Nonverbal Communication and Translation ed. by Fernando Poyatos (review)

HUMANITIES 119 Fernando Pciyatos, editor. Nonverbal Communication and Translation John Benjamins 1997. xii, 362. us $94.00 This book is a collection of articles about a much-neglected area of translation studies, namely nonverbal communication. Nonverbal modes of communication occur in any form of literature, in all kinds of media as well as in personal interactions. The concept of nonverbal communication is in itself quite broad, and its contours are difficult to trace or define. However, the polemics of what constitutes nonverbal communication, which Poyatos rightly chooses to put aside, do not undermine the quality and pertinence of the articles contained in this volume. Throughout the book Poyatos's basic triple structure -language-paralanguage-kinesics - is explored in one form or another in the various articles. In part 1, JDiscourse and Nonverbal Communication,' Poyatos sets the groundwork for most ofthe analyses in the book by presenting an elaborate theoretical terminology drawn from his interdisciplinary work on nonverbal communication. In the second article in this section, Hatirn explores f graphically representational'languagethrough a text-linguistic framework and discursive theory, and argues that particular attention should be paid to this 'graphic' language in text transfer activities such as translation. In part 2, 'Cultures in Translation,' Shun-Chiu discusses Chinese gestures from a cross-cultural perspective and points out that although explicit descriptions of gestures may not pose serious problems, the less explicit ones can become stumbling blocks for translators. Hasada explores Japanese interactive nonverbal communication, focussing on 'culturespecific displays and functions of nonverbal behaviours.' The four essays in part 3, 'Narrative Literature,' deal with aspects of nonverbal communication in narrative texts from a variety of cultures. , According to Nord, the 'genre' and Jtext' types of every language use nonverbal communication differently, and therefore translation needs to account for this difference as shown in her study of three translations of Alice in Wonderland (into Spanish, German, and French). Diadori's essentially descriptive essay on translating gestures in I Promessi Sposi discusses the problems of translating extinct or obsolete Italian kinesics. Using Andersen'5 stories Malmkjaer illustrates the importance of punctuation in conveying nuances of semantic significance when rendering the source text into the target language. Tobin's article based on an oral Holocaust memoir and its translation into written form stresses the significance of the interaction between the linguistic, extralinguistic, and paralinguistic systems. In part 4, fTheater,' Snell-Hornby examines the interplay between the 'verbal stage text' and the paralinguistic, kinesic, and proxemic levels of communication, 'using examples from Shakespeare, Bernhard, and 120 LETTERS IN CANADA 1998 Stoppard. El Shiyab emphasizes the importance of preserving the visual and nonvisual effects of the source text by discussing the Arabic translations of two Shakespeare plays. Part 5 is titled 'Poetry.' Drawing from examples in Chinese, Spanish, Welsh, and Latin, Golden carries out an elaborate study of breathing and sound in poetry, showing how these physical aspects of poetry are culturebound , and making the point that these nonverbal features are part and parcel of the written text, and therefore should be accounted for in a translation. In part 6, 'Interpretation/ Poyatos explainS concepts and categories useful for the study and practice of consecutive and simultaneous interpretation . Viaggio and Weale draw from their practical experience to show how the speaker's and the audience's kinesics act as comprehension aids, and the interpreter's own kinesics help in processing and delivery. In the first of two articles in part 7, 'Film and Television,' Varela points out the fact that audiovisual texts as a genre containparalanguage, kinesics, and proxemics, and therefore, in this era of globalization, require a culturally sensitive approach to their translation with a reasonable dose of compensation and recreation to protect weaker target cultures. Zabalbeascoa argues that the importance of nonverbal elements in audiovisual translation calls for a rethinking of the conventional definitions and categorizations in the field of translation. Although the link between nonverbal communication and translation was not always clear in a few articles, the vast majority raise some pertinent issues about nonverbal communication and the challenges it poses to both theorists and practitioners of translation. This pioneering effort opens up a whole new area of study that will certainly be of interest...