Political discourse, media and translation

This volume addresses the role played by translation in international political communication and news reporting and brings to light the usually invisible link between politics, media, and translation. The contributors explore the interrelationship between media in the widest sense and translation, with a focus on politics texts, institutional contexts, and translation policies. These topics are explored from a Translation Studies perspective, thus bringing a new disciplinary view to the investigation of political discourse and the language of the media. The first part of the volume focuses on textual analysis, investigating transformations that occur in translation processes, and the second part examines institutional contexts and institutional policies and their effects on translation production and reception.

Intercultural intertextuality as a translation phenomenon

Texts as communicative occurrences are characterised by their interdependence on other texts, either of the same genre or of a different genre. This characteristic feature is known as intertextuality (or discursivity). The relationship can either be to texts originating in the same language and culture, or to texts originating in another language and culture. This paper comments on the discourse phenomenon of 'intercultural intertextuality' from the point of view of translation (studies). It illustrates strategies employed in the original texts for referring to the source language/culture. Subsequently, the paper explores the translation strategies used in authentic target texts in dealing with the phenomenon of intercultural intertextuality. A variety of political speeches (mainly of the language pair English and German) are used as illustrative examples.

Metaphor in translation:possibilities for process research

This paper explores potential benefits of closer interaction between metaphor studies and translation process research. It presents some developments within Translation Studies which make use of conceptual metaphor theory and illustrates some process research methods for investigating metaphors. The paper considers a number of methodological recommendations and argues that of greatest importance is the need to take full account of insights from metaphor studies and associated disciplines. Another important potential innovation is the use of a multilingual approach in respect of both product- and process-oriented studies in order to increase both the amount and generality of data available for analysis. Thirdly, it is important to extend and complement the current ST-oriented approach. The paper concludes by suggesting some options for triangulating data gathered through a combination of methods.

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.

Special issue:key debates in the translation of advertising material

Much has been written about the marketing aspects of promotional material in general, and several scholars (particularly in linguistics) have addressed questions relating to the structure and function of advertisements, focusing on images, rhetorical structure, semiotic functions, discourse features and audio-visual media, amongst other aspects of the genre. Not much, on the other hand, has been written within translation studies about the complexities involved in the transfer of an advertising message. Contributors to this volume explore various interdependent aspects of the interlingual and intercultural transfer of an advertising message. They emphasize features of culture specificity, of multi-medial semiotic interaction, of values and stereotypes, and most importantly, they recommend strategies and approaches to assist translators. Topics covered include a critique of the Western-based approach to advertising in the context of the Far East; different perceptions of the concept of cleanliness in advertising texts in Italy, Russia and the UK; the Walls Cornetto strategy of internationalization of product appeal, followed by localization; the role of the translator in recreating appeal in different lingua-cultural contexts; what constitutes 'Italianness' in advertisements for British consumers; and strategies for repackaging France as a tourist destination.

Women as translators, as translation trainers, and as translation scholars

Over the centuries, women have always played a significant part in translation practice, training, and theoretical reflection. In fact, translation (and interpreting) have often been characterized as a feminine occupation. This chapter looks at these three aspects predominantly from a quantitative perspective. In terms of the profession, it investigates the distribution of male and female translators and interpreters in the United Kingdom and the subject areas they are working in. For women's contribution to the academic discipline of Translation Studies, it investigates the amount of female authors who contributed to the discipline with their publications and asks whether female scholars focus on specific topics. Finally, it investigates leadership roles of women in professional associations. The paper concludes by reflecting on the potential significance of such studies. © 2013.

Autofiction as a fictional metaphorical self-translation:the case of Reinaldo Arenas' El color del verano

In the past thirty years, autofiction has been at the center of many literary studies (Alberca 2005/6, 2007; Colonna 1989, 2004; Gasparini 2004; Genette 1982), although only recently in Hispanic literary studies. Despite the many common characteristics with self-translation, no interdisciplinary perspective has ever been offered by academic researchers in Literary nor in Translation Studies. This article analyses how the Cuban author, Reinaldo Arenas, uses specific methods inherent to autofiction, such as nominal and personal identity exploitation, among others, to translate himself metaphorically into his novel El color del verano [The colour of summer]. Analysing this novel drawing on the theory of self-translation sheds light on the intrinsic and extraneous motives behind the writer’s decision to use this specific literary genre, as well as the benefits presented to the reader who gains access to the ‘interliminal space’ of the writer’s work as a whole.

Transformation through translation:translation policies at Amnesty International

International non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are powerful political players who aim to influence global society. In order to be effective on a global scale, they must communicate their goals and achievements in different languages. Translation and translation policy play an essential role here. Despite NGOs’ important position in politics and society, not much is known about how these organisations, who often have limited funds available, organise their translation work. This study aims to contribute to Translation Studies, and more specifically to investigating institutional translation, by exploring translation policies at Amnesty International, one of the most successful and powerful human rights NGOs around the world. Translation policy is understood as comprising three components: translation management, translation practices, and translation beliefs, based on Spolsky’s study of language policy (2004). The thesis investigates how translation is organised and what kind of policies different Amnesty offices have in place, and how this is reflected in their translation products. The thesis thus also pursues how translation and translation policy impact on the organisation’s message and voice as it is spread around the world. An ethnographic approach is used for the analysis of various data sets that were collected during fieldwork. These include policy documents, guidelines on writing and translation, recorded interviews, e-mail correspondence, and fieldnotes. The thesis at first explores Amnesty’s global translation policy, and then presents the results of a comparative analysis of local translation policies at two concrete institutions: Amnesty International Language Resource Centre in Paris (AILRC-FR) and Amnesty International Vlaanderen (AIVL). A corpus of English source texts and Dutch (AIVL) and French (AILRC-FR) target texts are analysed. The findings of the analysis of translation policies and of the translation products are then combined to illustrate how translation impacts on Amnesty’s message and voice. The research results show that there are large differences in how translation is organised depending on the local office and the language(s), and that this also influences the way in which Amnesty’s message and voice are represented. For Dutch and French specifically, translation policies and translation products differ considerably. The thesis describes how these differences are often the result of different beliefs and assumptions relating to translation, and that staff members within Amnesty are not aware of the different conceptions of translation that exist within Amnesty International as a formal institution. Organising opportunities where translation can be discussed (meetings, workshops, online platforms) can help in reducing such differences. The thesis concludes by suggesting that an increased awareness of these issues will enable Amnesty to make more effective use of translation in its fight against human rights violations.

Emotional intelligence and translation:a new bridge

This paper presents a case for the study of non-cognitive psychological processes in Translation Studies (TS). More specifically, it aims to highlight the value of studying the emotional intelligence (EI) of translators and interpreters. Firstly, the concept of EI is defined and a review of trait EI profiling is undertaken, with a focus on two recent studies that have relevance for TS. Secondly, recent research within TS and related disciplines that provides evidence of the value of studying the affective and emotional traits of translators and interpreters is discussed. The final section of this paper provides some recommendations for the study of EI in TS research to benefit the translation and interpreting community. It will be argued that investigating emotional intelligence is both necessary and desirable to gain a deeper understanding of translation and interpreting processes.

Evaluation in translation:critical points of translator decision-making

Book review: Evaluation in Translation: Critical Points of Translator Decision-Making, by Jeremy Munday, London, Routledge, 2012, 194 pp., £95 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-415-57769-4, £26.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-415-57770-0.

Trans-language, trans-culture, trans-translation?

The growth of the discipline of translation studies has been accompanied by are newed reflection on the object of research and our metalanguage. These developments have also been necessitated by the diversification of professions within the language industry. The very label translation is often avoided in favour of alternative terms, such as localisation (of software), trans creation (of advertising), trans editing (of information from press agencies). The competences framework developed for the European Master’s in Translation network speaks of experts in multilingual and multimedia communication to account for the complexity of translation competence. This paper addresses the following related questions: (i) How can translation competence in such awide sense be developed in training programmes? (ii) Do some competences required in the industry go beyond translation competence? and (iii) What challenges do labels such as trans creation pose?

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.

A comparative study of translation strategies applied in dealing with role languages. : A translation analysis of the video game Final Fantasy XIV

Localisation is the process of taking a product and adapting it to fit the culture in question. This usually involves making it both linguistically and culturally appropriate for the target audience. While there are many areas in video game translations where localisation holds a factor, this study will focus on localisation changes in the personalities of fictional characters between the original Japanese version and the English localised version of the video game Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and its expansion Heavensward for PC, PS3 and PS4. With this in mind, specific examples are examined using Satoshi Kinsui's work on yakuwarigo, role language as the main framework for this study. Five non-playable characters were profiled and had each of their dialogues transcribed for a comparative analysis. This included the original Japanese text, the officially localised English text and a translation of the original Japanese text done by myself. Each character were also given a short summary and a reasoned speculation on why these localisation changes might have occurred. The result shows that there were instances where some translations had been deliberately adjusted to ensure that the content did not cause any problematic issues to players overseas. This could be reasoned out that some of the Japanese role languages displayed by characters in this game could potentially cause dispute among the western audience. In conclusion, the study shows that localisation can be a difficult process that not only requires a translator's knowledge of the source and target language, but also display some creativity in writing ability to ensure that players will have a comparable experience without causing a rift in the fanbase.

Our own language: Scots verse translation and the second-generation Scottish renaissance

This thesis examines the role of Scots language verse translation in the second-generation or post-war Scottish Renaissance. The translation of European poetry into Scots was of central importance to the first-generation Scottish Renaissance of the nineteen twenties and thirties. As Margery Palmer McCulloch has shown, the wider cultural climate of Anglo-American modernism was key to MacDiarmid’s conception of the interwar Scottish Renaissance. What was the effect on second-generation poet-translators as the modernist moment passed? Are the many translations undertaken by the younger poets who emerged in the course of the nineteen forties and fifties a faithful reflection of this cultural inheritance? To what extent are they indicative of a new set of priorities and international influences? The five principal translators discussed in this thesis are Douglas Young (1913-1973), Sydney Goodsir Smith (1915-1975), Robert Garioch (1909-1981), Tom Scott (1918-1995) and William J. Tait (1918-1992). Each is the subject of a chapter, in many cases providing the first or most extensive treatment of particular translations. While the pioneering work of John Corbett, Bill Findlay and J. Derrick McClure, among other scholars, has drawn attention to the long history of literary translation into Scots, this thesis is the first extended critical work to take the verse translations of the post-MacDiarmid makars as its subject. The nature and extent of MacDiarmid’s influence is considered throughout, as are the wider discourses around language and translation in twentieth-century Scottish poetry. Critical engagement with a number of key insights from theoretical translation studies helps to situate these writers’ work in its global context. This thesis also explores the ways in which the specific context of Scots translation allows scholars to complicate or expand upon theories of translation developed in other cultural situations (notably Lawrence Venuti’s writing on domestication and foreignisation). The five writers upon whom this thesis concentrates were all highly individual, occasionally idiosyncratic personalities. Young’s polyglot ingenuity finds a foil in Garioch’s sharp, humane wit. Goodsir Smith’s romantic ironising meets its match in Scott’s radical certainty of cause. Tait’s use of the Shetlandic tongue sets him apart. Nonetheless, despite the great variety of style, form and tone shown by each of these translators, this thesis demonstrates that there are meaningful links to be made between them and that they form a unified, coherent group in the wider landscape of twentieth-century Scottish poetry. On the linguistic level, each engaged to some extent in the composition of a ‘synthetic’ or ‘plastic’ language deriving partly from literary sources, partly from the spoken language around them. On a more fundamental level, each was committed to enriching this language through translation, within which a number of key areas of interest emerge. One of the most important of these key areas is Gaelic – especially the poetry of Sorley MacLean, which Young, Garioch and Goodsir Smith all translated into Scots. This is to some extent an act of solidarity on the part of these Scots poets, acknowledging a shared history of marginalisation as well as expressing shared hopes for the future. The same is true of Goodsir Smith’s translations from a number of Eastern European poets (and Edwin Morgan’s own versions, slightly later in the century). The translation of verse drama by poets is another key theme sustained throughout the thesis, with Garioch and Young attempting to fill what they perceived as a gap in the Scots tradition through translation from other languages (another aspect of these writers’ legacy continued by Morgan). Beyond this, all of the writers discussed in this thesis translated extensively from European poetries from Ancient Greece to twentieth-century France. Their reasons for doing so were various, but a certain cosmopolitan idealism figures highly among them. So too does a desire to see Scotland interact with other European nations, thus escaping the potentially narrowing influence of post-war British culture. This thesis addresses the legacy of these writers’ translations, which, it argues, continue to exercise a perceptible influence on the course of poetry in Scotland. This work constitutes a significant contribution to a much-needed wider critical re-assessment of this pivotal period in modern Scottish writing, offering a fresh perspective on the formal and linguistic merits of these poets’ verse translations. Drawing upon frequently obscure book, pamphlet and periodical sources, as well as unpublished manuscripts in the National Library of Scotland and the Shetland Archives, this thesis breaks new ground in its investigation of the role of Scots verse translation in the second-generation Scottish Renaissance.