Education
Theo Hermans studied English, German and Dutch at the University of Ghent, (Belgium) and then moved to the United Kingdom for a Master of Arts in Literary Translation.
(The notion of systems has helped revolutionize translatio...)
The notion of systems has helped revolutionize translation studies since the 1970s. As a key part of many descriptive approaches, it has broken with the prescriptive focus on what translation should be, encouraging researchers to ask what translation does in specific cultural settings. From his privileged position as a direct participant in these developments, Theo Hermans explains how contemporary descriptive approaches came about, what the basic ideas were, and how those ideas have evolved over time. His discussion addresses the fundamental problems of translation norms, equivalence, polysystems and social systems, covering not only the work of Levý, Holmes, Even-Zohar, Toury, Lefevere, Lambert, Van Leuven-Zwart, Dhulst and others, but also giving special attention to recent contributions derived from Pierre Bourdieu and Niklas Luhmann. An added focus on practical questions of how to investigate translation (problems of definition, description, assessment of readerships, etc.) makes this book essential reading for graduate students and indeed any researchers in the field. Hermans' account of descriptive translation studies is both informed and critical. At the same time, he demonstrates the strength of the basic concepts, which have shown considerable vitality in their evolution and adaptation to the debates of the present day.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1900650118/?tag=2022091-20
( The Conference of the Tongues offers a series of startl...)
The Conference of the Tongues offers a series of startling reflections on fundamental questions of translation. It throws new light on familiar problems and opens up some radically different avenues of thought. It engages with value conflicts in translation and the social accountability of translators, and turns the old issue of equivalence inside out. Drawing on a wealth of contemporary and historical examples, the book teases out the translator's subject-position in translations, makes notions of intertextuality and irony serviceable for translation studies, tries to think translation without transformation, and uses a controversial sociological model to cast a cold eye on the entire world of translating. This is a highly interdisciplinary study that remains aware of the importance of theoretical paradigms as it brings concepts from international law, social systems theory and even theology to bear on translation. Self-reference is a recurrent theme. The book invites us to read translations for what they can tell us about translating and about translators' own perceptions of their role. The argument throughout is for more self-reflexive translation studies.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1905763050/?tag=2022091-20
(The notion of systems has helped revolutionize translatio...)
The notion of systems has helped revolutionize translation studies since the 1970s. As a key part of many descriptive approaches, it has broken with the prescriptive focus on what translation should be, encouraging researchers to ask what translation does in specific cultural settings. From his privileged position as a direct participant in these developments, Theo Hermans explains how contemporary descriptive approaches came about, what the basic ideas were, and how those ideas have evolved over time. His discussion addresses the fundamental problems of translation norms, equivalence, polysystems and social systems, covering not only the work of Levý, Holmes, Even-Zohar, Toury, Lefevere, Lambert, Van Leuven-Zwart, Dhulst and others, but also giving special attention to recent contributions derived from Pierre Bourdieu and Niklas Luhmann. An added focus on practical questions of how to investigate translation (problems of definition, description, assessment of readerships, etc.) makes this book essential reading for graduate students and indeed any researchers in the field. Hermans' account of descriptive translation studies is both informed and critical. At the same time, he demonstrates the strength of the basic concepts, which have shown considerable vitality in their evolution and adaptation to the debates of the present day.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1138135895/?tag=2022091-20
(From the author of "The Structure of Modernist Poetry" an...)
From the author of "The Structure of Modernist Poetry" and "Dutch: The Language of 20 Million Dutch and Flemish People", this book provides a documentary history of the Flemish movement and the role it played as a social, intellectual and political force in Belgium. It recounts the struggle for the recognition of the language and cultural identity of the Flemish people, the Dutch speaking inhabitants of Belgium.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0485113686/?tag=2022091-20
Theo Hermans studied English, German and Dutch at the University of Ghent, (Belgium) and then moved to the United Kingdom for a Master of Arts in Literary Translation.
Theo Hermans is currently Professor of Dutch and Comparative Linguistics at University College London. Since October 2006 he holds the honorary post of Adjunct Professor at the Department of Translation at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also editor of the journal Dutch Crossing: Journal of Low Countries Studies.
As German was not offered at the time, he started his Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature at the University of Warwick.
In 1973, he departed for Algeria and taught English at the Department of Foreign Languages at the University of Algiers. Two years later he returned, completed his Doctor of Philosophy, and started to work at Bedford College.
In 1993, he started working at University College London. His first works concerned the history of translation in the Low Countries.
lieutenant was the first collection of scientific approaches to translation.
In recent years, he has focused on the translator"s presence in translated texts.
(From the author of "The Structure of Modernist Poetry" an...)
( The Conference of the Tongues offers a series of startl...)
(The notion of systems has helped revolutionize translatio...)
(The notion of systems has helped revolutionize translatio...)
However, his most influential work was The Manipulation of Literature, where he criticized the second-rate value assigned to translations in the hierarchy of literary texts and defended the progress of Translation Studies as a discipline in its own right.
He is a corresponding member of the Flemish Academy and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester’s Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies.