Microsoft Word 05 descriptions doc

starting analysis from the translation rather than from the source text; he thus creates 

space for research that takes no account of the source text at all. For example, you can 

simply compare different translations, or compare translations with non-translations 

within the target system. That kind of full-frontal opposition helped to make Toury the 

enfant terrible of his day.  

The notion of norms, however, allowed a kind of prescriptivism to be introduced 

into descriptive studies, almost through the back door. Even if the role of theory was not 

to tell translators how to translate, a descriptive approach could identify the norms by 

which a translation could be considered good by people in a certain place and time. This 

has allowed for a certain application of descriptive studies in the training of translators 

and interpreters. Toury (1992) has suggested, for example, that trainees be asked to 

render the same text according to different norms (e.g. translate as one might have done 

in twelfth-century Toledo, or under conditions of censorship). The trainee will thus be 

made aware that there are many different ways to translate, each with certain advantages 

and disadvantages. Of course, the same kind of exercise can be recommended within the 

purpose-based paradigm: translate the one text in different ways in order to achieve 

different purposes. The different paradigms can lead to the same kind of training 

activity.  

Seeking an alternative mode of compatibility, Chesterman (1999) proposes that 

the study of norms will enable the teacher and learner to predict the relative market