Among the problems of interest in linguistics, an important place is the study of linguistic features of active speech activity of a multilingual nature, called "translation". Translation theory often falls into the spotlight of linguists.
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of translation, which since its inception began to fulfill an important social function, creating the conditions for inter-lingual communication between people. It arose in ancient times, when associations of people speaking different languages were formed in the history of civilization. Immediately there were people who owned two of them and helped communicate with other people from these associations. As such, a general theory of translation did not yet exist, but each specialist in this field had his own approach.
After mankind invented writing, specialists in the translation of official, religious and business texts joined the group of “interpreters”, interpreters.
Translations gave people the opportunity to join the cultural heritage of other nations. National literature, science and culture have gained ample opportunity for interaction and mutual enrichment. Knowledge of foreign languages makes it possible to read scripts. However, not everyone can master even one foreign language.
The first translation theory was created by the translators themselves, who sought to generalize their own experience, and often the experience of their colleagues in the workshop. Of course, the most remarkable translators of their time told the world about their strategy, although often their conceptual calculations did not correspond to the modern principles of science, so they could not form a consistent abstract concept. But nevertheless, the theory of translation still retains interest in the considerations expressed by them.
Even in antiquity, a discussion arose between translators about the correspondence of the translation to the original. Making the very first translations of sacred books, including the Bible, most specialists sought to literally copy the originals, which made the translation unclear, and sometimes completely incomprehensible. Therefore, the attempts of some translators to justify the theoretically greater freedom of the translated text from the original, the need to translate not literally, but the meaning, sometimes even just the impression or charm of a foreign text, look completely reasonable.
Even their early statements regarding the goals of the translator speak of the beginning of discussions, which today, in our time, are concerned about the theory and practice of translation.
Two types of translations, alternating, all the time replace each other in the process of cultural development. One group of experts believes that the translation should meet the characteristics and habits of native speakers, while the other group, on the contrary, advocates the preservation of the linguistic system of the original, even forcibly adapting the native language to it. In the first case, the translation is called free, in the second - literal.
Just as during verbal communication, texts for those who speak and for those who listen are considered equivalent, so the translated text is considered equivalent to the translated.
Literary translation, the theory and practice of which differs from the translation of texts of a scientific or technical nature, has its own specifics. The function of the language of fiction is the emotional impact it has on the reader.
Acquainted with foreign literature, all readers of the world owe a literary translation, one of the most complex, which requires the translator to be resourceful, get used to the text, the acuity of all the senses, creative expression, not obscuring the originality of the author.