Article published in:
Babel
Vol. 67:1 (2021) ► pp. 36–53

Changing translation practices and moving boundaries in translation studies

| University of Turku
| Kaunas University of Technology
This article aims at describing the changes in translation by referring to practices such as localization, amateur translation, translating in the media. The changes are enhanced by the computing, information, and communication technologies. In three decades, a new work environment has shaken up the translator’s world. New types of translators are emerging, with a new hierarchy between them, in parallel with a multiplication of labels created for “translation.” The concept of translation has, therefore, become ambiguous and, relating to it, other concepts, such as text, need to be revisited.
Keywords: translation, types of translators, localization, crowdsourcing, ICTs
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Multiple roles and positions of translation
  • Traditional and new translation practices: Beyond a mechanical view of translation
  • Digitalization, translation, and translators
    • Translation and localization
    • Going digital: Different modes of working and myriad types of users
  • Translating in the media
  • A future to build
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 02 April 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00204.gam
References
Appadurai, Arjun
1990 “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy.” In Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalization and Modernity, edited by Mike Featherstone, 295–310. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Antonini, Rachele
2011 “Natural Translator and Interpreter.” In Handbook of Translation Studies, edited by Yves Gambier and Luc van Doorslaer, vol. 21, 102–104. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Antonini, Rachele, Letizia Cirillo, Linda Rossato, and Ira Torresi
eds. 2017 Non-professional Interpreting and Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Baumgarten, Nicole, Juliane House, and Julia Probst
2004 “English as Lingua Franca in Covert Translation Processes.” The Translator 10 (1): 83–108. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bielsa, Esperença
2007 “Translation in Global News Agencies.” Target 19 (1): 135–155. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chesterman, Andrew
2007 “Bridge Concepts in Translation Sociology.” In Constructing a Sociology of Translation, edited by Michaela Wolf and Alexandra Fukari, 171–183. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Conway, Kyle
2011 Everyone Says No: Public Service Broadcasting and the Failure of Translation. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.Google Scholar
Cronin, Michael
2003 “The Empire Talks Back: Orality, Heteronomy and the Cultural Turn in Interpreting Studies.” In Translation and Power, edited by Maria Tymoczko and Edwin Gentzler, 45–62. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.Google Scholar
Dam, Helle V., Matilde Nisbeth Brøgger, and Karen Korning Zethsen
eds. 2018 Moving Boundaries in Translation Studies. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Davier, Lucile, and Kyle Conway
eds. 2019 Journalism and Translation in the Era of Convergence. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dunne, Keiran
ed. 2006 Perspectives on Localization, Vol. 231 ATA Scholarly Monograph Series. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Esselink, Bert
2003 “The Evolution of Localization.” The Guide from MultiLingual Computing and Technology 571 (July/August): 4–7. www​.multilingual​.com​/downloads​/screenSupp57​.pdf
Folaron, Debbie
2006 “A Discipline Coming of Age in the Digital Age.” In Perspectives on Localization, edited by Keiran Dunne, 195–219. Vol. 23 of ATA Scholarly Monograph Series. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2012 “Digitalizing Translation.” Translation Spaces 11 (September): 3–31. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fry, Deborah
2003 The Localization Primer. Revised by Arle Lommel. 2nd ed. Féchy, CH: Localization Industry Primer. www​.immagic​.com​/eLibrary​/ARCHIVES​/GENERAL​/LISA​/L030625P​.pdf
Gambier, Yves
2007 “Réseaux de traducteurs/interprètes bénévoles.” Meta 52 (4): 658–672. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2012 “Le traducteur défiguré?” [The disfigured translator]. Figure(s) du traducteur [Figures of translators], edited by Elżbieta Skibínska, Romanica Wratislaviensia 591: 13–24.Google Scholar
Forthcoming. “Revisiting Translation Concepts through the Study of Media Practices.” In Routledge Handbook of Translation and Media edited by Esperança Bielsa ch. 5 London Routledge
Gambier, Yves, and Ubaldo Stecconi
eds. 2019 A World Atlas of Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gambier, Yves, and Luc van Doorslaer
eds. 2016 Border Crossings: Translation Studies and Other Disciplines. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hebenstreit, Gernot
2019 “Coming to Terms with Social Translation: A Terminological Approach.” Translation Studies 12 (2): 139–155. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hernández Guerrero, María José
2009 Traducción y periodismo [Translation and journalism]. Bern: Peter Lang. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Horbačauskienė, Jolita, and Ramunė Kasperavičienė
2019 “Figures of Speech in the Translation of Audiovisual Advertisements.” In The Role of Language and Symbols in Promotional Strategies and Marketing Schemes, edited by Manuela Epure and Lorena Clara Mihăeş, 162–177. Hershey: IGI Global. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
House, Juliane
1981 A Model for Translation Quality Assessment. 2nd ed. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Jiménez Crespo, Miguel
2013 Translation and Web Localization. Abingdon: Routledge. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Katan, David
2015 “Translation at the Cross-Roads: Intercultural Mediation by Others or Ready for the Transcreational Turn?” Perspectives 24 (3): 365–381. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Littau, Karin
2011 “First Steps towards a Media History of Translation.” Translation Studies 4 (3): 261–281. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Merkherjee, Sujit
2004 Translation as Recovery. New Delhi: Pencraft International.Google Scholar
Mossop, Brian
2006 “Has Computerization Changed Translation?” Meta 51 (4): 787–792. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
O’Hagan, Minako, and David Ashworth
2002 Translation-Mediated Communication in a Digital World: Facing the Challenges of Globalization and Localization. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
O’Hagan, Minako, and Carmen Mangiron
2013 Game Localization. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pedersen, Daniel
2014 “Exploring the Concept of Transcreation – Transcreation as ‘More than Translation’?” Cultus 71: 57–71.Google Scholar
Perrino, Saverio
2009 “User-Generated Translation: The Future of Translation in a Web 2.0 Environment.” Journal of Translation 121. www​.jostrans​.org​/issue12​/art​_perrino​.php
Pym, Anthony
2004 The Moving Text: Localization, Translation, and Distribution. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2009 “Natural and Directional Equivalence in Theories of Translation.” In The Metalanguage of Translation, edited by Yves Gambier, and Luc van Doorslaer, 81–104. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ray, Rebecca, and Nataly Kelly
2010 Reaching New Markets through Transcreation: When Translation Just Isn’t Enough. Lowell, MA: Common Sense Advisory.Google Scholar
Reiß, Katharina, and Hans J. Vermeer
(1984) 2013 Towards a General Theory of Translational Action: Skopos Theory Explained, translated by Christiane Nord. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar
Robertson, Roland
(1994) 2003 “Globalisation or Glocalisation?” Journal of International Communication 1 (1): 33–52. Reprinted in Globalization: Critical Concepts in Sociology, edited by Roland Robertson and Kathleen E. White, vol. 31, 31–51. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Rumsiene, Goda
2012 “Intercultural Communication and Advertising: Translation and Adaptation of Advertising Slogans.” Language in Different Contexts / Kalba ir Kontekstai 5 (1): 149–155.Google Scholar
Schäffner, Christina, and Susan Bassnett
eds. 2010 Political Discourse, Media and Translation. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Sun, Sanjun
2014 “Rethinking Translation Studies.” Translation Spaces 31: 167–191. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Torres-Simón, Ester
2019 “The Concept of Translation in Wikipedia.” Translation Studies 12 (3): 273–287. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Toury, Gideon
(1995) 2012 Descriptive Translation Studies – and beyond. 2nd ed. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tymoczko, Maria
2005 “Trajectories of Research in Translation Studies.” Meta 50 (4): 1082–1097. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2007 Enlarging Translation, Empowering Translators. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Valdeón, Roberto
2009 “Translating Informative and Persuasive Texts.” Perspectives 17 (2): 77–136. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
ed. 2010a Translating Information. Oviedo: Ediuno.Google Scholar
2010b “Translating Information in the Post-Industrial Society.” Across Languages and Cultures 11 (2): 161–174. akjournals​.com​/view​/journals​/084​/11​/2​/084​.11​.issue​-2​.xml
2012a “Journalism and Translation.” Meta 57 (4): 843–1092.Google Scholar
2012b “From the Dutch corantos to Convergence Journalism: The Role of Translation in News Production.” Meta 57 (4): 850–865. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
van Doorslaer, Luc
2010 “Journalism and Translation.” In Handbook of Translation Studies, edited by Yves Gambier and Luc van Doorslaer, vol. 11, 180–184. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence
(1995) 2018 The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. Abingdon: Routledge. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2019 Contra Instrumentalism: A Translation Polemic. Lincoln: Nebraska University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wadensjö, Cecilia
1998 Interpreting as Interaction. London and New York: Longman.Google Scholar