Creative Translation Research Articles

Cognitive Basis of Making Creative Decisions in Translation Activities

The purpose of the paper is to model the cognitive mechanism of generating creative elements in translation activities that are increasingly relevant in the context of modern requirements for the translator's work. The authors systematize, refine and supplement the available theoretical knowledge about translation creativity. The authors describe the available results of searching for creativity in target texts. The paper provides a cognitive mechanism scheme that launches creative ideas in translation activities. It works by constructing a cognitive focus – a sort of conscious reasonable integration of cognitive orientations, translation strategies and mental operations, actualizing weak associative links between mental representations available in the information field of the translation subject, in most cases leads to making creative translation decisions that require high efforts. The results of the study showed that translation creativity goes beyond the limits of linguistic creativity, and is realized both with the help of linguistic (ready-made speech word forms or new word-formations), and paralinguistic (color gamut, etc.). The examples considered in the article show that modulation and "thinking transcription" are the most productive mental operations of generating creative translation decisions. Strategies for domestication and transcreation also contribute most to the development of translation creativity.

Transcreation as a Way to Promote Employability in Translation Training: Adding Value to Translation Training

An overview of the current professional translation industry shows that translation, in general, seems to be accommodating changes in the labor market and in society with relative ease. However, the scope, limits and boundaries of translation are a matter of academic and professional concern (Mayoral 2001; Tymoczko 2005/2007; Koskinen/Dam 2016; Dam et al. 2018), with some viewing the identity of translation somehow jeopardized by the great variety of professional translation-related services and practices encountered within the field (Gambier 2016; Koskinen/Dam 2016; Dam et al. 2018). It is true that services now associated with translation, such as technical communication (Risku 2004), transcreation, postediting or multilingual copyrighting (Mangell et al. 2019) are closely interrelated, sometimes even being identified as translation per se (Gambier 2016; Dam et al. 2018), despite the fact that no linguistic transfer even occurs. This paper will address the experience of trainee participants in a transcreation project developed at the University Pablo de Olavide in Seville (Spain). The project was an attempt to introduce transcreation, defined by the LSP industry as a service of added value, and initiate students in inventiveness and creative translation, while creatively enhancing translation graduates’ employability (Rojo/Meseguer 2018: 79). Despite the assumed role of universities as providers of employability skills, this initiative also aims to add value to translator training, adopting an open, creative and boundaryless approach when dealing with employability issues in translators’ training (Calvo 2010; Morón 2010; Kuznik 2016; Calvo 2018). The boundaries within and around the translation profession (Koskinen/Dam 2016) are tackled, through students completing simulated professional practice and self-reflection (Kiraly 2013/2016; Leggot/Stapleford 2004a/b). A qualitative and analytical approach will be adopted, presenting the final assessment results from trainee participants during Stage 1 of project implementation, as well as real testimonies of graduates and professionals reflecting on the impact the initiative has on trainees’ employability.

Androgyny as Mental Revolution in Act 4 of Prometheus Unbound

ABSTRACT Apart from in his translation of Plato’s Symposium as The Banquet, the word ‘androgyny’ does not appear within Shelley’s writings, but androgynous images are extant throughout his works. The androgynous union of Asia and Prometheus, the ungendering of Demogorgon, and the Earth and the Moon’s shifting gendered pronouns in Act 4 echo Shelley’s desire for ‘a future state of being’ wherein ‘these detestable distinctions [of male and female] will surely be abolished’. The Banquet is a catalyst for the lyrical drama’s composition, wherein androgyny becomes Shelley’s central strategy for inciting mental revolution in his audience of ideal readers. Shelley assumes the self-ordained role of Plato’s ideal reader through his creative translation of The Banquet, where the mental union of writer and translator radically expands androgyny as the traditional union of the masculine and the feminine to include the psychic union of the poet and the reader. Drawing upon the dialogic, dramatic form of Plato’s text, his subtle instruction of his reader, and his playfulness with gender, Shelley transmutes elements of The Banquet into verse in Prometheus Unbound in order to encourage a mental revolution in his own readership.

The Creative Translation of Poetry

The translation of poetry is not a traditional process subject to mechanical rules of translation that act more or less like a computer program. The creative translator of poetry might frequently be bothered by a great deal of criticism from dogmatic linguists regarding the grammatical and structural accuracy and correctness of their translation in the same way they face the green and red highlights of a computer spelling and syntax check program whenever they attempt to type their translation. In comparison with the translation of other literary genres, the translation of poetry has been less attempted and researched and has suffered a great deal of marginality. Most researchers who tackled this field attempted to address some problems and tried to provide solutions within the framework of already existing notions. On the other hand, most creatively-translated poems have been attempted by talented translators or professional poets who rendered their translations by means of personal creative flair which acted autonomously with no theoretical framework to rest on. The result of such attempts is that we may find a translation that may probably match, sometimes divert from or even more surprisingly exceed the original. Therefore, what is new about this study is that it tries to map out some new boundaries in both theory and application of this field.

A Study of the Feasibility of Xu Yuanchong’s Theories of Literary Translation and of His Findings

By using the method of qualitative analysis, including comparison, and by analyzing some typical examples, this paper discusses and proves Xu’s principle of creative translation and that of excellence, focusing on the feasibility of his three-beauty principle: beauty in meaning, in sound, and in form. The typical examples are analyzed in detail, mainly from the perspective of prosody. Besides, by employing the deductive approach, the paper explores and explains Xu’s findings through his translation of classical literature. In addition, the paper emphasizes that the principle of creative translation and that of excellence and the three-beauty criterion are closely associated with one another. The former two help to ensure the implementation of the three-beauty standard. Finally, the paper states that they are all proved to be objective, scientific, practical, and widely applicable.

Creative Translation: From Mimicry to Limicry

Creative translation can take numerous forms and provides an often-illuminating focus on the source text. Mimicking an author’s voice by transposing sonnets into limericks has allowed the Australia...

Cognitive Political Discourse Analysis: Creative Translation Teaching Case

The paper elaborates on teaching creative translation and analyses the case of cognitive political discourse and its translation decision-making process. The research is based on the example of modern political terminology and non-equivalent political context vocabulary. Unlike traditional approaches that mostly relate creativity to literary texts interpretation, the study deals with the didactic methodology of comprehending and translating foreign academic and popular science sources. The cognitive comparative analysis of political concepts in their context use – both in English and Russian discourse – is aimed at professional explanation of motivation in selecting and choosing translation equivalents. The algorithm of designing an associative thesaurus referred to cognitive signs of lexical marking has been a major investigation tool of political discourse analysis represented in the paper as well as the foundation for the original creative model of translation performance and didactics

Translation of Titles of Chinese Costume Dramas from the Perspective of Cultural Differences

Chinese costume dramas are rich in Chinese cultural elements, but there is an inescapable challenge in the English translation of the titles: cultural differences. Titles of Chinese costume dramas have two main characteristics: implicitness and simplicity, while those of British and American costume dramas are clear and concise. Therefore, this paper proposes that the primary principle for the English translation of titles of Chinese costume dramas is to simplify and crystallize. Titles of Chinese costume dramas are divided into two categories, and specific translation strategies are proposed in this paper. The strategies of free translation, creative translation and borrowing are preferred for implicit titles; transliteration and literal translation, and subtractive translation are adopted for explicit ones.

Creative Audiovisual Translation Applied to Foreign Language Education

Creative dubbing and subtitling are presented in this article as didactic resources to improve integrated foreign language (FL) skills (specifically oral and written production). The increasing attention that the application of audiovisual translation (AVT) to FL learning has been receiving in the last two decades calls for further exploration into the potential benefits of modern AVT modes, such as funsubbing and fundubbing, understood as the creative translation of an audiovisual text, be it into subtitles or through the production of a new audio track. After considering the educational power of creative AVT and providing the corresponding theoretical justification, the article will present a methodological proposal on how to use these AVT modes in online environments. Finally, preliminary data derived from a short-term trial will be analysed and discussed.

Bridging the gap between translation and culture: towards a cultural dimension of translation

This study investigates the significance of culture to the translation process. It tackles the prior call that being bilingual is enough for translation, neglecting the importance of culture for creative translation. This descriptive and analytical study is based on the semantic approach, following Ghazala's (2008) and Nida's (1964) theories of translation. It depends on textual analysis of culturally-laden collocations in some common terms, expressions, idioms, and proverbs. It was confirmed that culture is at the heart of translation as the two are inextricably interdependent. Furthermore, successful translation necessarily entails a profound understanding of the cultural context of the text, which leads to the successful transmission of the intended meaning. It is recommended that the traditional approach that bilingualism is enough for good translation should be reconsidered, and that translation programs designers and translators should give culture its due place in the translation process.

Recreating the Image of a “Chaste Wife”: A Multi-functional Analysis of Two Translations of Li Po’s Changgan Xing

This article investigates the image of a “chaste wife” recreated in two English translations of ancient Chinese poet Li Po’s Changgan Xing from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics (SFL). Based on three metafunctions of SFL, respectively ideational, interpersonal and textual, the linguistic choices of the poet and translators are measured from the transitivity and text complexity on what the wife does and how she organizes her thoughts; from the mood and modality on how she interacts with her husband, and the theme and rheme on how she unfolds and foregrounds her concerns. Since translating is a process of making choices, the analysis shows that both translations reproduce the first and second level of poetic themes about love in the original poem but lose the third political theme. Besides, Pound tends to follow an imaginative and creative translation, thus recreating a bashful and innocent image of a young “chaste wife” in a direct and explicit way, while Waley aims at literal translation and presents a more courageous and considerate image of a mature “chaste wife” in a relatively complex and implicit way. It is argued that the context of translation, including the translator’s knowledge of the source language, translation strategies and intended readers, plays an important role in the translator’s seemingly unconscious choices of interpreting and presenting poetic themes, thus recreating different images of a same character.

Transliteration Feasibility as a Means of Communication between Arab Expatriates and Their Progeny Abroad

This study is dedicated to exploring and understanding the role of transliteration as a means of remote communication between Arab expatriates and their children in foreign countries. Expatriates need this type of writing communication to communicate with their children for several reasons; especially when the vocal communication is impossible or not available due to technical problems or family and individual privacy. The study tries also to figure out the difference between transliteration and electronic chatting on one hand, and transliteration, translation and creative translation on the other hand. The study is mainly based on a questionnaire professionally and objectively designed and forwarded to a number of Arab expats living in The Netherlands in order to verify the hypothesis made related to the feasibility of transliteration technique and how far it is useful and practical as a remote means of communication between the Arab expatriates and their children due to the lack of proficiency of one of the parties in using the writing system of either language. The study highlights the importance of voice transmission in clarifying the correct pronunciation of words and phrases in a way that is accessible to all around the world beyond being obliged to know the characters of the language from which they are taken. Furthermore, the researcher has scrutinized, studied and analyzed the participants’ answers and consequently described them relying on objective and scientific criteria.

Monólogo y silencio en los consejos de profesores: Posiciones subjetivas que la política educativa configura en directivos y docentes de dos escuelas públicas no selectivas de Chile

La visión tradicional del ciclo de una política educativa sigue una dirección definida: desde arriba y afuera (diseño y evaluación), hacia abajo y adentro (implementación). La escuela ocupa aquí el lugar de la implementación. Sin embargo, es posible entender que, según sus necesidades y posibilidades, en la escuela ocurre un proceso de traducción creativo (re-contextualización) de las diversas políticas educativas que circulan. El Consejo de Profesores, lugar formal de reunión entre los profesionales de la educación, es un lugar privilegiado para entender mejor este proceso de re-contextualización de la política. En el marco de un trabajo etnográfico de seis años (2012 – 2018) en tres escuelas públicas no selectivas de Chile, este artículo reporta el trabajo intensivo que se realizó en dos de ellas durante los años 2012 – 2014, buscando arrojar luces respecto al cierre definitivo que una de ellas vivió a fines del 2016. Frente a la percepción de docentes y directivos de este espacio como uno aburrido y tedioso, elaboramos dos posiciones subjetivas, el monólogo directivo y el silencio docente. Ambas posiciones dan cuenta de la forma en que en los Consejos de Profesores se hace política educativa, una forma que se caracteriza por una escisión subjetiva que dificulta el dialogo reflexivo.

Ethics and aesthetics are one

Abstract In the post-modern world where thinking of pluralism and relativism is prevalent (Honeysett 2002), fundamental values such as respect for life pertinent to the health and welfare of humanity should remain unchanged in order to preserve the culture from corrosion. In this paper, through examining creativity in translation and creative writing (Zawawy 2008; Perteghella and Loffredo 2006), macro- and micro- strategies of translating a Chinese prose into an English play will be discussed, with the aim to explore the notion, “creativity is culturally variable” (Carter 2016) in literary translation. I would concur with Ludwig Wittgenstein who stated, “ethics and aesthetics are one” (1961), and argue that genres and forms of expression might vary in cross-cultural translation, semantic content and message should still be unaltered. Literary translators can act as cultural mediators to advocate peace. So to “develop an understanding of translation strategies and of the vital role that creativity plays throughout the translation/interpreting process” (Levý in Beylard-Ozeroff, Králová and Moser-Mercer 1998) can help translators build bridges rather than promote violence, to foster diversity rather than divisiveness. As such, I would explore how a translator can translate cultures with respect, integrity and creativity in the midst of tensions, confrontations and conflicts due to misunderstandings linguistically and culturally. As Vezzaro (2010: 10) put it, “to come closer to feeling compassion, which is what writing and translating is ultimately all about.” This will call for efforts to translate texts with faithfulness and the right degree of creativity (Grassilli 2014), making good decisions at individual levels and beyond. This will also require cultural understanding and collaboration at national and even international levels.

Roger T. Ames’ Translation of Concept Words in <i>Dao De Jing</i> from the Perspective of Translation Ethics of Difference

According to the theory of translation ethics, translators should respect the differences and enrich the target culture. The concept words in Dao De Jing embody complex meaning, representing the essence of Chinese philosophy. These words are hard to understand, but crucial to the interpretation of Dao De Jing. The concept words such as “Dao”, “Wuwei”, “Tian” and “De” are chosen to discuss their translations in this article. Roger T. Ames advocates translation has to be transformed into culturally creative interpretation in order to be faithful to the thought and way of expression. In the translation process of concept words in Dao De Jing, Roger T. Ames analyzes the meaning of concept words from their cultural background and adopts strategies of transliteration, creative translation and polysemy, attempting to keep the differences between Chinese and Western philosophy. Roger T. Ames translates the key words from the perspective of contrastive philosophy. Through discussion of the translation of Roger T. Ames and his cooperator, it is found that the strategy of showing the differences in translation may be hard for target readers to understand, but an effective way to intercultural communication in the long run.

Translating Contemporary French Poetry

This article examines a bilingual anthology edited by the authors and published in 2016. It argues that the process of editing an anthology of contemporary poetry with multiple translators is a form of re-writing that not only introduces new writers into the target-language poetic system, but also recasts their positions in the poetic system of the source culture by giving them new readers who have no or few preconceptions about the writers' place in that system. Anthologizing operates in tandem with translating in this instance, and we additionally use the notions of inference and cognitive stylistics to discuss the particular habitus of academic translators who are not poets, and the opportunities those approaches offer to produce a creative translation. Style is an appropriate lens through which to consider poems included in this anthology because it is a contested question in contemporary French poetic practice. The article therefore treats the question of présence that this special issue addresses in three ways. It discusses, on the most literal level, the new or more visible presence that French poetry can acquire in the anglophone context through translation and anthologies. Moreover, it examines the ways in which the presence of new or decontextualized voices affects poetic systems. Finally, it considers whether an approach to translation that sees it as an embodied, interpretative process may allow some access to the présence of the 'original' poetic work.

Translations of Georgian poet N. Baratashvili into Russian Language in the Aspect of Cross-Cultural Communication

Common fact that literary translation is a kind of literary process, which itself is the beginning of a new literary life and thinking, promotes cross-cultural communication, concerns creative translation of the Georgian romantic poet of the 19th century Nikoloz Baratashvili (1817-1845) on various languages. The translations of N. Baratashvili were not published during the poet's life. The process of translating his works becomes more active especially after the 1920s of the last century. Baratashvills works were translated into Russian both by Georgian and Russian poets and translators: V. Gaprindashvili, B. Pasternak, G.Tsagareli, M. Dudin and others. All-Union competition, announced in 1966, gave possibility to poets and literary critics of various nationalities to introduce the Georgian masterpiece, Merani, to foreign readers relying on the Russian translation. Our article highlights some Russian translations of the works of N. Baratashvili, which is still great importance in the development of intercultural communication.

Creativity and playability in the localisation of video games

AbstractCreativity is one of the most highly debated topics in translation not only because of how it relates to authorship but also because of the unavoidable cultural ramifications and the business implications for all the parties involved. Identifying the parameters within which creative translation operates in entertainment media requires a complex process that comprises a large amount of variables beyond the linguistic ones. Semiotics is suggested as a robust analytical tool to study the layering of meaning-making in entertainment products, in other words, their polysemioticity. Multimedia interactive entertainment software (MIES), a. k. a. video games, adds levels of complexity never seen before in translation due to their functional requirements. In order to identify the features that separate other entertainment products from MIES, this article analyses also the translation of novels, comics and films. The concept of playability is utilised as a way of isolating the pragmatic challenges of video game localisation.

Da tradução e suas voltas:

Este artigo expõe uma reflexão pessoal sobre o processo tradutório do conto “Darle vueltas a una ceiba”, do escritor cubano Guillermo Cabrera Infante. Com uma linguagem pautada na oralidade, o relato concebe uma Havana quase pitoresca, com suas ruas, sua gente, costumes e crenças. Partindo da ideia de que traduzir significa desempenhar uma atividade ética, estética e experimental, as reflexões apresentadas neste texto discorrem sobre a experiência da própria autora quanto às estratégias de tradução adotadas, especialmente no que concerne ao contexto cultural e à linguagem do conto, que oscila entre vernácula, coloquial, burlesca e irônica. As apreciações conceituais se respaldam, sobretudo, em três eixos teóricos fundamentais para a teoria da tradução literária: a tradução criativa ou transcriação, conforme proposta por Haroldo de Campos (1962), a hospitalidade linguística, nos termos de Paul Ricoeur e Antoine Berman, e a ideia de lealdade/fidelidade, tratada amplamente por distintos pensadores da tradução, entre os quais Humberto Eco.

Defining a New Art Coefficient: The Invention of Sublime Art through the Hybridization of Traditional and Contemporary Visual Idioms and Methodologies

Contemporary art remains arguably the most dynamic phase of human expressionism, as well as the most contested discourse in the humanities. The ambiguity surrounding contemporary art stems from its lack of a unifying ideology, supposed mimicry of established art conventions and lack of originality. This paper questions this construed viewpoint, by rather exploring appropriation and reprise in contemporary art as a form of creative translation defined by Altermodernism. Using stylistic and discourse analysis as methodologies, the works of three contemporary artists George Nuku, Sukanthy Egharevba and Clement Akpang were analysed in terms of their visual configurations, methods and ideologies. Findings indicate that the re-invention of established indigenous pictorial elements and the hybridization of different cultural idioms in Twenty-first Century artistic expressionism leads to the creation of sublime art that defies cultural boundaries and exists in a timeless oscillation between traditionalism and contemporaneity. Rather than constituting mimesis of existing cultural forms, the works of the aforementioned artists foster cultural heritage appreciation and defines a new art coefficient of Relational Aesthetics. It is recommended, therefore, that as contemporary art continues to re-invent itself, a key variant to understanding its multifaceted nature should be to engage in cultural translation and revivalism through art and design framed in the philosophy of Altermodernism.