Shlesinger Miriam Shlesinger – författare

This volume contributes to the emerging research on the social formation of translators and interpreters as specific occupational groups. Despite the rising academic interest in sociological perspectives in Translation Studies, relatively little research has so far been devoted to translators' social background, status struggles and sense of self. The articles assembled here zoom in on the "e;groups of individuals"e; who perform the complex translating and/or interpreting tasks, thereby creating their own space of cultural production. Cutting across varied translatorial and geographical arenas, they reflect a view of the interrelatedness between the macro-level question of professional status and micro-level aspects of practitioners' identity. Addressing central theoretical issues relating to translators' habitus and role perception, as well as methodological challenges of using qualitative and quantitative measures, this endeavor also contributes to the critical discourse on translators' agency and ethics and to questions of reformulating their social role.The contributions to this volume were originally published in Translation and Interpreting Studies 4:2 (2009) and 5:1 (2010).

First published as a Special Issue of Interpreting (10:1, 2008) and complemented with two articles published in Interpreting (12:1, 2010), this volume provides a panoramic view of the complex and uniquely constrained practice of court interpreting. In an array of empirical papers, the nine authors explore the potential of court interpreters to make or break the proceedings, from the perspectives of the minority language speaker and of the other participants. The volume offers thoughtful overviews of the tensions and conflicts typically associated with the practice of court interpreting. It looks at the attitudes of judicial authorities towards interpreting, and of interpreters towards the concept of a code of ethics. With further themes such as the interplay of different groups of "e;linguists"e; at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal and the language rights of indigenous communities, it opens novel perspectives on the study of interpreting at the interface between the letter of the law and its implementation.

To go “beyond” the work of a leading intellectual is rarely an unambiguous tribute. However, when Gideon Toury founded Descriptive Translation Studies as a research-based discipline, he laid down precisely that intellectual challenge: not just to describe translation, but to explain it through reference to wider relations. That call offers at once a common base, an open and multidirectional ambition, and many good reasons for unambiguous tribute. The authors brought together in this volume include key players in Translation Studies who have responded to Toury’s challenge in one way or another. Their diverse contributions address issues such as the sociology of translators, contemporary changes in intercultural relations, the fundamental problem of defining translations, the nature of explanation, and case studies including pseudotranslation in Renaissance Italy, Sherlock Holmes in Turkey, and the coffee-and-sugar economy in Brazil. All acknowledge Translation Studies as a research-based space for conceptual coherence and creativity; all seek to explain as well as describe. In this sense, we believe that Toury’s call has been answered beyond expectations.

Like previous collections based on congresses of the European Society of Translation Studies (EST), this volume presents the latest insights and findings in an ever-changing, ever-challenging domain. The twenty-six papers, carefully chosen from about 140 presented at the 4th EST Congress, offer a bird''s eye view of the most pressing concerns and most exciting vistas in Translation Studies today. The editors'' final choices reflect a focus on quality of approach, originality of topic, and clarity of presentation, and aim at capturing the most salient developments in the contemporary theory, methodology and technology of TS. As always in EST, the themes covered relate to translation as well as interpreting. They include discussion of a broad range of text-types and skopoi, and a diversity of themes, such as translation universals, translation strategies, translation and ideology, perception of translated humor, translation tools, etc. Many of the papers force us to take a fresh look at seemingly well established paradigms and familiar notions, while also making recourse to work being done in other disciplines (Semiotics, Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Contrastive Studies).

This volume - the first-ever collection of research on healthcare interpreting - centers on three interrelated themes: cross-cultural communication in healthcare settings, the interactional role of persons serving as interpreters and the discourse patterns of interpreter-mediated interaction. The individual chapters, by seven innovative researchers in the area of community-based interpreting, represent a pioneering attempt to look beyond stereotypical perceptions of interpreter-mediated interactions. First published as a Special Issue of Interpreting 7:2 (2005), this volume offers insights into the impact of the interpreter - whether s/he is a trained professional or a member of the patient's family - including ways in which s/he may either facilitate or impair reliable communication between patient and healthcare provider. The five articles cover a range of settings and specialties, from general medicine to pediatrics, psychiatry and speech therapy, using languages as diverse as Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Italian and Spanish in combination with Danish, Dutch, English and French.