Reviews
Maria Teresa Musacchio, Language International 8.5 (1996), p. 43.
Cross-Words is a collection of essays meant to outline current issues and debates in translating. As the
subtitle suggests, the term 'translating' is used to
indicate that throughout the book stress is laid on the
process, rather than on the product, of translation.
The sixteen essays can be roughly divided into three
broad categories: theoretical issues in translating,
translator training, and literary translating.
A brief, clear account of the essays would be
impossible given the variety of topics, approaches
and opinions presented in the book. Therefore, only
a few essays will be mentioned to give an idea of the
range of themes dealt with by the different authors.
In the opening section on theoretical issues, Dixon's
'holistic approach' appears most stimulating as he
draws a comparison between translating and contemporary physics. He suggests that the quest for
understanding the nature of matter may find a parallel in translating in its attempt to reconcile widely
different languages and cultures and put some order
to the chaos of Babel. On a different note,
Kuhiwczak stresses the importance to review translation theories from the past and investigate some of
their most fruitful aspects, such as the Renaissance
view of translation as transcultural assimilation. Zabalbescoa, instead, debates levels of prescriptiveness at work in translation assignments and describes
the advantages and disadvantages of prescriptive
guidelines. He further points out that an awareness of
these parameters may be very useful for translators - especially when they lack competence and experience in a particular type of text - in order 'to
establish priorities and restrictions for specific trans-
lating assignments'.
In the section on translator training, Bell investigates trainee translators' attitudes towards their work
and emphasises how an improved version of his
study might be used to devise a training programme
for translators. The five essays on literary translating
include a remarkable study of Nabokov's works in
French aiming to show how aspects of foreign cul-
tures can be 'uncovered, discovered or recovered'
through translating.
It might be argued that some of the essays in the
book - particularly those by Martin/Hewson and
Hatim and Mason - are just new versions of previous work by the same authors, albeit in a shortened
form. If that be the case, these are excellent summaries and can serve as introductions to seminal work
in the field by the four authors. Moreover, these
essays are an integral part of the outline of current
issues and debates in translating that is the main purpose of the book.
In short, Cross-Words provides an interesting and stimulating variety of viewpoints about translating. Given the high number of essays and their limited length, many topics are touched on rather than dealt with in great detail, but they can be useful starting points for debates or further investigations into these matters.
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