Possibility and Necessity in Translation

This book attempts to clarify the concepts of possibility and necessity in translation. It tries to use most of the previous contributions in translation studies which have used different terminologies to refer to the binary nature of the translation strategy. In this book, it is argued that to select the most appropriate translation method, the translator must first determine cases of possibility and necessity. Possibility means that the translator can use a source language-oriented strategy in which he keeps the same selection of the lexical items used by the original author. Necessity means that the translator cannot use a source language-oriented strategy for different reasons, and therefore, there will be a necessity for using a target language-oriented strategy. The selection of a translation strategy is intricately tied to the concepts of possibility and necessity, which guide translators in deciding how best to convey meaning from the source language to the target language.