Indirect Translation: A Necessity or a Last Resort?

Abstract

UNESCO recommends that as a general rule, translations should be made from the original work. Nonetheless, indirect translations, i.e., translations of translations, are still quite common around the world and count as one of the prerequisites of so-called world literature. In this paper, the main reasons for indirect translations are discussed and several translations of that sort are mentioned, Icelandic as well as international. The main focus of the article is, however, on the problematics of indirect translations, such as how the approach of the translator can shape the indirect translation and lead for instance to foreignization or domestication. Finally, the author asks whether indirect translations are justifiable in this day and age and comes to the conclusion that they are inevitable for small languages such as
Icelandic. As literary texts they need not be inferior to direct translations either.