Concepts with the four prefixes ‘Trans-’ ‘Post-’ ‘Inter-’ and ‘Cross-’ in the context of translation studies: A comparison of Taiwanese and international academic papers

• Main Author: Da Hui Dong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Western Sydney University 2012-02-01
• Series: Translation and Interpreting : the International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Research
• Subjects: translation studies; cultural studies; pathfinding
• Online Access: http://www.trans-int.org/index.php/transint/article/view/147/90

Translation plays an important role in communication across languages and cultures. Because translation must balance various requirements arising from globalization against the goal of communicating distinctive cultural characteristics, it is the focus of increasing attention in culture studies research. This study employs Pathfinding techniques to compare emerging transcultural concepts in translation studies in Taiwan with those found in the international literature. Two data banks were established by compiling the abstracts of academic papers in the field of translation studies from the period 2000-2009. The researcher then extracted 20 keywords representing important transcultural concepts. Co-occurrence analysis was carried out on the two data banks and the key concepts were mapped on two-dimensional graphs. The resulting graphs were then examined to gain insight into translation issues relevant to transculturation. It is hoped that comparative studies of this kind can shed light on both domestic and international perspectives on the phenomenon of transculturation and its effects on translation.