Can theory help translators? A dialogue between the ivory tower and the word face

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Abstract:This book is a dialogue between a theoretical scholar and aprofessional translator, about the usefulness (if any) of translationtheory. Andrew Chesterman and Emma Wagner argue about the problem ofthe translator's identity, the history of the translator's role, thetranslator's visibility, translation types and strategies, translationquality, ethics, and translation aids.Chapter 1 addresses the aims of theory, the needs of translators andthe role of conceptual tools. In Chapter 2 the authors debate issuesof identity, metaphors of translation and translation history. Chapter3 covers visibility, authors and professional status. Chapter 4 dealswith classification of purposes, types and readerships, and Chapter 5with strategies, unblocking, distancing, and motivating. The followingchapter engages with issues of quality assessment, standards andnorms, and the final chapter with translation aids, machinetranslation and translation memory.For readers already working at the translation "wordface", especiallythose who are skeptical of all theorizing, the book aims to challengetheir view of theory. For those in the "ivory tower", such asstudents, teachers and scholars, the book will strengthen theconnections between theory and practice. For both groups, the book isan invitation to join the discussion.Emma Wagner is a translator and translation manager at the EuropeanCommission in Luxembourg. Andrew Chesterman is professor oftranslation theory at the University of Helsinki in Finland.