ABSTRACT
It has become clear from the first half of this course that different STs require different strategic priorities. In deciding which textual variables to prioritize, the translator has always to ask: what is the purpose of the ST, and what is the purpose of the TT? These questions imply two others: what kind of text is the ST, and what kind of text should the TT be? The texts we have used as examples and in practicals all illustrate the importance of these questions in deciding a strategy. At issue here is a fundamental consideration in translation: all texts are defined in terms of genre. By genre we mean what Hymes calls a ‘type of communicative event’ (quoted in Hervey 1992:199)—that is, a category to which, in a given culture, a given text is seen to belong and within which the text is seen to share a type of communicative purpose with other texts. In this definition, the term also covers the traditionally identified genres of literature. The term text-type is often used in a similar sense to ‘genre’. If there is a difference, it is at most one of nuance: there is perhaps a danger that ‘type’ has static connotations, which might lead students to overlook the element of purpose in the definable qualities of a text. We shall use ‘genre’, because the element of ‘event’ in its definition ensures that the definable qualities of a text are seen as dynamic, as together constituting an attempt to realize a communicative purpose.
