Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
BOOK REVIEWS
ILHA DO DESTERRRO
228 Reviews/Resenhas
Reviews/Resenhas 229
(Antwerp) and the European Society for features that set it apart as a discipline in
Translation Studies (EST) (cf. its own right? Would greater disciplinary
www.benjamins.com/online/tsb) aim- integration be a gain or a loss?
ing at the construction of a conceptual
The twenty-two papers are grouped into
tree so as to capture diversity in theo-
five main sections, namely: Section One:
retical and methodological orientations
The Nature of Translation; Section Two:
in TS. In Brazil, concerted efforts have
Translation in National Context; Section
been made by members of the TS branch
Three: Descriptive Translation Studies;
of the Associao Nacional de Ps-
Section Four: Computer-Aided Trans-
Graduao e Pesquisa em Letras e
lation; and finally, Section Five: Inter-
LingsticaANPOLL (National As-
preting Studies.
sociation of Graduate Studies and Re-
search in Letters and Linguistics) to- A highlight in Section One is von Flotows
wards mapping the different manifes- article Dis-Unity and Diversity, which
tations of the discipline in the national details the growth of feminist approaches
context (see Pagano & Vasconcellos, to TS. This paper is in tune with the pro-
2003 and Pagano & Vasconcellos, posal of the volume in that it does not
2004 (cf. www.unibero.edu.br/ shy away from charting the lines of
spw_3ciati_en.asp). antagonism and tension that separate
the different feminist theoreticians of
In this context, neither celebrating dif-
translation (p. vii). As the author ar-
ference per se nor ignoring the core con-
gues, dis-unity and diversity are a de-
cerns of TS and attempting to avoid
sirable outcome of any theoretical en-
practising, as they say, our own forms
deavour and factors leading to highly
of exclusion (p. v), the editors of this
productive work in the area. The paper
volume bring together contributions
by Susan IngramTranslation, Auto-
from such diverse fields as machine
biography and Bilingualismcon-
translation, interpreting, feminist theory,
trasts the experiences of Alice Kaplan
computer-assisted translation, advertis-
and Eva Hoffman, bilingual authors for
ing, literature, linguistics, screen trans-
whom writing is an act of translation;
lation and translation pedagogy (areas
though contrastedfor Kaplan, living
often addressed in separate volumes)
in translation is a privilege, whereas
collected in the same book, whose cover
for Hoffman it is more of a cross to
illustration pictures Nicolas Frances St.
bear (p. 21) , their experiences are
Jerome in his Cellthe unifying symbol
discussed under the concensus of the
of the contributions. Throughout the
productive energy of multiple roles and
book there is evidence of its concern with
identities.
the merits of unity and the virtues of di-
versity (p. vii), discussed in relation to In Section TwoTranslation in National
questions such as: Does Translation Stud- Contextvoices from Japan (Wakabayashi),
ies have a number of core distinguishing India (St. Pierre), Hungary (Sohr) and
Reviews/Resenhas 231
Scotland (Brown & Sherlock) displace the goals of Translation Studies (46).
TS from centers of prestige, bringing to Wakabayashis article speaks from the
the fore research carried out in periph- Japanese context, discussing the degrees
eral locations. Although these authors of acceptance of adaptation of Chinese
write from diffferent cultural perspec- texts translated into Japanese. The au-
tives and different languages, the issues thor focuses on what is called non-pro-
of power relationships between cultures totypical methods of rendering foreign
and languages and of the context of pro- texts into a form comprehensible to Japa-
duction and reception of translations is nese readers (57), favoring adaptations
a common denominator. Against this as a stimulus for the creative activities
background, translation decisions are of writers/translators. Finally, OConnell
found to be taken in relation to the as- addresses screen translation (dubbing
sumed expectations (either complied and subtitling) in the European scenario,
with or subverted) of the target audi- locating the reflexions on the reasons for
ence. In some cases, it seems more ap- choosing one mode or another within lin-
propriate to adapt translated texts to guistic, economic and political contexts.
the environment of the target culture, as Audience preferences for particular
with the translation of the Greek myth modes of screen translation, it is argued,
of Antigone into contemporary Welsh or are not unalterable and might be trans-
Scots (Brown and Sherlock); at other formed by familiarization with other al-
times, it seems more appropriate to cre- ternatives (70).
ate a system of fictitious (pseudo-)
Section Three is projected from the very
translations in order to establish and
core of the discipline, by presenting three
promote a new genre, as with the trans-
studies carried out within an established
lations of science fiction and fantasy in
paradigm in TS, namely Descriptive
Hungary, where this particular genre
Translation Studies (DTS). Kovacic pre-
does not exist (Sohrs argument). St.
sents some descriptive work based on
Pierre argues for the contextualization
Hallidays model of functional linguis-
of any discussion of translation in his-
tics, thus contributing to forward an in-
torical, geographical and political terms,
terface which is becoming more and more
writing about translation in the
explored in TSthat between TS and
postcolonial context of the plurilingual
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)
reality of modern India. He puts for-
(see Pagano & Vasconcellos 2005). Along
ward the argument that the close ex-
somewhat different lines, Schffner, Pe-
amination of the relations between lan-
ters & Picchi and Laviosa claim the rel-
guages and between communities
evance of corpora for studies in the de-
through an investigation of translation
scriptive branch of the discipline. We
strategies can make it possible to show
may pause here to consider a weakness
locations of power in a concrete manner,
of this book. While the statements con-
which, he claims, seems to be one of
cerning the contribution of CBTS to the
232 Reviews/Resenhas
descriptive branch of the discipline are translators in the years to comeby high-
generally interesting and convincing, the lighting the importance of shared trans-
specific issue of the introduction of cor- lation memories as a form of guarantee-
pora in TS is left underexplored as it is ing consistency. Heyn brings the user
subsumed under the heading of the the outside the software sector into the
section, namely, Descriptive Translation scene, discussing topics that are emerg-
Studies. Although it is an established ing with the growing use of translation
fact that translation theorists (e.g. memories, such as authoring, the way
Holmes 1988; Toury 1980) have been translators see themselves, the way
calling for a more empirical basis for their translators formulate texts, translation
discipline and that electronic corpora can rates and copyright issues. Along simi-
provide large quantities of easily acces- lar lines, Merkel presents a study of trans-
sible data that can be used to study lators attitudes as regards consistency
translation, not all descriptive work is and variation in technical translations.
corpus-based (as is the case with Schlers article, in turn, addresses the
Kovacics article) and not all corpus- tension between the traditional profes-
based studies claim affiliation to DTS. sional values and reference systems in
The relevance of CBTS could have been the field and the new objectives of trans-
demonstrated much more forcibly had lation technology, by arguing for a
the editors given more attention to this change in the translators professional
new paradigm in a section of its own mind-set and the integration of transla-
and drawn more extensively on work in tion technology at all levels of TS courses.
this connection. Finally, Bennett reverts the usual criti-
cism about MT by putting forward the
Technology and computer-aided trans-
argument that MT can be seen not only
lation are explored in Section Four, a
as a purely engineering enterprise but
more practical segment of the collection,
also as an analogue of Human Transla-
in that it addresses issues connected with
tion (HT), to which it can be compared
the applied branch of the discipline,
in at least three aspects: input relations,
namely translators education and the
knowledge and processing.
technological resources available to the
practitioner. Aspects of the Software Finally, Section Fivein tune with the
Localization Industry are discussed by editors attempt not to practice their
OBrien; Translation Memories (TM) are own forms of exclusionis dedicated
taken up by Heyn and Merkel; Machine to an area generally discussed in special
Translation (MT) is addressed by conferences and disseminated in sepa-
Schler, while MTs interface with Hu- rate volumes, that of Interpreting Stud-
man Translation is tackled by Bennett. ies (IS). Three studies are presented:
OBrien argues for the benefits of Com- Pchhacker, in a manner similar to von
puter-Aided Translation (CAT)which Flotows article, carries out a concep-
will inevitably touch the lives of most tual discussion by examining the place
Reviews/Resenhas 233
of IS within the conceptual map of TS, ality of our concerns (v). Of course, the
while Tommola & Helev and decision as to what to include in and
Vuorikoski explore a more practical side exclude from a collection such as this
of interpretation in two case studies. has to be made, on whatever grounds
Pchhacker tackles what he calls the and whatever the decision, there are ob-
battle of paradigms within IS due to vious consequences. One may argue, for
the intrinsic diversity of its object of example, that the editors may have
study: the author suggests that the in- missed an opportunity to demonstrate
terpreting research community should diversity by bringing other areas into the
not push for greater uniformity of meth- discussion, such as process-oriented
odological approach but instead turn its translation studies, intersemiotic trans-
diversity into a strength by discovering lation, or court interpreting, just to name
new relationships and links, thus rein- a few. However, judging from the 30
forcing the communitys sense of unity (thirty) categories suggested by the
and internal coherence (169). Tommola online Bibliography of Translation Stud-
& Helev explore the applied branch of ies and Translation Studies Abstracts
IS by investigating the effects of lan- (see http://www.stjerome.co.uk), what
guage direction and source text com- is presented in this volume reflects the
plexity on trainee performance in simul- current state of Translation Studies, par-
taneous interpreting. Still along the ap- ticularly in what refers to the interdisci-
plied line, Vuorikoski presents the results plinary nature and the identity crisis
of an empirical study which discusses of this young academic discipline.
parameters for quality criteria by inves-
tigating user responses to simultaneous References
interpreting; the importance of clear defi-
nition of the overall communicative con-
text and collaboration between all the www.benjamins.com/online/tsb
parties involved is emphasized. w w w. i a t i s . o rg / c o n t e n t / k o re a /
However important all these individual programme.php
articles are and however valuable the http://www.stjerome.co.uk
overview of the current state of affairs
in TS they offer, the primary value of the Holmes, J. S. (1972/1988) The Name
book lies beyond the sum of its constitu- and Nature of Translation Studies.
ent parts: it lies in the interdisciplinary In: Translated Papers on Literary
conversation it brings about. Unity in Translation and Translation Studies.
diversity is promoted not as a mere jux- Amsterdam: Rodopi..
taposition without shape (vi) but rather
as suggestive of the complexities of TS,
in which celebrating our differences
does not entail denigrating the common-
234 Reviews/Resenhas