Translation and Interpreting Studies. The Journal of the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association - Volume 17, Issue 2, 2022

The purpose of this article is to analyze the hybrid language used in the U.S. by a generation who think brown and write brown. I am referring to the so-called one-and-a-halfers, a generation that includes writers such as Gloria Anzaldúa, Cherríe Moraga, Sandra Cisneros, Pat Mora, Ilan Stavans, Ana Lydia Vega, Ana Castillo, Helena Viramontes, Esmeralda Santiago, or Tato Laviera, to name but a few. I aim to analyze how many migrants and refugees use language in a way that destroys consensus. It is in these spaces where the migration movements of the multiple souths talk back in a weird language which the Establishment fears. In these circumstances, translation becomes a tool to raise questions that disturb the universal promises of monolingualism.

The blended concept of translaboration has received considerable attention since 2015 when it was introduced by Alexa Alfer and colleagues. Yinbian yanyu [An English Poet Reciting from Afar], Lin Shu and Wei Yi’s collaborative translation of Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare, is a typical product of translaboration in twentieth-century China. Following a social historiographical path, this article seeks to identify contributions of the various stakeholders who participated in the production of Yinbian yanyu as well as its reception. By exploring what role translaboration played in the success of this translation, this article aims to present a more comprehensive view of translaboration as a concept and its applicability as an interdisciplinary tool.

This article studies the concepts of voice and of the translation pact with regard to Julio Gómez de la Serna’s translation of Obras completas by Oscar Wilde, first published in 1943 after Franco had established his rule of Spain. More precisely, it focuses on the two paratexts that preceded the translations and on the Spanish version of his essay The Soul of Man Under Socialism. The study considers how the translator addressed Wilde’s homosexual scandal and his translation of a potentially controversial text at a time when the censorship office was imposing severe constraints on the publication of literary works. The analysis shows that Gómez de la Serna managed to circumvent these constraints while remaining loyal to the author and faithful to his work.

Park Chan-wook, one of the most internationally acclaimed Korean filmmakers, uses language as an important aspect of characterization in The Handmaiden, his adaptation of Sarah Water’s novel Fingersmith. The historical background and the characters’ nationalities are changed, but code-switching between two languages – i.e., Korean and Japanese – recurs throughout the film, thereby enhancing its relevance for the Korean audience. Drawing on the notion of ‘proximity’ and reader response theory, this study examines the role of languages in Park’s characterization and proximation of the original work for the Korean audience, and the extent to which the shifts in proximity and the use of languages contribute to British audiences’ affective experiences when this Korean adaptation is subtitled in English.

This study tested the effects of the consecutive and simultaneous interpreting modes in a simulated police interview, addressing four research questions: (1) Does the consecutive interpreting mode lead to more accurate interpreting than the simultaneous interpreting mode? (2) Do language combinations moderate the performance of similarly qualified interpreters? (3) Does experience in simultaneous interpreting in legal settings increase interpreting accuracy in SI? and (4) Which mode of interpreting do interpreters perceive to require more mental effort? A total of 70 interpreters interpreted a live simulated interview between an English-speaking interviewer and an Arabic-, Mandarin- or Spanish-speaking suspect. Mode was varied within participants, and the order of the mode was counter-balanced across participants. Interpreters rated their perceived mental effort after the task. Independent assessments of performance showed better results for the simultaneous interpreting mode, regardless of language. This effect held for accuracy of style, verbal rapport markers, and interpreting protocol.

Reading is a critical process for conscious learning and enhancing knowledge; however, little is known about reading in interpreters’ professional lives. We used an online survey to collect information about the reading habits of signed language interpreters (n = 1,382) and spoken language interpreters (n = 601) to examine overall patterns, as well as variations, between the groups. The interpreters responded to questions regarding (a) engagement with reading types, (b) hours spent reading, (c) motivations for reading, (d) factors that reduce engagement in reading, (e) reading in which interpreters should engage, (f) relevance of reading to professional practice, and (g) priority of research topics for reading. Similarities were found between the groups, with divergence in three areas – reading preparation materials, reading research studies, and the types of research studies the participants wish to read. The results provide insights into professional interpreters’ engagement with reading and its application to their professional practice.

Over the last two decades, ideology has evolved into a major issue in translation studies. In terms of the ideological explorations of translation, previous studies focused on the explicit or implicit ideological manifestations in translated texts, or how translation was used to serve ideology. Studies on the diachronic changes of translator’s ideology, however, remain scarce. This study of Howard Goldblatt’s English translations of three Chinese novels over three different periods finds that translators’ ideology is dynamic rather than static. In their translations, translators may follow the ideology of the source culture or that of the target culture, depending on the relative status of the source culture and the target culture as well as the capital possessed by the author and the translator. A sociological account is provided to explain the changes in translators’ ideology over time.

In both the Spanish-language Argentine comic strip Mafalda, created by Quino, and the Portuguese-language Brazilian comic A Turma da Mônica by Maurício de Sousa, the creators’ use of political and cultural satire unveils critical global and national issues through the eyes of young female protagonists. Character naming and effective translation of these comic strips requires an expanded view of satire as a principally literary genre by examining its linguistic and cultural purposes. Thus, this study explores the cultural and linguistic significance of satire in translation along with its associated challenges, drawing on specific examples from these two comic strips to illustrate these issues.