ABSTRACT
The main idea in this chapter is to perceive translation as much from the user’s point of view as possible, with two assumptions: (1) that most translation theory and translator training in the past has been based largely on this external perspective, and (2) that it has been based on that perspective in largely hidden or repressed ways. Some consequences of (1) are that many traditional forms of translation theory and translator training have been authoritarian, normative, rule-bound, aimed at forcing the translator into a robotic straitjacket; and that, while this perspective is valuable (it represents the views of the people who pay us to translate, hence the people we need to be able to satisfy), without a translator-oriented “internal” perspective to balance it, it may also become demoralizing and counterproductive. A consequence of (2) is that important parts of the user’s perspective, especially those of timeliness and cost, have not been adequately presented in the traditional theoretical literature or in translation seminars. Even from a user’s external perspective, translation cannot be reduced to the simplicities of “accurate renditions.”
