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    History of Translation

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    Aira Berano
    Translation has been used throughout history to spread ideas across languages and cultures. The practice of translation can be traced back to ancient times, with some of the earliest known translations including Sumerian poems translated into Asian languages in the 2nd millennium BC. Religious texts, such as the Old Testament translated into Greek in the 3rd century BC, also drove the need for translation. Famous translators throughout history, such as William Tyndale in the 16th century and Constance Garnett in the 19th century, helped disseminate important works. Modern translation is facilitated by technology and focuses on conveying meaning and culture across languages.

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    History of Translation

    Uploaded by

    Aira Berano
    163 views2 pages
    Translation has been used throughout history to spread ideas across languages and cultures. The practice of translation can be traced back to ancient times, with some of the earliest known translations including Sumerian poems translated into Asian languages in the 2nd millennium BC. Religious texts, such as the Old Testament translated into Greek in the 3rd century BC, also drove the need for translation. Famous translators throughout history, such as William Tyndale in the 16th century and Constance Garnett in the 19th century, helped disseminate important works. Modern translation is facilitated by technology and focuses on conveying meaning and culture across languages.

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    HISTORY OF TRANSLATION

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    Translation has been used throughout history to spread ideas across languages and cultures. The practice of translation can be traced back to ancient times, with some of the earliest known translations including Sumerian poems translated into Asian languages in the 2nd millennium BC. Religious texts, such as the Old Testament translated into Greek in the 3rd century BC, also drove the need for translation. Famous translators throughout history, such as William Tyndale in the 16th century and Constance Garnett in the 19th century, helped disseminate important works. Modern translation is facilitated by technology and focuses on conveying meaning and culture across languages.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    163 views2 pages

    History of Translation

    Uploaded by

    Aira Berano
    Translation has been used throughout history to spread ideas across languages and cultures. The practice of translation can be traced back to ancient times, with some of the earliest known translations including Sumerian poems translated into Asian languages in the 2nd millennium BC. Religious texts, such as the Old Testament translated into Greek in the 3rd century BC, also drove the need for translation. Famous translators throughout history, such as William Tyndale in the 16th century and Constance Garnett in the 19th century, helped disseminate important works. Modern translation is facilitated by technology and focuses on conveying meaning and culture across languages.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    HISTORY OF TRANSLATION

    The word ‘translation’ comes from a Latin term which means “to bring or carry across”. Another relevant
    term comes from the Ancient Greek word of ‘metaphrasis’ which means “to speak across” and from this,
    the term ‘metaphrase’ was born, which means a “word-for-word translation”. These terms have been at
    the heart of theories relating to translation throughout history and have given insight into when and
    where translation have been used throughout the ages. It is known that translation was carried out as
    early as the Mesopotamian era when the Sumerian poem, Gilgamesh, was translated into Asian
    languages. This dates back to around the second millennium BC. Other ancient translated works include
    those carried out by Buddhist monks who translated Indian documents into Chinese. In later periods,
    Ancient Greek texts were also translated by Roman poets and were adapted to create developed literary
    works for entertainment. It is known that translation services were utilised in Rome by Cicero and Horace
    and that these uses were continued through to the 17th century, where newer practices were developed.
    It is argued that the knowledge and findings of Greek academics was developed and understood so widely
    thanks to the translation work of Arabic scholars. When the Greeks were conquered, their works were
    taken in by Arabic scholars who translated them and created their own versions of the scientific,
    entertainment and philosophical understandings. These Arabic versions were later translated into Latin,
    during the Middle Ages, mostly throughout Spain and the resulting works provided the foundations of
    Renaissance academics.

    Religious Translation and Texts


    The need for translation became greater with the development of religious texts and spiritual theories.
    As religion developed, the desire to spread the word and encourage faith means that religious texts
    needed to be available in multiple languages. One of the first translated religious texts is known to have
    been that of the Old Testament which was translated into Greek in the 3rd century BC. This translation
    refers to the ‘Septuagint’, which was a translation of the Hebrew bible into Greek, with Septuagint coming
    from the Latin word ‘Septuaginta’, which means seventy. This text is therefore often referred to the ‘Greek
    Old Testament’. Without the use of our modern practices and tools, this translation was carried out by no
    less than 70 scholars who painstakingly converted the text into Greek and this became the basis for future
    translations of the bible in multiple languages. Religion played such a critical role in translation
    development that the church even names Saint Jerome as the patron saint of translation. Saint Jerome
    created a Latin bible in 4th century AD. This bible became the predominant text used by the Roman
    Catholic Church. With the introduction of Protestantism, the need to translate the bible and other
    religious texts into European languages heightened, Through the rapid translation and distribution of the
    bible during the Protestant Reformation, Christianity had two clear paths – Roman Catholicism or
    Protestantism. One of the most clear differences between these two forms of the religion was the
    disparity in texts and the differences between crucial words and passages of the bible.

    Famous Translators Throughout Time


    Translators have often been hidden characters, unnamed people who have paved the way for some of
    the greatest contributions to the dissemination of ideas, knowledge and theories throughout the ages.
    In some cases, working as a translator was incredibly dangerous and some even lost their lives because
    of their work. This included famous translators such as William Tyndale, who was executed in Holland in
    1536 because he worked on translating the bible into English. Other famous translators include: Chinese
    monk Xuanzang who in 645 AD was credited with having translated 74 volumes on Indian Buddhist
    scripts into Chinese. Constance Garnett was a British translator who translated Russian classics including
    Tolstoy, Chekhov, Turgenev and Gogol into English towards the end of the 19th Century. Gregory
    Rabassa was an American literary translator who translated numerous Latin documents into English
    throughout the 20th Century.

    Modern Translation Practices and Understanding

    Following on from the Industrial Revolution, the economy developed rapidly and evolved into a machine
    with the potential for global success. New machinery allowed for swifter production of texts and business
    related materials and this means that more time could be invested in evolving a company and translating
    material to enter foreign markets. Since the 18th century, businesses have benefitted from formalised
    translation services but the dawn of modern practice came with the widespread introduction of the
    internet. The internet has revolutionised the ability to access, translate and understand texts and
    documents from all over the world, whether they be contemporary or historical pieces. Crucially, the need
    to understand the culture of the original country and that of the target audience is further enhanced by
    modern tools and practices. Although some instant translation services are capable only of metaphase
    translation (literal word-for-word translation), specialist firms, platforms and translators are able to
    translate texts and spoken word into multiple languages whilst observing the relevance and culture of the
    target receiver.

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