Abstract:

With cross-cultural interaction between local knowledge and global knowledge as its fundamental rationale, and with knowledge and culture synthesized in this conception, Transknowletology, proposed by Yang Feng, integrates “knowledge” in the ontological sense into Translatology, thereby constructing a fundamentally and ultimately knowledge-centered translation theory whose major inquiry focuses on “knowledge translation” and “translated knowledge” essentially in the framework of translation studies. If it should develop following the path of “studies of knowledge translation”, the term “knowledge translation studies”, therefore, may serve as its proper name. If it develops as knowledge-rooted-and-centered translation studies, as it is intended, Transknowletology may be its possible, if not the best, name. By virtue of the naming of “Transknowletology” per se, a series of new concepts or discourses can be reversely constructed, such as “knowledge glocalization”, the “scissors differential of knowledge”, “knowledge impact”, “knowledge-culture entanglement”, the “ripple effect of knowledge”, and the “knowledge translation paradox”, thus enriching and empowering the theory in question. A complete, mature Transknowletology necessitates a proper definition of “knowledge”, the establishment of translation criteria, the organic synthesis of newly constructed concepts and discourses, self-introspection with “others” as frames of reference, and engagement in global scholarship through discourse featuring “comparative glocalism”. These endeavors may enrich and even reshape global translation studies.

Key words: Transknowletology, naming, interpretation, concept construction