Abstract
Translation may appear to be a straightforward matter of rendering the meaning of a message in a different language from the one it was originally produced in, but in actual fact it is a highly complex type of human communication which involves a considerable number of linguistic and extralinguistic variables. Both common-sense and prescriptive accounts have shown their limitations and contradictions; so too have single tier models, some of which are the result of studies from within a discipline that is somehow related to one or more aspects of translation but not to all. Indeed there are quite a few dimensions to translation and an almost openended number of variables. The various dimensions include linguistic and semiotic variables, sociocultural practices and beliefs, historical contexts, stylistic standards and publishing policies, technological means and know how, educational policies and institutions, the cognitive and psychological dimensions of individual translators and their readers, and the working conditions imposed by their clients or employers. Awareness of such a large number of variables has become a fundamental ingredient of Translation Studies, and a particularly relevant concept in research aimed at improving our understanding of translator competence and the social dimension of translation, including the role and image of translators in society. This has become possible largely due to a theoretical shift away from producing prescriptive guidelines — for practitioners and critics to follow — in an endeavour to establish translation as the object of an empirical science related to the human and social sciences.
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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Zabalbeascoa, P. (1997). Language Awareness and Translation. In: Van Lier, L., Corson, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Encyclopedia of Language and Education, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4533-6_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4533-6_12
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