Constructing a Sociology of Translation.pdf

Bridge concepts in translation sociology 173Four perspectives on translation studiesWhen the cultural turn arrived in the 1980’s (see e.g. Bassnett and Lefevere 1990),an opposition was set up between linguistic and cultural approaches. 1 Then camethe new cognitive paradigm, mainly in the 1990’s, looking at what went on inthe translator’s head via think-aloud protocols (see e.g. the special issue of AcrossLanguages and Cultures 3.1, 2002, and the annotated bibliography of Jääskeläinen2002.) This new interest was marked by a focus on aspects of the translation processrather than the product. But now we have a fourth perspective or level: thesocial one, also with a focus on processes. Translation studies is becoming increasinglyinterdisciplinary, and the risk is that it will also become increasinglyfragmented – unless we can build links between the fragments. My focus in whatfollows is not the historical development of these perspectives (see e.g. the referencescited), but their synchronic relations in contemporary research.The linguistic level focuses on texts, as linguistic data in written or oral form;it looks at the relations between translations, their source texts, parallel non-translatedtexts in the target language, and other translations. It is thus interested in conceptssuch as equivalence, naturalness and fluency, and in the possibility of findinguniversal or very general features of translations as texts of a distinctive kind.On the cultural level, the focus is on ideas (or memes, within a meme-pool;see Chesterman 1997), on the transfer of cultural elements between different repertoiresor polysystems. Central issues are questions of ideology, cultural identityand perception, values, relations between centre and periphery, power, and ethics.Research on the cognitive dimension is interested in the decision-makingprocesses in the translator’s mind, in the influence of such factors as the translator’semotions and attitudes, the amount of professional experience, the timeavailable, the routine or non-routine quality of the translation task. The focus ison the cognitive processing, which is inferred from observation. This is the sphereof the translation act (Toury 1995: 249).Sociological research includes such topics as the translation market, the roleplayed by the publishing industry and other patrons or agents, the social statusand roles of translators and the translator’s profession, translating as a social practice,and what Toury (1995: 249) has called the translation event. This can be definedas starting with the client’s request for a translation and ending with itsreception by other agents on various levels. Between these two points come manydifferent work phases involving interaction with both human and non-humanresources (see e.g. Mossop 2000, 2001). The sociological focus is thus mainly on1. This opposition was partly an artificial one: see e.g. Pym (1999), Tymoczko (2002).