Scarpa, Federica, 2001, La traduzione specializzata. Lingue speciali e mediazione linguistica

John Benjamins Publishing Company

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336 Book Reviews

qu’instrument unificateur du droit, doit en effet demeurer au service des langues et des cultures et non les transformer en un ensemble lisse et homogène totalement dépourvu d’aspérités. Reviewer’s address Judith Lavoie Université de Montréal Faculté des arts et des sciences Département de linguistique et de traduction C. P. 6128, Succursale Centre-ville Montréal (Québec) H3C 3J7 Canada [email protected]

 Scarpa, Federica. 2001. La traduzione specializzata. Lingue speciali e mediazione linguistica. Milano: Editore Ulrico Hoepli, xii+334 pp. ISBN 88-203-2709-0 Reviewed by Gabriel Quiroz F. Scarpa teaches specialized translation and terminology at the University of Trieste. The book has 6 chapters, notes, an appendix and author and subject indexes. It contains a wide bibliography not only on scientific and technical translation but also on theoretical and methodological issues that support the book (pp. 283–314). Almost all major manuals on specialized translation and on special languages are referenced (Bédard 1986; Hann 1992; Hoffmann 1985; Pinchuk 1977; Sager 1980, among others). However, some major books of equal interest are not included (Maillot 1981; Kocourek 1991; Lerat 1995). As stated by the same author, this volume tries to serve as a tool on the state-of-the-art of the methodology of scientific and technical translation as a support for the teaching of specialized translation integrating different kinds of approaches (from theoretical-based to task-based to technological-based). Throughout the book, the role of translators as culture mediators and experts in technical writing is stressed. The first chapter deals with the dimension of variation and general characteristics of special languages. On the horizontal dimension, the epistemological stratification of special languages and the relationship between language and science is explained. On the vertical dimension, the relationship between © 2005. John Benjamins Publishing Company All rights reserved

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language and use is discussed by means of the functions and registers of special languages. The author questions the traditional though often-discussed status of special languages as an isolated reality and linguistic system independent from general language. Instead, the author proposes to view special languages as part of general language based on the arguments of Cabré (1999), Sager et al. (1980), and others. In fact, the dichotomy between special languages and general language does not exist at all. Moreover, the borderline is each time more difficult to establish. Professional groups use certain linguistic and pragmatic devices for communication purposes with a greater degree of frequency than general language uses. As it can be verified in Biber et al (1999), the frequency of certain linguistic devices is higher in academic prose than in other registers. However, is it not true that those linguistic devices belong to special languages. The author concludes that the classical approach to special languages has to be reviewed. Having established this, in Chapter 2 the author explains in detail the macrostructures to microlinguistic features of “special languages.” Scarpa uses a top-down approach to analyze specialized texts. The analysis begins with textual and rhetorical levels (discourse organization and textuality). Then, it continues with the most common morphosyntactic aspects such as nominal style, passive voice, and impersonalization, among others. Finally, the analysis ends up with lexical and terminological aspects. It is important to mention that Scarpa uses terminology in both senses, as a discipline to support her idea of special languages and as a feature of specialized discourse. In Chapter 3, the general features of specialized translation are presented. The differences between literary and specialized translation are discussed not as opposed entities, but as a continuum and a subcategory of general translation. The concepts of “translatability” and “equivalence” are also discussed not as a product but as a process in terms of a communicative situation in which the translation process is produced. Special attention is given to the first phase of the translation process. As proposed by Nord’s functionalist approach to translation (1991[1988]), the source text analysis is basically divided into extratextual and intratextual factors. The identification of parameters such as communicative situation, author, readership, intention, channel, place, time, motive of communicative and text function, on the one hand, and text type, syntactic and semantic features, subject-content, text structure, presuppositions, verbal and non-verbal elements, and prosodic features, on the other hand, will lead the translator to take a translation macrostrategy in order to

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338 Book Reviews

choose a writing model for the target text. Decisions on the microlinguistic parameters are subordinated to the macroanalysis. In the next chapter, a translation methodology for specialized texts is proposed. Scarpa identifies three phases: two kinds of reading phases of the source text, a writing phase of the target text, and the revision of the target text. The global reading aims at identifying the scopos as stated in chapter three. The second is the “deep” reading phase in order to identify translation problems, and the third (the writing phase) focuses on how to solve those problems by using the most common methods and procedures of (specialized) translation such as literal translation, paraphrasing, transposition, modulation, adaptation, explanation, expansion, reduction and omission. The writing phase is divided into three strategies: a textual strategy (register, textuality), a morphosyntactic strategy (nominal style, sentence syntax, passive and impersonal forms, and modality), and a lexical strategy (terminology, loanwords and calques, and lexical aspects of register). This chapter is full of examples to illustrate the different procedures and strategies. In chapter five, the last phase of translation is examined by evaluating the translated text by means of text revision giving quality criteria: precision, fluency, adequacy and acceptability. I wonder if this set of criteria covers the wellknown seven standards of translation quality stated by Neubert (1988). Error analysis and the translator’s competence are also widely discussed. An important and relevant distinction is made between translation competence and subjectcontent competence, which leads to the long discussion of having experts in the field to be translators or translators with an education and then specialization in a certain field. In everyday practice, both cases will need the knowledge of each other to be competent. It is clear that experts becoming translators will need translation, linguistic, and writing knowledge and that a translator will need expert knowledge to become a competent technical-scientific translator. The last chapter is devoted to professional issues. Scarpa discusses the classical professional profile (in-house and freelance translator) versus new professional profiles: technical writing and localization with the integration of the language industries as well as the tools needed to achieve high levels of productivity and quality demanded by the market. The use and benefits of tools are widely examined together with differences among CAT, HAMT, MAHT, TM, and other basic terms; tools account for the rough of the work, leaving the translator the time necessary to solve true translation problems and less repetitive and mechanical aspects of a translation. However, the author does not warn her readers (including undergraduate students) about the problems tools

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can cause if used improperly. Tebé et al. (2002) have pointed out the advantages of translation tools and the translator’ responsibilities. Errors at any level may be systematically (re)produced in the target texts if a system is not regurlarly maintained. Thus, tools may not be seen only productively in a short term, because the quality of the translation will not be adequate. Ethical problems in the use of tools are not discussed, but rather mainly the topic of who owns the copyrights of the by-products of a translation in a teamwork environment: the manager, the translator or the terminologist. The appendix gives five examples of translated texts from English into Italian from five different registers, including a popular-science article, an instruction manual, a research article, a professional article, and a sample of a textbook. Each example has the following structure: a short introduction with a textual analysis of the source text, a first draft of the translation, the final version, comments on the main changes and strategies used during the revision phase, and the source text. Thus, the methodology proposed in Chapter 5 is illustrated. This book would be useful for graduate and undergraduate students as well as for academics. In spite of the working languages, this book would be also useful for other languages such as Catalan and Spanish, which have similar problems in scientific and technical translation. Of course, the examples would have to be adapted by the teacher. This volume covers many fields related to specialized translation. Therefore, all those involved in the field of specialized translation as well as in translation theory, computer-assisted translation, ad hoc terminology, localization, and translation teaching will find this book very useful for teaching and for academic purposes.

References Bédard, C. 1986. La traduction technique: principes et pratique. Montréal: Linguatech. Biber, D. et al. 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. New York: Longman. Cabré, M.T. 1999. La terminología: Representación y comunicación. Una teoría de base comunicativa y otros artículos. Barcelona: Institut Universitari de Lingüística Aplicada, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Sèrie Monografies, 3). Hann, M. 1992. The Key to Technical Translation, Vol. 1. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Hoffmann, L. 1985. Kommunikstionsmittel Fachsprache. Eine Einführung. Tübingen: Günther Narr. Kocourek, R. 1991. La langue francaise de la technique et de la science: vers une linguistique de la langue savante, 2nd ed. Wiesbaden: Brandstetter Verlag.

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Lerat, P. 1995. Les langues spécialisées. Paris: PUF. Maillot, J. 1981. La traduction scientifique et technique. Paris: Technique & documentation. Neubert, A. 1988. Text and Translation. Leipzig: VEB Enzyclopädie. Nord, C. 1991. Text Analysis in Translation. Amsterdam/Atlanta: Rodopi. Pinchck, I. 1977. Scientific and Technical Translation. London: Andrés Deutsch. Sager, J-C., D. Dungworth and P. McDonald. 1980. English Special Languages. Wiesbaden: Brandstetter Verlag. Tebé, C., M. T. Cabré and G. Quiroz. 2002. “La gestió de la terminologia en les memòries de traducció.” In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Specialized Translation. Paper read at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona: Pompu Fabra University.

Reviewer’s address Gabriel Ángel Quiroz Herrera Institut Universitari de Lingüística Aplicada Universitat Pompeu Fabra La Rambla 30–32 (08002) Barcelona Spain [email protected]

 Chan, Sin-wai. 2004. A Dictionary of Translation Technology. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, xiii + 639 pp. ISBN 962-996-203-9 (Hb), 962-996-148-2 (Pb) Reviewed by Duoxiu Qian Since 1993, Professor Chan Sin-wai from the Department of Translation of the Chinese University of Hong Kong has produced many notable lexicographic works on translation. They include A Glossary of Translation Terms (Chinese University Press, 1993), A Topical Bibliography of Translation and Interpreting: Chinese-English, English-Chinese (Chinese University Press, 1995), An Encyclopaedia of Translation: Chinese-English, English-Chinese (in collaboration with David E. Pollard, Chinese University Press, 1995), Longman Dictionary of English Language & Culture (English-Chinese) (as one of the two chief revisers, Hong Kong: Peisheng Education Asia Publishing Company, Ltd., 2003). The encyclopaedia appeared two years before Mark Shuttleworth and Moira Cowie’s Dictionary of Translation Studies (Manchester, UK: St. Jerome, 1997) and three years before Mona Baker’s Routledge Encyclopaedia of Translation Studies (London and New York: Routledge, 1998).

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