Polysystem Theory and Translation (Even-Zohar)
Itamar Even-Zohar proposed that a culture's literature is a polysystem: a stratified set of systems competing for the centre. Translated literature is one such system, and its position is not fixed.
Central or peripheral
Translated literature occupies the centre of the polysystem when the host literature is young, peripheral, or in crisis. Translators then innovate, importing new forms. It occupies the periphery when the host literature is established and self-sufficient. Translators then conserve, conforming to existing norms.
Why this matters for AI translation
The same source text translated into Modern Hebrew in 1920 and into Modern English in 2026 lands in two very different polysystem positions, and the right strategy differs accordingly. AI cannot read polysystem position from text alone; the brief carries that information into the pipeline.
Further reading: Toury norms, cultural turn.