Translation as textual (re)production

Abstract

Abstract Translation has often been regarded as a predominantly reproductive skill. Following the emphasis on communicative aspects of translation, productive aspects have recently come more into focus ‐ to such an extent that translation is sometimes barely distinguishable from original text production. This shift has been welcomed by Reiss, who has always insisted on the need for a target text to be more than a passive reflection of a source text. Originally hypothesising that the source text determines what translation method must be used, Reiss in her later publications assumes no such correlation between source text type and translation method. However, she strongly opposes attempts to ‘dethrone’ the source text, claiming that it remains the yardstick for all measuring in translation. Against this background, the article argues that the extreme positions proclaiming either source or target text hegemony are both untenable. Target text production can neither be completely controlled by a source text, nor completely independent of it. As interlingual textual equivalents of existing texts, translations are characterised by always having a unique or privileged intertextual relationship with another text in another language. While always dependent, they also have a life of their own.