ISSN: 1579-9794
Hikma 23(2) (2024), 1 - 6
BOWKER, LYNNE. DE-MYSTIFYING TRANSLATION: INTRODUCING
TRANSLATION TO NON-TRANSLATORS. NEW YORK, ROUTLEDGE,
2023. 216 PP., ISBN 9781003217718
The presence of translation in society is becoming more ubiquitous,
mainly due to globalisation, increased migration and the fact that many
translation technologies are ever more pervasive nowadays (see Bielsa &
Kapsaskis, 2020 and Cronin, 2006). However, there is still a distorted
perspective on what translation actually entails. The primary objective of De-
mystifying Translation, as pointed out by Bowker, is to educate non-translators
who have an interest in translation (pp. 3-4) – ranging from language students
to professionals who work in a multinational environment or engage in
international diplomacy – on what the translation industry truly encompasses
and to demystify some misconceptions. In this textbook, Bowker aims to
bridge the gap between the academic and the professional sides of translation
and society, delivering information in an accessible and straightforward way
to non-specialist audiences.
De-mystifying Translation is divided into thirteen chapters, including an
introduction and conclusion chapter. In the first chapter, Bowker lays out basic
concepts and themes used in translation research, such as the notion of
equivalence (p. 10), free translation and literal translation (pp. 14-15), the key
differences between translation and interpreting, the different areas of
specialism in which linguists perform, the roles of the source and target
languages in the translation process, and the linguistic complexity of the
translational process, among others. Bowker debunks misconceptions often
associated with the translation industry and translation professionals.
Although many of these might be all too familiar to scholars and professionals
in translation studies, the target readers may not be familiar with them, so this
initial approach makes the material more accessible, even for those with little
prior knowledge.
The second chapter delves into the history of translation, providing
seventeen different examples of translation in different societies all over the
world as well as its impact and evolution. These examples introduce the
reader to historical events that show the importance of translation throughout
the centuries in areas such as international communication and relations,
politics, and the preservation of cultures and traditions. Most importantly,
these examples show how crucial translation and interpretating have been for
the dissemination of information and knowledge into other languages and
cultures in an array of fields, ranging from religion, philosophy and literature
to science, medicine and mathematics, among others.
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In Chapter 3, Bowker accurately explains what it means to be a
professional translator. She explains that translation is much more diverse
than what the uninitiated might think. She challenges the commonly held
notion that translators merely convert words or phrases and instead
emphasises that translators focus on transferring the essential message from
one language into another (p. 21). She also highlights that translation is an
umbrella term used to refer to activities such as interpreting, subtitling,
localisation, transcreation, post-editing, and many more. I was pleasantly
surprised to read about the impact of professional associations and
professional training. Bowker’s discussion, in this regard, touches on wages,
work satisfaction, specialisation, working in-house vs. working as a freelancer,
and the impacts of new automation technologies such as machine translation
and translation memories, including how misconceptions surrounding them
carry over to the industry.
Both Chapter 4 and 5 talk in detail about resources and tools translators
use. Chapter 4 covers the main linguistic resources and tools translators often
use. The chapter starts by describing the differences between language for
general and special purposes in terms of lexicography and terminology.
Regarding the former, Bowker rigorously explains the complex process of
creating dictionaries and the many different kinds one might encounter,
ranging from ordinary monolingual and bilingual dictionaries to specialised
dictionaries, and mentions their differences and similarities. Regarding
terminology, she explains that term banks are highly specialised and more
specific than dictionaries, being multilingual and organised by concepts rather
than alphabetically. Chapter 5 builds on the previous discussions on tools and
resources and offers a set of criteria to analyse the usefulness of tools for
particular tasks and settings. She recommends, for example, checking if the
resource is relevant, credible, up-to-date, accurate and objective. Bowker also
demonstrates the usefulness of using multilingual metasearch engines,
bilingual concordancers, translation communities and discussion forums, and
even prooflistening for revision. I was particularly pleased by the fact that the
two chapters are extremely detailed and mention exceptional and trustworthy
resources and tools, such as IATE, TERMIUM or even ProZ, which makes
these chapters more valuable for those interested in starting a career in
translation. Another positive point is that Bowker provides visual examples,
such as figures, to exemplify how these resources work (pp. 83-85).
Chapter 6 focuses on machine translation (MT). Bowker introduces
MT’s history, where she explains how it has evolved throughout the years and
its many different types. She then focuses on educating the general public on
MT literacy. Machine translation literacy is becoming more necessary over the
years (see Bowker & Ciro 2019, Bowker 2019) given the rise of free and
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accessible MT technologies. It is therefore crucial to equip non-specialist end
users with the knowledge and skills necessary for the critical use of these
technologies, so that they can make informed decisions about whether and
when to use MT engines, such as Google Translate, DeepL Translator or
Baidu Translate, while being mindful of the associated benefits and risks. In
this chapter, Bowker lays important groundwork for future efforts toward this
aim. Nonetheless, this chapter might feel a little bit too dense, especially for
non-translators, due to the mention of some technical terms and processes.
One example is the reference to parallel and training corpora, that arise in this
chapter without prior introduction. Although Bowker mentions the words
corpus and corpora in previous chapters, even pointing out that corpus-based
resources would be introduced in more detail in Chapter 5, the author never
fully explains this concept and does not include these terms in the glossary at
the end of the book. I believe that, in future editions, this book would benefit
from further clarification on what these terms encompass so non-specialists
can get a better understanding of these concepts. Still, this chapter contains
excellent information on MT worth disseminating to non-translators.
In Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, Bowker discusses specific areas of
specialism, namely localisation, adaptation and transcreation, summarisation
and cross-modal communication, audiovisual translation, and interpreting.
As Bowker argues, localisation is a complex process that involves not
just linguistic matters but also cultural and regional, since “a target audience
usually has both linguistic and regional preferences that they would like to see
in their target text, and this combination of language and region is referred to
as a locale” (p. 114). Today, 65% of online shoppers prefer content in their
own language and 40% refuse to consume products in other languages (CSA
Research, 2020 and DePalma et al., 2006), which highlights the importance
of localisation for the success of businesses at an international level. Bowker
stresses that, apart from having a strong command of the language and
culture of their locale, localisers also need to adapt non-linguistic aspects such
as measuring systems, date format, colours, images, fonts and layouts.
Adaptation and transcreation, which are two concepts closely related to
advertising and marketing, involve knowing how to persuade your audience
and how to make an emotional connection with them (see Benetello 2018). In
transcreation jobs, literal translations are hardly ever used, and professionals
often have to create content from scratch while conveying the “same impact,
effectiveness, and emotional connection in another language, which may
require the text to be changed quite a bit” (p. 129). The examples in this
chapter perfectly demonstrate the importance of transcreation in society, and
particularly in the business world, considering that transcreation can make or
break a business, like the banking and financial services firm HSBC that
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“ended up having to pay millions as part of a rebranding effort after their
campaign slogan ‘Assume Nothing’ was erroneously rendered as ‘Do Nothing’
in several countries” (p. 139 apud Robinson 2009).
Summarisation and cross-modal communication are not always
associated with translation by non-specialist audiences, but they are crucial.
As Bowker effectively demonstrates, translators must excel in summarising
information when reformulating texts across languages. Cross-modal
communication refers to the conversion of messages from one medium to
another (e.g. sight translating a menu at a restaurant). I find this chapter
excellent at demonstrating the complexity of the profession and, most
importantly, at showcasing other soft skills translators must acquire.
Strictly connected to both summarisation and cross-modal
communication is the field of audiovisual translation – an umbrella term used
in translation scholarship that includes practices such as subtitling, dubbing
and voiceover, among others. While the chapter has many merits to it, one of
its sections fails to focus on the skills and responsibilities of professional
audiovisual translators and the challenges they face. Instead, the author
discusses fansubbing, which, in my opinion, constitutes a missed opportunity.
It would have been advisable to provide readers with some insights into the
key stakeholders and common workflows of what is today one of the most
dynamic sectors of the translation industry (see Díaz-Cintas & Massidda,
2019). Although learning about other forms of non-professional translation,
such as fandubbing and romhacking, is interesting, a deeper exploration of
professional audiovisual translation would have been more valuable.
Lastly, Bowker explains how interpreting differs from (text) translation
in many aspects such as timeline, research, tools and resources, or
workflows, though, more importantly, she highlights that interpreting often
happens in real time (see Pöchhacker, 2010). She outlines the characteristics
of and differences between consecutive and simultaneous interpreting – e.g.
simultaneous interpreters can be more efficient in large conference settings,
whereas consecutive interpreting is typical in community or public-service
settings (Pöchhacker, 2012). Another interesting point in this chapter is the
topic of non-professional interpreting, which, albeit viewed negatively by
some, is a feasible solution when a professional interpreter may not be
instantly available (e.g. medical emergencies, crises, or low-stakes conflicts)
as discussed by O’Mathúna et al. (2020).
Overall, this textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the
complex world of translation practice. The writing style is easy to follow and
accessible, and there are many useful exercises at the end of each chapter to
help readers digest the most relevant content. There are also academic
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references at the end of each chapter, related to the relevant topics. Bowker
undoubtedly excels at explaining the many facets of the translation industry
and what they encompass. Her latest textbook thus represents a valuable
resource for scholars of all levels, but I believe it might be more beneficial
when used in an introductory course or for students in academia, considering
how in depth it talks about translation. For researchers in the field, however,
this textbook might not offer much novel information. I find this textbook is
particularly more interesting for self-learners who want to learn about
translation in depth or for those looking to start working in translation, as
pointed out by Bowker. Another use of this book might be in machine
translation literacy courses for non-specialised leaners – which might include
journalists, medical practitioners or business leaders. All things considered,
this book is an excellent contribution for translation studies and an
indispensable resource to be used in education since it provides a general
and state-of-the-art overview of translation.
REFERENCES
Benetello, C. (2018). When Translation is Not Enough: Transcreation as a
Convention-Defying Practice. A Practitioner's Perspective. Journal of
Specialised Translation, 29, 28–44.
https://jostrans.soap2.ch/issue29/art_benetello.php
Bielsa, E., & Kapsaskis, D. (Eds.). (2020). The Routledge Handbook of
Translation and Globalization. Routledge.
Bowker, Lynne. 2019. "Machine Translation Literacy as a Social
Responsibility," Proceedings of the Language Technologies for All
(LT4All) , pages 104–107. Paris, 5-6 December, 2019. Paris: European
Language Resources Association (ELRA).
Bowker, L., & Ciro, J. B. (2019). Machine Translation and Global Research:
Towards Improved Machine Translation Literacy in the Scholarly
Community. Emerald.
Cronin, M. (2006). Translation and Globalization. Routledge.
CSA RESEARCH. (2020). Analyzing Consumer Language Preferences and
Behaviors in 29 Countries.
DePalma, D., Sargent, B., Beninatto, R. (2006). Can’t Read, Won’t Buy: Why
Language Matters on Global Websites. https://motsdici.be/wp-
content/uploads/2019/04/Article-cant-read-wont-buy.pdf
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Díaz-Cintas, J., & Massidda, S. (2019). Technological Advances in
Audiovisual Translation. In Minako O’Hagan (ed.) The Routledge
Handbook of Translation and Technology. London: Routledge.
O’Mathúna, D. P., Escartín, C. P., Roche, P., & Marlowe, J. (2020). Engaging
Citizen Translators in Disasters: Virtue Ethics in Response to Ethical
Challenges. Translation and Interpreting Studies, 15(1), 57–79.
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.20003.oma
Pieper, K. (2022). Filmes cortados e legendas manipuladas: A censura de
filmes estrangeiros durante o Estado Novo. AVANCA | CINEMA, 347–
354. https://doi.org/10.37390/avancacinema.2022.a403
Pöchhacker, F. (2010). Interpreting. In Y. Gambier & L. Van Doorslaer (Eds.),
Handbook of Translation Studies: Volume 1 (pp. 153–157). John
Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/hts.1.int1
Pöchhacker, F. (2011). Consecutive Interpreting. Oxford University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199239306.013.0021
[DANIELA RODRIGUES]
