Translation as inter / intracultural hermeneutics

Abstract

The paper deals with translation regarded as a universal cultural phenomenon and treated in the perspective of philosophical (hermeneutic) analysis, with the utmost goal of revealing its essentially hermeneutic nature, as well as its pragmatic and functional paradigms conditioning its operational modus. Based on its ambivalent nature, translation can be treated from at least two standpoints, i.e., functionally-pragmatic and essential ones. First, translation is the main channel of inter- and intracultural communication making it possible and determining its structure, format, and mechanisms. Second, translation presents itself as a chain of hermeneutic procedures in communication acts in time / space, each of the said acts being an integral part of the uniform poly-cultural discourse. In both cases, the utmost goal of translation is to ensure (the) maximum inclusion of those engaged in the communicative act into the discourse and thus reach adequate minimal understanding to further structure communicative discourse acts in both inter- and intracultural communication. This latter fact conditions the importance of translation between cultural languages (theatre and film versions of literary texts, illustrations to them, music based on fiction, etc.), languages of cultures and subcultures (various age, gender, social, professional, artistic, etc. groups) as well as between ethnic languages per se. The obvious conclusion one could come to is that humanity on the daily basis oscillates, even though not registering it, between various translation techniques and strategies ensuring communication as the means of existence (survival). Refs 10.