The Moving Text
Localization, translation, and distribution
For the discourse of localization, translation is often "just a language problem". For translation theorists, localization introduces fancy words but nothing essentially new. Both views are probably right, but only to an extent. This book sets up a dialogue across those differences. Is there anything that translation theory can gain from localization? Can localization theory learn anything from the history and complexity of translation? To address those questions, both terms are placed within a more general frame, that of text transfer. Texts are distributed in time and space; localization and translation respond differently to those movements; their relative virtues are thus brought out on common ground.
Anthony Pym here reviews not only key problems in translation theory, but also critical concepts such as cultural resistance, variable transaction costs, segmentation of the labour market, and the dehumanization of technical discourse. The book closes with a plea for the humanizing virtues of translation, over and above the efficiencies of localization.
Anthony Pym here reviews not only key problems in translation theory, but also critical concepts such as cultural resistance, variable transaction costs, segmentation of the labour market, and the dehumanization of technical discourse. The book closes with a plea for the humanizing virtues of translation, over and above the efficiencies of localization.
[Benjamins Translation Library, 49] 2004. xviii, 223 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Introduction | p. xv
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1. Distribution | pp. 1–28
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2. Assymetries of distribution | pp. 29–50
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3. Equivalence, malgré tout | pp. 51–65
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4. How translations speak | pp. 67–86
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5. Quantity speaks | pp. 87–109
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6. Belonging as resistance | pp. 111–132
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7. Transaction costs | pp. 133–157
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8. Professionalization | pp. 159–179
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9. Humanizing discourse | pp. 181–198
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Notes | pp. 199–203
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Subject index | p. 215
“Pym's latest book is a significant contribution to a clear and comprehensive view of what translating means today, in a perspective that combines the most recent developments and long view which takes us back to the Elephantine dragomen. It charts the various processes involved and what it means for all agents and partners, and it sets out explicitly what ethical priorities should never be left out. A rare object in the field of Translation Studies, it is unimpeachably scholarly, and it is also (in its restrained Anglo-Saxon way) passionately committed.”
Christine Pagnoulle, University of Liège, Belgium, in Perspectives, Vol. 13:4 (2005)
“TMT is a timely, provocative and well-written piece of work on localization, translation, distribution and other related 'global' phenomena. Anyone interested in translation theory, and the rise of the localization industry and its impact on the world at large will surely benefit greatly from the book.”
Jae Jung Song, University of Otaga, New Zealand, in Babel 52:1
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Subjects
Communication Studies
Translation & Interpreting Studies
Main BIC Subject
CF: Linguistics
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General