Bringing the history of fashion up-to-date; towards a model for temporal adatation in translation.

Abstract: In cultural adaptation, the translator has a solid theoretical ground to stand upon; scholars have elaborated strategies that are helpful to this effect. However, there is little research, if any, to rely upon in the matter of temporal adaptation. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap. The primary data used in this translational study consists of an English source text that was published in 2008 and the resulting target text, translated to Swedish in 2012. Hence, in order for the target text to function in its time, there was a four-year long time gap to fill with accurate and relevant data and in a style that would not deviate from the author’s original intentions; the target text needed to be temporally adapted. In what follows, I will suggest a set of strategies for temporal adaptation. The model is elaborated with strategies for cultural adaptation as a starting point and based upon measures taken to relocate the target text to 2012. The suggested strategies are time bridging, updating, adjustment and omission. These four strategies make up the model that I put forward to bridge the theoretical gap that seems to prevail in the matter of temporal adaptation. However, considering that the data used in this study was relatively limited, the applicability of the strategies may be the scope of future studies.