Corps de l’article

With the sociological turn in Translation Studies, it is widely accepted that translation is a practice deeply embedded in the social world. To understand the translation process, it is necessary to explore all the actors and conditions involved in the translation process and product. Practices are the main constituent of social life. Therefore, thinking of translation in terms of practice will enable the researcher to approach the subject with a situational and contextual focus, zooming out from the individual translator’s behaviour. Thus, the researcher will be able to harness the necessary methodological tools to study the body and material objects that other translation scholars have so far overlooked.

Although sociological methods and theories have long been discussed and used in Translation Studies (Gouanvic 2010; Simeoni 1998; Wolf 2011), this is the first book that addresses Practice Theory in the context of translation. Furthermore, other workplace-oriented studies mostly focus on ergonomics (Ehrensberger-Dow and O’Brien 2015; Teixeira and O’Brien 2017), whereas Olohans’s book encompasses material objects and the body. In her book, Olohan aims to draw specifications about translation as a social phenomenon and look into “how things work” (p. 5). To achieve this, she conducted observations at four different language service providers (LSP) in the UK, which took around 250 hours. However, she underlines that this is neither an ethnographical nor a praxiographical study. This 154-page book was not designed to be a series of case studies either, but all of these options are possible with enough development.

The product of translation does not emerge in a vacuum, nor are translators mere automatons rendering texts into other languages. Translators’ habitus, as well as the materials they use, including their body, have a direct influence on the end product. To better understand these, Olohan looks into the translator’s workplace experience. She observes the hardware and software the translators use, as well as their body movements during a translation job or in between. Ergonomics also plays a vital role in the embodiment. To explain, the chairs and consoles translators use have a direct impact on how their bodies function. Sitting too long in an uncomfortable chair reflects in their work, as well as in their body. Also, other facilities available at the workplace, such as the cafeteria, restrooms and spaces to interact with coworkers can have positive or negative repercussions for translators. Olohan tries to shed light on all these understudied aspects of translation as a profession.

Olohan is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies at the University of Manchester, UK. Among her works are Introducing Corpora in Translation Studies (2004) and Scientific and Technical Translation (2016).

The first chapter of her current book looks into the frequently addressed areas in Translation Studies, namely, process and product-oriented research. Here, the author criticises the prototypical research, stating that product-oriented studies compare one or more translations with their source text and aim to come to conclusions concerning the translators’ decision-making process without considering their opinions on the subject. The main focus of this type of research is documental data rather than interpersonal and material acquisition. Throughout the chapter, Olohan refers to translation theorists (Mossop 2000; Buzelin 2006; as well as Latour 2005) who try to bring forth more empirical workplace research and address translation as a profession. Drawing from these previous studies, Olohan suggests a practice-oriented approach, offering Practice Theory as a conceptual and methodological framework.

In the second chapter, Olohan draws on the conceptional framework of practice and related terms. She underlines that Practice Theory does not have a unified front, but it encompasses other practice-related concepts. She tries to balance the scale between individualism and holism in relation to Practice Theory. The individualistic approach is concerned with the individual’s rational choices, whereas the holistic approach deals with the subject from a more system-oriented point of view, taking into account the social norms and appropriate behaviour. To address the issue, Olohan appeals to Theodore Schatzki’s theory of practice and Andreas Rechwitz’s idealised model of Practice Theory, as well as the third wave of researchers who bring the theory into empirical investigations of various social phenomena from daily and professional life, thus, nourishing the theoretical framework further.

After drawing the theoretical and conceptual framework of Practice Theory, Olohan delves into translation as practice in the third chapter, focusing especially on the body and other material elements. Apart from the body, material elements include the furniture, software and hardware, equipment, as well as the infrastructure and resources. Bringing together her observations of the translation workplace, she emphasises that the body is constitutive of and constituted by the practice of translation. However, she observes that the translators and project managers are oblivious to this fact, taking the body for granted until they feel a type of discomfort, such as a headache or back pain. By investigating this invisible and insubstantial role of the body, the instrumental use of the body can be brought to the attention of both professional translators and researchers.

The fourth chapter focuses on the concept of “knowing in practice” (p. 58), that is practical understanding and knowledgeability in translation studies. Olohan states that, constituted by doings and sayings of the practice, “knowing” is produced and reproduced, responded to and recognised by the practitioners of the profession. Thus, she contrasts the concepts related to translation competence to the practice-oriented concept of “knowing.” According to the writer, the concept of competence in Translation Studies is widely disagreed upon and therefore falls short in terms of defining learning and practicing translation as a profession. Instead, an approach that brings “knowing” to the forefront will sustain a more consistent basis for research. This chapter also addresses the issue of recruitment and training of translators through formal university education.

In the fifth chapter, the writer aspires to relay the broadness and complexity of shared meaning in terms of professional settings for translation. She refers to Schatzki’s “notions of general understanding,” which include rules and teleo-affectivity of social actions. Olohan stresses that while some actions are normative, individuals may sometimes act contrary to social norms. So she argues that thinking of professional translators as disembodied networks or collectives executing quality translation services means ignoring their affectivity towards retention in the profession. This may further cause the defection of aspiring translators, weakening the structure of the profession as a whole. She calls for in-depth research about how translators initiate their professional lives and how the evolution of material elements and shared meanings affect their decisions on how to carry out their professional activities.

The sixth chapter deals with practices as interconnected constellations across the world. To explain this notion, Olohan uses Schatzki’s ideas about linking practices as a basis and builds her argument about the co-dependant and coexisting nature of the translation practice. According to Olohan, translation is connected to other practices, such as project management, revision, editing and vendor management. Also, she suggests that this interconnectedness encompasses the practices of publishing and translator education. Therefore, the practitioners of translation have multiple roles in the workplace, constituting crossing points among other practices linked to translation, which means that all these interconnected practices within the translation profession are congregated in and laid upon the translators. Further analysis of this notion will bring out the profession’s intertwined nature.

In the seventh chapter, Olohan explains what she means by evolving practices with examples from post-editing machine translation (PEMT) and its new implications for the practice of translation. According to Olohan, PEMT brings great change into the practice in terms of meaning, material and competence. She goes on to explain these three aspects in the rest of this chapter. Firstly, she explains the technical principles of PEMT and how it is used in translation projects. Then she stresses that the practice of PEMT and translation cannot be studied independantly since they occur on a continuum. The emergence of machine translation, which brings together PEMT, is integrated into the translation practice. It changes how translation practice is done, in that the translators are forced to process more data, which suggests faster decision-making. Also, PEMT and MT tools are added to their material elements, increasing the number of competences they need to acquire to catch up with the requirements of the profession.

In the last chapter, after explaining the characteristics of ethnographic research, Olohan makes invaluable suggestions for translation researchers who aspire to conduct workplace studies. Olohan states that primary data in ethnographic research are collected through the researcher’s interactions and observations. The main challenges lie in choosing the site(s), gaining access to the workplace and handling the changing motivations of the gatekeepers. Moreover, during the observation, both the researchers and the participants may feel awkward and behave unnaturally. Interpreting vast datasets is another challenge to overcome.

Olohan’s book sets the scene for new translation research with a practice-theoretical approach. It draws on the conceptual and methodological framework for studying translation in the social world. Establishing a middle ground between individualistic and holistic methods, Olohan underlines the importance of incorporating the human body, material objects, resources, infrastructure and devices into translation research. This book also highlights the doings and sayings of professional translation practitioners and the practice’s competences and meaning. It stresses the interconnected and interdependent nature of all practices around the world, including the practice of translation.

This book is unique in that it encompasses practice-theoretical concepts and syncretises them with the writer’s observations in the translation workplace. Giving examples from everyday practices, Olohan makes it easier to understand the theories and ideas of practice theorists. Thus, it helps the reader feel accustomed to the previously unknown complex methodology, deepening their understanding of translation as a social phenomenon and reminding them of the indispensability of the body and other material elements constituting the practices. However, the translation researcher as a reader may have more expectations from this book. Olohan could have given wider coverage to her workplace observations and findings within the chapters. As a translation scholar, upon reading this somewhat short book, I feel very well informed about Practice Theory, whereas my questions about the fieldwork analysis go unanswered.

This book calls for a change in the approach to research, suggesting a divergence from the prototypical product-oriented comparative research to a more practice-oriented one. New approaches or “turns” in Translation Studies can gain foresight from this book and consider integrating Practice Theory into translation theory, which, in turn, will enrich both fields of study. Also, through the writer’s methodological suggestions, translation researchers can feel more secure and be more willing to do fieldwork, especially in the workplace.