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translations are written by critics or journalists who do not know
the original language and therefore treat a translation as if it had
originally been written in English. Actually, the most qualified
reviewer of translations would be the translators, since they
constantly stand with one foot in the source language and the
other in the new language. They are familiar with the cultural
and linguistic idiosyncrasies on both sides of the border.
And finally, the digital technology will open new vistas for
the practice and study of translation. The thinking that drives
translation is the constant creation of linkages between one and
the other, the language here and the foreign language there.
With the ascent of digital technology, not only can the movement
of the translation process be recorded and fixed in some tangible
form, but also the reader can move from a fixed position to a
modifying interaction with the text. Translation as movement
will be reconfirmed as a basic concept of translation, and the
movement can be recorded through the digital technology for
the first time in the history of translation studies. The digital
universe will provide us with the opportunity to present the
interpretation of texts—the most important activity that a
translator has to pursue—in the most comprehensive way. In
the environment of the digital, we can create objects that contain
verbal, visual, musical, and sound components that bring the
complexity of a work to life. The digital technology allows us
to create a more total understanding of a work and, at the same
time, the possibility of establishing a continuous interaction with
the work.
Rainer Schulte is a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas and is a
co-founder of the American Literary Translators Association, which has
been supported by the NEA. He has translated poetry and fiction of writers
from Latin America, Germany, and France.
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National Endowment for the Arts