Scholar Publishing Group
International Journal of Educational Curriculum Management and Research
https://doi.org/10.38007/IJECMR.2023.040307
ISSN 2790-0967 Vol. 4, Issue 3: 61-65
George Steiner’s Hermeneutic Translation Theory
Rongrong Ma1,a*
1
School of Foreign Languages, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610000, Sichuan, China
a
[email protected] *
corresponding author
Keywords: George Steiner, Translation Theory, Translatability
Abstract: George Steiner is one of the most important translation theorists in the
hermeneutic school. He believes that the essence of translation is understanding, which is
an interpretive act. Whether it is intra-lingual translation or interlingual translation,
translation needs to be understood before interpretation. His translation book After Babel:
Aspects of Language and Translation explains in detail the relationship between
hermeneutics and translation, which is an important book in translation school.
Hermeneutics theory has its unique advantages, which embodies the translator's
subjectivity, but it also has its limitations, for example, its exposition of the translated text
is too broad, which leads to the loss of translation accuracy and "misreading". This paper
discusses Steiner's Elaborative Translation Theory from five aspects: "Translation is
comprehension", "Translation is more important than creation", "Translatability is
conditional", "Four steps of translation" and "Limitation of translation".
1. Introduction
George Steiner is a famous American translation theorist and writer who is good at German,
French and English[1]. He has made a lot of contributions to translation theory. His book After
Bable: Aspects of Language and Translation is of great significance in the field of translation,
allowing translation scholars to have a further understanding of translation methods and has
considerable theoretical value. Steiner emphasizes the subjectivity and creativity of translators from
a new perspective. He believes that translating the source language text means understanding the
source language text and even surpassing the creation of the original text[2]. His ideas have been
recognized by many translation scholars, but some translation scholars still think that his views are
too idealistic and unrealistic, so there are many problems in translation theory, and they criticize
him. Steiner's translation theory is mainly divided into four steps, one is trust, the other is
aggression, the third is incorporation, and the fourth is restitution[3]. The proposal of Steiner's
translation theory has shaken the translation field at home and abroad and has unique significance.
At the same time, there are also some problems that need more consideration. But it is undeniable
that Steiner's translation theory enriches the meaning of translation[4].
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
61
International Journal of Educational Curriculum Management and Research
2. Translation is Understanding
Eugene, the famous American translation theorist. Eugene A. Nida defines translation as the
search for natural equivalent words in the target language that are infinitely close to the source
language information in meaning and style. J.c. Catford believes that translation is the replacement
of the source text with the equivalent text material of the target language[6]. They are all translation
theorists, and they all advocate that translation is a kind of "equivalence" behavior, and the source
text and the target text must be faithful to the source language in the conversion. Steiner believes
that translation is not necessarily the conversion of two languages in the traditional sense, but also
the communication and conversion between the same language. He proposes that translation is
understanding, and only by fully understanding the speaker's intention, purpose, emotional color
and regional culture can we fully understand the meaning of the original text and translate it
better[7]. Therefore, when translators do translation, they must fully mobilize their own subjective
initiative and fully understand the source text, so as to ensure that the translation process is
sufficient and the translated text can be more vivid[8].
3. Translation is More Important Than Creation
Creation refers to the original author's use of a series of writing techniques, story plots and
theoretical background in order to fully express his thoughts and opinions, so as to better let readers
receive his own views, feel his own emotions, understand the theme of the article, and reflect a
certain social reality. In the process of translation, the translator occupies a very important position.
In the same language system, readers can easily understand the plot changes of works and articles,
because their languages are similar, and some culture-loaded words and hidden meanings can be
well understood. However, in the reading and communication of different languages, it seems
difficult for readers to accurately understand the real meanings of these literary works. Therefore,
there is a very important bridge between readers and authors, that is, translators. Steiner believes
that translation is a kind of creative activity, translators should fully understand the original text
when translating, and then re-create it according to their own cultural literacy, knowledge ability
and creative ability. And the process of creation may change a lot, for example, the original
relatively unpopular literary works in foreign countries may be widely welcomed by readers in
another country after the translator's re-creation and processing, similarly, after being valued by
foreign readers, it can still set off a reading trend in China. Therefore, creation and translation are
two different processes, but in the sense that they complement each other and are equally important.
4. The Translatability of Translation is Conditional
Steiner believes that in the process of translation, the feasibility and infeasibility of translation
are conditional. It makes no sense to talk out of context. For example, Steiner believes that
translation means understanding, which can be understood within the same language or through
dialogue in different languages. However, communication is ongoing all the time, regardless of
language, so understanding happens all the time. People communicate and exchange information
through translation and understanding, so translation also happens accordingly. In this sense,
translation is feasible. On the contrary, the translation within the same language is simple, while the
translation between different languages will have various difficulties, for example, the network
buzzwords and other culture-loaded words in different countries will have different meanings in
different times, which are different from the surface. In addition, due to the different history and
culture, the way of creation of poetry at home and abroad is also different, so whether translation is
translatable at this time? It's doubtful. But anyway, both affirm the translator's subjectivity and the
62
International Journal of Educational Curriculum Management and Research
translator's important role.
5. Four Steps of Translation
Steiner made an in-depth study of translation, and his translation theory has some enlightenment
on the translation process and the translator's understanding of the original text, revealing the
interdependence between understanding and interpretation. Steiner divides the translation process
into four steps, namely trust, aggression, incorporation and restitution[5].
Table1. Four steps of translation
Translate according to his own wishes, and trust his translated text.
Trust
The source language text is translatable
Makes in-depth exploration of difficult words and sentences, and
Aggression
breaks them down and reconstructs them.
Decide whether this part should be retained or subsumed into
Incorporation
expressions of the target language.
Balance the original text and the translated text with the missing
Restitution
images and features in the translated text.
5.1. Trust
The first step of translation is for the translator to choose the translated text. Therefore, trust here
refers to the translator's trust in selecting the source language text according to his/her own interests,
creative ability, knowledge reserve, etc. If the translator is forced to translate a text in a field that he
is not familiar with and is not good at, then the quality of the translation will be worrying, and the
translation process will be meaningless. If the translator can translate according to his own wishes,
trust his translated text, and believe that his translated text is valuable, then the translation process
must be positive and relaxed. Of course, choosing a trusted translation text should also pay attention
to the fact that the source language text is translatable. In today's market, articles are mixed, many
texts are to meet the market, conform to people's preferences, always read catchy, very happy, but
not really have literary significance, therefore, translators should pay attention to the translatability
of articles when choosing translated texts.
5.2. Aggression
Steiner believes that the second step of translation is aggression. Translators need to invade the
source language text and fully analyze the connotation, obscure culture-loaded words and complex
sentence patterns of the source language text in order to fully understand the surface meaning and
deep meaning of the original text, so as to carry out the next two steps of translation. The meaning
of invasion is similar to the process in which the translator divides the original text, makes
preparations, makes in-depth exploration of difficult words and sentences, and breaks them down
and reconstructs them. It is the second step of translation, able to gain insight into the general reader
can not gain insight, one step ahead of the reader. Insight is more comprehensive and thorough.
Readers and interpreters with subjective initiative need to invade the original text for interpretation
and translation. It is equivalent to the process of breaking down the original text and rebuilding it.
5.3. Incorporation
After the second non-intrusion, the translator will get the relevant words and sentences in
63
International Journal of Educational Curriculum Management and Research
different fields, and after a full understanding, it is necessary to translate them into the target
language. In the process of translation, some things will be close to the expression and usage of the
target language and will be retained, while some things cannot be communicated due to the lack of
cultural history and vocabulary habits between countries, so they need to be dealt with. Certain
translation strategies, such as foreignizing translation and domesticating translation, can be adopted
for selection. Decide whether this part should be retained or subsumed into expressions of the target
language[9]. In any case, in the process of incorporation, foreign words always influence the culture
of the target language. Foreignizing translation requires readers to properly select the language of
the source text, ensure the integrity of foreign culture as much as possible, and enable readers to
feel the charm of foreign words and experience different language customs, while domesticating
translation requires translators to convert obscure words into words and expressions that can be
understood by the target language readers and have similar meanings to the original text. No matter
which translation strategy is applied in the process of absorption, it requires the translator's ability
and the translator's inner mastery of the source language and the target language. Therefore, it is
necessary to constantly balance the source language and the target language and take care of both to
make the translation more colorful.
5.4. Restitution
After selecting the translated text in the first step, invading the original text for understanding in
the second step, and translating with appropriate translation strategies in the third step, the fourth
step comes to the stage of compensation. Compensation is the further improvement of the
translation after Incorporationing the third step. Because there are differences in meaning,
vocabulary, grammar, syntax and so on between the source language and the target language, it is
very important to Restitution and improve the translation after completing the whole translation. To
Restitution, we need to make use of our knowledge reserve to balance the original text and the
translated text with the missing images and features in the translated text.
6. Limitations of Steiner's Translation Theory
Steiner affirmed the subjectivity of the translator and the important role of the translator in
translation, but he only introduced the steps of translation in detail, and proposed that translation
means understanding, which is too broad, and each translator's understanding ability and cognitive
range are quite different. Therefore, when the original author and translator have conflicts, what
translation means should be adopted? There is no corresponding regulation on how much the
translator should grasp when creating. In addition, Steiner does not have a systematic translation
theory and an exploration of the basic problems of translation. Finally, among the four steps of
translation proposed by Steiner, the difference between the second step and the third step is not very
big, but can be carried out at the same time under certain circumstances. He did not put forward the
specific method of translation, and he could not guide the translator to carry out practical
operation[10].
7. Conclusion
Steiner enriches the connotation of translation, affirms the translator's subjectivity in translation,
and highlights the translator's central position in translation. The translator is both a reader and a
secondary creator, and innovatively puts forward the four steps of translation, namely trust,
aggression, incorporation and restitution, providing a new perspective for translation studies.
Although he did not propose a systematic translation method, he applied hermeneutic theory to
64
International Journal of Educational Curriculum Management and Research
translation, which broke the traditional translation and broadened the relevant fields of translation
research.
Funding
This article is not supported by any foundation.
Data Availability
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this
study.
Conflict of Interest
The author states that this article has no conflict of interest.
References
[1] Tan Zaixi. A Brief History of Western Translation. Beijing: The Commercial Press,
1991:266,267,265.
[2]Steiner,George.After Bable: Aspects of Language and Translation. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign
Language Education Press, 2001:49,31,416, 266,312, 314, 314-315.
[3] Deng Xiao. A Report on English-Chinese Translation Practice from the Perspective of George
Steiner's Four-Step Translation Theory . Southwestern university of Finance and Economics,
2019. DOI: 10.27412 /, dc nki. Gxncu. 2019.000190.
[4] Yao Qiaoqiao. The Explanatory Power of George Steiner's Interpretive Operation Theory on
Translation . Hefei University of Technology, 2012.
[5] Geng Qiang. Reflection on Hermeneutic Translation Studies . Journal of Sichuan University of
Foreign Languages, 2006 (2).
[6] Zheng Wenwen. Analysis on George Steiner's Understanding Is Interpreting' . Shanxi
Youth,2016,(15)
[7] Xu Yuli, Gao Cun. George steiner Explains . Journal of Operation Theory of Translator's
Subjectivity English Square, 2018 (3) : 46 and 47. DOI: 10.16723 / j.carol carroll nki yygc.
2018.03.020.
[8] Sun Fuguo, Yan Ming. The Translator's Subjectivity in George Steiner's Four-Step Theory of
Translation . Frontier Economy and Culture,2020(11):116-118.
[9] Yang Qiu-ling. A Study on Translator's Subjectivity Under Steiner's Hermeneutic Translation
Theory . Journal of Yichun University, 2012, (9):113-115.
[10] Lu Feng. Analysis on Steiner's Hermeneutic Translation Theory . Cultural and Educational
Materials,2011(5):32-33
65
