Translation as Kintsugi

The paper aims to present an alternative perspective on translation, attempting to challenge the binary conception of source- and target-text and to use a metaphor from Japanese culture as a way to visualise the complexities of translation. Translation is seen as a potentially damaging intervention into a piece of writing or speech, but this damage can be mitigated, if not turned to our advantage, by the understanding that all translations are really contributions to a discourse, or series of discourses. It is considered fundamental to observe the process as a discursive continuum, and not a procedure that produces an end product. Another classical opposition in translation theory, that of domesticating or foreignizing translation, is taken into consideration, and a middle way is suggested between the extremes of Skopos translation on the one hand, and Venuti’s claim of visibility for translators on the other. A Kintsugi style translation will be approachable and readable, but more informative than most current translations, as alternative versions will not be concealed and the recourse to footnotes is considered a perfectly possible and acceptable policy. All of this is to be seen against the current backdrop of machine translation and the black box of AI procedures.