Target Text Readers Research Articles

Changes to Poetic Images in Translation

It is an oversimplification to state that any poetic image can be literally rendered into another language since there may be changes involved in the translation process. For the translator, it is a matter of import to distinguish between motivated and non-motivated changes. The former being inevitable and the latter are due to insufficient interpretation of the Source Text. The present article investigates those changes by highlighting factors that cause them. The main determinants of such changes are discerned as language, culture and personal aspects.The present study, hence, aims at designing appropriate strategies for translating poetic images. These strategies, however, must not be adopted haphazardly by the translator. They must be careful in resorting to each strategy as much as it effectuates certain criteria dictated by the nature of text, the Source Text and the Target Text reader.

Military Jargon in the Slovenian Translation of Hostile Waters

The article examines Slovenian translations of military jargon in the non-fiction novel Hostile Waters. In the introductory part, jargon is presented as a linguistic category as well as its main features in the novel. Next, select examples from the original text are compared to their Slovenian equivalents. The focus is on collocations and lexically dense nominal phrases. The comparison finds that most translation shifts in the target text occur because of incorrect interpretation of technical jargon expressions in the original. As a result, the target text reader perceives certain situations differently than the source text reader.

Translating anglophobia

This article examines problems arising from biliterate performances in English and Chinese in the context of the sociolinguistics of Singapore. The questions asked include: What are the ramifications of translating Chinese literature carrying anglophobic themes into English? How might translation displace anglophobic readings from Chinese literary works? What kind of identity discourse do self-translation practices engender? The article examines three cases of cross-linguistic practice as biliterate modalities in Singapore, with an eye on the identity discourse emanating from the translational space between English and Chinese in each case. In the first case, it is argued that the English translation of a Chinese poem with an anglophobic stance triggers an ironic self-reflexivity on the part of the target text reader and has the potential to exacerbate the cultural anxiety faced by the Chinese-speaking Self in the source text. The second case presents an example where the anglophobic interpretation of a Chinese play can potentially be ‘unread’ through the homogenization of code-switching through translation. In the final case of a self-translating playwright, it is found that English-Chinese and Chinese-English translations establish an asymmetric symbiosis whereby translation creates an interliminal space in which a hybrid identity discourse is negotiated. The three cases illustrate the tensions and paradoxes residing in the translational space between English and Chinese in Singapore, pointing to the problematic of interand cross-cultural communication in the multilingual state.

Factors Influencing Domestication or Foreignization on the Macro and Micro Levels

This essay gives a brief study of factors influencing Domestication and Foreignization he macro and micro levels. Domestication designates the type of translation in which a transparent, fluent style is adopted to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target language readers; while foreinignization means a target text is produced which deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreignness of the original. As translation is something of a negotiation between the source text author, target text reader and translator, it indicates that translating activities are subject to the influence of outside factors, so domestication and foreignization are no exception. Those factors can be classified into two levels: macro-factors and micro-factors. Translation strategies selected by a translator determine the whole orientation of his translation; they permeate every step in the whole process of translating as well. Domestication and foreignization are subject to the influence of many factors, which can be classified into two levels: macro-factors and micro-factors.

The Epistemological Dilemma of Translating Otherness

This article interrogates the interpretive difficulties arising from the encounter with the Other in translation, specifically in the case where the subjectivity of the target text reader is implicated in the discursive constitution of identity in the source text. In contemplating how Anglophone Chinese Singaporean readers could interpret identities in Chinese literary works that invoke a strong sense of Chinese consciousness, I adopt Berman’s binary ethical framework in analysing the negotiation of Self and Other in translation. I posit that a positive ethics will be achieved if Anglophone Chinese readers position themselves as Other in their own language. On the contrary, a negative ethics ensues if the same group of readers embrace their identity as English-speaking Chinese as Self in the process of reading the Sinophone Other in the texts. The two conflicting positions create an epistemological dilemma on the part of the target text reader, thus raising the question of how identities can or should be negotiated in translation in the Singapore context, given that the cultural disposition of Anglophone Chinese readers is brought to bear on their reception of the cultural Other in translation.

Validity of the Principle of Dynamic Equivalence

The principle of dynamic equivalence aims at arousing response between the source text readers and the target text readers. To achieve this goal, a D-E translation should strive for the closest natural of the source text. This approach toward translation is of great validity which is based on linguistic commonness of all langages and cultural and psychological similarities of all human beings. The former enables the possibility of faithful reproduction of the original message, namely, the closest natural equivalent of the source- language message while the latter guarantee the possibility of similar response.

Translators as Intercultural Mediators: Translating Religious Expressions in Naguib Mahfouz’s Palace of Desire into English

Intercultural interaction is an important aspect of translation, a process that goes beyond transferring meanings of words from one language into another. This paper discusses the role translation plays in facilitating intercultural interaction. More specifically, it focuses on translating religious expressions. Since religion influences people’s behavior and thinking about themselves and others, it can also affect their culture. Religious expressions in Naguib Mahfouz’s Palace of Desire create a tangled web of social, historical and moral connotations. To investigate the challenges involved in translating these associations, examples of religious expressions in Naguib Mahfouz’s Palace of Desire are singled out, analyzed and compared with their counterparts in a collaborative English translation by William Maynard Hutchins, Lorne M. Kenny, and Olive E. Kenny. For the sake of clarity, these expressions are classified into two categories: religious expressions taken from the Holy Qur'an and expressions related to significant events in the life of Prophet Muhammad or sayings attributed to him. Analysis reveals that religious expressions reflect various aspects of human experience. The English renderings show an awareness of the cultural significance of some religious references. For example, translations of some sentences quoted from the Holy Qur’an explicitly alert target text readers to their source which is implicit in Arabic. This explication is needed to help bridge the cultural gap between the two languages. Other religious associations are rendered by adding explanations and conveying the propositional content. Gains and losses made in the translation process are pointed out. In conclusion, the role of translation in enhancing virtues of intercultural awareness like openness, tolerance, and accepting the other is emphasized. Key words : Intercultural Interaction; Naguib Mahfouz; World Literature; Translation; Religious Expressions; Palace of Desire

The Translation of Culture-Bound Elements into Finnish in the Post-War Period

Culture-bound elements, such as proper names and food items, not only place the story of a book in a specific culture and period of time, but also imply certain values and create an ambience. These elements also have an effect on how the reader identifies with the story and characters. Thus, it is important to find the most appropriate strategy to translate such elements. This paper considers the Finnish translation (1949) of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows (1908), a multi-layered and allusive children’s book set in Edwardian England, and some other children’s tales translated into Finnish around the same era. The translation of The Wind in the Willows dates back to a period of time when British culture was not yet well known in Finland. The paper argues that certain inconsistencies in the translation of culture-bound elements in the book make it difficult for target text readers to understand its layers of meaning and to identify with the characters. Similar inconsistencies in the translation of culture-bound elements are found in other Finnish translations of children’s books from the same period. The findings may be explained by a limited knowledge of foreign cultures in post-war Finland.