Le traducteur et son image. Étude des couvertures d’ouvrages de traductologie

The front cover of a book usually contains the title, the authors’names, the publisher’s logo and an illustration. All these elements announce the content of the book, and the paraverbal elements (illustration, typographical arrangement…) can also be used to awaken the curiosity of the potential reader. This article deals with the reproductions of art works chosen by the editors for the front covers of Translation Studies books. Cover illustrations are treated here as a kind of “definition of translator’s work through a pictorial metaphor”, i.e. as a representation of how translation can be understood or as an indication of its important features. The analysis of these illustrations shows the various means used by the publishers of Translation Studies books to define translation through pictures.

Traduire l’Ekphrasis. Le cas des Fleurs du mal de Baudelaire en Iran

Cultural exchanges between Iran and France started over three centuries ago. In spite of the strong relationship between the two countries, some books such as Les Fleurs du mal (Flowers of Evil) went unnoticed in Iranian society. In addition to the literary value of the book, we propose to study ekphrasis in Baudelaire’s poems and its translation into Persian. Its meaning being that of a general description an artwork (imaginary or real), the term ekphrasis belongs to an interdisciplinary field of literature and art where the textual challenges we face may vary from one to another. To narrow down our study, we will focus on four chosen poems that have a minimum of two published translations in Persian, thus allowing the opportunity for a comparative study. These chosen poems, “La Beauté”, “L’Invitation au voyage”, “Les Plaintes d’un Icare” and “Femmes damnées” (“Delphine et Hippolyte”) as well as our corpus translation in Persian, are being studied and analysed through Descriptive Translation Studies. The analysis focuses on the ekphrastic aspect of these poems, their translations into Persian through syntactic and semantic levels and the influence of culture and society on the translation.

Traduire l’histoire : entre paroles et images

In an age when the global dissemination of digital information is transforming the way we read and write by foregrounding the interdependence of visual/verbal elements and languages, the reconstruction of identity and history in digital environments challenges binary translation processes. From this perspective, we interrogate the integration of visual and verbal elements in three Wikipedia articles, written in Polish, English, and Portuguese, about the topic “Polish death camp”. What is the role of translation in the semiotic construction of historical discourses in these articles? What are the conflicts generated by translated denominations? How do Wikipedia communities engage with the production of these cognitiverepresentations? This paper attempts to answer these questions.

Fonctionnement interlingual des mèmes humoristiques : entre création, interprétation et traduction

The article focuses on the multisemiotic functioning of Internet memes in communication through the web, focused, among other things, on a humorous effect. The role of the image, first of all, in the creation of the Internet meme and also in its re-application in a multicultural and interlingual environment seems fundamental. This iconic element is part of the large and varied number of relationships with other types of signs (linguistic, cultural, discursive). It seems that the question of the typological diversity of image-text relations (in the very broad sense of it) can be addressed from a variety of perspectives that involve not only a philosophy of translation, but also an approach to humorous communication on the Internet. The article aims to analyse the nature of the relationship that unites an iconic element with a linguistic element that constitutes the essence of the message conveyed by internet memes.

Transmettre aux aveugles le comique d’une production multimédia. Étude d’un cas

In this paper the author demonstrates the limits of audio description in the transfer of the humorous effects of a film comedy which constitute the “semantic dominant” of this kind of production. The analysis is illustrated by examples from Philippe de Chauveron’s film, À bras ouverts (2017). In this form of intersemiotic translation, the lack of certain visual data can block the possibility of understanding the comic by blind or visually impaired people. The author tries to propose some solutions to this problem in the form of creative audio description.

Peut-on traduire une image? Implications de la créativité dans la traduction de textes audiovisuels

Multimodality is an integral characteristic of Audiovisual Translation. Regardless of type and genre, audiovisual texts (i.e. film, TV series, videogame) are above all semiotic constructs comprising several signifying codes that operate simultaneously in the production of meaning. While audiences mechanically receive and interpret the information transmitted by each of these codes and signs, audiovisual translators must know their functioning and consider their possible impact on translation operations. In this context, images represent one of the major challenges to ensure coherence within audiovisual translation. This paper sets out to explore the main strategies used to explicit iconographic information in the target text. These practices typically involve, but are not limited to, the inclusion of linguistic signs related to the icon as well as the inclusion of signs belonging to other meaning codes, thanks to the possibilities that new technologies and digitalization now offer. Linked to the notions of transcreation and localization, these help target audiences fill gaps in the understanding of audiovisual texts, but also promote overtranslation. This may lead to an extreme domestication, a phenomenon in which foreign cultures would be erased. In this regard, we wonder if such practices will not assume a paternalistic approach to target audiences.

Interprète simultané par rapport à l’image

The aim of this article is to signal the possible relationships between the simultaneous interpreter and the image in its widest sense. In this communicative situation, attention is first paid to the text of the oral presentation, the meaning of which is conveyed by the interpreter. However, this meaning is also made up of visual elements that the interpreter faces and which make the interpretation inter-semiotic and multimodal. Three different types of simultaneous interpreter/image relationships will be outlined: firstly, the whole interpreting communicative situation can become an image if remote interpretation is necessary, secondly, it is the speaker who can be understood as an image, thirdly, the speaker can refer to previously prepared images. Then, by means of a pilot study, it will be checked whether and how experienced simultaneous interpreters relate the speaker to the picture when the picture presented is not redundant with what is being said, but complements the speech. The main question is whether and how it will be verbalized. Possible ways of extending the study will also be discussed.

Audiodescription des arts plastiques. Autoportrait de Dora Maar

The article addresses the problem of intersemiotic translation: translating images into words. The first part deals with the issue of image hermeneutics. Following this, eye tracking research is briefly described and museum audio description for the blind and visually impaired is introduced. A case study of Self-portrait of Dora Maar is carried out, highlighting the importance of sight in the artist’s work. The text tries to answer the following questions: Who and using which techniques and strategies should translate images into words for recipients with visual disabilities, so that the translation is satisfactory and adapted to their perception? How to provide a visually impaired person with an aesthetic experience without imposing our own perception of the image on them?

Former à la traduction multimodale

Many books designed for international distribution combine text blocks and images. Their layout offers hybrid messages organized on the visual space of a double page. Texts both in the original language and in translation must fit into limited spaces or boxes positioned around illustrations. Thus, translators practice multimodal translation, writing texts that preserve or enhance the cohesion between visual and textual messages. This skill requires some training. Unfortunately, while theoretical writings on pragmatic translation acknowledge its intersemiotic nature, few training programs address this aspect. The creation of a course on multimodal translation would be a valued addition to any translator training program. The concept of a hybrid translation unit offers a way of structuring material to introduce both intersemiotic and multimodal translation in professional curricula. The author draws on her professional experience to discuss the role of illustrations in grasping meaning through practical examples. She suggests generalizable translation strategies to strengthen text-image cohesion, or even generate text from images alone, while adapting the book in translation to its intended readership.

Entre texte et image : réflexions sur la traduction des titres de tableaux de Paul Gauguin

The aim of this article is to analyse the translation strategies used to translate Paul Gauguin’s painting titles from Tahitian and French to Polish. We will analyse the titles that the artist painted directly on the canvases by making them invariant just like the image itself. The translations analysed come from works on Gauguin’s art and Impressionism, published in Polish since the 1960s of the 20th century.