Changes of Translation Definition and Turns of Translation Studies

Abstract

Since the twentieth century, translation studies has made great progress. The study of translation ushers one turn after another. Throughout the recent history of translation studies, few scholars review the appearance of the turns from the perspective of translation definition. From the academic perspective and on the basis of Thomas Samuel Kuhn’s paradigm theory, this article discusses the relationships between the changing definitions of translation and the turns 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 changes of definitions and the turns of translation studies affect and contact each other closely. The definition of translation determines the scope of translation studies. A new definition that is widely accepted always generates a new turn and the new turn tends to breed a next new definition, and so on and so forth, hence the development of translation studies.

Key words: Definition of translation; Translation studies; Paradigm; Paradigm shift; Turn