English and Translation

In the era of globalization, English is the most coveted and most translated language in the world, and plays a dominant role as the pre-eminent international lingua franca. A concomitant linguistic and cultural phenomenon is the increasing use of several languages in various domains of social and institutional life, which in turn generates growing demand for translation and interpreting services on a global scale. In such supranational organizations as the European Union, for example, the policy of communicating in 24 official languages generated a translation output of 1.9 million pages in 2015, according to figures from the European Commission's Directorate-General of Translation. These interrelated transnational and transcultural developments are reorienting the interdisciplinary field of applied linguistics in terms of a 'multilingual turn', a trend which foregrounds 'multilingualism, rather than monolingualism' as the new norm of applied linguistic and sociolinguistic analysis' (May 2014: 1). Within this perspective, the present chapter assesses the world status of English in terms of its central role in the international translation system. It gives an overview of the discipline of translation studies, and expounds upon the ways that the theory and praxis of translation can be beneficial to English language studies with reference to five areas of research. The first of these is the transmission of English-language cultural values across the globe. The second is the study of in-text translation in 21st-century-prize-winning novels by transnational Writers. The third is the influence of English on other languages through Anglicisms. The fourth is the role of ELF, and the fifth is the adoption of pedagogies that integrae translation and translanguaging practices for TESOL. The chapter concludes by summarizing the main issues addressed and provides some pointers for the future.