Localization, multitranslation, no translation?

This paper proposes a reflection – from a perspective combining a linguistic approach in Translation Studies with Genre Analysis (Bhatia 1993, 1994; Swales 1990) and Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough 1995, 2003, 2006) – on the relationship between phenomena such as localization (the professional translation practice of adapting content as well as language to local target cultures), multitranslation (one of several academic labels that may be applied to the contemporary translation issues emerged and emerging from web-based applications defined, see Grego 2010), and English as a Lingua Franca or Global English (see, e.g., Mauranen 2003, Seidlhofer 2004, Jenkins 2007). From the microscopic (localization) to the macroscopic (globalization), this paper intends to contribute to exploring the role of specialized (non-literary) translation (especially as carried out by professionals and amateurs alike, using the latest technologies) in the present era and, through the analysis of samples of web-based phenomena such as fan-translation, free translation and crowd sourcing, review some of the possible future prospects of translation itself and of some approaches in Translation Studies, including the extreme and controversial – but also thought-provoking – ‘no translation’ notion: that of translation being supplanted tout court by Global English.