Didactics of Translation: Text in Context

TEXT-BASED APPROACHES TO TRANSLATION

In his discussion of aspects of translating and the curriculum content (1), Chau (1984: 119) states that “the contents of all translation curricula can be boiled down to three main areas / models: the Grammatical, the Cultural and the Interpretive”. The various elements of each of these areas are said to be present with varying degrees of emphasis in all translating programmes (Ibid: 120). The importance of these models lies in the fact that they constitute
the foci of attention of the translator in his work, keys to identify problems in inadequate translations, keys to what can be taught and learnt formally in translating. (Chau 1984: 119)
Leaving aside, for the moment, the pedagogical implications of these models, it would be appropriate here to look at the salient characteristics of and the main differences between the various trends. One way of doing this would be to classify the grammatical and cultural aspects of translating under the heading of the non-text-based approaches to translation and the interpretive aspect of translating under the heading of text-based approaches to translation.

1.