science

Radical translation

Radical translation is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Radical translation rather than just read about it. In short: Radical translation is a thought experiment in Word and Object, a major philosophical work from American philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine. It is used as an introduction to his theory of the indeterminacy of translation, and specifically to prove the point of inscrutability of reference.

Key takeaways

Radical translation belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Radical translation to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Radical translation from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Radical translation is a thought experiment in Word and Object, a major philosophical work from American philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine. It is used as an introduction to his theory of the indeterminacy of translation, and specifically to prove the point of inscrutability of reference. Quine paints a setting where a linguist discovers a native linguistic community whose linguistic system is completely unrelated to any language familiar to the linguist. It's called "radical translation" because the language is radically (completely) unknown. Quine then describes the steps taken by the linguist while attempting to fully translate this unfamiliar language based on the only data available: the events happening around the linguist combined with the verbal and non-verbal behaviour of natives.

Direct translation As a first step, the linguist will use direct translation on occasion sentences. Hearing a lot of utterances of the one-word-sentence 'Gavagai' whenever the linguist sees rabbits, he suspects the one-word-sentence 'Rabbit' to be the correct translation and starts a process of questioning and pointing until he is reasonably certain that the native has the verbal disposition to assent to 'Gavagai' if seeing the stimulus, a rabbit. This stimulus is the affirmative stimulus meaning of 'Gavagai', and the linguist can conclude this is a correct translation.

Collateral information The translation of occasion sentences may be complicated through collateral information. A native, with full expertise of the local surroundings, may already assent to 'Gavagai' when not even seeing a rabbit, but is sufficiently satisfied to assent when spotting a specific rabbit-fly that only flies around rabbits. The linguist on the other hand has no such expertise, and will wonder why the hypothesis seems off. Collateral information can also create a difference of stimulus meaning between members of the same language community. To solve this issue, the linguist will determine intrasubjective stimulus synonymy, enabling the pairing of non-observational occasion sentences such as 'Bachelor' and 'Unmarried man'. While they may differ in stimulus meaning between various speakers, they are stimulus synonymous for the entire language community.

Stimulus analyticity It is also possible for the linguist to determine stimulus analytic sentences, to which the native will assent given any (or no) stimulus. Social analytic sentences are sentences that are stimulus analytic for the entire language community.

Words and grammar So far the linguist has taken the first steps in the creation of a translation manual. However, the linguist has no idea if the term 'gavagai' is actually synonymous to the term 'rabbit', as it is just as plausible to translate it as 'one second rabbit stage', 'undetached rabbit part', 'the spatial whole of all rabbits', or 'rabbithood'. To question these differences, the linguist now has to translate words and logical particles. Starting off with the easiest task, to translate logical connectives, the linguist formulates questions where by pairing logical connectives with occasion sentences and going through several rounds of writing down the assent or dissent to these questions from the natives to establish a translation. Any further translation of logical particles is however impossible, as translation of categorical statements (for example) relies on the translation of words, which in turn relies on the translation of categorical statements.

Inscrutability of reference

As it appears impossible to determine a unique correct translation of 'gavagai' caused by the limits of translation, the linguist can take any of the mentioned possibilities and have it correspond to the stimulus meaning through adaption of the logical connectives. This implies there is no matter of fact to which the word refers. An example is to take the sentence 'Gavagai xyz gavagai', of which the linguist assumes it translates to 'This rabbit is the same as this rabbit', and to which the native assents. Now, when 'gavagai' is taken as 'undetached rabbit part' and 'xyz' as 'is part of the same animal as', the sentence 'This undetached rabbit part is part of the same animal as this undetached rabbit part', to which the native would also assent. Both sentences have the same stimulus meaning and truth condition. It therefore is impossible to derive the (object of) reference of the term 'gavagai' from the verbal disposition of the native.

Analytical hypotheses So far the linguist has been able to (1) Translate observational sentences (2) Translate truth functions (3) Recognize stimulus analytic sentences (4) Recognize intrasubjective stimulus synonymous sentences. To go beyond the limits of translation by stimulus meaning, the linguist uses analytical hypotheses by equating parts of native sentences to parts of sentences in the linguist's own language. Using this, the linguist can now form new sentences and can create a complete translation manual by trial and error through the use of these sentences and adaption of the currently held analytical hypotheses where needed.

Indeterminacy of translation

The whole of analytical hypotheses cannot be evaluated as true or false, as they are predictions that can only be judged within their own system. As a result, all translation is fundamentally undetermined (and not just underdetermined). This indeterminacy is not meaningless, as it is possible to construct two separate translation manuals that are equally correct yet incompatible with each other due to having opposing truth values. A good translation is possible, but an objectively right translation of exact terms is impossible.

See also Indeterminacy of translation Word and Object W. V. O. Quine

References Fieser, James; Dowden, Bradley (eds.). "The Indeterminacy of Translation and Radical Interpretation". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. ISSN 2161-0002. OCLC 37741658.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Radical translation

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Radical translation claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Radical translation before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Radical translation ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Radical translation

In research: Radical translation appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Radical translation in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Radical translation is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Philosophy of language, Thought experiments in philosophy, Willard Van Orman Quine, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Radical translation outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Radical translation in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Radical translation means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Radical translation out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Radical translation in simple terms?

Why does Radical translation matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Radical translation?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Radical translation.