Touring through translation studies tools: Tools as measuring instruments for the degree of institutionalization

After many centuries of translation reflection, the past 50 years have yielded much so-called scholarly research on translation. Although the variety of subfields, methods and approaches is generally considered an indication of the flourishing state of the (inter)discipline, young scholars in particular may sometimes experience Translation Studies as “an area which, because of its interdisciplinary nature, can present the inexperienced researcher with a bewildering array of topics and methodologies" (Williams & Chesterman 2002). It is inevitable for a developing discipline that the growing amount of materials will gradually lead to a growing need for knowledge structuring tools. Mainly in the last decade Translation Studies has witnessed how many new academic tools have come into being. New, sometimes overlapping, sometimes complementary historical surveys, handbooks, encyclopaedias, textbooks, dictionaries, journals, terminology sets, databases and bibliographies have been produced, all providing evidence of a maturing discipline and the related demand for (constructed or perceived) structure. In presenting findings from a case study, this paper will mainly deal with two recent tools: the online Translation Studies Bibliography (TSB, inc. yearly new releases since 2004) and the new Handbook of Translation Studies (HTS 2010, both in print and online). Both are, at least partly, based on emerging dynamic conceptual maps of the discipline. These maps can tell us a lot about conceptualizations of and the interrelationships between concepts in Translation Studies. In addition to their mapping capacities, the TSB and HTS databases contain information that can be used for bibliometrical or scientometrical analyses. More particularly, the paper presents quantitative data about categories dealing with countries and languages of publication as well as with affiliations (geographical spread). The results will be related to trends and turns in the discipline. By doing so, retrospective and prospective viewpoints on the discipline of Translation Studies can be viewed and examined in conjunction with each other.status: publishe