ArticleOpen Access http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2026.05.011
Tracing the Evolution: A Historical Analysis of Translation Studies from Ancient Times to the Present
Tajwar Ali, Haseena Sultan*
School of Liberal Arts, Qilu Institute of Technology, Jinan 272000, Shandong, China.
*Corresponding author: Haseena Sultan
Qilu Institute of Technology University Level Talent Program (Project number: QIT24TPO32).
Published: May 29,2026
Abstract
Translation studies have played an important role in mediating the transfer of messages among societies. This research carefully investigates the nature of the historical development of translation from its previous beginnings to the present, with the aim of joining the traditional practices with the modern theoretical methods. It uses a historical-analytical and comparative framework to check a range of sources, from ancient manuscripts to contemporary scholarship, in order to trace key methods and transformations in translation practices. The findings show that translation has undergone huge changes shaped by cultural, political, and technological developments. These include a gradual movement from literal translation toward more interpretative approaches, the standardizing influence of the printing press, and the recognition of translation as an academic discipline in the twentieth century. The research suggests that translation extends beyond linguistic transfer to encompass broad cultural and intellectual dimensions, pinpointing the importance of multi-disciplinary perspectives and historical awareness in contemporary research. The study reaffirms the central role of translation in cultural and intellectual development and points to the growing importance of exploring the interaction between human translators and machine translation systems in future research.
Keywords
Evolution; historical analysis; translation studies
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Copyright
© 2026 by the author(s).
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not modified or adapted.
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How to cite this paper
Tracing the Evolution: A Historical Analysis of Translation Studies from Ancient Times to the Present
How to cite this paper: Tajwar Ali, Haseena Sultan. (2026) Tracing the Evolution: A Historical Analysis of Translation Studies from Ancient Times to the Present. Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, 10(5), 572-576.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2026.05.011