Intralingual translation as ‘modernization’ of the language: the Turkish case

Abstract

This paper focuses on the practice of intralingual translations in Turkey, which are generally regarded as original writings and thus have remained outside the realm of Translation Studies. In an attempt to offer a different conceptualization of translation that would contribute to the reconsideration of the nature and definition of translation, this paper looks at the specific use of intralingual translation seen as modernization of the language in twentieth-century Turkey. Using Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil's Mai ve Siyah (Blue and Black) as a case in point, this paper will argue that, concealed under the rubric of different terminology, intralingual translations in Turkey accomplish more than an updating of the language and reveal linguistic, translational, and ideological norms of the periods in which these translations were produced. This study will furthermore claim that the presentation of intralingual translations also sheds light on the practice and perception of interlingual translations and on our relationship with the past. Thus this paper argues that enlarging the definition of translation by encompassing intralingual translations would expand the boundaries of research in Translation Studies in general, and in Translation History in particular.