The priorities and restrictions of translation

What is it about?

The priorities and restrictions (P&R) of a translation are the goals and hurdles that vary from one translation project to the next. They can be formal or functional; textual, contextual, professional, financial, technological or social. Despite the frequency or ubiquity of certain P&R, they must be considered as variables until conclusive evidence is found to the contrary. A translation brief or project can be expressed in terms of a given set of P&R that verbalise its criteria for quality and success. However, P&R can also be used as a model to describe existing translations to discover their criteria, intentions and motivations.

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Why is it important?

Priorities and Restrictions, as a model of translation analysis, allows trainees and trainslators to justify their choices and strategies. The model can also work to analyse translations, for descriptive purposes or for critical review.