Translation Theories (PDF)

It is perhaps axiomatic to say that translation is as old as language, for the different language communities render translation mandatory for their interaction. With translation as an indispensable activity there emerged diverse theories and theoretical reflections to guide it. This diversity stems from the diverse perspectives and approaches to translation with the corollary of a plethora of definitions, types and theories scanned in the first three chapters of Part One. Historically, translation theories began with the Romans, but they have undergone four periods as proposed by George Steiner and surveyed in Chapter Two. Chapter Three furnishes a plethora of ancient and recent theories and models generated from these theories. Chapter Four is devoted to translation/interpreting strategies and their application in English/Arabic translations. Part Two tackles certain basic relevant issues such as translation equivalence, loss and gain, determinacy and indeterminacy, and modalization and lexicalization in Arabic – English translation. It is sincerely hoped that the students and others specialized or interested in translation will benefit from the present book, the writing of which has actually been motivated by MA students in the postgraduate translation programme at Petra University. To them, I would like to express my profound appreciation