Re-modeling quality: A comparison of implicit values revealed by translation metaphors

Mental models of translation, and the underlying conceptual metaphors used to build them (Lakoff and Johnson 2003, Kovecses 2010), drive how we problematize the translation task and the values we prioritize as we assess quality. The problems the twentieth century Bible translation movement identified and addressed typically flowed from understanding translation as a scientific endeavor, as did metrics for achieving something valuable, a quality product. These metrics continue to influence the movement today.

However, this TRANSLATION is A SCIENCE model is not the only way of understanding what translation is, or what a valuable translation achieves. A greater understanding of the values that shape alternative models will help teammates coming from the science orientation navigate tensions that arise when competing values are exposed. With a better understanding of differences at the conceptual level, participants in the movement will be better prepared to give constructive feedback when a team’s reliance on an alternative mental model leads to differing ideas about what quality translations accomplish.

This paper will describe and analyze the TRANSLATION is A SCIENCE model, so that those who depend on it have more awareness of the assumptions they are bringing to the translation task. Then we will describe and analyze examples from five other models of translation: TRANSLATION is AN ART, TRANSLATION is A CRAFT, TRANSLATION is A DIALOGUE, TRANSLATION is A JOURNEY and TRANSLATION is A MISSION. Comparing and contrasting these other models with the TRANSLATION is A SCIENCE model will highlight the possible points of tension when it comes to assessments of quality.