Translation during the Renaissance period.

The Renaissance period which began in the 14^th century in Italy was marked by great discoveries and inventions, the most significant of which was the invention of the moving printing press by the German J. Gutenberg in the middle of the 15^th century (1435). There appeared a quick growth of the number of readers in Western European countries. This demand in its turn called an increase in translation activity. Translation began to be performed not only from classic languages but also from and into new European languages. Translating started almost at one and the same time in France, Germany, and England.

Certainly the greatest achievement of the Renaissance period was the translation of the Bible into several West European national languages. The first to appear was the German Bible in Martin Luther’s translation (1522–1534), not strictly word-for-word, but faithfully sense-to-sense. It was followed in 1534 by the faithfully English translation of the Holy Book by William Tyndale.