almost essential (p.34). He thinks that the translator's task is much harder than that of the original author. For the original author to expresses his experience or thought, he has many words available in his own language and he can choose one of those words easily. But the translator has to opt for the nearest equivalent, taking into consideration the probable thoughts of the author, the probable thoughts of the author's readers and of his own readers and the period of history in which the original author lived, etc (p.26)Savory suggests that when the translator faces a passage in the SL text, he must ask himself the following questions:
- 4. 1. What does the author say? 2. What does he mean? 3. How does he say it? This method of analysis may be applied to the paragraph, to the sentence, or even to the phrase. From the possible alternatives the translator must make his own choice. Savory opines that the translator's knowledge of the translated language (SL and TL) must be wide; it must also be critically applied so that no detail is likely to be missed. He says that a statement on the principles of translation in sufficient form impossible. This is because there are different schools of thought about the basic things in translation. He has given six sets of different opinions of the translations theoreticians as follows:
- 5. 1. A translation must give the words of the original. 2. A translation must give the ideas of the original. 3. A translation should read like an original work. 4. A translation should read like a translation. 5. A translation should reflect the style of the original. 6. A translation should possess the style of the translator. 7. A translation should read as a contemporary of the original. 8. A translation may never read as a contemporary of the translator. 9. A translation may add to or omit from the original. 10.A translation may never add to or omit from the original. 11.A translation of verse should be in prose. 12.A translation of verse should be in verse.