History and Translation

Lecture programme 1) European History of Translation 2) Chinese History of Translation 3) Methodological Issues

European History of Translation Practice and Translation Theory The Romans Cicero ( BC) Non verbum de verbo, sed sensum exprimere de sensu (express not word for word, but sense for sense)

Bible Translation St Jerome’s Bible in Latin commissioned 384 AD. Early English bibles: John Wycliff ( ); William Tyndales’ New Testament printed Luther 1521 New Testament, 1534 Old Testament.

Medieval Era Emergence of European vernaculars from 10 th century. No clear distinction between original writing, reworking, translation. 8 th -10 th centuries: Baghdad. 12 th century: Toledo school, Spain.

16 th Century Impact of invention of printing press. Early theories of translation: Etienne Dolet ( ): 5 principles for the translator.

17 th Century French classicism: les belles infidèles Perrot d’Ablancourt ( ) English: John Denham ( ) Abraham Cowley ( ) John Dryden ( )

18 th Century Metaphors from art. Alexander Tytler, 1791, The Principles of Translation. Three basic principles.

19 th Century German school influential eg. Goethe ( ) Schleiermacher ( ) Translation for cultural development; translation as a sub-language. Romanticism: the nature of translating. Influence in England: foreignizing.

Methodological Issues What to study: an individual translator/theorist; a translation school/movement; networks What aspects to focus on: description of context; causal hypotheses; relation between practice and theory

How to study biographical study; study of translations; study of statements about translation; lists of translations; publishers’ statistics; critical analysis of literature.