Chapter published in:
Non-professional Interpreting and Translation: State of the art and future of an emerging field of research
Edited by Rachele Antonini, Letizia Cirillo, Linda Rossato and Ira Torresi
[Benjamins Translation Library 129] 2017
► pp. 29–43

Chapter 2
Unprofessional translation

A blog-based overview

This paper will discuss the pros and cons of publication in blog format compared with publication through conventional academic channels. The web blog Unprofessional Translation was started in 2009 as a reaction against the way “mainstream” translation studies and bilingualism studies had continually ignored the important aspects of translation that it focuses on. The declared primary topics of the blog are Natural Translation, Native Translation and Language Brokering. As of 31 July 2012, the blog contained approximately 140,000 words in 234 posts accompanied by illustrations and by 268 comments from readers, of whom 124 were formally registered “Members.” It addresses a non-expert readership, with the explicit aim of convincing them that translating is a quasi-universal human capability and activity which is not confined to trained or highly experienced experts. There are numerous posts for each of the blog topics. However, the blog template displays the posts chronologically, and, as a result, it requires considerable work with the Search function to follow any of the threads coherently. Therefore, this paper brings together a selection of the material thematically.
Keywords: natural translation, native translation, language brokering, blog, war interpreting, religious translation, court interpreting, medical interpreting, crowdsourcing, sports interpreting
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Blog publication
  • 2.The Natural Translation Hypothesis (NTH) and its extensions
  • 3.Language brokering
  • 4.Church interpreting
  • 5.Religious (written) translation
  • 6.Wartime interpreting
  • 7.Medical interpreting
  • 8.Court interpreting
  • 9.Sports interpreting
  • 10.Crowdsourcing
  • 11.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 19 June 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.129.02har
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Cited by

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Imre, Attila
2020. Rendering Science Fiction, Culture, and Language While Translating Ready Player One . Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica 12:3 ► pp. 70 ff. Crossref logo
McDonough Dolmaya, Julie
2020. Recent developments in non-professional translation and interpreting research. Translation and Interpreting Studies 15:1 ► pp. 153 ff. Crossref logo
Muñoz Gómez, Estefanía
2020. Non-professional translation in an Irish business setting: Considerations for global theory and national policy. Translation Studies 13:2 ► pp. 197 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 march 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.