On the Question of What Translation Translates: Translation in Light of Skepticism

Abstract

The present study aimed at sparking a discussion as to translation evaluation which is traditionally based on determinism. Translators usually translate what the author has written or what the author has said, based on the ostensible referential correspondence between words and meanings exerted by internal and external authorities without questioning these ostensible authorities- whether these authorities are in the forms of bilingual dictionaries or the translators’ knowledge and experience. However, translation process, unlike language, can be based on indeterminacy which is a part of epistemological scepticism. This study, drawing on Quine’ notion that reference between two languages is inscrutable and by extension translation between texts is in principle indeterminate, aims at showing that what we call translation is, in fact, a product of the translator, not the original author. As corpora of the study, To Be or Not To Be Soliloquy by Shakespeare, A short poem by the Turkish poet Naz?m Hikmet, a perfume advertisement and some excerpts from the book Heart of Darkness and their translations were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results have shown that every translation is one of the infinite possible meanings of the original text.