A Paradigmatic Turn in Recent Translation Reception Study: Toward an Empirical Trend

Abstract

In translation reception study, a rudimentary sub-field in Translation Studies (TS) with controversial accounts and views, several paradigmatic turns have brought about refreshing insights and promoted the heated issues to move beyond extant disciplinary boundaries and restrictions. This paper first presents a brief overview of how the recent decades have witnessed a proliferation of paradigmatic turns in TS in terms of cultural, sociological, technical, economic, and cognitive thought and practice. By mapping translation reception study into a digital-driven setting, I attempt to expound the changes, reforms, and fashions in current research scope and academic foci, and contribute to a viable outlook on prospective research regarding theoretical models, readership, and diachrony. Toward an empirical trend, plausible exploratory and explanatory solutions are likely to unravel the secret of how global translation products circulate and how they are received by target audiences, readers, or users.