The publication of Gideon Toury’s much-discussed book Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond marked a turning point in positing the problem of norms in translation as central to historical approaches in translation studies. In the process, the problem of norms has been significantly extended. Thus, attention has been paid not only to the guidelines of particular translational decisions, but also to the fundamental parameters of translational activity (target orientation versus source orientation) and, above all, to the cultural filters that control the selection of texts for translation (translation policy). Moreover, when translating specialized texts into and from non-elaborated languages, questions of normative relevance, in addition to translational norms in the strict sense, already arise at the level of source text editing. They, in turn, refer to previous processes of translating linguistic, textual and discourse norms, or to violations of these norms that result from translations.
Whereas studies on the history of translation in early modern times used to focus on literary, biblical or philosophical texts, this conference will deliberately concentrate on the translation of specialized texts. You will find the full programme here.