What does "the original context"mean in the approach of direct translation?

From: nancy (nancyspring@sina.com)
Date: Tue Mar 18 2003 - 10:39:44 GMT

  • Next message: Christoph Unger: "Re: What does "the original context"mean in the approach of direct translation?"

    I have a question here:
    Professor Ernst-August Gutt in his book "Translation and Relevance: Cognition and Context", mentions that "direct translations should be processed with respect to the original context" (P.165).
    However, he also mentions that "the standard notices should be translated into their corresponding standard expressions in the receptor language -- even if their semantic contents are different" (P.151) and it seems that he suggests to translate the proverbial sayings into their corresponding proverbial sayings in the receptor language, too.
    Then, I feel quite puzzled,"If the source language texts are translated into the corresponding expressions in the target language,it seems that the target readers just need to understand the translated texts in the target language context, but do not have to understand them in the original context as Prof. Gutt has mentioned"?? What does "the original context" really mean here?

    One more question: In terms of Prof. Gutt's accounts, can we simply conclude that the literal translation technique is equal to the direct translation, and the free translation technique is equal to the indirect translaiton???

    I really appreciate your valuable suggestion and ideas!!!

    Nancy

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