On the Translation of Literature as a Human Activity par Excellence

Cynthia Beatrice Costa,Igor A. Lourenço da Silva

doi:10.35699/2317-2096.2020.22047

Cynthia Beatrice Costa, Igor A. Lourenço da Silva

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-2096.2020.22047

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Abstract

The quality of state-of-the-art machine translation systems have prompted a number of scholars to tap into the readiness of such systems for “literary” translation. However, studies on literary machine translation have not overtly stated what they consider as literature and mistakenly assume that literary translation is a matter of transferring meaning and/or form from one language into another. By approaching literature as art and literary translation as an artistic work of re-creation, we counterpoint, in this article, the notion that literary machine translation can be seen as an indisputable evolution within translation technology. Ethical concerns may well be utilitarian in studies to date, but by advocating for a deontological approach, we consider that aesthetical value, cultural mediation (which includes the use of paratexts), and authorship of literary translation (should) rank higher in our ethical assessments of the feasibility and actual contributions of literary machine translation.

Highlights

In the last ten years or so, literary machine translation (LMT) has emerged as a trending topic given the staggering advances in machine translation (MT) technology and paradigms, including neural machine translation (NMT)
Because of the uniqueness of the literary text, LMT could eventually represent the ultimate achievement in machine translation
Scholars usually focus on investigating the feasibility of MT or on assessing its quality vis-à-vis human translation, while ethical discussions tend to be relegated, 1 The authors could notice such enthusiasm in the 13th ENTRAD – Brazilian Translation Forum held at Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), João Pessoa, Brazil, in October 2019

Summary

Introduction

In the last ten years or so, literary machine translation (LMT) has emerged as a trending topic given the staggering advances in machine translation (MT) technology and paradigms, including neural machine translation (NMT). An endeavor to consider literature as such is one that has been neglected when it comes to LMT, but one that is crucial if we are truly interested in understanding what the point is in developing LMT, if not as a sheer exercise of our computer skills and the expanding of our programming potential Such an endeavor does not necessarily entail denying the feasibility of LMT or its potential use in editorial practices, but rather refusing to accept that LMT could be seen as an artistic task and its product, as art. By approaching literature as an art form and literary translation as an artistic work of re-creation, we counterpoint the notion that LMT can be considered an indisputable evolution within translation technology

Some notes on MT and LMT research

Literary translation as art

Ethical implications

Final remarks