…And, still, what do translations do?

Abstract

The old discussion about the purpose of translations in shaping a culture has been very often revisited in the last decades. This paper provides a number of examples, some very substantial, capable of illustrating the valences of translations. Even when they are not very successful, translations may change the mentalities of the receiving community, may entail the foundation of a great literature, may save a language from death or, in any case, may delay its natural disappearance, may sustain an ideology. The liberation from the ‘pure language’ of the original is a gain for both the source text and the target text.

Keywords

• translation
• control and self-control of texts
• the autochthonization principle
• ideologisation of translation