Multimodal Translation: Is Translation only Verbal?

Abstract

This chapter is based on the Multimodal theory of translation. Although the practice of translation is long-established, the study developed into an academic discipline much later as of the second half of the twentieth century. Before that translation had normally been the element of language learning which was dominated by the Grammar translation method centered on the role study of the grammatical rules and structures of foreign language. The Romantic approach of originality of work has always denied the study of translation as a discipline. The original character of the text has tampered with when it is translated. The idea of Mimesis given by Plato and Aristotle stating all arts as imitative clearly would deny the systematic study of translation. Translation was considered a part of comparative literature but it gained recognition as a separate discipline of study only after the mid-twentieth century along with the emergence of various other disciplines like cultural studies, gender studies, postcolonial studies etc. Since translation studies emerged as an academic discipline, there have been questions about the equivalence of translation from one language to another. But there are also instances in which translation according to the culture is said to be an art in itself. Looking from another perspective, translation from one text to another is entirely dependent on the semantic side of the text which is why a broader study of translation studies can be done in the form of Multi-modality of translation or Inter-medial translation. This inter-medial translation may include the source text in any art form such as films, adaptation, music, dance, sculptures, dubbing, subtitles, paintings and many more. This chapter would focus briefly on translation studies as a discipline in itself, the issues of equivalence and untranslatability and challenge these issues in the form of studying and analyzing various modes in translation.