Translation, Heterogeneity, Linguistics

Translation, Heterogeneity, Linguistics — As an American translator of literary texts I devise and execute my projects with a distinctive set of theoretical assumptions about language and textuality, assumptions that highlight the power relations in any cultural situation and that therefore carry ethical and political implications for translation. Yet these assumptions, derived from recent European developments in literary and cultural theory (notably poststructuralism and postmarxist sociology), run counter to the linguistics-oriented approaches that currently dominate translation research and translator training, and that tend to construe language, textuality, and hence translation as relatively value-free means of communication. My article describes my conception of translation, considers how it has informed my recent translation projects — both the selection of foreign texts and the development of discursive strategies — and then examines its differences to linguistics-oriented approaches that are based on pragmatics and text linguistics. My aim is not to suggest that such approaches be abandoned, but rather that they be reconsidered from a different theoretical and practical orientation — one that will in turn be forced to rethink itself.Traduction, hétérogénéité, linguistique — En tant que traducteur américain de textes littéraires, je pense et réalise mes projets à partir d'un certain nombre d'hypothèses théoriques précises sur le langage et la textualité, hypothèses qui font ressortir les relations de pouvoir existant dans toute situation culturelle et qui donc ont des implications éthiques et politiques en traduction. Cependant, ces hypothèses, qui émanent de développements récents en théorie de la littérature et de la culture (notamment en sociologie poststructuraliste et postmarxiste) en Europe, vont à rencontre des approches axées sur la linguistique qui dominent aujourd'hui la recherche et la formation en traduction, et qui ont tendance à concevoir le langage, la textualité et donc la traduction comme des moyens de communication relativement « neutres ». Dans cet article, je décris ma conception de la traduction, analyse comment cette conception a informé mes récents projets de traduction — en matière tant de choix des textes étrangers que de mise en oeuvre de stratégies discursives — et j'examine enfin en quoi elle diffère des approches axées sur la linguistique qui sont fondées sur la pragmatique et la linguistique du texte. Je n'insinue pas par là que ces approches doivent être abandonnées, mais qu'elles soient réenvisagées en fonction d'une orientation théorique et pratique différente — qui à son tour, devra se remettre elle-même en question

Translation, History, Narrative

Every stage in the production, circulation and reception of a translation is profoundly marked by its historical moment, tracing a history that is distinct from the history of the foreign text. The historical nature of translation is apparent in the succession of varying methods that define it within a single culture, not only standards of accuracy, but the interpretation of the conceptual categories on which that standard is based, not only discursive strategies and the very linguistic texture of translations, but the conceptual discourses that translators inscribe in foreign texts as interpretations. Translation traditions can be sketched in which specific practices are repeatedly performed for decades, centuries, even millennia. The relations between translation universals and norms are subject to historical variation. A history of translation, like any history, endows translation practices with significance through a narrative form or mixture of forms, depending on the factors that the historian selects to describe the chronological succession of practices.Les étapes de production, de circulation et de réception d’une traduction sont profondément marquées par leur moment historique ; elles tracent une histoire différente de celle du texte étranger. Le caractère historique de la traduction est révélé par l’évolution des méthodes diverses qui la définissent au sein d’une même culture ; non pas tant les critères de fidélité que l’interprétation des catégories conceptuelles sur lesquelles reposent ces critères ; non pas tant les stratégies discursives et la texture purement linguistique des traductions que les discours conceptuels inscrits par les traducteurs dans les textes étrangers en tant qu’interprétations. On peut esquisser des traditions traductives dans les pratiques particulières qui ne cessent de se répéter au fil des décennies, des siècles, voire des millénaires. La variation historique est au coeur des rapports entre les universaux et les normes de traduction. Comme toute histoire, l’histoire de la traduction confère aux pratiques de traduction une forme ou plutôt un ensemble de formes narratives, selon les aspects que l’historien choisit pour décrire la suite chronologique de pratiques

Theses on Translation : an organon for the current moment

The theses offer a general theory of translation that encompasses the relation between theory and practice and the different models of translation that generate theoretical concepts like equivalence and ethics. The instrumental model that understands translation as a reproduction or transfer of a source-text invariant is critiqued, whereas a hermeneutic model that understands translation as an interpretation that varies the source text is advanced. Verbal choices are treated as interpretive moves that vary a range of textual features according to factors that are drawn decisively from the receiving culture where they are arranged in hierarchies of value. The interpretive act performed by translation is informed by global cultural hierarchies in which value is distributed unevenly across major and minor languages, redefining the ethical and political stakes of a translation project.Les tesis ofereixen una teoria general de la traducció que abasta la relació entre teoria i pràctica i els models de traducció, que generen conceptes teòrics com equivalència i ètica. L'article critica el model instrumental, que entén la traducció com una reproducció o transferència d'un text de partida invariable, mentre que abona l'hermenèutic, que l'entén com una interpretació que altera el text de partida. Les tries lèxiques es consideren maniobres interpretatives que fan variar una sèrie de característiques textuals segons factors que s'extreuen de la cultura receptora, en què es disposen a partir del valor jeràrquic que hi tenen. En l'acte interpretatiu de traduir hi influeixen jerarquies culturals universals, en les quals el valor es distribueix de manera desigual en les llengües grans i les petites, la qual cosa redefineix els interessos ètics i polítics d'un projecte de traducció

“Wozu image?” / What’s the point of images? Exploring the relation between image and text through intersemiotic translation and its embodied experience

“Wozu Image?” is a two-hour workshop held as part of “(e)motion,” the second Cultural Literacy in Europe (CLE) Biennial Conference which took place in Warsaw on May 10-12, 2017. In our session, we expanded the themes of the “Wozu Poesie?” exhibition, first held in Berlin in 2013, which, with thanks to Haus für Poesie (formerly Literatur Werkstatt Berlin), was shown as part of the conference. The workshop explored, through intersemiotic translation and its embodied experience, the relation between image and text, and what it means to put oneself in the picture. In this paper, we contextualise this artivism, or metaphorical “act of war,” in relation to photography. Artivism is a composite word that denotes “an activist action directed to creating change through the medium and resources of art” (Poposki 718). We report and record the processes and outcomes of the workshop with the aim of opening up intersemiotic translation (translation as encounter and experience across different media) to explorations beyond words and across disciplines. Specifically, we explore the production of text in relation to images as a way of thinking through a problem and answering questions, and the composition of an image as a way to embody thoughts on cultural literacy

Sono utili i Translation Studies per la pratica della traduzione?

The starting point for the present contribution is that professional translators as well as editors tend to consider the theoretical debate on translation with mistrust. By looking at the translation process in its various phases, this paper aims to demonstrate how theory does, as a matter of fact, provide a 'meta-language' that can be of great help in the training of prospective translators, while at the same time offering useful tools for an evaluation of the translated text that goes beyond a merely impressionistic critique, based on individual taste. Furthermore, this paper discusses a number of theoretical concepts developed in the field of translation theory that can be of use to the translator's analytical work before, during, and after his/her activity of transcodification

Performing Heteroglossia: The 'Translating Theatre' Project in London

London is home to more than eight million people who speak more than three hundred languages, but the theatre scene in the British capital far from adequately represents this cultural richness and diversity. London theatre remains predominantly white, British, middle-class, and performed in the standard London dialect and accent combination. In the first part of this article I offer a contextualization and classification of types of heteroglossia available to London theatre-goers. In the second part, I describe my research project "Translation, Adaptation, Otherness: 'Foreignisation' in Theatre Practice". The aim of the project was to investigate new strategies in theatre translation that would enable us to disrupt audience expectation and challenge ethnocentrism. In this article, I assess the difficulties we encountered and the audience's response to our experiments. The project offered many timely opportunities to interrogate perceptions of "foreignness" among London-based theatre-makers, scholars, and spectators, immediately following the "Brexit" referendum vote