Universal ontology: attentive tracking of objects and substances across languages and over development

Previous research has demonstrated that adults are successful at visually tracking rigidly moving items, but experience great difficulties when tracking substance-like ‘‘pouring’’ items. Using a comparative approach, we investigated whether the presence/absence of the grammatical count–mass distinction influences adults and children’s ability to attentively track objects versus substances. More specifically, we aimed to explore whether the higher success at tracking rigid over substance-like items appears universally or whether speakers of classifier languages (like Japanese, not marking the object–substance distinction) are advantaged at tracking substances as compared to speakers of non-classifier languages (like Swiss German, marking the object–substance distinction). Our results supported the idea that language has no effect on low-level cognitive processes such as the attentive visual processing of objects and substances. We concluded arguing that the tendency to prioritize objects is universal and independent of specific characteristics of the language spoken.

The International Conference Education and Creativity for a Knowledge–based Society – Social and Political Scinces, Communication, Foreign Languages and Public Relations. Vienna, Osterreichish Rumanischer Akademischer Verein, 2012. VIth edition

No abstract.

The authenticity of resources for the teaching of foreign languages and cultures in France: variable geometry notion

International audience

The idea of the hybrid texts and translation:contact as conflict

Intercultural communication in the global environment frequently involves recourse to translation. This generates new phenomena which, in turn, raise new questions for translation theory and practice. This issue is concerned with the concept of the hybrid text as one of these phenomena. In this introductory chapter, a hybrid text is defined as: „a text that results from a translation process. It shows features that somehow seem ‘out of place'/‘strange'/‘unusual' for the receiving culture, i.e. the target culture”. It is important, however, to differentiate between the true hybrid, which is the result of positive authorial and/or translatorial decisions, and the inadequate text which exhibits features of translationese, resulting from a lack of competence. Textual, contextual and social features of hybrid texts are postulated (see discussion paper). These are the object of critical reflection in sub-sequent chapters, in relation to different genres. The potential of the hybrid text for translation research is explored.

A discussion of ethnographic research methods and their relevance for the translation process

In recent years, technologically advanced methodologies such as Translog have gained a lot of ground in translation process research. However, in this paper it will be argued that quantitative research methods can be supplemented by ethnographic qualitative ones so as to enhance our understanding of what underlies the translation process. Although translation studies scholars have sometimes applied an ethnographic approach to the study of translation, this paper offers a different perspective and considers the potential of ethnographic research methods for tapping cognitive and behavioural aspects of the translation process. A number of ethnographic principles are discussed and it is argued that process researchers aiming to understand translators’ perspectives and intentions, how these shape their behaviours, as well as how translators reflect on the situations they face and how they see themselves, would undoubtedly benefit from adopting an ethnographic framework for their studies on translation processes.

Work placements in doctoral research training in the humanities: eight cases from translation studies

Research cooperation between academic and nonacademic institutions tends not to concern the humanities, where mutual financial rewards are mostly not in evidence. The study of eight nonacademic placements of doctoral researchers working on inter- lingual translation nevertheless indicates some degree of success. It is found that the placements lead to ongoing cooperation when the following conditions are met: 1) the nature of the placement is understood and relations of trust are established; 2) mutual benefits are envisaged; and 3) there are prior arrangements for receiving visiting researchers. A placement can be successful even when one of the last two factors is missing. Further, the measure of success for placements in the humanities should concern social and symbolic benefits, in addition to financial profits.

The idea of the hybrid text in translation revisited

This concluding chapter provides responses to some of the issues raised in the individual chapters, highlighting similarities and differences in the interpretation of the concept of the hybrid text. The questions dealt with here concern the notion of hybridity and the definition of hybrid text; the contexts in which hybrid texts emerge; the functions of hybrid texts; the various levels at which hybrid phenomena manifest themselves; the genres to which the notion of the hybrid text applies; the effects of hybrid texts; and the status of a hybrid text in Translation Studies. It is concluded that the phenomenon of the hybrid text involves greater complexity than had initially been defined in the discussion paper. There-fore, the original hypothesis is reformulated to account for the fact that hybrid texts are not only the product of a translation process but that they can also be produced as original texts in a specific cultural space, which is often in itself an intersection of different cultures.

Work placements in doctoral research training in the humanities:eight cases from translation studies

Research cooperation between academic and nonacademic institutions tends not to concern the humanities, where mutual financial rewards are mostly not in evidence. The study of eight nonacademic placements of doctoral researchers working on interlingual translation nevertheless indicates some degree of success. It is found that the placements lead to ongoing cooperation when the following conditions are met: 1) the nature of the placement is understood and relations of trust are established; 2) mutual benefits are envisaged; and 3) there are prior arrangements for receiving visiting researchers. A placement can be successful even when one of the last two factors is missing. Further, the measure of success for placements in the humanities should concern social and symbolic benefits, in addition to financial profits.

Multicultural Belonging. Individuals across cultures, languages and places

The article-based doctoral dissertation deals with adult individuals in Western societies who were born into multilingual and multicultural families and have parents of different nationalities. The study’s participants grew up outside their parents’ countries of origin and relate to a multitude of bonds that link them across various cultures, languages and places. The study explores the social dimension of cultural belonging and examines diverse approaches that enable the participants to create notions of belonging and identification despite possessing at times contradictory transnational allegiances. The works offers new perspectives on transnational belonging and makes a timely contribution to discussions in the fields of cultural heritage studies, ethnology and transnational studies. The dissertation combines qualitative research methods with an insider perspective. The empirical material is based on semi-structured interviews with fifteen participants, among which are also the author’s siblings. The study addresses the relevance of the author’s personal situatedness and her multi-faceted roles as well as ethical concerns related to the methodological approach of insider research. The social dimension of cultural identities affect both the participants’ identification with their multiple attachments and language use in everyday life. The key research findings present interrelated discussions of the participants’ notion of being a mixture, the importance of family bonds and multilingualism, a specific mixed family lifestyle, the notion of non-belonging and the study participants’ sense of otherness as a means of creating communality with others. The study discusses the participants’ various life strategies of flexible relativising, juggling with multiple affiliations, the approach of “blending in” and their sense of ironic nation-ness for constructing a coherent sense of belonging. The author argues that multicultural belonging is inextricably connected to an association with multiple languages, cultures and places. Multicultural belonging is relational and depends on the context, social relationships and locations. The study proposes that multicultural belonging creates a tolerant understanding of membership and enables experiences of cosmopolitanism and selected notions of allegiance.