Lakhasly

Applied Translation Studies

Rosa Rabadan University of Leon

Applied Translation Studies (ATS), the performative branch of Translation Studies (TS), is concerned with translation activities that address a particular goal and a specific (group of) final user(s) and that imply doing something with, for or about translation according to some standard of quality.These rules would be necessarily different for the differ- ent types of applied extension.ATS designates fields which partly belong in TS and partly in other disciplines such as translator training/education (see Translation didactics"), transla- tion tools and translation criticism among others. This article will concentrate on aspects common to different ATS areas without focusing on any in particular. 1. Background

In the widely accepted Holmes/Toury map of the discipline ATS are defined by opposition to the "pure" branches, DTS and Theory, in terms of purpose (knowledge vs. performance) and of criterion (description vs. prescription).

Applied Translation Studies

Rosa Rabadán University of León

Applied Translation Studies (ATS), the performative branch of Translation Studies (TS), is concerned with translation activities that address a particular goal and a specific (group of) final user(s) and that imply doing something with, for or about translation according to some standard of quality. ATS designates fields which partly belong in TS and partly in other disciplines such as translator training/education (see Translation didactics"), transla- tion tools and translation criticism among others. This article will concentrate on aspects common to different ATS areas without focusing on any in particular.

1. Background

In the widely accepted Holmes/Toury map of the discipline ATS are defined by opposition to the "pure" branches, DTS and Theory, in terms of purpose (knowledge vs. performance) and of criterion (description vs. prescription).

In Holmes' proposal ATS was a branch "of use" (Holmes 1988: 77), a necessary comple- ment of the main, pure research branches with which it maintains a dialectical rather than unidirectional relationship: there is no applied consideration which is not informed by some theoretical model and dependent on some descriptive data, and the applied branch in its turn supplies materials for the other two. Holmes, however, seems to assume that the transition between description and ATS is automatic as he does not offer any hint of ways to convert pure research information into particular "how to" applications.

Toury's revision of the map (1995: 17-19) maintained the disciplinary division but labelled this branch "applied extensions" in an attempt to convey the necessity of some bridging device between TS findings, the other relevant discipline(s) and the actual applications.

Toury named this device "bridging rules" and accounted for the passage of descriptive TS information to applicable data. These rules would be necessarily different for the differ- ent types of applied extension. For example, rules for, say, translator training would come from "pure" TS findings and from a theory of teaching and learning. These rules, however, are not bound to be relevant for translation criticism or for the design of translation aids.

Additional features of Toury's applied extensions are their interdisciplinary nature and their relevance for non-translational fields. While a theory of learning or a linguistic model can contribute to the creation of applications for translator training, the set of rules