Toury's Concept of Translation Norms

Toury rightly pointed out that from the target language perspective, the issue of equivalence in translation is a matter with direct practical implications. It cannot be denied that the translated text is considered to be the representative entity of the source language text. Rejecting all theories which gave primacy to the source language work, Toury focused on the actual relationships between the source text and the translation (or “factual replacement” as he terms it). He did not discredit the linguistic and literary elements that go into the making of a translation, but he introduced a set of new features. As Gentzler puts it: “The eventual goal of Toury's theory was to establish a hierarchy of interrelated factors (constraints) that determine (govern) the translation product. In short, Toury demanded that translation theory include cultural-historical “facts”, a set of laws that he calls “translation norms” (Gentzler 127). In the inclusion of cultural-historical elements, he is close to Even-Zohar, but he went further than that.

His essay “The Nature and Role of Norms in Literary Translation” explains his concept very clearly. According to this there will be a set of multiple norms in any society at a particular period in time. These norms might be in conflict with each other, but a methodical study over a period of time can reveal a specific pattern underneath the seemingly disjointed set of norms. In translation, this means that different translations of the same text in different time periods in the same culture would indicate the prevalent norms.