The Vanishing Original

This article addresses the fundamental changes that are taking place today in many practical translation contexts and processes, namely the changed relationship between the so-called ‘original’ and its translations. This relationship has always been more problematic than translation theory has been willing to accept, but today there are so many instances in which there is no ‘original’ in the traditional sense and, even when there is one, its claim to being the ‘original’ is often elusive and doubtful. This is exempli ed in numerous modern texts, possibly the majority of those read in the West in everyday life. They span linguistic transfers between one language pair to transfers involving numerous languages. They range from labels on food and other goods in shops and modest tourist brochures to important legal documents in the European Union.