Translation Definitions in Different Paradigms

Abstract

In the field of translation studies, owing to the factors such as the interests of scholar, cultural and historical reasons, scholars usually choose a definition of translation as the research orientation in a certain period of time. That is, as a scholastic community, they study under the same paradigm. Since the definition of translation not only describes and interprets the basic properties of translation, but also determines its connotation and extension, it is the core and basic part of translation studies. From the academic perspective and on the basis of Thomas Samuel Kuhn’s paradigm theory, this article discusses the definitions of translation in the paradigms of translation studies. It chooses the definitions of translation proposed by the most famous theorists to analyze. And, the mainly two turns and the new trend of contemporary translation studies are attributed into three paradigms (linguistic paradigm, cultural paradigm, and social and psychological paradigm) to discuss. By a careful research, the article comes to a conclusion that the definition of translation determines the scope of translation studies. With the widening or narrowing of the definition in question, the study scope orients accordingly.