Quelques repères d’une traductologie productive

Abstract

A Few Guidelines for Productive Translation Studies 
The paper is based on the concept of “productive Translation Studies”, understood as a science of translation anchored in the present and designed to help both translators and translation scholars. To provide some directions for productive Translation Studies, the paper starts with a diachronic analysis of the discipline. The field acquired its autonomy in the 80s when it was no longer considered a branch of linguistics. Nevertheless, translation scholars have manifested some hesitations in the past and there are aspects to be rectified. To establish the aim and methodology of the discipline, a clear definition of translation (both as a process and as a product) is needed. In addition, the nature of Translation Studies should be discussed: whether they are a scientific field or a branch of humanities and to what extent they are interdisciplinary. This historical overview is also used to discuss the “ages” of Translation Studies, as defined by Jean-René Ladmiral. Thus, prescriptive Translation Studies fix some general principles of a “good” translation and have a theoretical nature; descriptive Translation Studies rely on comparative and contrastive methods, analysing translation as a product; inductive Translation Studies aim at discovering what happens in the translator’s mind and are not developed yet; productive Translation Studies are connected to the reality of the market and provide methodological principles to translators and translation scholars to facilitate their work. In the final part of the paper, the author describes several strategies to be followed by contemporary Translation Studies. One step is to put an end to the scientific hesitations of the past and to have a coherent approach. Then, the debate concerning translation dichotomies (such as the possibility or impossibility of translation, faithfulness, and unfaithfulness in translation, translating form or translating meaning) should be left behind because it is unproductive. Connecting theory and practice and putting in contact with translators and translation scholars is another objective. Translation critics should give up the sacralization of the source text: in fact, any approach should put the translator on center stage to empower him/her. A double approach – psychological and sociological – may be needed to understand the translator’s choices: the psychological approach is based on the Theory of Sense, while the sociological analysis takes into consideration the constraints of the market. New technologies should become a topic of research. Also, translation studies should be rendered into various languages to disseminate new ideas and trends.