The reason l chose the title "Language theory and
translation practice" was to suggest, not that there is no
theory of translation, but that the concept of translation
theory is problematic: it means a different thing to a
translator from what it means to us who work in
linguistics. lf you are a translator, a theory of translation
relates to how you ~ translate - how best to
achieve a good and effective translation. lt tends to be
normativa and evaluative; whereas what is referred to in
linguistics as "theory of translation" is not about how
you should translate but about what happens when you
do translate. Specifically,
what will interest us is the question of ~; and
choice involves what is possible, and within what
is possible, what is more and less likely. And the notion
of choice has its own further implications.
