Building on the ideas of social embeddedness and communality
inherent in cross-cultural communication, this article
provides theoretical background for a discussion of communities
in Translation Studies. The first section introduces the
history and different definitions of the concept of “community”
(e.g., Wenger’s community of practice) and examines the
interdependencies of notions such as “norm,” “repertoire,”
and “community.” Communities in translation and interpreting
are tentatively defined as communities bound together by the
production, reception, or meta-level discussion of translation/
interpreting. The second section presents the eight contributions
to this volume.
Keywords: translation, interpreting, Translation Studies,
community, communities of practice, norm, repertoire,
sociology of translation, polysystem theory