Analysing Irony for Translation

This paper investigates the question of whether the classifications and general descriptions of irony, as true as they may seem, are plausible enough for enquiries into areas such as translation. The generic and philosophical analysis criteria provided by the literary criticism, literary theory and pragmatic approaches hover around broad interpretive models of irony. These criteria are impractical for the analysis of irony for translation purposes, although the translation of irony relies essentially on interpretation and creative reformulation. This is particularly the case when dealing with typologically distant languages, such as Arabic and English, in a specific text-type. To be able to “work” with ironic texts there is a need for a more objective and applicable approach, which considers the identification of formal and rhetorical devices of ironic texts, hence a linguistic analysis that explains the communicative function of these devices at both the utterance and discourse structure levels.Cet article étudie pour la traduction et la traductologie l’utilité des classifications et descriptions générales de l’ironie émanant des domaines de la critique littéraire, de la théorie littéraire et de la pragmatique. L’auteur suggère que les critères philosophiques et génériques adoptés dans ces domaines ne peuvent être appliqués à l’analyse de l’ironie dans la traduction, bien que la traduction de l’ironie soit un procès d’interprétation et de reformulation créative. C’est le cas en particulier quand on essaie de rendre l’ironie dans deux langues aux typologies différentes, telles que l’anglais et l’arabe, dans un type textuel spécifique, comme le commentaire politique. La traduction de l’ironie exige une approche plus objective et appliquée susceptible d’identifier les dispositifs formels et rhétoriques de l’ironie ; elle requiert, plus exactement, une analyse linguistique à même de mettre en relief, sur le plan de la phrase comme sur le plan du discours, la fonction communicative des textes d’ironie

SoLo T-DIRL: Socially-Aware Dynamic Local Planner based on Trajectory-Ranked Deep Inverse Reinforcement Learning

This work proposes a new framework for a socially-aware dynamic local planner in crowded environments by building on the recently proposed Trajectory-ranked Maximum Entropy Deep Inverse Reinforcement Learning (T-MEDIRL). To address the social navigation problem, our multi-modal learning planner explicitly considers social interaction factors, as well as social-awareness factors into T-MEDIRL pipeline to learn a reward function from human demonstrations. Moreover, we propose a novel trajectory ranking score using the sudden velocity change of pedestrians around the robot to address the sub-optimality in human demonstrations. Our evaluation shows that this method can successfully make a robot navigate in a crowded social environment and outperforms the state-of-art social navigation methods in terms of the success rate, navigation time, and invasion rate

Fully Proprioceptive Slip-Velocity-Aware State Estimation for Mobile Robots via Invariant Kalman Filtering and Disturbance Observer

This paper develops a novel slip estimator using the invariant observer design theory and Disturbance Observer (DOB). The proposed state estimator for mobile robots is fully proprioceptive and combines data from an inertial measurement unit and body velocity within a Right Invariant Extended Kalman Filter (RI-EKF). By embedding the slip velocity into $\mathrm{SE}_3(3)$ Lie group, the developed DOB-based RI-EKF provides real-time accurate velocity and slip velocity estimates on different terrains. Experimental results using a Husky wheeled robot confirm the mathematical derivations and show better performance than a standard RI-EKF baseline. Open source software is available for download and reproducing the presented results.Comment: github repository at https://github.com/UMich-CURLY/slip_detection_DOB. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1805.10410 by other author

Irony : a mutli-disciplinary approach to the translation of a literary concept

Irony, employed historically in prose, poetry and conversation in Arabic and English, is a highly rhetorical and elusive tool, and is difficult to define in terms of style and language. Variable features affect the quality of irony, and studies dedicated to its use, in general, have tackled the concept from its poetic standpoint and stopped short of delving into its formal realization (Booth, 1974; Handwerk, 1985; Finlay, 1990; Muecke, 1969, 1982; Muir, 1990; Winner, 1988; Hutcheon, 1995; Simpson, 2004). Although they differ in detail, these studies unanimously stress the duality of meaning in irony

The translation of irony in Australian political commentary texts from English into Arabic

The main thesis of this study is that the translation of irony from English into Arabic in commentary texts in Australia is not amenable to traditional translation theories. The way Arabic and English speakers employ irony to express themselves reflects the linguistic and cultural distance between both languages. To tackle this problem, the study ventures into a contrastive analysis with reference to a number of linguistic and non-linguistic devices and concepts. It concentrates on the interpretation and the linguistic realisation of irony in both languages by utilising a number of contemporary linguistic models. The research takes the view that ironic devices are the foundation of the structural development of the texts in question. To demonstrate this, the speech act and conversational theories are used. The interaction between the ironic devices and the text development constitute a framework for the overall rhetorical meaning of the text. After an overview of the relevant literature of translation, contrastive analysis and comparative stylistics, an analysis/translation model is devised and implemented. A thorough contrastive analysis is made of English and Arabic commentary texts. Similarities and differences between the Arabic and English texts are found. Discrepancies were observed in the form, function and the number of ironic devices used in both languages. Based on the findings seven general strategies are proposed for the translation of irony in Australian commentary texts from English into Arabic

Revision for quality

This article argues that revision for translation quality control is a specialist subfield of translation criticism. It discusses the competence and skills required for revision, guided by established quality assessment criteria and ethical behaviour. As such, it devises consistent parameters for the revision process that maintains the integrity of both the source and target texts based on translation, contrastive analysis, and translation criticism studies. The article is not concerned with the relative weighting of individual errors, although it, indirectly, argues that a defensible, professional revision gives a fair assessment of the translators’ competence

Contribution of prosodic and paralinguistic cues to the translation of evidentiary audio recordings

This study examines accuracy in the translation and transcription of evidentiary audio recordings in the Australian context. Verbatim translation requested by crime agencies and courts is investigated and translation and transcription methods are suggested with reference to conversation analysis. The purpose of evidentiary audio recordings dictates a faithful translation; however, the prevalent 'written to be read' translation and transcription styles used by crime agencies can jeopardise the output, given the problems created in reflecting the speakers' intentions, moods, power and attitudes. The credibility of transcripts when tendered in evidence in court hinges on the quality of the translation. In addition to the stylistic accuracy of the translation of speakers' interactions, the present paper argues that important discursive information exhibited in the suprasegmental features in conversation should be documented on transcripts, including prosodic and paralinguistic elements, such as intonation, timing of responses and volume. When strategically used, these features can help in placing the last pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, and producing 'audible', 'written to be read as if spoken' texts

Translating Irony: An Interdisciplinary Approach with English and Arabic as a Case in Point

The main premise of this book is that the translation of irony is not amenable to conventional translation theories. Taking English and Arabic as a case in point, the way speakers of this pair of languages employ this pervasive tool to express their attitude reflects the linguistic and cultural distance between these languages, and adds a significant translation problem to the interpretive challenge

Translating irony in political commentary texts from English into Arabic

This paper investigates strategies for the translation of irony in English editorials and feature articles into Arabic. It explores an area that has not been adequately tackled in a linguistic framework either on the individual language analysis level or the translation level. The plan to achieve this consists of five steps: (1) describing lexical, grammatical and rhetorical devices of irony from Arabic and English editorials and feature articles, written in Australia on identical political topics and at the same period; (2) describing the linguistic exponents of the rhetorical devices of irony in English and Arabic; (3) explaining the relation between ironic devices and coherence and text structure; (4) conducting a contrastive analysis based on the findings; and (5) using the findings to suggest strategies for the translation of irony. Several linguistic disciplines and sub-disciplines are invoked for the explanation of the concept of irony, namely, stylistics, discourse, sociolinguistics, behavioural linguistics and psycholinguistics, considering that irony pertains to a 'discourse semantic' field (Van Dijk 1977)

Communicating through translation with Arab migrants in Australia

Translation in countries with a large migrant population plays a significant role in providing social services and in helping migrants and refugees who do not speak the language of their host countries be aware of their rights and responsibilities. This paper investigates the translation of community texts into Arabic in Australia, which aims at providing social justice to migrants and maintaining their languages and cultures. Despite the existence of an established national body and institutions that accredit and train translators, translation for Arab migrants still suffers from problems that hinder these goals and render lip service to the Arabic language because of the prevalence of subjective interference and inappropriate transfer process. This paper discusses the challenges, and investigates the competency of translators and their ability to deal with the cultural dominance of the host country. It investigates and suggests solutions to the factors that impact on the process of producing accurate and accessible translation. As such, it addresses the peculiarities of the types, styles and language of texts requiring translation, as well as the peculiarities of the Australian public service system and terminologies