ABSTRACT
For the greater part of the 20th century, the dominant model of communication has been the 'code model'. Whether adopted consciously or subconsciously, it has exerted a strong influence on contemporary notions of translation and the research devoted to it. In the 1980s a major shift toward a new, inferential paradigm of communication began. This chapter attempts to highlight some of the major challenges to the direction and methodology of translation research which this paradigm shift presents. These challenges include a shift from structure-based to interpretation-based research as well as the need to investigate cognitive processes that go far deeper than simple introspection and think-aloud protocols. The chapter suggests that the primary task of translation research is not to define and describe a particular mode of text production but to account for and gain a better understanding of the astounding ability of humans to communicate via ' cross-language quotations'.
