ABSTRACT
Translation is seldom, if ever, a value-free event. All decisions pertaining to this event – from the choice of text to be translated right down to the specific techniques applied in the verbal transfer itself – are at least partially governed by extra-textual factors. Chief among these is the milieu; that is, the social, cultural and political environment in which the translator and his/her work are located. This ultimately boils down to how the translator positions his/herself vis-à-vis the original author and work, which in large part is dictated by higher-level discourses or metanarratives circulating within the general culture in question. In other words, the nature of any given product of translation is contingent upon the identity and ideology of its translator.
