American Translation Research Articles

Egorova, L. (2024). To publish and translate the impossible: From the history of ‘Kolyma Tales’ [‘Kolymskie rasskazy’]. Vologda: Vologodskiy gosudarstvenniy universitet. (In Russ.)

: In his critical review of L. Egorova’s monograph To Publish and Translate the Impossible: From the History of ‘Kolyma Tales’ [Izdat i perevesti nevozmozhnoe: Iz istorii ‘Kolymskikh rasskazov’], O. Minnullin recognizes the book’s strengths, such as exclusive insights into the story of Shalamov’s publication in the West, an uncompromising quest for the textological accuracy of the published ‘Kolyma epic,’ and the author’s profound understanding of the intricacies of translating Shalamov’s prose into English. L. Egorova successfully proves that J. Glad’s deviations from the original text result from the fact that the American translator often worked with the author’s text heavily revised by the editor. A meticulous comparison of the original text as printed in the 2013 edition of collected works, which is based on Shalamov’s holograph, and the Noviy Zhurnal publication reveals extremely liberal treatment of the text by the journal’s editor.

Analyzing Translation Errors of Trainee Translators: A Case Study on Tourism Promotional Material

The present study aims to scrutinize the trainee translators’ errors in their translations of tourism promotional material, a brochure, from Turkish into English. Thus, this study is designed as a descriptive qualitative research and corroborated with quantitative analysis, presenting a thorough analysis of the translated texts based on the American Translation Association (ATA) translation error taxonomy. The framework of this study employs Corder’s taxonomy of phases for error analysis, namely, selection of a text, identification of errors, classification of errors, and explanation of possible reasons for those errors. The data discussed in this paper derive from the translated texts of fifteen trainee translators i.e., third- and fourth-year T&I students at a private university enrolled in the Cultural Aspects of Translation and Interpretation course. The results revealed a statistical difference between the main error categories. According to the findings, trainee translators made most errors in the form of the language, i.e. target language mechanics, followed by errors in meaning and errors in writing quality. In acting as a “cultural mediator” in tourism text translations, trainees have also been found to be not so effective as they are supposed to be. With the results unfolded, it is hoped to benefit to both translation professors and trainees themselves.

Translating Non-standard Language

With the flowering of literary works written in a non-standard variety, especially in dialect, translation studies have tried to partially delineate theories, methods, and models to apply when translating these kinds of work. Despite this, translating a literary work written in dialect always represents a challenge for a translator. This difficulty is due to the main characteristics of dialects: they are spoken in a very restricted area and depict a specific cultural world. An example is represented by the language of Andrea Camilleri’s novels. In fact, by examining some linguistic features and expressions taken from the English translation of three of Camilleri’s detective novels, this paper offers an analysis of the linguistic choices made by the American translator Stephen Sartarelli, with a particular attention on Sicilian culture.

THE BOOK COVER AS A NON-VERBAL MEANS OF NARRATIVE CREATING (BASED ON J. K. ROWLING’S “HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE”)

This scientific research is devoted to the analysis of book covers of the fourth part of septology about the little sorcerer by the British author J. K. Rowling "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". The purpose of the study is to identify the patterns of creation of illustrative images (on the cover) depending on the language of the work of fantasy literature and the target readership. The sample consists of publications in English (in the UK and the United States of America) and in Ukrainian. Particular attention was paid to the methods of creating covers by illustrators, their vision of the work and the target readership to which the publication was directed. The object of the study is a series of covers of the Harry Potter narrative in the English-speaking and Ukrainian-speaking society. The subject of the research is the process of influence of the book cover on the popularity of its narrative among readers in different countries and among different age groups. The issue of differences in the depiction of the novel by English-speaking illustrators in the original language (Bloomsbury Publishing House) and in American translation (Scholastic Publishing House), as well as by Ukrainian artists in the Ukrainian edition (A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA Publishing House) is considered. The results of the study are, on the one hand, the confirmation of the hypothesis regarding the dependence of the creation of illustrations by artists according to the language and the reader; on the other hand, it is found that the worldview of the illustrator himself is the basis for the depiction of the main characters on the cover of the novel.

Fourth time lucky? Retranslations of Erich Kästner's Emil und die Detektive

ABSTRACT This paper presents an analysis of four English translations of Erich Kästner's children's novel Emil und die Detektive, first published in German in 1929. Emil was translated three times during the twentieth century: by American May Massee in 1930, by British Margaret Goldsmith in 1931 and by British Eileen Hall in 1959 and once in 2007, by American translator W. M. Martin. None of these have been explored in relation to Berman's retranslation hypothesis (1990), therefore the ensuing analysis will attempt to delve into the 2007 translation, comparing Martin's translation strategies to those that came before him. It poses questions around the status of classics such as Emil in the context of literary translation, as well as the theory of retranslation and the opportunities retranslations provide. It confirms, firstly, the potential for all translators to generate unique outcomes, but essentially disproves Berman's ‘retranslation hypothesis’, where the first translations tend to assimilate more towards the target culture, rather than the source.

Allusion: A Functional Evaluation of Peter Theroux’s Translation Dongola: A Novel of Nubia with Reference to Idris Ali’s Original Novel Dunqulah: Riwayah Nubiyah

This study addresses the translation of allusion in Arabic into English from a qualitative functional perspective. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the functional adequacy of Peter Theroux’s English translation of the allusions employed by Idris Ali in his Arabic novel Dunqulah: Riwayah Nubiyah (1993), via implementing Nord’s functional model of translation-oriented text analysis (1991). The study entails two initial hypotheses. First, Theroux, as a non-native speaker of Arabic, would encounter linguistic, cultural, and pragmatic translation difficulties. Second, the anticipated translation difficulties are expected to affect the functional adequacy of Theroux’s translation of allusion into English. The findings indicate that: Peter Theroux, as an American translator whose mother tongue is English, encountered linguistic, cultural, and pragmatic translation difficulties, which affected, to varying degrees, the functional adequacy of his English translation of allusion. Additionally, Theroux’s rendering of the allusions using the literal sub-strategy into English has negatively affected their functional adequacy due to the linguistic and cultural gaps between the two languages. The study concludes that adopting the literal sub-strategy has led to a functionally inadequate English translation of the Arabic allusions. Furthermore, Nord’s model (1991) would be a useful top-down problem-solving tool for translation between linguistically and culturally distant languages as it would aid the translator in identifying the anticipated linguistic, cultural, and pragmatic divergences between the languages. The produced translation would be based on a problem-solution process conducted by the translator rather than a discursive method of translation.

Italo Calvino’s Earliest Translations into English by Rome-Based African American Translator and Editor Ben Johnson

Italo Calvino’s Earliest Translations into English by Rome-Based African American Translator and Editor Ben Johnson

The Silhouette of a Translator: Marian Fell and Russian Culture

Abstract: Marian Fell Vans Agnew (1886–1935), a largely forgotten American translator of Russian literature, was among the first to introduce Anton Chekhov and Vladimir Korolenko to Anglophone audiences. As a teenager, Fell lived in Karaganda, Siberia (nowadays in Kazakhstan) with her family, and this experience inspired her to promote Russian culture after she returned to America. This article investigates Fell's collaboration with the Charles Scribner's Sons and Duffield & Co. publishing companies, analyses and contextualizes Fell's translations, and examines the critique of her works from the Russian school of criticism to provide an assessment of Fell's contribution to Russo-American intercultural relationships.

Analyzing Translation Errors in Indonesian-English Business Letters

This paper discussed the translation error from a business letter made based on American Translation Association (ATA's) made by EFL Learners'. In this research, the researchers used a descriptive qualitative method. The data source in this research is two EFL Learners' who are in translation class with better English skills than other data. Data collection in this study was carried out by taking two data from a total of 36 business letter translating task data given by translation class lecturers. The data is classified based on the type of error according to ATA's Framework for Standard Error Making Classification. The results of the analysis show that there are 18 translation errors in 11 types of 26 types of translation errors with style error as the most frequently found error. Style error is the error that has the highest nominal by appearing five times out of 18 the number of errors with a percentage 27,8%. Finding errors from the two data proves that EFL Learners' who are studying translation studies still have deficiencies. Educators and students must work together so that translation errors produced by EFL Learners' can be reduced.

Analysis of Naturalization and Alienation in Subtitle Translation of Modern Family

With the exchange of world cultures, cultural industries between different countries have begun to spread widely. Foreigners discuss Chinese costume dramas enthusiastically, and Chinese people also like to watch foreign sitcoms. As the number of people watching American TV dramas is increasing year by year, how to do subtitle translation well has become the focus of translation scholars. Based on the theory of domestication and foreignization put forward by the famous American translation theorist Lawrence Venuti, this paper analyzes the subtitle translation in the classic American TV series Modern Family, and discusses how to promote the best communication between different cultures in subtitle translation.

The pivotal role of translators’ research in literary translation

Abstract Although much recent work in translation studies has focused on translators, the research conducted by translators remains understudied. This study explores translators’ research and its impact on their translations and on translational trust. Taking Jeffrey C. Kinkley – an American translator, historian, and sinologist – as an illustrative case study, this paper investigates Kinkley’s research work, including interviews with the original author, fieldwork-based efforts to verify objects described in the text, research on historical documentation and previous academic studies, and more, resembling the research work of evidential scholarship and ethnographic studies. Kinkley’s research impacts his translations, characterized by inclusive text selection, thick translation strategies, literary and cultural fidelity, and new knowledge creation. A translator’s research provides a solid foundation for accurate and adequate translations, increased visibility, and interactive and dynamic networking among various agents in the translation field, which plays a pivotal role in nurturing translational trust. This investigation into Kinkley’s research work contributes to an in-depth understanding of and objective comments on both translation and translator.

Infrathin: An Experiment in Micropoetics

Infrathin: An Experiment in Micropoetics

Mariana Marin: facerea și desfacerea unui mit. Postura etică (II)

If Mariana Marin’s tragic posture was largely built posthumously by her friends, the ethical one is assumed by the author herself and entitled by a collective ethos in terms of Meizoz. Interdependent, yet with distinct effects, the two categories mentioned – the tragic and the ethical – certify at least two wrong pathways regarding the author’s reception. Firstly, the woman poet becomes a romanticized-heroic fiction. Secondly, the ethical posture, is ambiguous because of a misreading: Mariana Marin’s so-called dissidence – a fake posture that is constructed for her from outside the country (by the two exiled personalities: Monica Lovinescu and Virgil Ierunca, as well as by the American translator Adam J. Sorkin) – versus a social-political engagement, perfectly valid, but which ends up diverting the hermeneutics of the texts towards the univocality of moral strands. So, being a study of the author and tangentially of her poems, I will also discuss the fictionalization of Mariana Marin within some poems by others.

Quality Assessment in Legal Translation. A Case Study

Abstract This paper represents a case study of the translation of a criminal conclusion from Romanian into English. It resorts to the American Translation Association translation evaluation system to detail on the categories/ types of errors made and to evaluate the quality of the translated document, thus demonstrating the usefulness of such a grid for legal translation assessment (so much so that, in Romania, no grid of the kind is available).

A Well-Outfitted Militia: German–American Translations of the Second Amendment and Original Public Meaning

Abstract This article seeks to uncover the original public meaning of the Second Amendment by scrutinizing unusual and previously unexamined sources: German–American translations of the Bill of Rights during the Founding Era. Translations offer a unique perspective of political culture, because they served as thoughtful analysis and contextual commentary on the source text. Using six German–American translations in the Founding Era, this article argues that the public understanding of the Second Amendment during the Founding Era was one that recognized the individual right to own firearms for individual use unconnected to militia service as well as a constitutional endorsement of an armed population as the best bulwark to preserve the liberty of the national people. Though the exact text of the translations differ across publishers and states, they retain thematic and syntactic similarities that suggest a public consensus over the meaning of the text. The notion that the Second Amendment protects an individual right rather than a collective one is borne out by additional translations well into the mid-nineteenth century. Printers adjusted their translations of the amendment after the militia as a military institution had fallen into disuse but preserved or strengthened the clause protecting the individual right to arms rather than letting it ‘fall silent’.

Translation Performance in Intuitive and Sensing-Type Personalities

This study uses the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the American Translator Association assessment framework, and error categories to explore the differences between sensing and intuitive-type translators. Using English-Arabic as a language pair, the study investigates whether sensing-types are poor translators compared to intuitive-types as claimed by previous studies. The findings show that sensing-type translators may struggle with their writing and translation skills. According to the analysis outcomes, intuitive-type translators scored lower in essential error categories for translation, including cohesion and misunderstanding of the source text, as compared to sensing-type translators. Based on the study’s findings, recommendations for overcoming the challenges encountered by sensing-type translators are suggested.

A Study of American TV Series Subtitle Translation From the Perspective of Translation Variation Theory

In the Internet age, the spread of overseas film and television dramas is increasing day by day, and the high-quality requirements of domestic audiences for subtitle translation of film and television dramas need to be paid great attention by the translation community. Translation Variation Theory emphasizes that translators should translate according to the specific needs of readers, and the audience needs of subtitle translation are more diversified, so the theory is suitable for subtitle translation which requires extremely high flexibility. The author will explore the subtitle translation of American TV series from the perspective of Translation Variation Theory, and take Friends as an example to analyze the reasons why subtitle translation conforms to the Translation Variation Theory, so as to provide reference for future subtitle translation studies.

Translation Model and Dissemination of Contemporary Chinese Ethnic Literal Works Into the World: An Analysis on English Translation of The Last Quarter of the Moon by American Translator Bruce Humes

This study aims to investigate the English translation model and strategy of contemporary Chinese literary masterpiece The Last Quarter of the Moon (2005), taking Nord’s translation-oriented text analysis as a theoretical tool. The paper is composed of the translation commission, the role of ST analysis and hierarchy of translation problems, including the basic information about the writer, the original book, the English translation and the translator. Comparison of the ST with its English TT in terms of aspects of language, culture and communication will be discussed. Specifically, this paper explores the translation strategies that the translator has adopted at the linguistic level in translating Evenki proper nouns and idiomatic expressions, the dialogue of main characters, figures of speech, then explores the translation strategies of rendering Evenki folk customs, sacrifices, totemism and ceremonies from the aspect of ethnic culture. The study shows much importance is attached to the linguistic features and cultural connotations of the original work both at the linguistic and cultural level. The translation accurately and faithfully conveys the essence of the novel, successfully attracts the attention of western readers and promotes the spread of Evenki culture. The translation also makes a comprehensive analysis of the surface and deep meanings of the original text, effectively conveys the theme of the original work, and further promotes the “going out” of ethnic literature to the world.

A Study on Functional Equivalence in Translation of Lyric Prose — A Case of Autumn in Peiping by Zhang Peiji

The Functional Equivalence Theory put forward by Eugene Nida, an American translation theorist, notes that translation is a process of using the closest and most natural equivalent in the target language to reproduce the information of the source language. It emphasizes the equivalence of information content and form, and prose translation aims to convey information and reproduce the style of the source text. Therefore, the Functional Equivalence Theory has great application space in the text analysis of prose translation. In this paper, the author discusses how to apply the theory of Functional Equivalence to the translating of modern Chinese lyric prose into English. Taking Autumn in Peiping translated by Zhang Peiji as a case study, the author of this paper explores how the translator achieved equivalence in lexical, syntactical and stylistic aspects on the ground of citing typical examples. The method of qualitative research is used in this paper. In the framework of the Functional Equivalence Theory, the author tries to analyze and evaluate how word choice, sentence structure and style function in conveying the meaning of the source text. It is found that the theory of Functional Equivalence is of guidance in analyzing the translation effect of Autumn in Peiping. Lexically, equivalence is realized through correspondence, non-correspondence and zero in semantic translation. Syntactically, the translator used different sentence structures and cohesive devices to convey the intended meaning. Stylistically, some workable strategies are adopted to deal with translation difficulties in expressive function and aesthetic appeal.

When Deciding to Translate Means Risking Your Reputation: How an American Translator Became a “Spy,” and a Chinese Author, an “Enemy from America”

While research on the role of translation in society largely focuses on the reception of translated texts, this article calls for a closer look at the decision to translate. It proposes that, on a micro-level, the decision to translate, in the context of an ideological and political conflict, has the potential to subvert the image of authors and translators as perceived by certain groups of people. It reveals how opinions regarding translators and authors are often a product of ideological stances rather than widespread reading of either the authored text or its translation. In this case, it is not a collective reading of the translation itself that sways the perception but, rather, a political “reading” of the translator’s and author’s respective images, which consequently influences their reputation within these groups. This article investigates the translation of a “diary” that recorded events during the Wuhan lockdown (January-April 2020) and garnered much attention on Weibo, China’s largest social media platform. Comments shared on Weibo about the author, Wang Fang, also known as Fang Fang, and the American translator, Michael Berry, were significantly different before and after the publication of Berry’s translation, intitled WuhanDiary. By examining a sample of Weibo users’ reactions, the article seeks to understand the rationale behind the changing perceptions of the author’s and the translator’s image. It argues that Berry, through his decision to translate, comes to be perceived by Weibo users as a “spy,” while Fang Fang, having given her consent for her “diary” to be translated, is then perceived as an “enemy from America.” Translation is thus seen to play a significant role in subverting both an author’s and a translator’s reputation at the micro-level.