FORUM. Revue internationale d’interprétation et de traduction / International Journal of Interpretation and Translation - Volume 19, Issue 2, 2021

Abstract

This paper investigated contemporary journalistic English translations of Arabic Islamic terms and concepts in light of the current civil wars in the Middle East and North Africa, and the war on terror as well as Islamophobia and the refugee crisis. It studied the critical role of translation agencies in reframing and renegotiating the Islamic glossary through their own lens, which may be ideologically positioned. The paper further examined the English translations of the Arabic Islamic terms and concepts in the target texts which were published by the Washington-based advocacy group the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). The data were collected manually from MEMRI’s online archive from the years 2013 to 2016. The data selection was based on a designed search that linked Daesh (ISIS) and any of its aliases with any of the Islamic terms and concepts which are repeatedly used in media narratives within the context of the ‘war on terror’ and ‘Islamic extremism’. The study employed Baker’s (2006) narrative-informed theory and Newmark’s (1988) translation procedures taxonomy to assist in the data analysis. The findings suggested that transference (transliteration) is a significant procedure used by MEMRI in justifying, legitimizing and normalizing particular narratives to the public and that translators are decisive participants in constituting and informing the social and political reality. The findings also demonstrated that narrativity features, relationality in particular, are significant tools in reconstructing reality in translation. Through translation, MEMRI draws upon the metanarrative of the ‘war on terror’ in promoting its ideologically laden agenda of terrorist Arabs and Muslims.

Résumé

Cette étude a pour objectifs de montrer les mérites de la traduction télécollaborative en B en mode asynchrone. Des apprenants français étudiant le coréen ont révisé les traductions de sous-titres, d’une série coréenne, réalisés par des apprenants coréens de français. Les « réviseurs » français ont commenté en français et suggéré des modifications, partiellement acceptées, sans pour autant travailler en mode TAV. Au-delà des compétences langagières et socioculturelles, cette collaboration compétitive en ligne (deux équipes coréennes pour un même extrait) a permis à nos apprenants coréens d’expérimenter la plupart des étapes afférentes à l’édition de sous-titres : traduction, révision, encodage, simulation, ajustements. Cette « collaboration » franco-coréenne a procuré à chacun un sentiment d’accomplissement, partagé par l’enseignant. Pour que ce travail collaboratif évolue vers une réelle « collaboration », il faudra désormais permettre l’implication des apprenants français jusqu’à l’édition complète des sous-titres.

Abstract

This study addresses the use of hyperbole in the Quran at the word level and its English translation. It investigates the morphological shift of hyperbolic patterns such as ‘Fa’uul (فعول), Fa’eel (فعيل) and Fa’aal’ (فعال) and their corresponding English translations. We attempt to determine the implications underlying the translation strategies for the translation quality of the data under study. Under this circumstance, the translator applied a series of translation strategies, such as literal translation, paraphrase, transposition, and morphological strategies, with transposition being the most employed strategy. Such strategies were in some cases a problem for the functions of the Quranic hyperboles. As such, the translation quality was occasionally poor.

Abstract

The unprecedented spread of English and its growing dominance in the translation and interpreting industry have implications on the market behaviour of translators and interpreters depending on the combination of their working languages. This paper investigates the extent to which market signals (e.g. average rates and workloads) can be reflected in the motivation of students to enter the translation profession in respect to the combination of their working languages and the inclusion of English within that combination. Two surveys were used to obtain data for our analysis: one focused on the market behaviour of professional translators, whereas the other assessed the plans and motivations of T&I students at the end of their studies. Respondents in both surveys were divided according to the role of English in their language combination. As this paper demonstrates, professionals working only with English (or with English and at least one other foreign language) had a better position in the market in terms of overall workload. These groups of professionals also had a more positive outlook in terms of demand for their services. On the contrary, professionals working with languages other than English had a lower workload and a more pessimistic outlook in terms of demand for their services. As our data suggest, students in the same category of working language combinations (without English) were more hesitant to pursue a career in the industry. Our findings underline a degree of sensitivity among students to market signals depending on the combination of their working languages. Importantly, they present relevant information for T&I programme administrators and university management when designing curricula and planning future study programmes.

Abstract

The American version of Empresses in the Palace (《甄嬛传》) can be seen as a representative example of Chinese-to-English subtitled ancient costume drama, and an effective source of study as to how Extralinguistic Culture-bound References (ECRs) (Pedersen, 2005, 2011) in the source-language subtitles can emphasize and embody the essence of ancient Chinese culture. Based on Pedersen’s (2005, 2011) theory of the Transculturality level of ECRs and through statistical as well as textual analysis, this paper aims to conduct a descriptive study of extralinguistic culture-bound references (ECRs) in Empresses in the Palace and the Chinese-English subtitling strategies of the ECRs. It found that Monocultural ECRs account for a substantial proportion of the ECRs, with eight ECR domains covered, and that the Source Language (SL)-oriented Strategies as well as Substitution are the foremost translation strategies adopted for rendering Monocultural ECRs. Eventually, based on textual analysis of the Monocultural ECRs rendered by the SL-oriented Strategies and Substitution, from the perspective of the target audience’s plot interpretation of the drama, this paper concludes that an obvious disadvantage as a result of the Monocultural ECR’s interlingual subtitling in Empresses in the Palace is that the plot revealed in the target-language subtitles becomes logically incoherent.

This article reviews Innovation and Expansion in Translation Process Research

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