"Tapping into Translators' Creativity" book started as a project within a project and it was basically "born" on Twitter. I was so intrigued by how creative translators are on so many levels, that I wanted to write about it. I had no idea that what started as an idea, and a few thoughts written down in a children's playground, would eventually become a book featuring 21 translators.The book explores how translation and creativity intersect and overlap and it is inspired both by translators and creatives and the things they have in common.A simple book, written in a simple language.Examples are drawn from different sources, from translation, art and writing, but what makes it special is its recurrent theme, the painting Girl With a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer.Book review: http: //ritamaia.com/blog/tapping-into-translators-creativity

Same version with Color Interior (includes colored pictures): https://www.amazon.com/Tapping-Translators-Creativity-Magda-Phili/dp/1521236887Translators are (re)writers, they are dot connectors, they know how to read between the lines, tap into the heart of texts with all their layers, do research, use glossaries, work with software, network, create brands, help people communicate across the globe.Creativity helps translators become better at their craft, find ways to market their services, establish an online presence, design beautiful websites. But there's more: translators often pursue hobbies in art, crafts and music. Translators are also creative when it comes to finding ways to cope with the challenges of a highly demanding, yet underappreciated profession. Their creativity is paramount to their professional development and fulfillment and it is key in understanding the value translators bring into the written world.In this writing journey, inspiration comes not just from translation but from the world of art and in particular, Vermeer and his most famous painting "Girl With a Pearl Earring".

Translation and Creativity discusses the links between translation and creative writing from linguistic, cultural, and critical perspectives, through eleven chapters by established academics and practitioners. The relationship between translation and creative writing is brought into focus by theoretical, pedagogical, and practical applications, complemented by language-based illustrative examples. Innovative research and practice areas covered include ideas of self-translation and the 'spaces' of reading, mental 'black boxes' and cognition and the book introduces new concepts of transgeneric translation, pop translation and orthographical translation.

“I don’t translate, I create!” – This is the slogan of a translation agency called “Sternkopf Communications” located in Flöha, Germany. The translators at this translation agency are specialized in the field of marketing and perceive creativeness their daily bread. But what does this actually mean – I don’t translate, I create? Undoubtedly, the translation of a text from one language into another is not an easy and straightforward process. On the contrary, the translator needs to invest much time and one or the other headache before a target text (TT) finally sounds natural, fluent, coherent and logical for the target audience. Different possible translation solutions will have to be considered, language as well as culture-related equivalents often are not easily at hand etc. Would it not be pleasant if machine translation (MT) was there to help with this process? Yet, despite the enormous importance of creativity in translating, computer-aided translation (CAT) tools are being used frequently by professional translators, not to replace but to support the translator in their daily business. CAT tools enable their users to translate in a more consistent way, since they search source texts for words, phrases or sentences that have already been translated before and stored in the TM so that the translator does not need to translate this text unit again ‘from scratch’. Considering that this process brings about what could be called ‘semi-mechanical’ TTs, the use of CAT tools seems to stand in stark contrast to the importance of creativity mentioned above. Thus, the question arises whether CAT tools influence the creative energy of translators and, if this is the case, whether translators regard this influence as rather positive or negative. In this context, it is also important to consider which fields of expertise generally demand a high degree of uniformity/consistency in translations and which subject fields generally allow for a high degree of creative freedom. Accordingly, this paper pursues two related purposes. The first is to compare five CAT tools in their degree of usability. The second purpose is to identify translators’ perspectives on uniformity and creativity in translations with the goal to shedding light on the question whether CAT tools generally tend to positively or negatively influence the translation process on a rather linguistic than technological basis.

The essays in this volume address one of the central issues in literary translation, namely the relationship between the creative freedom enjoyed by the translator and the multiplicity of constraints to which translation is necessarily subject. The links between an author's translation work and his or her own writing are likewise explored. Through a series of compelling case studies, this volume illustrates the parallel and overlapping discourses within the cognate areas of literary studies, creative writing and translation studies, which together propose a view of translation as (a form of) creative writing, and creative writing itself as being shaped by translation processes. The translations of selected contemporary French, Spanish and German texts offer readers some insights into how the translator's work mirrors and complements that of the creative writer. The combination of theory and practice presented in this volume will appeal not just to specialists in translation studies, but also to a wider public.