Applied Translation Studies

Tong King Lee is an applied linguist based at the University of Hong Kong. He is a NAATI-accredited professional translator, with several years’ experience in translation research and teaching as well as language consultancy. He is the author of the monographs Experimental Chinese Literature: Translation, Technology, Poetics (2015) and Translating the Multilingual City: Crosslingual Practices and Language Ideology (2013), and has published widely in leading international journals on applied linguistics and translation studies, including Applied Linguistics Review, Target, Translation Studies, The Translator, and Meta.

Tong King Lee’s new book sets to reshape the field of translation studies for the 21st century. It’s intellectually stimulating and empirically rich. The variety of examples and theories make it an enjoyable and rewarding reading.

• Chapter 1:Introduction Translation: Why even bother about it? Translation studies: The applied vs. the conceptual Applied translation studies: Three paradigms Further reading and reflectionChapter 2 :The Equivalence Paradigm Topic Map In pursuit of equivalence Shifting between languages Formal vs. dynamic equivalence Dynamic equivalence at work: Some illustrations The translator’s liberty Semantic vs. communicative translation (Un)translatability and its discontents Further reading and reflection Chapter 3:The Functionalist Paradigm Topic Map The uses and users of text Text-type theory Translatorial action Translatorial action in crosscultural publishing: An example Skopos theory Translation as language solution Further real-life applications Translaboration (Translation + Collaboration) On clients and end-users Research as a component of translatorial action Translation as genetic transfer Localisation When books and movies travel Translation and global marketing communications: Apple Inc. Further reading and reflection Chapter 4:The Discourse Paradigm Topic Map Discourse: A plural concept The structure of texts: Baker’s analysis Thematic patterning Markedness Information structure Cohesion: Reference, substitution/ellipsis, conjunction Cohesion: Multimodal discourse Register analysis: Hatim and Mason’s model Measuring translation quality: House’s model Case analysis of Chief Campaigner’s speech in InspiringHK Sports Foundation annual report Further reading and reflection Chapter 5:Beyond the Paradigms Integrating the paradigms Beyond the word The translational: From translation to translanguaging Moving on from the applied: Conceptual articulations