ABSTRACT
The term self-translation can refer to either the process of translating one’s own writings into another language or the product of such an undertaking. In the late middle Ages and the Renaissance, for instance, self-translation was one of the means by which knowledge was transferred from learned Latin to a variety of European vernaculars such as French, Italian, Catalan, Spanish, German, Dutch and English. Studies of self-translation have shown the practice to be prevalent in minority and migrant writing, as well as writing in colonial contexts. In consecutive self-translations, by contrast, the translation work begins once the original has been published or at least a final draft has been completed. The distinction between original and translation thus collapses. Both texts can be referred to as variants or versions, as per the terminology of manuscript studies, which have been opening up new vistas for self-translation scholarship. Self-translations have been associated with a number of distinctive features.
