JoLIE 15:2/2022
BOOK REVIEW
Bianca Han. Keeping up with the challenges entailed by the process of translation.
Casa Cărții de Știință, Cluj Napoca, 2022. Pp. 226. ISBN 978-606-17-2061-3.
Reviewed by Dana Rus, “G.E. Palade” University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology of Târgu Mureș, Romania
Bianca Han’s volume titled “Keeping up with the challenges entailed by the process of translation” is a holistic approach to the phenomenon of translations, based on the author’s scientific and didactic experience. The book is a collection of revisited and adapted studies published over a period of several years, in a declared attempt to comprehend the intricate concept of the translation process and the multifaceted perspectives from which it can be envisaged.
The volume is a versatile and complex combination of such perspectives pertaining to the field of translation studies. As pointed out in the introduction of the volume, signed by Professor Titela Vîlceanu, process-oriented approaches to translation involve three essential aspects: theoretical perspective, empirical investigations and pedagogical applications. Bianca Han’s book manages to successfully reunite these three considerations on the topic of translations in a book which constitutes an efficient learning and research tool for students and specialists alike.
As declared in the foreword, the book represents the result of the author’s long-time relationship with the translated word, with its power of suggestion and ability to render, mirror, create, and sometimes re-create meaning. The sections of the book illustrate the many nuances which the translation process can embrace, concretised in a series of studies published in various journals throughout the years. Despite the diversity of these perspectives, the book has a homogeneous character due to the author’s ability to create convergent areas and pinpoint unifying devices in an otherwise essentially complex phenomenon.
The volume is organised in four main directions: challenges and controversy in translation, translation of national-specific elements, framing communication issues, and novelty inferred by translation and upon translation.
The first direction, which also forms the first chapter of the book, titled “Challenges and controversy in translation”, aims to analyse the perceptions pertaining to what the author calls “the versatile contour of the process of translation” (Han 2022: 5). The studies contained in this chapter highlight some of the common difficulties faced by translators when conveying messages from one language into another. To provide a theoretical framework of such challenges, the author uses the term ‘transdaptation’ and Mona Baker’s theory of non-equivalence while providing a diverse range of examples pertaining to some significant and complex issues which a translator must tackle. In the first study of the chapter, On the Issue of Transdaptation, the author approaches the cultural level of translations and the inevitable dilemmas which may occur while translating culture-specific concepts. An interesting case study is offered in the subchapter Name of Towns - Culture Specific Elements, which provides examples of apparently untranslatable words and suggestions of overcoming cultural barriers and facilitating meaning. The same perspective of the translator as cultural mediator appears in the subchapter Translating Words and (Their?) Meaning, which analyses one of the highly debated issues of whether to translate words or rather the meaning intended in the source language. The solution proposed by the author enters the realm of meta-language and is coined as “metalinguistic awareness” (Han 2022: 6), which in the author’s view is an empowerment of the readers in the target language to decipher meaning for themselves, in a mediation of language and cultural patterns.
Another provocative example of the intricate intersection of language and culture is the translation of humour. Apparently, an easy task, the translation of humour – whose peculiarities are insightfully presented by the author in How Fun it is to Translate Humour - proves to be not such an easy task after all, because of the cultural paradigms which not always have an equivalent from one language into another.
The diversity of the subjects approached by the author within this chapter is a proof of the complexity of the field itself. Translation, as Bianca Han sees it, is a demanding task which requires special skills and talents, as well as a high degree of versatility on the translator’s part. From the role of translations as embodiment and symbol of cultural reality (in subchapters Ishiguro’s Dialogues I and Ishiguro’s Dialogues II), from the task of translating ‘false friends’ (False Friends: Among the Nightmares of a Translator or how to Befriend False Friends) to the interdisciplinarity of translating specialised discourse (The Simplicity of the Complexity on the Translation of Specialised Texts) or to the contemporary difficulties in understanding and translating teen slang on social media (The YoutubEnglish* of Romanian Computer Gamers, or How Romanian Youtubers (Ab)Use the Language) the chapter manages to present a comprehensive overview of the intricacies of translations.
As the title of the second chapter of the book suggests, Translation of National in the International is a collection of the author’s theoretical considerations and practical projects in translating national literature. The main directions of all the studies converge towards highlighting the role of translation as a promoter of national values by their integration in the universal cultural system. Two subchapters of the present chapter, which were originally written in Romanian: Despre traducerea în spaţiul românesc din secolul al XX-lea and Traducerea în spaţiul românesc din secolul al XX-lea (II) constitute a valuable overview of the most significant translators in the Romanian cultural space. Three additional studies which are part of the chapter, entitled Aspecte teoretice ale traducerii culturemelor, ca marcă a specificului naţional (I), The Culture Specific Element-A Mark of the National Feature and On the Necessity of Precious Terms: Euphemisms and Culture Specific Elements approach the so-called ‘untranslatable’ terms and the possible solutions to which translators may resort in order to accomplish the inter-linguistic and intercultural transfer of these terms.
A thought-provoking section of the chapter is an attempt to theorise on the matter of translating national literature and the challenges which the process entails: Translating Literature - Always A New Adventure (I) - General View Upon Translating Literature. In the author’s words, the main purpose of translations would be that of “building bridges towards the specificity of a language” (Han 2022: 70), by enhancing the national culture and by “allowing an insight into that nation’s identity” (Han 2022: 70) without affecting what makes the distinctiveness of a certain culture.
The chapter also contains applied studies on translating national literature, which provide valuable, elaborate examples of literary translations of canonical Romanian literature: Translating Literature - Always A New Adventure (II) Case Study: Translating Lucian Blaga’s `Eu Nu Strivesc Corola De Minuni a Lumii, Words That ‘Speak’ My World - Case Study on an Excerpt from Amintiri Din Copilărie by Ion Creangă, Translating Caragiale - A Utopian Endeavour? Case Study - Translating Două Loturi by I.L. Caragiale, Challenges Upon Translating Culture-Carrier Literary Works -Case Study - Translating Bubico, by I.L. Caragiale.
The ambitious selections of the literary works, the accuracy, the attention to detail, the elaborate (re)construction of meaning via translation while preserving elements of national authenticity are marks of the author’s expertise in the domain.
The third chapter of the book, Framing Communication Issues, investigates the translation phenomenon from the perspective of its communicative potential. Translation is therefore seen as a communication catalyst on a practical level; and the author chooses a wide range of contexts to prove this hypothesis. For instance, a subchapter of this section consists of a comparative-contrastive approach between two translations of the Bible, intended to highlight how differences in the choice of words may affect pragmatic, communicative meaning. The author continues by presenting the functional role of translation in a variety of interrelated, or apparently disjointed domains which are nevertheless connected by the versatility of the translated word. She tackles, for instance, the status of translation studies in a didactic environment and the necessity to bridge theory and practice in order to develop translation competences as part of a linguist’s professional profile (in Challenges in Teaching Romanian Language to Foreign Students). In a series of subchapters, she insists on the role of English – either in its original form or mediated via translation - as a bridge language, due to its status as “lingua franca”, while analysing the status, identity, development and diverse roles of the language (English … A Bridge Language (?); On Language Peculiarities: When Language Evolves That Much That Speakers Find It Strange).
The last chapter of the book has a simple, yet symptomatic name for the future of the translation field: Novelty. The main assumptions of the chapter revolve around the need to keep up with reality and adjust methods and tools so that translation processes serve today’s needs accurately. The author links her studies to contemporary realities from the technological domain, such as Industry 4.0, and to the consequent modern requirements from a professional translator (Some Insights into the Mind-Set of a Translator). Among these requirements, the author includes a high degree of digital literacy transposed into the proficient use of CAT tools.
Despite the high level of digitalization characterising virtually all domains of modern activities, the author keeps a moderate perspective and advises against an over-reliance on technology in translation activities. In Defence of the Human-Made Translation is a plea in favour of balanced approaches to translations and a recognition of the essentially human element they require, rather than incorporating change-related novelty at all costs.
A challenging aspect of the chapter is the well-documented, comprehensive database of translation tools and techniques available in the field of translations nowadays. The subchapter Translation, from Pen and Paper to Computer-Assisted Tools (CAT Tools) and Machine Translation (MT) lists, analyses and explains translation methods from a well-informed position, presents advantages and disadvantages while constantly underlining the status of translation as mediator between languages, cultures, domains of knowledge.
This section is equally valuable insofar as it presents some of the latest teaching methodologies and technologies for the study of languages. What Else Is New in Teaching Linguistics? -On The Use of ELSE Methods and Tools and On the Use of Technology in Education. A Case Study on The Application of Interdisciplinarity in Technical Education: The ECORE Tool are two subchapters which bring theoretical arguments and practical outcomes leading to the creation and application of digital tools supporting innovation in the language classroom.
The volume results from years of constant and enthusiastic activity in the field of translations. The complexity of the issues approached, the multiple perspectives from which the translation phenomenon is analysed, the creativity of the interpretations and the fluent and dexterous use of the language prove not only professionalism, but also a passionate connection with words.
The volume has a vast list of references from linguistics and various interdisciplinary and adjacent domains. It may constitute a valuable resource for students, translators, linguists, teachers or language enthusiasts in general.
References
Han, B. (2022). Keeping up with the challenges entailed by the process of translation. Cluj Napoca: Casa Cărții de Știință.
How to cite this article: Rus, D. (2022). Bianca Han. Keeping up with the challenges entailed by the process of translation. Casa Cărții de Știință, Cluj Napoca, 2022. Pp. 226. ISBN 978-606-17-2061-3. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 15(2), 199-202. doi: https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2022.15.2.14
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