Sociocultural Aspects of Translating and Interpreting: (67 Benjamins Translation Library)

Translation Studies has recently been searching for connections with Cultural Studies and Sociology. This volume brings together a range of ways in which the disciplines can be related, particularly with respect to research methodologies. The key aspects covered are the agents behind translation, the social histories revealed by translations, the perceived roles and values of translators in social contexts, the hidden power relations structuring publication contexts, and the need to review basic concepts of the way social and cultural systems work. Special importance is placed on Community Interpreting as a field of social complexity, the lessons of which can be applied in many other areas. The volume studies translators and interpreters working in a wide range of contexts, ranging from censorship in East Germany to English translations in Gujarat. Major contributions are made by Agnès Whitfield, Daniel Gagnon, Franz Pöchhacker, Michaela Wolf, Pekka Kujamäki and Rita Kothari, with an extensive introduction on methodology by Anthony Pym.

Table of Contents:
1. Foreword; 2. Introduction: On the social and cultural in translation studies (by Pym, Anthony); 3. Agents behind translation; 4. Trends in the translation of a minority language: The case of Dutch (by Linn, Stella); 5. "Of course Germans have a certain interest in Finland, but...": Openness to Finnish literature in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s (by Kujamaki, Pekka); 6. Translation from the point of view of the East German censorship files (by Thomson-Wohlgemuth, Gaby); 7. Social histories; 8. Choosing not to translate: Zero translations in the first Portuguese Robinson Crusoe (by Monteiro, Maria Goreti); 9. From Robinson Crusoe to Robinson in Wallachia: The intricacies of the reception process (by Dimitriu, Rodica); 10. Perceived roles and values; 11. Translating from across the channel in nineteenth-century France: Philarete Chasles, Thackeray and Jules Janin (by Moyal, Gabriel Louis); 12. English translation in Gujarat: Emerging consensus (by Kothari, Rita); 13. Interaction of inner and outer contexts; 14. Between Translation and Traduction: The many paradoxes of Deux Solitudes (by Whitfield, Agnes); 15. Bilingual translation/writing as intercultural communication (by Gagnon, Daniel); 16. Power relations disclosed; 17. The female state of the art: Women in the "translation field" (by Wolf, Michaela); 18. Translation as discursive import: Changes in the transfer of proper nouns in Latvian (by Zauberga, Ieva); 19. Power distribution and cooperation; 20. "Translation culture" in interpreted asylum hearings (by Pollabauer, Sonja); 21. Interpreting at an immigration detention center in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Communication and power (by Navarro Montesdeoca, Guillermo R.); 22. Negotiating linguistic and cultural identities in interpreter-mediated communication for public health services (by Rudvin, Mette); 23. Constructing systems; 24. Babel rebuilt: A survey of social welfare institutions and interpreting and translation services in Flanders (by Lannoy, Katrien); 25. From 10-minute wedding ceremonies to three-week spa treatment programs: Reconstructing the system of sign language interpreting in Styria (by Grbic, Nadja); 26. The view from Interpreting Studies; 27. "Going social?" On the pathways and paradigms in interpreting studies (by Pochhacker, Franz); 28. Notes on contributors; 29. References; 30. Index

Review :
Sociocultural Aspects offers a valuable insight into trends in translation and interpreting studies, in particular by emphasising community interpreting and therefore indicating that IS is nowadays in many respects at the forefront of translatological research. With its fine range of informative and argumentative articles, Sociocultural Aspects is a versatile and useful collection that provides provocative and interesting reading.