At first sight, technology is transforming rapidly the workflow in
translation. Like in many other fields, digital technology impacts
translators’ daily life. Technology is so omnipresent that we are hardly
capable of measuring the consequences it had, the metamorphosis it has
induced. On the other hand, we are also so fascinated by all the
technical devices and platforms we can use that we tend to forget or
undermine the past and how technology and media have always played a
role in the evolution of our cultures. Looking back in history, we can
realise that some current practices in translation, considered as new,
are not really so new.
The use of multimodal “texts” we are referring
to everyday is not without analogy with the production and the reading
of “texts” in the past. Perhaps the transition from a logocentric to an
intersemiotic and intermedial culture puts an end to a limited period of
time in history, dominated by printing. But closing the “Gutenberg
parenthesis” does not imply coming across the same artefacts again as
before the 15th century.
Based on the existing literature, our paper
questions the borders between some translation practice, media,
disciplines, through an historical perspective.