Western Paradigms of Translation Studies: the Interdisciplinary Perspective. Descriptive and Functional Paradigms

Abstract

The paper reviews translation theories that emerged in the late 20th century as part of the cultural turn in the humanities. The article addresses two major paradigms in translation studies, descriptive and functional, which cover some of the most influential translation theories of the time: the polysystems and norms theories and the theories of skopos, translatorial action and translation-oriented text analysis. Evolving along with the emancipation of translation studies from linguistics and literary criticism, the polysystems and norms theories are marked by target orientation and the focus on the sociocultural context of translation. The ensuing theories of refraction and rewriting further foreground the multicultural and multidisciplinary perspective of translation studies as an independent discipline, while the functional theories provide a general framework for translatorial action, allowing for a number of theoretical and practical solutions to meet specific translation goals.