Dominating and Peripheral Cultures in Translation vs. Translator’s Status

Abstract

In the introduction to his book The Translator’s Invisibility, Lawrence Venuti discusses the condition of the translator and of translation in contemporary America. In the country, translation is not a valued activity, translated texts are domesticated, and translators are expected to remain invisible. The article discusses how Venuti’s diagnosis applies to the situation in Poland, with its much more peripheral or even culturally subordinated status; whether the causes of translator’s invisibility, listed by Venuti, appear in translation into Polish; how the position of translation and of the translator is influenced by the target culture’s peripheral character; and whether there is a straightforward link between cultural hegemony and translation strategy.

Keywords

• translation
• translator status
• cultural hegemony
• peripheral culture