The search for general laws and regularities in Translation Studies gained new momentum in the 1990s when Baker (1993) promoted the use of large electronic corpora as research tools for exploring the linguistic features that render the language of translation different from the language of non-translated texts. By comparing a corpus of translated and non-translated English texts, Baker and her research team put forward the hypothesis that translated texts are characterized by some “universal features”, namely simplification, explicitation, normalization and levelling-out. The purpose of this study is to test whether simplification, explicitation and normalization apply to Italian translations of children’s books. In order to achieve this aim, a comparable corpus of translated and non-translated works of classic fiction for children has been collected and analysed using Corpus Linguistics tools and methodologies. The results show that, in the translational subcorpus, simplification, explicitation and normalization processes do not prevail over the non-translational one. Therefore, it is suggested that the status of translated children’s literature in the Italian literary “polysystem” (Even-Zohar, 1979, 1990) and, from a general viewpoint, all the cultural, historical and social conditions that influence translators’ activities, determine translation choices that can also tend towards processes different from those proposed by Baker.

Normalization in Translation: Corpus-based Diachronic Research into Twentieth-century English–Chinese Fictional Translation provides a comprehensive description of translation norms in two different historical contexts in twentieth-century China. Drawing on a corpus methodology, this book adopts a socio-historical approach to translation studies from a diachronic perspective, comparing translated and non-translated fictional texts from two historical periods to systematically explore the variation of normalization across time, and to highlight the social significance of translation activities by contextualizing the research results. The book includes detailed discussions of diachronic corpus construction, linguistic manifestations of normalization, changes in translation norms, and socio-cultural constraints for these changes. It expands the scope of previous studies and shows how translation studies can benefit from the use of a corpus methodology by providing an explanation, not simply a description, of how changes in translation behavior have come about. This book will be of interest to students on courses in translation and intercultural studies, as well as researchers interested in the areas of translation studies, corpus linguistics and contrastive studies of English and Chinese.

Acts as a one-volume resource, providing an introduction to every aspect of corpus linguistics as it is being used at the moment.

To go “beyond” the work of a leading intellectual is rarely an unambiguous tribute. However, when Gideon Toury founded Descriptive Translation Studies as a research-based discipline, he laid down precisely that intellectual challenge: not just to describe translation, but to explain it through reference to wider relations. That call offers at once a common base, an open and multidirectional ambition, and many good reasons for unambiguous tribute. The authors brought together in this volume include key players in Translation Studies who have responded to Toury's challenge in one way or another. Their diverse contributions address issues such as the sociology of translators, contemporary changes in intercultural relations, the fundamental problem of defining translations, the nature of explanation, and case studies including pseudotranslation in Renaissance Italy, Sherlock Holmes in Turkey, and the coffee-and-sugar economy in Brazil. All acknowledge Translation Studies as a research-based space for conceptual coherence and creativity; all seek to explain as well as describe. In this sense, we believe that Toury's call has been answered beyond expectations.

Mona Baker is one of the leading figures in the development of translation studies as an academic discipline. This book brings together fifteen of her most influential articles, carefully selected and grouped under three main topics that represent her most enduring contributions to the field: corpus-based translation studies, translation as renarration and translators in society. These applications and approaches have been widely adopted by translation scholars around the globe. The first section showcases Baker’s pioneering work in introducing corpus linguistics methodologies to the field of translation studies, which established one of the fastest growing subfields in the discipline. The second section focuses on her application of narrative theory and the notion of framing to the study of translation and interpreting, and her contribution to demonstrating the various ways in which translators and interpreters intervene in the negotiation of social and political reality. The third and final section discusses the role of translators and interpreters as social and political activists who use their linguistic skills to empower voices made invisible by the global power of English and the politics of language. Tracing key moments in the development of translation studies as a discipline, and with a general introduction by Theo Hermans and section introductions by other scholars contextualising the work, this is essential reading for translation studies scholars, researchers and advanced students.

Although the bridge-building metaphor is undoubtedly a legitimate way of approaching most forms of mediation, there is increasing evidence in the literature that this is not always the case. The scenario in which mediation operates is much more complex and it is one in which mediators’ compliance or resistance to contextual and socio-cultural factors and prevailing norms in a given point in history play a major role. Attention is increasingly being focussed on the nature of the rewritings they produce and on how their agency is made manifest. This holds true for rewritings that take place within the same language, across language boundaries and in the growing area of audio-visual translation. In his article on “The Name and Nature of Translator Studies” (Chesterman 2009) and in his interview of Baker in the first issue of Cultus, (Chesterman and Baker 2008), Chesterman draws attention to the central role occupied by the translator both in the workplace and as an object of research and proposes to make use of the term “‘telos’ to denote the personal motivation of translators” (2009:17) as a companion term to the more familiar term “skopos” already used in translation studies to indicate the intended effect of a translation in the target culture. Thus, “telos” serves to investigate the personal goal of a translator within the context of a specific task, a matter closely related to the ethics of the profession. Since translation necessarily involves some kind of active intervention on the part of the translator (Munday 2007), be it conscious or unconscious, whereby events are rewritten and renarrated, and as “translation passes through a continua of transformation, not abstract ideas of identity and similarity” (Benjamin 1996:70), research into translators’ teloi may well shed new light on why and how they translate and may usefully complement current studies on translation behaviour as it emerges from translated texts. Of particular interest in this regard is the broadening of the notion of translation to include other forms of rewriting in which the rewriter’s interventionist role is a central feature. The present volume addresses various forms of translation and rewriting and explores the strategies rewriters use to achieve their goal of rendering the target text accessible to its recipient audience. “Knowing how” to rewrite in English entails developing an awareness of the whys and wherefores of rewriting. Just as knowledge about language leads to awareness of language, which in turn leads to increased efficiency and sensitivity to language, so familiarity with the general principles of translation and rewriting leads to enhanced competence and performance. Excerpted from the Preface

Terminology Translation in Chinese Contexts: Theory and Practice investigates the theory and practice of terminology translation, terminology management, and scholarship within the distinctive milieu of Chinese and explores the complex relationship between terminology translation (micro level) and terminology management (macro level). This book outlines the contemporary challenges of terminology translation and terminology management within Chinese contexts in specialized fields including law, the arts, religion, Chinese medicine, and food products. The volume also examines how the development and application of new technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence have brought about major changes in the language service industry. Technology such as machine translation and computer-assisted translation has spawned new challenges in terminology management practices and has facilitated their evolution in contexts of ever greater internationalization and globalization. This book recontextualizes terminology translation and terminology management with a special focus on English–Chinese translation. It is hoped that the volume will enable and enhance dialogue between Chinese and Western scholars and professionals in the field. All chapters have been written by specialists in the different subfields and have been peer-reviewed by the editors.