Translation criticism revisited from a pedagogical perspective

Abstract

As suggested by Holmes (1988), who situates translation criticism in the applied branch of translation studies, the evaluative analysis of translations can have a number of practical applications in the training of translators as well as in the practice and revision of translations. It is no coincidence that the move away from prescriptive and intuitive approaches primarily based on the identification of translation errors to more structured descriptive models that has characterised the history of translation criticism has been prompted by the need of translators and translation revisors themselves to have more systematic criteria at their disposal to evaluate the quality or effectiveness of translations (Maier 2009: 237). This paper retraces the evolution of translation criticism by examining critical thought on translation in the pre-scientific period (e.g. Jerome, King Alfred the Great, Dryden, Tytler) and the models developed in the scientific period of translation studies (e.g. Reiss, House, Berman, Meschonnic, Levý, Hewson) in order to show their enormous potential for the teaching of translation and the improvement of the translation competence of future translators and revisors.