Some reflections on Romanian translation studies

Abstract

In this paper, I decided to examine two “verdicts” on the specificity (or the lack of specificity) of Romanian translation studies in order to define and explain the present situation in this field: one given in the Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, the other in a book on “Romanian translation ideas and meta-ideas”. I believe that the current situation justifies the following hypothesis: the current specific of translation theories in the Romanian space is entailed by the existence of two circuits. The first is academic and international, aiming at including the Romanian research in European directions, by assimilating them more or less. The second is a national circuit—where the positions expressed within the first circuit penetrate indirectly, through “central” languages—and it manifests itself as selective and elective affinities between the two; their interaction is sporadic and it occurs mainly through other languages, not through an interiorization process related to the language of the Romanian source space.

Keywords

• translation studies
• translation practice
• central language
• peripheral language
• symbolic field
• globalization