últimas corrientes teóricas en los estudios de traducción - Gredos ...

HASSANE LOUNIS–RELEVANCE THEORY: HOW USEFUL IS IT TO TRANSLATING DISCOURSE CONNECTIVES?
RT AND THE TRANSLATION OF DCs
Gutt’s application of RT to translation created a substantial impact on translation
studies in general and triggered new approaches to the subject. His views have been
applauded by some and crIticised by others depending on their translational views and
perceptions. As for him, he believes it is a fresh way to approach translation and claims it
has proven successful. As far as translation is concerned, he says, RT
seem[s] to provide exactly the guidance that translators and translation theorists
have been looking for: they [RT guidelines] determine in what respects the translation
should resemble the original – only in those respects that can be expected to make it
adequately relevant to the receptor language audience (2000: 102. Emphasis added)
Building his claim on relevance theorists’ work, Gutt says DCs provide what he
refers to as communicative clues. These clues guide the receiver towards where the producer
intends his/her idea to go, he says
These communicative clues, he says, “do not have a theoretical status”. In other
words, one cannot for instance, claim that the English connective but can be translated by
the Arabic bel or laakina, or the Spanish pero or sino. DCs, he continues “might help the
translator to identify and talk about features in the source and target language utterances
that effect their interpretations” (Ibid.).
Gutt (1991; 2000) includes a practical analysis which demonstrates how sensitive
DCs when treated in a translation context. In his analysis entitled Communicative Clues Arising
from Semantic Constraints on Relevance, he emphasises this sensitivity. His method consists of
presenting the original text (a German anecdote), then its translation and finally he
paraphrases both texts. The next step he takes is to compare the two paraphrases. His view
is that if the two match then the translation is successful. But, if they do not, then a second
look at this translation is needed. So, the procedure looks like the following:
Step one: Source Text ➔ Paraphrase it
Step two: Target Text ➔ Paraphrase it
Step three: Comparison between the two paraphrases.
Let us see how this method works in practice:
German anecdote (Peter Hebel)
So wird es auf die natürlichsten und sichersten Wege wahr, was gesagt wird und
geschrieben ist, dass der Eltern Segen und Fluch auf den Kindern ruhe und sie nicht
verfehle.
If one were to paraphrase this text, he/she would obtain a text similar to:
In this way, [i.e. by observing and following the example of their parents] what is
said and written come true […] that the blessing and curse of the parents descend on their
children and do not pass them by.
The translation provided into English of this anecdote is:
392