Babel - Volume 61, Issue 2, 2015

Tolerance for ambiguity (TA) is a cognitive factor that influences the perception of uncertainty and that, when not sufficiently present, may adversely affect problem solving and decision making, both key processes in translation. This being so, it has even been stated that TA is a personality trait which must be taken into account as far as translator training and recruitment are concerned (Tirkkonen-Condit 2000). After reviewing the main research conducted so far on TA from the disciplines of psychology and translation, the results of an exploratory field study based on descriptive methodology and self-report measures are shown. The Multiple Stimulus Types Ambiguity Tolerance Scale (Arquero and McLain 2010) or MSTAT-II is the main psychometric instrument applied to all participants (n=107). On the one hand, a positive correlation was found between tolerance of ambiguity and individuals’ own assessment of their self-efficacy when searching the Internet for documentation. On the other hand, those subjects who thought that they did not meet the requirements for becoming professional translators in the future obtained low scores in TA, and a significant difference in TA was found between them and those who believed to meet such requirements. The results of this preliminary work suggest that TA is relevant to the study of the cognitive processes of translators and that psychometric instruments of proven reliability and validity can be useful for process-oriented translation research.

The term strategy is increasingly mentioned in the interpreting literature. Individual strategies have been approached from various perspectives by a number of interpreting research scholars. Those strategies are used by interpreters to cope with cognitive constraints, interpreting mode-specific difficulties, and language- and culture-specific constraints. Given its importance, the author argues to include strategy training in interpreter education based on a synthesis of evidence from the current literature. This article firstly presents a state-of-theart review of research on the defining features of strategies and their varieties. It then validates the contribution of strategy training to interpreter education in terms of overcoming cognitive constraints, combating interpreting mode-specific constraints, coping with language- and culture-specific constraints, conforming to interpreting norms, revealing problem-solution relations in the interpreting process, highlighting novice-expert differences for pedagogical use, and leading to interpreter competence development. The article also provides a brief demonstration of how to teach strategies to trainees. Hopefully, this article can inspire interpreter trainers to recognize the importance of strategies and include strategy training in their teaching.

Taking Turkey’s case as a basis, the current study focuses on the retranslation practice with an aim to discuss plagiaristic forms of retranslation which may create serious repercussions in the field of translation such as violating translators’ copyrights, complicating the issue of translator’s voice, producing defective cultural artifacts and affecting culture in general negatively. The study tries to outline and exemplify commonly-accepted impetuses for retranslation and inquire the validity of the rationale for the retranslations with a particular focus on Turkey. For our analysis, we used a total of 40 classical books distributed by a national newspaper as a promotional campaign. Following a brief discussion on voice in translation, an overview of publishing and retranslation practices in Turkey; this study presents guidelines for a more comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of plagiarism in retranslation and translation in general. The analyses of both qualitative and quantitative data derived from the sample of classical books showed that the books were just reproduction rather than retranslation or translation at all. The article concludes with a discussion on the possible impact of fake retranslations on translation practice and culture in general and calls for further empirical studies to prevent plagiarism in translation.

This article proposes a skopos-based analysis of the English translations of the eleventh century Japanese literary work, Genji monogatari (“The Tale of Genji”) as a means of understanding the basis for the translations’ differing receptions among their target audiences. The translations, by Suematsu Kenchō, Arthur Waley, Edward Seidensticker and Royall Tyler, are widely spaced chronologically, being published between 1888–2001, and were each produced with differing audiences and aims, thus making them a useful corpus for this analysis. In addition, all of the translators have written, with varying degrees of explicitness, about their motivations and purposes in conducting their translations. First, through an analysis of the translators’ writings, introductions, and individual circumstances, the article will demonstrate how the skopos for each translation can be determined. Second, through an analysis and comparison of text excerpts, it will demonstrate how the skopos influenced the translation choices of the individual translators, with material being, for example, omitted, changed in psychological tone, or rendered more explicit, depending upon the individual translator’s overriding purpose in their work. Finally, through an analysis of the reviews of the various translations, it will consider the extent to which each translator was successful in achieving a positive and intended response to his translation in the target audience.

Much has been said about how ideological tendencies can influence the content of a translation and the Spanish version of Prescott’s work History of the Conquest of Mexico, with a Preliminary View of the Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortés is a clear example of this influence. Manipulation was the strategy that the Mexican editorial promoted and it is what the translator yielded to, but not in a way that was expected. Focusing on the account of the episode of the conquest of Mexico in which Montezuma and his tragic death are prominent, this article will show how Navarro, the translator, meticulously respects the North American’s portrayal of the Aztec ruler, whom he considers to be hypocritical, superstitious, lavish, weak and fainthearted. When Navarro does manipulate the description, it is principally in order to accentuate some negative trait of the Aztec leader which has already been presented in the original text or to prevent the Mexican reader from having to see in print the name of the emperor who was associated with incidents which many Mexicans might consider lamentable. At the same time, it will be clear that cognitive linguistics provides adequate theoretical support in order to be able to comprehend that both the original and translated texts highlight the idea of Montezuma as a metaphor and symbol of failure.

All living languages have the potential to coin neologisms which is indicative of their vitality to translate new knowledge and the ensuing changes in society. In economic and financial discourse, analysts, experts and popularisers often resort to figures of speech when explaining new realities in this area field, thus enabling them to have a greater impact on the recipients. The aim of this paper, based on a research corpus of texts spanning the 2007–2012 economic crisis taken from the press of four different European countries, is to attempt to resolve the difficulties involved with this kind of terminology. The questions addressed include the following: the attitude of the speakers of Romance languages towards the introduction of new concepts relating to the crisis; the field associated with each expression in the different cultures; to what extent conceptual metaphors coincide between cultures; the terminological variations involved in each case, etc. The answers to these questions can facilitate improved translator performance. The time lapse between the appearance of these terms and their inclusion in dictionaries poses a problem for translators who need to find solutions as quickly as possible, whilst at the same time providing a systematic approach to the problems encountered. Above and beyond solutions provided by dictionaries alone, translators are often faced with a choice between the terms found in vivo and those found in vitro. While an analysis of the way each concept is handled by dictionaries falls beyond the scope of our stated aims, it cannot be ignored completely inasmuch as it makes it possible to shed light on institutional terminological policies as well as divergences between the recommended standard and actual usage. At the same time, it should also be acknowledged that, despite the influx of terms within a globalised economy, there is still room for each community to maintain its own cultural specificity.

Slogans play an important role in conveying information to targeted audiences, and the translation of slogans tends to be studied under the rubric of public-notice translation. Previous research mainly uses researchers’ expertise to evaluate the quality of this type of translation. Yet, little is known about what the targeted readers think about the translation, although their opinions present key information that helps to determine whether the translation has achieved the intended effect. This paper elicits and systematically analyzes readers’ responses. We investigate the case of Macao, a rapidly growing economy where the demand for English translation has markedly increased in recent decades. Public administration bodies in Macao have commissioned Chinese-to-English translation in varied areas such as tourism, social security and welfare, cultural and sports events. We sampled ten translated slogans that were used in the public sector, and administered survey questionnaires (n=130) to both source-text and target-text readers. The two groups of readers’ evaluations, based on the criteria of fluency, conciseness, persuasiveness and mnemonic effect, reveal that the translations are perceived significantly less favorably than the originals are. Readers most strongly disliked word-for-word translations, and pointed out numerous problems with the translations such as ungrammaticality, inappropriate word use, lack of appeal, and unintelligibility due to insufficient background knowledge. This research demonstrates the tangible value of using readers’ responses to evaluate translation quality. It also has implications for translator training, and recommends that public authorities should institute a rigorous quality assurance system.