Lore Vandevoorde, Joke Daems, and Bart Defrancq (eds.): New Empirical Perspectives on Translation and Interpreting

Abstract

The book New Empirical Perspectives on Translation and Interpreting, edited by Lore Vandevoorde, Joke Daems, and Bart Defrancq, presents methodological approaches in Translation and Interpreting with a view to strengthening the theoretical and empirical links between the two disciplines. Following the introduction, the volume brings together eleven research papers (coherently divided into three thematic units) and two theoretical papers. Contributors include both early-career and established scholars from Translation Studies and Interpreting Studies. In the introduction, the editors do an excellent job at highlighting theoretical and methodological ties among chapters on Translation and Interpreting. Furthermore, the contributions include experimental research and corpus-based methods that cut across Translation and Interpreting and bring the disciplines closer. If studies relying on different (e.g. qualitative) methodological approaches had also been included, additional commonalities between Translation and Interpreting might have emerged.With regard to the individual research papers, they differ considerably in their consideration of the ties between the disciplines. There is also variability among research papers in their inclusion of relevant (interdisciplinary) research, descriptions of study setups, and discussion of high-level (practical or theoretical) implications. As far as the theoretical chapters at the end of the volume are concerned, they do not include efforts to provide a unified theoretical framework for Translation and Interpreting Studies. They do, however, help contextualise the findings reported in the research papers. That said, one way of increasing the overall coherence of the book would have been if the editors had established a stronger dialogue among the chapters (e.g. through cross-references). Furthermore, if most chapters had addressed or considered a technology component, the connection with the technologies discussed by the editors in Chapter 1 would have been stronger.Despite limitations such as this, this edited book is noteworthy for its overview of how theories and methodologies for Translation and Interpreting have evolved (sometimes overlapping and sometimes diverging) over the years. It also provides valuable guidance on how to address methodological and theoretical challenges in future research. Students and scholars from Translation Studies, Interpreting Studies, and interdisciplinary research are likely