Abstracts
Abstract
This paper is about the inflation of loss talk in a certain discourse on translation and how translation is often presented as a disaster or even an emblem of what is always missing. My guiding questions will be: Why has the notion of loss become such a dominant concept when talking about translation? Where does this rhetoric of loss—in translators’ reflections, in translation reviews as well as in scholarly material of theoreticians—come from? What are some of the assumptions that underlie this loss discourse on translation products? Can we go beyond a descriptive perspective of the phenomenon and try to come up with a few explanations for this loss talk on translation? I shall furthermore explore the concept of loss-aversion from economics and decision theory (Kahneman, 2011), and argue that loss-aversion may help us to better understand how the notion of loss, and more generally the gain-loss equation, operate in the field of translation. Finally looking at translation discourse through the losing-glass, I will briefly discuss a few “unlosables” from the field of biblical Hebrew translation.
Keywords:
- loss,
- translation,
- loss-aversion,
- unlosable,
- biblical Hebrew translation
Résumé
Cet article traite de la notion de perte dans un certain discours sur la traduction et de la tendance à présenter la traduction comme un échec, voire comme l’emblème de ce qui fait constamment défaut. L’article s’articule autour des questions suivantes : pourquoi la notion de perte est-elle devenue si dominante dans le discours sur la traduction? D’où vient cette rhétorique de la perte que l’on trouve dans les réflexions des traducteurs, les revues de traduction et les ouvrages des théoriciens? Quelles sont certaines des hypothèses qui la sous-tendent? Est-il possible d’aller au-delà d’une perspective descriptive du phénomène et de trouver des explications à ce discours sur la perte en traduction? J’explorerai en outre le concept d’aversion aux pertes issu du domaine de l’économie et de la théorie de la décision (Kahneman, 2011), et soutiendrai que l’aversion aux pertes peut nous aider à mieux comprendre comment fonctionne la notion de perte, et plus généralement l’équation gain-perte, dans le domaine de la traduction. Enfin, en examinant le discours de la traduction sous l’angle de la notion de perte, je discuterai brièvement de quelques « imperdables » du champ de la traduction de l’hébreu biblique.
Mots-clés :
- perte,
- traduction,
- aversion aux pertes,
- imperdable,
- traduction de l’hébreu biblique
Appendices
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