Basic notions of Translation Theory

This book reflects my experience as a translation scholar, and a translation teacher, and a translator from Russian. The knowledge of the Russian language allowed me to read (and translate into Italian) crucial authors like Popovič, Lyudskanov, Torop, Revzin and Rozentsveyg. Since not many Western translation scholars know them, we get as a consequence a translation theory which is split between West and East according to a sort of 'cultural Berlin wall'.

In this book I tried to synthesize both Western and Eastern point of views about the translation process.

The terms that are used belong to both worlds.

For an explanation of a more professional character, you can use my other book, "Handbook of Translation Studies", available both in paper and in ebook form.

I have been teaching translation at the Civica Scuola Interpreti e Traduttori «Altiero Spinelli» in Milan, Italy, for 30 years, and translation theory for 20 years. My students made an important contribution to this book, through their feedback during lectures and exams. Year after year I had the opportunity to edit my text accordingly.

For an explanation of the terms used in this book, I refer students to my Dictionary of Translation Studies.

Bruno Osimo

Milano, 7 July 2019