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Chapter1
Tourywhenadvocatingtheprescriptivenatureofappliedextensionssaid,
Theyarenotintendedtoaccounteitherforpossibilitiesorlikelihoods
orforfactsofactualbehaviour,butrathertosetnormsinamoreorless
consciousway.Inbrief,totellotherswhattheyshouldhavedone
and/orshouldbedoing,iftheyacceptthesenorms(or,veryoften,the
authorityoftheirproponents)andsubmittothem(Toury1995:19).
TheprescriptiveattitudeinawayhasforyearspersistedinTS(seeWalters
2005forthecriticismoftheprescriptivebiasinTS)andithasovershad-
owedthepioneeringcallfortheinterdisciplinaryapproach.Ifithadbeen
noticedandifatrulyinterdisciplinaryefforthadbeenmadetoinvestigate
thedevelopmentoftranslationexpertise,theprescriptiveattitudemight
havegivenwaytomoreempiricallybasedresearch(seePACTE2003).
ThiswasafterallwhatHolmesappealedforwhenhesaid,“Itseemstome
thatbeforewecanknowhowtotraintranslators,wehavetoknowwhat
takesplaceinthetranslationprocess”(1988:95-96).Althoughtheeffortto
unravelalltheintricaciesofthetranslationprocesscontinuesandremains
anopenareaofinvestigationHolmes’convictionholdsvalid.
Ontheotherhand,andfrequentlyintheeyesofrepresentativesofother
disciplines(i.e.Walters2005)fromtheverybeginningTranslationStudies
hadastrongpracticalbiasandconcentratedonthepracticalitiesofprofes-
sionaltranslationwithimplicationsfortranslatortrainingprogrammes.This
practicalbias,accordingtoWalters,forexample,“mayhaveblockedorde-
layedtheinvestigationofmoretheoreticallyandempiricallychallenging
questions”(Walters2005:209).TSasadisciplinewasinterestednotinany
kindoftranslationbutinprofessionaltranslation,althoughtherestillislit-
tleagreementonwhatinfactconstitutesprofessionaltranslation(see
Shreve1997).Inconsequence,TranslationStudieswerenotinterestedin
theearlystagesoftranslationexpertisedevelopmentorinitsoriginsasa
humanskill(seechapter3onnaturaltranslators).Thedevelopmentalna-
tureoftranslationasaskill,anditsconsequencesfortranslationasaprod-
ucthavenotbeenadequatelyresearchedtodispelthecommonmisconcep-
tionsaboutthehumanabilitytotranslatediscussedearlierinthischapter.
Cronin(2005)notedthatfromthe1940sonwardsmanytranslationschools
wereestablishedbutcontrarytoexpectationscoursesfortranslatorshave
notresultedindistinctiveapproachestoteachingtranslation.Ittookfifty
yearsasCronincontinues,“itwasnotuntilthe1990s,attheendofthe
twentiethcentury,thatseriousmonographsbegantoappearwhichlooked