constructing pathways to translation - Higher Education Commission

achievement occurs in Art. If one were to apply the standards of creative writing to the
activity of Translation, the question of un-translatability ceases to be ominous. It may be
tautological to claim that the translator should apply the same art to the Translation
177
process as the artist brought to the source text. But such notions are placed
by those, who
impose alien measures on Translation. According to the Willis Barnstone (1993:46), the
one underlying plank of any working theory of Literary Translation is: Art must be
treated as Art. The measure of success or failure in translation of literary text is
determined by the extent to which an equivalence of the entire cognitive and aesthetic
elements is transferred and re-created in the new text. Then literary Translation is
possible.
What indeed is required is the need to mend ones’ approach and attitude towards the
theory of Translation. Translation has its own excitement, its own interest. There is no
such thing as perfect, equal, ideal or ‘correct’ translation. The translator is always trying
to expand his knowledge, and improve his means of expression. Generally the Translator
works on four levels according to Peter Newmark(1988:7):
First, Translation is a science, which entails the knowledge and the verification of the
facts and the language that describes them.
Second, it is a skill, which calls for appropriate language and acceptable usage.
Third, it is an art, which distinguishes good from undistinguished writing, that is,
creative and intuitive level of translation.
Lastly, it is a matter of taste, where argument ceases, preferences are expressed,
and the
variety of meritorious translations is the reflection of individual difference.
Translation, thus, is an approach, and not an equivalency, translation is one of choice,
and the skill of the Translator lies in the use of instinct or ‘Vital reason’.
10.2.5 QUALITY IN TRANSLATION
The most difficult area in Translation and Translation Studies is to define measures
which would determine the quality in translation. Votaries of the Manipulative School
Pederson’s assert that translations should be described and demonstrated, rather than
judged. J. Houses discusses two categories of quality assessment: the response based