Before the 1990s, translation studies were dominated by linguistics. Scholars focused heavily on "equivalence"—the idea that a translator's primary job is to find exact verbal matches.
Bassnett insists that translation history must go beyond “high” literary texts to include: translation history and culture susan bassnett pdf
To appreciate the significance of Translation, History and Culture , one must first understand the state of Translation Studies prior to its publication. For much of its early history, translation theory was dominated by linguistic approaches. The central, and often only, question was how to achieve "equivalence"—a faithful, accurate transfer of meaning and form from a source text to a target text. Before the 1990s, translation studies were dominated by
Introduction: The Cultural Turn in Translation Studies For decades, translation was viewed as a purely mechanical exercise. It was treated as a process of decoding words from one language and encoding them into another, with the ultimate goal of linguistic equivalence. However, in the late 20th century, a major paradigm shift transformed the discipline. This shift is known as the "Cultural Turn" in translation studies. For much of its early history, translation theory
For each domain, she asks: Who translated? Why? For whom? Under what constraints? And with what cultural consequences?
It bridges the gap between history, anthropology, and literature, making it valuable to scholars outside of traditional linguistics.