In this paper, an attempt is made to reconsider the fate and place of theories vis Ã vis the task of translating one language into another, in spite of their popularity in scholarly studies. The idea is to re-submit the central concept of theory to a refreshing review such that the implicit spirituality involved in the task of translating could be given its right place and the central role of cultural specificity and inter-territorial constraints could be properly highlighted. It will also permit us to accord the necessary prestige and honour to unpredictable intellectual upsurge usually described as â€žbrain waveâ€Ÿ noticeable with authors of translation and often difficult to plot within a theoretical graph. Using French, English and Yoruba as key references, the paper ends with the assertion that, very often, the product of translation does not allow a direct insight into a given theory of the authorâ€Ÿs final access to the product.
Key words: translation, theory, translator-critic, Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT), Source language (SL), Target Language (TL),