ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates creativity in translation through narrativity. The general thesis is that while machines may “translate” texts, only homo sapiens, or rather homo narrans, can create a narrative, “the principal and inescapable mode by which we experience the world” (Baker, 2006, p. 9). Though there is much discussion in Translation Studies about the pernicious use of narrativity in translation (e.g. Baker, 2006), there is precious little on how judicious use would be the way to allow the reader to effectively experience another world. To help the translator transform into a homo narrans the Metamodel tool is introduced, given its effectiveness in linking text and experience of the world. Example translations taken from museum interpretation panels and a guidebook are then compared with those from DeepL to illustrate how the translator as homo narrans can recreate the narrative for the reader. It concludes with the argument that the narrans ability not only ensures that the reader engages with the text, but that the conscious use of narrative techniques will be an important factor in bestowing more respect and status on the human translator.
