The Role of Translation in the Development of Civil Engineering Codes: Cultural Transfer of Specialized Scientific Knowledge in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century in Colombia

Abstract

ABSTRACT: A review of alternative concepts on scientific translation shows that language is an intricate system of rhetorical devices that cannot be interpreted easily. This thesis aims to explore the concept of cultural transfer in Colombia in order to shed light on the translation process within the scientific area through which the source text is manipulated; using paratextual materials such as footnotes, epigraphs, prefaces, we place particular emphasis on the context, agents, and institutions involved in the translation process. Some American and Colombian building standards and codes were selected and analyzed through a descriptive and socio-cultural perspective in which translation is articulated to study its context of production and reception, focusing on the value of cultural transfer and the dissemination of specialized knowledge. This project allows us to observe that translation is not a neutral activity and can not be studied in isolation from its contexts of production and reception, extending the notion of translation within the translation studies area and revealing that scientific discourse is not universal.