Translation: Theory and Practice: A Historical Reader, edited by Daniel Weissbort and Astradur Eysteinsson, is a collaboration with a dozen scholars who either contributed new translations or edited portions of this over 625 page tome.

After a general introduction and discussion of the Tower of Babel, which the editors describe as “a kind of leitmotif of this volume”, Translation is divided into Parts I and II.

Part I covers from antiquity to modern times, sectioned into Cicero to Caxton; Reformation and Renaissance to the Eighteenth Century; and the Nineteenth Century. Each segment is complete with introduction and biographies devoted to notable scholars of influence on the development of translation theories and practice throughout the ages.

Part II, the Twentieth Century, is partitioned into From Pound to Nabokov and Recent and Contemporary Writings with, once again, introductions and biographies.

Translation is not only the most comprehensive amassment of material regarding the evolvement of translation, it also includes actual translations of passages from the Bible and Homer from different eras to demonstrate the variety of translation approaches which emerged over history.

Translation is invaluable as both a teaching tool and encyclopedia. The collection contained within Translation proves itself as the must have resource for scholars, poets, cultural historians, professional and student translators and disciples of English literature.

Daniel Weissbort, born in London in 1935, is well known for his translations and anthologies of Russian and Eastern European poetry. He studied at the University of Cambridge. He relocated to the United States in 1970, where he taught for almost 30 years at the University of Iowa, until his return to England in 1999. He founded, along with Cambridge colleague Ted Hughes, the journal “Modern Poetry in Translation” in 1965. The journal continues to this date. Since his return to England, he has written poetry, taught, lectured and published Translation.

Astradur Eysteinsson, born in Akranes, Iceland, in 1957, studied at the Universities of Iceland, Warwich and Cologne. He completed his PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Iowa. He became a practicing translator in 1981. He has been a Professor and Chair of the University of Iceland’s Comparative Literature. In addition, he was a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Iowa and Copenhagen in Translation Studies.

A preview of Translation: Theory and Practice: A Historical Reader can be accessed at Google Books

As a translator, I believe more in learning from experience rather than studying books on translation theory. Theory is all about what should happen in an ideal world, but this is usually far from the truth when it comes time to working with imperfect texts and tight deadlines. There are also many spontaneous online resources that cater to the spontaneous nature of freelance translation today. Nevertheless, there is one book out there that is both theoretical and realistic: Becoming a Translator by Douglas Robinson. I have learned some new ideas that have pleasantly surprised me. I can honestly say that I would not have thought of them myself. I can also say that this book has shown ideas, though already known to me, in a different light. I like this fact because it vouches for the book’s value to both the novice and veteran translator.

A piece of new information that I learned was about the human memory and how it applies to translators. Apparently, we have something that is called procedural memory, which means that we do things without even realizing that we are doing them. This is the sort of autopilot that we “turn on” while we are driving, washing the dishes and tying our shoes, to give a few examples. When we are translating, we are very much applying this type of memory. Imagine if we had to think about each word and how it is translated into the target text! We would never finish, and our work would not be a smooth and cohesive I suspect. After reading this part of the book, I immediately began to analyze the way I applied procedural memory to my workflow and how to make the most of it.

A fact that I did know about somewhere in the back of my mind but had not properly analyzed before was the fact that the documents that we translate come from people. In other words, they are not static texts with mere grammar structure and specialized terminology to contend with. As a result, the way I perceive, and indeed translate documents has changed as a result. I tend to think more about who wrote these documents, and in my free time, I observe people whom I think could have written similar documents they translate such as doctors, lawyers and engineers. I also make mind maps of my documents when I have time to do so.

Becoming a Translator has helped me to be a better translator and regard myself as being more important to the world than I had previously realized I was. If you haven’t already read this book or any other books or contributions by Douglas Robinson, I suggest that you do. Though it is a small investment of your time and money, the potential benefits that you will reap are sizable. It is available at Amazon as a paper book, and can also be found in e-book format.

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Read D. James is a freelance translator who has been living and working in Santiago Chile for over a decade. He is married with two children. In his free time, he likes to read, exercise, travel and play the piano. He runs a web site called Spanish Language Gateway. If you have any questions or comments, please contact him at: rjames@vtr.net