Translation Theories

The present article reports a study carried out to investigate whether or not awareness of functional translation theories has any impact on the translation quality of translator trainees. 2oo Iranian undergraduate students took part in this study. They were divided into four groups -two- experimental and two control groups. After homogenizing the participants by a TOEFL test, a translation pre-test was administered and then functional theories of translation like Translational Action and Skopos Theory were taught to the experimental groups who were later required to use the material taught in their classroom translation practice during one academic semester. The control groups were instructed traditionally as widely practiced in Iranian undergraduate translation classes. A translation post-test was given to all the groups at the end of the semester. The statistical results demonstrated a significant difference between the pre- and post- test in the two experimental groups as compared with the control groups.

This study aimed to explore the perception of translation educators about the need of teaching translation theories to undergraduate students of translation studies. BA Translation courses at Iranian Universities are generally practice–based. So, they lack meaningful teaching of translation theories and concepts. To this end, the researcher selected 62 translation teachers from seven universities of Iran based on their major and the study’s purpose. This study followed a quantitative design. The participants filled out an online questionnaire sent to them by email. The researcher designed the questionnaire based on the related literature review. The reliability of items was checked with Cronbach's Alpha. The result was 0.849, which shows the high consistency of questionnaire items. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was checked by two experts in the field. The questionnaire contained two main parts. One part included ten items on the implications of translation theories. The other part was designed for any general comments the professionals would like to add about each item. The findings indicated that most translator trainers have a generally positive attitude toward teaching translation theories. This study can be of great use for translators, those who work in the field, those who teach it, and those who study it.