Evaluating the evaluator: A novel perspective on translation quality

Abstract

Due to its complex nature, providing a comprehensive framework for translation quality assessment (TQA) has always been a challenging task. To address this gap, many scholars spared no effort to provide a framework, approach or theory from philosophical, linguistic, and cultural perspectives, like those by Williams (2004), House (2015) and Reiss and Vermeer (1984), to mention but a few. According to Drugan (2013: 35), “theorists and professionals overwhelmingly agree that there is no single objective way to measure quality”. In the same vein, Dong and Lan note that “translation evaluation [. . .] remains one of the most problematic areas of translation studies as a field of study” (2010: 48). Notwithstanding, there is no consensus among scholars in this regard. Yet it remains one of the most interesting but controversial research areas in Translation Studies. Bittner’s book presents the historical trajectory of this concept by critically reviewing the eclectic and up-to-date viewpoints of Translation Studies scholars, investigating the pros and cons and applications of each. The book under review consists of seven chapters, each of which investigates a specific topic relating to translation quality assessment.