Do left and right asymmetries of hemispheric preference interact with attention to predict local and global performance in applied tasks?

Many cognitive neuroscience studies show that the ability to attend to and identify global or local information is lateralised between the two hemispheres in the human brain; the left hemisphere is biased towards the local level, whereas the right hemisphere is biased towards the global level. Results of two studies show attention-focused people with a right ear preference (biased towards the left hemisphere) are better at local tasks, whereas people with a left ear preference (biased towards the right hemisphere) are better at more global tasks. In a third study we determined if right hemisphere-biased followers who attend to global stimuli are likely to have a stronger relationship between attention and globally based supervisor ratings of performance. Results provide evidence in support of this hypothesis. Our research supports our model and suggests that the interaction between attention and lateral preference is an important and novel predictor of work-related outcomes. © 2012 Copyright Psychology Press Ltd.

Unknown agents in translated political discourse

This article investigates the role of translation and interpreting in political discourse. It illustrates discursive events in the domain of politics and the resulting discourse types, such as jointly produced texts, press conferences and speeches. It shows that methods of Critical Discourse Analysis can be used effectively to reveal translation and interpreting strategies as well as transformations that occur in recontextualisation processes across languages, cultures, and discourse domains, in particular recontextualisation in mass media. It argues that the complexity of translational activities in the field of politics has not yet seen sufficient attention within Translation Studies. The article concludes by outlining a research programme for investigating political discourse in translation. ©2012 John Benjamins Publishing Company.

El género (para)traducido:pugna ideológica en la traducción y paratraducción de 'O curioso incidente do can á media noite'

Los discursos teóricos de la actualidad conciben la traducción como un acto ideológico de mediación intercultural. De este modo, rechazan la supuesta neutralidad y fidelidad al texto original o a la intención autorial de antaño, subvirtiendo al mismo tiempo la tradicional jerarquía entre original y traducción. Sin embargo, en el presente artículo sostengo que estos discursos teóricos por lo general desatienden otras relaciones de poder jerárquicas que afectan a la traducción situándola en una posición de inferioridad respecto a la paratraducción (Garrido Vilariño 2005), definida ésta como un acto de mediación por el cual se decide la presentación final del libro traducido en la sociedad meta. Para ilustrar las implicaciones de esta nueva jerarquía recurro al conflicto ideológico originado a partir de la traducción y paratraducción del género en dos reescrituras en gallego de la novela de Mark Haddon The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Current theoretical debates on Translation Studies define translation as an ideological act of intercultural mediation. In this way, notions such as neutrality or fidelity to the original text or to the author’s intent prove untenable, challenging the traditional hierarchy between the original text and its translation. However, it is my contention that these theoretical discourses tend to disregard other hierarchical power relationships that also affect translation, placing it in a position of inferiority against paratranslation (Garrido Vilariño 2005), the latter being an activity that determines crucially the final presentation of the translated book in the target society. I will illustrate the implications of this new hierarchy through an analysis of the ideological struggle that emerged from the translation and paratranslation of gender in two rewritings into Galician of the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon.

(Re)examinando horizontes en los estudios feministas de traducción:¿hacia una tercera ola?

Los feminismos son una de esas teorías marco cuyas contribuciones son perceptibles en todos los ámbitos de la sociedad, incluidos los estudios de traducción. La materialización más evidente de esta interacción es el surgimiento, en los 80, de una corriente de traducción feminista en Canadá, capaz de colocar el género en el centro del debate sobre traducción. En la actualidad, y pese a las críticas y posteriores redefiniciones del concepto de traducción feminista, la propuesta canadiense sigue concibiéndose por lo general como paradigma de interacción entre feminismos y traducción. En este artículo propongo nuevas aproximaciones a la práctica de traducir y paratraducir desde los feminismos, dentro de una tercera ola de traducción feminista. Además, pretendo abrir el debate (re)examinando áreas de interés mutuo para los estudios de traducción y los feminismos en el plano conceptual, historiográfico y crítico, con el propósito de que sugieran nuevas líneas de investigación futura. Feminisms are one of those framework theories that have contributed powerfully to all areas of society, including Translation Studies. The most evident outcome of this interplay is the emergence, in the 1980s, of a Feminist Translation school in Canada, which placed gender in the spotlight. Despite criticism and subsequent redefinitions of the notion of feminist translation, the Canadian school is still generally regarded as the paradigm of interaction between feminisms and translation. The aim of this article is two-fold: firstly, to advance new approaches to the practice of translation and paratranslation from a feminist perspective (within the context of a third wave of feminist translation). Secondly, to open new debates by means of (re)examining topics of mutual interest for both Translation Studies and Feminisms on a conceptual, historical and critical plane, so that subsequent studies can be fostered. Feminisms are one of those framework theories that have contributed powerfully to all areas of society, including Translation Studies. The most evident outcome of this interplay is the emergence, in the 1980s, of a Feminist Translation school in Canada, which placed gender in the spotlight. Despite criticism and subsequent redefinitions of the notion of feminist translation, the Canadian school is still generally regarded as the paradigm of interaction between feminisms and translation. The aim of this article is two-fold: firstly, to advance new approaches to the practice of translation and paratranslation from a feminist perspective (within the context of a third wave of feminist translation). Secondly, to open new debates by means of (re)examining topics of mutual interest for both Translation Studies and Feminisms on a conceptual, historical and critical plane, so that subsequent studies can be fostered.

Introduction : special issues on key debates in advertising material

Research on advertising has been conducted mainly from within disciplines such as marketing and reception studies. Within translation studies, research has focused more on comparative analysis of language pairs for intersystemic differences, and more recently on intercultural differences in product appeal and cultural values. Advertising as text type was most comprehensively used and developed within Western cultures, then 'exported' to other cultures. Initially the assumption was that the message could be translated and the product would sell on the basis of Western value-based market research, although this is now clearly shown not to be the case, as contributors to this volume all demonstrate through empirical studies. The introduction to this volume offers a comprehensive survey of work done in the field, both within and outside translation studies, outlines the use of semiotics as a suitable framework for research, and summarizes the key issues relating to the global vs. local debate.

Introduction

Special Issue on key debates in the advertising material. Research on advertising has been conducted mainly from within disciplines such as marketing and reception studies. Within translation studies, research has focused more on comparative analysis of language pairs for intersystemic differences, and more recently on intercultural differences in product appeal and cultural values. Advertising as text type was most comprehensively used and developed within Western cultures, then 'exported' to other cultures. Initially the assumption was that the message could be translated and the product would sell on the basis of Western value-based market research, although this is now clearly shown not to be the case, as contributors to this volume all demonstrate through empirical studies. The introduction to this volume offers a comprehensive survey of work done in the field, both within and outside translation studies, outlines the use of semiotics as a suitable framework for research, and summarizes the key issues relating to the global vs. local debate.

Institutional multilingualism in NGOs:Amnesty International's strategic understanding of multilingualism

Institutional multilingualism is most often associated with large intergovernmental institutions such as the European Union and the United Nations. Institutional multilingualism in non-governmental organisations (NGOs), however, has remained invisible to a large extent. Like international governmental organisations (IGOs), NGOs operate across linguistic borders. This raises the question whether NGOs use language and translation in the same way as IGOs. The present article takes Amnesty International as a case study, and explores what institutional multilingualism means for this organisation, how it is reflected in its language policy, and how it is put into practice. By gaining insight into the particular case of Amnesty International, this article aims to make a contribution to institutional translation studies.

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae as a biotechnological tool for ageing research:studies on translation and metabolism

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an important model organism for the study of cell biology. The similarity between yeast and human genes and the conservation of fundamental pathways means it can be used to investigate characteristics of healthy and diseased cells throughout the lifespan. Yeast is an equally important biotechnological tool that has long been the organism of choice for the production of alcoholic beverages, bread and a large variety of industrial products. For example, yeast is used to manufacture biofuels, lubricants, detergents, industrial enzymes, food additives and pharmaceuticals such as anti-parasitics, anti-cancer compounds, hormones (including insulin), vaccines and nutraceuticals. Its function as a cell factory is possible because of the speed with which it can be grown to high cell yields, the knowledge that it is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and the ease with which metabolism and cellular pathways, such as translation can be manipulated. In this thesis, these two pathways are explored in the context of their biotechnological application to ageing research: (i) understanding translational processes during the high-yielding production of membrane protein drug targets and (ii) the manipulation of yeast metabolism to study the molecule, L-carnosine, which has been proposed to have anti-ageing properties. In the first of these themes, the yeast strains, spt3?, srb5?, gcn5? and yTHCBMS1, were examined since they have been previously demonstrated to dramatically increase the yields of a target membrane protein (the aquaporin, Fps1) compared to wild-type cells. The mechanisms underlying this discovery were therefore investigated. All high yielding strains were shown to have an altered translational state (mostly characterised by an initiation block) and constitutive phosphorylation of the translational initiation factor, eIF2a. The relevance of the initiation block was further supported by the finding that other strains, with known initiation blocks, are also high yielding for Fps1. A correlation in all strains between increased Fps1 yields and increased production of the transcriptional activator protein, Gcn4, suggested that yields are subject to translational control. Analysis of the 5´ untranslated region (UTR) of FPS1 revealed two upstream open reading frames (uORFs). Mutagenesis data suggest that high yielding strains may circumvent these control elements through either a leaky scanning or a re-initiation mechanism. In the second theme, the dipeptide L-carnosine (ß-alanyl-L-histidine) was investigated: it has previously been shown to inhibit the growth of cancer cells but delay senescence in cultured human fibroblasts and extend the lifespan of male fruit flies. To understand these apparently contradictory properties, the effects of L-carnosine on yeast were studied. S. cerevisiae can respire aerobically when grown on a non-fermentable carbon source as a substrate but has a respiro-fermentative metabolism when grown on a fermentable carbon source; these metabolisms mimic normal cell and cancerous cell metabolisms, respectively. When yeast were grown on fermentable carbon sources, in the presence of L-carnosine, a reduction in cell growth and viability was observed, which was not apparent for cells grown on a non-fermentable carbon source. The metabolism-dependent mechanism was confirmed in the respiratory yeast species Pichia pastoris. Further analysis of S. cerevisiae yeast strains with deletions in their nutrient-sensing pathway, which result in an increase in respiratory metabolism, confirmed the metabolism-dependent effects of L-carnosine.

"The Alien Within":translation into German during the Nazi regime

In a regime obsessed with purity, what place could there be for a literary practice that epitomises hybridity — translation? Examining the discourse on translation in Nazi literary journals, this study shows how foreign literature was viewed through the prism of national identity formation, in terms of the threats or benefits to nationhood which translation might offer. The fortunes of translation under the strictures of censorship are traced with an analysis of official policies and publication patterns, complemented by two detailed case studies of translations from English.

Is there a special kind of "reading" for translation? An empirical investigation of reading in the translation process

The role of reading in translation is rarely discussed in the literature. Translation has mainly been discussed within a product-oriented framework. The more process-oriented approaches of recent years have taken notice of reading as a component activity of the translation process. However, few empirical studies have been completed which address the role of reading in translation. The way a person reads, and the result of that reading (some sort of mental representation of the text or text segment), will depend on the reader's purposes and motivations. The present empirical study indicates that while the translator's reading of a text may be to some extent more thorough and deliberate than that of an ordinary reader, it is not likely to be markedly so. The study also indicates a significant variability in the way translators "read for translation". This suggests the existence of alternate strategies in this kind of reading.