Text and Context in
Translation
Juliane House
University of Hamburg
1. Text and Context
2. Context from Different
Perspectives
2.1.
2.2.
2.3.
Philosophical and
Psychological
Anthropological,
Sociolinguistic, Discourse,
Conversation Analytical
Linguistic
3. Context - Text -Translation
4.
Translation as an Act of
Re-contextualisation
4.1. A Theory of Translation as
Re-Contextualisation
4.2. Two Types of Translation:
Overt and Covert Translation
4.3. The ‘Cultural Filter’ in
Covert Translation
5. Global English and Cultural
Filtering
1.The Notions ‘Text’ and
‘Context’


‘Text’: (A unit of) connected discourse.
Its function is communicative, and it is
an object of analysis and description
‘Context’: A general type of connection
or relationship; circumstances relevant to
something under consideration’; the
environment surrounding a phenomenon
(such as e.g. a text!) that determines its
meaning, similar to setting, background,
frame, (figure and) ground.

‘Text’ and ‘context’ are closely
related concepts.
‘Context’ is the more complex
notion and thus in need of further
exploration.
2.1. Philosophical and Psychological
Perspectives of Context
Contextualism versus Universalism
-
-
-
-
Linguistic actions are embedded in the
environment in which they occur and fulfil certain
functions versus
Sentences obey formal rules, principles and
parameters,
The local, the particular, the social, the situated,
the individual, the unique, the relative versus
the generally valid, the typical, the supraindividual, the absolute



Wittgenstein’s idea that language is a form
of action, and that the meanings of
linguistic forms are their use in specific
‘forms of life’
Austin’s emphasis on how the contexts of
speech acts influence the conventions of
language use, and how speech act
performance depends on the enveloping
context and language user’s intentions.
Gadamer’s and Steiner’s hermeneutic
interpretive study of texts with its ‘fusion
of horizons’ uniting writer and reader in
their context-dependence.

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Grice’s conception of context as part of
a theory of language use - including
conversational maxims which guide the
conduct of talk and express an
underlying co-operative principle.
Sperber and Wilson’s notion of
relevance as a set of internalized
contextual factors for interpreting
utterances


Forgas’ view that utterance meaning
and speakers’ shared views of context
result from collective cognitive
activities.
Clark’s idea of language use as a form
of collaborative action bound up with
contexts as ‘common ground’, i.e.,
knowledge, beliefs, assumptions which
language users bring to joint activities
2.2. Context in Anthropology,
Sociolinguistics, Discourse and Conversation
Analysis



‘Context’ as ‘culture’ is central in anthropology. It
comprises conventionalized expectations made to
fit a specific, local situation
For sociolinguists, language reflects context and
language also determines the context in which it
is used. Contexts are evolving systems
undergoing constant change and mutual
influence with language
Context is also at the core of discourse analysis,
since all interaction involves context. In order to
understand, speakers must rely on context, and
their linguistic choices are motivated by
contextual factors (topic, participants, place,

Conversation analysts focus on
utterances-in-sequence which both create
context and are conditioned by it.
Utterances are organized linearly in time,
such that what is said now relies on what
was said before. Context and talk are in a
“reflexive relationship”: talk and its
interpretation shapes context as much as
context shapes talk.
2.3.Context from Linguistic
Perspectives
Hymes’ “Ethnography of Speaking” as ‘contextual linguistics’
explicitly designed as an ‘anti-Chomsky model’:
stark contrast between ‘functional, contextual linguistics’
and
‘formal, competence linguistics’. The latter has an
idealized view of language divorced from the context
in which it is actually used by human beings.
Context in functional linguistics includes setting,
behavior, language itself, knowledge, and is subject
to multiple interpretations of immediate environments and
wider socio-cultural frameworks

A prime example of functional linguistics is
pragmatics. Here context plays such an
important role that its very definition is bound
up with context
- Pragmatics is the study of linguistic acts
and the contexts in which they occur
- Pragmatics is a theory of language
understanding that takes context into
account
Gumperz’ notion of “contextualization cues” is
based on assumptions about context and
connects linguistic forms with cognitive and
social phenomena

Halliday’s systemic-functional
theory explicitly links text and
context and combines broad
functional explanations of social
phenomena with detailed
description of linguistic forms
3. Context, Text and Translation



In most disciplines, Context is thought to
refer to both external (situational,cultural)
and internal (cognitive, psychological) factors
which influence each other in acts of
speaking and listening
Context is often regarded as dynamic rather
than static, as more than a set of pre-fixed
variables that impact on language.
Context and language are viewed as mutually
dependent, such that language shapes
context as much as context shapes language.
For translation, such a view of
context is NOT useful!



In translation, a ’finished’, and in this sense ‘static’
stretch of written language as text is available to
the translator in its entirety from the start. Full
availability of a written text - as opposed to the bitby-bit unfolding of discourse - is thus constitutive
of translation.
Translating involves RE-CONTEXTUALISING and as
such the creation of a discourse out of a written
text, i.e., the creation of a ‘living’, but
essentially NOT dynamic, cognitive-social
entity replete with contextual connections.
In translation, Context is NOT ‘negotiated’ or
‘emergent’, but rather static. This ‘staticness’
arises in the space opened up by the
separation in time and space of writer and
reader, and through the translator’s limited
power to define what the context is.

The realisation of a discourse out of a text
can only involve imaginary, hidden, mental
interaction between writer and reader in the
translator’s mind. The natural unity of
speaker and listener in oral interaction is
replaced by the real-world separateness in
space and time of writer and reader. But the
translator can overcome this separateness:
S/he creates a new unity that transcends the
text’s givenness (with its immutable
arrangement of linguistic elements) by
activatingthe text’s context in its old and new
variant - imagined and miraculously united
in his mind.
4. Translation as an Act of ReContextualisation


For translation as an act of re-contextualisation, a
TEXT is a stretch of a contextually embedded
ensemble of linguistic forms. And CONTEXT is the
means of converting ‘inert (static) text’ into
discourse in an ex- post facto, cognitive ‘meaning
making’
The translator’s re-creative act is thus critically
different from the type of observable on-line
transformative power a speaker in talk-ininteraction has over the path of the developing
discourse.
4.1. A Functional Theory of
Translation as Re-contextualization
House’s Theory of Translation as
Re-contextualisation:

Translation texts are doubly contextuallybound: to their source text and to the new
recipient’s contextual conditions. This
double-linkage is the basis of the
equivalence relation – the conceptual
heart of translation.

Equivalence is determined by context, and
comprises at least the following:
Source and target linguistic features and the
rules of the two language systems
The extra-linguistic world and how it is perceived
by members of L1 and L2 communities
L1 and L2 conventions and genres guiding the
translator
Structural, connotative, and aesthetic features of
the original
The translator’s interpretation of the original and
his or her ‘creativity’
The translator’s theory of translation
Translation traditions holding in the target culture

Since appropriate use of language
in communicative performance is
what matters most in translation,
it is functional pragmatic
equivalence which is crucial.
This type of equivalence
underpins House’s functional
translation model.
A Scheme for Producing, Analysing and
Comparing Original and Translation Texts
This model explicates the way semantic,
pragmatic and textual meaning are reconstituted across different contexts.


Translation is conceived as the
replacement of an L1 text by a
semantically and pragmatically equivalent
L2 text. An adequate translation is then a
pragmatically and semantically equivalent
one.
A first requirement for this equivalence is
that a translation text have a function
equivalent to that of its original.



If we use a concept such as ‘function’ of a text,
we must be sure that there are elements in a
text which can reveal a text’s function.
Function here is NOT identical with ‘functions of
language’ as suggested by philosophers and
linguists such as Bühler, Jakobson,Popper and
many others.
Different language functions always co-exist in a
text, there is no simple equation of language
function and textual type.


The function of a text is simply the
application of a text in a particular
context, and there is a systematic
relationship between context and the
functional organization of language-intext, which can be revealed by breaking
down context into a manageable set of
‘contextual parameters’: FIELD –TENORMODE
The pre-translation analysis results then in
a text-context profile that reflects the
text’s function. Whether and how this
function can be maintained, critically
depends, however, on the type of
translation sought.
4.2.Two Types of Translation:
Overt and Covert Translation



Overt and covert translation are outcomes of
different types of re-contextualisation
They resemble Schleiermacher’s famous
distinction between “verfremdende und
einbürgernde Übersetzungen” (‘alienating’ and
‘integrating’ translations) which has had many
imitators using different, but essentially similar
terms.
What sets the overt-covert distinction apart is
the fact that it is integrated into a coherent
theory of translation, within which these terms
are explicated.


In overt translation, recipients are quite ‘overtly’ NOT
directly addressed, because an overt translation is quite
overtly a translation, not a ‘second original’. And it shows:
while an overt translation must needs be embedded in a new
context, it also, at the same time, schizophrenically, signals
its origin. The translator’s work is important and visible: it is
to enable L2 members to observe and judge the original’s
impact “from outside”
Although an overt translation and its original are equivalent
at the levels of Language/Text, Register, Genre, only
second-level functional equivalence is possible: giving
access to the original’s function. Since this access is to be in
the L2, a contextual switch is necessary. But because there
is this three-tier equivalence, the original’s context is coactivated in the minds of the translator and L2 addressees
so as to enable them to “eavesdrop” and appreciate the
original’s function in its new guise.

A covert translation is a translation which
enjoys the status of an original text in a new
context. The translation is covert because it is
not marked as a translation, but may,
conceivably, have been created in its own right.
An original and its covert translation are
pragmatically of equal concern for L1 and L2
addressees in their different contexts
The translator re-creates an equivalent speech
event and reproduces the original’s function
with the result that a covert translation
operates solely in the new L2 context, with no
attempt made to co-activate the context in
which the original had unfolded.
The translator’s express task is to ‘betray’ the
original, to hide behind its transformation.The
translator acts in a self-effacing manner.
Since true functional equivalence is the goal,
the original may be legitimately manipulated
at the levels of Language/Text and Register.
The translator takes exclusive account of the
new context into which the translation is
inserted. To facilitate this insertion
seamlesssly as it were, the translator applies
a CULTURAL FILTER.
4.3. The ‘Cultural Filter’


A ‘cultural filter’ is a means of capturing
contextual differences in expectation
norms between recipients in L1 and L2
contexts.The application of a cultural filter
should however ideally not be left to
accidental individual intuition, but be in
line with relevant cross-cultural research.
What do we mean by “culture”??
‚Culture‘
Whatever it is one has to know or believe
in order to operate in a manner acceptable
to a society’s members, and do so in any
role that they accept for any one of
themselves .... Culture is not a material
phenomenon; it does not consist of things,
people, behavior, or emotions. It is rather
an organization of these things. It is the
forms of things that people have in mind,
their model of perceiving, relating, and
otherwise interpreting them.
(Goodenough, 1964: 36)

As in the case of context, a “dynamic”,
negotiable view of culture is NOT useful
for translation, because in translating a
text, one must refer to a concrete point in
time and space and adopt a static,
necessarily “essentialist” idea of culture.
This should not be disqualified as naively
ignoring the complexity of culture, as in
translation we also take account of
empirical research into cultures as
interpretive devices for understanding
communicative behavior.

Empirical research into communicative
norms in L1 and L2 cultures can give
substance to the cultural filter and thus
complement tacit native-speaker
knowledge.
For example, in the case of the German
and Anglophone linguistic-cultural
communities, the cultural filter has been
substantiated through extensive empirical
contrastive-pragmatic research. Its results
show differences in behavioral norms that
can explain acts of re-contextualization in
covert translation.



For example: Germans often express
themselves in more direct, explicit and
content-oriented ways than Anglophone
speakers
Such cross-cultural differences can be
displayed along dimensions such as
directness
explicitness
focus on
content
vs.
vs.
vs.
indirectness
implicitness
focus on
persons
The Cultural Filter: Examples
Sign at Frankfurt Airport at a building site:
Damit die Zukunft schneller kommt!
[Such that the future comes more quickly!]
vs. English translation:
We apologize for any inconvenience work on
our building site is causing you!
Software manual (original English, Back
Translation from German)
WordPerfect is backed by a customer support
system designed to offer you fast, courteous
service. If you’ve exhausted all other Help
Avenues and need a Friendly Voice to help you
with your problem, just follow these steps...
vs.
WordPerfect has established a Support Centre,
whose employees offer you competent support
with problems. If, despite the support available
to you in WordPerfect, you were not able to
solve a problem, turn to our support centre.
Preface, Perl Cookbook (Original
English, backtranslated from German)

That's what
Learning Perl, a
kinder and gentler
introduction to
Perl, is designed
for.

It is for this that
books like
Introduction to Perl
are meant.
Instruction leaflet, oven ware (original German
backtranslated into English)
Kerafour has been tested for being ovenproof in
independent testing institutes. So that you can enjoy
it for a long time, we give you some instructions for
use: 1. Never put an empty cold vessel into the
heated oven - “empty” also refers to a vessel which
is only rubbed with fat!
vs.
Kerafour oven-to-table pieces have been tested by
independent research institutes and are considered
ovenproof and micro-wave resistant. Here are a few
simple rules for using Kerafour:
Never put a cold and empty piece into the heated
oven.
ADVERTISEMENT AIR FRANCE (Translations from
French into English and German, backtranslated)
We know how hard it is for business travellers to have
to concentrate on their work while waging the eternal
battle of the armrest, so we have re-arranged the
space between our L’Espace Europe seats. Where
there used to be rows of three seats, there are now
two seats separated by a table. Your seat is now
much wider, more comfortable and the total space
more conducive to a little privacy.
Business travellers want to study their files, read
newspapers or prepare themselves quietly for a
meeting. Preferably without getting too close to the
man sitting next to them. Or the woman. This is why
we have completely re-arranged our L’Espace Europe.
Bigger, more beautiful and comfortable and above all
with very welcome space for putting things on
between the seats. For much elbow room for reading,
eating and relaxing in exactly the right distance. And
also for stimulating conversations.








FILM TITLES (Original ENGLISH-Backtranslation
from GERMAN)
Where are the children?----Limitless Suffering of a
Mother
Jack the Bear----My Dad-a totally incredible father
The Surrogate ----Murder after Birth
Whatever happened to Aunt Alice----A widow kills
softly
Silent victim ….Accusation: Abortion
Backlash…..The secret of the five graves
Shadow of the Past----The corpse in the boot
etc.



Michel Bond’s classic book “A Bear
called Paddington” in translation
An example of massive cultural filtering
in children’s literature.
Examples here backtranslated from the
German :“Paddington unser kleiner Bär”
(Mr Brown offers Paddington some cakes)
I’m sorry they haven’t any marmalade ones, but these
were the best I could get
There is nothing with marmalade
(Paddington in a shop)
Mr Gruber took Paddington into his shop and after
offering him a seat. ….
Then he pulled the little bear into the shop: „Sit
down!”
(Small Talk)
“Hallo Mrs Bird” said Judy “It’s nice to see you again.
How’s the rheumatism?” “Worse than it’s ever been”
began Mrs Bird….
(Zero-Realization in the German Translation…)
The Body Shop: Corporate Statement
(Original English, Back Translation from
German)

We consider testing
products or
ingredients on
animals morally
and scientifically
indefensible

We are of the
opinion that
experiments with
animals in the
cosmetics industry
are neither
necessary nor
morally defensible

We know that
you're unique, and
we'll always treat
you like an
individual.

We are of the
opinion that every
man or woman is
beautiful, everyone
in his or her own
way
P&G CEO Speech to students at small US
College (Original English, Back Translation
from German)
Simulation of oral impromptu talk:

I thought I’d use
my time here to
talk to you
about…



I’ll give you one
more example…
I will use the time
allotted to me to
report on...
I will report on
another case...
Congruent Presentation of states
of affairs and events

When I was first
started to put together
my remarks for today, I
asked for some input
from Dr. Amos Bradford,
who provided a broad list
of subjects he thought
you’d be interested in
hearing about:

For the preparation of
my presentation today
I asked Dr. Amos
Bradford for a few
suggestions...

After I’ve finished,
I’ll be happy to
answer any questions
you have and,
hopefully, to engage
in a bit of
conversation about
the issues we’ll raise
here this afternoon.

After my
presentation I will
gladly answer all
your questions
and talk about this
afternoon‘s topics.
Second Person Pronouns


…he provided a
broad list of
subjects he
thought you’d be
interested in
hearing about:
You’re tempted to
put off a
discussion…


..he provided me
with a long list of
topics, which he
considered
interesting…
One is tempted to
delay a
conversation...
Evaluations


And it’s important to
note that it is not just
a piece of paper…
And more positively,
governments and
other companies really
do want to deal with
companies they feel...


It is not simply a
piece of paper…
Governments and
other firms prefer to
cooperate with
companies which
act…
Multisyn Vision 2000 (Original
English, Back Translation from
German)

...obsessively
search for new
ideas, by
observing, listening
and learning from
everyone

...look for
intensive new
ideas through
observing, listening
and learning from
everyone.


I want to be part of a
company where I am
challenged to..
have unrelentingly
high expectations of
myself and others


I want to be part of
a company which
challenges me
to…
put high
expectations on
me and others
Goldsmith Corporate Statement
(Original English, Backtranslation
from German)

Our long term success
requires a total
commitment to
exceptional standards
of performance and
productivity, to
working together
effectively

Our long-term success
is only possible, if we
set ourselves
exceptional standards
of performance and
productivity, and if we
cooperate efficiently
and with all
preparedness.
Milton Meissner Letter to Sharesholders 27.12.1971
(Original English, backtranslated from German)
As you will note, we have asked that
you designate a bank (or broker) to
which your dividend certificates will be
sent. Your bank (or broker) should
indicate its confirmation of your
signature…
As you will note, we have asked you to
name a bank (or a broker) to which the
dividend certificates shall be sent. You
have to ask the bank (or the broker) to
confirm your signature…
CULTURAL FILTERING IN SCIENCE TEXTS
„HIV Vaccines: Prospects and Challenges“
Scientific American, July 1998/ Backtranslated
from German Spektrum der Wissenschaft,
October 1998

Most vaccines
activate what is
called the humoral
arm of the immune
system.


Most vaccines
activate the so-called
humoral arm of the
immune system
(after Latin humor,
liquid.
Buchbinder, S. „Avoiding Infection after HIV
Exposure“ Scientific American July 1998;
Backtranslation from German Spektrum der
Wissenschaft October 1998 „Prevention after HIV
Contact“

Treatment may reduce
the chance of
contracting HIV
infection after a risky
encounter.

An immediate
treatment after contact
reduces under certain
circumstances the
danger that the human
immuno-deficiencyvirus establishes itself
in the body.There is no
guarantee for this,
moreover new risks
arise.
Suppose you are a doctor
in an emergency room
and a patient tells you
she was raped two hours
earlier. She is afraid she
may have been exposed
to HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS but has
heard that there is a
"morning-after pill" to
prevent HIV infection.
Can you in fact do
anything to block the
virus from replicating and
establishing infection?
In the emergency room
of a hospital a patient
reports that she had
been raped two hours
ago and was now
worrying that she had
been exposed to the
AIDS-Virus. She said she
had heard that there was
an "After-Pill", which
might prevent an HIVinfection. Can the doctor
in fact do anything which
might prevent potentially
existing viruses from
replicating and
establishing themselves
permanently in the body?
M.F. Perutz, Hemoglobin structure and respiratory
transport, Scientific American, December 1978,
Backtranslated from German, February 1979
Spektrum der Wissenschaften
Hemoglobin carries oxygen from the lungs to the
tissues and helps to transport carbon dioxide back to
the lungs. It fulfils this dual role by clicking back and
forth between two alternative structures.
Hemoglobin, the substance responsible for the blood’s
red color, carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues
and facilitates the backtransport of carbon dioxide to
the lungs. The molecule fulfils this double function
because it changes between two structures. “Why the
grass is green and our blood red, are secrets which
nobody will ever know. In this dim state, poor soul,
what will you do?” (John Donne “On the soul’s
progress”)


David Hounshell, “Two Paths to the Telephone,
Scientific American”, June 1981
As Alexander Graham Bell was developing the
telephone, Elisha Gray was doing the same. Bell got
the patent, but the episode is nonetheless an
instructive example of simultaneous invention.
Back Translation from German „The Race for the
Telephone Patent“, Spektrum der Wissenschaft,
August 1981.
Independent of each other Alexander Graham Bell
and Elisha Gray handed in nearly identical
construction plans for a telephone in 1976 – but only
Bell received the patent and became rich and
famous. Gray on the other hand had misjudged the
importance of his invention and had moreover been
badly advised.
INTERVIEW with German translator of Popular
Science Texts (Scientific American/Spektrum der
Wissenschaft)
“A bit more rational strength, a bit more:
what can we really do and what do we really
know? What can we really build on? Many
popular science texts written in English, when
you translate them, you notice that they are
written totally imprecise. You consume them
in a way for your entertainment, and if you
realize that then you don’t find it so bad. But
try to get this into German! The English
language actually permits you to express
yourself much more imprecisely, then
everything is like chewing gum with a taste
of science…”
5. Global English and Cultural
Filtering

Globalisation has created a demand for texts
simultaneously meant for recipients in many
different contexts. They are either translated
covertly or produced simultaneously as
‘comparable texts’. In the past, translators
routinely applied a cultural filter. Due to the
global dominance of English, there is now a
tendency towards cultural “neutralism” - which
is in reality a drift towards (universal) AngloAmerican norms.

While Anglophone influence is amply documented
in the area of words and phrases, we know very
little about what happens at the levels of text and
context. However, investigating textual shifts from
local contexts towards pseudo-neutral Anglocontexts is an important research task.
A first step in this direction is the project “Covert
Translation” at Hamburg’s Research Center on
Multilingualism. Here we investigate Anglophone
influence on translations and comparable texts in
other languages, using quantitative and qualitative
diachronic analyses on the basis of multilingual
corpora, interviews, and ethnographic background
material.

Covert Translation Corpus
I: Primary Translation Corpus: Translations of English Texts into German,
French, Spanish (later Chinese, Persian, Arabic)
Two Genres:
Popular Science Texts
Economic Texts
-Business-/Product Information
-Letters to Shareholders
-Visions and Missions
II: Comparable Corpus: English, German, French, Spanish (later Chinese,
Persian, Arabic)
Authentic original texts in the same genres
III: Validation Corpus
1.
2.
3.
4.
Translations into English using the same genres
Interviews with Translators,Translation Commissioners, Editors
Background Documents, e.g. Business PR Materials
Press Corpus (Translation Corpus + Comparable Corpus)
International Dailies International Herald Tribune, Financial
Times, Globalized Magazines: National Geographic



The analyses show that German communicative
preferences –unlike French and Spanish ones! – have
indeed changed over the past 25 years
(Two time frames: 1978-1982 and 1999-2002; 550
texts, 800 000 words)
Particularly vulnerable are the functional categories
pronouns, conjunctions, pronominal adverbials,
mental verbs and modal particles. They trigger
changes in text norms
There is a general tendency towards colloquialisation
in German texts - where formerly a more ‘scientific’,
‘serious’ norm was the rule in popular science and
economic texts, and a cultural filter enabled German
readers to be informed in a more detached manner
rather than the entertaining person-oriented Anglomanner.. All this, it seems, is now changing.
Non-Filter Examples

Michael Rose: “Can Human Ageing be Postponed?”
Scientific American, December 1999, Backtranslated
from German March 2000 “Can Human Ageing be Held
up?” Spektrum der Wissenschaft
Anti-ageing therapies of the future will undoubtedly
have to counter many destructive biochemical
processes at once.

Effective therapies must however take up the fight
against many destructive biochemical processes
simultaneously.

Ian Tattersall: “Once we were not alone”,
Scientific American, January 2000,
Backtranslated from German, Spektrum der
Wissenschaft, March 2000
As far as can be told, these two hominids
behaved in similar ways despite anatomical
differences. And as long as they did so, they
somehow contrived to share the Levantine
environment.
As far as we can judge this, both hominids
behaved in a similar way despite all their
anatomical differences. And as long as both
stayed that way, they also succeeded in
sharing the environment in the Near East.

Hans Moravecs, “Rise of the Robots”, Scientific
American, December 1999, Backtranslation from
German Spektrum der Wissenschaften “Robots will
overtake us”January 2000
Nevertheless, I am convinced that ... By 2040, I
believe, we will finally achieve the original goal of
robotics and a thematic mainstay of science
fiction: …Why do I believe that rapid progress and
stunning accomplishments are in the offing?

Despite previous failures I am convinced that....
By 2040 we will, so I think, have finally reached
the great goal which has also been often praised in
science fiction...How do I come to be so optimistic
and believe…


Jill Tarter and Christopher Chyba „Is Life elsewhere in
the universe?” Scientific American December 1999
At a minimum we will have thoroughly explored the
most likely candidates, something we cannot claim
today. We will have discovered whether life dwells
on Jupiter’s moon Europa or on Mars. And we will
have undertaken the systematic exobiological
exploration of planetary systems…
“Is there extra-terrestral life?“ Spektrum der
Wissenschaft March 2000, backtranslated
We will at least have thoroughly examined the most
likely candidates, something we cannot yet claim
today. Until then we will for example find out
whether we will find traces of life on the Jupiter
moon Europa or on Mars. And we will have begun to
systematically and biologically investigate extrasolar
planets…


While there is then some evidence that cultural
filtering is replaced by “All-Anglo Norms”,
we cannot be sure that the dissolution of
the natural ties between texts and their local
contexts is traceable to hegemonic English via
translation processes
It might for instance be the case that the observed
changes reflect a current general (media-induced?
youth-culture conditioned?) tendency for texts to
become more colloquial, more oral, more
,personal’!

The changes in the link between text and
context can presently not be definitively
explained. Much more empirical research
is needed - with different genres, different
language pairs and larger diachronic
corpora - before plausible hypotheses can
be formulated that might explain how
global English changes the link between
texts and their local contexts.