In this panel the important question of universality in translation will be discussed from different vantage points, and in particular from the perspective of the conference theme of “intervention”.

By way of introducing the panel topic, the general issue of universality in the translation process will be reviewed in a broadly interdisciplinary way, and the question will be raised, whether the quest for translation universals is bound to be futile in the face of language-pair specific “cultural filtering” and other widely accepted types of intervention designed to destabilise the relationship between source and target texts. We will further ask whether it is in fact possible to determine true universals in translation and, if this were the case, how such universals would advance translation theory. In support of arguments brought forward for or against universals in translation, panel contributors will provide empirical evidence from the analysis of both oral and written translation corpora involving different languages (English, German, French, Portuguese, Norwegian), different genres and different linguistic-textual phenomena.

Specific issues to be addressed in contributions already accepted include 1. a general discussion and problematisation of translation universals, 2. intervention and equivalence in translation: rival candidates for universalhood?,  3. translation universals on individual, collective and systems levels, 4. “explicitation”  as a universal or a consequence of language-and-culture-specific filtering processes?, 5. universals in translation in contrast to universals in monolingual discourse, 6. universals in the production of cohesion and coherence in simultaneous and consecutive interpreting, 7. the question of interpreting proper names as a universal challenge. Contributors to the panel include: Juliane House (Hamburg) Convener, Cathrine Fabricius-Hansen (Oslo), Heidi Gerzymisch-Arbogast (Saarbrücken), Susanne Jekat (Zürich), Werner Koller (Bergen), Bernd Meyer (Hamburg).

The panel invites further contributions that address and problematise the notion of translation universals, especially those that draw on corpus evidence.

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