Babel - Volume 63, Issue 5, 2017

Translation is typically thought of as conveying the meaning of a text written in another language. However translators frequently engage in operations that do not start from textual meaning but from phonetic form, typographic form or some other formal feature of a text. In this article, I look at several such operations, and how they are used in handling proper names, numerical expressions, text in a third language, so-called untranslatable words, passages of uncertain meaning, and poetry, as well as their use in translation studies and linguistics journals, and in pronunciation guides for tourists and for choirs singing in languages unknown to their members. I also briefly consider operations that are based on the form of non-linguistic text elements.

The futility of decades of government efforts to disseminate Chinese literature has triggered discussions among Chinese scholars on how to translate and who should be entrusted with this task. Some blame the failure on traditional concepts of translation that overemphasize faithfulness to the original to the point of disregarding target cultural conditions, but others insist that China should have control over its cultural export and that Sino-English should be used to internationalize English. Findings show that traditional concepts should not be blamed, as aggressively source-oriented strategies have been used in outbound translation only in recent years, and that this shift in translation norms in government-initiated outbound translation has spread to non-literary text types, and also to Hong Kong and Taiwan. The same kind of aggressiveness has recently been displayed in other forms of cultural export, triggering resistance in other cultures. All these changes may be attributable to a heightening of cultural self-image. What is needed to address the issue is cultural self-reflection, which will lead to the awareness that economic growth does not immediately bring cultural prestige, and that source-initiated cultural export efforts may make little difference in central cultures. Cultural awareness at a higher level can be achieved only through empathy.

In translation studies, investigating translations beyond the implications, realities and difficulties of single texts and single language combinations, viewing the larger picture surrounding translations and following the translations through to the impacts they produce wherever they are received, is an integral part of the discipline. The study discussed in this article is an effort to present food for thought for audiovisual translators of soap operas. Turkish soap operas have been aired in 90 countries around the world, reaching over 400 million viewers, according to 2014 statistics from the sector. The aim of the study is to indicate the type of translated soap operas preferred in different regions of the world; to explain, on the basis of feedback from experts, the public and local and international media, why these are watched; and to investigate the translation modes and strategies used to market the translations successfully in the receiver markets.

L’objectif de cet article est d'examiner le rôle littéraire de la traduction dans la mesure où elle se réfère à un changement dans le concept de littérature. Ce paradigme remonte à la légitimité des sources anciennes et s’étend jusqu’à l’exigence de l’originalité de la création littéraire, qui s’échelonne entre l'époque médiévale et les Temps modernes. Alors qu'à l’époque médiévale, la traduction était considérée comme un processus productif qui soutenait « l’auctoritas » et faisait partie de la vérité symbolique, pendant les Temps modernes, son rôle était de préserver la fiction d’authenticité demandée par un auteur. L’introduction de l’innovation culturelle et littéraire joue également un rôle ici, de même que la distanciation de la fable et la figure rhétorique paradoxale.

This article examines the translation of an official English European Council text, namely a Commission Communication, into Greek. A critical discourse analysis-based methodology is used to probe the manipulation of ideological shifts between the English source text and its Greek translation. The analysis of both texts aims to shed light on the way culturally-approved patterns reflect and also influence society’s priorities and preoccupations. The comparative analysis provides an example of how the European Union and its official working language influenced the translator’s attitudes and motivations in decoding various ideological patterns. Adopting a social view of political ideologies and their associated readerships, the article discusses how discourse and ideology mediate in the translation of the English-Greek language pair. It shows how discourse reinforces ideological assumptions and how it challenges them by emphasizing that the source culture violates the very norms and values the target culture holds dear.

This paper explores how translation of foreign film titles has been carried out in South Korea since foreign films first arrived in Korea following its emancipation from Japanese colonial rule. With reference to audiovisual translation in general and film or screen translation in particular, this paper discusses the extent of the mistakes made by Korean translators due to a lack of thorough contextual knowledge of the source language and culture. Most Korean translations of foreign films result in strange, surreal, and at best funny adaptations. Discussion regarding “bad,” total, or almost total mistranslations focuses on (1) words with multiple meanings (homonyms and heteronyms); (2) slang and colloquial expressions; (3) words with culturally specific features; and (4) proper nouns and common nouns. This paper concludes that in an era of globalization, film title translation in Korea increasingly shows a trend towards transliteration rather than translation – either literal or liberal.