Beyond the Horizon (The Linguist Winter 2023)

Translators of popular science are, in a sense, translating a translation. Scientists speak a dialect of their own, with both terminology specific to their field of inquiry and a broader idiom shared by the community as a whole. Science communicators approach their subject matter with many of the same basic problems as translators: How can I ensure the audience of my popular science article understands the content the same way a scientist understands the content of a peer-reviewed paper? How do I account for cultural differences in the meaning of fundamental concepts, like what knowledge is, what it means to be authoritative or how criticism is expressed? Where do I position my text on the spectrum ranging from accessible-but-fluffy to faithful-but-incomprehensible?

Thanks to The Linguist for inviting me to write for their 2023 winter edition! Click here to see the issue.