Butterfly effect

This research explores translation dynamics through the innovative lens of chaos theory, focusing on how the butterfly effect manifests in linguistic transfer. By challenging traditional linear translation models, the study demonstrates how seemingly minor initial conditions can generate profound, cascading interpretive consequences across textual landscapes. Adopting a complexity science perspective, among others, the research examines translations of Rumi’s Masnavi and Camus’s L’Étranger to highlight translation’s inherently nonlinear and adaptive nature. The theoretical framework integrates insights from complexity science, poststructuralist theory, and translation studies, offering a sophisticated analytical approach that moves beyond reductive binary conceptualizations. Using purposive theoretical sampling, the study traces how subtle translation choices recursively shape semantic and cultural interpretations. By emphasizing translation’s sensitivity to initial conditions, the research contributes to emerging scholarship that views translation as a complex, dynamic system characterized by intricate interactive processes. Methodologically, the study employs qualitative case analyses to reveal the profound complexity of translation.