IN THIS ISSUE...
Editorial
Poetics and Politics
of Translation: Acculturation, Pedagogy and Assessment
Ali Darwish, Central Queensland University
Shocking as it may sound, there are those in
the translation industry and in certain quarters of academia who still,
towards the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, believe
that culture in translation is not important or at the very least cultural
literacy is acquired primarily through language learning and language
contact. This view seems to stem from the lingering notion of
communication as transmission that has dominated western scholarship for most of the last century. The inseparability of
communication and culture however stands uncontested in practical terms,
and every communication act is a cultural practice that adds to the
formation of cultural maps of individuals and communities...
Acculturation and
Translation: Chinese Translation History as a Case Study
Shi Aiwei, Xinzhou Teachers’
University, China
Translation today is hardly regarded
as a mere linguistic act. It is instead thought of as a cultural act. It
is no longer seen as a one-way act, but a two-way process through which
two relevant cultures interact or react (acculturate) with each other.
This paper studies the historical development of the Chinese translation
tradition, offering an explanation of the acculturation
process in different periods. There are four translation waves in Chinese
history, each having evidently different thoughts and attitudes toward
acculturation. The four waves are translation of Buddhist scriptures,
translation of the Bible and the Christian doctrines, translation of the
western philosophical thoughts and science, and translation since the year
1949 to the present time.
A Semantically Based and
Pragmatically Oriented Pedagogical Model of Translation
Adil Al-Khufaishi, Copenhagen University
The objective of this paper is to develop a
semantically based and pragmatically oriented model of translation. The
model serves as a guideline for trainee translators to help them identify
the semantic, textual, cultural, pragmatic, thematic and stylistic aspects
which should be considered in the translation processes of text analysis
and conversion. It also highlights the translation strategies that trainee
translators need to acquire. The model views the text as a subcomponent of
the communicative context, which in turn is a subcomponent of the context
of culture—the meaning of the textual elements is determined partly in
relation to their co-text, pre-text and post-text and partly in relation
to the parameters of the communicative event and the context of culture.
The model helps the trainee translators to make their own choices and reflect
upon the effects such choices. Decisions should not be made
solely on the basis of the Source Language text; rather equal attention should be
accorded to both Source Text and Target Text.
Scaling Untranslatability:
Evaluating Poetic Translation from the Reader's Perspective
Kadhim Ali, University of Basra
This paper attempts to launch a scaling
system for the translations of poetry based on readers’ responses. It
brings together three problematic and uneasy areas, namely the translation
of poetry, translation quality assessment and reader response. The aim is
to establish an objective scaling model of the quality of poetic translation(s) that is based on readers' responses. The most recurrent key
words in the responses of (25) proficient speakers of English (with
multicultural backgrounds) to three different translations of the renowned
Iraqi poet Badr Shakir As-Sayyab's "Song of Rain" are be elicited,
catalogued and used to form an evaluative scale.
The Turney Letters:
Linguistic Evidence of Fraudulent Authorship
Roger T Bell, University of
Westminster and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
This paper tests the authenticity of British
sailor Faye Turney's letters through evidence of idiosyncratic usages
which appear non-native and, from those, infer the existence of a covert
author, distinct from the overt writer. Probing the full texts of the
three letters for signs of idiosyncratic usage reveals that there are in
the region of 30 questionable occurrences, realized by an aggregate of 113
words in a total of 450.
This paper is a short forensic
linguistic case study which tests the hypothesis that, while there is no
doubt that Faye Turney wrote the letters, she is not the originator of
them: writer and author are not the same person. The motivation for the
study was to find linguistic evidence which would give substance to the
air of “foreignness” journalists and commentators sensed in the texts and,
by completing the investigation before information about the treatment of
the captives became publicly available (after 7th April), raise awareness
of the significant role forensic linguistics can and should play in
situations where the authenticity of texts is at issue.
Quality Control versus Quantity
Control in Training NAATI Translators and Interpreters
Leong Ko, University of
Queensland
In 2001, the Australian Department of
Immigration and Multicultural Affairs introduced a new policy that allowed
translation and/or interpreting practitioners with NAATI qualifications as
Translators and/or Interpreters to migrate to Australia. Since then, all
NAATI-approved programs at this level have been inundated with inquiries and
applications. New programs at both public and private training institutes
have been approved by NAATI, with many more still likely to be developed in
future.
This paper looks at various issues in this
area, including problems that have been identified with training, issues
surrounding quality control, impact on the translation and
interpreting market, the role of NAATI in overseeing the quality of
training, and the future prospects for translation and interpreting
training in Australia. It focuses on the training of NAATI
Translators/Interpreters and mainly deals with the Chinese language,
including Mandarin in the case of interpreting.
Implementation and
Evaluation of a New Learning Approach in Arabic: Implications for
Translator Training
Ghassan Hassan Al Shatter, Australian National University
Khalifa Ali
Al Suwaidi and Anil Sharma, United Arab Emirates University
This paper discusses planning and
implementing a new learning approach for teaching Arabic as part of the
University General Requirements Unit at the United Arab Emirates
University. The new learning approach challenges the traditional teaching
methodology used in the United Arab Emirates. The planning and
implementation scheme is analyzed, and training, teaching style, and
classroom management processes are evaluated. The study examines responses
by the University administration, faculty members, and students to the
introduction of this new teaching methodology. It suggests that teaching
standard Arabic as part of the University's general education requirements
is important for Arab students who wish to be successful in their studies
at the University as well as in their professional lives. The implications
for translators are also addressed.
