Translation Theory and Professional Practice: A Global Survey of the Great Divide

This paper is the result of a global survey carried out this year to around 1000 translators and interpreters, the majority of whom had university training in the area. The object of the survey was to investigate the habitus of the translator and to compare it with the academic belief in functionalism and the empowerment of the translator either as a mediator or as a social agent. The replies indicated strong responsibility towards the original text, and very little towards the reader or the wider community. Also, while the scholars appear to be convinced that their theories support the professional translator, in practice it would seem that university trained translators (and interpreters) rate theory very low on their list of ideal university training.Literature regarding the term “profession” is discussed as is what distinguishes an occupation from a profession. Classic trait theory suggests that a profession requires a number of minimum requisites, such as a well-grounded school of theory, influential professional bodies and professional exams. The ‘professional’ translators and interpreters were asked to explain in their own words what makes translating a profession. They also replied to questions on status.As a result of the replies it was possible to identify a large homogeneous yet scattered cottage industry. Their ‘professionality’ lies in their individually honed competencies in the field. They are dedicated and mainly satisfied wordsmiths, who take pride in their job. They decry “the cowboys” (from secretaries to students) while realising the seriousness of the competition due mainly to the very low status accredited to translators worldwide. Interpreters, on the other hand, saw themselves – and were seen by translators – as having a relatively high professional autonomy. Interestingly, relatively few of the respondents had only one “main role”. Gender is seen here as an important factor in this grouping.Finally, as a result of the replies, it is asked whether we (academics/translation trainers) are providing the theory and the training that will encourage the development of the profession – if indeed it can be defined as one

Translation Theory and Professional Practice: A Global Survey of the Great Divide

This paper is the result of a global survey carried out this year to around 1000 translators and interpreters, the majority of whom had university training in the area. The object of the survey was to investigate the habitus of the translator and to compare it with the academic belief in functionalism and the empowerment of the translator either as a mediator or as a social agent. The replies indicated strong responsibility towards the original text, and very little towards the reader or the wider community. Also, while the scholars appear to be convinced that their theories support the professional translator, in practice it would seem that university trained translators (and interpreters) rate theory very low on their list of ideal university training.Literature regarding the term "profession" is discussed as is what distinguishes an occupation from a profession. Classic trait theory suggests that a profession requires a number of minimum requisites, such as a well-grounded school of theory, influential professional bodies and professional exams. The 'professional' translators and interpreters were asked to explain in their own words what makes translating a profession. They also replied to questions on status.As a result of the replies it was possible to identify a large homogeneous yet scattered cottage industry. Their 'professionality' lies in their individually honed competencies in the field. They are dedicated and mainly satisfied wordsmiths, who take pride in their job. They decry "the cowboys" (from secretaries to students) while realising the seriousness of the competition due mainly to the very low status accredited to translators worldwide. Interpreters, on the other hand, saw themselves – and were seen by translators – as having a relatively high professional autonomy. Interestingly, relatively few of the respondents had only one "main role". Gender is seen here as an important factor in this grouping.Finally, as a result of the replies, it is asked whether we (academics/translation trainers) are providing the theory and the training that will encourage the development of the profession – if indeed it can be defined as one

La mediazione linguistica interculturale: il mediatore culturale e le sue competenze

Abstract – This chapter starts from the premise that a Masters course dedicated to Mediation should be clear about what ‘cultural mediation’ means in theory and in practice. As regards the theory, the chapter begins with an exploration of the meaning of the terms ‘mediator’ and ‘mediation’ both in terms of language mediation and cultural mediation. The competences necessary for successful Intercultural Communication (ICC) are discussed and a hypothetical organisation of competences for Cultural Mediators working with refugees is proposed, taking ideas from current inventories focussing on ICC. Two main areas are proposed: competencies based on Knowledge, Skills and Attitude; and also competencies related to Cultural Adjustment curves, taking the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity as an example. The article then discusses the situation in practice, focussing in particular on Italy, concluding with other scholars that the habitus of the cultural mediator is still that of a professional and personal ‘zone of uncertainty’

Trasladar la mirada del turista: del patrimonio cultural al encuentro auténtico

Este artículo se focaliza en dos áreas principales. La primera se ocupa de analizar los distintos aspectos del patrimonio, del turismo cultural y del encuentro con otras culturas, en la perspectiva de la mirada ‘cultural’ del turista, que elabora un modelo simplifi cado y distorsionado del ‘otro’. El modelo perceptivo es la cultura misma, que a continuación se estudia en tres diferentes niveles: el patrimonio; los usos y tradiciones de un pueblo; y, fi nalmente, el sistema de valores y creencias interiorizadas que conforman la representación de la realidad. En segundo lugar, el trabajo se centra en la traducción y en la interpretación en la perspectiva del ‘otro’, poniendo de relieve la escasa atención generalmente reservada a las competencias lingüísticas y culturales del traductor, y los problemas que plantea la mediación entre distintas culturas y miradas.This paper covers two main areas. The fi rst area is an analysis of the various facets of heritage, cultural tourism and tourist encounter with other cultures in terms of culture-bound tourist gaze, a simplifi ed, generalised and necessarily distorted model of ‘the Other’. The model of perception is culture itself, and is discussed in terms of 3 macro levels: heritage; the practices and traditions of a people; and the system of internal values and beliefs that both form the model of reality and guide it. Secondly, the paper focuses on translation and Outsider interpretation. It reveals how little emphasis is given either to translator language or to cultural competence, and focuses on the problems of mediating for the culture-bound tourist gaze

Literary Translation between Italian and English. Publishing trends in Italy, the UK and the USA

This study aims to investigate publishing trends in literary translation from English into Italian in Italy and from Italian into English in the UK and the USA over the 2000-2008 time span. The data were retrieved from the Index Translationum, an international bibliography of translations managed by UNESCO, and were then stored in three Microsoft Access databases, one for each country. The databases were analysed according to specific criteria, in order to determine trends concerning the amount of translated literature in the three countries, the main publishing houses dealing with translated works, and the most translated genres and authors. This paper is meant to provide a mainly descriptive, but necessary basis for future investigation of socio-cultural as well as market-led processes underlying publishers’ choices and gate-keeping in literary translation. Keywords: literary translation market; Index Translationum; most translated authors; most translated genres

Mechanisms of light energy harvesting in dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers

Since their earliest synthesis, much interest has arisen in the use of dendritic and structurally allied forms of polymer for light energy harvesting, especially as organic adjuncts for solar energy devices. With the facility to accommodate a proliferation of antenna chromophores, such materials can capture and channel light energy with a high degree of efficiency, each polymer unit potentially delivering the energy of one photon-or more, when optical nonlinearity is involved. To ensure the highest efficiency of operation, it is essential to understand the processes responsible for photon capture and channelling of the resulting electronic excitation. Highlighting the latest theoretical advances, this paper reviews the principal mechanisms, which prove to involve a complex interplay of structural, spectroscopic and electrodynamic properties. Designing materials with the capacity to capture and control light energy facilitates applications that now extend from solar energy to medical photonics. © 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

The role of multiple marks in epigenetic silencing and the emergence of a stable bivalent chromatin state

We introduce and analyze a minimal model of epigenetic silencing in budding yeast, built upon known biomolecular interactions in the system. Doing so, we identify the epigenetic marks essential for the bistability of epigenetic states. The model explicitly incorporates two key chromatin marks, namely H4K16 acetylation and H3K79 methylation, and explores whether the presence of multiple marks lead to a qualitatively different systems behavior. We find that having both modifications is important for the robustness of epigenetic silencing. Besides the silenced and transcriptionally active fate of chromatin, our model leads to a novel state with bivalent (i.e., both active and silencing) marks under certain perturbations (knock-out mutations, inhibition or enhancement of enzymatic activity). The bivalent state appears under several perturbations and is shown to result in patchy silencing. We also show that the titration effect, owing to a limited supply of silencing proteins, can result in counter-intuitive responses. The design principles of the silencing system is systematically investigated and disparate experimental observations are assessed within a single theoretical framework. Specifically, we discuss the behavior of Sir protein recruitment, spreading and stability of silenced regions in commonly-studied mutants (e.g., sas2, dot1) illuminating the controversial role of Dot1 in the systems biology of yeast silencing.Comment: Supplementary Material, 14 page

The impact of competing stroke etiologies in patients with atrial fibrillation.

BACKGROUND Data on the impact of competing stroke etiologies in stroke patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) are scarce. METHODS We used prospectively obtained data from an observational registry (Novel-Oral-Anticoagulants-in-Ischemic-Stroke-Patients-(NOACISP)-LONGTERM) of consecutive AF-stroke patients treated with oral anticoagulants. We compared the frequency of (i) the composite outcome of recurrent ischemic stroke (IS), intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) or all-cause death as well as (ii) recurrent IS alone among AF-stroke patients with versus without competing stroke etiologies according to the TOAST classification. We performed cox proportional hazards regression modeling adjusted for potential confounders. Furthermore, the etiology of recurrent IS was assessed. RESULTS Among 907 patients (median age 81, 45.6% female), 184 patients (20.3%) had competing etiologies, while 723 (79.7%) had cardioembolism as the only plausible etiology. During 1587 patient-years of follow-up, patients with additional large-artery atherosclerosis had higher rates of the composite outcome (adjusted HR [95% CI] 1.64 [1.11, 2.40], p = 0.017) and recurrent IS (aHR 2.96 [1.65, 5.35 ], p < 0.001), compared to patients with cardioembolism as the only plausible etiology. Overall 71 patients had recurrent IS (7.8%) of whom 26.7% had a different etiology than the index IS with large-artery-atherosclerosis (19.7%) being the most common non-cardioembolic cause. CONCLUSION In stroke patients with AF, causes other than cardioembolism as competing etiologies were common in index or recurrent IS. Concomitant presence of large-artery-atherosclerosis seems to indicate an increased risk for recurrences suggesting that stroke preventive means might be more effective if they also address competing stroke etiologies in AF-stroke patients. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NCT03826927