Book Review: Hypertranslation

What is it about?

As media evolves into computational media and art accordingly shifts toward digital art, the question arises: what form does translation assume under unprecedented technological acceleration? One response is what has been described as algorithmic translation, defined by computer-generated, data-driven processes. Yet this notion remains insufficient for capturing the increasingly human-centered dimension of posthuman communication in the era of Web 5.0. Seeking to reconceptualize translation beyond this algorithmic paradigm, Vidal Claramonte and Lee (2024) revive the term hypertranslation to characterize translation in the age of GenAI (Generative Artificial Intelligence)—nonlocal, unbounded, viscous, rhizomatic, interobjective, and ergodic.

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Photo by Matteo Grando on Unsplash

Photo by Matteo Grando on Unsplash

Why is it important?

At the crossroad of humanity and AI (Artificial Intelligence), Vidal Claramonte and Lee (2024) expand the boundaries of translation studies from a multimodal framework toward a multisensory experience, and from a linear, one-off transfer of meaning toward an ergodic and distributed traversal. In Hypertranslation (2024), the interplay between the human intelligence and algorithmic framework is depicted as introducing “a game-like randomness to the process,” yielding “unique and unpredictable pathways of translation” that traverse languages, modes, and media. Through this fresh conceptualization of AI-augmented translation, the book invites readers to reconceive translation practice by foregrounding the intersection of art and literature, engaging bodily sensation, and examining the influence of emerging digital spaces.

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