Target. International Journal of Translation Studies - Volume 30, Issue 3, 2018

Abstract

Previous research suggests that in Salazar’s Portugal, Soviet Poland was portrayed as both a friend and a foe. This article argues that these conflicting images are partly due to distinct discourses that reached Portugal through translations of Polish literature. Ultimately, it aims to give insights into the role of literary translation in the construction of a national image abroad. Since all the translations in the corpus are indirect, special attention is paid to the way the mediating texts impacted the image encoded in the target text. The article considers five channels via which texts were imported, presenting the results of a textual analysis of one translation in each of these channels, including its indirect trajectory. The findings confirm the importance of the analysed translations in the construction of the discussed images and show that the mediating texts had a crucial filtering role as regards the transfer of these images.

Abstract

This study, with reference to a variety of English translations of Chinese ci poetry (詞), sets out to demonstrate a mental state of ‘aesthetic illusion’, in which the translator-as-reader gets immersed into (an) imaginary world(s) triggered by the original poems and imaginatively experiences the world(s) “in analogous ways to real-life experience” (Wolf 2013a, 11–12). It argues that the translator-as-reader’s imaginary experience of the world(s) ‘from within’ activates a variety of manifestations and implementations of narrativity, and affects the interplay between the lyric and narrative modes in the translated lyric poems. Drawing on analytical concepts and methods from cognitive narratology, aesthetic illusion, and reading psychology, this study aims at foregrounding the translator’s role as an immersive reader, a “side-participant” (Gerrig 1993) in the represented worlds, and at giving an enriched account of what the translator’s reading of the original poems involve.

Abstract

Interpreting in complex transnational contexts has emerged as a recent area of interest for translation and interpreting scholars. These contexts provide a fertile ground for a sociological conceptualization of interpreting, as an emergent practice situated at the interface of individual agency and a socio-professional context. Drawing on our experiences in training interpreters for the ICRC and the UNHCR we develop a positionality-based understanding of ‘humanitarian interpreting’ and define this new analytical category. Based on two paradigmatic profiles of humanitarian interpreters, we present a comparative analysis of the intrinsic and relational factors shaping the positionality of ICRC and UNHCR interpreters in the humanitarian field and describe some of the ethical dilemmas these interpreters face. We furthermore discuss potential similarities and differences between interpreting in humanitarian and other contexts, such as military operations and asylum settings.

Abstract

This article reports on the findings of a questionnaire survey of 465 telephone interpreters in Australia, focusing on what they liked and disliked about telephone interpreting, their perceptions of challenges in telephone interpreting, and their coping strategies. Just over half of the respondents liked working as telephone interpreters. Results also show that interpreters identified many favourable and unfavourable aspects of telephone interpreting. A key finding is that interpreters perceived many comprehension-related challenges (e.g., poor sound quality, a lack of non-verbal information), communication-related challenges (e.g., overlapping speech), and other challenges in telephone interpreting (e.g., low remuneration, casual employment, work-related stress). Importantly, interpreters adopted various coping strategies, including using high-quality headphones and requesting briefing or clarification to deal with comprehension-related challenges, explaining the interpreter’s role and intervening with clients as necessary to address communication-related challenges, and reducing working hours and exercising self-care to manage work-related stress.

This article reviews Translation and Geography

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This article reviews Border Crossings: Translation Studies and Other Disciplines

This article reviews Communities in Translation and Interpreting

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