By Cristina Colella
- Introduction
Gideon Toury has given a significant contribution to translation studies. He formulated groundbreaking theories and succeeded in providing practical guidelines to language professionals, without imposing rigid rules on the translation process.
He elaborated the concepts of source-oriented and target-oriented, defined two different strategies to apply when translating a text into a new language. Having worked as a translator himself, he was fully aware of the difficulties experienced by translators and enriched translation studies with his perspective.
Gideon Toury’s theories are still applied today, even to translate creative ad copy. We will observe how transcreation represents a concrete example of a target-oriented approach and why such a strategy is the most suitable in the case of advertising and marketing texts.
- Life
Gideon Toury was an Israeli translation scholar and professor of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies at Tel Aviv University.
Before starting his academic career, he was sent to a kibbutz for his military service. There he helped out with the farming as part of his training. Living there for six years, Toury gained the opportunity to work for the kibbutz journal and to organize cultural events. This experience earned him a position in a children's journal, where he started taking his first steps in the world of translation.
Toury started his career in the academic world graduating with honors in Hebrew language and Literature at Tel Aviv University in 1970 and completing a Ph.D. in Literary Theory entitled Translational Norms and Literary Translation into Hebrew, a book that became one of his major works.
In 1980 he won the Hans Christian Andersen Award for his translation into Hebrew of C.S. Lewis ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’. He became the first chair professor in CETRA, the research program in Translation Studies created by Jose Lambert in 1989.
From 1970 to 1983, Toury worked with other linguists including Benjamin Harshav, Itamar Even-Zohar, and Menachem Perry in the journal Literature and founded Target, International Journal of Translation Studies.
- Major work
Gideon Toury is considered a pioneer of Descriptive Translation Studies, and the theories exposed in his 3 major books on the theme (Translational Norms and Literary Translation into Hebrew, In Search of a Theory of Translation and Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond) show his innovative perspective on translation studies.
He established a groundbreaking approach based on the analysis of tendencies in the translation process that doesn’t involve strict rules. Translation science has the role of describing and highlighting tendencies, in order to provide practical guidelines for translators.
And now, we will get deeper into two of his books to recognize how he extended the boundaries of translation studies and became one of the pioneers in this field.
- Source-oriented and target-oriented
In his 1980 essay In Search of a Theory of Translation, Toury gives a remarkable contribution to translation studies identifying two translation strategies: ‘source-oriented’ and ‘target-oriented’. A source-oriented translation involves a formal approach aimed at reproducing forms and structures of the source language. According to Toury, this strategy is difficult to apply because of the differences between language structures. While a target-oriented translation aims at adapting the text to the structures and cultural context of the target language.
Hence, Toury formulated two principles that define two approaches to translation: acceptability and adequacy. An ‘acceptable’ translation has to comply with the rules and structures of the target language. The primary goal is to convey the meaning of the source text, increasing readability and adapting texts to the language structures of the receiving culture.
On the other hand, an ‘adequate’ translation stays true to the source language and complies with the structures of the original text. This means that the result doesn’t conceal its nature of translation. A translation aiming at full adequacy is unacceptable due to the fact that it doesn't take into account the demands of the target reader.
Choosing between the two approaches is not an easy task. Everything depends on the kind of translation required and its purpose. But, regardless of a target-oriented or source-oriented approach, the purpose of a translation is to convey the meaning of the original.
- Translation and postulates
In Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond (1995), another masterpiece in the field of translation studies, Toury exposes a normative theory for translation critics. A theory that is not meant as a set of rigid rules for translators and critics but as a series of tendencies that could be observed in the translation process. According to Toury, critics should research those tendencies in order to describe the translation process, which means offering practical guidelines to translators. A normative approach with rigid rules wouldn’t provide translators with a single clue on how to translate texts.
Toury acknowledges a set of necessary requirements or postulates that a text has to comply with so that it could be called ‘translation’:
o The source text postulate: there has to be a source text;
o The transfer postulate: the translated text has to be generated from a “transfer” process;
o The relationship postulate: there has to be a relationship or similarity between the original text and translated text.
- Conclusion: the value of Toury’s contribution
Toury has succeeded in giving practical advice to translators, identifying two possible strategies and approaches, providing professionals with a starting point to reflect upon when translating a text. Thinking of the purpose of translation and its potential readers can help with the choice of the best strategy. By the way, one should always keep in mind that the primary goal of a translated text is to convey the message of the original.
An example of acceptability as an adaptation to the target culture is represented by transcreation. The word transcreation is a blend of ‘translation’ and ‘creation’, suggesting the use of a creative approach in translation. In fact, it seeks to perform all the necessary adjustments to make a campaign work in all target markets while staying legal to the original creative intent of the campaign. Transcreation is the creative adaptation of marketing sales and advertising copy in the target language. It involves changing both the words and meaning of the source text while keeping its attitude and the desired persuasive effect. Transcreation focuses on transferring brands and messages from one culture to another and represents a striking example of how changing the language and structure of the source text helps in delivering a message.
Toury’s theories gave a new impulse to translation studies. New principles have been elaborated since then. For instance, Venuti distinguished between two strategies: domesticating and foreignizing. Nida elaborated the concepts of formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence.
Toury’s perspective established an alternative approach to translation studies, starting from merely theoretical concepts and leading to a direct observation of the translation process to finally provide professionals with practical guidelines to follow.
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