Translation Policy and the Politics of Translation: Introductory Remarks on Dimensions and Perspectives

The semantic field denoted by the two terms ‘policy’/‘politics’ of translation is of central importance because it allows us to focus on two complexes: 1. translation policy in the sense of translational norms and thus the question of the socio-cultural, economic and intercultural conditions that are responsible for the fact that translation takes place and in what form; and 2. the role of translation in the context of political processes of negotiation. Heuristically, three aspects of the political are thus of interest: cultural norms and criteria that decide on the fact and the type of translation (cultural filters); political, religious or economic interests that are linked to translations (calculation) and the significance of translations for all forms of interaction in the political sphere in the narrower sense (diplomacy).