2015/08/28 by David Katan
Arts and Humanities · Health Professions · #Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare #Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies #Translation Studies and Practices
paper · doi:10.1080/0907676x.2015.1016049
openalex publication_date 2015/08/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
This paper focusses on the real problems involved in promoting the translator's role and status to that of intercultural mediator. Ever since the cultural turn in the 1980s, academics have been equating translation with intercultural mediation (IM) and translators as mediators. The paper first looks at how mediation has been understood in translation, and then investigates a number of issues regarding intervention, both at a theoretical and at a practical level.In theory, as a result of the cultural turn, there should be a more context-based understanding of communication, and hence a more intervenient role for the translator. At a practical level, however, normative roles follow a conduit theory of translation based on language transfer.While academia and the profession wrangle over IM, a number of other options are emerging to cater for the ever-increasing real need for translation and IM. This competition is potentially marginalizing translators and interpreters. It will be suggested that ‘transcreation’ may be a way forward, though optimism is tempered with the profession's own beliefs regarding intervention and towards change.