ABSTRACT
The Introduction provides an overview of translation studies and multimodality studies, as separate disciplines, and indicates some of the ways in which they share similar concerns. In particular, it considers specific examples of translation involving multimodal ensembles, and reflects upon how these cases present intriguing practical and theoretical difficulties. To provide broader context for such discussions, and to motivate specific topics addressed in the main chapters of this book, the Introduction then summarises the development of translation studies as an academic discipline. Starting with George Mounin’s traductologie and Eugene Nida’s notions of formal and dynamic equivalence in the 1950s and 1960s, respectively, it describes the shift away from narrowly language-focused analyses which took place from the 1980s onwards, as exemplified in the work of Susan Bassnett, Theo Hermans, Luise von Flotow, and many others. In a similar way, an overview of the development of multimodality studies is also offered, with a particular emphasis on the social semiotic approaches that have been explored by influential figures such as Gunther Kress, Theo van Leeuven, Carey Jewitt, and Jeff Bezemer. The Introduction concludes by briefly outlining the various themes addressed in each of the main chapters of this book.
