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The 'theoretical' branch is divided into general and partial theories. By 'general', Holmes is
referring to those writings that seek to describe or account for every type of translation and
to make generalizations that will be relevant for translation as a whole.
Descriptive translation studies (DTS) has three possible foci: examination of (1) the
product, (2) the function and (3) the process:
Product-oriented DTS, that area of research which describes existing translations, has
traditionally been an important area of academic research in Translation Studies.
This can involve the description or analysis of a single ST-TT pair or a comparative
analysis of several TTs of the same ST (into one or more TLs).
These smaller-scale studies can build up into a larger body of translation analysis looking
at a specific period, language or text discourse type. Larger-scale studies can be either
diachronic (following development over time) or synchronic (at a single point or period in
time) and, as Holmes (p. 177) foresees, 'one of the eventual goals of product-oriented DTS
might possibly be a general history of translations – however ambitious such a goal might
sound at this time'.
Rank-restricted theories: There are rank-restricted theories, that is to say, theories that
deal with discourses or texts as wholes, but concern themselves with lower linguistic ranks
or levels. Rank-restricted theories are linguistic theories that have been restricted to a
specific level of (normally) the word or sentence. At the time Holmes was writing, there
was already a trend towards text linguistics, i.e. text rank analysis, which has since become
far more popular.
Text-type restricted theories look at specific discourse types or genres; e.g. literary,
business and technical translation. restricted theories, dealing with the problem of
translating specific types or genres of lingual messages. Authors and literary scholars have
long concerned themselves with the problems intrinsic to translating literary texts or
specific genres of literary texts; theologians, similarly, have devoted much attention to
questions of how to translate the Bible and other sacred works.
Problem-restricted
Finally, there are problem-restricted theories, theories which confine themselves to one or
more specific problems within the entire area of general translation theory, problem that
can range from such broad and basic questions as the limits of variance and invariance in
translation or the nature of translation equivalence (or, as I should prefer to call it,
translation matching) to such more specific matters as the translation of metaphors or of
proper names.
Despite this categorization, Holmes himself is at pains to point out that several different
restrictions can apply at any one time. Thus, the study of the translation of novels by the
contemporary Colombian novelist Gabriel
Garcia Mhrquez, analyzed in chapter 11, would be area restricted (translation from
Colombian Spanish into English and other languages, and between the Colombian culture
and the TL cultures), text-type restricted (novels and short stories) and time restricted.
The 1990s saw the incorporation of new schools and concepts, with Canadian-based
translation and gender research led by Sherry Simon, the Brazilian cannibalist school
promoted by Else Vieira, postcolonial translation theory, with the prominent figures of the
Bengali scholars Tejaswini Niranjana and Gayatri Spivak and, in the USA, the cultural-
studies-oriented analysis of Lawrence Venuti, who champions the cause of the translator.
Although references are still to be found to the new or ‘emerging’ discipline (e.g. Riccardi
2002), since Holmes’s paper, Translation Studies has evolved to such an extent that it is
really a perfect interdiscipline, interfacing with a whole host of otherfields. The aim may
still be to describe translation phenomena, and in some cases to establish general
principles, but the methods of analysis are more varied and the cultural and ideological
features of translation have become as prominent as linguistics. Figure A1.1 illustrates the
breadth of contacts:
The richness of the field is also illustrated by areas for research suggested by Williams
and Chesterman (2002:6–27), which include:
1. Text analysis and translation
2. Translation quality assessment
3. Translation of literary and other genres
4. Multi-media translation (audiovisual translation)
5. Translation and technology
6. Translation history
7. Translation ethics
8. Terminology and glossaries
9. The translation process
10. Translator training
11. The characteristics of the translation profession
Group Work:
Give further examples of possible similar research