Translation, language meaning, and intentionality

Abstract

This chapter probes current approaches to the theorization of translation. The question of to what extent the context of a translation needs to be taken into account continues to percolate in the field of translation studies. In 1968 the German linguist Otto Kade made the distinction between the ‘ideal translator’ and the ‘real translator,’ wondering how translators understand, interpret and create meaning in texts they work with. This distinction was picked up again by Ralf Krüger (2015) who argued that the ‘common ground concept’ represents the translators’ knowledge in a specific cultural or discourse community. Both approaches, while almost half a decade apart, can be incorporated into Mona Baker’s social and narrative theory of translation studies (Baker 2006). However, the distinction remains a recurring theme in the debate about translation and translatability as scholars question to what extent a target text can (and must) deviate from the source text in order to have meaning in the particular cultures in which they are respectively embedded. Using Villem Flusser’s theory of realities, this chapter explores how culturally particular views of intentions and beliefs give shape to meaning and translation.