A Model for Assessing Translation Quality

Abstract

The essence of translation lies in the preservation of « meaning » across two languages. There are three aspects to this « meaning » : semantic, pragmatic, and textual such that translation may be defined as the replacement of a text in the source language by a semantically and pragmatically equivalent text in the target language. (I am concerned here only with written texts, as translation of oral texts is defined as interpretation.) In this definition of translation the term « equivalent » is the key term, and the concept of equivalence is taken to be the fundamental criterion of translation quality. Thus an adequate translation text (TT) is a semantically and pragmatically equivalent one. As a first requirement for this equivalence it is posited that a translation text have a function equivalent to that of its source text (ST). Such a use of the concept of function presupposes that there are elements in any text which — given appropriate analytical tools — can reveal that text's function. Now « function » has been used in many different ways, e.g., in so-called « functions of language ». Various classification schemes have been devised. Most of these schemes, however, can be reduced to a basic division into a cognitive-referential (content-oriented) function and various other non-cognitive (emotive-expressive, interaction- or person-oriented) functions. The resultant two broad functional categories are useful for providing convenient labels for the two components of a text's function, which are always co-present. In the following I shall use Halliday's (1973) terms « ideational » and « interpersonal » for these two components.