Original title: The Name and Nature of Translator Studies
Translation StudiesThe field that examines translation and the people, texts, and processes involved in it. has often focused on translated texts. This article points to newer work that studies translators themselves. It groups that work under the name “Translator Studies,” including research on translators’ social worlds, cultural roles, histories, and decision-making. Together, these approaches examine how translators act and make choices.
Imagine packing a bag for a trip. Looking only at the packed bag tells you what is inside, but not who chose each item or why. In this paper, the bag stands for a translation, while the choices and circumstances of the person packing it stand for the translator’s work and agency.
Readers often meet a translation without seeing the choices behind it. Studying translators makes those choices, and the social and cultural forces around them, part of what researchers examine.
The abstract gives a broad outline rather than detailed definitions or evidence for each research tendency. It does not specify how Translator Studies should be divided, how it would change Holmes’ map in detail, or what findings individual studies have produced.
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The Name and Nature of Translator Studies — Andrew Chesterman — HERMES - Journal of Language and Communication in Business — doi:10.7146/hjlcb.v22i42.96844
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.