ABSTRACT
At issue here is a fundamental consideration in translation: all texts are defined in terms of genre. By genre we mean what Hymes calls a ‘type of communicative event’ (quoted in Hervey 1992: 199) – that is, a category to which, in a given culture, a given text is seen to belong and within which the text is seen to share a type of communicative purpose and effect with other texts. In this definition, the term also covers the traditionally identified genres of literature, as well as genres bearing what Baker calls ‘institutionalized labels’, such as ‘journal article,’ ‘science textbook’, ‘newspaper editorial’ or ‘travel brochure’ ( Baker 2011: 123).
