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.

What is 'translation'? Even as the scholarly viewpoint of translation studies has expanded over recent years, the notion of 'translation' has remained fixedly defined by its interlinguistic element. However, there are many different contexts and disciplines in which translation takes place for which this definition is entirely unsuitable. Exploring translational aspects in contexts in which scholars do not think about 'translation', this book considers the alternative uses of the term beyond the interlinguistic dimension. Taking our understanding of 'translation' back to its basic semiotic principles, leading experts outline the wide variety of alternative fields of study, practices, applications and contexts in which the term 'translation' is used. Chapters examine 11 different fields of study, exploring what the term 'translation' means, how it is used and what it could contribute to an enlarged understanding of 'translation' as a concept. In this way, the volume argues for a reimagining of what we mean by translation, providing an essential reference for anyone interested in how translation is understood and practiced beyond the narrow perspectives of the field of translation studies itself.

A replacement of the author's well-known book on Translation Theory, In Search of a Theory of Translation (1980), this book makes a case for Descriptive Translation Studies as a scholarly activity as well as a branch of the discipline, having immediate consequences for issues of both a theoretical and applied nature. Methodological discussions are complemented by an assortment of case studies of various scopes and levels, with emphasis on the need to contextualize whatever one sets out to focus on.Part One deals with the position of descriptive studies within TS and justifies the author's choice to devote a whole book to the subject. Part Two gives a detailed rationale for descriptive studies in translation and serves as a framework for the case studies comprising Part Three. Concrete descriptive issues are here tackled within ever growing contexts of a higher level: texts and modes of translational behaviour — in the appropriate cultural setup; textual components — in texts, and through these texts, in cultural constellations. Part Four asks the question: What is knowledge accumulated through descriptive studies performed within one and the same framework likely to yield in terms of theory and practice?This is an excellent book for higher-level translation courses.

Translation and Multimodality: Beyond Words is one of the first books to explore how translation needs to be redefined and reconfigured in contexts where multiple modes of communication, such as writing, images, gesture, and music, occur simultaneously. Bringing together world-leading experts in translation theory and multimodality, each chapter explores important interconnections among these related, yet distinct, disciplines. As communication becomes ever more multimodal, the need to consider translation in multimodal contexts is increasingly vital. The various forms of meaning-making that have become prominent in the twenty-first century are already destabilising certain time-honoured translation-theoretic paradigms, causing old definitions and assumptions to appear inadequate. This ground-breaking volume explores these important issues in relation to multimodal translation with examples from literature, dance, music, TV, film, and the visual arts. Encouraging a greater convergence between these two significant disciplines, this text is essential for advanced students and researchers in Translation Studies, Linguistics, and Communication Studies.

A bold, new approach to language that addresses the subtleties of cultural identity

This book foregrounds practices and discourses of ‘translation’ in several non-Western traditions. Translation Studies currently reflects the historiography and concerns of Anglo-American and European scholars, overlooking the full richness of translational activities and diverse discourses. The essays in this book, which generally have a historical slant, help push back the geographical and conceptual boundaries of the discipline. They illustrate how distinctive historical, social and philosophical contexts have shaped the ways in which translational acts are defined, performed, viewed, encouraged or suppressed in different linguistic communities. The volume has a particular focus on the multiple contexts of translation in India, but also encompasses translation in Korea, Japan and South Africa, as well as representations of Sufism in different contexts.

This edited volume explores the role of (postcolonial) translation studies in addressing issues of the postcolony. It investigates the retention of the notion of postcolonial translation studies and whether one could reconsider or adapt the assumptions and methodologies of postcolonial translation studies to a new understanding of the postcolony to question the impact of postcolonial translation studies in Africa to address pertinent issues. The book also places the postcolony in historical perspective, and takes a critical look at the failures of postcolonial approaches to translation studies. The book brings together 12 chapters, which are divided into three sections: namely, Africa, the Global South, and the Global North. As such, the volume is able to consider the postcolony (and even conceptualisations beyond the postcolony) in a variety of settings worldwide.