The Role of Translation in Contemporary Catalan Culture

Abstract

Since the late nineteenth century, the translation of foreign literature into Catalan has been an important part of Catalan culture. From the Transition onwards, this practice has taken on a wider function as it has become a part of institutionalized attempts to promote the Catalan language and culture both within Catalonia and Europe. This article uses current theories of how translation functions within a culture in order to deal with three issues which have arisen from this situation: the motivation and mechanisms behind translation into Catalan; quality as a factor in translation; and the implications of Catalan attempts to promote translation of Catalan literature into other languages.