W h a t i s t r a n s l a t i o n ?

Translation Studies thus has two main objectives:
(1) to describe the phenomena of translating and translation(s) as they manifest
themselves in the world of our experience, and (2) to establish general principles by
means of which these phenomena can be explained and predicted. The two branches
of pure Translation Studies concerning themselves with these objectives can be
designated descriptive translation studies (DTS) or translation description (TD) and theoretical
translation studies (ThTS) or translation theory (TTh).
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Of these two, it is perhaps appropriate to give first consideration to descriptive translation
studies, as the branch of the discipline which constantly maintains the closest contact
with the empirical phenomena under study. There would seem to be three major kinds
of research in DTS, which may be distinguished by their focus as product-oriented,
function-oriented, and process-oriented.

The other main branch of pure Translation Studies, theoretical translation studies or
translation theory, as its name implies, is not interested in describing existing translations,
observed translation functions, or experimentally determined translating
processes, but in using the results of descriptive translation studies, in combination
with the information available from related fields and disciplines, to evolve principles,
theories, and models which will serve to explain and predict what translating and
translations are and will be..