Translation Studies in Tertiary Education: The Map-Matrix Meta-Model of the Field

Abstract

The paper deals with the way of presenting theory in contemporary translation-related university education. James Holmes is known to distinguish between ‘theoretical translation studies or translation theory’ and teaching as a ‘technique in foreign-language instruction’ and as ‘translator training’ (1988). In our present-day tertiary education establishments for future translators and interpreters, the emphasis is mostly on the practical side of the matter. The  requirement to produce MA theses, however, calls for a theoretical course of sorts, and the contents of such a course are expected to include both an overview of the field and presentation of its basic theoretical and methodological luggage. Based on Holmes’ ideas, the paper offers a hypothetical method of describing Translation Studies in a way that both covers the whole field and allows one to ‘magnify’ its various sectors or ‘spaces’ for further in-depth consideration.