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“THE NATURE AND ROLE OF NORMS IN TRANSLATION”GIDEON TOURYGideon Toury was an Israeli translation scholar and professor of Poetics, Comparative Literature and Translation Studies at Tel Aviv University.In this essay “The Nature and Role of Norms in Translation” he states that the task of the translat...

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“THE NATURE AND ROLE OF NORMS IN TRANSLATION” GIDEON TOURY Gideon Toury was an Israeli translation scholar and professor of Poetics, Comparative Literature and Translation Studies at Tel Aviv University. In this essay “The Nature and Role of Norms in Translation” he states that the task of the translator should not be reduced to the mere generation of utterance, because translation activities have also a cultural significance, where “translatorship” is “able to play a social role”, to “fulfil a function allotted by the community”. The translator is a kind of cultural agent, and his social function is tied to the community to which he belongs. For this reason, the acquisition of norms for determining the suitability of the translation is a fundamental prerequisite for becoming a translator within a cultural environment. So, these norms have a fundamental role for the translation activities in a sociocultural setting. That’s why also translational norms are object of the translation studies. Translational norms are strictly related to the target-oriented approach, not only because they are justified by it, but also because they are its epitome. The norms regulate the strategies that the translator uses to approach the translation of his texts, and at the same time, they imply directly that the act of translating is submitted to a set of social and cultural norms (the socio-cultural context of which Toury speaks of). Translating a text becomes the translation of the socio-cultural norms of the source text into the socio-cultural norms of the target text. Toury establishes a structure of norms that “form a graded continuum” along a scale of socio-cultural constraints: stronger constraints are rules and weaker are idiosyncrasies. Between these two poles there are norms. And also norms can move along the scale: some become stronger and rule-like and other become weaker. This can change with time and socio-cultural activities, so norms are fluid and dynamic and they are subjected to “shifts in validity”. The translator should always be aware of this and he has to adapt the translation to the norms which are in force. Sociologists have long described norms as the translation of general values shared by a community into behaviours which are appropriate for and applicable to particular situations, specifying what is tolerated and what is inadequate. Learning this code of conduct is part of an individual’s socialisation process.

According to Toury, translation is: 1) A text that occupies a position in the target culture. 2) Also a target-language representation of a pre-existing source-language text belonging to another culture. As a consequence, the translator has to decide which set of norms he wants follow, the one of the source-culture or the one of the target-culture. Toury considers the choice between these two constraints to be an initial norms. The initial norms is the question of a translator deciding to conform to the norms of the source text and of the source culture, or to those of the target culture. The adherence to source norms leads to a translation’s adequacy, while the adherence to target norms leads to its acceptability. Toury also distinguishes two larger groups of norms which operate during every stage of the translation: 1) Preliminary norms involve two main sets of considerations which are often interconnected: a) Translation policy: refers to those factors that govern the choice of texts-types, to be imported through translation into a particular culture/language at a particular point in time. b) Directness of translation: the threshold of tolerance for translating from languages other than the source language. So the use of intermediate languages. 2) Operational norms are related to the decisions made during the act of translation itself. They affect the matrix of the text (that is, the modes of distributing linguistic material) as well as the textual make-up and verbal formulation as such. So-called matricial norms govern the completeness of target-language material intended as substitute for the corresponding source-language material, its location and distribution in the text, as well as the textual segmentation. Textual-linguistic norms, in turn, govern the lexical and syntactic choices of the target text. Preliminary norms have logical and chronological precedence over the operational norms. Norms determine the type and the extent of equivalence manifested by actual translation. The study of norms thus constitutes a vital step towards establishing just how the functional-relational postulate of equivalence has been realized.

Equivalence is seen as a historical construct, rather than an ahistorical, prescriptive one. The difficulty of norms lie in two of their features: the socio-cultural specificity and their instability. Significance is only attributed to a norm by the system in which it is embedded, and the systems remain different event if instances of external behaviour appear the same. Norms are unstable and can change quickly. Translators are not passive, rather, through their activity, they help in shaping the process. They all try to interfere with the natural course of the events. In a society, there are three types of competing norms: 1) Mainstream 2) Remnants of previous sets 3) Rudiments of new ones hovering in the periphery Since norms are characterised by multiplicity and instability, this means that real-life situation are complex, so we have to analyse and contextualize every phenomenon, every item, every text, every act in order to give the different norms their appropriate position and valence. Studies propose a historical axis, including both synchronic and diachronic studies. Finally, in translation non-normative behaviour is also possible. There are two ways to reconstruct norms: a) Textual: the translated texts themselves, for all kinds of norms, as well as analytical inventories of translations, for various preliminary norms. b) Extratextual: semi-theoretical or critical formulations, such as prescriptive “theories” of translation, statements made by translators, editors, publishers, and other persons involved in or connected with the activity, critical appraisals of individual translations, or the activity of a translator or “school” of translators, and so forth. Texts are primary products of norm-regulated behaviour. Gradual distinction between norms in terms of intensity:  Basic (primary) norms: more or less mandatory for all instances of a certain behaviour (and hence their minimal common denominator).  Secondary norms, or tendencies: determining favourable behaviour. May be predominant in certain parts of the group. They are common enough, but not mandatory.

 Tolerated (permitted) behaviour: have minimal intensity....