ABSTRACT
Semiotic resources acquire different meanings and values in different cultures, thus creating challenges for the translator of complex semiotic texts. The established bond between a semiotic resource and what it normally means for most people in a given culture, or even globally, can also be intentionally severed to challenge dominant views in society, thus opening up a space for rethinking our assumptions and prejudices. Examples of semiotic regimes include role models, expertise, personal authority, impersonal authority, and conformity. Expertise, a closely related semiotic regime, means that the person we see as a role model has professional expertise in our domain of activity. The history of translation is largely a history of innovative attempts to circumvent the semiotic regimes of personal and impersonal authority, whose workings are often evident in various forms of censorship and the imperative to accommodate cultural sensibilities.
