Editorial Preface

Translation and communication have always been closely interconnected and in dialogue with one another. Translation, which has been understood as a form of communication for as long as it has been studied academically, plays a crucial role in facilitating the exchange of ideas between languages, cultures, and communities. For as long as human communities have exchanged ideas across linguistic and cultural frontiers, the act of translation has been integral to the act of communication itself. In the current era of global interconnectedness, complex international relations, rapid technological advancement, and increased cultural mobility, the relationship between translation and communication has become more complex. Translation now plays a vital role in mediating international interactions and fostering cross-cultural understanding, especially in the context of global media convergence and technology-enhanced translation. Yet the two fields that study these phenomena, namely Translation Studies and Communication Studies, have largely developed in parallel, speaking past one another rather than to each other. The result has been a persistent gap in scholarship: a space where neither field has fully accounted for the complex, reciprocal relationship between language transfer and meaningful human exchange.