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- Volume 62, Issue, 2016
Babel - Volume 62, Issue 3, 2016
Volume 62, Issue 3, 2016
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Skopos translation theory, text-types, and the African postcolonial text in intercultural postcolonial communication
Author(s): Joseph N. Ekepp.: 349–369 (21)More LessThe Postcolonial text is a political and ideological text that is differentiable in translation. This is because of its location in the dialogic and discursive communicative exchange between former coloniser and former colonised cultures and societies. This communicative exchange takes place in the situation and condition of asymmetrical relations and relations of inequality and involves the contestation of histories, cultures, meanings, identities and representations. The functionality of the postcolonial text with its message is fixated on this dialogue and discourse; and each postcolonial text is a single statement directly and specifically responding to this dialogue and discourse in some way. This paper examines the African postcolonial text* and its communicative location in the light of postcolonial theory and the possibility offered by the skopos functional theory in translation to set aside the purpose and function of the source text intended by the author. Using Chinua Achebe’s texts, It would conclude that the mediatory role of the translator in the dialogic and discursive exchange between former coloniser and former colonised cultures and societies need not become interference in the application of the skopos theory.
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Differences in wine tasting notes in English and Spanish
Author(s): Belén López Arroyo and Roda P. Robertspp.: 370–401 (32)More LessSince the early 2000s, a number of researchers have devoted themselves to the study of wine language and discourse, and especially the genre of wine tasting notes. They have analyzed various aspects of tasting notes: their rhetorical structure, their terminology, their use of metaphors, among others. What the vast majority of these studies have attempted to show is what features most tasting notes share; in other words, they have tried to identify what a typical tasting note is like. However, analysis of tasting notes corpora reveals a number of subtle differences not only from one language to another, but also within a given language. Therefore, in this paper we have attempted to identify and categorize these differences, using an English and Spanish comparable corpus, with each language corpus subdivided into three subcorpora, on the basis of the origin of the tasting notes. Differences in content categories, format and style, both in the subcorpora of each language and between the two languages, are analyzed and discussed. Overall, the English subcorpora reveal greater variation than the Spanish ones, with some features figuring prominently in a given subcorpus and being almost invisible in another.
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Translating developed metaphors
Author(s): Simon Tebbit and John J. Kinderpp.: 402–422 (21)More LessCognitive understandings of metaphor have led to significant advances in understandings of how to translate metaphor. Theoretical accounts of metaphor not as a figure of speech but as a mode of thought, have provided useful tools for analysis and for translation work. This has usually happened at the level of individual metaphorical expressions, while the deeper lesson of cognitive theories has not been taken to heart by translation scholars, with a few signal exceptions. In this article we explore the potential of Conceptual Metaphor Theory for translating related metaphorical expressions within a specific text. We propose a model for understanding metaphor translation that takes as its unit of analysis not the individual metaphorical expression but the conceptual metaphor, of which the metaphorical expression is but a particular instantiation. It is this theoretical grounding that will allow us to propose a model for translating developed metaphors and related metaphorical expressions.
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A syntactico-semantic approach to the translation of conditionals in two English versions of Sahih Muslim
Author(s): Amr M. El-Zawawypp.: 423–455 (33)More LessConditionals in English can traditionally be viewed according to two different perspectives. One is a simplistic approach based on certain ‘cases’; the other is centered on the truth value of the protasis and apodosis. This argument is based on the semantics of the conditional structures, regardless of the syntax involved. In a similar vein, the complexity of conditionals in Arabic stems from the fact that the syntax of the conditional structure does not necessarily point to the semantics involved. This affinity between the two language systems in terms of conditionality is examined within the context of two English translations of the Arabic religious text Sahih Muslim. The present study adopts an approach that focuses on both syntax and semantics to underline the interplay and/or dissociation of the two in practice. The study reveals that Siddiqui’s versions of translating ‘law’ (and its variant ‘law-la’) and ‘inn’ structures into English are mostly inaccurate, where the syntax-semantics interplay and/or dissociation is not duly observed in practice. Khattab’s versions, however, point to a tendency to start from the entrenched premise of literalism, which is stimulated by adopting the simplistic approach to English conditional structures, being akin to documentary translation where awkwardness is common practice.
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Definiteness and the meaning reconstruction in English – Chinese translation
Author(s): Daozhen Zhangpp.: 456–469 (14)More LessDiscourse analysis has drawn people’s attention to micro levels in the discourse. This means that some subtle issues that were ignored in the past may carry with them some implicit meanings when looked at in the context. In this regard, topicality in Chinese usually indicates definiteness, whereas this definiteness is signaled by articles, pronouns in English texts. The difference between the two systems can result in problems in translation if not handled properly. Therefore it should be stressed that the management of theme-rheme structures should be dealt with much care from micro text levels, along with an interpretation of the macro intention of the text, so that the translation process should be highlighted. By incorporating the model of discourse analysis, the interaction between the original and translation can be realized.
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Online training in legal translation
Author(s): Carmen Bestué and Mariana Orozcopp.: 470–494 (25)More LessIn 2010 the first fully online Masters Degree on Translation and Interpreting in the USA was launched, and it included Legal Translation as a subject. The authors of this paper were in charge of designing the contents of this subject, creating the didactic materials to be used and actually teaching the subject. In this paper the authors explain how the curriculum was designed, the criteria developed to create the didactic materials and how it actually worked in a very specific context as is the University of Texas at Brownsville, set next to the border between Mexico and the USA, where most of the students are bilingual and have a background of Mexican and American cultures which create an unique environment of legal cultures mediation.
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Translatorial dual-processing–evidence from interlingual trainee subtitling
Author(s): Mikołaj Deckertpp.: 495–515 (21)More LessDrawing on cognitive linguistics and psychology, this paper attempts to model the subtitler’s decision-making as involving two types of operations. They are referred to as System 1 and System 2, the former being fast, automatic and requiring little effort, and the latter being slower, controlled and effortful. To test the dual-processing hypothesis, I analyse trainee subtitlers’ renditions with a focus on the construction “you + to like + me” which exemplifies a cross-language asymmetry and a potential (disguised) translation challenge. Remarkably, the English construction is employed equally-conventionally to represent the concept of being favourably disposed to somebody in a non-physical/sexual manner, on the one hand, and being attracted to somebody, on the other. In Polish, however, the “prototypes” will typically be represented as distinct expressions. The present findings suggest that because differentiating between the prototypes and coding them linguistically is not challenging to the participants, it is the automation of their judgment that leads them to settle for flawed target variants (Stage 1). Additional evidence is obtained (Stage 2) as participants are induced to go from System 1 to System 2 thinking–a cross-stage comparison indicates that the fast-to-slow switch reorients the trainees’ subtitling choices and ultimately improves translation quality.
Volumes & issues
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Volume 71 (2025)
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Volume 70 (2024)
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Volume 69 (2023)
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Volume 68 (2022)
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Volume 67 (2021)
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Volume 66 (2020)
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Volume 65 (2019)
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Volume 64 (2018)
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Volume 63 (2017)
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Volume 62 (2016)
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Volume 61 (2015)
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Volume 60 (2014)
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Volume 59 (2013)
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Volume 58 (2012)
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Volume 57 (2011)
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Volume 56 (2010)
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Volume 55 (2009)
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Volume 54 (2008)
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Volume 53 (2007)
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Volume 52 (2006)
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Volume 51 (2005)
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Volume 50 (2004)
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Volume 49 (2003)
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Volume 48 (2002)
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Volume 47 (2001)
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Volume 46 (2000)
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Volume 45 (1999)
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Volume 44 (1998)
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Volume 43 (1997)
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Volume 42 (1996)
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Volume 41 (1995)
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Volume 40 (1994)
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Volume 39 (1993)
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Volume 38 (1992)
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Volume 37 (1991)
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Volume 36 (1990)
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Volume 35 (1989)
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Volume 34 (1988)
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Volume 33 (1987)
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Volume 32 (1986)
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Volume 31 (1985)
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Volume 30 (1984)
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Volume 29 (1983)
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Volume 28 (1982)
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Volume 27 (1981)
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Volume 26 (1980)
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Volume 25 (1979)
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Volume 24 (1978)
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Volume 23 (1977)
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Volume 22 (1976)
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Volume 21 (1975)
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Volume 20 (1974)
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Volume 19 (1973)
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Volume 18 (1972)
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Volume 17 (1971)
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Volume 16 (1970)
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Volume 15 (1969)
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Volume 14 (1968)
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Volume 13 (1967)
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Volume 12 (1966)
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Volume 11 (1965)
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Volume 10 (1964)
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Volume 9 (1963)
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Volume 8 (1962)
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Volume 7 (1961)
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Volume 6 (1960)
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Volume 5 (1959)
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Volume 4 (1958)
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Volume 3 (1957)
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Volume 2 (1956)
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Volume 1 (1955)
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