Translation in Society - Volume 2, Issue 2, 2023

Abstract

Recent attention to the human aspects of translation and translators (e.g., Pym 2009; Kaindl et al. 2021) has resulted in a possible “human turn” (Bergantino 2022, 7) in translation studies, which brings new questions and avenues for researchers working in the subdomain of translator studies. Against this backdrop, this article first constructs the concept of ‘the translator’s brand’ for investigating the evolution of literary translators into prominent status. It then outlines a three-level framework of brand-building to analyse the personal development of individual literary translators. Combining the transferrable points from the brand-related literature with the Bourdieusian sociology of cultural production, it argues that the formation of a literary translator’s brand can be analysed from intra-field (brand input), inter-field (brand investment) and inter-cultural (brand reception) levels. Lastly, the application of this methodological framework is demonstrated in a case study of a prominent Chinese-English literary translator in science fiction, Ken Liu, in the twenty-first century.

Abstract

The sociology of translation has opened up a broad field of research in recent years. Nevertheless, the autonomy of this research line has been relativized since this ‘sociological turn’ was preceded by the ‘cultural turn’ in translation studies (TS). Consequently, the focus of research should be on the interaction between translation and culture when analyzing sociological aspects in TS. Therefore, in this article, the concept of cultural transfer is used as a processual basis for the study of sociological aspects of a literary transfer in tandem with the way a target culture influences a translation and subjects it to its own ideas. This allows for interpreting all activity regulated by various actors from the perspective of the receiving culture. Focusing on the reception of recent Dutch and Belgian literatures in Germany, the presented approach offers innovations in the study of literary transfer while also acknowledging methodological challenges.

Abstract

The abstract nature of human agency, as a capacity or a possibility to exert power, complicates its empirical examination. While translated and revised texts represent the cumulative result of the agents’ decisions, they offer limited information on their motivation, goals and sense of agency. In this paper, we employ a multi-method approach to examine the revised edition (Galeano rev. Sánchez 2013) of Mémoire du feu (Galeano transl. Couffon 1985; transl. Binard 1985, 1988), the French translation of Memoria del Fuego (Galeano 1982, 1984, 1986). Through a dialogue between semi-structured interviews (focused on the agent’s choices, motivations and sense of agency) and comparative textual analysis (focused on the result of her decisions), we investigate why Mémoire du feu was revised and how this project unfolded. The interaction taking place during semi-structured interviews allowed for the exploration of some dimensions of the reviser’s work that would otherwise have remained unarticulated discursively and helped us understand the textual results of her decisions. The revision appears as an agent-based process, as constraints were negotiated by the reviser, and resources were selected by her. Finally, the reviser’s sense of agency, widened by her multipositionality, emerged as a crucial factor in shaping the textual product.

Abstract

Based on the premise that journalistic translation functions as a gatekeeping force, this study uses Thematic Content Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse translation decisions of UNIAN, a leading news agency in Ukraine owned by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, in order to ‘reconstruct’ its ideological agenda. The findings indicate that, as regards international matters, the ideology promoted by UNIAN is oriented towards Ukrainian national interests. This conclusion follows from the dominant themes of the translated articles – such as the Russian aggression in the east of Ukraine, Ukraine’s relationship with the new US administration, and the EU’s attitude to Russia – and from ideological shifts in the target texts. Domestically, however, UNIAN appears to be at least partially pro-oligarchic, since the corruption and reform theme is downplayed in the translations, even though it was widely discussed in western press at the time when the corpus for the study was collected.

Abstract

This article presents a discussion of the theoretical and methodological challenges posed by digitization processes and born-digital sources within translation and translator studies research, particularly in archival contexts. It begins by demonstrating how the digitization of archives and source materials remains an undertheorized issue in translation contexts, as well as the need to understand how digitization allows new forms of “peripheral vision” across our research and publication processes. Subsequently, the article problematizes the archiving and use of born-digital sources to research translation and translators, particularly in terms of issues surrounding data collection, access and ethics. In doing so, this article argues that care must be taken to properly understand and preserve the digital sources that will enable archival research in the future, whilst emphasizing the new opportunities presented by digitized and born-digital sources to challenge the invisibility of translation and translators within many of the world’s archives and histories.

Abstract

This article argues for a dialogue between translation and mountaineering studies and provides examples of how the two could successfully interact. It contributes to literary translator studies and translation history by bringing to the fore the careers of translators and mountaineers Janet Adam Smith and Nea Morin and by establishing links between their collaborative translation and cordée féminine, arguing that they played an active role as agents of both the literary and the mountaineering fields. Moreover, it provides instances of how the awareness of translation processes can expand and deepen the analysis of gendered dynamics in mountaineering non-fiction. Finally, it shows how mountaineering studies can benefit from translation studies in order to become more aware of its dissemination processes and international dynamics, and how translation studies can benefit from mountaineering studies to more fully comprehend and capture the depth of its involvement, dependence, and interaction with the non-literary world.

This article reviews Culture as Soft Power: Bridging Cultural Relations, Intellectual Cooperation, and Cultural Diplomacy