This book is a study of the major events and publications in the world of

translation in China and the West from its beginning in the legendary
period to 2004, with special reference to works published in Chinese and
English, the two major languages in the world. To widen our horizon,
events relating to translation in other parts of the world have also been
included. This is to put translation in a global context so that we know
where we stand and how we should move forward.
The need to study translation from a global perspective cannot be
overemphasized. Globalization, as we all know, is the trend of the day. The
world is now a global village. Yet confined by our geographical
boundaries, we do not have an adequate understanding of our discipline
and profession in a greater context. The following poem by Su Shi (1037
1101), a Song poet, is perhaps illustrative of the need to look beyond our
regional horizon.
!"#$
From the front of a range, from the side of a peak,
!"#$%
Unlike from near or far, or high or low,
!"#$%
I do not know Lus true face,
!"#$%
Only by chance am I on this mountain.
Whether we become translators by fate or by chance, by vocation or by
avocation, we have to know something about the world of translation from
a historical and global perspective so as to be able to see the major
happenings in the field in a clear light. We can then judge the growth of
translation from a professional craft to an academic discipline in a
comparative manner. We can then understand the evolution and formation
of various schools of translation theories coming out from different
TRANSLATION IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT
2 Translation in a Global Context
languages, cultures, and modes of practice in different temporal,
geographical, and linguistic contexts. We can then analyze the emergence
of the issues in the field to serve as a basis to decide what needs to be done
in the future. We can then read the literature on translation in a proper
context and know in what ways they reflect the changes in the discipline.
To see the world of translation as fully as we can, we settle on works
and books on translation written in English and Chinese as the basis of our
research as these publications are read and studied by the largest number of
people in the world. Events and publications in other languages have been
based on information provided in these two languages. This book is mainly
about events that took place in 263 years in China and Western countries,
covering also a total of 72 countries or places and 1,000 works published
before 2004.
As a way of introduction, we will discuss firstly the major events in the
world of translation, and secondly, the major publications in the period
covered.
Major Events
Continents
The 72 countries covered in this work belong to different continents, and
reflect the need of showing translation in a continental context. The
following is an analysis of the number of entries on individual countries,
grouped under the five continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, the Northern
and Southern Americas, and Oceania.
Africa (10 out of 53 countries/places, 23 entries)
Africa (4), Algeria (2), Egypt (3), Morocco (2), Nigeria (1), Senegal
(1), South Africa (7), Tanzania (1), Tunisia (1), Zimbabwe (1)
Asia (16 out of 44 countries/places, 242 entries)
[The Arab Islamic Empire, Hong Kong, and Macau have not been
counted separately.]
The Arab Islamic Empire (3), China (104), Hong Kong (38), India
(12), Iran (1), Iraq (3), Israel (8), Japan (22), Jordan (2), Kazakhstan
(1), Korea (4), Lebanon (4), Macau (1), Malaysia (1), Saudi Arabia
(2), Singapore (3), Taiwan (30), Thailand (2), Uzbekistan (1)
Translation in a Global Context 3
Europe (28 out of 46 countries/places, 473 entries)
[Europe, The Roman Empire, and the West have been excluded]
Austria (10), Belgium (17), Bulgaria (3), Cyprus (1), Czech Republic
(8), Denmark (9), Estonia (1), Europe (13), Finland (18), France (38),
Germany (47), Greece (4), Hungary (8), Italy (19), Latvia (1), The
Netherlands (31), Norway (3), Poland (7), Portugal (9), The Roman
Empire (15), Romania (1), Russia (21), Slovakia (5), Slovenia (3),
Spain (19), Sweden (7), Switzerland (11), Turkey (8), The United
Kingdom (131), the West (4), Yugoslavia (1)
America (North) (5 out of 23 countries/places, 139 entries)
Canada (42), Costa Rica (1), Guatemala (1), Mexico (6), The United
States (89)
America (South) (5 out of 12 countries/places, 25 entries)
Argentina (5), Brazil (12), Chile (6), Uruguay (1), Venezuela (1)
Oceania (2 out of 14 countries/places, 16 entries)
Australia (15), New Zealand (1)
There are altogether 918 entries for all the continents combined,
with Europe having the highest percentage (51.53%), followed by Asia
(26.36%), and North America (15.14%). Continents with lower
percentages are South America (2.72%), Africa (2.51%), and Oceania
(1.74%). This shows very clearly that Europe takes the leading edge in
translation activities, while Asia has slightly more than a quarter of the
events. South America and Oceania take up only around 5% of the events
and publications in the world of translation.
Europe
52%
Asia
27%
North America
16%
South America
3%
Oceania
2%
4 Translation in a Global Context
Countries
When we take into account the actual number of entries under each country
or region, the picture alters slightly. This has a lot to do with the
publication of books and the organization of conferences in different parts
of the world. Of the 1,780 entries, we can divide them into several groups:
countries with 1 entry, countries with 2 to 5 entries, countries with 6 to 10
entries, and countries with 11 to 15 entries. Countries with 20 entries or
more have been analyzed separately.
Countries with 1 entry
Costa Rica (1), Cyprus (1), Estonia (1), Guatemala (1), Iran (1),
Kazakhstan (1), Latvia (1), Macau (1), Malaysia (1), New Zealand (1),
Nigeria (1), Romania (1), Senegal (1), Tanzania (1), Tunisia (1),
Uruguay (1), Uzbekistan (1), Venezuela (1), Yugoslavia (1),
Zimbabwe (1)
Countries with 2 to 5 entries
Algeria (2), Jordan (2), Morocco (2), Saudi Arabia (2), Thailand (2),
The Arab Islamic Empire (3), Bulgaria (3), Egypt (3), Iraq (3), Norway
(3), Slovenia (3), The West (3), Africa (4), Lebanon (4), Singapore (4),
Argentina (5), Greece (5), Korea (5), Slovakia (5)
Countries with 6 to 10 entries
Chile (6), The Czech Republic (8), Hungary (8), Mexico (8), Poland
(8), South Africa (8), Sweden (8), Turkey (9), Austria (10), Denmark
(10), Israel (10), Portugal (10)
Countries with 11 to 15 entries
Brazil (12), Europe (13), India (14), Switzerland (15)
Countries with 20 entries or more
The United States (379), China (359), The United Kingdom (227),
Hong Kong (91), Canada (70), France (63), Germany (62), The
Netherlands (58), Taiwan (48), Spain (46), Japan (30), Russia (24),
Australia (22), Italy (21), Belgium (20), Finland (20)
Translation in a Global Context 5
There are 20 countries with only one entry in the book, which is
27.78% of the total number of countries covered in this work. This shows
that countries inactive in translation exist in every continent. There are five
countries each in Africa, Asia, and Europe, two countries each in North
America and South America, and one country in Oceania, which are
mentioned only once in this book. When we look at countries with two to
five entries, the distribution is more or less the same, with only some minor
changes in order. Excluding the Arab Islamic Empire, which existed in the
distant past, and the West, which is too general for reckoning, there are
seven Asian, five European, four African countries in this group, and one
South American country. Taken together, the 37 countries (with the
exclusion of the Arab Islamic Empire and the West) with one to five entries
are mostly in Asia, Africa, and Europe.
There are 15 countries with 6 to 15 entries, with the exclusion of
Europe, which is again too general for reckoning, and the distant Roman
Empire with 15 entries. The 9 European countries of these two groups
take up 53% of the total, while the remaining 47% are distributed to Asia
(2 entries), South America (2 entries), North America (1 entry), and Africa
(1 entry).
Costa Rica (1)
Cyprus Algeria (2)
Estonia Jordon
Guatemala Morocco
Iran Saudi Arabia The United States (379)
Kazakhstan Thailand China (359)
Latvia Bulgaria (3) The United Kingdom (227)
Macau Egypt Hong Kong (91)
Malaysia Iraq Chile (6) Canada (70)
New Zealand Norway Hungary (8) France (63)
Nigeria Slovenia Mexico Germany (62)
Romania The Arab Islamic Empire Poland The Netherlands (58)
Senegal The West South Africa Taiwan (48)
Tanzania Africa (4) Sweden Spain (46)
Tunisia Lebanon The Czech Republic Japan (30)
Uruguay Singapore Turkey (9) Russia (24)
Uzbekistan Argentina (5) Austria (10) Brazil (12) Australia (22)
Venezuela Greece Denmark Europe (13) Italy (21)
Yugoslavia Korea Israel India (14) Belgium (20)
Zimbabwe Slovakia Portugal Switzerland (15) Finland (20)
1 entry (20) 25 entries (19) 610 entries (12) 1115 entries (4) 20 or more entries (16)
6 Translation in a Global Context
Taken together, there are 255 entries for 56 countries or places with
below 16 entries, and there is a great contrast between these countries and
those 16 countries with 20 entries or above, with a total of 1,540 entries.
It is clear from the above table that the three countries with the highest
numbers of entries are the United States (379 entries), followed by China
(359 entries), and the United Kingdom (227 entries). Of these 16 countries
or places with 20 entries or above, Hong Kong deserves a special mention.
It is a tiny place in China administered as a Special Administration Region
with a population of about 6.9 million, yet it is ranked fourth in terms of the
number of entries relating to translation, higher than countries such as
Canada, France, and Germany. This can be attributed to its bilingual
tradition for more than one and a half centuries, and the importance it
attaches to translation, which has made Hong Kong an international city of
considerable influence.
Seen in a continental perspective, Europe tops the chart with 9
Names of Countries/Places Number of Entries
The United States 379
China 359
The United Kingdom 227
Hong Kong 91
Canada 70
France 63
Germany 62
The Netherlands 58
Taiwan 48
Spain 46
Japan 30
Russia 24
Australia 22
Italy 21
Belgium 20
Finland 20
Translation in a Global Context 7
countries and 541 entries, which is a clear indication of the continued
influence of translation in the multilingual European community. Asia,
represented mainly by Chinese in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and by
Japanese, comes next with 528 entries, which shows the growing
importance of translation in the region. North America, represented by the
United States and Canada, takes up two positions in the top five countries
or places, has 449 entries. Australia, lastly, is the only country in Oceania
that has 22 entries. Absent from the top 16 are the 53 African countries and
the 12 countries of South America.
Categories
All events and activities in the field of translation have been grouped into
24 areas or categories listed in Area Categories, some of which, the more
important ones, will be discussed in detail either individually or, if they are
related, collectively. Areas that will be covered in the following pages are
translation awards and prizes, Bible translation, centers of translation,
translation conferences, translation societies, and translation journals.
Translation awards and prizes
As in other professions, translators are offered awards and prizes to honor
their contribution to and achievements in specific areas of translation. The
following observations are based on information provided by references
and websites, and allowance must be given to the incompleteness of the
collected data.
Firstly, translation awards and prizes are far from plentiful. As far as
we can gather, the Martinus Translation Prize established by the Prince
Bernhard Fund in the Netherlands was probably the first translation prize
in the field. From then to 2004, a total of 43 awards and prizes have been
made available to translators in 12 countries. In other words, only 6% of
the worlds countries in the last 51 years have awards and prizes for
translators and translation organizations. This fares poorly with other
fields, such as literature, science, and business.
Secondly, the number of prizes, however, is not proportional to the
population of the individual countries. Five countries in Europe, the
Netherlands (1), Germany (1), France (3), Switzerland (4), and the United
Kingdom (10), have offered a total of 19 prizes in Europe, while two
8 Translation in a Global Context
countries in North America, the United States (15) and Canada (2), have
put up 17 awards and prizes. Together, these two continents make up
83.72% of the total number of translation awards and prizes. There are only
seven prizes for other continents, including one for Africa (South Africa),
two for Oceania (Australia), and four for Asia (China (1), Hong Kong (1),
and Japan (2)).
The huge differences between the West and the rest of the world have
a lot to do with the number of translation societies and organizations in
individual countries. A single society might be able to offer a large number
of prizes, as in the case of the United Kingdom. Conversely, a large
number of prizes might have been offered by a number of sources, as in the
case of the United States. In the United Kingdom, 80% of translation prizes
have been offered by the Society of Authors, which has awarded, between
1963 and 2002, a total of eight prizes, including the John Florio Prize for
Italian Translations, the Schlegel-Tieck Prize, the Scott Moncrieff Prize,
the Bernard Shaw Prize, the Teixeira-Gomes Prize, the Vondel Translation
Prize, the Premio Valle Incln Prize, and the Hellenic Foundation for
Culture Translation Award. In the United States, however, the 15
translation prizes awarded between 1963 and 2000 have been offered by 10
different sources, such as literary societies (PEN American Center),
translation associations (American Translators Association), library
associations (American Library Association), international associations
(International Federation of Translators), linguistic associations (Modern
Language Association of America), universities (University of Denver and
Columbia University), academies (Academy of American Poets), journals
(International Poetry Review), commissions (Japan-United States
Friendship Commission), and foundations (American-Scandinavian
Foundation, the Florence Gould Foundation, and the French-American
Foundation).
Thirdly, the scope of awards and prizes is fairly limited, with literary
translation dominating, with 37 out of 43 awards being earmarked for
literature, accounting for 86%. Some prizes are for specific genres of
literature, such as poetry (International Poetry Review Translation Prize),
drama (Bernard Shaw Prize), and fiction (FIT Aurora Borealis Prize for
Outstanding Translation of Fiction Literature). Some are for specific
languages, such as the Greek-German Award for Literary Translation
offered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, and Columbia
Universitys Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prizes for the Translation
Translation in a Global Context 9
of Japanese Literature. Only six awards are non-literary, which include the
Alexander Gode Award for translation service, the Mildred L. Batchelder
Award and the Japan Translation Prize for translation publishers, the Best
Periodical Award for translation journals, the Stephen C. Soong
Translation Studies Award for translation studies, and the Hellenic
Foundation for Culture Translation Award for cultural translation.
Fourthly, prizes have been given to the worlds major languages to the
neglect of minority ones. The major languages for awards have been
European, such as English (e.g. The Times Stephen Spender Prize), French
(e.g. Scott Moncrieff Prize), German (e.g. Greek-German Award for
Literary Translation), Italian (John Florio Prize for Italian Translations),
Portuguese (e.g. Portuguese-French Translation Prize), Spanish (Premio
Valle Incln Prize), and Asian, such as Japanese (e.g. Japan Translation
Prize) and Chinese (Han Suyin Translation Prizes).
Fifthly, awards have been given for written translation, particularly, as
we have mentioned, in the field of literature, and there are no prizes for
interpreting and different areas of practical translation. Perhaps this is due
largely to the traditional view which regards literary translation as the most
demanding form of presentation, while the work of interpreting and
practical works is less academic and thus less valuable. It should be noted
that in China, 96% of its annual translation output is in the area of practical
translation, while only 4% is in the field of literature. Perhaps it is about
time to look more closely at the contributions made by translation teachers,
practical translators, and professional interpreters.
Lasty, it is noted that prizes have been given for book publications, and
contributions in other formats, such as computer translation systems,
speech technologies, or subtitles, are not given the recognition they rightly
deserve. Translation societies and organizations should consider seriously
the awarding of prizes to those who engage themselves in projects and
products that benefit a large number of users. They should also consider the
provision of funds to conduct research into non-literary areas.
Bible translation
It is often said that the classical and the philological periods of translation
have been largely the translation of literary works and the Bible. As
someone once put it, nothing has ever been translated as frequently, into
as many languages, and over as long a span of time as the Bible. Bible
10 Translation in a Global Context
translation is certainly one of the most important topics for translation
scholars. The prevalence and importance of Bible translation is certainly
borne out by statistics in this book. If we divide Bible translation broadly
into two periods, with the first period running from the legendary times to
1946 when the United Bible Societies was formed, and the second from
1947 to 2004, we can see some salient features of development.
For the first period, which covers 3,068 years between 1122 B.C. and
1946, there are 314 entries, 96 of which (excluding the entry on Legend)
are on Bible translation, totalling 30.57%. This shows that almost one third
of the events during the period are related to Bible translation. If we deduct
81 China-related entries to concentrate more on the West, then the total
number of entries is 233, and the percentage of entries on Bible translation
is 41.20%, which is considerably higher than entries in other categories.
Regarding Bible translation, European countries have the largest
number of entries. The seven countries of the United Kingdom (54),
Finland (2), France (2), Germany (1), the Netherlands (1), the Roman
Empire (2), and Switzerland (1) have 63 entries, totalling 64.63%. Next
comes the United States in North America with 30 entries, totalling
31.25%. China (2) and India (1) are the only two Asian countries with
entries in Bible translation, taking up 3.13%. The African country Egypt,
with one entry, is last on the list with 1.04%. The two major countries with
entries on Bible translation, the United Kingdom and the United States,
dominate the scene with a total of 87.5%.
For the second period, which covers the 57 years between 1947 and
2004, there are 1,468 entries, with 60 entries on Bible translation,
amounting to 4.09% of the total. These 60 entries are shared by the United
Kingdom with 14 entries and the United States with 46 entries. The
dominance of these two countries has much to do with the languages that
have been chosen for inclusion, i.e. English and Chinese.
Centers of translation
The first translation center, the National Translation Center of the
University of Texas at Austin, was founded in the United States in 1965.
Since then, a total of 11 translation centers have been established
throughout the world. The United States has four translation centers, which
were established between 1965 and 1986. There are two centers at the
University of Texas, one of which is no longer in existence. They both have
Translation in a Global Context 11
conducted research on general issues of translation, and the centers at the
State University of New York and Columbia University also work on
translation studies and literary translation. The Center for Machine
Translation at Carnegie Mellon University, however, focuses on issues in
computer and speech translation.
Hong Kong comes second with a center at The Chinese University of
Hong Kong and another center at Hong Kong Baptist University. The
Research Centre for Translation at The Chinese University specializes in
the English translation of Chinese literary works, which are published in
Renditions, the journal of the center. The Centre for Translation at Baptist
University focuses on translation studies and holds translation seminars
regularly to promote the study of translation in Hong Kong. Special
mention must be made of the Institute of Translation Studies at Fu Jen
Catholic University in Taiwan, and the Centre for Translation and
Interpretation in India, both of which concentrate on general as well as
interpreting issues in the field.
For Europe, GETA at University of Grenoble is the second oldest
translation center in the world, specializing in machine translation and
general issues of translation. Also important is the Leuven Research Centre
for Translation, Communication and Cultures, which was established at the
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven to study literary and cultural translation.
Translation conferences
Our study of translation conferences will be divided into two parts. Part 1
will look at the conferences held between 1954 and 1992 in a descriptive
manner, while Part 2 will analyze translation conferences beween 1993 and
2003 in a statistical manner. This division will also give a general picture
of the events that took place over a 38-year period, while more details will
be spent on the decade before 2003.
19541992
For the period of 19541992, a total of 77 conferences on translation were
held. Several observations can be made about these conferences, their
organizers, and their themes.
Firstly, the number of countries which held conferences in this period
is relatively small with 22 countries11 in Europe, 8 in Asia, and 3 in
12 Translation in a Global Context
North America. Of these, Hong Kong (12), the United Kingdom (11), and
the United States (10) outnumber the others by a wide margin, with the
remaining 19 countries holding between one and five conferences.
Secondly, conference organizers have been varied. Translation
conferences have been organized by translators associations, by
translation societies, by translation departments, by translation schools, by
translation centers, by institutes, by universities, and by foundations.
Thirdly, the themes of the conferences are varied. Apart from the
regular conferences of translation associations where various topics are
included, such as the annual conferences of the American Translators
Association, and thematic conferences of translation institutes, such as the
computers and translation series organized by Aslib, the rest of the
conferences in the period cover a wide range of areas, including regional
development, terminology, translation teaching, translation quality,
translation association, translation studies, literary translation, culture and
translation, translation as a profession, interpretation, translation theory,
translation practice, interpreting teaching, computer translation, the position
of translators, language acquisition, communication, lexicography, and
linguistics. Incidentally, there is no repetition of themes during the period.
19932003
As far as we know, between 1993 and 2002, 120 conferences on translation
studies and related areas were held in different parts of the world. The
number of conferences before 1997 is relatively small, with an average of
6.5 conferences per year. Between 1997 and 2001, 88 conferences were
held, about 17.6 conferences per year. With the exception of 2002, the
increase is 2.7 fold. The new ideas and concepts discussed in these
conferences formed the basis of a new vocabulary for translation studies.
Translation Conferences by Year, 19932002
Year No. of Conferences
1993 7
1994 4
1995 7
1996 8
Translation in a Global Context 13
Year No. of Conferences
1997 14
1998 21
1999 15
2000 20
2001 18
2002 6
During these ten years, a total of 28 countries organized translation
conferences on various themes and topics. The United Kingdom (20),
Spain (14), China (11), the United States (11), Canada (10), and Hong
Kong (8), are the six countries where conferences were most frequently
held. The case of Hong Kong is exceptional. A relatively small territory
with a population of slightly over 6.9 million, Hong Kong has the highest
density of translation programmes in the worldseven out of eight tertiary
institutions offer degrees in translation, and is now ranked sixth in the
organization of translation conferences.
Translation Conferences by Country, 19932002
Country No. of Conferences
Canada 10
China 11
Czech Republic 1
Denmark 3
Finland 3
Germany 6
Hong Kong 8
India 1
Italy 2
Japan 1
Malaysia 1
Mexico 2
Morocco 1
14 Translation in a Global Context
Country No. of Conferences
Poland 2
Singapore 1
Slovakia 3
Slovenia 1
Spain 14
Sweden 1
Switzerland 2
Taiwan 4
Tunisia 1
Turkey 1
United Kingdom 20
United States 11
From 1993 to 2003, 118 conferences were held in 25 areas. The largest
number of conferences was on translation studies (37), followed by 26 on
computer-related translation (automatic translation (1), computational
linguistics (4), computer translation (7), corpus (1), information processing
(1), machine translation (8), parsing (1), terminology (1), and translation
technology (2)), and 11 on interpreting. It is obvious from the above
figures that translation technology has become a very important part of
translation.
Translation Conferences by Area, 19932003
Conference Topics No. of Conferences
Arabic translation 3
Automatic translation 1
Cliche translation 1
Computational linguistics 4
Computer translation 7
Corpus 1
Culture 2
Practical translation 7
Translation in a Global Context 15
Conference Topics No. of Conferences
Information processing 1
Interpreting 11
Language processing 1
Language teaching 1
Languages and translation 2
Linguistics 1
Literary translation 7
Machine translation 8
Multimedia translation 4
Parsing 1
Psychology 1
Semantics 1
Subtitles 1
Terminology 1
Translation studies 37
Translation teaching 7
Translation technology 2
Translator training 5
Translation societies
The first translation society was probably formed in 1768 in Russia. The
Association of the Translation of Foreign Works, supported by the Russian
empress Ekaterina Alexeevna, was also the first professional association
for translators in Russia. Between 1768 and 2002, 77 translation societies
of various levels were established.
There are various ways to classify translation societies. In terms of
scope, we have national, international, continental, and intercontinental
translation societies. The earliest example of a national translation society
was the Japan Society of Translators, which was formed in 1934. From
then on, about 20 national translation societies were established, including
the Association of French Translators (1947), the Finnish Association
of Translators and Interpreters (1955), the Society of Translators and
16 Translation in a Global Context
Interpreters of Canada (1956), the Netherlands Society of Translators
(1956), the American Translators Association (1959), the Swiss
Association of Translators and Interpreters (1966), the Hong Kong
Translation Society (1971), the Association of Brazilian Translators
(1974), the Israel Association of Translators and Editors (1979), the Israel
Translators Association (1980), the Austrian Association of Literary and
Scientific Translators (1981), the Translators Association of China (1982),
the Tanzania Organization of Translators (1982), the Hellenic Association
of Translators and Interpreters (1985), the Japan Association of Translators
(1985), the Irish Translators Association (1986), the Australian Institute
of Interpreters and Translators (1987), the National Union of Translators in
Brazil (1988), the Cyprus Association of Translators and Interpreters
(1988), the Professional Union of Interpreters and Translators (in
Romania) (1990), the Estonian Association of Interpreters and Translators
(1992), and the Taiwan Association of Interpretation and Translation
(1994).
International translation societies have been formed over the years
to serve translators globally, such as the International Federation of
Translators and the International Association of Conference Interpreters,
which were established in France in 1953 at the First World Congress,
and the Localisation Industry Standards Association (LISA) founded
in Switzerland in 1990. Continental translation societies include the
European Association of Specialized Translators (1990) and the European
Society for Translation Studies (1992). The Inter-American Association of
Translators (1976) and the Panhellenic Association of Translators (1985)
are examples of intercontinental translation societies.
We also note that a large number of translation societies are affiliates
of national translation societies, which aim to serve local interests. In the
United States, we have the Southern California Translators and Interpreters
Association (1976), the Austin Area Translators and Interpreters
Association (1985), the Chicago Area Translators and Interpreters
Association (1987), the Northwest Translators and Interpreters Society
(1988). In Canada, we have the Association of Translators and Interpreters
of Ontario (1920), the Association of Translators and Interpreters of
Alberta (1979), the Society of Translators and Interpreters of British
Columbia (1981), the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Nova
Scotia (1990). In Chile, we have the Professional Translators Association
of Santiago (1991).
Translation in a Global Context 17
There are also specialized translation societies, either in terms of areas
or professions. These include societies for Bible translation, such as the
British and Foreign Bible Society (1804), the American Bible Society
(1816); for literary translation, such as the Norwegian Association of
Literary Translators (1948), the Association of Bulgarian Literary
Translators (1963), the Association of Literary Translators of France
(1973), and the Literary Translators Association of Canada (1975). For
scientific translation, there are the Indian Scientific Translators
Association (1962) and the Austrian Association of Literary and Scientific
Translators (1981). For conference translation, there is the International
Association of Conference Translators (1962); while for conference
interpreting, there are groups such as the Association of Conference
Interpreters (1969) and the Professional Association of Conference
Interpreters (1971). For general interpreting, there are groups such as the
American Society of Interpreters (1965); while for professionalism, there
is the Association of Professional Translators (1974). For legal translation,
there is the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators
(1978); while for translation studies, there are the European Society
for Translation Studies (1992), the German Association for Translation
Studies (1998), and the American Translation Studies Association
(2002).
Translation journals
It is hard to determine the beginning of translation journals in a global
context, but we can certainly say that the first journal to introduce foreign
literature into China was Yi Wen !(Translation Text), which was
published in 1934. If this particular year is taken as the starting point, then
three different periods can be seen in the publication of translation journals
up to 2004. The first period runs from 1934 to 1956, the second, from 1965
to 1985, and the third, from 1986 to 2004.
The first period covers the 22 years between 1934 and 1956, involving
China, the United States, Australia, France, and Canada. Apart from Yi
Wen, five journals were pubished in five different countries, and four of
them are of special significance. With the exception of Babel, which was
published in Australia by the Australian Federation of Modern Languages
Teachers Association, the four other journals that came out during the
period have since become leading journals in the field. The Bible
18 Translation in a Global Context
Translator, a journal of the United Bible Societies in the United States, was
first published in 1950. This refereed journal now has 56 volumes, and
appears in two series, Technical Papers in January and July, and Practical
Papers in April and October. The first journal of machine translation,
Mechanical Translation was also published in the United States in the
following year. It ceased publication in 1965, and reappeared later with the
new name of Machine Translation, which is now in its nineteenth volume.
Another significant journal that came out during the period is Babel, a
quarterly of the Federation Internationale des Traducteurs (FIT). The first
issue of the journal was published in September 1955, and it has since
continued to carry articles on general issues of translation. Now in its
fiftieth year, Babel is a journal of very high standing. In Canada, we have
the first translation journal published by a translation school. The Journal
des Traducteurs (Journal of Translation) was published in Montreal by the
School of Translation, University of Montreal in 1956. It was later
renamed Meta.
The second period, 1965 to 1985, saw the publication of 13 different
translation journals. It should be noted that, firstly, in this 20-year period,
1.42 journals per year were produced, and at least one journal was
published every two or three years, with the publication of three journals in
1973 as the most productive year. Secondly, there was a significant
increase in the publication of translation journals. Journals were published
in nine countries places, including, in alphabetical order, Belgium (2),
Brazil (1), Canada (1), China (2), France (1), Hong Kong (1), Japan (1),
Spain (1), and the United States (5). Thirdly, more varieties of translation
journals were published. There were journals devoted to the study of the
theory and practice of translation, such as Translation (1973), Quaderns de
Traducci I Interpretaci (1982), Abrates (1976), Fan Yi Tong Xun
(Translators Notes) (1980), and Yu Yan Yu Fan Yi !"#$
(Language and Translation). There were also translation journals for
specialized areas, including machine translation, such as Traduction
Automatique (Machine Translation) (1965), Computers and the
Humanities (1966); literary translation, such as Modern Poetry in
Translation (1965), Delos (1968), and Renditions; translation studies, such
as Equivalences (1970); and interpreting, such as The Japan Interpreter.
The last period is from 1986 to 2004, a total of 18 years. This is the
most productive period with 32 journals published, an average of 1.77
journals per year. From 1986 to 1999, at least one journal per year was
Translation in a Global Context 19
published. Particularly productive were the years between 1986 and 1989,
and 1995 and 1998, in which 11 and 13 journals were published
respectively. Apart from increases in the number and varieties of
translation journals, the appearance of e-journals is significant, which
means more academic articles can be published in electronic format. E-
journals, or online journals, will be a major venue through which the most
recent scholarship can be distributed globally. These journals include
Translation Journal (1997), inTRAlinea (1998), and Translation Today
(2004).
Major Publications
There are exactly 1,000 entries for book publications on or about
translation, written in either English or Chinese. An anlysis of the ways the
books have been produced reveals that 64.5% (645 entries) of these
publications are authored, 33% (330 entries) are edited, 2.4% (24 entries)
are compiled, and only 0.1% (1 entry) is translated. These figures show that
the large number of authored books is possibly related to a growing interest
in translation as a profession and an academic discipline, and the relatively
smaller number of edited and compiled volumes is a result of conferences
on translation and the provision of references for translators. An
examination of other aspects of publication will also be informative and
useful.
Periodization
If we take Essays on the Principles of Translation written by Alexander
Fraser Tytler in 1791 as the first book on translation, then the 213 years that
followed can be divided into five periods, based on the average number of
works published per year. The first period is from 1791 to 1956, the
second, from 1957 to 1971, the third, from 1972 to 1983, the fourth, from
1984 to 1994, and the fifth, from 1995 to 2004.
The first period had an annual production of about one book per year,
with the exception of 1920, 1953, and 1955 in which two books on
translation were published each year. Of the 28 books published in this
166-year period, four were written in Chinese, all of which were on general
issues relating to English-Chinese translation. For works written in
English, they were mostly on Bible translation, translation of classical
20 Translation in a Global Context
literature, and there was one work on machine translation. Apart from the
years between 1952 and 1956, books on translation were published in
separate years, including 1791, 1829, 1861, 1862, 1903, 1904, 1906, 1920,
1922, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1936, 1941, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1947, and 1949.
The second period is from 1957 to 1971, with an average annual
publication of 5.2 books per year. A total of 78 books were published
within this 15-year period. The year 1969 with ten books on translation was
the most productive year, while in 1963, only one conference proceedings
was published.
The third period is from 1972 to 1983, a total of 12 years in which 148
books on translation were published, an average of 12.33 books per year.
This is an increase of 2.37-fold of the second period. The year 1981, with
23 books published, was the year with the largest number of book
publications. This was partly due to the publications of six works on the
success of the TAUM machine translation system in Canada, accounting
for 26% of the total number of books published.
The fourth period is from 1984 to 1994, with an average of 25.9 book
publications per year. The range is between 22 books in 1984 and 1985 and
29 books in 1993. Of the 285 books published, 63 were in Chinese, a total
of 22.11%. On average, 5.72 books on translation were written in Chinese
per year.
The last period, 1995 to 2004, witnessed a huge increase in the
publication of books on translation. A total of 461 books were published
within this 10-year period, an average of 46.1 books per year, a 1.78-fold
increase over the fourth period. 195 books were written in Chinese,
accounting for 42.30%, and this to a great extent shows the growing
importance of translation studies in China. It is expected that the number of
books on translation will continue to grow in the years to come.
Countries
There are 30 countries places which have published works on translation.
As the statistics are based on publications in either English or Chinese, the
English-speaking and Chinese-speaking areas have the largest volumes of
publications. For English publications, the United Kingdom and the United
States together have 415 entries, accounting for 41.75%; together with
other European countries, such as the Netherlands (122 entries) and
Germany (41), and other English-speaking countries, such as Canada
Translation in a Global Context 21
(32 entries) and Australia (4), the total number of book publications is 614
entries. For Chinese publications, China has 242 entries, and Hong Kong,
with 51 entries, Taiwan, with 43 entries, and even Macau, with one entry,
have to be taken into account. Together, there are 337 entries for Chinese
publications, which is 54.89% of English publications.
The following is a list of book publications by different countries or
places in alphabetical order.
Australia 4 Jordan 1
Austria 1 Korea 1
Belgium 3 Luxembourg 1
Canada 32 Macau 1
China 242 Netherlands 122
Denmark 4 Nigeria 1
Finland 5 Poland 2
France 3 Russia 1
Germany 41 Singapore 2
Hong Kong 51 South Africa 1
India 1 Sweden 3
Iraq 1 Switzerland 3
Israel 3 Taiwan 43
Italy 2 United Kingdom 208
Japan 4 United States 207
Publishers
It goes without saying that publishing houses play a very important role
in the dissemination of knowledge in any field. We have put down a list
of the major publishers in the United Kingdom, the United States, the
Netherlands, Germany, Canada, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, for their
publications account for 90% of the total number of books on translation.
It should be noted that publishers in the English-speaking countries
produced mostly English books, but their counterparts in the Chinese-
speaking countries produced books both in Chinese and in English.
Canada
University of Ottawa Press (9)
22 Translation in a Global Context
Germany
Gunter Narr (8)
Peter Lang (6)
Springer-Verlag (3)
Netherlands
Foris Publication (4)
John Benjamins Publishing Company (77)
Mouton (4)
Rodopi (14)
Van Gorcum (4)
The United Kingdom
Aslib (7)
Cambridge University Press (13)
Multilingual Matters (20)
Oxford University Press (4)
Pergamon Press (9)
Peter Lang (1)
Routledge (28)
St Jerome Publishing (27)
The United States
Kluwer Academic Publishers (3)
Learned Information Inc. (5)
MIT Press (4)
Oxford University Press (3)
State University of New York Press (8)
Yale University Press (5)
China
China Translation and Publishing Corp. (33)
Commercial Press, The (10)
East China U. of Science and Tech. Press (5)
Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (9)
Hubei Education Press (16)
Hunan Education Press (7)
Institute of Comp. Ling., Peking Univ. (3)
Peking University Press (6)
Shandong Education Press (4)
Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press (18)
Shanghai Jiaotong University Press (6)
Translation in a Global Context 23
Tianjin University Press (4)
Tsinghua University Press (12)
Hong Kong
Chinese University Press, The (7)
Commercial Press, The (9)
Taiwan
Bookman Books Ltd. (10)
Kai-ming Bookstore (4)
Areas
All book publications on translation have been divided into 16 categories.
Publications which can be cross-categorized have been put under single
categories. Conference proceedings which have specific themes, for
example, can be placed in specific categories. But proceedings which are
general in nature and scope have been placed under the category of
conference. The following list has been prepared from the main body of
the text.
Bible translation 40
Biography 11
Conference 7
Culture 31
General 141
History 27
Interpreting 71
Literary translation 89
Machine translation 169
Practical translation 56
Profession 4
References 43
Textbooks 45
Translation skills 36
Translation studies 190
Translation teaching 37
It is clear from the above that translation studies, which includes a
large number of sub-areas, tops all areas with 190 entries. Next on the list
24 Translation in a Global Context
is machine translation with 169 entries, and it should also be noted that 85
of these entries are placed between 1990 and 2004, which is a strong
indication of the recent emergence of computer translation as a very
important area of research and publication among translation scholars.
Works of a general nature rank third, including books on various aspects of
translation. Books on literary translation, with 89 entries, appeal to many
students of translation as a considerable number of translation teachers
received their training in the field of literature. Next on the popularity list
is interpreting, an area which is always popular with translation and
interpreting students. The fact that it is only fifth on the list is perhaps
related to the lack of interest in interpreting studies as most people would
consider it as a practical subject based on drills and exercises.
The entries in references and textbooks also deserve our attention as
there were few coming under this classification in the past. In recent years,
however, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, and handbooks of different sizes
and scopes have been published to meet the pedagogical and general needs
of different groups of users. Textbooks are also abundant for different
language pairs. Routledge, for example, has published a series Thinking
Translation, offering textbooks for students studying French, German,
Spanish, and Italian. Translation textbooks in Chinese have also been
published, specializing in a number of domains, such as science and
technology, business, and tourism.
It is hoped that this introduction has provided the necessary
background information for readers to know the world of translation in the
past, the present, and possibly the future.