Translation as a process

Abstract

Traditionally conceived around well-established dichotomies, translation studies end up leaving ample room for the construction of a theoretical path that treats translation as a process, not only as an implicit element to the product’s existence, but with a proposal of concepts endowed with operational value. By bringing discursive semiotics, more specifically the recent developments in Claude Zilberberg’s tensive approach, to dialogue with the fundamental issues of Translation and Adaptation Studies, we aim to present a reflection that breaks free from the binary logic of oppositions to embark on tensions inherent in the dominance regimes of a participatory logic. Our proposal culminates in the statement that what is translated is the enunciative project, a “spirit” of the original work that shapes its most striking characteristics, from which it emanates what we call the tensive arc, a sensitive profile of the work, which can be modulated from the set of textualization strategies that the enunciator uses taking into account their underneath tensive ciphers. We seek to show that a possible path toward the binary opposition interstice can be trod and deepened on several fronts.