Tradurre le microlingue scientifico-professionali. Riflessioni teoriche e proposte didattiche,

The papers collected in the book editet by P. Mazzotta & L. Salmon are devoted to the relationship between translation theory and translation teaching. Authors of different linguistic and theoretical fields propose their own reflection on the so called LSP (“languages for specific purposes”) with reference to their solid experience both as scholars and university teachers. In chapter two Salmon presents her own epistemic analysis of the concept of LSP itself, which is closly related to the very complex and tricky concept of “textual typology”. The main idea is that a binary opposition of expressive versus scientific texts is always naïve and reveals a poor comprehention of the connection between “text typology” and the often very complex reception context. The last can trigger a drastic shift in the text tipology. This fact should be well known in considering the deontological postulates of both the translating project and the following process. In this chapter is argumented the claim that no text as a physical object cointains discrete elements sufficient to infere a “pure typology”. In a text there is eventually a sum of different verbal features which, depending on the overall contex (intended as the interrelation of wh- factors), suggest that a dominant is to be found (cf. Jakobson). The dominant function of the source text is then considered the guideline for a consistent translation project leading to an f-equivalent target text.