The technological revolution and the ensuing globalization have not only reshaped the practice and theorizations of translation (Munday 2012) but also the way translations are processed, managed and commoditized. The massive increase in the volume of multilingual content around the world has increased the complexity of managing translation projects (Gouadec 2007). This has brought to the fore the role of translation project managers in the global language industry. Translation and Localization Management: The Art of the Possible, edited by Keiran Dunne and Elena Dunne, is a comprehensive and long overdue collection of essays that cover the complex set of different skills required to succeed as a translation and localization project manager. Like many previous volumes in the American Translators Association Monograph Series, this book attempts to create bridges between the professional world and translation scholarship, though the reader of this volume will quickly identify an industry perspective and a constant lament for the lack of attention translation academia has paid to this activity. In this volume, we are told that the management of translation as a business is precisely at the core of translation—much like others have said about texts, cultures, cognition, functions, purposes or equivalence. It is at the core as appropriate management of translation projects results in successful completion of projects, efficiency, quality, cost reduction and profits margins… and, as one would expect, the profits are definitely not going to the translators themselves.

References

Dune, Keiran

2006 “Putting the Cart behind the Horse: Rethinking Localization Quality Management.” In Perspectives on Localization, ed. by Keiran Dunne, 95–117. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Dune, Keiran

2009 “Assessing Software Localization: For a Valid Approach.” In Testing and Assessment in Translation and Interpreting Studies, ed. by Claudia Angelelli, and Holly Jacobson, 185–222. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Gouadec, Daniel

2007 Translation as a Profession. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Hatim, Basil, and Jeremy Munday

2004 Translation: An Advanced Resource Book. London: Routledge.

Holmes, James S

1988 “The Name and Nature of Translation Studies.” In Translated! Papers on Literary Translation and Translation Studies, 67–80. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Hönig, Hans G

1998 “Positions, Power and Practice: Functionalist Approaches and Translation Quality Assessment.” In Translation and Quality, ed. by Christina Schäffner, 6–34. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters.

Jiménez-Crespo, Miguel A

2009 “The Evaluation of Pragmatic and Functionalist Aspects in Localization: Towards a Holistic Approach to Quality Assurance.” The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 1: 60–93.  

Munday, Jeremy

2012 Introducing Translation Studies. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge.

Project Management Institute

2008 A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). 4th ed. Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

Pym, Anthony

2004 The Moving Text. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Quah, Chiew

2006 Translation and Technology. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Scarpa, Federica, Maria Teresa Musacchio, and Giuseppe Palumbo

2009 “A Foot in Both Camps: Redressing the Balance between the ‘Pure’ and Applied Branches of Translation Studies.” Interpreting & Translation 1 (2): 32–43.

Rabadán, Rosa

2008 “Refining the Idea of ‘Applied Extensions’.” In Beyond Descriptive Translation Studies, ed. by Anthony Pym, Miriam Schlesinger, and Daniel Simeoni, 103–117. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Vandepitte, Sonia

2008 “Remapping Translation Studies: Towards a Translation Studies Ontology.” Meta 53 (3): 569–588.

Wolf, Michaela

2010 “Translation ‘Going Social’? Challenges to the (Ivory) Tower of Babel.” MonTI 2: 29–46.