Part of
Reflections on Translation Theory: Selected papers 1993 - 2014Andrew Chesterman
[Benjamins Translation Library 132] 2017
► pp. 253–267
Andrew Chesterman
[Benjamins Translation Library 132] 2017
► pp. 253–267
Paper 20Beyond the particular
Translation scholars have proposed and sought generalizations about translation from various perspectives. This paper discusses three main ways of getting “beyond the particular”: traditional prescriptive statements, traditional critical statements, and the contemporary search for universals in corpus studies. There are a number of problems with each of the approaches.
Keywords: regularity, tendency, generalization, fallacy, universals
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The prescriptive route
- Problem: overgeneralization (neglect of differences)
- Problem: fallacy of converse accident
- Problem: idealization
- Contribution: first attempts to generalize
- Contribution: subsequent attempts at typologies
- Contribution: concern with translation quality
- 3.The pejorative route
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Problem: assumptions about quality – overgeneralization again
- Problem: assumption of the universality of formal stylistic universals
- Problem: socio-cultural effect on translator status
- Contribution: concern with quality
- Contribution: awareness of ethical issues
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Problem: assumptions about quality – overgeneralization again
- 4.The descriptive route
- Problem: testing
- Problem: representativeness
- Problem: universality
- Problem: conceptualization and terminology
- Problem: operationalization
- Problem: causality
- Contribution: methodological
- Contribution: interdisciplinarity
- Contribution: concern with translation quality
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