What We Talk About When We Talk About Co-translation: Mapping, Locating, and Translating

Abstract

Looking back over the history of translation in the world, it can be stated that ‘co-translation’ is a common translation phenomenon. It is largely prevalent in translation and interpretation activities around the world, and not least in providing access to important texts for various purposes. After a long absence from the field of translation studies, co-translation has been the focus of increasing attention in recent years. This paper investigates how co-translation within translation studies has been mapped in the international community. It also draws on the notions of James S. Holmes’s (2000) “map” of translation studies presented by Gideon Toury (2012) and Jeremy Munday (2016) in an attempt to put forth an overall framework that describes the ground covered by co-translation studies. Finally, a comparative analysis of three English versions of Shen Fu’s Fu Sheng Liu Ji (Six Records of a Life Adrift) is discussed in order to illustrate the influence on proper English translation and target readers’ expectation of co-translation and to explore the implications of this influence. This paper aims to offer a review of the latest developments in co-translation studies, the insightful findings of which may help scholars, researchers, students, and practitioners to reflect upon the important issues in this field and search for possible directions in their future research.

Keywords

• co-translation
• mapping
• locating
• translating
• fu sheng liu ji