Translation Studies have traditionally been known to be interdisciplinary. What better term to
sum this up than boundaries? A term that means different things in different fields and can be
applied to a multitude of topics. Political personal symbolic or professional boundaries
boundaries of the mind as found in psychology or boundaries in the sociological sense where
they separate different fields of knowledge. From politics to geography boundaries are
everywhere. They need to be identified drawn or overcome-depending on circumstances and
context. What are the boundaries translators and interpreters have to deal with? How do they
relate to Translation Studies in general? Boundaries and translation go hand in hand. As the
discipline grows and ever more elements of interdisciplinarity come into play the more the
question of what the boundaries of translation are needs to be asked. Some of the research
topics presented in this collection may well extend the boundaries of the discipline itself
while others may look at the constraints and limits under which translators and translations
operate or showcase the role translation and interpreting play in overcoming social or
political boundaries. It is with this in mind that the group of young researchers presented in
this book has come together to create an overview of current research in Translation Studies.
The papers offer insights into the state of the discipline in various nations often touching
on under-researched topics such as the role of translation in the creation of national as well
as individual identities or the translation of popular music. They look at the role of culture
and more specifically sociocultural influences on translation. At the same time
non-linguistic intra- and extratextual factors are taken into account with particular
attention to multimodality. What unites the papers collected is the general tendency to see
translation as a means of bringing people together and enabling dialog a means of overcoming
ideological and social boundaries. By looking both to the past and the future of the discipline
the authors aim to (re)define the boundaries of Translation Studies.
