Albert Branchadell and Lovell Margaret West (eds.). Less Translated Languages. Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing, Benjamins Translation Library, EST Subseries, vol. 58, 2005, vii + 414 p.

This collection of essays was inspired in part by the 5^th International Conference on Translation, “Interculturality and Translation: Less Translated Languages,” held in Catalonia, Spain, in October 2001. Translation studies is typically dominated by the analysis of translations between major languages (English, French, German, etc.), while those less-translated languages, languages that are in a subordinate position, are often ignored. One of the main purposes of this volume is to expand the field of lesser-translated languages, while at the same time exhibiting the variety of work currently done in the field of translation studies. The Introduction concerns itself primarily with defining what is meant by the term “less translated languages.” The idea of minority languages is of particular concern, given the current status of languages in the European Union, which prides itself as being multilingual, but only within the framework of each member country’s official language(s). But the editors also wanted to include those languages that may be widely used, but not widely translated, usually due to a colonial situation, or an unequal power structure. Less translated languages, then, share a common experience of subordination. The editors also take a positive view of translation within less translated language groups, seeing it “as an opportunity for language maintenance and development” as well as “nation building” (pp. 8-9). The essays in the first section, “English: The dominant language,” takes a variety of approaches to the impact English has had on lesser-translated languages. Taking a statistical approach, Anthony Pym and Grzegorz Chrupala find “some empirical evidence that the percentages of translations from and to international languages cannot tell us how open or hegemonic a culture is” (p. 27), warning against basing translation policy (and theory) on statistics alone. Vilelmini Sosonis breaks down the challenges facing the EU as regards multilingual policy, especially in consideration of the dominance of English within the EU itself. Contemporary Tower of Babel or contemporary myth of the translators of the Septuagint, the EU provides a unique case study for maintaining the status of lesser-translated languages. Hassan Hamzé takes a linguistic approach in his analyses of the rapid evolution of Arabic using both English and French affixes, and the challenges this poses to translators. Nobel Perdu Honeyman looks at the landmark translations of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas or “Most Holy Book” of the Bahá’í Faith in both Spanish and French. The translation was done from both the original Arabic and English translation, using translators and experts from around the world, resulting in one of the largest projects involving both indirect and group translation. Finally, Maria D. Oltera Ripoll presents some of the challenges facing a translator when trying to reinterpret a Hollywood movie, in this case Pretty Woman, to a Spanish-speaking audience. Part II, “Minority Languages: Facing inequality in the translation arena,” consists of essays looking at minority languages, or languages in a minor position, from around the world, and focuses not so much on the how, but instead on the why behind the translations. Oscae Diaz Fouces places his focus on those non-official, thus minorised, languages in the EU, such as Catalan, Breton, Frisian, Scots, Welsh and Galician. He suggests a number of factors that should be taken into consideration when creating translation policies in the EU, particularly in order to protect these language groups against assimilation. Marta García González expands on Fouces framework, looking specifically at the multilingual situation in Nigeria, and proposes a type of sociology of translation in order to better understand the situation of minority languages. Albert Branchadell is concerned with mandatory translation, specifically the case of Catalan in Spain. While those living in …