Localization in translation theory and practice: historical and cultural view (the case of fiction adaptation)

The paper deals with the concept of localization and historical prerequisites of its use within the field of translation studies. We show that the sphere of localization techniques use is not limited by computer-mediated products but spreads on purely linguistic procedures of text adaptation as well. Since today there is no consensus among researchers and translators about the status of localization in the modern translation studies, we make an attempt to clarify the role and relevance of this term for the theory and practice of translation using the examples of fiction adaptation. The research is based on the material of a number of original and translated poetry works, including plays by W. Shakespeare and poems by Robert Burns, Ivan Krylov and Walter Scott. It is shown that the techniques of linguocultural adaptation used by translators in the 18th – 19th centuries are in fact those peculiar of the modern localization process. This fact proves the terminological value of the concept under study as the one denoting a certain type of translation activity which implies communicative equivalence and vague ties between the two texts. The considered examples of free translation of fiction prove that the process of localization is conditioned by literary and translational traditions, in particular, by the conception of free translation, which focused on the popularization of foreign works and a given ideological impact.