Call for Chapters | Variational Translation: Practical and Theoretical Explorations

The book is part of the Scholarly Collection Series and seeks to include quality works which provide new insights into the practical and theoretical explorations of variational translation.

EDITORS

Dr. Chuanmao Tian , Professor, Centre for Translation Studies, Yangtze University, China, Jingzhou, China
Dr. Juntao Deng, Professor, School of Foreign Languages, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, China
Dr. Zhonglian Huang, Professor, Center for Translation Studies, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China

Quality unpublished works as chapters are invited to the book. The chapters should strictly be according to the coverage scope of the book.

SCOPE & OBJECTIVES OF THE BOOK

Variational Translation Theory (VTT) has incorporated both Chinese and foreign thought, especially the philosophy of change embodied in the ancient Chinese classic Book of Changes, and it sees change as a striking, gradual process. Compared with the change a text undergoes in complete translation, a change or ‘variation’ in variational translation (VT) may be viewed as a kind of fast, thorough, and global changes, including instant, immediate, and substantial changes. VTT can help translators do their job more quickly and accurately, with higher efficiency and better quality. Therefore, VT can be defined as an intelligent and intersemiotic activity in which a person or/and a machine uses one language to develop flexibly the cultural information in another language so as to meet the specific needs of specific readers under specific conditions (Huang 2002: 97).

As a theoretical system of translation thought and scientific principles, VTT is derived from VT practices and reflects the essence of VT. Taking VT as its research object and focusing on the general features and laws of the VT process and relevant factors, VTT aims to summarize the general strategies and principles applicable to all VT activities. Simply put, VTT consists of 1 core philosophy, 2 contradictions, 4 key factors, 8 strategies, 12 methods, and at least 16 aspects of VT studies. The core philosophy of VT is ‘variation’ or adaptation, which is subject to the two contradictions. One contradiction lies between the source text and the target reader in terms of supply and demand, and the other between the content of the source text and the form of the target language. The contradictions are related to the 4 key factors, namely, the reader, the translator, the source text, and the target text. Thus, the factors give birth to 8 adaptation strategies or techniques, including addition, deletion, editing, narration, condensation, integration, alteration, and imitation. Independent as they are, the strategies influence one another, which brings about the 12 VT methods, namely, excerpted translation, edited translation, narrated translation, condensed translation, summarized translation, summarized translation plus comment, translation plus comment, translation plus writing, altered translation, annotated translation, cited translation, and imitated translation (Huang 2002). All of the above can explain why VT is full of vigor and vitality. The theoretical research on VT covers at least 16 aspects of the subject, including its nature, system, strategies, methods, relations, organization and structure, process, mechanism, special effects, laws, standards, scope, and value, as well as the VT reader, translator, and object.

VT and its theoretical research aim to provide insights into variation-oriented translation, which is quite different from complete translation, and to lay a theoretical and disciplinary foundation for VT. The birth of VTT and increasingly in-depth studies on it have been keeping pace with the ‘cultural turn’ in international translation studies circles (Bassnett & Lefevere 1998), but there are still some differences between them. The translation studies derived from the cultural turn are going further and further away from translation itself, while VTT is based on translation behavior itself and moves towards the creation of a new theory and discipline.

Besides complete translation, VT is very common in human translation practices. It plays an important role in the reconstruction of knowledge and culture in cross-cultural communication. In fact, some scholars have dealt with the phenomenon of VT. For example, Andrew Chesterman (1997) discusses the translation strategy of ‘transediting’, and Daniel Gouadec (2007) summarizes some VT methods frequently used by professional translators, such as selective translation, synoptic translation, plain translation, no frills translation, and rewriting. Generally speaking, theoretical studies on VT are faced with the precariousness and imprecision in their definition of basic concepts and description of important principles, even though they are gaining more and more attention, at least in China. It seems that scholars across the globe focus only on one or several VT types, and few of them make a sustained, systematic study of it. As a result, VTT has not developed into an independent branch of translation studies as a discipline. In other words, the universality, rationality, value, and functions of the theory have yet to be fully realized.

Therefore, VT practices are in desperate need of effective guiding theories. The newly emerging VTT calls for academic criticisms and reflections. In this respect, some Chinese scholars have conducted fundamental theoretical studies on it. So far, Huang Zhonglian has published four research monographs, including Studies on Translation Variation (2000), Variational Translation Theory (2002), Scientific Translatology (2004), and Exploring Yan Fu’s Variational Translation Thoughts (2016). These works shed light on the objects, methods, and reasons with respect to VT and have had a significant impact in China. Three of them have received positive reviews in Meta (2003) and Perspectives (2004). VTT is regarded as an original theory by A Dictionary of Translation Studies in China (Fang 2011). In 2018, the Symposium of Criticisms and Reflections on Variational Translation Theory was held in Guangzhou, and some papers from the symposium have been published by 6 first-tier journals, such as ‘Adaptative strategies can contribute to the construction of Chinese translation theory’ (Wu 2018), ‘A study on academic reference translation’ (Yu & Wan 2018), and ‘On extracted translation’ (Ren 2018), which has had an extensive influence on Chinese translation scholars. The international translation studies circles can further practical and theoretical explorations of VT based on relevant research contributions, and this is exactly the points of departure and destination of our proposal for the volume.

Chapter proposals on the following topics (but not limited to) are invited from translation researchers and practitioners:

Comparative research on VT and complete translation: Based on the fundamental classification standard, namely the interlingual or intersemiotic behaviors as defined by Jakobson (1959), this topic focuses on: (i) exploration of the VT territories largely uncharted in translation studies history; (ii) clarification of VT and complete translation as fundamental translation categories; (iii) creation of a solid research foundation for VTT.

Research on VT categories in translation practice: As classification of practical categories is the first step for theoretical explorations, this topic focuses on: (i) major VT categories and their relationships; (ii) formulation of VT typology and taxonomy; (iii) potential dimensions and perspectives of VT studies.

Comparative research on VTT and other translation theories: There are some similarities between VTT and some other translation theories, and it is of great importance to summarize the distinctions between them. For this reason, this topic focuses on: (i) VTT and skopos theory; (ii) VTT and cultural translation theory; (iii) VTT and deconstructionist translation theory.

Research on VTT and translation technology: Modern technology helps multimodal translation, machine translation, and other emerging modes of translation develop rapidly. At present, it is widely discussed that machine translation will replace human translation some day. However, it is our belief that machine translation will not take place of human translation in the field of VT except excerpted translation. Therefore, this topic focuses on: (i) VT and multimodal translation; (ii) creativity in VT and machine translation; (iii) (im)possibility of machine translation to do VT.

Research on the establishment of VTT: The topic is the core of the volume, and is an ontological study of VTT, focusing on: (i) VTT’s originality; (ii) VTT’s special cross-cultural functions; (iii) basic concepts and categories as well as their relationships, such as VT’s nature, definition, scope, type, process, quality, norm, and ethics.

IMPORTANT DATES

Chapter abstract submission: February 28th, 2025
Full chapter submission: July 31st, 2025
Book publication: November 2025

IMPORTANT GUIDELINES & NOTES

  1. The chapters (abstracts/full-texts) should be submitted to the volume editor at [email protected].
  2. A chapter should NOT exceed 15% similarity content from all sources, including referenced works.
  3. The contributing authors need to adhere to our Policy on the use of generative AI tools and technologies in academic writing .
  4. The abstracts/full texts will be shared with the volume editor, and the authors will directly be contacted by the volume editor with an acceptance/rejection/amendment decision.
  5. There is no chapter submission/processing or publishing charge.The book accepts chapters free of any APC/fee.
  6. A chapter should be APA 7th Edition styled and submitted in MS Docx format and must include authors’ affiliation details, failing which the chapters will not be considered for review. A chapter should ideally be of 5,000 to 10,000 words including references with Times New Roman Font Size 12 with single line spacing & page margins of 1″ (Top, Bottom, Left, Right).
  7. Unoriginal or previously published works will not be processed for review.
  8. All chapters need to have complete affiliation details.
  9. All chapters will be reviewed by chapter reviewers (peer-reviewers) before acceptance by the book editor. The chapters will be reviewed using a double-blind peer review system.
  10. The editorial (editor’s) decision of accepting or rejecting a chapter shall be final. The book editor has all the editorial freedoms pertaining to the content quality of the book, and the publisher doesn’t interfere in any editorial decision taken by the editor pertaining to the acceptance/rejection of any work for the book.
  11. The authors submitting chapters need to adhere to our policies on plagiarism, scholarly misconduct, and publication ethics. The copyright respecting the accepted chapters will remain with the authors, with the publications’ rights being with the CSMFL Publications.
  12. The authors of the accepted & published chapters retain their right to use their work for scholarly and teaching purposes, subject to the conditions and limitations as described in Authors’ Rights for Content Reuse .

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