Translation is in motion. Technological developments, digitalisation and globalisation are among the many factors affecting and changing translation and, with it, translation studies. Moving ...Boundaries in Translation Studies offers a bird’s-eye view of recent developments and discusses their implications for the boundaries of the discipline. With 15 chapters written by leading translation scholars from around the world, the book analyses new translation phenomena, new practices and tools, new forms of organisation, new concepts and names as well as new scholarly approaches and methods. This is key reading for scholars, researchers and advanced students of translation and interpreting studies.
Technical texts are generally considered to be informative, objective and devoid of expressive features. In this paper I shall argue in favour of the more recent assertion that technical texts are ...not only concerned with the transfer of facts, but - like texts in general - serve various communicative purposes. The aim of my work is to increase the awareness of the translation scholar and the professional translator of the fact that literary texts do not hold a monopoly on expressivity and creativity and that also within the framework of technical translation the expressive function must be expected, noticed and translated. I shall furthermore argue that “technical texts” do NOT constitute a genre - on the contrary a great variety of genres make use of technical language.
Roman Jakobson’s tripartite typology of translation is accepted by many translation scholars as a broad definition of translation and is frequently included in the beginning of textbooks introducing ...Translation Studies. However, when it comes to the research carried out within Translation Studies, focus is overwhelmingly set on interlingual translation, or translation proper. A few scholars explicitly argue against the inclusion of intralingual and intersemiotic translation in a definition of translation whereas some provide arguments or discussions of concepts central to Translation Studies which explain the marginal status of intralingual and intersemiotic translation. The aim of this article is to review these arguments and to discuss the place of intralingual translation within Translation Studies. On this basis, the article suggests a criterial definition of translation to be used for scientific purposes within the field of Translation Studies, a definition which fully includes intralingual translation.
This article is concerned with some of the problems medical companies have in trying to produce user-friendly medical texts. Research has shown that consumer information within the medical field is ...often difficult to understand for the non-specialist. There are several reasons for this. One is the frequent use of special language features in texts concerned with consumer information. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of special language and suggests ways in which specialist words and expressions may be downgraded and simplified in order to accommodate the intended non-specialist target group.
Political correctness demands a patient empowering and patient-centered approach to health care and today patients are increasingly involved in, and responsible for, their own health. Patients are ...potentially subjected to large amounts of health information and, in a Danish context, patients have recently gained easy electronic access to their hospital records. Access, which used to be by application, is now only a few clicks away. This initiative is praised as patient empowering and patient-centered even though the e-records are not written for patients, but are the working tool of health professionals. Thus, an expert language text, as it stands, has to function as patient information. In this article, we examine the language of the e-records with a view to determining potential lay-friendliness and thus patient-centeredness. We also discuss whether access, by definition, is a progressive initiative and whether patient empowerment is always the same as patient-centeredness.
Background: Over-the-counter (OTC) medication, and in particular non-pharmacy restricted OTC medicines, sold in supermarkets or online, is subject to the same EU legislation as prescription ...medication. However, it seems that due care is often not taken to ensure maximum patient comprehension even though the Patient Information Leaflet (PIL) is potentially more important due to lack of access to the advice of pharmacy staff. Aim: The aim of this article is to explore the legislative background and practice of the PILs of non-pharmacy restricted OTC medicines in a European context. Methods: It provides a qualitative textual analysis of Danish PILs for the potentially most dangerous products with a view to finding out to which extent the PILs comply with current legislation and guidelines. Findings: The textual analysis shows that the PILs are far too complex to stand alone as a source of information. Discussion: The article discusses the nature of non-pharmacy restricted OTC medicines, the potential consequences of a lack of understandable patient information, and whether it is in the interest of consumers that these products are available outside the pharmacy. Conclusion: It is recommended that the potentially most harmful non-pharmacy restricted OTC medicines, such as analgesics, are restricted to pharmacies.
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