One-third of a century on: the state of the art, pitfalls, and the way ahead relating to digital humanities approaches to translation and interpreting studies

Abstract

Abstract The year 1993 represents a momentous milestone in the not-so-long history of translation and interpreting studies (TIS). The foundational paper published by Mona Baker entitled ‘Corpus linguistics and translation studies: Implications and applications’ in 1993 has signalled a defining moment in the application of digital humanities (DH) approaches in TIS. Since then, corpus-based TIS, as a most visible manifestation of DH in TIS, has come into being and is now gradually entering into maturity. Compared with the previously largely anecdotal, impressionist, and prescriptivist accounts of translation and interpreting, the incorporation of DH tools (e.g. CL) has significantly enriched TIS with new perspectives. This makes it possible for researchers to explore the various aspects of translation and interpreting in a more objective and systematic way, drawing on real-world data. Now one-third of a century has passed since the publication of Baker’s seminal paper, DH-inspired studies of translation and interpreting are in full swing. As we are reaching the 30-year mark of the influential publication, it is important for us to take stock of the previous achievements and look to the future both with pride and a cool head. In this article, we trace the developments of a DH approach to TIS and present the state of the art, before discussing some of the limitations and pitfalls and the road ahead going forward.