Axiology of Translation: a Humanitarian Perspective

Abstract

Translation is a response to the social need for interlingual communication in the context of linguistic discomfort caused by multilingualism, cultural differences and, as a consequence, situations of mutual misunderstanding. It is a tool for establishing a dialogue of cultures in the era of globalization, characterized by the intensification of multidirectional contacts, the outcome of which is ambiguous. The profession of interpreter is currently subject to serious mutations: the active development of communication technologies and widespread digitalisation, opening up broad prospects for the development and use of artificial intelligence, call into question the future demand for services provided by bilinguals and polyglots with natural human intelligence. The systemic study of the formation and functioning of value dominants in the public consciousness with regard to translation activity in the context of the transdisciplinary paradigm of translation science presupposes an approach based on axiological methodology. Appeal to the experience of predecessors makes it possible to establish the inseparable connection of translation activity with the whole life of society, the place and role of translation in the development of cultures. Appealing to the theory of values as a conceptual basis of the research is productive for revealing the cultural creative function of translation, the comprehension of which is relevant in times of socio-cultural mutations caused by the development of digitalisation and signalling the danger of humanitarian crisis.