Mona Baker is one of the leading figures in the development of translation studies as an academic discipline. This book brings together fifteen of her most influential articles, carefully selected and grouped under three main topics that represent her most enduring contributions to the field: corpus-based translation studies, translation as renarration and translators in society. These applications and approaches have been widely adopted by translation scholars around the globe.

The first section showcases Baker's pioneering work in introducing corpus linguistics methodologies to the field of translation studies, which established one of the fastest growing subfields in the discipline. The second section focuses on her application of narrative theory and the notion of framing to the study of translation and interpreting, and her contribution to demonstrating the various ways in which translators and interpreters intervene in the negotiation of social and political reality. The third and final section discusses the role of translators and interpreters as social and political activists who use their linguistic skills to empower voices made invisible by the global power of English and the politics of language.

Tracing key moments in the development of translation studies as a discipline, and with a general introduction by Theo Hermans and section introductions by other scholars contextualising the work, this is essential reading for translation studies scholars, researchers and advanced students.

About the Author

Kyung Hye Kim is a lecturer in Translation Studies at the School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and member of the Jiao Tong Baker Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies. She holds a PhD in Translation and Intercultural Studies from the University of Manchester. Her academic interests lie in corpus-based translation studies, critical discourse analysis and the application of narrative theory to translation and interpreting. Her publications include 'Examining US News Media Discourses about North Korea' (Discourse and Society 2014) and 'Renarrating the Victims of WWII through Translation: So Far from the Bamboo Grove and Yoko Iyagi' (Target 2017).

Yifan Zhu is a professor in Translation Studies at the School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and deputy director of the Jiao Tong Baker Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies. She has published in the areas of translation studies, intercultural studies and corpus-based translation studies. Her articles have appeared in journals such as Perspectives, Babel, Chinese Translator's Journal, Journal of Foreign Languages, Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Foreign Languages Research.

Reviews

This collection of Mona Baker's scholarly contributions illustrates the eclectic range of her thinking and the sheer excitement of her academic trajectory - corpus studies to socio-narrative theory, to activist translation. With this exciting collection, disciplines beyond translation will be challenged to see how translational approaches widen and subvert the questions they traditionally ask.

Hilary Footitt, University of Reading, UK.

A genealogy of ideas as well as a cartography of possibilities, Researching Translation chronicles the 'future echoes', to borrow Steiner's phrase, not only of corpus linguistics' practicality for our field but narrative's role as a fruitful interdisciplinary approach and as a force for change and community-building in the world, including in activism, prefigurative practice, social movements, and situations of conflict. At their core the thematics here have in common the specificities of language phenomena with which the translator and interpreter must contend as 'intervenient beings', as Carol Maier called them. This is a vital book for finding historical clarity, research orientation, and personal inspiration.

Kelly Washbourne, Kent State University, USA

Book Information
ISBN 9780367109967
Author Kyung Hye Kim
Format Paperback
Page Count 333
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 1070g