In Press: The September Issue of
Translation Watch Quarterly!

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Volume 2, Issue 3, 2006

This issue looks at informed performance in interpreting and translation.

IN THIS ISSUE...

Editorial
Informed Performers: How Facilitators of Information, Knowledge and Communication Remain Buoyant
Scott M. Rogers

How do professional translators and interpreters navigate through the intricacies of their work without falling prey to the various situational, lexical, and moral traps that will inevitably be encountered at one point or another? This issue of Translation Watch looks at Professional Development, Communion and Ethics with a prismatic effect as it addresses the means by which language professionals, i.e., interpreters and translators, can conduct themselves as informed performers; “professionals who know the processes, procedures and protocols of their profession.”...

This third issue of TWQ will hopefully serve to ‘blow the lid’ on issues that are so important to the integrity of the profession yet remain terribly overlooked, even taboo, in the management of relevant business operations and even more surprisingly, in some academic centers.

Training in Medical Translation
Mine Yazici, Istanbul University, Turkey

This paper deals with translational problems experienced by trainees in the field of medical translation. The problems are divided into three groups: language typology, text typology and medical terminology. In language typology, the first section touches on linguistic and cultural issues in medical translation arising from the unrelatedness of languages and diversity of cultures. In the second section, functional theories are taken as a model to classify and explain medical text types. In the last section, medical terminology is studied from the viewpoint of Turkish medical language in such a way as to sensitize the trainees to correlations between choice of terms and text types.

Phatic Communion in Arabic and English Spoken Discourse: Implications for Interpreters
Wafa Hatab, Zarka University, Jordan

Phatic communion plays a critical role in spoken discourse and in defining effective communication strategies in various situations. Interpreting is a highly demanding process that involves full understanding of the accurate message conveyed by the target language expressions. Misunderstanding the function of a given phatic communion expression in a given social context might lead to serious interpreting problems. This paper examines the role of phatic communion in interpreting in crisis situations.

Fine-tuning the Code of Ethics for Interpreters and Translators
Leong Ko, University of Queensland, Australia

At times interpreters and translators are required to use their discretion to assess situations they encounter and make decisions based on grounds that they can fully justify and that are in the best interests of the profession. This paper examines the universality of codes of ethics for interpreters and translators and argues that these are not fully applicable across different settings within the same country or across countries and cultures. Utilizing data from real-life situations, this paper proposes strategies for overcoming ethical dilemmas in real interpreting and translation work.

Review of Westward Transmission of Chinese Medicine
Duoxiu Qian, Beihang University, China

This paper gives an overall and objective review of past and present westward transmission of Chinese Medicine through translation in and outside China. It argues that many factors, which generally fall into Katherina Reiss’ linguistic and extra-linguistic categories, have caused problems in the translation with subsequent unsatisfactory reception of Chinese Medicine in the West. Through analysis of examples of such problems, the paper argues that although the popularity of Chinese Medicine as an alternative medicine is growing in the West, its translation still needs improvement. A computer-aided approach to translation is suggested.

Translation Quality Assurance: Standards and Practices in Australia
Ali Darwish, Central Queensland University, Australia

Awareness of the importance of quality assurance in translation has increased within the translation industry and in society at large both domestically and internationally, with universities and training services providers offering limited, on the fly courses in Translation Quality Assurance (TQA) in recent years. This paper looks at the TQA standards and practices in Australia and argues for a formalized approach to quality assurance as the next logical step in the translator accreditation and professionalization process. It provides an incisive analysis of Translation Quality Assurance standards and practices.

Book Review
Christopher Taylor’s Language to Language

In this elegantly designed book, Christopher Taylor presents a practical guide to translation for Italian/English translators derived from his own experience as a translator and intimate knowledge of both English and Italian. As the author tells us, the book is the fruit of his many happy years teaching at the University of Trieste’s Advanced School of Modern Languages for Translators and Interpreters...

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