TRANSLATION «ERROR»’S PARADOX

Abstract

The problem of assessing the quality of translation has been in the focus of scholars’ attention for the entire existence of the science of translation and even longer - since the very appearance of translated texts as such. Attention is commonly centred in the source and target texts comparison and discrepancies between them.In English-language translatology, the term «translation errors» dominates to denote these discrepancies, although another term, «translation mistakes», is also used. It is noticeable that there are at least three approaches for these terms to be applied. The largest group of researchers operates the term «translation errors» and refers to them as all differences between original and its translation, dividing them into more specific cases. The typology is based on various criteria, including the division by the causes of discrepancies, by the level of their impact on the perception of the target text by the reader from another culture, by linguistic parameters, by problems related to the understanding of the source text and the ability to reproduce the original in translation without loss. Another group of scholars uses both the terms «translation errors» and «translation mistakes», considering them different in terms of the discrepancies they denote. Finally, there is one more group of researchers who also use both terms but do not distinguish between them, using them interchangeably.In Ukrainian translatology only one term - «perekladats’ka pomylka» – is used. It corresponds to the first of the above-mentioned approaches, but also triggers certain complications arising from the fact that in Ukrainian «pomylka» denotes both deviation from the norm and its distortion. In English this nuance is often overcome thanks to the distinction between «error» and «mistake», but in Ukrainian translation criticism the presence of only one term can lead to incorrect or even offensive assessment of translators’ work, since not everything that is denoted by the term «pomylka» is actually an error.The article aims at raising the issue of using the term to denote discrepancies between the source and target texts. By analysing the interpretations of English and Ukrainian terms, describing the reasons for deviations, and explaining examples where the authors use the lexeme «pomylka» relating to the variants that are characterised by incomplete reproduction of the original content but do not distort it, the annotated work comes up with a discussion on possible clarification of both the term («perekladats’ka pomylka») and the approach to this part of translation studies in general.