Chuan Yu. Online Collaborative Translation in China and Beyond: Community, Practice, and Identity. Routledge, 2022, 166 p.

Chuan Yu’s 2022 book entitled Online Collaborative Translation in China and Beyond presents an in-depth study of Yeeyan, arguably the largest translator community site and crowdsourcing translation platform in China. Drawing on Etienne Wenger’s communities of practice (1998), Yu’s thought-provoking monograph provides a meticulous radiography of users’ (or Yeeyaners’) interactions with one another, including how they negotiate meaning and the roles they fulfil within the platform in all matters pertaining to translation. Similar to other studies that have approached user-generated platforms praxeologically (see Góngora-Goloubintseff, 2021, 2022), Yu’s book starts by defining the object of study for the uninitiated before moving on to explain the theoretical underpinnings of the research. Very much like Wikipedia, Yeeyan is run primarily by volunteers and follows a hierarchical structure whereby roles are defined and configured through years of experience and “mutual engagement.” Yeeyaners come from different walks of life and, although some may claim specific subject expertise, the community constitutes an illustrative example of a nearly three-decade-long trend known as “democratisation of knowledge.” One of the foundational principles of this trend is that anyone and everyone is welcome to contribute, thus breaking away from mainstream quasi-elitist approaches to academic and encyclopaedic content. The book is divided into 8 chapters. Chapter 1 outlines the scope of the study and the theoretical framework. Chapter 2 presents a thorough account of online collaborative translation and participatory culture in China. Chapters 3 and 4 shift the focus to communities of practice and how they can be applied to the study of user-driven communities like Yeeyan. Chapter 5 tackles the social aspects of online collaboration, whereas Chapter 6 underscores the importance of “learning-by-doing” and different levels of situatedness within the practice. Chapter 7 reflects on the role of professionals in non-professional communities. Finally, the last chapter offers some concluding remarks, wrapping up the study and providing further insight into practice-driven methods. Overall, Yu’s monograph is well-structured and organized, accompanied by easy-to-follow examples as well as captions and charts. The author masterfully presents an abstract theory stemming from the social sciences in an engaging, reader-centred manner. Yet, the research is quite niche and would have benefited from drawing significant comparisons with other platforms such as Wikipedia. Still, Yu’s book is a must-read for those interested not only in Yeeyan, but also in online collaborative translation and, more broadly, translation in non-professional, volunteer-led settings. Several strands of praxeological or practice-theoretical thinking have been applied to the study of translators’ understanding of their role and how materials either mediate or qualify their work. Maeve Olohan’s 2020 book Translation and Practice Theory is a case in point, but her publication is geared towards professional translators, with much emphasis given to their technology-driven workstation and several ergonomic aspects (see also Olohan, 2017). Yu’s monograph—similar to my research on Wikipedia translators (Góngora-Goloubintseff, 2021, 2022)—draws on Wenger’s communities of practice and adapts his at times jargonistic framework to the analysis of a community of geographically dispersed individuals whose interactions are computer-mediated. Such an endeavour is not short of challenges. For instance, Wenger’s emphasis on the “communal” aspect of practice, which has raised some criticism—for practices are intrinsically social— is difficult to apply to online settings. Yet, Yu exquisitely brings Wenger’s hierarchical structure to the Internet, sparking the reader’s curiosity with a comprehensive list of cases of parallel and hierarchical participation, and a detailed account of local and negotiated identity roles. As someone who had a cursory familiarity with Yeeyan’s ethos, it was enlightening to read Yu’s “insider perspective.” The author immerses herself into the Yeeyan world, aptly dissecting its structure and practitioners. For instance, she distinguishes between …

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