Translation and Power: Manipulation School, Tymockzco, Gentzler Romina Ghorbanlou

Translation and Power: Manipulation School, Tymockzco, Gentzler
Romina Ghorbanlou
In translation studies there are three important schools: The Manipulation School, the Leipzig School, and the
Nitra School. In the Leipzig School, the emphasis is mainly on the linguistic aspect of translation, the original
text and equivalence, which is exactly the opposite of the Manipulation School. In the case of the Nitra school,
literal translation has the most importance and it also pays attention to the text itself. In the manipulation
school, on the other hand, the focus is on the target text and it mainly considers functionalist, formalist and
descriptive translation studies. In this school, the translator does not have to write the target text exactly like
the original, and some changes and omissions may occur due to a certain goal, and the translators try to
achieve this goal so that the reader of the target text can understand some points, so it is basically related to
the functionalist approach. This partiality of translation makes the act of translation partial, in other words,
the translator is also seen as partial. Manipulation comes from the background of comparative studies, and it
assigns functions to translations, and it is under the power of the ideology of the target culture. André
Lefevere believes that translation is rewriting, and Hermans agrees with this idea, but sees translation as
rewriting in the service of power, and this rewriting is done on the basis of the norms of society. Hermans
claims that all translations are manipulations. Translation is seen as secondary to the source text, and he
blames the translator for this because he has an important role in the linguistic aspect and form of translation.
Hermans also talks about the polysystem theory how translation is marginal only in some exceptional
situations and so translation gets a secondary status and value. But in the case of manipulation, translation is
an important tool of literature that can create a new source or genre. So in the polysystem view, translation is
power and will be at the center of the polysystem. He also talks about descriptive, goal-oriented, boundaries
and norms of translation that make it grow rapidly. Bassnet and Lefevere see translation as a tool for
exercising power in societies, translators try to learn this as well as learn how to influence their readers.
Gentzler asks the question: why power? He claims that if we look at the meaning of the word power, besides
its meaning in physics, it means the ability to influence and control. Since the middle of the 19th century, after
the world war, some changes were applied to cultural and civic issues that caused cultural control.
Manipulation had a great impact on cultures and societies that cannot be overlooked. At the end of the 20th
century, there were some movements such as post-structuralism, post-colonialism, etc., which brought about
a cultural turn in translation, as a result of which new books and journals were published on the subject.
Parallel to this cultural turn, scholars from different fields and subjects studied translation and its effects,
scholars such as Homi Bhabha (talks about translation culture) and Gayatri Spivak (studies translation from the
feminine and political point of view). The agency of the translator is an important aspect of the cultural turn.
The literature of postcolonialism and the thinking of poststructuralism lead to agency in the following aspects:
cultural dominance, cultural assertion, and cultural resistance. It should be mentioned that studies in this field
have proved that translation does not need knowledge before it is started, and knowledge is acquired after
translation, so translation does not always help the one in power, cultural dominance, but it can be helpful for
the oppressed. Translators have a mediating position, they are neither on the side of power, nor on the side of
oppression. The process of translation is heterogeneous because there is more than one way to use it for
power. It is not only the translated parts of the texts that have meaning, but also the removed or deleted
parts.

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