Fifteen years of journalistic translation research and more

TLDR

Journalistic translation has evolved from 17th‑century pamphlets and news agencies to a recognized subfield of Translation Studies, gaining academic traction in the late 1980s and 1990s with concepts such as transediting and interdisciplinary links to communication studies. The paper surveys the emergence and development of journalistic translation research over the past fifteen years. It does so by reviewing the publications in the field. The study finds that in the twenty‑first century JTR has expanded rapidly, with researchers conducting empirical analyses of translated texts, examining translation processes, and exploring reception issues.

Abstract

This paper surveys the emergence and development of journalistic translation research (JTR), focusing on the publications of the past 15 years. Journalistic translation has managed to establish itself as a subarea of research within Translation Studies, as the entries in the major encyclopedias and handbooks attest. Translation contributed to the birth of journalism in seventeenth-century Europe through a number of weekely and monthly pamphlets and bulletins. Additionally it was (and remains) a cornerstone in news agencies and forged independence movements in the Americas. Academic interest in news translation began in the late 1980s and 1990s, particularly in Europe, where Stetting coined a much-used term, transediting, to refer to translation in the news. In the twenty-first century, JTR grew exponentially, as researchers have carried out empirical research on translated texts, have analyzed translation processes, have begun to study reception issues, and so on. The article also looks at some conceptual issues, notably as translation and communication studies meet.