مغالطه روش برتر در ترجمه ادبي

The fallacy of the preferred method of literary translation

In the history of translation, the methods literary translators have used may be described by two very general terms "word-for-word" and "sense-for-sense" and the pendulum of the preferred method has been swinging back and forth in favor of now this and now that method. Those have claimed the superiority of one method over the other, have based their argument on criteria that are external to the practice of translation. These criteria fall into three broad cultural, linguistic and ethical categories. The writer argues that the definition of the preferred literary translation method is fallacious and tit is possible to define the method based on internal criteria, which are neither subjective nor prescriptive. Having presented a definition of literary translation based on objective criteria derived from the very practice of translation, the writer briefly describes the situation of literary translation in Iran as a case of fallacy.