Conducting research on a “Wish-to-Understand” basis
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Gideon Toury✝
Abstract
When purporting to account for translational behavior and supply it with explanations concerning reasons and results, many scholars are still prone to take too many things for granted. Thus, we often purport to know “for a fact,” even adopt as a framework for our very study, claims which should have been put to the test themselves. In so doing we put superfluous obstacles in our own scholarly way and our colleagues’. A more rewarding approach and a better research strategy would be a measure of assumed naivety: we should engage in research, especially of the empirical brand, with as few assumptions as possible that might be difficult to maintain, in the face of real-world evidence. To be sure, there is no real point in conducting research into translation to begin with, whether observational or experimental, unless it stems from a genuine “wish to understand,” whereby all previously-“known” facts are reformulated as questions to be answered during research and on the basis of the available data.
Abstract
When purporting to account for translational behavior and supply it with explanations concerning reasons and results, many scholars are still prone to take too many things for granted. Thus, we often purport to know “for a fact,” even adopt as a framework for our very study, claims which should have been put to the test themselves. In so doing we put superfluous obstacles in our own scholarly way and our colleagues’. A more rewarding approach and a better research strategy would be a measure of assumed naivety: we should engage in research, especially of the empirical brand, with as few assumptions as possible that might be difficult to maintain, in the face of real-world evidence. To be sure, there is no real point in conducting research into translation to begin with, whether observational or experimental, unless it stems from a genuine “wish to understand,” whereby all previously-“known” facts are reformulated as questions to be answered during research and on the basis of the available data.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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New perspectives on the disciplinary space of translation
- Questions in the sociology of translation 9
- Pour une socio-traduction 29
- Conciliation of disciplines and paradigms 43
- Conducting research on a “Wish-to-Understand” basis 55
- Translation as dialogue 67
-
Theoretical models at work
- Literary heteroglossia in translation 85
- Defining target text reader 99
- Critical Language Study and Translation 111
- The ideological turn in translation studies 129
-
Texts and contexts in translation
- Institutionalising Buddhism 147
- Subtitling reading practices 161
- An Englishman in Alentejo 169
- Lembranças e Deslembranças 185
- Notes on contributors and editors 197
- Index 203
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
New perspectives on the disciplinary space of translation
- Questions in the sociology of translation 9
- Pour une socio-traduction 29
- Conciliation of disciplines and paradigms 43
- Conducting research on a “Wish-to-Understand” basis 55
- Translation as dialogue 67
-
Theoretical models at work
- Literary heteroglossia in translation 85
- Defining target text reader 99
- Critical Language Study and Translation 111
- The ideological turn in translation studies 129
-
Texts and contexts in translation
- Institutionalising Buddhism 147
- Subtitling reading practices 161
- An Englishman in Alentejo 169
- Lembranças e Deslembranças 185
- Notes on contributors and editors 197
- Index 203
