scholarly journals Interface of Linguistics, Literature, and Culture in Translating Singapore and Sri Lanka Postcolonial Poetry

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Novita Dewi

The interface of linguistics, literature, and culture was clear in translation. English Studies in Indonesia had undergone revision by the inclusion of postcolonial literature in its curriculum. Literary works from Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Sri Lanka, India and other Asian countries were introduced and translated. Given that language game was central in postcolonial writing, equitable knowledge and grasps of linguistics, literature, and culture were significant in translation. Through the lens of re-placing language as textual strategies in post-colonial writing, this paper explored the application of this reading method and gave practical examples of translating English poems written in, respectively, Singapore and Sri Lankan postcolonial contexts into Indonesian. The discussion showed that in order to preserve the postcolonial strategies of writing back to the colonial ideology, the translation took into account the reconceptualization and reconstruction of people, language, and culture, instead of literal rendering from the source language to the target language. Adoption of postcolonial theory as the translating method shown in this study is important to add to the theory and practice of translation. This trajectory can be used to translate other literary works written in varieties of English into Indonesian, using as they do, different translation strategies to make the translation products accurate, appropriate, and acceptable.

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-393
Author(s):  
Shivani Ekkanath

The postcolonial narratives we see today are a study in contrast and tell a different tale from their colonial predecessors as minorities and individuals finally have found the voice and position to tell their stories. Histories written about our culture and societies have now found a new purpose and voice. The stories we have passed down from generation to generation through both oral and written histories, continue to morph and change with the tide of time as they re-centre our cultural narratives and shared experiences. As a result, the study of diaspora and transnationalism have altered the way in which we view identity in different forms of multimedia and literature. In this paper, the primary question which will be examined is, how and to what extent does Indian post-colonial literature figure in the formation of identity in contemporary art and literature in the context of ongoing postcolonial ideas and currents? by means of famous and notable postcolonial literary works and theories of Indian authors and theoreticians, with a special focus on the question and notion of identity. This paper works on drawing parallels between themes in Indian and African postcolonial literary works, especially themes such as power, hegemony, east meets west, among others. In this paper, European transnationalism will also be analysed as a case study to better understand postcolonialism in different contexts. The paper will seek to explore some of the gaps in the study of diasporic identity and postcolonial studies and explore some of the changes and key milestones in the evolution of the discourse over the decades.


2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-119
Author(s):  
Luiz Fernando Ferreira Sá

Resumo: Em Paradise Lost, de John Milton, épico e império se encontram dissociados. Contrário a muitas leituras tradicionais, essa escrita do início da Era Moderna inglesa intersecta o pensamento pós-colonial de várias maneiras. Ao usar o circuito pós-colonial de teoria e prática textual de Gayatri Spivak, este artigo desenvolve uma desleitura em contraponto desse texto de Milton: Paradise Lost poderá finalmente libertar-se de seu conteúdo colonial e liberar seu conteúdo pós-colonial.Palavras-chave: Gayatri Spivak; pós-colonialismo; John Milton.Abstract: In John Milton’s Paradise Lost epic and empire are dissociated. Contrary to many misreadings,32 this all-important writing of the English Early Modern Age intersects postcolonial thinking in a number of ways. By using Gayatri Spivak’s circuit of postcolonial theory and practice, this article enacts a contrapuntal (mis)reading of Milton’s text: Paradise Lost may at last free its (post)colonial (dis)content.Keywords: Gayatri Spivak; postcolonialism; John Milton.


English Today ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-43
Author(s):  
Rajend Mesthrie

This paper reflects on the recently published Dictionary of South African Indian English (Mesthrie, 2010, henceforth DSAIE) in terms of the decisions that have to be made over content in a New English variety. ‘New English’ is used in the commonly accepted sense of a variety that has arisen as a second language in a multilingual context, mainly under British colonialism, but which has gained an identity of its own on account of its characteristic linguistic features which differ from those of the erstwhile target language, viz. educated British English. Dictionaries of English outside of England and the United States of America are no longer novel: well-known efforts include the Macquarie Dictionary of Australian English (Butler et al., 2009) and The Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles (Silva et al., 1996). In the same vein Hobson-Jobson (Yule & Burnell, 1886) recorded the lexis of colonial India, concentrating more on the vocabulary of the British there, though usage characteristic of Indians is also cited. Post-colonial India is still served by lexicographers of British origins: Hanklyn-Janklin (Hankin, 1994) and Sahibs, Nabobs and Boxwallahs (Lewis, 1991) are both true to the Hobson-Jobson tradition in feel and style, whilst being fairly up-to-date. I am unaware of any systematic dictionary work treating of the more colloquial words of Indian English, this 30 years on from Braj Kachru's (1983) article ‘Toward a Dictionary’. The popular guidebook series Lonely Planet has stolen a march on the lexicographers in producing a vibrant, popular book Indian English: Language and Culture (2008), with an emphasis on vocabulary amidst other culture lessons. The new internet era has also provided online dictionaries, the most sophisticated in my experience being the Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English launched in 2004 (www.singlishdictionary.com).


IZUMI ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Dewi Puspitasari ◽  
Eka Marthanty Indah Lestari ◽  
Nadya Inda Syartanti

There are many ways that could be done to introduce unique culture of a country to the international world; one of them is through translation works.  This can be seen through Japanese literary works, which are translated into other languages.  Botchan is one of the best literary works from Natsume Soseki that was translated into several languages, including Indonesian language, with the title of the translation Botchan Si Anak Bengal by Jonjon Johana. This novel tells the story about the life of Botchan, a teacher, who faces several conflicts. In this novel, there are many cultural terms so that when they are translated, they would trigger some difficulties because some of the terms still do not have equivalences in target language.  The material cultural terms include foods, clothes, houses and their parts, places, and means of transportation. They can be found in the words geisha, kimono, soba, and so on. This research analyzed the equivalence in the translation with the informant as the benchmark to know whether the message in the target text is equivalent with the source text. This method is based on dynamic equivalence concept by Nida and Taber (1974:12). Based on the informant, the methods and techniques used by translator in maintaining the equivalence of message were analyzed. The used theory was the translation methods for cultural terms by Newmark (1988) and translation techniques by Catford (1965) and Hoed (2006).The research showed that the cultural terms were not easy to translate since they were related to the context of culture in the source language. It can be seen from the existing translation data showing two characteristics of equivalent translation that can be achieved through several methods, the understanding of language and culture of source language and target language; the use of suitable translation procedure and technique (transference, cultural equivalence, descriptive translation, transposition, modulation, additional explanation, and standard translation); and the right choice of word based on the intention of the author of novel.


2018 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 01107
Author(s):  
Alexandra Milostivaya ◽  
Ekaterina Nazarenko ◽  
Irina Makhova ◽  
Armine Simonyan

The article is devoted to the socio-cultural and linguistic analysis of the postcolonial theory of H.K. Bhabha, who attempted to explain the colonial discourse, based on the concepts of “hybrid space” and “the phenomenon of mimicry” in his work “The Location of Culture” (1994). According to him, the colonial discourse is a complex, ambivalent and often contradictory process. The movement in time and space does not allow different identities become frozen in the unity of opposite. The difficulty lies in the exact definition of hybridity, understood as a boundary between the fixed identities. Particular attention is paid to the interpretation of the concept of translation of H.K. Bhabha, who believes that the translational process goes through some previously established boundaries and therefore puts them into question. H.K. Bhabha argues that the process of translation leads to hybridity codes and verbal propositions, actualizing their semantics in the socio-cultural situation of the target language. In addition, the focus of research interest of the authors got some lexical and grammatical features of the monograph “The Location of Culture” as a representative sample of the type of the humanitarian scientific style with a primarily cognitive-dominant.


Author(s):  
Melati Desa

ABSTRACT   : Language and culture influences each other and its effect is reflected in not only the way humans think, but could also be seen in a full load of figurative elements in creative writing, such as metaphors. Thus, the report examines the aspects of the transfer of meaning in the live metaphors in Haru No Yuki, literary Japanese texts written by Yukio Mishima (1925 – 1970) translated to Malay by Muhammad Haji Salleh (1993) as Salju Musim Bunga published by Penataran Ilmu. This report studies on the equivalence of the meaning of translated live metaphors from the source text to the target text. From the study of the equivalence of meaning can be evaluated that, if there is any type of losses of meaning in form of under translation, over translation or wrong translation. The retention of live metaphors in the target text produced an ideal translation. Universal live metaphors maintained by the translator, this approach produced an ideal translation in form of meaning and accepted by the culture and speakers of the target language. The conclusion of this report shows that, one of the factors in producing quality translations is to understand the elements of the original cultural metaphors contained in the source text. Keywords: live metaphor, personification, ideal translation, equivalence of meaning ABSTRAK         : Bahasa dan budaya saling mempengaruhi dan kesannya dapat dilihat bukan sahaja dalam cara manusia berpikir malah dalam penulisan kreatif yang memuatkan unsur figuratif, metafora misalnya. Justeru, kajian ini meneliti aspek pemindahan makna dalam terjemahan metafora hidup dan personifikasi yang terdapat dalam teks kesusasteraan Jepun, Haru No Yuki hasil penulisan Yukio Mishima (1925 – 1970) diterjemahkan oleh Muhammad Haji Salleh (1993) menjadi Salju Musim Bunga (SMB) terbitan Penataran Ilmu. Kertas kerja ini mengkaji keselarasan makna terjemahan metafora hidup dan personifikasi daripada teks sumber kepada teks sasaran. Daripada kajian keselarasan makna dapat dinilai sama ada berlaku peleburan makna metafora apabila terhasilnya terjemahan kurang, terjemahan lebih atau terjemahan salah. Kaedah pengekalan metafora hidup dalam teks sasaran didapati menghasilkan terjemahan ideal. Metafora hidup yang bersifat universal dikekalkan oleh penterjemah, pendekatan ini menghasilkan terjemahan ideal dari sudut makna dan diterima oleh budaya dan penutur bahasa sasaran. Sebagai kesimpulan, kajian ini menunjukkan bahawa, salah satu faktor dalam usaha untuk menghasilkan terjemahan bermutu adalah dengan memahami unsur metafora budaya asal teks sumber.   Kata kunci : metafora hidup, personifikasi, terjemahan ideal, persamaan makna


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 157-165
Author(s):  
Mansoor Mohamed Fazil

Abstract This research focuses on the issue of state-minority contestations involving transforming and reconstituting each other in post-independent Sri Lanka. This study uses a qualitative research method that involves critical categories of analysis. Migdal’s theory of state-in-society was applied because it provides an effective conceptual framework to analyse and explain the data. The results indicate that the unitary state structure and discriminatory policies contributed to the formation of a minority militant social force (the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam – The LTTE) which fought with the state to form a separate state. The several factors that backed to the defeat of the LTTE in 2009 by the military of the state. This defeat has appreciably weakened the Tamil minority. This study also reveals that contestations between different social forces within society, within the state, and between the state and society in Sri Lanka still prevail, hampering the promulgation of inclusive policies. This study concludes that inclusive policies are imperative to end state minority contestations in Sri Lanka.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tong King Lee

Abstract Translation has traditionally been viewed as a branch of applied linguistics. This has changed drastically in recent decades, which have witnessed translation studies growing as a field beyond, and sometimes against, applied linguistics. This paper is an attempt to think translation back into applied linguistics by reconceptualizing translation through the notions of distributed language, semiotic repertoire, and assemblage. It argues that: (a) embedded within a larger textual-media ecology, translation is enacted through dialogical interaction among the persons, texts, technologies, platforms, institutions, and traditions operating within that ecology; (b) what we call translations are second-order constructs, or relatively stable formations of signs abstracted from the processual flux of translating on the first-order; (c) translation is not just about moving a work from one discrete language system across to another, but about distributing it through semiotic repertoires; (d) by orchestrating resources performatively, translations are not just interventions in the target language and culture, but are transformative of the entire translingual and multimodal space (discursive, interpretive, material) surrounding a work. The paper argues that distributed thinking helps us de-fetishize translation as an object of study and reimagine translators as partaking of a creative network of production alongside other human and non-human agents.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document