The phases of the translation process: are they always three?

Abstract

In general, there is agreement among translation scholars (e.g. Mossop, 2000; Jakobsen, 2002; Englund Dimitrova, 2005) that the translation process is divided into three clear-cut phases, which Mossop (2000) terms as pre-drafting, drafting and post-drafting. In the first phase, the translator gets acquainted with the source text; in the second phase, a full version of the translation is created; and the third phase commences after the translator has produced a first full draft of the translation. This contribution discusses the findings of a recently completed doctoral study (Borg, 2016) which investigated in-depth the coming into being of a whole literary translation. The detailed case study provided a rich description of the evolution of the translation from first draft to publication and analysed thoroughly the different phases the translation went through. It was found that the translation process was composed of five phases and that every phase has a specific pace and particular functions. Thus, it was suggested that Phases 3-5 are phases in their own right and not sub-phases of the post-drafting phase. The findings indicated that the number of phases in the translation process and their length might vary among translators and that this might be linked to their process profile. The results therefore challenge the subdivision of the translation process into three fixed phases.