Language variation in source texts and their translations: the case of L3 in film translation

In addition to the two languages essentially involved in translation, that of the source text (L1) and that of the target text (L2), we propose a third language (L3) to refer to any other language(s) found in the text. L3 may appear in the source text (ST) or the target text (TT), actually appearing more frequently inSTs in our case studies. We present a range of combinations for the convergence and divergence of L1, L2 and L3, for the case of feature films and their translations using examples from dubbed and subtitled versions of films, but we are hopeful that our tentative conclusions may be relevant to other modalities of translation, audiovisual and otherwise. When L3 appears in an audiovisual ST,we find a variety of solutions whereby L3 is deleted from or adapted to the TT.In the latter case, L3 might be rendered in a number of ways, depending on factors such as the audience’s familiarity with L3, and the possibility that L3 inthe ST is an invented language.

"The capacity of contrastive analysis to successfully predict the errors of second language learners - a case study"

The aim of this dissertation is to show the power of contrastive analysis in successfully predicting the errors a language learner will make by means of a concrete case study. First, there is a description of what language transfer is and why it is important in the matter of second language acquisition. Second, a brief explanation of the history and development of contrastive analysis will be offered. Third, the focus of the thesis will move to an analysis of errors usually made by language learners. To conclude, the dissertation will focus on the concrete case study of a Russian learner of English: after an analysis of the errors the student is likely to make, a recorded conversation will be examined.

THE EFFECT OF PURPOSEFUL MATHEMATICS DISCOURSE IN THE CLASSROOM ON STUDENTS’ MATHEMATICS LANGUAGE IN THE CONTEXT OF PROBLEM SOLVING

This study examines how one secondary school teacher’s use of purposeful oral mathematics language impacted her students’ language use and overall communication in written solutions while working with word problems in a grade nine academic mathematics class. Mathematics is often described as a distinct language. As with all languages, students must develop a sense for oral language before developing social practices such as listening, respecting others ideas, and writing. Effective writing is often seen by students that have strong oral language skills. Classroom observations, teacher and student interviews, and collected student work served as evidence to demonstrate the nature of both the teacher’s and the students’ use of oral mathematical language in the classroom, as well as the effect the discourse and language use had on students’ individual written solutions while working on word problems. Inductive coding for themes revealed that the teacher’s purposeful use of oral mathematical language had a positive impact on students’ written solutions. The teacher’s development of a mathematical discourse community created a space for the students to explore mathematical language and concepts that facilitated a deeper level of conceptual understanding of the learned material. The teacher’s oral language appeared to transfer into students written work albeit not with the same complexity of use of the teacher’s oral expression of the mathematical register. Students that learn mathematical language and concepts better appear to have a growth mindset, feel they have ownership over their learning, use reorganizational strategies, and help develop a discourse community.

The role of metalinguistic awareness and of L2 proficiency in positive lexical transfer from English (L2) to German (L3) by French-speaking Quebeckers

Il a été avancé que des apprenants expérimentés développeraient des niveaux élevés de conscience métalinguistique (MLA), ce qui leur faciliterait l’apprentissage de langues subséquentes (p.ex., Singleton & Aronin, 2007). De plus, des chercheurs dans le domaine de l’acquisition des langues tierces insistent sur les influences positives qu’exercent les langues précédemment apprises sur l’apprentissage formel d’une langue étrangère (p.ex., Cenoz & Gorter, 2015), et proposent de délaisser le regard traditionnel qui mettait l’accent sur l’interférence à l’origine des erreurs des apprenants pour opter pour une vision plus large et positive de l’interaction entre les langues. Il a été démontré que la similarité typologique ainsi que la compétence dans la langue source influence tous les types de transfert (p.ex., Ringbom, 1987, 2007). Cependant, le défi méthodologique de déterminer, à la fois l’usage pertinent d’une langue cible en tant que résultat d’une influence translinguistique (p.ex., Falk & Bardel, 2010) et d’établir le rôle crucial de la MLA dans l’activation consciente de mots ou de constructions reliés à travers différentes langues, demeure. La présente étude avait pour but de relever ce double défi en faisant appel à des protocoles oraux (TAPs) pour examiner le transfert positif de l’anglais (L2) vers l’allemand (L3) chez des Québécois francophones après cinq semaines d’enseignement formel de la L3. Les participants ont été soumis à une tâche de traduction développée aux fins de la présente étude. Les 42 items ont été sélectionnés sur la base de jugements de similarité et d’imagibilité ainsi que de fréquence des mots provenant d’une étude de cognats allemands-anglais (Friel & Kennison, 2001). Les participants devaient réfléchir à voix haute pendant qu’ils traduisaient des mots inconnus de l’allemand (L3) vers le français (L1). Le transfert positif a été opérationnalisé par des traductions correctes qui étaient basées sur un cognat anglais. La MLA a été mesurée par le biais du THAM (Test d’habiletés métalinguistiques) (Pinto & El Euch, 2015) ainsi que par l’analyse des TAPs. Les niveaux de compétence en anglais ont été établis sur la base du Michigan Test (Corrigan et al., 1979), tandis que les niveaux d’exposition ainsi que l’intérêt envers la langue et la culture allemandes ont été mesurés à l’aide d’un questionnaire. Une analyse fine des TAPs a révélé de la variabilité inter- et intra-individuelle dans l’activation consciente du vocabulaire en L2, tout en permettant l’identification de niveaux distincts de prise de conscience. Deux modèles indépendants de régressions logistiques ont permis d’identifier les deux dimensions de MLA comme prédicteurs de transfert positif. Le premier modèle, dans lequel le THAM était la mesure exclusive de MLA, a déterminé cette dimension réflexive comme principal prédicteur, suivie de la compétence en anglais, tandis qu’aucune des autres variables indépendantes pouvait prédire le transfert positif de l’anglais. Dans le second modèle, incluant le THAM ainsi que les TAPs comme mesures complémentaires de MLA, la dimension appliquée de MLA, telle que mesurée par les TAPs, était de loin le prédicteur principal, suivie de la dimension réflexive, telle que mesurée par le THAM, tandis que la compétence en anglais ne figurait plus parmi les facteurs ayant une influence significative sur la variable réponse. Bien que la verbalisation puisse avoir influencé la performance dans une certaine mesure, nos observations mettent en évidence la contribution précieuse de données introspectives comme complément aux résultats basés sur des caractéristiques purement linguistiques du transfert. Nos analyses soulignent la complexité des processus métalinguistiques et des stratégies individuelles, ce qui reflète une perspective dynamique du multilinguisme (p.ex., Jessner, 2008).

"When I have holidays": Influència entre llengües i producció escrita. Un estudi amb aprenents adults d'anglès com a llengua estrangera

En aquest article presentem una proposta de tipologia de la transferència lèxica en la producció escrita per tal d¿analitzar la incidència que té en adults aprenents d¿anglès com a llengua estrangera i veure les possibles relacions entre els tipus de transferència i el nivell de competència en anglès, així com les interrelacions entre les llengües prèvies (materna/es) i segones i l¿anglès. Els resultats mostren una influència important de la primera llengua en l¿aprenentatge de les altres i, en el cas dels aprenents bilingües que aprenen una tercera o quarta llengua, influències interessants entre totes les llengües.

Étude de l’appropriation de l’orthographe française langue seconde/étrangère d’élèves arabophones du secondaire en Égypte

La présente recherche vise à décrire le développement orthographique des élèves arabophones de 1re année du secondaire en Égypte au début de l’apprentissage du français langue étrangère. Les recherches égyptiennes qui concernent le français écrit se sont préoccupées des erreurs grammaticales commises par les élèves. À notre connaissance, il n’existe pas d’études relatives à l’appropriation de l’orthographe française menée auprès de ces élèves. Afin de combler ce vide, nous avons souhaité apporter un éclairage sur les compétences orthographiques des élèves en essayant d’éclairer la documentation de ces compétences en français écrit par la mise en relation avec celle de jeunes enfants arabophones qui apprennent le français L2 au préscolaire lors de leur séjour au Québec. Afin d’atteindre nos objectifs, nous avons soumis 30 élèves arabophones du secondaire à une épreuve d’orthographes approchées à quatre reprises. Celle-ci s’est déroulée dans le cadre d’un entretien semi-structuré individuel dans lequel les élèves ont été invités à produire des mots et une phrase. L’analyse descriptive et statistique de la production écrite des sujets a permis d’observer trois types de préoccupations écrites : visuographiques, phonologiques et orthographiques. D’autre part, leurs écrits ont témoigné d’un transfert langagier de l’arabe L1 et de l’anglais LE, qui était parfois positif, d’autres fois négatif. Les résultats ont, enfin, révélé que les élèves ont utilisé trois stratégies, lexicale, phonologique et analogique, lors de leurs productions. En outre, une étude de cas multiples exploratoire avec quatre enfants arabophones du préscolaire au Québec a été effectuée. Ces derniers ont été individuellement invités à produire des mots et une phrase en français et en arabe. De manière exploratoire, nous avons mis en relation l’appropriation de l’écrit des élèves du secondaire et celle des enfants du préscolaire en français et en arabe, ce qui nous a permis de vérifier l’effet de l’âge sur le développement orthographique et sur le transfert langagier chez les apprenants. Les résultats obtenus indiquent que la performance écrite des élèves du secondaire était significativement plus réussie que celle des enfants du préscolaire et que les premiers étaient les plus susceptibles de produire un transfert langagier. Ainsi, l’âge de l’apprenant peut avoir un impact sur l’appropriation de l’écrit ainsi que sur le transfert langagier en français langue seconde/étrangère. Finalement, au-delà de son apport scientifique et pratique, la présente recherche propose des pistes de recherches futures.

La bilittératie chez les jeunes élèves allophones à Montréal : une réflexion en vue d’améliorer l’enseignement-apprentissage du français

Le présent article poursuit un double objectif. Le premier est de rendre compte de l’importance du concept de bilittératie pour la recherche et la pratique en éducation. Le second est de susciter la réflexion sur les différents enjeux didactiques et pédagogiques liés à la bilittératie chez les jeunes élèves allophones à Montréal. À cet effet, deux modèles complémentaires qui font partie de la matrice théorique de notre projet de recherche seront abordés. Il s’agit du modèle de la compétence sous-jacente commune de Cummins (2008, 1991, 1981, 1979), ainsi que du modèle des continuums de Hornberger (2004, 2003). Le texte illustre la nécessité de reconsidérer la pratique d’enseignement du français – langue de scolarisation au Québec – vu la réalité sociolinguistique dans laquelle évoluent les élèves allophones.

The relationship between phonological awareness and word reading accuracy in Oriya and English: A Study of Oriya-speaking fifth-graders

This study investigated the relationships between phonological awareness and reading in Oriya and English. Oriya is the official language of Orissa, an eastern state of India. The writing system is an alphasyllabary. Ninety-nine fifth grade children (mean age 9 years 7 months) were assessed on measures of phonological awareness, word reading and pseudo-word reading in both languages. Forty-eight of the children attended Oriya-medium schools where they received literacy instruction in Oriya from grade 1 and learned English from grade 2. Fifty-one children attended English-medium schools where they received literacy instruction in English from grade 1 and in Oriya from grade 2. The results showed that phonological awareness in Oriya contributed significantly to reading Oriya and English words and pseudo-words for the children in the Oriya-medium schools. However, it only contributed to Oriya pseudo-word reading and English word reading for children in the English-medium schools. Phonological awareness in English contributed to English word and pseudo-word reading for both groups. Further analyses investigated the contribution of awareness of large phonological units (syllable, onsets and rimes) and small phonological units (phonemes) to reading in each language. The data suggest that cross-language transfer and facilitation of phonological awareness to word reading is not symmetrical across languages and may depend both on the characteristics of the different orthographies of the languages being learned and whether the first literacy language is also the first spoken language.

O parâmetro da linearidade em sintagmas nominais produzidos por crianças durante a aquisição do português como segunda língua

O propósito deste trabalho é apresentar um estudo do início daaquisição do português como segunda língua por três crianças de umacomunidade de nipo-brasileiros do Brasil. Até a idade escolar, fase em quecomeça a aquisição do português, estas crianças falam unicamente o japonêscomo língua materna. Com base no modelo de princípios e parâmetrosda teoria da gramática gerativa (Chomsky, 1981), foi tomado comoobjeto de estudo um fenômeno sintático que diferencia o japonês do português:o parâmetro da linearidade (isto é, ordem das palavras), o qual estabelecepara o japonês o núcleo sintagmático em posição final (head-last) epara o português, em posição inicial (head-first). Valendo-me dos estudossobre language transfer (Odlin, 1989), mostro que, nesta fase da aquisição,as crianças, na produção de sintagmas nominais (NP -> N + complemento),transferem o parâmetro head-last do japonês para o português. As evidênciasmostradas neste trabalho contrariam alguns estudos que negam aexistência de transfer (Dulay & Burt, 1974; Dulay et al., 1982), sobretudono nível sintático (Felix, 1978; Genesee et al., 1995; Paradis & Genesee,1996).

Interferências linguísticas e interlíngua: a aprendizagem de Português Língua Estrangeira por peruanos hispanofalantes

Pós-graduação em Linguística e Língua Portuguesa - FCLAR

Song of the sea: proposta di sottotitolaggio e fansubbing a confronto

The aim of this thesis is to subtitle and analyze the subtitles of the animation movie directed by the Tomm Moore, Song of the Sea. It deals with the adventures of Saoirse, the last of the selkies, the mythological women who turned into seals, and his brother Ben to save the fairies and send them home. Although Italy is a “dubbing country”, I decided to subtitle the film not to affect the original audio track, as the Irish accent and Celtic melodies are a fundamental element in Song of the Sea. I chose this movie because it is a quality product (nominated in 2015 for "The Best Animation Movie”) which deserves to be commercialized outside film festivals. In a second phase, I analyzed my subtitles and compared them to amateur subtitles, created by the SRT Project group, to understand the strategies adopted and the basic differences between the two types of subtitling. My dissertation consists of three chapters. The first provides a general overview of audiovisual translation and language transfer methods, focusing on subtitling. The second chapter introduces the movie in an Irish context, and then analyzes the subtitling process, from the software used, to the translation strategies adopted. Finally, the third chapter describes the phenomenon of amateur subtitling, and the most important Italian communities of the current years. Moreover, I analyzed SRT Project fan translation, and asked them a set of questions about amateur subtitling and the translation of Song of the Sea, in order to understand this world and the fansubbing process. The Appendix includes my subtitles, as well as the questionnaire.

The colloquial faculty for languages : cerebral localization and the nature of genius : tentamen physiologicum /

Includes bibliographical references.

Surviving in violent conflicts: Chinese interpreters in the second Sino-Japanese War (1931-1945)

In the past decade interpreting studies has gradually adopted a sociological perspective, taking into account social and cultural factors that affect interpreters actual behaviour in different settings. However, there have been few studies of interpreters practices as forms of social interaction, especially of the ways in which they become professionals and operate as social agents. Drawing upon Pierre Bourdieus theory of practice, this thesis aims to offer a contribution to the history of interpreting by examining the professional training and practices of Chinese interpreters during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1931-1945). On the basis of Bourdieus concept of field, this thesis reconstructs three competing fields dominated by three political and military powers: the Chinese Kuomingtang (KMT) government, the Chinese Communist Party, and the Japanese forces. By investigating interpreters training, employment and practices within these three fields, the thesis examines how the interpreting profession was affected by shifts in foreign policy, and how interpreters professional habitus were formed through their training and interaction with other social agents and institutions. It then highlights the interpreters active position-taking in pursuit of individual interests by examining particular interpreters career development through case studies of two interpreters, Xia Wenyun and Yan Jiarui, who served the Japanese forces and the Chinese KMT government, respectively. The study shows that the practices of the interpreters were broader than the scope of language transfer. In order to survive violent conflicts, interpreters often intertwined their interpreting with other political and professional activities. For them, interpreting was not a mere linguistic practice, but a strategy for self-protection, a route to power, or just a chance for a better life. Frequently crossing social, political and military borders, interpreters sometimes played a crucial cushioning role by protecting local residents from loss of life and property during the war.

The invisible factors that can make the difference. Language management and knowledge transfer in multinational sites

The knowledge-based society we live in has stressed the importance of human capital and brought talent to the top of most wanted skills, especially to companies who want to succeed in turbulent environments worldwide. In fact, streams, sequences of decisions and resource commitments characterize the day-to-day of multinational companies (MNCs). Such decision-making activities encompass major strategic moves like internationalization and new market entries or diversification and acquisitions. In most companies, these strategic decisions are extensively discussed and debated and are generally framed, formulated, and articulated in specialized language often developed by the best minds in the company. Yet the language used in such deliberations, in detailing and enacting the implementation strategy is usually taken for granted and receives little if any explicit attention (Brannen & Doz, 2012) an can still be a “forgotten factor” (Marschan et al. 1997). Literature on language management and international business refers to lack of awareness of business managers of the impact that language can have not only in communication effectiveness but especially in knowledge transfer and knowledge management in business environments. In the context of MNCs, management is, for many different reasons, more complex and demanding than that of a national company, mainly because of diversity factors inherent to internationalization, namely geographical and cultural spaces, i.e, varied mindsets. Moreover, the way of functioning, and managing language, of the MNC depends on its vision, its values and its internationalization model, i.e on in the way the MNE adapts to and controls the new markets, which can vary essentially from a more ethnocentric to a more pluricentric focus. Regardless of the internationalization model followed by the MNC, communication between different business units is essential to achieve unity in diversity and business sustainability. For the business flow and prosperity, inter-subsidiary, intra-company and company-client (customers, suppliers, governments, municipalities, etc..) communication must work in various directions and levels of the organization. If not well managed, this diversity can be a barrier to global coordination and create turbulent environments, even if a good technological support is available (Feely et al., 2002: 4). According to Marchan-Piekkari (1999) the tongue can be both (i) a barrier, (ii) a facilitator and (iii) a source of power. Moreover, the lack of preparation for the barriers of linguistic diversity can lead to various costs, including negotiations’ failure and failure on internationalization.. On the other hand, communication and language fluency is not just a message transfer procedure, but above all a knowledge transfer process, which requires extra-linguistic skills (persuasion, assertiveness …) in order to promote credibility of both parties. For this reason, MNCs need a common code to communicate and trade information inside and outside the company, which will require one or more strategies, in order to overcome possible barriers and organization distortions.

Transferencia en la adquisición de segundas lenguas. Un estudio con alumnado rumano en un contexto bilingüe = Transfer in second language acquisition. A study with Romanian schoolchildren in a bilingual context

Situados en el contexto catalán, el artículo estudia la influencia de la L1 (rumano) en algunos aspectos morfosintácticos de la adquisición de las L2s. Para ello se analizan las competencias lingüísticas en catalán y castellano de un grupo de escolares cuya L1 es el rumano y que cursan 2.º y 4.º de ESO. Los datos muestran que los alumnos cuya L1 es el rumano, a pesar de dominar una lengua románica cercana a las lenguas de aprendizaje (L2/L3), presentan dificultades comparables a otros colectivos con otras lenguasde origen. Por otra parte, nuestra investigación confirma que la L1 de este alumnado juega un importante papel en la adquisición de ambas lenguas, concluyendo que parte de los errores hallados son aquellos que se basan en estructuras de la lengua propia