2nd Edition
Translation in Systems Descriptive and Systemic Approaches Explained
A critically acclaimed foundational text, Translation in Systems offers a comprehensive guide to the descriptive and systemic approaches which have shaped translation studies. Theo Hermans considers translation norms, equivalence, polysystems and social systems, covering a wide range of theorists in his discussion of the principles of translation studies. Reissued with a new foreword by Kathryn Batchelor, which updates the text for a new generation of readers, Translation in Systems endures partly on account of Hermans’s vivid and articulate writing style.
The book covers the fundamental problems of translation norms, equivalence, polysystems and social systems, encompassing not only the work of Levý, Holmes, Even-Zohar, Toury, Lefevere, Lambert, Bassnett, D'hulst and others, but also giving special attention to contributions derived from Pierre Bourdieu and Niklas Luhmann. Hermans explains how contemporary descriptive approaches came about, what the basic ideas were, how those ideas have evolved over time, and offers a critique of these approaches.
With practical questions of how to investigate translation (including problems of definition, description and assessment of readerships), this is essential reading for graduate students and researchers in translation studies and related areas.
Foreword to the Routledge Translation Classics Edition
Kathryn Batchelor
Preface
Acknowlegdements
Preamble: Mann’s Fate
1 An Invisible College
Names
Invisible Colleges
Manipulation College?
2 Lines of Approach
‘Diagnostic rather than hortatory’
Decisions, Shifts, Metatexts
A Disciplinary Utopia
3 Points of Orientation
4 Undefining Translation
5 Describing Translation
First Attempts
Transemes?
Real Readers
Checklists
Comparative Practice
6 Working with Norms
Decisions and Norms
Toury’s Norms
Chesterman’s Norms
Norm Theory
Studying Norms
7 Beyond Norms
Laws?
Translation as Index
Equivalence?
Historicizing Theory
8 Into Systems
Polysystem’s Sources
Polysystem’s Terms
Polysystems in Action
Polysystem’s Limitations
9 More Systems?
Mass Communication Maps
System, Ideology and Poetics
Translation as Field and Habitus
10 Translation as System
Expectations Structure
Translation as a Social System
Self-reference and Description
11 Criticisms
12 Perspectives
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Theo Hermans was until recently Director of the Centre for Translation Studies at University College London (UCL). He is now Emeritus Professor in Translation Studies at UCL and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. His main research interests concern the theory and history of translation.
"Translation in Systems has been the reliable companion for those who would like to access a clear, comprehensive and critical account of descriptive and systemic approaches – both foundational theoretical frameworks which have shaped translation studies. Almost two decades on, it deserves its place in the Routledge Translation Classics, and will continue to guide and inspire teachers, students and researchers who are new to the discipline."
Şebnem Susam-Saraeva, Senior Lecturer in Translation Studies, University of Edinburgh, UK"Hermans gives us an insider testimony and a critical review of the gestation of the basic principles on which the fledgling discipline was built: descriptive rather than prescriptive analysis, a systemic view of literature, and a quest for norms and laws of translation."
Kaisa Koskinen, Professor of Translation Studies, University of Tampere, Finland
