ABSTRACT
The chapter studies the development of translation thought from the beginning of the twentieth century to the end of the Second World War. It starts with an outline of the philosophical discourses of the beginning of the century on the aesthetics of literature and the possibility of translation as such. In the first decades of the century, translation was alternately described as mediation in service of communication and as a means to broaden and deepen one’s own language. The clash of the hermeneutic tradition with Wittgenstein’s revolutionary ideas started the divide in translation philosophy. In course of this divide, a considerable number of researchers focused on the linguistic problematics related to translation. Inspired by Saussurean linguistic findings, the Russian structuralists and the Prague circle studied the issues of duality, as well as functionality of translation. Comprehensive comparative studies of prosody, grammar, and vocabulary of different language systems were applied to resolving questions on translation and transfer of meaning and effect upon the reader. Starting with the beginning of the 1930s, scholars increasingly spoke of social parameters, such as the purpose of translation, its social function, and social expectations and requirements for translation. It was only natural that discussions of social problematics gave rise to another branch of translation research at the nexus of anthropology and ethnography. Quite notably, it was in the period between the two world wars that academic programs in translation were introduced and the term ‘Translation Studies’ was officially used for the first time. Translation was also ascribed an important role in the contexts of rapid social change, which tried to find a balance between the preservation of authenticity and the advantages of borrowing from other languages and cultures, thus giving their own languages and cultures another source of enrichment.
