ABSTRACT
An approach to translation which styles itself as descriptive and empirical can be expected to address the methodology of describing actual translations. The model is strongly source-oriented and rather too rudimentary to provide more than a very crude indicator of the kind of options selected in individual translations. Van Leuven-Zwart’s model merits attention because it is the most explicit as well as the most extensive and detailed ever designed for the purposes of translation analysis. Its bottom-up procedure compares originals and translations on an equal footing by first identifying the common ground between them, without privileging either side. In this respect it differs from both Eugene Nida’s derivational approach and Gideon Toury’s Adequate Translation attempt. The German translation is said to be “very close to being adequate”, although its structural density is “somewhat poorer” than that of the original.
