Babel - Volume 66, Issue 6, 2020

Abstract

This paper reviews the history and achievements of professional interpreting and translation education in the Chinese mainland since 1979, discusses the internal and external challenges it faces in the new era and puts forward some measures to accelerate and upgrade its development so as to offer some insights for the future development of translation education in China and beyond. It is hoped that this paper will enable interpreting and translation teachers and scholars around the world to better understand the achievements and status quo of professional interpreting and translation education in the Chinese mainland and will enhance understanding, communication and exchanges of the interpreting and translation education circle internationally.

Abstract

This study strives to answer one major question: Does culture translate?, employing the translation of English proverbs into Arabic by senior students majoring in English. The study involves 30 English proverbs collected from different sources, based on three criteria, namely complete Arabic equivalence, partial Arabic equivalence and zero Arabic equivalence. These 30 proverbs were distributed to 20 randomly selected senior students as participants. The participants translated the 30 proverbs in the form of a translation test in two phases. The results of the study show that teaching the cultural aspects of the proverbs has developed and improved the participants’ translations considerably, thus providing empirical evidence that culture translates.

Résumé

Le Sūtra du diamant traduit en chinois par Kumārajīva est un des textes les plus répandus du bouddhisme mahāyāna, signifiant « Grand Véhicule ». Depuis le XIXe siècle, il fait l’objet d'études interlinguistiques qui comparent les traductions du mahāyāna avec les versions sanskrites. Les traductions sont alors considérées comme étant moins fidèles surtout au niveau du texte même. Cependant, l’idée de correction littérale est inconciliable avec l’ « original ». Dans cet article, nous abordons d’abord le problème des « textes sources » dans la littérature bouddhique, mais aussi celui de la méthode prédominante dans l’étude bouddhique contemporaine. Enfin, du point de vue de la traductologie, nous essayons de recadrer la perspective des études comparatives des textes bouddhiques afin d'envisager un dialogue interdisciplinaire.

Abstract

The development of online interactive resources for interpreter training has been at the centre of the agenda in terms of pedagogical assistance and cooperation both for the European Institutions and for their partner universities. Modern videoconferencing systems and online learning technologies provide an excellent alternative to face-to-face classes, offering solutions to the problem of trainers’ availability and engaging learners in synchronous and asynchronous task-oriented activities.

In this context, the European Parliament-funded ERITON project was launched in 2014 with the aim of facilitating the dissemination of best practices and enhancing collaboration between EU and non-EU partner universities in the field of conference interpreter training. Forming the strategic core of this project was the use of innovative training methodologies, such as virtual classes and virtual mock-conferences.

This paper presents the pedagogical framework of the VCs and discusses the results of an online survey conducted from 2015 to 2017 among students who actively participated in the virtual classes held within the ERITON project. The aim of the survey was to obtain anonymous feedback on the technical set-up of the VCs and on the helpfulness of this format in terms of skill acquisition and progress. The results show that the new medium was well-received and appreciated by respondents, especially since it gave them the possibility to interact in ways and with people that would otherwise be impossible.

Abstract

In 1989 and 1990, Kitty van Leuven-Zwart published two articles on the similarities and dissimilarities between a translation and its original. My research is based on a classification model which derives primarily from Van Leuven-Zwart’s comparative method, although I also work with concepts from other authors. The major difference to Van Leuven-Zwart’s research is that the main aim of the model I propose is not to indicate the differences between a translation and the original, but to detect whether previous translations have had any influence upon the studied translation. The goal of this article is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the shift approach to find out the relationship between different translations. I explain and illustrate the classification model by comparing the Catalan translation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth by Josep M. de Sagarra (1959) with previous French, Spanish and Catalan translations in order to ascertain whether these texts had any influence upon Sagarra’s translation.

Abstract

The exploration of processing patterns is a major topic within the behavioural-cognitive approach to translation and interpreting studies, but existing studies have mainly focused on processing patterns in written translation while largely overlooking other important modes of interlingual transfer, for example sight translation. To fill this gap, the present study investigated processing patterns in rehearsed sight translation from English into Chinese (L1) and vice versa (L2) using eye-tracking technology and examined how translation directions influenced processing patterns in sight translation. It was found that (1) translation students spent more time but invested less cognitive effort in reading the source text in the preparatory reading than the actual sight translation; (2) the coordination time between comprehension and production in sight translation was similar to that with simultaneous interpreting; (3) the processing patterns in each translation direction also showed distinctive differences in both preparatory reading and reading-speech coordination. This was the first study to investigate processing patterns in sight translation that involved two linguistically distinct languages, i.e., English and Chinese, in both L1 and L2 translation and it is hoped that the findings will generate further research along this line.

This article reviews Institutional Translation for International Governance: Enhancing Quality in Multilingual Legal Communication

This article reviews Jin Ping Mei English Translations: Texts, Paratexts and Contexts

This article reviews Translating the Visual: A Multimodal Perspective