Literary Exophonic Translation

This Element examines literary translation into a non-native language (L2), challenging the monolingual bias in translation studies. It advocates for an exophonic, multilingual approach to L2 translation, drawing on sociolinguistics and translation history, and explores how this shift can reshape the study and practice of translation.

This Element explores literary translation into a non-native language (L2 translation), investigating how it has been regarded by translation studies, particularly in the anglophone context. L1 directionality (into the translator's L1) remains the norm in the literary translation world, reflecting a systemic bias against the multilingual subject and towards the monolingual. In a post-monolingual paradigm, the notion of a mother tongue has become increasingly problematic. What are the implications of this for directionality in translation? Studies on L2 translation still focus on and privilege the native speaker. Applying the notion of exophony (i.e., writing in a foreign language) to translation (in what is termed exophonic translation), this Element draws on insights from sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, translation history, and translator studies to lay the groundwork in advocating for an exophonic, multilingual turn in translation studies. To what extent can this change the way L2 translation is approached and studied?