Cover not available
Article published In:
The Metalanguage of Translation
Edited by Yves Gambier and Luc van Doorslaer
[Target 19:2] 2007
► pp. 197–215

Defining patterns in Translation Studies

Revisiting two classics of German Translationswissenschaft

| University of Graz, Austria
A definition can be seen as a central working tool for researchers, since it leads to a new conceptual construction. At the same time a multitude of definitions, especially if competing with each other, is quite often perceived as a typical symptom of fields of research that have not yet developed their theories to the necessary level of sophistication. A relatively young field of research, Translation Studies and its proponents have repeatedly been the target of criticism in that respect, i.e. working with concepts whose definitions do not comply with commonly accepted standards of definition. That kind of critique serves as the starting point for this paper, which tries to analyze definitions in two seminal publications in the history of German Übersetzungswissenschaft, representing two opposing approaches to translation, namely Zufall und Gesetzmäßigkeit in der Übersetzung by Otto Kade (1968) and Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie by Hans J. Vermeer and Katharina Reiß (1984). The paper gives an account of standards of definition, commonly found in philosophy of science and terminology, addresses central aspects of scientific concepts (theoryboundness, types of concepts, determinacy, vagueness) and presents the findings of a study focusing on defining patterns.
Keywords: definition theory, definitional practice in TS, definitional patterns, Otto Kade, Reiß/Vermeer
Article outline
  • 1.Some remarks on the metadiscourse on definitions in Translation Studies
  • 2.Definition theory in the philosophy of science
  • 3.Definition theory in terminology
  • 4.Special aspects of scientific concepts
  • 5.Scientific concepts and definitional practice
  • 6.Definitions in analysis
  • 7.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 18 January 2008
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.19.2.03heb
References (56)
References
Albert, Sándor. 2001. Übersetzung und Philosophie: Wissenschaftsphilosophische Probleme der Übersetzungstheorie—Die Fragen der Übersetzung von philosophischen Texten. Wien: Ed. Praesens.Google Scholar
Albrecht, Jörn. 1973. Linguistik und Übersetzung. Tübingen: Niemeyer. [Romanistische Arbeitshefte, 4.]   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005. Übersetzung und Linguistik. Tübingen: Gunter Narr. [Grundlagen der Übersetzungsforschung, 2.]Google Scholar
Arntz, Reiner Heribert Picht and Felix Mayer. 2002. Einführung in die Terminologiearbeit. 41. Auflage. Hildesheim, Zürich and New York: Olms. [Studien zu Sprache und Technik, 2.]Google Scholar
Balzer, Wolfgang. 1997. Die Wissenschaft und ihre Methoden: Grundsätze der Wissenschaftstheorie. Ein Lehrbuch. Freiburg and München: Alber.Google Scholar
Beaugrande, Robert de. 1991. “Communication and freedom of access to knowledge as an agenda for the special purpose language movement”. Fachsprache 13:3–4. 98–109.Google Scholar
Bessé, Bruno de. 1997. “Terminological definitions”. Wright and Budin. 1997 . 63–79. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blanchon, Élisabeth. 1997. “Point de vue sur la définition”. Meta 42:1. 168–173.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Budin, Gerhard. 1993. Wie (un)verständlich ist das Soziologendeutsch?: Begriffliche und textuelle Strukturen in den Sozialwissenschaften. Frankfurt am Main etc.: Peter Lang. [Werkstattreihe Deutsch als Fremdsprache, 42.]Google Scholar
. 1996. Wissensorganisation und Terminologie: Die Komplexität und Dynamik wissenschaftlicher Informations- und Kommunikationsprozesse. Tübingen: Gunter Narr. [Forum für Fachsprachen-Forschung, 28.]Google Scholar
Dahlberg, Ingetraut. 1976. “Über Gegenstände, Begriffe, Definitionen und Benennungen: Zur möglichen Neufassung von DIN 2330”. Muttersprache 86:2. 81–117.Google Scholar
. 1978. “A referent-oriented, analytical concept theory of interconcept”. International classification 5:3. 142–151.Google Scholar
. 1985. “Begriffsbeziehungen und Definitionstheorie”. Infoterm. 1985. 137–148.Google Scholar
De Vries, Robbé Pieter F. and Frank J. Flier. 1994. “Towards a common vocabulary for classification and definition”. Terminology 1:1. 97–102.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
DIN 2330. 1993. Begriffe und Benennungen: Allgemeine Grundsätze. Berlin and Köln: Beuth.Google Scholar
Gabriel, Gottfried. 1980. “Definition”. Mittelstraß 1980 . 439–442. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Galinski, Christian and Heribert Picht. 1997. “Graphic and other semiotic forms of knowledge representation in terminology management”. Wright and Budin 1997 . 42–61.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gentzler, Edwin. 2001. Contemporary translation theories. 2nd edition. Clevedon etc.: Multilingual Matters. [Topics in translation, 21.]Google Scholar
Gesché, Véronique. 1997. “Evaluation des définitions d’ouvrages”. Meta 42:2. 374–392.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Halverson, Sandra. 1999. “Conceptual work and the ‘Translation’ concept”. Target 11:1. 1–31.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2002. “Cognitive models, prototype effects and ‘Translation’: The role of cognition in translation (meta) theory”. Across languages and cultures 3:1. 21–44.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hatim, Basil. 2001. Teaching and researching translation. Harlow: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Hatim, Basil and Jeremy Munday. 2004. Translation: An advanced resource book. London/New York: Routledge. [Routledge applied linguistics.] DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hebenstreit, Gernot. 2005. Die Terminologie(n) translationswissenschaftlicher Theorien: Eine deskriptive, begriffsorientierte Untersuchung. University of Graz. [Dissertation.]Google Scholar
. 2007. “Prozesse begrifflichen Wandels—terminologische Methoden für eine Theoriegeschichte der Translationswissenschaft”. Judith Muráth and Ágnes Oláh-Hubai, eds. Interdisziplinäre Aspekte des Übersetzens und Dolmetschens / Interdisciplinary aspects of translation and interpreting. Wien: Praesens, 2007. 445–455.Google Scholar
Hermans, Theo, ed. 2002. Crosscultural transgressions: Research models in Translation Studies II. Historical and ideological issues. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar
Infoterm. ed.. 1985. Terminologie und benachbarte Gebiete. 1965–1985. Wien, Köln and Graz: Böhlau.Google Scholar
Kade, Otto. 1968. Zufall und Gesetzmäßigkeit in der Übersetzung. Leipzig: VEB Enzyklopädie. [Beiheft zur Zeitschrift Fremdsprachen, 1.]Google Scholar
Katan, David. 2004. Translating cultures: An introduction for translators, interpreters and mediators. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
L’Homme, Marie-Claude, Ulrich Heid and Juan C. Sager. 2003. “Terminology during the past decade (1994–2004): An editorial statement”. Terminology. 9:2. 151–161.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Laurén, Christer Johan Myking and Heribert Picht. 1998. Terminologie unter der Lupe: Vom Grenzgebiet zum Wissenschaftszweig. Wien: TermNet. [IITF Series, 9.]Google Scholar
Mittelstraß, Jürgen, ed. 1980. Enzyklopädie Philosophie und Wissenschaftstheorie 1:A–G. Mannheim, Wien and Zürich: Bibliographisches Institut Wissenschaftsverlag.Google Scholar
Müller, Ina, ed. 2004. Und sie bewegt sich doch...: Translationswissenschaft in Ost und West. Festschrift für Heidemarie Salevsky zum 60. Geburtstag. New York, Oxford and Wien: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Munday, Jeremy. 2001. Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and applications. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Olohan, Maeve, ed. 2000. Intercultural faultlines: Research models in Translation Studies I: Textual and cognitive aspects. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar
Pawlowski, Tadeusz. 1980. Begriffsbildung und Definition. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pearson, Jennifer. 1998. Terms in context. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. [Studies in corpus linguistics, 1.]   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pozzi, María. 2002. “The ‘concept’ and the ‘object’ in terminology science”. Terminology science and research 13:1–2. 33–41. [IITF Journal.]Google Scholar
Prunč, Erich. 2002. Einführung in die Translationswissenschaft 1: Orientierungsrahmen. 2nd edition. Graz: Institut für Translationswissenschaft. [Graz Translation Studies, 3.]Google Scholar
. 2004. “Zum Objektbereich der Translationswissenschaft”. Müller 2004 . 263–285.Google Scholar
Rahmstorf, Gerhard. 1993. “Role and representation of terminological definitions”. Schmitz 1993 . 39–49.Google Scholar
Reiß, Katharina and Hans J. Vermeer. 1984. Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie. Tübingen: Niemeyer. [Linguistische Arbeiten, 147.]   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Riggs, Fred, Matti Mälkiä and Gerhard Budin. 1997. “Descriptive terminology in the social sciences”. Wright and Budin 1997 . 184–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sager, Juan C. 1990. A practical course in terminology processing. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Salevsky, Heidemarie. 2002. Translationswissenschaf: Ein Kompendium. Frankfurt am Main etc.: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Schmitz, Klaus-Dirked. 1993. TKE’93. Terminology and knowledge engineering: Proceedings. Third international congress on terminology and knowledge engineering. 25–27 August 1993. Frankfurt am Main: INDEKS-Verlag.Google Scholar
Schreiber, Michael. 1993. Übersetzung und Bearbeitung: Zur Differenzierung und Abgrenzung des Übersetzungsbegriffs. Tübingen: Gunter Narr. [Tübinger Beiträge zur Linguistik, 389.]Google Scholar
Stolze, Radegundis. 2001. Übersetzungstheorien: Eine Einführung. Tübingen: Gunter Narr. [Narr Studienbücher.]Google Scholar
Tamás, György. 1964. Die wissenschaftliche Definition. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.Google Scholar
Weissenhofer, Peter. 1995. Conceptology in terminology theory, semantics and word-formation: A morpho-conceptually based approach to classification as exemplified by the English baseball terminology. Wien: TermNet. [IITF-Series, 6.]Google Scholar
Williams, Jenny and Andrew Chesterman. 2002. The map: A beginner’s guide to doing research in Translation Studies. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar
Wright, Sue Ellen and Gerhard Budin, eds. 1997. Handbook of terminology management 1: Basic aspects of terminology management. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wüster, Eugen. 1959/60. “Das Worten der Welt, schaubildlich und terminologisch dargestellt”. Sprachforum 3:3–4. 183–204.Google Scholar
. 1985. Einführung in die allgemeine Terminologielehre und terminologische Lexikographie. 2nd edition. Copenhagen: LSP Centre, Copenhagen School of Economics.Google Scholar
Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Pöchhacker, Franz
2024. Is machine interpreting interpreting?. Translation Spaces DOI logo
Hebenstreit, Gernot
2019. Coming to terms with social translation: A terminological approach. Translation Studies 12:2 ► pp. 139 ff. DOI logo
Halverson, Sandra L.
2010. Translation. In Handbook of Translation Studies [Handbook of Translation Studies, 1], ► pp. 378 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2017. Reflections on Translation Theory [Benjamins Translation Library, 132], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.