Target. International Journal of Translation Studies - Volume 36, Issue 2, 2024

Abstract

This article sheds light on two different perspectives on the boundaries of the cognitive system and the consequences of their adoption for Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies (CTIS). Both are represented by different approaches within the cognitive scientific cluster of approaches referred to as situated or 4EA (embodied, embedded, enactive, extended, and affective) cognition. The first, the person-centred perspective, takes individuals as a starting point and describes their interactions with their social and material surroundings. The second, the distributed, extended perspective, takes the joint activity of different situated actors and material artefacts as its starting point and depicts this socio-cognitive unit as the object of analysis. With this article, we do not seek to advocate the use of one over the other. Rather, we attempt to offer a coherent interpretation of how the cognitive process of translation can be studied and interpreted as a situated activity either from the perspective of individual actors or from a larger, distributed, and extended angle that considers people and the relevant social and material environment as a system. Specifically, we discuss what is to be gained if translation is studied from a distributed cognitive perspective. To this end, we illustrate key aspects of the discussion using empirical examples from current field research in which both an individual and a distributed perspective are applied to analyse interaction in a translation workplace.

Abstract

This article investigates the role of affective perception in the development of translation and experiential literacy through the medium of a multimodal translation workshop held with twelve arts practitioners, academics, and translators. Both the rationale for the workshop format and the interpretation of workshop outputs draw on a transdisciplinary framework spanning theories of intermediality and multimodality, the study of acousmatic sound, acoustic atmospheres, and corporeal music/sound reception. Adopting a phenomenographic approach, we discuss the role of the body and the senses in communication and how the sensory exercises developed for our workshop can provide access to the prenoetic nature of perception from both a cognitive and affective standpoint. Recognizing the narrative quality of participants’ comments, a deductive approach was taken to analyze their translations and reflections through the lens of narrative modes of acousmatic music. The article concludes with pedagogical implications on the basis of participants’ reflections. Our findings support the use of a multimodal online translation workshop as both a research method to investigate meaning-making and a pedagogical resource to develop experiential literacy for both practitioners and developing translators.

Abstract

This article presents the results of a study focusing on the reception of a fictional story by Kurt Vonnegut translated from English into Catalan and Dutch in three conditions: machine translated, post-edited, and human translated. Participants (n = 223) rated the three conditions using three scales: narrative engagement, enjoyment, and translation reception. The results show that human translation had higher engagement, enjoyment, and translation reception in Catalan, compared to the post-edited and machine-translated translations. However, Dutch readers scored the post-edited translation higher than the human and machine translation, and the highest engagement and enjoyment scores were reported for the original English version. We hypothesize that when reading a fictional story in translation, not only are the condition and the quality of the translation key to understanding its reception, but also the participants’ reading patterns, reading language, and, potentially, the status of the source language in their own societies.

Abstract

This article presents a matrix of competence descriptors aimed at machine translation-oriented data literacy teaching. This competence matrix constitutes the didactics-facing side of the DataLit^MT project, which develops learning resources for teaching relevant components of data literacy in their translation-specific form of professional machine translation (MT) literacy to BA and MA students in translation and specialised communication. After highlighting the increasing relevance of both professional MT literacy and data literacy in the context of Translation Studies and professional translation, the article presents and discusses a professional MT literacy framework and an MT-specific data literacy framework, which serve to structure the two frames of reference relevant to this article. Then, the article provides a detailed discussion of the competence matrix developed based on the two frameworks sketched previously. This discussion is intended to show how the individual dimensions and sub-dimensions of data literacy were linked to relevant (sub-)dimensions of professional MT literacy and translated into corresponding competence descriptors. To conclude, the article presents an example of a learning resource for MT-oriented data literacy teaching developed based on the descriptors of the competence matrix.

Abstract

This research presents a new classification of translation policy by referring to Baldauf’s (2006) framework of language planning. It constructs a policy database containing 363 policy documents issued on the Chinese mainland from 1979 to 2021, and analyzes the features of each policy category by integrating corpus analysis with text analysis. It is revealed that policy documents on translation education aim to train professional translators with standard national tests and postgraduate programs; policy documents on translation profession are committed to improving the professional title system for translators and interpreters; policy documents on translation standardization are supported by national standards and cover various stakeholders and fields; and policy documents on official translation projects aim to disseminate Chinese culture, provide language services for international events, and organize minority language translation. With these findings, this study contributes to research on translation policy with new knowledge about China and a novel perspective, classification, and approach.

This article reviews The Translation of Realia and Irrealia in Game Localization: Culture-Specificity between Realism and Fictionality

This article reviews German Philosophy in English Translation: Postwar Translation History and the Making of the Contemporary Anglophone Humanities