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- Volume 6, Issue 3, 2020
Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts - Volume 6, Issue 3, 2020
Volume 6, Issue 3, 2020
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The contribution of register analysis to the translation of Red Sorghum
Author(s): Samia Bazzi and Yuran Shipp.: 211–229 (19)More LessAbstractThe Chinese novel Hóng Gāoliáng Jiāzú (红高粱家族, Red Sorghum2008) was written by the Nobel-winning Chinese writer Mò Yán (莫言). Its Arabic translation (الذرة الرفيعة الحمراء, al-Dhurra al-Rafī‘a al-Hamrā) was published in 2013. By comparing the Chinese source text with the Arabic target text, this paper aims to present an assessment of the Arabic translation based on an awareness of translation theory and, in particular, translation quality assessment or what is widely known as register analysis (House 1997) in order to propose additional solutions for the translation of Chinese literature into Arabic. The paper also surveys the field of translation studies specifically in regard to scholarship concerning translation between Chinese and Arabic, and it attempts to add additional literature for Chinese-Arabic translators or translator trainees. Relying on textual analysis that relates to a wider socio-cultural framework, the paper concludes that the original translation of the novel is not successful, as it lacks an awareness of register characterization which plays an important part in the translation-oriented analysis of literary texts. This results in the misrepresentation of Chinese cultural experience as well as an absence of evaluative meanings at an interpersonal level. For this reason, this study offers alternative translation techniques into Arabic that foreground the author’s style without modifying the cultural elements. This approach will be illustrated through a number of examples representative of many examples translated and assessed by the authors. We suggest that an awareness of register variables results in a more appropriate communication of the Chinese cultural context, and is therefore more likely to be viewed positively by the Arab audience, piquing its curiosity in regard to the cultural specificities found in this foreign culture.
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A subtitling stalemate
Author(s): Rory McKenziepp.: 230–252 (23)More LessAbstractThe Dark Horse (2014) is a highly successful New Zealand film that exemplifies a strong multilingual and multicultural landscape where the Māori language and cultural concepts, as well as specific examples of New Zealand English co-exist within the one film. This linguistic and cultural complexity is a key part to the film, therefore retaining this in a translation becomes a challenging responsibility for the subtitler. This article first introduces the restrictions and intricacies of subtitling in general, and then analyses specific scenes from the commercial Italian subtitled version of The Dark Horse, highlighting the translation choices made by the subtitler when confronted with challenges pertaining to scenes involving multilingualism (in the form of English and Māori), culturally specific terminology (the use of New Zealand English idioms), as well as the representation of register for children from low socio-economic backgrounds. Alternative subtitles are proposed that seek to better represent the richness of the source text’s language and cultural references.
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Translating the oral tradition of community literature
Author(s): Sahdev Luhar and Dushyant Nimavatpp.: 253–281 (29)More LessAbstractCommunity literature, here, refers to a body of oral literatures by the diverse ethnic groups of India that speak thousands of indigenous languages. Many less explored indigenous groups with living oral traditions are found in India but their orality is not yet documented. In our attempts to find such cultural groups, we came across many cultural groups that are being ignored because of their small population, lack of political backup, lack of governmental upliftment policies, socio-economic conditions, or lifestyle. The cultural groups that are being referred to here are not the communities that live in tribal or forest areas but they are groups of people that live among us in our cities or villages. These groups mainly consist of migrating populations whose members wander here and there to earn their livelihood. These are the cursed communities in the sense that they have been ignored by all – by the government itself and also by the dominant cultural groups. In this paper, we try to record our own experiences and the difficulties that we faced while translating the oral tradition of such a cultural group – the Gādaliyā Luhār community. This paper also tries to show how translation is a two-tier (or a three-tier) process in countries such as India where the majority of marginalised cultural groups speak indigenous languages or dialects.
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Promoting multimodal practices in multilingual classes of Italian in Canada and in Italy
Author(s): Giuliana Salvatopp.: 282–311 (30)More LessAbstractThis paper offers a qualitative analysis of the responses that 28 advanced learners of Italian in Canada and Italy contributed to a questionnaire asking them to interpret the meanings and functions of six Italian gestures, alone and in combination with dialogues. Participants were also asked to comment on their perception of body language in their L1 and in Italian. The purpose of the exercise was to expand L2 pedagogy towards multimodality, while at the same time accounting for learners’ multilingualism. We found that participants appreciated a multimodal approach to their Italian language learning experience. We also found that knowledge of languages typologically related to Italian (i.e. Romance languages) was no guarantee that our groups of multilinguals would be facilitated in the interpretation of L2 gesture forms and meanings. Rather, the presence of verbal language in dialogues, the form of gesture, and familiarity with the nonverbal characteristics of interactions in the target language, helped participants succeed in this multimodal activity.
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Kirsten Malmkjær, Translation and creativity
Author(s): Marco Barlettapp.: 312–315 (4)More LessThis article reviews Translation and Creativity
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