Towards a people-centered theory of translation

Abstract

Translation has become a metaphor for contemporary life, and thus translation theories demand a paradigm shift from binary opposition between ‘self and other’, or between ‘original and target’, towards negotiation and dialogic interaction. This article argues that translation as dialogue in the ‘in-between space’ – or what Mary Louise Pratt termed a ‘contact zone’ – involves a new model of language use that can incorporate both cultures and languages without prioritizing any. Anna Wierzbicka's concept of linguistic universals and Eva Hoffman's experiences of integrating bilingual and bicultural aspects are elicited to illustrate the tentative translation strategies for ‘translation as a dialogue’. The article proposes the importance of understanding and empathy, or, at least, a will to believe in translatability. It also maintains, drawing on Edward Sapir's insight that language is the index to culture, that translation should be not only about content but also about relation between ‘self and other’, and that translators should realize the importance of learning vocabularies as a sensitive index to a culture. These requirements ask translators to be more attentive to what people are and what people do, thus proposing a more people-oriented translation theory.