Interlingual Translation Research Articles

Objects of remembrance and renewal

Abstract The relation between translation and experiences of migrants as depicted in fiction has been widely discussed, through the lens of both interlingual translation and cultural translation. The latter refers to the ongoing negotiation and representation of one’s values, symbols, and practices vis-à-vis the local majority group. The link between cultural translation and interlingual translation deserves careful exploration. This article examines the interface between these translational concepts through their intersections with two material diasporic objects in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Queen of Dreams. The first object is the dream journals, handwritten in Bengali by the late mother of the young protagonist and translated into English by her father. The second object comprises culinary items and the interlingual procedures related to them. The analysis showcases various ways in which interlingual translation may provoke and participate in cultural translation within the context of diasporic literature.

Response to “Se Habla Español as ‘McOndo 2.0’: Post-Magical Realist Anthologies in Latin America” by Thomas Nulley-Valdés

Response to “Se Habla Español as ‘McOndo 2.0’: Post-Magical Realist Anthologies in Latin America” by Thomas Nulley-Valdés Ceyda Elgül, Respondent Thomas Nulley-Valdés’s article examines the links between two post-magical realist anthologies in Latin America: McOndo (1996) and Se habla español: Voces latinas en USA (2000). Presented as a direct continuation of McOndo, Se habla español complements the anti-magical realist stance of its predecessor, which Nulley-Valdés observes with a focus on their short-story selection, paratexts, and reception. These two volumes, co-edited by Alberto Fuguet, manifest a shared concern with Latin America’s literary production that should pass beyond the previous generation’s magical realist structures, and despite the initial criticisms posed against them, both mark the emergence of a new moment for Latin American writers. I believe one of the highlights of the article is its elaboration on anthology as a genre that fulfills a specific function in the formation and operation of literary repertoires. In the words of Alfonso Reyes, anthologies “marcan hitos de las grandes controversias críticas, sea que las provoquen o que aparezcan como su consecuencia” [End Page 224] (138).1 In the particular context of the volumes by Fuguet and his collaborators, these collections present new forms of cultural hybridization that can be used by Latin American writers in the United States who write in Spanish. The reviews that appeared two decades after the publication of Se habla español recognize the anthology as the start of a new wave of literature known as the New Latino Boom, which seems to suggest that the anthology succeeded in implementing its views amongst the authors of the new generation. Aside from such a formative role, anthologies stand out with their representative value, especially when read from a temporal and/or spatial distance. To once again quote from Reyes, they “permiten mayor unidad en menor volumen, y dejan sentir y abarcar mejor el carácter general de una tradición” (138).2 The representative value that comes along with this compact nature can apply to several cases; for instance, an anthology might present works from a specific culture, epoch, or writing ecole. Although the article focuses on how these two anthologies embrace a post-magical realist form of self-presentation that avoids false exoticisms, its discussion of the anthologies also made me think about potential futures for these volumes in translation. The Latin Americanization of magical realism has much to do with the translation of Gabriel García Márquez and other writers’ works into first European and then non-European languages, and I wonder if the translations of post-magical realist volumes could have similar functions in the implementation of this new stream of Latin American literature in other regions. Perhaps we can even extend the discussion a bit further and ask whether these translations could inspire similar writer groups in other regions that aim to deconstruct the misrepresentations of their own literary traditions within the domain of world literature. An additional issue to be raised might be the possible strategies for translating the bilingual-bicultural texts of the New Latino Boom into other languages. Interlingual translations of hybrid and multilingual works have long been a prolific discussion topic for translation scholars, and I believe the journey of post-magical realism in translation would complement both this particular research frame and the arguments implemented in Nulley-Valdés’s study that uncovers the survival of this Latin American literary context in our day. Notes 1. “become milestones of the great critical controversies, either by provoking them or appearing as a consequence of them.” (All translations are mine.) 2. “permit a greater unity for less volume, and allow one to feel and better take in the general character of a tradition.” Work cited Reyes, Alfonso. “Teoría de la antología.” Obras Completas de Alfonso Reyes, tomo XIV. Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1997, pp. 137–41. Google Scholar Copyright © 2022 Canadian Comparative Literature Association / Association Canadienne de Littérature Comparée

ON ONE OF THE TYPES OF SPECIALISED TRANSLATION

When we talk about medical translation, as many researchers of the problem have well understood, we are actually talking about a double meaning of the word translation – interlingual translation, but also knowledge translation. However, as a type of specialized translation, it implies working with medical terminology, including the specificity of terms, the existing general change or shift of meanings, and the constant expansion of the medical lexicon. Moreover, medical terminology is not standardised in all languages. The linguistic dynamics, the accelerated introduction of new medical concepts make the need to access online resources for medical terminology of utmost lexical interest for translators of medical texts. To the extent that medical information is continuously expanding globally, rapid access to current linguistic, subject and specific terminology is critical. In the past, the most reliable resources were scientific journals, conference proceedings. These are now joined by online sources such as Medline or Medscape. In short, among specialized translation, medical translation is not only one of the most difficult, but also the most responsible. Because any mistaken epicrisis or diagnosis is not just a job poorly done by the translator, it can cost the health and life of a particular human being. This paper deals with some of the dangers faced by the translator of this type of text, especially if they are not medically qualified – dealing with secondary terms, medical metaphors, false friends, secondary terms.

Cultural Memories and Translations of Zhuang Liao Songs

Rooted in ancient Zhuang civilization with unique lyrics and tones, Zhuang Liao Songs have described Zhuang people’s life and work for generations. As the collective cultural memory of the Zhuang minority, Liao Songs have great values in literature, arts, history, folklore, and culture. They were listed in Chinese National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008, with their multi-functions of moralizing ideologies, edifying virtues, regulating behavior, and boosting the local economy. The integrative study of memory and its translation has received increasing attention from researchers of intangible cultural heritage. This paper aims to analyze the cultural memory of Zhuang Liao Songs and their intra-lingual and inter-lingual translations for the acceptability and accuracy of English translation in the era of “excellent Chinese culture going out”; to ensure the high-quality translation and dissemination of Zhuang Liao Songs.

South African Landscapes: Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country in Translation and on the Screen

The present survey is part of a project on southern African literary landscapes and translation. In this context, Alan Paton’s novel Cry, the Beloved Country (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1948) is emblematic of a new eco-critical consciousness, juxtaposed with the devastation of space by the dynamics of colonialism and the enforcement of the apartheid regime from 1948 to the early 1990s. Topophilia, common among other South African authors, is more than a simple literary theme for Paton; rather, it lies at the core of his spirituality and his resistance against apartheid. Likewise, the biblical symbolism and linguistic features inspiring descriptions in Paton’s work enhance textual cohesion and relevance, while also representing a challenge for translation in the context of different African languages. Following a diachronic perspective, this article examines intralingual, interlingual, and intersemiotic translations, focusing on landscape, language, and identity. One intralingual abridgement, multiple interlingual translations into European languages (Italian, French, Spanish), and two intersemiotic translations (in the form of screen adaptations of the novel) are comparatively analysed. The approach relies on studies of literary description, intersemiotic translation, and multimodality.

Phraseologism’ transgressive potential

There is a number of researches and scientific articles dedicated to phraseology, general theoretical questions still remain uncovered. Actually, phraseology is frequently presented as an applied science rather than a field of basic research. The question of phraseological units from the perspective of multilingualism and interlanguage translation is arguable. Meanwhile phraseological units carry evaluative information content, they are prone to variability, and this is where the problem of translating such an expression arises. The novelty of this research lies in the consideration of the problem of translation of phraseological units from the point of view of the «freezing» strategy. The purpose of this work is to analyze the potential for «freezing» as well as the equivalence in translating French phraseological units into Ukrainian. The tasks are to carry out a comparative analysis of phraseological units with a similar semantic load and to determine the degree of their direct translatability. It is shown by examples, at the level of interlanguage translation, that the freezing strategy when translating phraseological units can correspond to two models of constructing different meanings, creating linguistic and extralinguistic problems for translation. The correspondence and dimensions of «freezing» in translation stimulated the interest of linguists relatively recently. It was found that the interlingual translation of phraseological units generates linguistic and extralinguistic difficulties. Throughout the translation of the particular phraseological units, first of all, the semantic aspect was taken into account, and then the building was measured in close connection with the connotation. The results of the analysis of phraseological units of the described languages showed that the translation from Ukrainian far exceeds the potential for «freezing» into French language due to its peculiarities and complexity of the linguistic structure. Opportunities for practical application - the study is aimed at the prospect of new positions for comparative research on interlanguage translation.

Paradoxes of translation

AbstractIn this article, I consider what is assumed to be the speculative paradox of translation: that translation is theoretically impossible but actually practicable. My thesis is that thisaporiais nothing but a consequence of the limited way in which translation is often conceptualised. In this article, the term ‘translation’ is to be understood as interlingual translation, unless otherwise indicated; more precisely, as literary translation. In order to present my argument, I will examine three examples of translation, namely: (1) the fictionalisation of the translation process in Nicole Brossard’s novelLe désert mauve; (2) Jean-François Billeter’s translation of a poem by the medieval Chinese poet Su Dongpo; and (3) the translation of the words ‘tragedy’ and ‘comedy’ by the fictional character Averroes in a short story written by Jorge Louis Borges. The analysis of these real or fictitious examples of translation will help to introduce the notion of the unspoken as that which cannot be transmuted or recognised as a sign. This ever-present dimension of the translation process will allow me to show that the thesis of fundamental untranslatability is a falseaporia, which derives from a reductive understanding of the phenomenon of translation.

Translating Race on the French Stage

Translating Race on the French Stage

Translation of patient information leaflets: Trained translators and pharmacists-cum-translators – a comparison

Numerous studies have shown that Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) are generally difficult to understand for ordinary people and that this may be one of the reasons why a high percentage of patients fail to take their medication correctly. A study by Askehave and Zethsen (2002), based on textual analysis and relying on comprehensive extratextual procedural knowledge, has shown that translated Danish PILs were, without exception, more complex than their STs. But why is this so? One possible explanation could be that PILs are very frequently translated by pharmacists, who do not possess the linguistic tools and translational knowledge necessary for expert-to-layman translation or interlingual translation. This article reports on an empirical study that falls into two parts. The first aims to identify possible differences in the translations of these two types of translator in terms of lay-friendliness. The second aims to describe the nature of the differences found between these two types of translator, and discusses whether they could potentially be detrimental to lay-friendliness in PILs.

Narrator profile in translation: Work-in-progress for a semiautomatic analysis of narratorial dialogistic and attitudinal positioning in translated fiction

This paper presents work-in-progress for the development of a semi-automatic methodology for the analysis of shifts in narrator profile in translated fiction. Such a methodology is developed for a comparative quantitative analysis of electronic source and target texts organized in a parallel corpus. The first and main part of this paper presents the theoreti-cal motivation for the organization of two systems of categories focusing on the relationship between the two discursive centres involved in reported speech - narrator and character (but also quoter and quotee in other text types) - by developing the proposals of dialogistic/intertextual and attitu-dinal positioning in Appraisal Theory. The second part of this paper ana-lyses a selection of examples illustrative of such cate gories, and presents and comments the results of the comparative quantitative analysis of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist and eight European Portuguese translations for juvenile and adult readerships. This comparative analysis proves the methodology operative and shows evidence of two tendencies: ‘levelling-out’ and ‘explicitation’, which, although elsewhere identified as trans-lational universals, may here be identified as norms because they correlate with the independent variable target readership. The purpose of developing this methodology is to help describe the way interlingual translation may transform narrator profile as well as contribute to the formulation of trans-lational norms.

The mediated text: Transatlantic circulation among periodicals of interwar African American poetry

ABSTRACT The early twentieth century saw an increase in the transatlantic circulation of African American poetry, evidenced in anthologies published in the 1930s and 1940s. This article traces earlier instances of this trend by focusing on the translation of poetry among periodicals during the 1920s. Adopting George Bornstein’s “bibliographic code” as a methodological approach, I trace the transatlantic itineraries of three poems by Langston Hughes, Sterling A. Brown, and James Weldon Johnson. A reading of the interlingual translation against its bibliographic code reveals the ironies and intricacies of texts in circulation, products of translation practices seeking to transcend structures of national particularity, and editorial practices seeking to reify them.

Islamic feminism and the renegotiation of new knowledge through translation

ABSTRACT Despite the fact that Islamic feminism is still a contested area, many studies have been conducted under its name. The Qur’an and Prophetic traditions being at the core of feminists’ work discussing gender inequalities from a faith-oriented position entails an inevitable process of translation, between Arabic and other languages, of works dealing with gender injustices. The article draws on the Habermasian concept of the “translation proviso” addressing the interaction in the public sphere between those who invoke religion and those who do not; and on Jakobson’s concepts of interlingual and intralingual translation. By examining works in English by Islamic feminists, such concepts are employed to show that language, meaning and translation must be considered in discussing their debates on establishing gender equity. Thus, language could indeed be an important starting point for dismantling misconceptions about feminism and the potential mutual learning process achieved when feminism is practiced from a faith-based perspective.

‘Soft, Wild and Free’: A magical realist fairytale

‘Soft, Wild and Free’ is a magical realist fairytale about a creature that was soft and wild. It is also a magical realist fairytale about the courage of a guerilla princess who freed this creature from its foundations. With my research on magical realism, fairytales and the combination of the two, I am looking into fictional narratives that have the potential for the creation of spaces which are magical and critical. These fictional narratives exist in words and images that are constructed with a sensitivity to ideas of place and a place’s spirit and character. Through the writing I bring together elements from magical realist literature and the classic magical fairytale, into a hybrid style, which then translates into drawings that I make physically and digitally. Clay, wood, card models, as well as sketches, orthographic drawings and paintings of buildings weave into a series of drawings whose scope is to suggest a version of architecture with a critical and poetic stance to the world. These drawings propose buildings as characters and characters as places that talk about the past and the present while imagining a poetic and critical future. In my work there are three types of processes, which are based on translations; two intersemiotic and one interlingual. The two intersemiotic translations are from writing to drawings and models and from drawings to writing; the interlingual translation is from modern Greek to English. These processes become spatial acts, as they allow for a perpetual generation of fictional and factual stories in words and images. My research is rooted in an inherent understanding of architecture through a literature that is critical and magical, an existential potion for our allegedly normal and normative world, which is really a wondrous, magical realist dream.

A Century of Chinese Literature in Translation (1919–2019): English Publication and Reception

A Century of Chinese Literature in Translation (1919–2019): English Publication and Reception

Перевод новой социологиче­ской терминологии: проблемы и решения

Rapid development of concepts in modern sociology leads to the emergence of a large number of neological terms. Currently, the academic language of Russian sociology sees an active expansion of foreign language terminology and translated terms reflecting changes in the English-language social picture of the world. However, the lack of consistency in intra-lingual and inter-lingual translation of new terms may complicate the understanding of this terminology by representatives of multilingual academic schools. This study aims to analyse modern English sociological terms and translated borrowings in Russian, to explore their form and conceptual content in two languages, the degree of their conventionality in the sci­entific thesaurus of multilingual sociological schools and the possibility of an adequate trans­fer of terminological meaning from English into Russian. The authors view the sociological term as a cognitive, linguistic and cultural phenomenon, and study its synchronic and dia­chronic variability. The article is an attempt to illuminate the problem from a purely linguis­tic and translation point of view and to point out the need for combining efforts to systematise and harmonise the English and Russian terminologies of sociology.

Receptor expectations and interlingual translation reception

The fundamental question that this paper addresses is to what extent an individual’s judgment of incoming linguistic stimuli – in the form of a translation product – can be thought of as static and objective, as opposed to dynamic and subjectively constructed. By extension, this article proposes that rather than being viewed (solely) as displaying a set of stable features, the target text can be construed as a cognitive construct that is dynamically shaped. This proposition is tested against the cognitive mechanisms of expectations. I discuss two empirical studies examining how expectations about the authorship of translation, and therefore its characteristics like quality, can influence the audience’s perception of the translation product. The question is examined for written translation (Study 1) and subtitling (Study 2). While in both cases, the central subject of inquiry are linguistic stimuli, in the latter case, these are embedded multimodally. The hypothesis is that generating certain product expectations through the use of linguistic cues will lead the audience to assess the product differently than in a condition where identical material is assessed without cuing or where opposite receptor expectations are generated. It is relevant to note that both experiments were conducted with students whose background included linguistics and translation. Such a participant profile could be associated with a more rigorously principled – and therefore stable – assessment of linguistic stimuli in both monosemiotic and polysemiotic contexts. This, in turn, would make our participants less susceptible to the effects of anticipatory cognition than would be the case with participants without formal training in the relevant fields

Remembering the multilingual: translation, memory and food in Amida’s Table Fare

ABSTRACT Probing the connections between cities, cultural memory, culinary traditions and translation, this article presents a case study on a recent book exploring the multicultural culinary tradition of Diyarbakır, Turkey: Amida’s Table Fare: A History of Diyarbakır in Food, by Silva Özyerli (2019). A critical analysis of the book together with its paratexts shows that food meant more than simple nourishment to the author: a means of connecting communities, furthering culture and keeping resilient. Although the book was written mainly in Turkish, this article argues that it involves translational practice at three different levels: (i) interlingual translation between various languages of the city, in the form of paraphrase, explication or literal rendering, enables the author to foreground the multilingual and multicultural character of the city; (ii) remediating the memories of a scattered community and giving visibility to its multiplicity of languages, cultures and beliefs, the book becomes a reminder of what the city has lost, which makes it a ‘counter-translation’; (iii) with its aim at creating understanding and empathy on the part of its readers, the book also presents a ‘cultural translation’. The article concludes that translation at these levels proves helpful in giving space to unheard voices and resisting oblivion.

(Trans)fusions of Conrad’s darkness: Selected adaptations of Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness, due to its semantic complexity, interpretative openness and universal thematic interests, has been frequently intersemiotically adapted in a variety of media, encompassing radio broadcast, films, opera, graphic narratives and video games, as well as rewritten in the form of interlingual translations and refracted, with refractions including reviews and critical assessments, but also textual versions radically different from the source text. This article considers selected reinterpretations of Conrad’s text and comments briefly on how in each case the adaptation illustrates a fusion of Conrad’s vision with that of the adapter, hence (trans)fusion, and how this may give a new life to the source text via interpretative shifts. The article presents case studies: the film adaptation – Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979), Tarik O’Regan’s one-act chamber opera (both the United Kingdom in 2011 and the US staging in 2015), the graphic narrative by Catherine Anyango and David Zane Mairowitz (2010) and Jacek Dukaj’s Polish language version Serce ciemności (2017). This selection is governed by the variety of media and by the dissimilar approaches of the adapters to their source text. What is evident based on these variants is the role of the adapter as a creative participant in the process of transmitting the ideas of the original text, often updating them to make them relevant to new recipients of various cultural backgrounds. Additionally, reinterpretations and recontextualizations of the novella result directly from adaptive strategies specific to a given medium.

ЛЕКСИЧЕСКИЕ ТРАНСФОРМАЦИИ ПРИ ПЕРЕВОДЕ ОПИСАНИЙ СТАТИЧНЫХ ЭЛЕМЕНТОВ ГОРОДСКОЙ СРЕДЫ (НА МАТЕРИАЛЕ РОМАНА ДЖ. БОУЭНА «A STREET CAT NAMED BOB»)

The article is devoted to the consideration of one of the aspects of the problem of the interlingual translation process: transformations. The relevance of studying the use of transformations is due to the goal of achieving equivalence and the condition of observing the norms of the target language. Based on the translation of J. Bowen's novel «A Street Cat Named Bob» by comparing the source text with the translation text, the article examines the lexical transformations used in the translation of descriptions of the urban environment static elements from English into Russian. Particular attention is paid to the issues of defining a translation transformation, the choice of a convenient classification, as well as the reasons for using certain transformations. The study confirms the opinion of the majority of linguists that the use of translation transformations is inevitable: it is due to the differences in the lexical and grammatical systems of the two languages. E. I. Kolyabina, translator of the novel “A Street Cat Named Bob”, resorts to a large number of transformations and sometimes uses them in combination. Analysis of the translation text shows that the choice of transformation can be forced, or dictated by the translator’s personal preferences.

From Scampia to Rione Luzzatti: Marginality and its Language in the Age of Convergence

In the age of convergence, bestselling novels have become parts of the phenomenon known as ‘branding’, and cultural production is highly conditioned by the mechanisms that regulate global markets. This article argues that if the contemporary global novel tends to render the plurilingual experience implicitly to ensure translatability, the use of dialect has become crucial for the construction of marginality on screen for products designed to travel internationally. By focusing on a case study grounded in the Italian context, a comparison between Roberto Saviano's Gomorra (2006), with its extensions in theatre, cinema, TV and fandom, and Elena Ferrante's tetralogy L'amica geniale (2011–2014), with its dramatized versions for radio, stage and television, it compares the intersection of language, space and power in recent examples of transmedia storytelling. Drawing on studies of multilingualism and marginality, the author addresses the following questions: how do linguistic strategies influence the portrayal of the urban periphery as a marginal, subaltern space? How does transmedia transposition relate to interlingual translation? Does the relation between fiction and the socio-linguistic reality represented change in the translation process? To what ends is dialect deployed in transnational productions designed for global reach, and what characterizes the reception by Italian and international audiences? A focus on transmedia adaptations, this article suggests, leads us to reconsider the paradigm of multilingualism in translation.