Bridge building or armchair traveling? The reception of the English translations of Manuel Rivas and Domingo Villar

Author(s):  
Laura Linares

The reader of translations has gained increasing attention in Translation Studies in recent years, with more focused studies looking into the reception of translated works either through textual analysis of reviews (Zhao 2009, Bielsa 2013, D’Egidio 2015, Saldanha 2018) or the analysis of interviews and focus groups with real readers (Arnold 2016). The reception of works by anglophone readers, in particular, has raised interest among scholars who wish to understand the expectations and patterns of literary consumption by a hegemonic, central culture. This article explores how Galician writers Manuel Rivas and Domingo Villar’s work is perceived and re-constructed by an anglophone readership through an analysis of professional (press) reviews and semiprofessional (blog) reviews based on the homogenization- eterogenizationexoticismcontinuum posited by Saldanha (2018).

Adaptation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-223
Author(s):  
Eduard Cuelenaere

Abstract This article argues that, after decades of pointing towards the importance of including production and reception research into the study of film remakes, we should actually start addressing production and reception methodologies and investigate why this is necessary for the sustainability and future development of the field. I argue that a lot can be learned from the insights coming from the existing methodologies that are being used in, that is, format studies, (critical) media industry studies, (audiovisual) translation studies, and more recently the study of cultural transduction. The first section of the article mainly deals with the importance of investigating the different cultural mediators that take part in the production lifecycle of the film remake. It is contended that the analysis of film remakes should start examining the different individuals or institutions that mediate or intervene between the production of cultural artefacts and the generation of consumer preferences. The second part of the article points towards the importance of investigating the reception, experience, and interpretation of film remakes. It is shown that crucial questions like ‘(why) do audiences prefer the domestic remake over the foreign film?’, ‘how do audiences experience, interpret, and explain differences and similarities between source films and remakes?’, but also ‘how do audiences define and assess film remakes?’ remain yet to be asked. The article concludes that if the field of remake studies wishes to break out of its disciplinary boundaries, adopting a multi-methodological approach will help to further brush off its dusty character of textual analysis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-207
Author(s):  
Patricia González Bermúdez

Abstract This article is a comparative study of four different translations into English of Federico García Lorca's play Bodas de sangre (1933) carried out in the United Kingdom and Ireland throughout the 1990s. Since the publication of Antoine Berman's seminal article on 'retranslation', this theoretical concept has provided a fecund framework for descriptive translation studies, illuminating the variety of solutions translators provide when confronted with the same original text. This article furthers that body of scholarship while simultaneously providing new angles on Lorca's dramatic work. The comparative approach to several English translations of this classic work concentrates on two key scenes of the play and discusses the linguistic, pragmatic and theatrical adequacy of each translation.


Author(s):  
Sajad Soleymani Yazdi

Since its conception in France in 1877, Comparative Literature, always subject to a critique of Eurocentrism, has been in a state of perpetual crisis. In “The Old/New Question of Comparison in Literary Studies: A Post-European Perspective” (2004), Ray Chow argued for a Post-European perspective in which comparatists begin with the home culture and look outwards to the European cultures, contrary to the dominant approach of doing just otherwise. Missing in Chow’s argument is the position of translation in this post-European perspective. In the 14 years between 2004 and 2018, the grandiose claims of comparative literature have been problematized and addressed; the lay of the land, however, remains predominantly Eurocentric, as it still focuses on content disproportionately. In this paper, through a study of English translations of Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, and taking Chow’s argument further, I argue that with its commitment to transfer the form of a text as much as the content, translation studies can further help comparative literature to distance itself from Europe. To exemplify the implication of this, I suggest that a translation of Khayyam’s Rubaiyat from Farsi to English would be more faithful to the original if its translations were to focus on the poem’s form rather than the content. I argue that translating with a focus on form would foreignize Khayyam’s poetry, hence an act of resistance against cultural hegemony.


Author(s):  
Khalfan S. Al Obaidani

Business annual reports are financial statements that contain key information about a company’s activities. The reports are distributed to interested parties (e.g. stockholders, creditors, financial analysts and customers) to satisfy their information requirements. In Oman, annual business reports are produced in English and translated into Arabic in order to provide Arab readers with vital information about the companies’ operations and their financial positions. This article analyzes lexical variations, i.e. financial and business terminologies in both English and Arabic versions of the annual reports. A comparison between the English and Arabic profiles of the reports found that the business terms, e.g. ‘currents assets’, ‘asset impairment’ and ‘changes in equity’ showed less variation than others that occurred more dominantly in earlier Arabic translations. This article contributes to the discipline of Translation Studies (TS) by investigating lexical variations of business terms within sociocultural and ideological contexts in Oman. It attempts to answer the following question, ‘with respect to business and financial terms, do the Arabic versions of the annual reports reflect the notion of standardization over the course of time in specific industrial domains?’ Qualitative methods are applied to compare, describe, and analyze the textual profiles of the two versions of the reports. It concludes that the Arabic business and financial terms have become more widely established over the course of time, thus reflecting the notion of standardization. Finally, this article suggests to integrate textual analysis with sociological input to have more insight into translation agents.


Author(s):  
Katherine J C Sang ◽  
Rafal Sitko

Whether researchers are using interviews, focus groups, or textual analysis, large amounts of data are produced. It can be daunting to manage and analyse the many thousands of words produced. The purpose of this chapter is to provide suggestions on how to move beyond describing what participants have said, to analysing the data. In this chapter researchers will learn more about the most common approaches to analysing qualitative data, namely, Grounded Theory, thematic and template analysis, discourse analysis and hermeneutics. Situations where each approach may be more suitable are suggested. By the end of the chapter readers should be able to identify which approach is appropriate to their data set. In addition, readers will be able to undertake robust analysis of their qualitative data.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 706
Author(s):  
Jing Chen

With the developments in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), the functional approach to translation studies (TS) has offered new perspective into understanding how translation can be viewed as the re-instantiation of Source Text (ST) in another language system as Target Text (TT).In literary texts, language variations such as literary dialects have long been considered challenges in translation, but literary dialects are also believed to be “valued” linguistic elements since non-standard language such as dialects are socially related and may trigger linguistic stereotypes among readers. In tune with the new development in SFL, the current research focuses on the English translations of dialects in Li Jieren’s Si Shui Wei Lan (死水微澜) which is rich in Sichuan dialects and are with linguistically varied voices. The purpose of this article is threefold: firstly, to briefly present the linguistic features of ST, revealing author’s intentional arrangement in his choices of dialects; secondly, with case studies to compare and discuss the translators’ choices in re-instantiating dialects from the perspective of coupling and commitment; finally, to offer suggestions for translating literary dialects. This paper argues that SFL helps translators pinpoint the linguistic features that are valued in ST and inform translators of alternative renderings. This paper adopts a descriptive approach to the triplet on how translators re-coupled and re-committed the language variations in the ST into TT, and it serves as a manifestation of how SFL applies to TS from a new angel.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 250
Author(s):  
Shibashis Mukherjee ◽  
Anupam Das

<em>Using Bengali texts and their English translations done by a set of English speaking native Bengali translators and another set of native English translators, we analyze how two specific Bengali emotion words (obhiman and lajja) have mapped onto English. In translating lajja translators use only three English words while for obhiman they choose an array of words with no consistency. This indicates that no English word represents a concept that is close to obhiman’s meaning suggesting that the concept represented by a particular emotion word in one language may not be totally captured in another language. Additionally, the findings indicate emotion words represent concepts with fuzzy borders (as suggested in scripts hypothesis) instead of dots in affect grids as envisioned in evaluation-potency-activity measurements. Such concepts vary in the spectrum of events they denote and in the degree to which they overlap. Subsequently, we, drawing from skopos theory, argue that cultural contexts in translation studies need to be considered rather than looking for exact equivalence of these emotion words.</em>


Author(s):  
Saliоnovych L.M. ◽  
Rubtsova V.V.

Явище перекладної множинності розглядається в статті як ефективний інструмент передачі культурно-національної своєрідності і неповторності ідіолекту письменника, аналіз зроблено на прикладі двох перекладів англійською мовою повісті І. Франка «Захар Беркут».Метою дослідження є зіставлення двох перекладів повісті І. Франка «Захар Беркут» англійською мовою, віддалених один від одного в часі, та відстеження засобів вирішення проблеми незбігання культурем мови оригіналу з системою культурем мови перекладу (асиметрії лінгвокультурем).Методи. Вибір теоретичних (контекстуальний і інтерпретаційний аналіз) та емпіричних (дескриптивний та порів-няльний) методів дослідження продиктований поставленою авторами метою дослідження.Результати. Розглянуто феномен перекладної множинності та еволюція цього поняття протягом останніх десятиліть у роботах вітчизняних і зарубіжних дослідників, зазначено терміни, якими оперує перекладознавство для опису явища (доместикація, форенізація, реінтерпретація). Досліджено сутність перекладацьких стратегій одомашнювання (домес-тикація) та відчуження (форенізація), їх місце серед інших потужних перекладацьких інструментів та взаємозв’язок з іншими класифікаціями та моделями перекладу, їх функціонування в парадигмі перекладної множинності при пере-кладі інтертекстуальних одиниць та текстів різних типів. Проаналізовано сутність інтерпретаційної моделі перекладу та розглянуто перекладацьку стратегію реінтерпретації, що розуміється як чинник перекладної множинності. Система-тизовано причини виникнення явища перекладної множинності, розглянуто п’ятнадцять постулатів, які узагальнюють характеристики та функції феномена перекладної множинності, досліджено питання діахронічної множинності пере-кладів. Зроблено огляд досліджень вчених в області лінгвокультурології, проаналізовано сутність терміна «культурема» та його відмінність від терміна «лінгвокультурема», зазначено багатоплановий характер поняття, підкреслено дуаль-ний характер цього явища, що розглядається як комбінація лінгвістичного та екстралінгвістичного компонентів змісту. З огляду на дослідження лінгвокультурології, в роботі проаналізовані та описані лінгвокультуреми, наявні в повісті І. Франка «Захар Беркут», і варіанти їх перекладу англійською мовою.Висновки. На прикладі порівняльного аналізу двох перекладів повісті І. Франка «Захар Беркут» показано, що здій-снення повторних перекладів дає змогу читачеві, що належить до іншої культури, більш повно осмислити зміст худож-нього твору. Точна передача перекладачем лінгвокультурем, що є носіями культурно значимої інформації, закодованої в лексичних одиницях, є необхідною умовою максимального наближення читача до національно-культурної самобутнос-ті художнього тексту оригіналу. The article deals with the study of translation multiplicity as a linguistic phenomenon, which is extremely relevant because the writer’s idiolect forms the uniqueness of the literary text, and this uniqueness should not be lost when translating the text into another language, especially if the text is retranslated at different times.The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze variants of translation of linguocultural units in translations of Ivan Franko's novel “Zakhar Berkut”.Methods. General scientific methods were used in the research, namely: theoretical – contextual and interpretive analysis, and empirical, in particular descriptive, due to the purpose of the study.Results. The phenomenon of translation multiplicity, which has been studied in translation studies for more than thirty years, is considered. It is noted that the first translations are naturalized, i.e. get under domestication, while retranslations get under foreignization, as the first translation aims to present the original text of new culture that is potentially reluctant to accept foreign text in the adapted form for gradual integration into it, while a re-translation demonstrates certain level of assimilation. Some scientists do not consider these postulates to be proven, so they put forward other theories about the phenomenon of translational multiplicity. Given the research of linguoculturologists, each language operates a certain system of culture units that characterize the uniqueness and difference of language from other ethnocultures, and based on this thesis, the linguocultural units in Ivan Franko’s novel “Zakhar Berkut” as well as variants of their translation into English have been analyzed and described.Conclusions. Linguocultural units transmit ethnoculture, they contain certain culturally important information encoded in lexical units. Understanding the national and cultural content of linguocultural unit acquires additional meaning when comparing translations, which is clearly demonstrated in the comparative analysis of two variants of I. Franko's novel translation. It is appropriate selection of linguistic equivalents of another language that allows complete reproduction of translated text, and the reader will perceive it as a unique, inimitable phenomenon, and the success of such a translation should be facilitated by the studies of the translation multiplicity.


2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Rezvani ◽  
Peyman Nouraey

Long since Translation Studies emerged as a nascent academic discipline, it has seen a considerable number of descriptive theories and models, among which, Catford’s (1965) translation ‘shift’ approach has garnered particular attention within the realm of translational comparative studies. Quranic texts have constantly been the center of attention, as the Quran has established itself as the most famous and sublime text in Arabic. As such, the present comparative study aimed at investigating the frequencies of different types of translation shifts occurring in translations form Arabic into English drawing on Catford’s (1956) shift typology. To this end, seven translations of the first thirty verses of the Chapter ‘Yusuf’ rendered by Sarwar, Arberry, Irring, Pickthall, Saffarzade, Shakir and Yusef Ali were selected to be studied. First, each element was compared for any probable shift(s). Then, the Chi-square procedure was applied in order to establish the existence of any statistically significant differences in shift frequencies. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between five types of shifts. The results also revealed that the most frequent translation shifts from Arabic into Persian were Unit shifts and Level shifts with a mean of 83 and 49 respectively.


Author(s):  
Guangjun Wu

Abstract Over the last two decades, ideology has evolved into a major issue in translation studies. In terms of the ideological explorations of translation, previous studies focused on the explicit or implicit ideological manifestations in translated texts, or how translation was used to serve ideology. Studies on the diachronic changes of translator’s ideology, however, remain scarce. This study of Howard Goldblatt’s English translations of three Chinese novels over three different periods finds that translators’ ideology is dynamic rather than static. In their translations, translators may follow the ideology of the source culture or that of the target culture, depending on the relative status of the source culture and the target culture as well as the capital possessed by the author and the translator. A sociological account is provided to explain the changes in translators’ ideology over time.


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