Abstract
The paper zeroes in on the problem of equivalence with regard to translating philosophical texts which have so far been marginalized in translation theory in comparison to other sorts of (non-)literary translation. The paper primarily aims to describe the current translator practice in the field of philosophy and disclose why philosophical discourse is rendered in the unique way it is. The goal of the paper is also to recommend good practice in the ambit of philosophical translation. Drawing on Nida’s equivalence theory, the authors of this paper prioritize formal equivalence over dynamic one, which is connected with the specific nature of philosophical discourse. To this end, pertinent extracts from David Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature with a special focus on philosophical terminology have been compared with their published Slovak, German and Czech translations. The present paper draws first and foremost on the methods of comparative textual analysis and utilizes elements of translation quality assessment models by House (1997; 2015). The terminological research is conducted from the position of induction as it involves the elaboration of theory from the analysed terms. The comparative analysis suggests that the form and function of philosophical discourse is interconnected to such a degree that the form even constitutes a part of the text’s function. The results of our analytical probe may be used as a springboard for deeper, quantitatively-oriented terminological-translational research.
Highlights
Over the past years, much has been written about both literary and non-literary translation
The formal similarity to the English term would, lead to an unfitting TL term and, to put it in House’s words, an ‘overtly erroneous error’. This is because afekt in Slovak refers to a state of mind when one is under the control of strong passions and loses his mental balance10, which is not implied in the philosophical discourse at all
Based on the performed probe, we propose the preference of formal equivalence over dynamic one in respect to the translation of philosophical terminology
Summary
Much has been written about both literary and non-literary translation. The motivation for writing this paper comes from the authors’ personal experience with philosophy experts who tend to criticize translators for either misinterpreting the originals or for making translations almost unintelligible Whereas the former problem may often be the outcome of a too free translation, dynamically or functionally equivalent, the latter results from adhering to the ST too closely. The complexity of the philosophical argument’s construction is the chief reason why the translator has to be careful when opting for crafting a translation that is rather dynamically equivalent with the ST (i.e. communicates the text’s message emphasizing the function of the text over its form) or the one that is more formally equivalent (i.e. tries to keep the form of the ST, stressing its interconnectedness with the text’s function). Another thing is that philosophical discourse requires a thorough knowledge of the concepts, ideas and purposes of the ST, which determines linguistic choices when translating subtle nuances of meaning which are of high importance to the whole when ‘energizing’ a text in translation
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