ABSTRACT
If the challenge of translation is not to replicate a ST in the TL but rather to reduce translation loss, the immediate problem that arises after the general cultural issues have been assessed is that of the ST’s objectively ostensible formal properties. There are, doubtless, insurmountable problems in establishing objectively what the ostensible properties of a text are, but it can at least be said that whatever effects, meanings and reactions are triggered by a text must originate from features concretely present in it. It is, therefore, necessary for the translator to look at the text as a linguistic object.
