Translation Solutions for Many Languages: Histories of a flawed dream

Description

Many "translation solutions" (often called "procedures," "techniques," or "strategies") have been proposed over the past 50 years or so in French, Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, English, Spanish, German, Japanese, Italian, Czech, and Slovak. This book analyzes, criticizes and compares them, proposing a new list of solutions that can be used in training translators to work between many languages. The book also traces out an entirely new history of contemporary translation studies, showing for example how the Russian tradition was adapted in China, how the impact of transformational linguistics was resisted, and how scholarship has developed an intercultural metalanguage over and above the concerns of specific national languages. The book reveals the intensely political nature of translation theory, even in its most apparently technical aspects. The lists were used to advance the agendas of not just linguistic nationalisms but also state regimes - this is a history in which Hitler, Stalin, and Mao all played roles, Communist propaganda and imperialist evangelism were both legitimized, Ukrainian advances in translation theory were forcefully silenced in the 1930s, the Cold War both stimulated the application of transformational grammar and blocked news of Russian translation theory, French translation theory was conscripted into the agenda of Japanese exceptionalism, and much else.

Anthony Pym is Professor of Translation and Intercultural Studies and coordinator of the Intercultural Studies Group at the Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona, Spain. He is also President of the European Society for Translation Studies, a fellow of the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, Visiting Researcher at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and Professor Extraordinary at Stellenbosch University.

A fascinating journey through the global history of an idea, recounted with a wide-ranging erudition, a critical eye and a delightful wit. Key contributions, some of which may be unfamiliar to many readers, are neatly deconstructed and richly contextualized. The book marks a milestone in our evolving understanding of what "translation" can mean. -- Andrew Chesterman, Professor Emeritus of Multilingual Communication, University of Helsinki, Finland This book really bridges the gap between translation theory and practice. On the theoretical side, this book is the first to bring together the various scholarly insights on translation studies that have been made over centuries, under different regimes, in different parts of the world, and in different languages. On the other hand this book is also a tool to help academics train translators better in many languages, using the scholarly insights mentioned. Therefore this publication will be invaluable for every translation scholar who also teaches practical translation. -- Ilse Feinauer, Professor in Translation Studies and Afrikaans Linguistics, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa