Translating philosophical texts: A case study of Charles Taylor’s Modern Social Imaginaries in English-Polish translation
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RIS BIB ENDNOTEPublication date: 14.11.2025
Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, 2025, Volume 142, Issue 4, pp. 203-213
https://doi.org/10.4467/20834624SL.25.012.22378Authors
Translating philosophical texts: A case study of Charles Taylor’s Modern Social Imaginaries in English-Polish translation
The paper examines the challenges inherent in translating philosophical discourse, arguing that while specialist knowledge is important, a strong command of both source and target languages, along with an understanding of contrastive grammar and basic translation rules, is equally crucial. The study, preceded by a short overview of relationships between philosophy and translation, analyzes selected translation errors in Nowoczesne imaginaria społeczne – the Polish version of Charles Taylor’s Modern social imaginaries. It demonstrates that these errors likely stem from a lack of understanding of the original’s syntactical and lexical intricacies, rather than a misinterpretation of Taylor’s philosophical ideas. The analysis highlights such errors as mishandled anaphoric references, incorrect case government, inappropriate word order resulting from interference, and problematic lexical and terminological choices. The paper concludes that successful translation of philosophical texts requires not only solid philosophical knowledge but also thorough linguistic preparation, including detailed knowledge of contrastive grammar and familiarity with translation principles. It emphasizes the need for future training of philosophical translators to focus on developing these linguistic skills, underscoring that subject expertise alone is insufficient without mastery of both source and target languages. The study also stresses the importance of proper editorial oversight and verification in specialist translation.
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Information: Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, 2025, Volume 142, Issue 4, pp. 203-213
Article type: Original scientific article
Published at: 14.11.2025
Article status: Open
Licence: CC BY 4.0
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EnglishView count: 458
Number of downloads: 535
