• “And I did not translate them as an interpreter, but as an orator, keeping the
same ideas and forms, or as one might say, the ‘figures’ of thought, but in
language which conforms to our usage. And in so doing, i did not hold it
necessary to render word for word, but i preserved the general style and force
of the language” (Cicero 46 @AC/1960 AC: 364)
• “Now i only admit but freely announce that in translating from the
Greek – except of course in the case of Holy Scripture, where even the
syntax contains a mystery – I render not word-for-word, but sense-for-
sense” (St. Jerome 395 AC/1997 : 25)
Early Chinese and Arabic discourse on translation
• “You must ask the mother at home, the children in the street, the ordinary man
in the market and look at their mouths, how they speak and translate that way;
then they’ll understand and see that you’re speaking to them in German”
Fidelity, spirit, and truth
Flora Amos in her Early Theories of Translation (1920)
SPIRIT
spiritus (Latin) = creative energy or inspiration (proper to literature)
the Holy Spirit of God (St Augustine)
TRUTH
• For St Augustine, spirit and truth (Latin veritas) were intertwined,
with truth having the sense of ‘content’
The study of language was divided into grammar (the ‘correct’ use of
words and sentences) and rhetoric (their use as communication, notably
to persuade).
Rener (1989)
RHETORIC
Through this, the translator can help the less competent but
intelligent reader to appreciate the ST.
Friedrich Schleiermacher’s ‘alienating’
There are 2 consequences of this approach :
I have refrained from officious tinkering for its own sake, but a
translator’s loyalty is to the original author, and in trying to be faithful
to Proust’s meaning and tone of voice I have been obliged, here and
there, to make extensive alterations
(Kilmartin in Proust 1996:ix)
Case Study 2: The Translator’s Preface
Prendergrast stated: