6 research outputs found
Target-cultural âfactsâ â Do they really exist?: A critical assessment of Touryâs Descriptive Translation Studies
Gideon Toury pioneered Descriptive Translation Studies as a science based on observation, (re)defining translation as a target-cultural âfactâ and, thus, shifting the focus to the translation as a product which can and should be studied without any methodological presumptions. However, this proves illusive, as it falsely supposes neutrality in research. Arguing that there could be no strict separation between description and evaluation, I will argue thatâ if we are to fully understand its complex natureâtranslation cannot be properly viewed as an exclusively target-cultural phenomenon. An overview of some alternative concepts that allow a more balanced perspective will be given
Target-cultural âfactsâ â Do they really exist? A critical assessment of Touryâs Descriptive Translation Studies
Gideon Toury pioneered Descriptive Translation Studies as a science based on observation, (re)defining translation as a target-cultural âfactâ and, thus, shifting the focus to the translation as a product which can and should be studied without any methodological presumptions. However, this proves illusive, as it falsely supposes neutrality in research. Arguing that there could be no strict separation between description and evaluation, I will argue thatâ if we are to fully understand its complex natureâtranslation cannot be properly viewed as an exclusively target-cultural phenomenon. An overview of some alternative concepts that allow a more balanced perspective will be given
Transcultural Misunderstandings: The bilingual practice of Milan Kundera and the search for âThe Jokeâ
Milan Kunderaâs critical views and his difficult relationship to translation and translators has been
frequently a subject of heated discussion and debate among translation scholars and experts. While
some show understanding and sympathy for Kunderaâs radical attitude and his uncompromising
demand for fidelity, others see in him an author who desperately wants to assert his authority as sole
owner of the text, referring to his interventions in the translation process as expression of an
âessentialistâ desire or need to control meaning translingually. While demanding utmost loyalty from
translators, Kundera himself takes full liberty when translating his own work, making significant
editions and creating different versions of the same text in different languages. The history of his novel
The Joke is symptomatic of the contradictions pertinent to Kunderaâs bilingual practice. In this paper,
I will discuss the problem of translation and the relationship between original and translation in
Kunderaâs work. Drawing on the themes of misunderstanding, remembrance and forgetting in The
Joke, it will be argued that Kundera deliberately uses misunderstanding as a special mode of
reading/writing. While apparently seeking to create a âdefiniteâ version, Kunderaâs rewriting practice
rather erases boundaries and raise serious questions regarding what can be considered a translation and
what is supposed to be an original
Von den Möglichkeiten translatorischen Handelns: Eine performative, ausgangskulturorientierte Perspektive am Beispiel Antoine Gallands und der âTausend und eine Nachtâ
This article deals with the translation history of the Arabic narratives of the âThousand and One Nightsâ from a performative, source culture-oriented perspective. The two-stage nature of the translation process as interlingual/bilingual communication implies a one-dimensional linearity that determines the relationship between source and target text. The effects of translation on the production/reception of the source text fall beyond the conceptual scope of the concept of translation and cannot, in principle, be dealt with in a translation-theoretical framework, resulting in a static-genetic conception of the source text as a âsourceâ. I will use the 'Thousand and One Nights' to argue that a new concept of translation as a performative movement towards the source text can better demonstrate the complexity of translational action and expand the interpretative possibilities of translation as an interaction between a source text and a target text. The role of Antoine Galland and his translation of the âThousand and One Nightsâ (Les mille et une nuits) is highlighted
Translation als Mythos
This paper investigates the reception history of the Danish Poet and fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen in 19th-century Germany and its influence on his (auto)biographical depiction. Like many Scandinavian poets, Andersen discovered Germanyâs literary potential and took advantage of it to further his career. In most cases, he was pictured as a genius who suffered systematic underestimation in Denmark. This narrative which determined his reception plays a central role in his German autobiography MĂ€rchen meines Lebens (Fairy Tale of my Life). Analyzing Andersenâs autobiographical discourse, I will reconstruct the process of the construction of Andersenâs (auto)biographical myth, emphasizing translationâs role in shaping autobiographical narratives
Von den Möglichkeiten translatorischen Handelns: Eine performative, ausgangskulturorientierte Perspektive am Beispiel Antoine Gallands und der âTausend und eine Nachtâ
Dieser Artikel beschĂ€ftigt sich mit der Translationsgeschichte der Arabischen ErzĂ€hlungen der âTausend und eine Nachtâ aus einer performativen, ausgangskulturorientierten Perspektive. Die Zweistufigkeit des Translationsprozesses als interlingualer/zweisprachiger Kommunikation impliziert eine eindimensionale LinearitĂ€t, die die Beziehung zwischen Ausgangs- und Zieltext bestimmt. Die Effekte der Translation auf Produktion/Rezeption des Ausgangstextes fallen jenseits der konzeptuellen Reichweite des Translationsbegriffes und können prinzipiell nicht in einem translationstheoretischen Rahmen behandelt werden, was in einer statisch-genetischen Konzeption vom Ausgangstext als âQuelleâ resultiert. Ich werde anhand der âTausend und eine Nachtâ argumentieren, dass eine neue Auffassung der Translation als performative Bewegung in Richtung Ausgangstext die KomplexitĂ€t translatorischen Handelns besser zeigen und die interpretativen Möglichkeiten der Translation als Interaktion zwischen einem Ausgangstext und einem Zieltext erweitern kann. Dabei wird die Rolle Antoine Gallands und seiner Ăbersetzung der âTausend und eine Nachtâ (Les mille et une nuits) hervorgehoben.This article deals with the translation history of the Arabic narratives of the âThousand and One Nightsâ from a performative, source culture-oriented perspective. The two-stage nature of the translation process as interlingual/bilingual communication implies a one-dimensional linearity that determines the relationship between source and target text. The effects of translation on the production/reception of the source text fall beyond the conceptual scope of the concept of translation and cannot, in principle, be dealt with in a translation-theoretical framework, resulting in a static-genetic conception of the source text as a âsourceâ. I will use the 'Thousand and One Nights' to argue that a new concept of translation as a performative movement towards the source text can better demonstrate the complexity of translational action and expand the interpretative possibilities of translation as an interaction between a source text and a target text. The role of Antoine Galland and his translation of the âThousand and One Nightsâ (Les mille et une nuits) is highlighted