Zhang, Meifang and Feng, Dezheng (2021): Multimodal Approaches to Chinese-English Translation and Interpreting. New York: Routledge, 224 p.

Recent decades have witnessed a rapid development of multimodal research in various interrelated disciplines. A paradigm shift is occurring, “moving from the centrality of ‘language’ to a focus on ‘meaning’” and “a move from a linguistic to a semiotic frame” (Kress 2020, p. 24). However, the convergence between multimodality and Translation Studies (TS) has just started (Boria and Tomalin 2020) and it lacks both methodological framework and case analysis since most research focuses on the verbal mode (Pinto Ramos and Mubaraki 2019). The novelty of multimodal translation and interpreting (MT&I) is displayed in this co-edited volume Multimodal Approaches to Chinese-English Translation and Interpreting, which presents a multitude of scholars sharing their perspectives. This book has a special interest in Chinese-English translation and interpreting, with a focus on the cross-cultural transmission of both traditional Chinese classics and contemporary Chinese discourse. Comprising an introduction and eight research articles, these culture-loaded corpora make for an interesting volume. The introductory chapter by Zhang Meifang and Feng Dezheng (William), the editors of this volume, provides an overview of the “semiotic turns” in TS, (that is, from interlingual to intersemiotic translation), they describe the different approaches of multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) (that is, visual grammar, visual metaphor and text-image relation) and present a general picture of MT&I. Furthermore, a panorama of each chapter is also presented for readers to get a quick understanding of the topics discussed. This collection covers a wide range of case studies relating to Chinese-English translation from a multimodal perspective, such as Chinese costume drama, Chinese and English classics or modern Chinese themes. Based on theoretical frameworks and scientific analytical tools, each chapter clearly presents the author’s ideas. In the first chapter, Qian Hong (Sunny) and Feng Dezheng (William) investigate the intersemiotic translation of subtitles in the popular Chinese costume drama Zhenhuan Zhuan while discussing the language and image modes. An intersemiotic shifts (IS) model identifying five kinds of IS (that is, addition, omission, omission+addition, compensation and typographic transformation) is established based on translation and multimodal theories with 408 cases analysed. The next three chapters all examine the intersemiotic translation of Chinese classics, namely Mulan Ci (Chapter 2), The Art of War (Chapter 3) and Monkey King (Chapter 4). IS continues to be discussed in Chen Xi’s (Janet) chapter (Chapter 2), which is done through the images of Mulan in contemporary bilingual picture books. Also studied is the idea that the verbal (endnote/footnote, preface/foreword and introduction) and non-verbal paratexts (front/back cover, pictures in endpapers/title page and page layout) collaborate to rebuild the Chinese classic Mulan cross-culturally in picture book translation. In Chapter 3, Luo Tian (Kevin) presents us with another detailed and culture-centered study. By examining the ways rhetorical figures (RFs) are translated across modes, Luo Tian investigates the concept of (in)translatability through the case study of the Chinese classic The Art of War. Moreover, various strategies for the intersemiotic translation of RFs (that is, equivalence, replacement, addition and omission) in The Art of War are explored to account for rhetoric studies in multimodal translation. The topic of “repackaging image” is scrutinised again in the next chapter by Wang Hui (Wanda) and Li Xiaowei. Though also cross-culturally compared, a dynamic animated film (Monkey King: Hero is Back) is analysed using Praat (p. 96), a speech analytic software applied to capture the primary voice quality of the para-linguistic code. Combining verbal, visual and vocal components, different images of Monkey King are shown in the original Chinese film (that is, a “humanised” hero who is sympathetic, responsible yet frustrated) and English dubbed version (that is, a flawed hero who …