Research In Translation Studies Research Articles

Translation and interpreting research in Saudi Arabia: a bibliometric analysis (1990–2019)

ABSTRACT The first academic translation centre in Saudi Arabia was established in 1990 by King Saud University; since then, translation has been developing as a discipline in its own right. Despite the considerable attention given to bibliometric study of translation and interpreting (T&I) research in Translation Studies, the available literature to date has not explored the development of T&I journal articles in Saudi Arabia. This study aims to lay the groundwork for examining 30 years of Saudi T&I research activities by analysing the productivity of published journal articles between 1990 and 2019, prior to the establishment of The Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission (LPT) as a regulating body. The paper divides the examined period into three phases: early years (1990-1999), advances in academia (2000-2009) and advances in the industry (2010-2019). Drawing on bibliometric parameters of productivity, the dataset includes 180 journal articles collected primarily from King Fahad National Library and Scopus as well as three Arabic secondary sources. The findings suggest a significant increase of published articles in the third decade (2010-2019), a dominance of pedagogy-related studies during the three phases and shared patterns with contextual factors in Saudi Arabia; including the expansion of translation departments at universities and international scholarships.

Exploring a Portuguese-English corpus through LancsBox®: possibilities for research in translation studies

Exploring a Portuguese-English corpus through LancsBox®: possibilities for research in translation studies

Exploring a Portuguese-English corpus through LancsBox®: possibilities for research in translation studies

Exploring a Portuguese-English corpus through LancsBox®: possibilities for research in translation studies

Exploring a Portuguese-English corpus through LancsBox®: possibilities for research in translation studies

Exploring a Portuguese-English corpus through LancsBox®: possibilities for research in translation studies

Theoretical challenges for a genetics of translation

ABSTRACT Translation archives are sources of insight into the creative processes of literary translation. This article examines the challenges of using the methodology of genetic criticism, which was devised for studying literary composition through archival evidence, for research in translation. It identifies conceptual limitations in this theory’s consideration of translated texts and their specific ontology, and it assesses the applicability of genetic criticism’s primordial categories – literary exogenesis and literary endogenesis – to translation. This paves the way for the construction of a methodology and a conceptual vocabulary for genetic process research in translation studies. It is argued that this new methodology can alleviate certain ambiguities or anxieties in current debates relating to the capacity of the translator to exercise their creativity and perform acts of writing that some would equate with authorship. Finally, adopting a translation studies perspective is suggested as a way for genetic criticism to shed its untenable Romantic heritage.

Языковая локализация как объект исследования в современной теории перевода

Представлен сравнительный анализ существующих подходов к толкованию понятия «локализация», на основании которого выделены сущностные характеристики объекта исследования и предложено его уточненное определение. The paper undertakes a comparative review of existing interpretations of the term ‘localization,’ revealing the essential characteristics of the research object, and suggesting its refined definition as a result.

Book Review

The field of corpus-based translation studies (CBTS) relies on corpus-linguistic methods and tools to analyze electronic corpora of authentic translations. Since its emergence in the early 1990s under the impetus of Mona Baker, CBTS has grown to become a recognized area of research in translation studies. By offering an overview of the field and presenting a variety of fresh perspectives provided by leading experts, The book Extending the Scope of Corpus-Based Translation Studies extends the scope of CBTS in multiple ways, and sheds light on the future of the translation industry.

Tradicionālie pētījumu virzieni Latvijas tulkojumzinātnē (2015–2020)

This publication is a survey of Latvian translation scholars’ last five years’ contribution to translatology in domains of research that so far have been traditional in the almost 80 years-long development of the research discipline in Latvia. In the first months after the beginning of data collection at the end of December 2021, it is fairly impossible to create a list of priority directions and dominant trends arranged in a quantitatively descending order, as it was done in the author’s research covering previous decades. Nevertheless, it can already be observed that research continues in the fields of examining dictionaries that serve as translation aids, the constantly widening field of terminology topical for translation practice, the process of generation of translatological terms, translation quality assessment, adequacy of the source language and target language proper names in Latvian translations, linguistic and culture-specific translation problems, issues of simultaneous and consecutive interpreting. Research in some of the traditional domains is conducted by translation scholars having substantial past experience; some other directions have attracted the attention of translatologists who have started their research in translation studies during the last 5 to 7 years. Several important new trends in Latvian translatology of the period from 2015 to 2020–2022 will be described in a separate publication. The research directions mentioned above will form a foundation for a deeper analysis presented in a more voluminous publication several years later.

Chiński przekład "Pana Tadeusza". Historia, fenomen, problemy i inspiracje

The aim of this paper is to describe the reception of the literature of Polish Romanticism in China, as well as its long and winding road to the Middle Kingdom. The article addresses the ideological beginnings of the existence of Adam Mickiewicz’s works in the consciousness of Chinese people. The author analyses two translations of Pan Tadeusz into Chinese, made during the first half of the 20th century. Information about Polish Romanticism and the works of its most eminent representatives reached China at a very crucial historical moment for the Middle Kingdom, almost immediately arousing the interest of the elites. However, the same historical causes that triggered the fascination with the works of the Polish Romanticists also led to a distortion and ideologization of its reception, which persisted until 1955, when the first translation of Pan Tadeusz appeared in Chinese. However, that translation was made from English and written in prose. This changed at the end of the 20th century, when a second translation of the poem, written in verse, appeared. Despite the passage of time and the efforts of translators, the reception of the literature of Polish Romanticism and the knowledge of Adam Mickiewicz's biography is still incomplete. On the other hand, this can be an impulse for further research in translation and literary studies.

A scientometric review of research in Translation Studies in the twenty-first century

Abstract The field of Translation Studies has expanded rapidly in the twenty-first century, largely due to the growing demand for translation and interpreting professionals. This study provides a scientometric review of Translation Studies to identify its developmental trends and patterns over the past two decades. Document co-citation analysis was conducted on 6007 journal articles published in the fifteen translation studies journals indexed in the Web of Science between January 2001 and December 2020. Twelve document co-citation analysis networks were generated and compared. Quantitative analyses, including temporal and structural metrics, confirmed the robustness and reliability of a network comprising ten discrete research clusters. A timeline view was generated to visualize how these clusters have evolved over time. Ten clusters were identified as major research subdomains in Translation Studies, namely translation competence, translation in conflict zones, translator training, collaborative translation, translation and society, language policy, post-editing and revision, media translation, the translation profession, and web localization. In addition, burst detection analysis identified the twenty most influential publications in this sample. Based on these findings, we discuss how the observed trends in each cluster contribute to further developments in Translation Studies. The implications for teaching, research, and theory are discussed and some methodological guidelines are proposed for future research.

A literature review of Iranian publications on video game localization between 2009 and 2022

Abstract Although video game localization has lately attracted the attention of researchers, with many papers and books being devoted to this practice, it is still an underdeveloped area of Translation Studies research in Iran. The present study provides a literature review of research carried out in Iran on video game localization since 2009 to address this gap. The reviews revealed that studies on Iranian game localization fall into translational, social, cultural and political, and historical categories. The review also showed that the translational aspect is the most explored area followed by social, cultural and political, and historical aspects. The historical aspect has received the least attention in the literature, specifically in academic publications. This paper offers potential areas for future research on game localization in Iran in each aspect.

Translation of Hollywood film titles: Implications of Culture-Specific Items in Greater China

In view of the lack of updated analysis on film title translation in Greater China, the present study attempted to investigate translation of culture-specific items in Hollywood film titles among three regions of Greater China: Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. From 1989 to 2018, a film title database was built, comprising of 2472 source texts and over 7410 target texts. Culture-specific items were identified and classified into five themes, namely toponym; anthroponym and fictional character; forms of entertainment; means of transportation; and social taboos. Analysis was in two tiers: First, translation methods under each theme was compared within target regions. Second, corresponding cultural implications of the three target regions were discussed using the concept of glocalisation. In a translational perspective, adaptation was highly favoured by Hong Kong under film title translation, whereas transliterations and literal translations were preferred by Mainland China. In a cultural perspective, both Mainland China and Hong Kong were found to preserve local cultures via translation. While Mainland China attempted to protect the purity of Chinese language through using transliterations and literal translations, Hong Kong used Cantonese slangs and jargons to replace culture-specific items in source text. Different from the former regions, Taiwan adopted exotic and explicit translation of social taboos. The present research sheds new light on Translation Studies research by analyzing film title translation in a sociocultural perspective, and thus can offer stakeholders in the film industry to appreciate translation in another perspective.

STRUCTURAL-SEMANTIC AND PRAGMATIC CHARACTERISTICS OF UKRAINIAN INCLUSIONS IN THE RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE INTERNET TEXT

The purpose of the research. The problem of language interaction is one of the central in the system of linguistic disciplines. Interlanguage interference is the subject of research in translation studies, sociolinguistics, methods of teaching foreign languages, linguacultural studies, etc. The aim of the study is to comprehensively analyze the use of Ukrainian inclusions in the texts of Russian-language blogs. The analysis of the structure of these units is made from the graphic level to the syntax and shows the compositional variety of inclusions. The research methodology includes methods of lexico-semantic, component, pragmalinguistic and contextual analysis. The scientific novelty reveals the phenomenon of interference of related languages (Russian and Ukrainian) on the example of written speech of adult bilinguals, recorded on the social network Facebook. The identified pragmatic characteristics of inclusions can be divided into four types: as a stylistic means, a way of displaying linguistic erudition, a way of declaring one's civil position, and means of expressing negative emotional assessment. The semantic types of proposed units, among which the most numerical group is a group of abstract concepts, were also analyzed. The Conclusions. The use of Ukrainian inclusions is one of the active and living processes of the development of the Russian Internet language. The main reasons for this phenomenon are the desire to express one's belonging to the Ukrainian community and language, as well as to show an active civic position towards social transformations in one's country.

Praxis and process meet halfway: The convergence of sociological and cognitive approaches in translation studies

In translation studies, a range of different approaches and traditions has emerged to explain the numerous factors that influence the translation decision process. While the sociology and cultural studies approaches look at the social practices in and around translation, their psychology and cognitive sciences counterparts concentrate on the cognitive processes. In this paper, we analyse and discuss two claims in particular, namely (1) that some sociological and cognitive approaches in translation studies are converging with respect to accounting for the factors that influence translation decision processes, and (2) that these approaches complement each other well, since the former increasingly take account of the individual within the social and societal dimensions, and the latter expand the focus from the individual to the extra-individual and social dimensions. We retrace the various theoretical frameworks that have been used to describe translation as a process that is embedded in a set of norms, social fields or actor networks. We then compare these primarily sociological frameworks to the distributed cognition approach developed in the cognitive sciences. Based on a discussion of the compatibilities and incompatibilities between actor-network theory and distributed cognition, we demonstrate ways of making this debate productive for translation studies research. To back up this primarily theoretical discussion, we take a closer look at two examples from our own empirical research on work processes in translation project management.

Translating the archaic: Ottoman Turkish expressions in English

This study deals with how archaic language in İhsan Oktay Anar’s Kitab’ül Hiyel is handled in English translation. Archaic expressions refer to words or phrases which are no longer in everyday use. In Kitab’ül Hiyel, archaism standing out as the outcome of the author’s stylistic choices prevails as a stylistic component. Translating style is one of the most challenging tasks that a translator faces due to the linguistic differences between languages. In this paper, a descriptive translational analysis is pursued to evaluate whether the translator keeps the local color by making a stylistically-aware translation or the ruling archaism becomes neutralized in the target text. This is important in its aim to demonstrate the attitude of translators towards stylistic elements. Archaic expressions were chosen as samples because they have rarely been the subject of research in translation studies. They can also be associated with history to a great extent. Taking into account Turkish culture, archaic expressions used in literature are generally traced back to the Ottoman Empire, for they are regarded as a significant part of old Turkish or Ottoman Turkish. When their historical quality is considered, their translation requires certain knowledge about the source culture and history. Throughout the comparative analysis, archaic expressions in parallel texts were examined in the light of these translation strategies: softening, transcription or borrowing, and stylistic compensation. The result of the analysis will contribute to the stylistic and cultural discussions about literary translation.

CHAMPIONS OF UKRAINIAN TRANSLATION STUDIES IN PREŠOV REGION

The article aims to present some generalizations on Ukrainian Translation Studies in the Prešov region of Slovakia and introduce the readers with the most prominent figures representing it. The subject of research is the contribution of translation studies scholars of Prešov region to the development of Ukrainian translation studies and popularization of literature translated from and into Ukrainian among Ukrainians in Slovakia. The study of works by the most active translation studies researchers from Prešov writing in Ukrainian resulted in a general description of the main problems raised by them, as well as short personalized characteristics of the ”research style” of each of these figures. The findings have been achieved by applying such methods as analysis, synthesis, contrasting and comparison. Conclusions: The Ukrainian community of Prešov region is represented by a number of talented translation studies scholars who have actively conducted and continue to conduct research on the basis of translations from Ukrainian and into Ukrainian. Unfortunately, their works is little known among the Ukrainian academic and research community, as many of them have been published in regional publications that do not reach Ukraine or reach libraries only in very limited numbers. Nevertheless, these authors analyze many issues relevant to translation studies, such as the impact of one's own creativity on translation, the role of translators in the development of the literary process, translation strategies, methods and approaches, etc. The works by Mykhailo Roman, Mykhailo Molnar, Lyubytsya Babota, Yosyf Shelepets, Mykola Mushynka, Ivan Matsynskyi, Juriy Kundrat, Ivan Yatskanyn, and others deserve close attention and active use by the Ukrainian scholarly community.

Analyzing the effects of entrenched grammatical constructions on translation

Abstract This study analyzes translation behaviour with respect to the salience of two grammatical constructions that differ in frequency. We assumed that a more frequent construction is also more entrenched in the translator’s mind and that as a result different translation solutions are more readily available. For this reason, we expected that a more frequent construction is translated more quickly than a less frequent construction, resulting in lower reading and typing-related measures of cognitive effort during the translation process. A translation experiment was designed to test this assumption. We triangulated keystroke logging and eye tracking data from 11 professional translators and tested the results using linear mixed regression modelling, controlling for, among others, lexically-based effects of salience. While we did not find statistically significant evidence of a facilitation effect regarding the entrenchment of (partially) abstract grammatical structures (of-NPs), we did find salience effects from lexical sources such as cross-linguistic structural priming and words with typical translation solutions. Lexical effects of salience on the translation process were shown to be more reliable indicators of facilitation in translation than the salience of more abstract linguistic structures – at least if the effect is a result of salience that stems from entrenchment. Since one limitation of our study is its necessarily small sample size, we draw methodological conclusions for improving experimental designs that will be useful for researchers in empirical translation studies.

TRANSLATION AS TRANSFORMATION: ON THE TREATMENT OF PUNS AND WORDPLAY IN ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF JINPINGMEI

The novel Jinpingmei is rife with various forms of language play, which produces special stylistic or poetic effects and contributes to characterization. Language play in Jinpingmei gives rise to cognitive effects on the reader and poses a serious challenge to interlingual translation. However, it has hitherto received little attention from translation studies researchers. The issue of how different forms of language play are treated in English translations of Jinpingmei has not been touched upon. This article aims to fill the gap by analyzing and discussing the translation of puns and wordplay in Jinpingmei. It takes a cognitive-pragmatic view and draws upon a relevance-theoretic approach to examine the way in which puns and wordplay is rendered into the target language. Within the relevance-theoretic framework, translation is viewed as an “interpretive use of language” and the relation between source and target texts is based on interpretive resemblance rather than equivalence (Sperber & Wilson, 1986; Gutt, 1991). The analysis undertaken in the article is based on two English translations of Jinpingmei. Following Delabastita’s (1996) taxonomy of puns and transferring strategies, the article examines the translators’ translation strategies and assesses the degree of relevance and interpretive resemblance achieved in the two translations vis-à-vis the source text. Research results demonstrate that most puns and wordplay are lost or misconstrued in translation and that the translators exhibit different patterns in their approaches to translating wordplay in Jinpingmei. Moreover, the degree of interpretive resemblance achieved in the two translations differs significantly. The article concludes that the translators’ choice is influenced by translational skopos, the sociocultural context of translation and reception, and the (un)translatability of wordplay effected by the linguistic and cultural difference between Chinese and English.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0935/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Using computerised comparative judgement to assess translation

Abstract Translation assessment represents a productive line of research in Translation Studies. An array of methods has been trialled to assess translation quality, ranging from intuitive assessment to error analysis and from rubric scoring to item-based assessment. In this article, we introduce a lesser-known approach to translation assessment called comparative judgement. Rooted in psychophysical analysis, comparative judgement grounds itself on the assumption that humans tend to be more accurate in making relative judgements than in making absolute judgements. We conducted an experiment, as both a methodological exploration and a feasibility investigation, in which novice and experienced judges were recruited to assess English-Chinese translation, using a computerised comparative judgement platform. The collected data were analysed to shed light on the validity and reliability of assessment results and the judges’ perceptions. Our analysis shows that (1) overall, comparative judgement produced valid measures and facilitated judgement reliability, although such results seemed to be affected by translation directionality and judges’ experience, and (2) the judges were generally confident about their decisions, despite some emergent factors undermining the validity of their decision making. Finally, we discuss the use of comparative judgement as a possible method in translation assessment and its implications for future practice and research.

French Sign Language/French Translation Studies in France: A Mini Review

In this mini review, we present an overview of existing research in French sign language (LSF)/French translation studies in France. The practice of LSF/French interpreting is ancient, since traces of it can be found in the High Middle Ages, but its professionalization is more recent (it dates from the Deaf Revival of 1975–1995). The profession of French to LSF translator is even more recent: it dates from about 10 years ago. Following this professionalization, translation studies research emerged about 30 years ago. It has been developing particularly over the last 20 years, driven by university programs (MA in LSF/French interpretation and translation). This research is multifaceted and is not confined to a single discipline. Indeed, translation studies are inherently multidisciplinary, and we can find references to translation and interpretation in historic, linguistic, sociologic, or computer science studies, among others. Moreover, translation studies are also part of different schools of thought, which can be explained historically. In this paper, we present an overview of translation research concerning LSF/French interpretation and translation (practiced by both deaf and hearing people) in France. We also address the prospects for further developments, related to the emergence of new practices, and the question of the didactic applications of these different researches in the field of interpreters and translators training within 5 universities in France.