Translation and Interpreting Studies. The Journal of the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association - Volume 19, Issue 3, 2024

When interpreting from a signed to a spoken language, interpreters transition from a visual ecology (without sound) to an ecology that includes both auditory and visual resources. This transition entails situating renderings in a new environment using appropriate semiotic resources. Applying the analytical concepts of depictions, descriptions, and indications (Ferrara and Hodge 2018), this article documents how one interpreter navigates this transition. The applied framework highlights how the interpreter engages her entire semiotic repertoire, including visual resources that are used as important cues. The findings also show that renderings are often framed with discourse markers, regardless of whether the semiotic resource of depiction is adopted.

Chinese painting is a foreign other to the Anglo-American world. This article explores how Chinese thinking on painting is translated into English and what implications it carries for the English translation of Chinese traditional culture in general. Early Chinese Texts on Painting, an academic book targeting academics and China enthusiasts, is taken as a case study. Using the notion of cultural translation as a theoretical foundation, this study finds that three strategies are used to translate Chinese painting into English: pluralizing meanings of key notions, contextualizing otherness through the recurrence of Taoist, Confucian, and Chinese literary ideas, and restructuring temporal and thematic ideas. These findings imply that cultural authenticity of foreign otherness can be approximated despite temporal, cultural, and linguistic distances. This study seeks to provide new answers to generic questions about the role of language in cross-cultural studies.

This article responds to recent calls for research on literary translations in émigré periodicals as a means of exploring the cultural boundary work between the diaspora and its host cultures. Focusing on the community of Russia Abroad (1919–1939), for whom the printed word was vital in sustaining and disseminating cultural life, this study examines the role of translations in shaping diasporic identity. Using Illiustrirovannaia Rossiia [Illustrated Russia] (Paris; 1924–1939) a prominent Russian émigré newsmagazine as a case study, this article combines a descriptive analysis of literary translations with a qualitative examination of the accompanying editorial paratexts. The findings reveal that translated literature not only contributed to the formation of a distinct émigré cultural identity but also served as a crucial tool in defining boundaries between the Russian diaspora and the surrounding host cultures.

This study examines the differences between paper- and computer-based translation quality assessment, focusing on score reliability, variability, scoring speed, and raters’ preferences. Utilizing a within-subjects design, 27 raters assessed 29 translations presented in both handwritten and word-processed formats, employing a holistic scoring method. The findings reveal comparable translation quality ratings across both modes, with paper-based scoring showing greater inter-rater disagreement and being affected by handwriting legibility. Paper-based scoring was generally faster, though computer-based scoring demonstrated less variability in inter-rater reliability. Raters exhibited a preference for paper-based scoring due to its perceived faster speed, flexibility in annotating, and eye-friendliness. The study highlights the importance of comprehensive rater training and calibration to mitigate biases and non-uniform severity, as well as the adoption of detailed scoring rubrics to ensure consistent assessment across modes. The article offers insights on refining computer-based scoring systems, including enhancements in annotation functionality and ergonomic considerations.

This article examines the communicative effectiveness of translated versions of The Analects from an Anglophone perspective using a questionnaire-based survey targeting English-speaking academics. Sinologists, translators, and readers specializing in East Asian philosophy provided insights about their preferences, reading expectations, and opinions regarding the translations’ influence. The findings indicate a preference for translations that they considered to be not entirely fluent, but rather more accurate and in an easily accessible and readable form. Other important considerations include the content of translations and the translations’ influence on their value systems and cultural orientations. The study also suggests that collaborative efforts in translating Chinese classics could enhance quality, meet readers’ needs more effectively, and promote East–West cultural exchange. Recommendations are made for translators and publishers to support a more balanced interaction among scholars, translators, and readers in China and the Anglophone world, enriching Confucian studies with a communicative approach.

Media interpreting has received intensifying attention from interpreting scholars over the past few decades. Live transmissions with on-site simultaneous interpreting of influential political events have proliferated especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and have become accessible via digital media platforms. This article analyses the corpus of the COVID-19 topic from the first and final presidential debates in the 2020 US election transmitted by two TV stations in Taiwan holding opposite political orientations — pro-China and pro-Taiwan independence, respectively. A detailed evaluation of the corpus suggests how word choice, self-correction and intonation by interpreters are leveraged to influence viewers. Ethically, interpreters are expected to provide neutral and faithful interpreting. However, the findings reveal that the interpreters were aligned with the TV stations’ dominant ideologies and altered their presentations to achieve political objectives.

The present article is a function-oriented case study within the framework of Descriptive Translation Studies, as developed by Gideon Toury, which posits translations as facts in the target culture where they interact with other works and influence them. The present article argues that a translation can have an impact on its translator whose relationship with the target culture is ambivalent. The British missionary Timothy Richard and his Chinese translation of Looking Backward is the case under investigation. Richard played multiple roles in late Qing China. He was a reformer as well as a missionary. His translation of Looking Backward influenced his own reform ideas, which in turn influenced the reformists in late Qing China.