From the “art” of meaningful forms to the “science” of cultural discourse in translation theory
From the “art” of meaningful forms to the “science” of cultural discourse in translation theory

Summary/Abstract: Historically, the theory and the practice of translation have constantly generated complex debates between linguists, writers and scholars. Despite the common characteristics in the definitions of translation, no one is able to follow a coherent and unitary path in the challenging work as a translator. That is the reason for which we bring into question the existence of numerous approaches and models of the phenomenon. With the development of linguistics, sociology, anthropology, psychology in the last decades, new ideas about the translation process have emerged and this is our attempt to summarize and unify all the dichotomies and opposed views about translation in two major paradigms: the linguistic paradigm and the cultural paradigm. While we acknowledge the value of the linguistic paradigm for it has established a more scientific model for translators, we also recognize that the cultural paradigm has improved the perspective, by relating the phenomenon to context and to the values of specific communities. These apparently contradictory paradigms do not seem as opposed when one understands that one paradigm is a completion of another by filling the existing gaps in theory and improving the translation process in practice.

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