Desarrollo de la propuesta de un Diseño de Base de Datos como mecanismo de

The theoretical framework of this project will be Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS), which overlaps with the textual-descriptive research model in translation studies described by Josep Marco (2009), and the comparative and causal models put forward by Andrew Chesterman (2017). Meanwhile, Andre Lefevere’s (1975) seven strategies for translating poetry and

Chesterman’s (1997) classification of translation strategies will also be incorporated for more detailed and specific analysis.

Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) is a sub-branch of Translation Studies. The Dutch poet and translator James S. Holmes put forward the idea of regarding Translation Studies as a

coordinated research program in 1972 in an oral presentation at the Third International Congress held in Copenhagen (Toury 1995, 7). According to him, Translation Studies can be divided into two main groups: pure and applied; the ‘pure’ group can be further divided into theoretical and descriptive. The Israeli translation scholar Gideon Toury (1995) cites Holmes' overall concept of the discipline in a tree-diagram as below (10):

Toury’s depiction of Holmes’ map of Translation Studies. Reprinted from Toury (1995, 10) This map is regarded as ‘a monument in Translation Studies’ (van Doorslaer 2007, 217). Since the concept was introduced in 1970s, other scholars have made attempts to complement it. For instance, Jeremy Munday (2001) expanded the applied branch of translation studies, in which ‘translator training’ can be subdivided into teaching evaluation methods, testing techniques, and curriculum design; ‘translation aids’ is subdivided into IT applications,

dictionaries, and grammars; and ‘translation criticism’ into revision, evaluation of translations, and reviews (13). Apart from this, Luc van Doorslaer (2007) put forward a competing map of Translation Studies in which the discipline is classified into four groups: approaches, theories,

research methods, and applied translation studies; ‘descriptive translation studies’ is grouped in the class of ‘theories’ while ‘descriptive approach’ is in the ‘research methods’ (230).

No matter what additions or modifications have been made to the institutional

organization of translation studies, the basic concept of descriptive translation studies remains the same. As Holmes put forward and Toury (1995) restated, DTS focuses on three approaches: function-oriented, process-oriented, and product-oriented, and each of them ‘delimits a

legitimate field of study of its own’ (11). Function-oriented DTS analyses the contexts

surrounding the translated text and deals with the ‘translation’s position in the culture in which it is or will be embedded’ (11). Product-oriented DTS focuses on the ‘textual-linguistic make-up of a translation (or aspects of/phenomena within it), along with the relationships which tie it to its source text and/or the “shifts” which are manifested by the one with respect to the other’ (11). It may involve a comparative description of several existing translations of the same source text. Process-oriented DTS focuses on aspects related to the translation process such as the translation strategies used. The relations between function, product, and process are as follows: the function of a translation, which refers to its position in the target language culture, determines the result of final translation product; and the translation product governs the translation strategies or

technique (here ‘process’ is involved) whereby a target text is generated (13).

On the whole, Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) is an empirical interdisciplinary target-oriented approach to the study of translation. There are many target forces that can be explored such as norms, translator ideology, publisher agendas, and culture. Due to the space constraints of my thesis, I will be not able to study all of them. However, I will be discussing some contextual factors that influenced Pound’s translation choices such as the mediating language – Japanese. The goal of DTS is to describe, explain, and predict different phenomena

related to translation and translating. An important function of DTS is to help ‘constitute the best means of testing, refuting, and especially modifying and amending the very theory in whose terms research is carried out’ (Toury 1995, 5). However, though as a systematic branch striving to proceed ‘from clear assumptions’ and to be ‘armed with a methodology and research

techniques made as explicit as possible and justified within translation studies itself’ (3), DTS has its own limitations. First of all, the framework is target-oriented and does not attach importance to the source text, which may cause research to lack balance to a certain degree. Toury (1995) considers translations as ‘facts of a “target” culture’ (23) and his work ‘also suggests evaluative criteria centered on the target system alone’ (Maier 2001, 270). Secondly, there is no clear-cut distinction between the process-oriented approach and the product-oriented approach, because ‘process-related elements may play a role within the description of translation as a product, and the study of the product is the principal means for describing translation as a process’ (Bakker et al. 2001, 296). For example, translation strategies and shifts can be described from the perspective of both product and process, which may cause certain confusion.

Nevertheless, just as Baker (2001) argues, ‘no approach, however sophisticated, can provide the answer to all the questions raised in the discipline nor the tools and methodology required for conducting research in all areas of translation studies’ (365). Therefore, on one hand, Descriptive Translation Studies is still the most appropriate framework for my project to investigate Pound’s translation in an extensive way. On the other hand, I will take source text and context into consideration while focusing on a product-oriented approach to mitigate the shortcomings mentioned above. Meanwhile, one important concept of DTS, ‘shifts’, will be used in my study.