Olohan, Maeve (2021): Translation and Practice Theory. London/New York: Routledge, 154 p.

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. …