ABSTRACT
This chapter examines that human translators have had something to do with the history of translation; although it readily admit it is hard to say exactly what their general role, on an individual or collective level. A study of early twentieth-century British translators from Spanish finds little evidence of translation as a financially necessary full-time activity and concludes that, in this particular field, 'most translators appear to be young people who want to do almost anything to penetrate the literary world and to make a living from literary activity'. Ideas about the employment of translators can also be gleaned from studies of individual cases, which at least provide ammunition for arguments against the focus on 'great specialist translators'. The chapter explores some examples like Leonardo Bruni's membership of the Florentine cloth importers' and wool merchants' guilds, although it should be added that he also just happened to be Cancelliere of the republic for some seventeen years.
