Die Leipziger übersetzungswissenschaftliche Schule, das Tschechische und perzeptive Translatologie avant la lettre

Following an overview of both the history of translator and interpreter training in Leipzig and of the Leipzig School of translation, this article first discusses the gaps and deficiencies in the reception of the Leipzig School of translation before showing that this criticism was often unjustified and due to a lack of knowledge of the texts produced by the School in question. In the following, two aspects are examined in more detail: the question of the understanding of Sprachmittlung ‘linguistic mediation’ and Translation ‘translation and interpreting’, i.e. a terminological and conceptual view that reveals the apparently inadequate understanding of key texts of the Leipzig School by many of the authors who criticised it; finally, an exemplary examination of one of the key texts (Jäger 1975) allows for its innovative capacity to be brought to light.