Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts - Volume 7, Issue 2, 2021

Abstract

There is a growing body of academic research that suggests that we are living in an increasingly superdiverse society, where multi-ethnic, multicultural and multilingual peoples cohabit on a daily basis. Superdiversity challenges any nation state’s ideological claim of being representative of only one culture and one language, and indeed, in relation to the latter, highlights the increasing phenomenon of translanguaging, both in the wider world of social interactions and in the classroom.

In this context, it is argued here that interpreter training needs to respond to superdiversity and translanguaging, as future interpreters are part of the same social world, and will undoubtedly encounter translanguaging in their future professional life. In superdiverse and translanguaging societies, source and target languages are no longer a one-to-one linguistic and cultural translation, but a far more fluid, dynamic and multiple interchange of repertoires and resources that people access in multi-varied and multi-functional ways.

In this increasingly complex scenario, languages are not seen as bounded entities, but rather as fluid and interchangeable in the situated moment, and this, it is argued, needs to be reflected in pedagogy. Moreover, translanguaging (between bi/multilinguals) has been shown to promote greater cognitive development when tackling complex issues and rationalising processes. Also, translanguaging aids social and professional identity work, as interpreter students develop their understandings of the role their future interpreter life can and need to play in their career. Drawing on my own research and the observations made on the present and future needs of interpreting studies, a ‘translanguaging space’ (Li Wei 2011) is proposed for curriculum design in interpreter training.

Abstract

In the UAE, although Arabic is the first and official language (L1), English has become the medium of instruction and the language of discourse in higher education in most subject domains. The pedagogical implications of English Medium Instruction (EMI) in the specific context of higher education in the UAE are not well understood, and research is needed to establish what kinds of support speakers of English as a second or additional language (L2) might need to fully access content knowledge in English without burdening learning. Our empirical work hypothesizes that learning content through L2 may lead to more favourable results if the L1 is explicitly drawn upon as a resource in addition to the L2. This study provided undergraduate students with learning materials in three experimental conditions (Arabic-only, English-only, and dual language). Students’ performance was then assessed in three areas of linguistic competence, namely translation into Arabic of a list of English words and phrases, comprehension of an English written text, and translation into Arabic of English words and phrases in context. A series of one way ANOVAs and post-hoc comparisons were carried out to determine differences between the three conditions. The study confirms that overall, for students with an intermediate language level, the presentation of dual language reading materials has a greater impact on their outcomes in comparison with the presentation of reading materials in the L1 or L2 only. This highlights the critical need for raising awareness of translanguaging practices in EMI contexts.

Abstract

The paper examines the products of interlingual and intralingual translanguaging and qualitatively analyzes three origin-based lexical varieties in Japanese, wago (native Japanese words), kango (Sino-Japanese words), and gairaigo (foreign loanwords other than kango) in terms of how they have been complementing, competing against, or being in conflict with each other, how they engage word-formation processes as deep as morpheme-levels, and how they are perceived and manipulated by language users, including translators. This study shows that translanguaging has been practiced recursively and multi-directionally over a long period of time, yielding the phenomenon ‘translanguaging sequel’. The qualitative study of a Japanese translation of a Korean poem reveals a translator’s ideology-driven translanguaging practice that crosses not only interlingual but also intralingual boundaries, causing an international socio-political dispute. This study supports the view that translanguaging has been shaping and reshaping the norms of languages and language use. It also suggests the benefits of analyzing the products and traces of translanguaging in translated texts as well as the process of translanguaging during translation activities that can be promoted and implemented in language classrooms.

Abstract

Drawing on André Lefevere’s rewriting theory, this paper explores how Howard Goldblatt translates Mo Yan’s novel Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out (hereafter referred to as L&D) with regard to poetological manipulation. The paper analyses in detail how the translator rewrites the novel’s poetological features, including its unique linguistic, stylistic and narrative features, to produce a translation which is accessible to the intended audience. On the basis of this analysis, the paper identifies three characteristics of Goldblatt’s poetological rewriting: (1) macro-stylistic consistency with the source text, i.e. overall stylistic conformity to the original work; (2) simplification principle; (3) typical features of authentic English writing. The analysis reveals poetological manipulation in the translation process, from which we infer that rewriting in favour of the target poetological currents is the best way to achieve reader acceptance.

Abstract

This paper presents the main findings of a study on the translation of national court names in United Nations texts as an illustrative group of culture-bound terms. It focuses on documents produced as part of several mandatory compliance monitoring procedures in the field of human rights. The study is part of a broader project on legal translation in international organisations (LETRINT), which considers terminological consistency and adequacy as indicators of translation quality, and examines the impact of legal asymmetry on both dimensions. To shed light on the first of these indicators, a comprehensive analysis of intertextual and intratextual variations of English-Spanish and French-Spanish translations of thirty terms was conducted. Over five thousand bi- and trilingual segments, extracted from three ad-hoc multilingual and parallel corpora, were examined. They cover the period between 2000 and 2017, and refer to six legal systems. At the intertextual level, the results corroborate that legal asymmetry has a significant impact on translation decision-making, while the assessment of intratextual variation points to a link between source text length, documental series and the degree of terminological consistency.

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