Public service interpreting and translation (PSIT) is the response to the communication challenges posed by contemporary multicultural and multilingual societies, which witness an ever-increasing need for professionals who can successfully manage communication between public service providers and users who do not speak the language used by the former – or at least not with a sufficient competence. This communication takes place in fields as sensitive as healthcare, justice, police and education, to name a few, and PSIT plays an essential role in guaranteeing that public services are provided equally to all members of society, regardless of their linguistic, ethnic and cultural background.
This book, authored by María del Mar Sánchez Ramos from the University of Alcalá, a university of reference in PSIT thanks to its long-standing Master’s Degree in Intercultural Communication and Public Service Interpreting and Translation (also a member of the European Master’s in Translation network sponsored by the European Commission) and its productive FITISPos research group, addresses a vital aspect of a public service translator/interpreter’s job, i.e. lexical research. As stated by Sánchez Ramos, both the comprehension of the source text and the delivery of the target text depend greatly on the translator/interpreter’s lexical repertoire and, if need be, their research. Hence, this book attempts to combine these two fields (digital research and lexis) specifically for PSIT, describing the rationale for and benefits of the use of IT-based tools and resources.
The book comprises four main chapters, besides conclusions and references. Having dealt with the state of the art in PSIT (as well as its evolution and contextualisation) in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 analyses lexis as a crucial component of translator and interpreter competence and training, giving an account of different translator competence models and the significance of lexis in them. Chapter 3 then focusses on the teaching of lexis from a multidisciplinary perspective and concludes with the author’s very interesting proposal of lexical competence applied to translator training and more specifically to PSIT. Here, Sánchez Ramos identifies different and intertwined elements related to the form, meaning and usage of lexical units that a professional working within the field of PSIT must know in order to render his or her message accurately and efficiently.
However, if a public service translator/interpreter lacks this lexical knowledge – which is rather frequently the case, as they work in very varied areas, many of which are beyond their own expertise - they must resort to research to counterbalance this. Therefore, research (especially as far as lexis is concerned) emerges as one of the (if not the) most important tasks to be undertaken by a PSIT professional, in order to fulfil the need for language-related and culture-related information. Accordingly, Sánchez Ramos gives a detailed account of resources available to PSIT professionals and trainees in Chapter 4, which is to me the most interesting and applicable part of the book. Here, the author draws attention to three main digital resources that she views as fundamental to PSIT training and professional practice: electronic lexicographic resources (i.e. electronic dictionaries, online dictionaries, databases, specialised glossaries, encyclopaedias, etc.), corpus-related resources (primarily corpus management and concordancing software) and finally machine translation and post-editing applied to PSIT.
To sum up, Sánchez Ramos’ work encapsulates the importance of lexical knowledge in PSIT and provides very interesting insights into how insufficient lexical competence can be overcome through efficient and swift research, especially thanks to current IT-based, online resources. Throughout its 184 pages, the author brings together theoretical and practical components in a clear and praiseworthy attempt to cater to both practitioners and trainers. Written with academic rigour, yet with a straightforward language, this book is an enjoyable read and will surely become a must for all those interested in PSIT in the coming years.
Francisco J. Vigier-Moreno
Universidad Pablo de Olavide of Seville, Spain
E-mail: fvigier@upo.es