ABSTRACT
Relay translation is the translation of a translated text into a third language–for example, from Chinese to English, then from English to French. Z. Yu argues that there may be cases of relay translation that are intralingual, where the second translation is made on the basis of the first translation, without reference to the original text. Relay translation traditionally received very little attention from critics, theoreticians and historians of translation. Informal discussions–for example, among practitioners and trainers–tend to stress that mistakes made in the original translation are passed on to the relay translation, and more mistakes and distortions are added as one moves further away from the original. One major development in historical research on relay translation is an expanded range of language combinations. Relay translation is an exciting area of expanding research in translation studies. Much research on relay translation is being published in languages other than English.
