Locating Systems and Individuals in Translation Studies

In this article a number of approaches to translation studies are taken into consideration, in order to explore the possibility of developing a model which could bring together the socio-cultural and the individual aspects of translation. The author demonstrates that the dichotomy between descriptive and explanatory models can be superseded by adopting a methodology that concentrates on the local dimension of translation. By bringing together the various facets of translation phenomena and focusing on their material specificity, localism projects a limited but comprehensive image of translation and its social environment. Such an image stands for the original in a metonymic way: working via connection, this model produces multiple meanings, instead of striving for unique solutions.