Article published in:
Transnational Image Building: Linking up Translation Studies, Reception Studies and Imagology
Edited by Paola Gentile, Fruzsina Kovács and Marike van der Watt
[Translation Spaces 10:1] 2021
► pp. 161–180

Assisting translations in border crossing

An analysis of the Traducta translation grants in Estonia

| University of Tartu University of Tartu
| University of Tartu University of Tartu | KU Leuven KU Leuven | Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University | South China Business College Guangdong University of Foreign Studies South China Business College Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
This contribution explores the position of translation policy and its connection to translation flows in translation studies research. Power relationships (among languages, cultures, etc.) are essential when assessing and interpreting translation flows. Despite the hyper-centrality of English, other countries and language areas develop cultural policies to export their own literature through translation. The case study furnished here deals with the state agents responsible for the literary translation policy of Estonia, viz., the Estonian Literature Centre and the Traducta translation grants of the Estonian Cultural Endowment (Eesti Kultuurkapital). The statutes of the Traducta program, including the selection criteria, express an instrumental view on translation that is partly in conflict with the findings of modern translation studies. The data on the awards of the Traducta program not only confirm that the publishing of a translation often depends on the additional financial support for the program, but also highlight the significant differences between different target language areas, in a complex interplay of economic factors with elements of cultural image-building and geographical proximity.
Keywords: translation policy, translation flows, sociology of translation, export of literature, centre/periphery
Article outline
  • Translation policy and translation flows
  • The Estonian Literature Centre and the Traducta program
  • Analysis of Traducta data
  • Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 01 June 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.20036.loo
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