AWEJ. Special Issue on Translation No.3 May, 2014 Pp. 212-224
A Higher-Order Functional View of Translation
Mohammed Hiddas
L’Ecole Normale Supérieure, Moulay Ismail University in
Meknes, Morocco
Abstract
In our modern world, information technology and globalization have markedly emerged as two generators of supra-contextual variables. More than ever before, the different cultural communities and unions of our composite world are urged to form a harmonious whole in which the local should fit into the global and the global can smoothly adopt the local. An efficient way to implement that great aspiration is through intercultural communication wherein translation can acquire an important role. With this regard, two main questions are raised. The first question is about the way translation can be conceived and oriented in order to promote its function to the enhancement of intercultural communication and coherence. The second question is about the implementation of such a challenging goal with the adoption of an appropriate and operational translation procedure. These two concerns are discussed from a higher-order functional perspective. This involves a set of prevailing realities that are inextricably related to the novelties of our modern era and which have brought about an unprecedented rate of relevance, conciseness, rapidity and efficacy. Accordingly, it is argued that intercultural communication can actually be promoted by tuning translation to the best convenience of a modern target audience and, subsequently, enlarging the scope of that audience. This would considerably help to dissipate conflicting disparities, undermine xenophobia and enhance coherence between the different nations of our composite world.
Keywords: supra-contextual variables, intercultural coherence, relevance, fluidity, domestication