Abstract
Since translation concerns all disciplines, we may ask whether it is possible to conduct theoretical research peculiar to translations, or to what extent theoretical thinking is possible in a field of study which has a nexus of complex relations with other disciplines. We can answer these questions if we understand why we have a recourse to theorization in translation. Since the defining feature of theory as a complex set of relations overlaps with the concept of translation, they both involve complex mental procedures. Mental procedures in both actions operate similarly; that is to say, both theorists and translators draw up analogies between similar cases in order to define, classify and categorize the components of complexity. In theorization these procedures are called “abstraction” and “simplification”; whereas in translation studies, we call it “deverbalization”. It means stripping the linguistic form of a text, or a document so as to understand the sense of it (Gile 2003:47). Accordingly, we can reach such a conclusion that both translation and theorization follow the same logical sequence in understanding and overcoming the complexity. In the light of these introductory remarks the present study discusses the concept of theory, and theorization both in translation and translation studies so as to draw up similarities and divergencies between translation theory and translation practice. Keywords: Theoretical Thinking, Theorization, Translation Criticism, Meta-level thinking
Highlights
Since translation concerns all disciplines, we may ask whether it is possible to conduct theoretical research peculiar to translations, or to what extent theoretical thinking is possible in a field of study which has a nexus of complex relations with other disciplines
The concept “theory” is culture-bound; it gains new senses according to the culture in which it is used in just the same way as the concept of translation which gains new senses as a fact of target culture
Terms gain new senses according to the cultures they enter and their meanings may change in the course of time
Summary
The concept “theory” is culture-bound; it gains new senses according to the culture in which it is used in just the same way as the concept of translation which gains new senses as a fact of target culture. Today in Turkish Dictionary of Turkish Language Society, which is an official site of Turkish language, it is defined “as a whole and systematic collection of fundamental rules or, codes of a discipline “(http://www.tdk.gov.tr/) This definition is closer to the original sense of the term “theory” and emphasizes “meta-level thinking” in theorization as opposed to the past expectations concerning pragmatic ends in theoretical thinking. It may have been for this reason that in the first entry of the terminological dictionary of philosophy from Modern Turkish into Ottoman Turkish, English, German and French , the term “kuram”(theory) was defined as “ absolute knowledge serving neither for pragmatic ends, nor for the ends of applied field”(TDK, 1975. After this brief etymological account of the term theory in Turkish, we can enlist the stages of conducting a research as follows: 1. Observation: It means observing the events, facts or objects in the world
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