Book review. Übersetzungswissenschaftliches Propädeutikum Tübingen-Basel: Francke, 1994. 190 pp. ISBN 3-8252-1782-5 DM 26,80 (UTB für Wissenschaft, 1782).
Table of contents
I would expect an introduction to the science of translation (my translation of the title) to offer an overview of various approaches and methods established in translation theory and didactics. It seems that Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast refutes most of these as "unscientific" as is apparent in Part One of her book: Übersetzungswissenschaft heute: Schwierigkeiten und Annaherungen, which gives an anecdotal summary of some statements on translation and then quickly goes on to define the author's view of what she thinks are necessary preconditions for a scientific approach. With the exception of Reiß's Texttyp und Übersetzungsmethode, first published in 1976(!), there is no discussion of other approaches (Wilss, Vermeer, Holz-Månttari—the last one not even mentioned in the bibliography), probably because, in Gerzymisch- Arbogast's view, they fail to define clear and applicable evaluation criteria (cf. p. 18).