Contemporary Translation Theories: Mapping a Growing Field

Abstract

Translation Studies (TS) has always borrowed theories and approaches from other disciplines. While such openness has significantly contributed to the expansion of TS, it can also mean moving boundaries and uncertainty as to the identity of this discipline, and its status within the social sciences and the humanities. As a consequence, a cartography of translation theories becomes a necessary step towards the delineation of some epistemological boundaries for the discipline. This paper, aimed primarily at translation students and trainees, provides thus a simplified cartography of the growing body of theoretical works trying to come to grips with translation phenomena.