Translation theory

On the problems of translating

The place for analytical explanations of meaning in a single language is a dictionary or a contrasting lexicology; however, a translation is not a dictionary or a lexicological study but speech in another language and with a given content. The meanings of the source language function here only in the first, semasiological phase; however, as soon as what the text describes has been understood, they are left aside, because in the second onomasiological phase, i.e. in the actual translation process, the aim is to find meanings in the target language that can describe the same: there is no direct line from meaning 1 to meaning 2. In the semasiological phase the translator behaves like a speaker of the source language who understands (“decodes”) a text, in the onomasiological phase like a speaker of the target language who creates (“encodes”) a text, with the sole difference that he is provided down to the last detail with the content that he is to express.
Eugenio Coseriu (1)

We could almost say that this approach represents a micro sketch of the great problem of translating. Thankfully, it is not always correct and not as strictly.

It is indeed correct that no single standard can bring about a good translation, and each translation is only as good as the translator. At the same time, standards can create suitable underlying conditions for good translations by ensuring clear organisational preconditions and regulating all work sequences. We have drawn up our own principles and solutions on the basis of the standards DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 and DIN EN ISO 17100 Translation Services – Requirements for Translation Services. Project management plays a special part here. Along with the customer’s specifications, project management covers not only an analysis of the source text (project preparation) but also consideration of the rules of the target language and observation of special cultural features (core process of translating).

(1)
WRONG AND RIGHT QUESTIONS IN TRANSLATION THEORY
Eugenio COSERIU
University of Tübingen
(published in L. Grähs, G. Korlén, B. Malmberg (ed.),
Theory and Practice of Translation, Bern – Frankfurt/Main – Las Vegas, p. 17-32;
printed in: Übersetzungswissenschaft, ed. by W. Wilss, Darmstadt 1981, p. 27-47)