Translations and Quality

This book deals with translation quality assessment. In the main contribution, Hans G. Honig gives an outline of a functionalist approach to translation, for which the purpose of the target text is the most important criterion. Honig argues for self-confident translators whose decisive qualification is their knowledge of what texts are used for and how they achieve their effects. Various examples from real translations illustrate the arguments of a functionalist approach. Consequences for translator training are then discussed, with Honig differentiating between diagnosis and therapy. Different approaches to translation lead to different concepts of translation quality. This is obvious both in the debate and in the replies by Gunilla Anderman and Margaret Rogers, Peter Bush, Kirsten Malmkjr, Peter Newmark, and Mark Shuttleworth, who take a more or less critical stance towards a functionalist approach.