ABOUT BOOK

When a text is translated into another language and leaves its previous linguistic, cultural and social context, it also leaves its old audience behind. The new audience ~the text now faces has its own set of requirements, which may only partly ~overlap with those of the original audience. The task of bridging the gap between ~old and new audiences and appealing to the latter falls to the translator. ~In the field of medieval Arabic medicine, an abundance of extant medical translations ~allows us to document how translators attempted to appeal to their audience ~and how they took the immediate practical needs of their readers into account. ~This chapter presents samples from this material and illustrates the insights it can ~provide into the relationship between the translator and his audience.