Exploring the Implications of Complexity Thinking for Translation Studies

Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book illustrates how complexity thinking concepts can give insight in understanding why neural machine translation is so efficient, but unable to completely unravel the (human) translation process. It discusses the linear, reductionist thinking that is omnipresent in Western scholarship in general, and translation studies in particular. The book examines the possibilities of aligning translation studies to the latest developments in digital humanities, pointing out that translation studies is vastly underrepresented in digital humanities. It sets out to consider the relationship between complex systems and narrative universes, arguing that multimodal texts redefine some of translation studies’ key concepts. In all fields of study that use complexity theory, philosophy or thinking, one could find these basic tenets.