Nord outlines two types of translation: documentary and instrumental. Documentary translation serves to document a source culture communication, while instrumental translation serves as an independent message in the target culture. Nord also highlights three important aspects of translation-oriented text analysis: 1) Considering the translation commission/brief, 2) Analyzing the source text, and 3) Prioritizing translation problems based on a functional hierarchy. This includes deciding the intended function, required adaptations, and translation style before addressing lower-level linguistic problems.

1. OUR Presentation

3. Translation-
oriented text
analysis
Christiane Nord
Translation-oriented text analysis
Two basic types
of translation
product
DOCUMENTARY TRANSLATION
It ‘serves as a document
of a source culture
communication between
the author and the
source text (ST)
recipient’

4. Translation-oriented text analysis Translation-oriented text analysis
e.g., literary translation,
word-for-word or literal
translations (business
contracts, certificates)
‘foreignizing’ or
‘exoticizing’ translations,
etc.INSTRUMENTAL TRANSLATION
It ‘serves as an
independent message-
transmitting instrument in
a new communicative
action in the target culture,
and is intended to fulfil its
communicative-
purpose without the
recipient being conscious
of reading or hearing a text
which, in a different form,
was used before in a
different communicative
situation.’
e.g., ‘function-preserving
translations’ (software
manual) or ‘function-
changing translations’
(translation of Swift’s
Gulliver’s Travels for

5. Translation-oriented text analysis Translation-oriented text analysis
Nord highlights 3
important aspects:
1. the importance of
the translation
commission (or
‘translation brief’)
(cf. Holz-Mänttäri,
Vermeer)
2. the importance of
text analysis
3. the functional
hierarchy or
translation problems
1. The translation
commission
The translator (T) must
always keep in mind the
client’s
request/guidelines etc. T
must compare the ST and
TT profiles as defined in
the commission and see
where they may be
different.

6. Translation-oriented text analysis Translation-oriented text analysis
The translation
commission should
specify (for both ST and
TT) (these factors are
external in relation to the
text)
 Intended text functions
 Sender
 Recipient
 Time and place of text
reception
 Medium (oral / written)
 Motive (why the ST was
written and why it is
being translated)
2. TEXT ANALYSIS
Nord’s list of intratextual
factors is a possible
model for analysing the
ST.
 Subject matter (tema)
 Content (conteúdo)
 Presuppositions
(pressupostos): real-
world factors of the
communicative
situation presumed to
be known to the
participants

7. Translation-oriented text analysis Translation-oriented text analysis
 Composition
(estrutura)
 Non-verbal elements
(illustrations, italics)
(aspectos não-verbais)
 Lexic (incl. register,
specific terminology)
(léxico)
 Sentence structure
(sintaxe)
3. The functional
hierarchy of
translation problems
1. Decide intended
function of
translation
(documentary or
instrumental)
2. Determine elements
that will need to be
adapted to the TT
addressee’s situation
(after analysis of
trans.commission)

8. Translation-oriented text analysis
The End
3. Decide translation
style (SC or TC
oriented) based on
translation type
4. Deal with problems
presented by text at
lower linguistic level
(as in ST analysis)