On Hermeneutic Concepts and Models in Translation Studies

O. M. Safarov

Tashkent State University of Uzbek Language and Literature named after Alisher Navoi, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Keywords:

Hermeneutic Translation Concept, Models of Hermeneutic Translation, Problem of Understanding,

Philosophical Hermeneutics, Categories of Hermeneutic Translation, Principles of Hermeneutic Translation.

Abstract: In this article the issues of hermeneutical translation are discussed, based on the selected concepts of German

scholars Fritz Paepcke and Radegundis Stolze on hermeneutic translation, as well as models of hermeneutic

translation Russian scholars A.N. Kryukov, A.V. Mashenina and E. N. Mishkurov. The author of the work

points out the mistakes and shortcomings of these works, while presenting his own concept of hermeneutic

Translation, based on the hermeneutic doctrine of Friedrich Schleiermacher and his article on translation,

entitled "On the different methods of translation" (1813).

1 INTRODUCTION

It is known that in the second half of the 20

century,

extensive work has been conducted on the study of

translation. Consequently, theories such as fiction

translation theory, Bible translation theory, special

texts translation theory, natural correspondences

theory, equivalence levels theory, realistic translation

theory, applied translation theory, functional

translation theory, Scopus translation theory and

various models and concepts (relative, functional,

hermeneutic, cognitive, etc.) have been developed.

However, not only the general public, but also

researchers and scientists working in the field of

translation science lack sufficient knowledge about

these theories. Moreover, those who carried out their

activities in this area, either to a certain extent

imitated the mutual work, or were not aware of the

works on their own topics. A prime example of this

would be works on hermeneutic translation.

And familiarizing oneself with such works and

understanding their essence, is of great importance

not only from the point of view of the science of

translation, but from the point of view of any

philological science.

The purpose of this work is to reveal the essence of

hermeneutic translation works carried out in

Germany, Russia and Uzbekistan by analyzing their

main features.

Corresponding author

The novelty of the work can be explained by the fact

that the issues of the topic have not been studied in

such a broad aspect.

The use of hermeneutics in various disciplines has

really increased worldwide especially in the last

decades. From this point of view the following

statement of the Uzbek literary scientist A.Rasulov

should be noted:

"In Uzbek literary science of the last 10-15 years the

interest to the questions of hermeneutics increases.

The young scientists A. Erkinov, B. Karimov try to

carry it out by their contributions into the scientific

handling, D. Quronov has carried out his

investigation "Chulpan's poetics" relying on the

possibilities of hermeneutics" [Paepcke, Fritz

(1986):13].

Another literary scholar A. Erkinov in his work

characterizes the essence of hermeneutics as follows:

"The science of hermeneutics is based on the different

ways of looking at things. In my opinion, these

differences and contrasts of thoughts testify to the

striving of human consciousness for perfection. ...

Consequently, of course, a text can be interpreted in

different ways. And this calls for democracy in

science" [Stolze, R. (1992):74].

The number of such works both in Uzbekistan and

worldwide has significantly increased in recent

decades. However, not all of them yield beneficial

results because a majority of scientists worldwide

attempt to apply philosophical hermeneutics to their

246

Safarov, O.

On Hermeneutic Concepts and Models in Translation Studies.

DOI: 10.5220/0012483800003792

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR 2023), pages 246-248

ISBN: 978-989-758-687-3

specialisations without having sufficient knowledge

and experience about it.

2 EXPERIMENTAL PART

The comparative-historical, descriptive, and

hermeneutical methods were used in this paper. The

comparative method is one of the most important

methods for achieving scientific truth. However, it

happens in many cases directly related to the

historical method, which is not possible to deny.

While the descriptive method was widely used in

revealing the essence of the issues concerning the

topic, the hermeneutical method played an important

role in the linguistic and extra-linguistic analysis of

the works carried out on hermeneutical translation.

Friedrich Schleiemacher (1768-1834) was one of the

first to argue that philosophical hermeneutics is a

philological discipline and that, as such, it can be the

methodological basis for all work on the various

sciences. Later also Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911)

gave us:

“Ҳans Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) esa,

ҳermeneutikaga tegli ikki bobli kitobini "Wahrheit

und Methode" (Ҳaqiqat wa usul) deb atagani ehtiborg

loyik. In the twentieth asrd, Germany's ҳhermeneutics

tardim bujicha bajarilgan ditlabki ish ҳam einan

Gadamerning falsafi ҳhermeneutics oid islari bilan

bevosita bolik bulgani ҳam eitiborga loyiqi”.

The title of Hans Georg Gadamer's (1900-2002) two-

volume book on hermeneutics, “Wahrheit und

Methode”, is also noteworthy. And many works on

hermeneutic translation are influenced by Gadamer's

hermeneutic teachings.

3 RESULTS

Fritz Paepcke (1916-1990), a teacher of French at the

Institut für Übersetzen und Dolmetschen (IÜD) of the

University of Heidelberg, published his article

"Understanding and Translation" in 1968,

"Translation as Hermeneutic Project" in 1978 and

"Translation as Hermeneutics" in 1979.

In 1981, he co-published the book "Understanding

Text and Translation" with Philippe Forget and Julius

Groos. After that he continued his work in Budapest.

In 1986 Paepcke's pupils, Klaus Berger and Hans

Michael Speyer, published his articles as a collection

through the Tütingen publisher Gunter Narr.

In one of the articles that went into it, Paepcke writes,

"To live in translation is to keep the connection

between theory and practice alive. [Seiffert, Helmut

(1992):56], and at the same time expresses in a

peculiar way the statement of Gadamer noted in the

part about translation of Gadamer's Truth and

Method, where it is said that he who carries out his

activity in a certain language must live in that same

language.

The collection also includes an article by Paepcke,

written on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of

Gadamer's birthday. In it he notes that he considers

the philosopher to be his teacher.

The expression of hermeneutic translation in

categories can also be found in the works of Gadamer.

And Paepcke proposes the following categories as

such:

"Understanding and Translating. Rhetoric and

Hermeneutics. Rule and play. Identity and

difference. Idiomaticity and norm. Causality and

intuition. Oversupply and undersupply. Language

and gravitation. Dealing with the other"[ Seiffert,

Helmut (1992):37].

A little later, Radegundis Stolze, who conducted a

study on this topic, denied almost all of these

categories by F. Paepcke and came to the opinion that

the categories of perception (Rezeption) and

reproduction (Produktion) should be used in the

hermeneutic translation.

According to her, the categories of

Rezeption are THEMATIK (thematics),

SEMANTIK (semantics), LEXIK (vocabulary), the

categories of Produktion are PRAGMATIK

(pragmatics) and STILISTIK (stylistics) [4:269-

270].

But later, when these works are carefully studied, it

ecomes clear that they have no serious scientific

basis.

At the same time in that work called "Questions of

hermeneutic translation and scopos (target) theory in

German translation studies" (1999) based on the

hermeneutic teachings of F. Schleiermacher and his

article "On the different methods of translation"

(1813), a concept of hermeneutic translation

consisting of the following seven principles is

roposed:

1. Perfect proficiency in two languages.

2. Knowledge of encyclopedic basics of translation.

3. Use of dictionaries and other sources.

4. Solving individual problems through inquiry.

5. Adherence to logical connection.

6. Creativity in the activity.

7. Feeling a sense of responsibility [5:58-101].

On Hermeneutic Concepts and Models in Translation Studies

247

This concept does not negate the linguistic theory of

translation, which is designed to "consciously

establish relationships between the source language

and the target language. [6:12].

From the above it is not difficult to understand that

the issues of hermeneutic translation are interpreted

differently in different sources. Determining the

scientific validity of any of these interpretations, is

possible only as a result of their in-depth discussion.

4 DISCUSSION

One of the works related to the topic is the four-stage

model of hermeneutic translation by A.N. Kryukov.

In this, he draws attention to the problem of

understanding in translation and writes that "the basis

of the linguistic theory is a substitutive-

transformational type of ontology, i.e. the idea of

translation as a transformation of the source text.

Solving the problem of understanding in translation

requires adopting a different picture of the world, or

new ontological conceptions of translation. And this,

in essence, means no longer an extensive

development of the old theory of translation, but the

creation of a new one. [7:71].

L.Nelyubin characterizes Kryukov's work as follows:

"In A.N. Kryukov's hermeneutic model, translation is

subject to the law of understanding: translation begins

with understanding and ends with it." [8:38].

In 2013 A.V. Mashenina defends her PhD thesis "The

concept of translation in philosophical hermeneutics

of Gadamer and deconstructivist philosophy of

Derrida" in Omsk.

She believes that the model of hermeneutic

translation should consist of the following: pre-

understanding, hermeneutic circle, dialogicality,

principal incompleteness, orientation on the

achievement of truth.

In the same year E. N. Mishkurov publishes his article

"On the Hermeneutic Turn" in the modern theory and

methodology of translation in the third issue of the

journal Vestnik of Moscow University.

And in his monograph "Hermeneutics of Translation

(Theoretical and Methodological Standard)" (2018)

he proposes a four-stage model of hermeneutic

translation consisting of pre-understanding,

understanding, interpretation and translation

decision.

5 CONCLUSION

From all of the above, we can conclude that both the

concepts of German scholars on hermeneutic

translation and the corresponding models of Russian

researchers and scholars have no solid scientific

foundation. This is because they are all developed

with insufficient understanding of the very essence of

philosophical hermeneutics. From this point of view,

the following statement by H.Seiffert should be

noted:

"Philosophical hermeneutics cannot be the most

important subject of our book for the following

reason: philosophical hermeneutics deals with

hermeneutics as good as always only abstractly.

Concrete examples are seldom given to show how

hermeneutics actually works. In the philosophical

literature, hermeneutics often remains something

high, lofty, which is not further concretized" [9:42].

And the peculiarities of hermeneutic translation lie in

the hermeneutic teachings of F. Schleiermacher and

his own article "On the different methods of

translation".

This article by F. Schleiermacher, consisting of 32

pages in a collection of article on translation "Das

Problem des Übersetzens" (H.Störig, 1973) is also of

great value from a historical point of view.

It is therefore worthwhile to study it precisely from a

historical point of view. And all superficial studies of

both Schleiermacher's hermeneutics and his

invaluable article on translation have only done great

damage to both philosophy and the science of

translation. A vivid example of this can be A.

Fedorov's negative statement about the peculiarities

of F. Schlaermacher's article [10:26] on translation.

REFERENCES

Paepcke, Fritz (1986) Im Übersetzen leben – Übersetzen

und Textvergleich.

Stolze, R. (1992). Hermeneutisches Übersetzen:

Linguistische Kategorien des Verstehens und

Formulierens beim Übersetzen.

Seiffert, Helmut (1992) Einführung in die Hermeneutik.

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