Getting Translated

Since Hungarian is a linguistically isolated language in Central Europe, translation has always played a very important, albeit often unseen role in our culture. Yet it is hardly surprising that Translation Studies as an independent discipline did not exist in Hungary before the collapse of the Socialist regime, and the ensuing political transformation in 1989–1990. The nineties brought along the official introduction of this relatively new branch of knowledge; however, literary scholars and linguists talked about translation from their own perspectives, using their own terminology, creating their own research projects without ever acknowledging one another, very often not even aware of the work going on in the other field—thus reinventing the wheel repeatedly. This volume intends to break this long-standing tradition: it has invited papers from both fields of study. However, the papers are not divided according to the author’s discipline, but based on their main concern, that is why the book has two parts: one dealing with translator and interpreter training and related issues, the other tackling translation research projects, so the dividing line is applied and pure (or basic) research, not the approach. The introductory essay, written by Anthony Pym, reveals the underlining theme of the volume, fantastically testifying why translating and interpreting must aim at surpassing linguistic precision to reach a faithful conveying of meaning; accordingly, several of the following chapters accentuate the special needs and methods of translating and interpreting in various situations, be they related to translating web pages, assuring singability, or even cooperation in space. The latest research results published here point to exciting, novel approaches in Hungarian Translation Studies and demonstrate that the future of this field of study indeed lies in a fruitful co-operation among disciplines and scholars.