Traduction et transmission des savoirs dans les ressources de vulgarisation scientifique
Abstract
Designed as a discursive practice whose origins date back to the seventeenth century, the popularization
of science today is becoming more and more the preferred strategy for the transmission of knowledge
and learning of science. Nowadays it uses all the means offered by the mass media, including the
magazines, who still maintain their dominant role in this great communication operation.
We propose here to analyze the role of the translator in the practice of popularization of science,
by taking as our corpus the translations in French and Italian of eleven articles of the journal “Scientific
American”. In this perspective, a reflection on the current status of popularization of science
seems necessary: our goal is to highlight the choices and strategies used by the translator, considered a
“fourth man” involved in this discursive practice.