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Introduction. Between temples and templates

History’s claims on the translator
  • Probal Dasgupta
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The Translator as Mediator of Cultures
This chapter is in the book The Translator as Mediator of Cultures

Abstract

The present articulation of history’s claims on translation theory is built around four propositions: (a) The sacred temple, in the ancient first wave of the activity, set up one broadly identifiable type of translation enterprise; (b) The scientific template, in the modern second wave, associated itself with a second type; (c) These enterprises have a missionary element in common that should elicit resistance on our part; (d) The legacy of these missionary enterprises themselves can be recycled, in a swords-to-plowshares transformation, if we post-missionary translators agree to play these enterprises off against each other as we reconfigure the field. The present exposition elaborates these propositions in terms drawn from the substantivist research program in linguistics and cognitive science.

Abstract

The present articulation of history’s claims on translation theory is built around four propositions: (a) The sacred temple, in the ancient first wave of the activity, set up one broadly identifiable type of translation enterprise; (b) The scientific template, in the modern second wave, associated itself with a second type; (c) These enterprises have a missionary element in common that should elicit resistance on our part; (d) The legacy of these missionary enterprises themselves can be recycled, in a swords-to-plowshares transformation, if we post-missionary translators agree to play these enterprises off against each other as we reconfigure the field. The present exposition elaborates these propositions in terms drawn from the substantivist research program in linguistics and cognitive science.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Introduction. Between temples and templates 1
  5. Part 1. Translation and reconciliation
  6. 1. Translation as reconciliation 17
  7. 2. Interpreting at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) 37
  8. 3. Translating and interpreting sign language 53
  9. 4. Translators in a global community 73
  10. Part 2. Translation and negotiation
  11. 5. The treason of translation? 89
  12. 6. The poetics of experience 107
  13. Part 3. Translation and the interpretation of texts
  14. 7. Translation and the rediscovery of the multinational Central European 127
  15. 8. Transcriação / Transcreation 139
  16. 9. Expression and translation of philosophy 161
  17. 10. The semantics of invention 169
  18. Contributors 191
  19. Index 195
https://doi.org/10.1075/wlp.3.02int

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Introduction. Between temples and templates 1
  5. Part 1. Translation and reconciliation
  6. 1. Translation as reconciliation 17
  7. 2. Interpreting at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) 37
  8. 3. Translating and interpreting sign language 53
  9. 4. Translators in a global community 73
  10. Part 2. Translation and negotiation
  11. 5. The treason of translation? 89
  12. 6. The poetics of experience 107
  13. Part 3. Translation and the interpretation of texts
  14. 7. Translation and the rediscovery of the multinational Central European 127
  15. 8. Transcriação / Transcreation 139
  16. 9. Expression and translation of philosophy 161
  17. 10. The semantics of invention 169
  18. Contributors 191
  19. Index 195
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