Tr

ansl
ati
onSt
udi
es
Def
ini
ti
onofTr
ansl
ati
onSt
udi
es
Tr anslati
onSt udiesist hef ieldofst udythatdeal swiththet heory,
descr i
ption,and
appl i
cationoft ranslation.Becausei texami nestranslat
ionnotonl yasi nterli
ngual
transferbutal soasi ntercultural communi cati
on, i
tcanal sobedescr ibedasan
i
nt erdiscipl
inewhi cht ouchesonot herdiversefieldsofknowl edge,including
compar ativ
el i
terature,cultural studies,genderst udies,comput erscience, hi
story
,
l
ingui sti
cs,philosophy , r
hetor i
c, andsemi oti
cs.Tr ansl
ationStudiesisof t
enpai redwi
th
Interpreti
ng, al
thought het woar edi sti
nctfiel
ds.
Hi
stor
yofTr
ansl
ati
onSt
udi
es
Althought ransl
atorsfrom theRomanshav ehadmucht osayaboutthetheoryand
practiceoft r
ansl
at i
on,itwasnotunt il
thet went
iet
hcenturyt
hatTranslat
ionStudi
es
emer gedasaf ormal academicdiscipl
ine.JamesSHol mes’1972landmar kpaper
entit
led TheNameandNat ur
eofTr anslat
ionStudi
es 
wast hefoundati
onalstat
ementof
Transl at
ionStudies:i
tcalledfort
hecr eati
onofadi st
inctdi
sci
pli
newi t
hitsownsy st
em
ofclassificat
ion.
Thet erm tr
anslationst udi
es wascoi nedbyt heAmst erdam-basedAmer ican
schol ar 
JamesS.Hol mes  i
nhi spaper" Thenameandnat ureoft ranslation
studi es",
 
whi chisconsi deredaf oundat i
onal statementforthedi sci pl
ine.InEnglish,
wr itersoccasionallyuset het erm  t
ranslatology (andl
esscommonl y t
raductology)to
ref ertotranslati
onst udies,andt hecor r
espondi ngFrenchtermf ort hediscipl
inei s
usual ly 
tr
aduct ol
ogi e (asint he Sociét éFrançaisedeTr aductologie) .I
nt heUni t
ed
Stat estherei sapr eferencef orthet erm Translat i
onandInterpretingSt udies 
(asi n
the  AmericanTr anslat i
onandI nterpr eti
ngSt udiesAssociat
ion) ,althoughEur opean
tradi t
ionincl
udesi nt erpreti
ngwi thi
nt ranslati
onst udi
es(asi nthe Eur opeanSoci etyfor
Tr anslati
onSt udies).
Tr
ansl
ati
onSt
udi
esasanAcademi
cDi
sci
pli
ne
Transl ati
onSt udiesent ai
l
st hesy st emat icexami nationoft ranslati
onbot hasanappl i
ed
pract i
ceandal soasameansofunder standingt hemov ementandt ransf erbet ween
di
v ersel anguagesandcul tures.Tr anslationSt udiesdeal swi ththepr act i
cal exper iences
ofthet r
anslator ;
ital
soexpl oresf rom t heoreticalandmet hodol ogical perspect i
v est he
hi
st oryandphi l
osophyoft r
anslation, aswel lascurrentt rendsi nthef ield.Transl ation
Studiesmayexami nethepr acti
cesandcont extoftr anslati
ngt extsthatar especi ali
st
(l
egal ,business, medical,etc.
);italsomayexpl or
ethear toft r
anslationasacr eat iveact
i
nl i
ter ar
yt r
ansl ati
onandi nternational mar keting.Translat i
onSt udiesmayal soexpl ore
howi ssuesofcul t
ure,power ,gender ,ethicsmedi um affectt heactoft ranslating.The
studyoft heseenabl esstudent stoappl yt hei
rt heoreti
cal understandi ngt othe
appr oaches, t
echni ques,andchoi cest hatar euseddai l
yasapr act
icingt ranslat or.
WhatDoesTr
ansl
ati
onSt
udi
esI
nvol
ve?
Thestudyoft
ransl
ati
onusual
lyincludest
heanal
ysisofkeyt
ext
s,enabl
i
ngstudent
sto
devel
opanawarenessoftheproblemsofunder
standi
ngandint
erpr
etat
ion.I
tal
so
i
nvolvesthedevelopmentoftheanalytical
,pract
ical
,eval
uative,
aestheti
c,and
expositor
yskil
l
srequiredtoaddresstranslati
onproblems.Final
ly,
iti
ncludesthe
developmentofresearchski
ll
s,practi
cal t
ransl
ati
onskill
s,andtheabili
tytodevel
op
str
ategiesformanagingcomplexlinguisti
candcul t
uralt
ransacti
ons.
WhySt
udyTr
ansl
ati
on?
Thediscipl
i
neoft r
ansl
ationstudi
eshasgr ownalongsi
dethei
ntr
oduct
ionofuni
ver
sit
y
schoolsandcourses,r
elevantconf
erences,t
ransl
ati
onjour
nal
s,andot
hertr
ansl
ati
on-
rel
atedpubli
cat
ions.
Theskil
l
soft ransl
ati
onarebecomingevermorei
mpor tantanddesi
rabl
e,ast
oday’
s
mult
icul
turalandmulti
li
ngualsoci
etydemandsef
fect
ive,eff
ici
ent
,andempathet
ic
communi cat
ionbetweenlanguagesandcul
tur
es.
Car
eer
sinTr
ansl
ati
on
Translati
onStudiespr eparesstudentsforvariouscareers.Somegraduateschooset o
star
ttheirownbusi nessasaf r
eelancetranslator
.Othersbecomei n-
houset r
anslators
orprojectmanagersf ortransl
ationcompani esorinternati
onalbusi
nesses.Therear e
al
sor olesinsuchlanguageser v i
cesindustr
iesasi nt
ernational
publi
shi
ng,journal
ism,
publi
cr el
ati
ons,andt eaching.
Professionalswit
hsignifi
cantli
nguisti
cbackgrounds,aswellastranslators,l
ingui
sts,
andot herlanguageprofessi
onalsoftenchooset ostudyaMast erofAr t
sdegr eeora
Ph.D.inTr ansl
ati
onStudies.Thiscourseofstudyenablesstudentstodev el
op
speciali
stlanguageskil
ls,r
esearchskill
s,andthecredent
ial
srequiredt olandmor e
advancedspeci al
istr
olesintransl
ation,t
eachi
ng, i
nter
nati
onalbusiness, andmedia.