Toward a Science of Translation

Abstract

The time seems ripe in both French and English to introduce a word meaning « the scientific study of translation ». Let us be clear at the start that there is not the remotest intention of usurping e traduction » and « translation » themselves. The reader who wrote to Traduire (87 (II 1976) : 19) ' complaining, ... la traduction me semble être bien plus un art qu'une science... il me paraît inutile de créer un mot nouveau pour désigner cette activité... had got hold of the wrong end of the stick. The designatum in view is neither the act of translation (l'opération traduisante) nor its product (le texte en langue cible), but the objective study of these phenomena. Similarly we speak « language » not « linguistics » ; yet the latter word has legitimate use which we all appreciate, and we do not often confuse the two.