LINGUIST List 25.1385
Sat
Mar 22 2014
Review: Translation:
Gambier & van Doorslaer (2012)
Editor for this issue:
Rajiv Rao <rajivlinguistlist.org>
Date: 07-Sep-2013
From: Marcin Walczynski
<marcinwalus
o2.pl>
Subject: Handbook of
Translation Studies
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Book announced at
http://linguistlist.org/issues/24/24-346.html
EDITOR: Yves Gambier
EDITOR: Luc van Doorslaer
TITLE: Handbook of Translation Studies
SUBTITLE: Volume 3
SERIES TITLE: Handbook of Translation Studies
3
PUBLISHER: John Benjamins
YEAR: 2012
REVIEWER: Marcin Walczynski, Wroclaw
University
SUMMARY
The third volume of the ‘Handbook of
Translation Studies’ is reviewed here as
part of a large-scale project rather than as a
book only.
The third volume of the ‘Handbook of
Translation Studies’ provides readers
with a series of up-to-date entries (in the
form of overview articles) on
selected issues in translation and
interpreting. The thematic scope of the
entries is very diversified and ranges from
rather basic and theoretical
issues of translation studies through more
practice-oriented aspects to very
up-to-date issues which evoke much debate among
translation and interpreting
specialists. Among the issues presented in the
volume are bilingualism,
translation theories, the connections between
translation studies and other
realms of language-related sciences (e.g.
sociolinguistics, text linguistics),
teaching translation, court/legal interpreting,
interpreting quality,
translation criticism, translation psychology
or translation rights.
The full list of topics discussed in the volume
is as follows: bilingualism
and translation; common grounds in translation
and interpreting (studies);
court/legal interpreting; cultural translation;
development and translation;
editorial policy and translation; equivalence;
Eurocentrism; general
translation theory; ideology and translation;
information, communication, and
translation; institutionalization of
translation studies; interdisciplinarity
in translation studies; language philosophy and
translation; media
accessibility; migration and translation;
models in translation studies’ music
and translation; national and cultural images;
postmodernism; quality in
interpreting; relay translation; representation
of translators and
interpreters; rhetoric and translation;
sociolinguistics and translation;
teaching translation/training translators;
testing and assessment in
translation and interpreting studies; text
linguistics and translation;
translation criticism; translation psychology;
translation rights.
Being the third volume of the ‘Handbook of
Translation Studies’, the book is
part of a large-scale project which has a very
interesting and novel approach
– it is published in two versions: paper and
online. Moreover, the editors
make it clear that the entries of the handbook
are continually updated and
revised. The entries in the electronic version
are additionally translated
into Arabic and the editors are considering
translating them into other
languages.
The reviewed book aims at providing as wide an
audience as possible (from
translation and interpreting scholars and
experts through M.A. and Ph.D.
students of translation and/or interpreting to
practising translators and
interpreters) through an overview of a variety
of issues. Having such an aim,
the book is written in clear, understandable
English and the majority of
concepts introduced in the entries are first
defined so that even
inexperienced readers (i.e. students) could
digest the contents.
For the purpose of the summary, all chapters
have been arbitrarily grouped in
the three above-mentioned categories: basic and
theoretical issues,
practice-oriented issues and up-to-date issues
which raise different
controversies.
The first group consists of the following
entries: “Bilingualism and
translation” (by Gregory M. Shreve), “Common
grounds in Translation and
Interpreting (Studies)” (by Nadja Grbić and
Michaela Wolf), “Cultural
translation” (by Kyle Conway), “Equivalence”
(by Alice Leal), “General
translation theory” (by Dilek Dizdar),
“Ideology and translation” (by Stefan
Baumgarten), “Information, communication,
translation” (by Roberto Valdeón),
“Institutionalization of Translation Studies”
(by Daniel Gile) ,
“Interdisciplinarity in Translation Studies”
(by José Lambert), “Language
philosophy and translation” (by Kristen
Malmkjær), “Models in Translation
Studies” (by Anrew Chesterman), “National and
cultural images” (by Luc van
Doorslaer), “Postmodernism” (by Ning Wang),
“Rhetoric and translation” (by
Ubaldo Stecconi), “Sociolinguistics and
translation” (by Sara Ramos Pinto),
“Text linguistics and translation” (by Juliane
House) and “Translation
criticism” (by Outi Paloposki). The articles in
this group deal with various
fundamental issues of translation and
interpreting studies. Some of them
explore the already classic terms and phenomena
inextricably intertwined with
translation studies (e.g. equivalence,
bilingualism or ideology in
translation) or present approaches to
translation from other angles (e.g.
philosophy, rhetoric, sociolinguistics or text
linguistics), trying to show
how other fields influence and contribute to
translation studies. Others focus
on translation studies as an institutionalized
and interdisciplinary academic
field (with journals and translation scholars’
associations), in which
translation scholars have worked out some
theories and models or have offered
criticism thereof. Generally speaking, this set
of entries provides a
significant contribution to the understanding
of the foundations of
translation and interpreting studies. Some of
these basic concepts are used in
other entries in the volume presenting more
practice-oriented or more
up-to-date aspects of translation and
interpreting.
The second group of papers included in the
reviewed volume consists of entries
presenting more practice-oriented issues. These
are: “Court/Legal
interpreting” (by Debra Russell), “Editorial
policy and translation” (by
Gisèle Sapiro), “Migration and translation” (by
Loredana Polezzi), “Quality in
interpreting” (by Sylvia Kalina), “Relay
interpreting” (Martin Ringmar),
“Representation of translators and
interpreters” (by Klaus Kaindl), “Teaching
translation /Training translators” (by Yves
Gambier) as well as “Testing and
assessment in Translation and Interpreting
Studies” (by Claudia Angelelli).
Many of these entries focus on different
aspects of interpreting (e.g.
interpreting in the court setting or
interpreting quality and its assessment).
This is particularly important as the body of
literature on interpreting is
rather meagre in comparison to literature on
translation. From these overview
articles on interpreting, the reader can
realise that this is an extremely
vital social service which facilitates
intercultural communication and which
is much more than merely a purely linguistic
process. Other articles in this
set touch upon a variety of translation-related
issues such as the translation
and book market, educating future translators
or the connections and
interdependencies between translation and
migration processes (i.e. people’s
mobility across geographic and linguistic
regions). One paper on the manners
in which the motifs of translators and
interpreters are involved in literary
plots (“Representation of translators and
interpreters”) shows that these two
activities have gained wider and wider
recognition both in literature and in
real life. On the whole, the papers grouped
under the heading of more
practice-oriented issues clearly indicate that
the awareness of the importance
of translation and interpreting and the
intricacies of the
translation/interpreting process among
communities in the world is continually
growing and that translation/interpreting comes
to the fore in facilitating
intercultural communication.
The third set of entries includes: “Development
and translation” (by Kobus
Marais), “Eurocentrism” (by Luc van Doorslaer),
“Media accessibility” (by
Aline Remael), “Music and translation” (by
Marta Mateo), “Translation
psychology” (by Riitta Jääskeläinen) and
“Translation rights” (by Salah
Basalamah). These entries could be classified
as belonging to one of the two
previously discussed groups but because they
present relatively new aspects of
translation studies which have not yet been
fully covered in scholarly
literature, they constitute a third, separate
group of entries. The topics of
these papers concern, among others issues, the
interdependencies between
translation studies and development studies,
with the latter being understood
as “(…) an interdiscipline in which economics,
political science and sociology
combine to study the phenomenon of development”
(pp. 26-27). One can see that
there are at least three major areas in which
the two disciplines interact.
Another issue covered in the entries is
Eurocentrism in translation or – in
other words – an approach to translation issues
from the European or Western
perspective. However, many scholars view this
approach as introducing certain
kinds of limitations to translation studies.
Other topics discussed in the
entries of the third group are about media,
music and audiovisual translation
(in particular, audio-description and
audio-subtitling), and access to them,
which is becoming more and more of an important
issue in translation studies.
The remaining two entries are related to
translation psychology (which deals
with a whole array of psychological aspects of
the translator’s attitude,
personality, education, etc.) and translation
rights (mostly related to
copyright of translated material). In
conclusion, the issues covered in those
papers relate to very new and up-to-date
aspects of translation and are rooted
in the newest trends in translation
practices.
EVALUATION
As mentioned above, the reviewed volume is a
carefully chosen collection of
overview articles about different aspects of
translation and interpreting. Out
of those many entries, from the reviewer’s
point of view, of paramount
importance are the following: “Common grounds
in Translation and Interpreting
(Studies)” (by Nadja Grbić and Michaela Wolf),
“Institutionalization of
Translation Studies” (by Daniel Gile), as well
as “Translation rights” (by
Salah Basalamah). The first of the three, in a
systematic way, links
translation with interpreting, even though they
are quite frequently regarded
as two separate activities. This is evident in
the discussion of the terms and
definitions which the authors of the entry
provide. Grbić and Wolf neatly show
that translation and interpreting overlap in
many respects, especially in
terms of their research methodologies and
studied topics.
The second paper “Institutionalization of
Translation Studies”, by Gile, shows
the importance of the institutionalisation of
translation studies in the form
of various professional associations, scholarly
journals, schools and research
centres. This overview article sketches the
development of translation studies
as a scholarly discipline through its academic
representations (e.g.
universities, university centres), forums for
exchanging views and opinions
(e.g. journals “The Translator”,
“Interpreting”) or societies (e.g. European
Society for Translation Studies, Canadian
Association for Translation
Studies). Of course, the presentation of major
developments within
institutions of translation studies is made
with reference to the history of
the world because events such as the
establishment of the European Union, the
opening of borders, and the increased flow of
information have indeed
contributed to the foundation of many
institutions of translation studies,
which is what is sometimes neglected in the
treatment of translation history.
This paper succinctly presents what the
institutional world of translation
studies looks like, making readers aware of the
existence of so many
professional institutions which engage in
studies on translation and
interpreting.
The third entry which the reviewer found
particularly interesting is
“Translation rights”, by Basalamah. The author
shows the links between
translation and copyright, saying that “(…)
international copyright law
resulted from the issue of translation” (p.
198). What is especially
commendable is the discussion of translation
rights in the context of
copyright, which involves references to
concepts such as intertextuality or
translator (in)visibility (i.e. the status of
the translator).
Just the three above-presented entries should
suffice to make the claim that
the volume is definitely a rich source of
information and ideas that might be
further developed within translation
studies.
As has already been stressed, the third volume
of the ‘Handbook of Translation
Studies’ has a number of merits. First of all,
the selection of themes is
praiseworthy. In the reviewed volume, the
readers can find overviews of topics
which are already well established within
translation and interpreting studies
(e.g. bilingualism, equivalence or text
linguistics and its relevance to
translation studies) as well as new concepts
which have recently emerged
within this discipline (e.g. translation rights
or translation and
interpreting testing and assessment). All of
them are presented without any
theoretical bias, which is evidenced by the
diversification of themes and
approaches to them. Such a selection is thus
consistent with the editors’ aim
of reaching as wide a target audience as
possible.
Another asset of the volume is its topicality
and the fact that its electronic
version is regularly updated and revised. In
the era of the Internet and
computer technology, when science and
scholarship become more and more
available, the electronic version of the
Handbook, which allows searching for
entries by means of cross-references (marked by
asterisks in the printed
version), among other ways, constitutes a
perfect solution for all scholars,
students and practitioners who need an updated
source of information on
different aspects of translation and
interpreting studies in English as well
as in other languages, to which the project
will also extend its resources
(e.g. Arabic, Chinese, French, German). One
might hope that the project grows
in size so that it eventually becomes one of
the most important places on the
Internet for translation and interpreting
scholars. As far as the written
version is concerned, it includes a rich
subject index which lists all entries
from all three volumes; the ones that are
included in the reviewed volume are
bolded. This is of great help for readers of
the written version, as they can
easily find cross-references and their location
in one of the three volumes.
Thirdly, the ‘Handbook of Translation Studies’
may become one of the
fundamental sources for anyone interested in
translation and interpreting
thanks to the engagement and participation of
nine prominent scholars (Cecilia
Alvstad, Claudia V. Angelelli, Dirk
Delabastita, Edwin Gentzler, Jacobus A.
Naudé, Robin Setton, Robert A. Valedón, Judy
Wakabayashi, Michaela Wolf) who
make up the International Advisory Board of the
Handbook, as well as to the
support obtained from leading universities
(Bloemfontein University, Graz
University, University of Leuven, Oslo
University, Hogeschool-Universiteit
Brussel, Oviedo University).
Fourthly, the editors are open to comments and
feedback from readers, which is
clearly stated in the “Introduction”. Such
openness might help the editors
enrich the next volumes and improve the entries
from the already published
volumes in the electronic version of the
project.
Being so commendable in so many aspects, this
volume, along with other volumes
of the ‘Handbook of Translation Studies’, is a
perfect reference and textbook
for different university courses in translation
theory and history. Not only
does it present various problems of translation
and interpreting in a coherent
and succinct manner, but it also provides
references to more detailed studies
of particular translation and interpreting
issues.
Generally speaking, the variety of the topics
discussed, the functionality of
the ‘Handbook of Translation Studies’ as a
printed and online project, as well
as the involvement of so many translation and
interpreting scholars in
providing entries for the project are all
praiseworthy. Without a doubt, this
Handbook has a chance of becoming one of the
most important sources of
information on a variety of topics from
translation and interpreting studies,
and therefore, I happily recommend it to anyone
interested in translation and
interpreting, regardless of their experience
and expertise in this field, as a
way of familiarising him/herself with this
project. It is certainly a
must-read volume for all students and beginning
translation and interpreting
scholars looking for an explanation of key
terms in translation studies or for
ideas for their own further research.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Marcin Walczynski is an Assistant Professor in
the Department of Translation Studies
of the Institute of English Studies, Wroclaw
University, Poland and lecturer in the Section
of
Business English of the Institute of Modern
Language of the University of
Applied Sciences in Nysa, Poland. His current
research interests include:
specialised languages and their teaching,
specialised (business and legal)
translation and interpreting, intercultural
communication, pidgins and
creoles.
Page Updated: 22-Mar-2014