The Translator As Communicator

Text in English. 244 pp. Adopting an integrated approach to the practice of translation, Hatim and Mason provide a refreshingly unprejudiced contribution to translation theory. The authors argue that the division of the subject into literary and non-literary, technical and non-technical is unhelpful and misleading. Instead of dwelling on these differentials, the authors focus on what common ground exists between these distinctions. Through their investigation into how, for example, the 'Bible translator and the simultaneous interpreter can learn from each other, sets of parameters begin to evolve. The proposed model is presented through a series of case studies, ranging from legal texts to poems, each of which focuses on one particular feature of text constitution, while not losing sight of how this contributes to the whole analytic apparatus. Their approach is durable and meaningful, especially in view of recent developments in the study of translation and communication, and their book will be of immense interest both to aspiring students of translation and to professionals already working in the field.…