Babel - Volume 66, Issue 1, 2020

Abstract

Through the methods of literature review and content analysis of mostly journal articles (and occasionally other types of literature when necessary), this paper is the first to examine and review the 40 years of development in interpreting research in China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan all included) since the adoption of the policy of “reform and opening up” in 1978. It divides these 40 years of interpreting research in China into three periods: a stage of initial development (1978–1995), a stage of relatively quick development (1996–2005) and a stage of vigorous growth (2006–2018). Based on a panoramic view of the general picture, the paper further investigates the popular research topics, major research methods and main characteristics of each period through a combined quantitative and qualitative approach. Thus, it also showcases the overall and period-specific characteristics of how interpreting research has progressed in China, as well as the quality and quantity of the respective research results that were produced in the past 4 decades. This is followed by an analysis of the problems and insufficiencies that exist in China’s interpreting studies at present. In so doing, the article is finally able to provide advice for future interpreting research in China.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the reflection and recreation of the physical landscape in literary texts and in their translations; to explore in what ways nature is represented and, secondly, to discuss aspects of this process in the light of the translational norms proposed by Toury. The focus is the idea that language and culture, the core of literature, are to be transferred to other linguistic and cultural mediums during translation, and constitute the ecological environment of the text. This undertaking assigns to the translator the task of selecting, adapting and recreating this material in the foreign environment. An ecocritical approach will be adopted to explore how and how far this task is materialized by studying a Turkish author Yaşar Kemal’s novel Ortadirek translated as The Wind from the Plain. Yaşar Kemal is regarded as the most ecologically-minded author of Turkish literature and his novels portray nature as the mental landscapes of man, a force under which the constituents of the text are recreated at every linguistic and culture-bound effort of the author. Hence, the main endeavour of this study will be to bring to the surface, with an eco-critical approach, the translational preferences of the translator of Ortadirek and their significance in the recreation of Kemal’s ecological vision in the translation.

Abstract

This study explores the metaphorical dimension of idioms in original filmic texts and their translations in subtitles, in order to shed light on strategies used in the translation process. The research focuses on a corpus of 20 films from the Library of Foreign Language Film Clips (LFLFC), at the Berkeley Language Center of the University of California, Berkeley. More specifically, I analyze films in German and Spanish with English subtitles from a cognitive and contrastive perspective. My goal is to explore how translation can affect understanding and reception by an audience with limited or no skills in the original language. Results of the analysis show a tendency towards reduction of metaphorical expressions in translated English subtitles, these varying according to the original language of the film. Contrastive analysis demonstrates that in translation from Spanish, the explicit meaning strategy is far more frequent than in translation from German. The findings of this study can be applied in foreign language teaching as a means of developing learners’ cultural awareness and language comprehension, as well as in the field of audiovisual subtitling translation.

Abstract

Translation as interlingual and intercultural communication has always been subject to ideological manipulation. This is due to the fact that some Translation Studies scholars believe that translators are considered as responsible for the reception and survival of literary works among target language readers. The strategies the translators apply throughout the translation process are governed by those who wield power including political and social institutions like the government, the law and publishers. In view of this phenomenon, the current study explores the paratextual strategies applied by Paul Sprachman, an American translator, when he translated Da (2014) from Farsi into English. Using narrative theory, this study analyses how the English translation appears to reiterate notions of Iran and Shia identity as bellicose and anti- liberal by situating Iran’s war literature as dramatic and fictional, rather than as a testimonial to one Iranian woman’s representations of her lived experience. The findings indicate that the textual and paratextual manipulations were in line with the ideology of the receptive environment of the United States with relevance to the discourse of the war in Iran.

Abstraite

Afin de s’assurer une bonne compréhension du texte source, le traducteur juridique se doit de maîtriser la macrostructure des genres textuels du droit, le style du langage juridique et la terminologie du champ thématique en question. C’est sur ce dernier aspect, la terminologie, que portera la présente étude. Plus concrètement, nous nous intéressons à certains termes du droit des successions qui ont une forme linguistique similaire en français et en espagnol. La proximité des langues et des systèmes juridiques concernés mène le traducteur à considérer que certains de ces termes désignent le même concept alors que ce n’est pas toujours le cas. Nous nous demandons si, entre les termes choisis, il existe véritablement une relation d’équivalence sémantique pleine ou si, au contraire, cette relation conceptuelle est asymétrique et imparfaite. La confirmation de cette dernière hypothèse signifierait l’identification de faux-amis dont il faudrait tenir compte pour éviter des erreurs de sens au moment d’opter pour une solution de traduction. Pour répondre à ces questions nous proposons une analyse comparative fondée sur la méthodologie du droit comparé et sur le concept d’équivalence fonctionnelle. L’intérêt d’une telle approche méthodologique pour le traitement de l’équivalence a été mis en relief dans plusieurs travaux portant sur la traduction juridique. En même temps elle permet de réfléchir sur l’acceptabilité de certaines techniques de traduction lorsque nous avons affaire à ce type de mots.

Abstract

Using three Chinese translations of Peter Pan completed at different times in history, this paper discusses how the spread of the Anglophone culture in China influenced the representation of Anglophone culture in translations. The paper provides an overview of different types of culture-bound elements identified in Peter Pan, illustrating the different translation strategies adopted to treat these elements. The analysis focuses on the influence of the changing sociocultural context in China, exploring how the spread of Anglophone culture in China over time is reflected in the translation of culture-bound elements. As the penetration of the Anglophone culture into China became more profound from the early twentieth century to the early twenty-first century, the source culture became better preserved, providing readers with a culturally rich target text with foreignizing translation strategies.

This article reviews The Evolving Curriculum in Interpreter and Translator Education

This article reviews L’intraduisible. Les méandres de la traduction

This article reviews Translating Picturebooks: Revoicing the Verbal, the Visual and the Aural for a Child Audience