Becoming a Translator

Douglas Robinson is Chair Professor of English at Hong Kong Baptist University. He has been a freelance translator of technical and literary texts from Finnish to English since 1975. He is also one of the world's leading translation scholars, the author of The Dao of Translation (2015), Translation and Empire (2016), Critical Translation Studies (2017), and Translationality (2017), and editor of Western Translation Theory From Herodotus to Nietzsche (2015) and The Pushing Hands of Translation and its Theory (2016) (all published by Routledge).

Begonia Rodriquez, Portsmouth, UK (uses as core and optional at u/g and p/g level with 100+ sts on each)Packed full of information, this edition provides a comprehensive account of many aspects that will be useful to some translators or translator trainers. In particular, the suggested exercises could be adapted and adopted in the translation classroom by new trainers who have not got experience of teaching translation.Asks to bring the content up to date with current professional and training translation practices.Alejandra Carballo, Depart. of English and World Languages, Arkansas Tech University, USA(core text for medical interpretation module, mixed level)Positive, just wants more American examples.Kobus Marais, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, SA (core book for 3rd yr u/gs)Positive, several suggestions.Tamara Mikolič Južnič, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (rec reading for 1st yr ug and 1st yr MA):The text is very well written, the style is appropriate and accessible for students, the structure is very clear and repetitive, as well as circular, so that the inexperienced reader can find comfort in the form when dealing with contents that might go against their (naïve) expectations. The topics are carefully selected and I believe that the selection of theories and authors presented is very appropriate for an introductory course. It gives the young reader a chance to familiarize themselves with the key figures in Translation Studies and it gives access to the most important works in the field, categorized in a very clear way. The discussion and exercise sections can be (mostly) easily adapted to local situations and used either in class or as home assignments, in groups or individually. Clara Yu, Monash University, Oz (now a contributor) (uses with 1st and 2nd yr p/gs) Comprehensive, coherent and logically organized. The exercises, examples and further readings are all useful. Easy to follow and read. Useful for both the teachers and the students.0020 Readers mainly asked for the book to reflect the current climate for translators, which has of course changed so much over recent years, for more on technological issues mostly. Also requests for a multimodal approach throughout and examples from the global south. Doug is doing all this and more.

• List of figures List of tablesAcknowledgmentsPreface to the fourth editionIntroduction 1 External knowledge: the user’s view2 Internal knowledge: the translator’s view3 The process of translation4 Drawing on experience: how being a translator is more than just being good at languages5 Starting with people: social interaction as the first key focus of translators’ experience of the world6 Working with people: the workplace as the interactive setting for specialized terminologies7 Translation as an operation performed in and on languages8 Translation as an operation performed in and on multimedia9 Working and understanding through social networks10 The impact on translation of culture(s)11 When habit fails References Index