FIT Translation Theory & Methodology 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which theorist introduced the concept of 'skopos' (purpose) as the primary determinant of translation strategy?
- Eugene Nida
- Hans Vermeer (Correct answer)
- Lawrence Venuti
- Antoine Berman
Correct answer: Hans Vermeer
Hans Vermeer developed Skopos Theory in the 1970s-80s, arguing that the purpose of the translation governs all translation decisions.
Question 2: In Antoine Berman's framework, 'deforming tendencies' in translation include all of the following EXCEPT:
- Rationalization
- Clarification
- Foreignization (Correct answer)
- Ennoblement
Correct answer: Foreignization
Foreignization is Venuti's strategy of preserving source-culture elements; Berman's deforming tendencies include rationalization, clarification, and ennoblement, among others.
Question 3: The concept of 'translational norms' developed by Gideon Toury refers to:
- Legal standards set by translation professional bodies
- Socio-cultural constraints that govern translator behavior in a given community (Correct answer)
- Grammatical rules that must be preserved across languages
- Stylistic preferences of individual translators
Correct answer: Socio-cultural constraints that govern translator behavior in a given community
Toury defined translational norms as the socio-cultural values and constraints — between rules and idiosyncrasies — that guide translators' choices.
Question 4: What does 'back-translation' primarily serve as a tool for?
- Literary retranslation to improve on a previous version
- Verifying accuracy in fields like clinical trials where the original language must be recoverable (Correct answer)
- Translating from a minor language back into a major one
- Producing bilingual parallel texts for language learners
Correct answer: Verifying accuracy in fields like clinical trials where the original language must be recoverable
Back-translation is most commonly used in medical, pharmaceutical, and research contexts to verify that a translation accurately reflects the source content.
Question 5: Which translation approach does Lawrence Venuti advocate as an ethical stance against cultural imperialism?
- Domestication
- Functionalism
- Foreignization (Correct answer)
- Dynamic equivalence
Correct answer: Foreignization
Venuti argues that foreignization resists the dominant Anglo-American culture's tendency to erase foreign elements and makes the translator's work visible.
Question 6: A translator rendering a French legal text for a US audience must convert not only language but also legal concepts that have no direct equivalent. This challenge is best described as:
- Syntactic divergence
- Legal-system asymmetry requiring functional equivalence (Correct answer)
- Pragmatic failure
- Register mismatch
Correct answer: Legal-system asymmetry requiring functional equivalence
Legal systems (civil law vs. common law) differ structurally, so translators must find functionally equivalent concepts rather than lexical matches.
Question 7: Which of the following best describes 'semantic translation' as defined by Peter Newmark?
- Translation that prioritizes the target reader's cultural expectations
- Translation that attempts to reproduce the exact contextual meaning of the source text within syntactic constraints (Correct answer)
- Word-for-word rendering regardless of target-language idiom
- Translation focused on the communicative effect on the target audience
Correct answer: Translation that attempts to reproduce the exact contextual meaning of the source text within syntactic constraints
Newmark's semantic translation stays close to the source text's meaning and form, as opposed to communicative translation which focuses on effect.
FIT Translation Theory & Methodology 2
Which theorist introduced the concept of 'skopos' (purpose) as the primary determinant of translation strategy?