An analytical study of Schleiermacher’s essay "on the different methods of translating

Abstract EN

Friedrich Schleiermacher’s 1813 essay On the Different Methods of Translating is repeatedly reread by many translation scholars.

In that essay, Schleiermacher introduces his translation theory and his methods of moving the author towards the reader or moving the TT reader towards the author.

Schleiermacher is credited as the founder of this translation method though he is not the first one to discuss it; he presents it with ample elaboration, and his essay is seen as one of the longest letters written at that time.

The purpose of this paper is to analysing On the Different Methods of Translating, showing how Schleiermacher approached his theory, how that theory affects modern translation theory, the criteria he introduces to follow his preferred method, his hermeneutical view of translation, and how some of Schleiermacher’s ideas are bent to suit certain modern contexts.

Other conclusions bring to light unrevealed ideas of Schleiermacher such as his instructions to translators to handle the difficulties in certain text types, and his clarification of the two types of comprehension which translators have to choose to render.