Defining ‘Community’ for Community Translation

Unlike community interpreting, community translation engages with the members of the community both at individual and group levels. This duality of the process makes the identification of the community as a socio-cultural entity and of its individual members all the more important. There have been several attempts to define the concept of ‘community’ in different professional and academic contexts. Mindful of the difficulty of defining community, the paper proposes three methods that can help community translators in visualizing the characteristics of the intended audience and in making informed translation decisions. The three methods, derived from user-centred translation, are scrutinized using a case study based on a real-life National Health Service (NHS) text.

Introducing Intercultural Communication into the Teaching of Translation

This article examines how the teaching of translation at university level can come to include the systematic development of intercultural skills. It will do this initially by presenting the methodology and outcomes of a European Union funded project entitled ‘Promoting Intercultural Competence in Translators’. The precise aims, context, participants, timing and working methodology of the project will be clearly outlined. This will be followed by an explanation of key theoretical principles which underlay the project and which were embodied in a ‘good practice guide’ at its conclusion. The project produced three key outputs freely available on the project website aimed to help university lecturers in Translation to enhance the development of students’ intercultural skills – a ‘curriculum framework’ (syllabus), teaching materials and assessment materials, for each of which the theoretical/pedagogical underpinning will be explained and examples provided. The article will conclude with an extended reflective section examining some of the limits of the project, areas in which it could be further developed or adapted to context, finishing with an indication of areas in which further research is needed.

Teaching Intercultural Competence in Translator Training

In this position paper we define an interculturally competent translator as one that demonstrates a high level of intercultural knowledge, skills, attitude and flexibility throughout his or her professional engagements. We argue that to attain this goal in translator training intercultural competence needs to be introduced into the curriculum explicitly and in a conceptually clear manner. In this article we provide an overview of earlier attempts at discussing the role of intercultural communication in translator training curricula and we discuss the various pedagogical and practical challenges involved. We also look at some future challenges, identifying increasing societal diversity as both a source of added urgency into intercultural training and a challenge for traditional biculturally based notions of translators’ intercultural competence and we argue for the central role of empathy. Finally, and importantly, we introduce the contributions to the special issue.

Culture in Transfer: Translation and Transcultural Communication International Conference

It is widely acknowledged that interpreters need to have knowledge of the cultures represented by the languages they work with (e.g. Roy 2002, Angelelli 2004, Wadensjŏ 2008). However, it is not clear what interpreters are expected to do with this knowledge. Some scholars recommend that interpreters be cultural mediators (e.g. Katan 2004 & 2014). As an attempt to examine existing guidelines on interpreters’ roles in the face of cultures/cultural issues, the research reported in this paper compares and contrasts the codes of conduct for interpreters from a number of associations and institutions in the UK, the US and China. The research has collected three different sets of data and has sought to investigate (1) in what ways interpreters are expected to do with their knowledge of cultures; (2) to what extent interpreters’ role as cultural mediators is referred to or defined in these codes of conduct; and (3) whether or not relevant guidelines are practically helpful for interpreters to deal with the range of cultural issues they may encounter in interpreting. Data analysis suggests that while cultural knowledge is a requisite for interpreters, the expectation for them to be cultural mediators may depend on the types of interpreting setting they work with and further guidelines are needed so that interpreters are clear on what they are required to do in dealing with cultural issues. The paper then discusses the implications of these findings and points to some directions for future research. Key references Brunette, L., G Bastin, I. Hemlin and H. Clarke (ed.). The Critical Link 3: Interpreters in the Community. Amsterdam/Philadephia: John Benjamins. Hale, S. 2007. Community Interpreting. Hampshire, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. The International Association of Conference Interpreting, 2015. Interpreting Explained. Available from: http://aiic.net/; accessed on 24 June 2015 Katan, David, --- 2004. Translating Cultures: An Introduction for Translators, Interpreters and Mediators. St Jerome. --- 2014. Workshop: Translation at the cross-roads: time for the transcreational turn? University College London. Martín, Mayte C. & Mary Phelan, 2009. Interpreters and Cultural Mediators – different but complementary roles. In: Translocations: Migration and Social Change. ISSN Number: 2009-0420 (online) McDonough Dolmaya, Julie, (2011. Moral ambiguity: Some shortcomings of professional codes of ethics for translators. In: The Journal of Specialised Translation. Issue 15, January 2011 (online). Pöchhacker, F., 2008. Interpreting as Mediation. In: (ed.) Valero Garcés, C. and Martin, A, Crossing Borders in Community Interpreting: definitions and dilemmas, pp. 9-26. John Benjamins Amsterdam and Philadelphia. Roy, Cynthia B., 2002. The Problem with Definitions, Descriptions, and the Role Metaphors of Interpreters. In: (ed.) Pöchhacker, Franz & Miriam Shlesinger, The Interpreting Studies Reader. Routledge. Wadensjö 1998. Interpreting as Interaction. New York: Addison Wesley Longman Inc.

The Standard ISO 15489-1 in German and Spanish: an Interlinguistic Comparison

The aim of this paper is to deepen in the terminology of Records Management established by ISO standards, through a concrete example such as an interlinguistic comparison between UNE ISO 15489-1 and DIN ISO 15489-1, that is, between the Spanish and German versions of the ISO 15489-1. For that, the text is divided into two major and complementary parts, which are similar to both analytical perspectives adopted: the semantic one and the pragmatic one. The first one compares the words per se, taking into account the significant or word form as well as the significance or meaning. In the second part, examples of use from both languages are discussed, concerning the three terms considered essential in the text (Record, Records Management System and Records Management). The main conclusion lies in understanding how important the language is as a discrete tool of work for all information scientists, specially concerning to the standards, where the translators must show their best linguistic strategies to go unnoticed.

El dinero fuente de pecados en el Inferno de Dante y en la traducción de Pedro Fernández de Villegas (Burgos, 1515)

El trabajo se centra en el análisis de los pecados relacionados con el dinero en el Inferno de Dante y en la primera traducción castellana de la primera cantiga de la Commedia, obra del arcediano de Burgos Pedro Fernández de Villegas. La traducción, compuesta en coplas de arte mayor y acompañada de un enciclopédico comentario, se publicó en 1515. Particular atención se dedica a la reflexión sobre el problema del mal uso del dinero que Villegas desarrolla en la glosa de los cantos en que con más vigor se levanta la voz de Dante para denunciar la gravedad del pecado de la sed de riquezas. Se analiza la postura del traductor español ante el tema comparándola no sólo con la de Dante sino también con la de Cristoforo Landino, autor del Comento sopra la Comedia, obra exégetica que se publicó por primera vez en Florencia en 1481 y que representó el punto de referencia privilegiado de Villegas.

La relación entre el texto original y su traducción: extranjerización de V. Nabokov y domesticación de M. Tsvetaeva

La traducción ha atraído a profesionales, escritores y aficionados desde tiempos remotos. Desde el primer momento se encendieron los debates sobre la técnica de la traducción, desde Cicerón y Horacio, en los tiempos de Bayt al-hikma y San Jerónimo, hasta el siglo XX, los trabajos de L. Venuti, las teorías filosóficas o la traducción audiovisual. En este artículo intentaremos acercarnos a un asunto tan interesante como la relación entre el texto original y su traducción. Como modelos para este estudio tomaremos los ejemplos de las traducciones llevadas a cabo por V. Nabokov y M. Tsvetaeva. Analizaremos la evolución de la doctrina de traducción de V. Nabokov y las causas que influyeron en la decisión de M. Tsvetaeva de domesticar un texto original.masculino.

De Irlanda a Iberia: notas para a tradución de Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin do inglés ao galego

La cuestión del género fue trabajada dentro de los estudios de traducción de diversas formas, incluyendo la asignación de género en la lengua meta, la traducción de lenguaje marcado de género y la traducción feminista. En este trabajo se estudia el uso o ausencia de marcas de género y de la praeterio a la hora de afrontar una traducción al gallego de la autora irlandesa Eiléan Ní Chuillanáin, feminista y nacionalista. Ambas situaciones se reflejan conscientemente en sus poemas de manera significativa. A través de ejemplos prácticos seleccionados, se reflexiona sobre la necesidad de tener en cuenta que la traslación de sus textos a una lengua que obligatoriamente establece elecciones lingüísticas entre el femenino y el masculino, debe hacerse respetando el sentido de la autora. Esto supone, para quien traduzca, compartir la perspectiva feminista y nacional de la autora familiarizándose con el marco y condicionantes de su obra poética.

La cultura en la traducción teatral: el caso de la versión de "Les Fourberies de Scapin" (1671) por Julio Gómez de la Serna

Las referencias culturales en las obras teatrales representan auténticos retos de traducción, puesto que afectan a la representabilidad del texto teatral y condicionan su recepción. Les Fourberies de Scapin (1671), una de las piezas más conocidas de Molière, contiene una gran cantidad de referencias culturales que afectan su mise en scène. Mediante un análisis comparativo, se ha comprobado que la traducción al español de Julio Gómez de la Serna de los años setenta, con un estilo literario y en ocasiones libre, no consigue trasladar ciertos componentes culturales que resultan empero esenciales para la lectura y representación del texto teatral.

Análisis pragmático contrastivo inglés/español de la intensificación verbal en textos literarios

El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en comparar las funciones pragmáticas de una estructura intensificadora en español peninsular formada con la partícula venga (venga a + infinitivo) con estructuras intensificadoras en inglés. Para ello, analizamos los factores sintácticos, semánticos y pragmáticos que el traductor tiene en cuenta a la hora de usar esta estructura en la traducción al español. El corpus lo componen fragmentos de obras literarias extraídas en Google Books. Los resultados demuestran que con esta construcción se consigue transferir al español no sólo efectos semánticos (iteración), sino también pragmáticos, como la evaluación del hablante (desacuerdo, sorpresa, etc.).

Pragmatic Aspects of Legal Translation in the European Institutions

This paper aims at identifying and describing the current major pragmatic issues of legal translation in the context of the EU. There some facts that provide legal translation in this context with unique features, such as the binding nature of EU law for the 28 Member States and the authenticated versions of the normative acts adopted by the EU institutions. These features have led to several authors talking about a new type of legal translation that should be approached and studied independently. We aim at identifying the reasons for this as well as describing the major translation strategies and theoretical approaches that the authors have proposed in order to help EU translators and lawyerlinguists overcome the translation problems arising from divergences of legal systems and legal traditions within the Member States.

Correlation between anxiety and academic self-concept in interpreter trainees

This paper focuses on two basic issues: the anxiety-generating nature of the interpreting task and the relevance of interpreter trainees’ academic self-concept. The first has already been acknowledged, although not extensively researched, in several papers, and the second has only been mentioned briefly in interpreting literature. This study seeks to examine the relationship between the anxiety and academic self-concept constructs among interpreter trainees. An adapted version of the Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (Horwitz et al., 1986), the Academic Autoconcept Scale (Schmidt, Messoulam & Molina, 2008) and a background information questionnaire were used to collect data. Students’ t-Test analysis results indicated that female students reported experiencing significantly higher levels of anxiety than male students. No significant gender difference in self-concept levels was found. Correlation analysis results suggested, on the one hand, that younger would-be interpreters suffered from higher anxiety levels and students with higher marks tended to have lower anxiety levels; and, on the other hand, that younger students had lower self-concept levels and higher-ability students held higher self-concept levels. In addition, the results revealed that students with higher anxiety levels tended to have lower self-concept levels. Based on these findings, recommendations for interpreting pedagogy are discussed.

Violence gratuite et adolescents-bourreaux : Réception, traduction et enjeux de deux romans suédois pour adolescents, en France, au début des années 2000

The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the role of Swedish literature for adolescents in the French literary scene in the early 2000s. The sociology of literature constitutes the main theoretical framework of this thesis. Drawing from examples that broach the sensitive topic of "unprovoked violence" as it is treated in two Swedish novels for teenagers, Spelar död [Play Death] by Stefan Casta and När tågen går förbi (Train Wreck) by Malin Lindroth, this thesis shows how these novels are innovative in Even-Zohar’s sense of the term, as addressed in his Polysystem Theory (1990). By introducing "unprovoked violence" and violent teenagers via a realistic genre, such works filled a vacuum in the French system and injected a new dynamic into it. This dynamic makes it possible for new literary models to be introduced in the system and to change the standards of that system. The analyses of the French and Swedish receptions of the two novels mentioned above show that they gave rise to a moral panic in France, which is not an unusual thing to happen in periods of ongoing change. This also clarifies the differences in norms between the two systems. The French system tends to reject dark topics, while the Swedish wishes to discuss them. The investigations of the translations of unprovoked violence show that adherence to Swedish norms determine the translation’s adequacy (Toury), which may be part of the reason for the stormy reception the two works received in France, and their undergoing censure. The position of translators and publishers in the literary system also plays a major role for a translated text not being censured during the transfer from one system to another. Even if the Swedish titles translated into French are few, this thesis shows that the impact of Swedish literature on adolescents in France is certain. By introducing new and sensitive topics, such novels could be early markers of an evolution of the French field of literature for adolescents.

Le sous titrage en français des séries télévisées américaines : normes linguistiques et pratiques professionnelles

De nos jours, les séries télévisées américaines représentent une part incontournable de la culture populaire, à tel point que plusieurs traductions audiovisuelles coexistent au sein de la francophonie. Outre le doublage qui permet leur diffusion à la télévision, elles peuvent être sous titrées jusqu’à trois fois soit, en ordre chronologique : par des fans sur Internet; au Québec, pour la vente sur DVD en Amérique du Nord; et en France, pour la vente sur DVD en Europe. Pourtant, bien que ces trois sous titrages répondent aux mêmes contraintes linguistiques (celles de la langue française) et techniques (diffusion au petit écran), ils diffèrent dans leur traitement des dialogues originaux. Nous établissons dans un premier temps les pratiques à l’œuvre auprès des professionnels et des amateurs. Par la suite, l’analyse des traductions ainsi que le recours à un corpus comparable de séries télévisées françaises et québécoises permettent d’établir les normes linguistiques (notamment eu égard à la variété) et culturelles appliquées par les différents traducteurs et, subsidiairement, de définir ce que cache l’appellation « Canadian French ». Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre des études descriptives et sociologiques. Nous y décrivons la réalité professionnelle des traducteurs de l’audiovisuel et l’influence que les fansubbers exercent non seulement sur la pratique professionnelle, mais aussi sur de nouvelles méthodes de formation de la prochaine génération de traducteurs. Par ailleurs, en étudiant plusieurs traductions d’une même œuvre, nous démontrons que les variétés de français ne sauraient justifier, à elles seules, la multiplication de l’offre en sous titrage, vu le faible taux de différences purement linguistiques.

Un-Editing Alfred: Rethinking Modern Editions of Pre-modern Texts from a Post-modern Sensibility

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06