Foregrounding as a Criterion for Translation Criticism
Babel: Revue internationale de la traduction/International Journal of Translation, (2003)Abstract
Studies on foregrounding have been made mainly within one language, regarding stylistic effects in literature in particular. This paper, however, presents that the theory of foregrounding can be applied to translation criticism as well. When we apply the notion of foregrounding to translation criticism, we mean a general reference to the deviation from the norm in both the SL and the TL. Therefore, two types of foregrounding are involved, one concerning the foregrounding created by the author of the SL, and the other involving that made by the translator in the TL. Based on the theory of foregrounding, the paper analyzes the phenomena of deviation from the norm, with regard to translation, in both the SL and the TL, and different translation techniques and the definition of deviation are discussed synchronically with the analysis.