The Role Of Discourse Analysis For Translation And In Translator Training

It has been widely recognised that an in-depth textual analysis of a source text is relevant for translation. This book discusses the role of Discourse Analysis for translation and translator training. One particular model of discourse analysis is presented in detail, and its application in the context of translator training is critically examined.

Discourse analytic approaches are central to translator training and translation analysis, but have been somewhat overlooked in recent translation studies. This volume sets out to rectify this marginalization. It considers the evolution of the use of discourse analysis in translation studies, presents current research from ten leading figures in the field and provides pointers for the future. Topics range from close textual analysis of cohesion, thematic structure and the interpersonal function to the effects of global English and the discourses of cyberspace. The inherent link between discourse and the construction of power is evident in many contributions that analyse institutional power and the linguistic resources which mark translator/interpreter positioning. An array of scenarios and languages are covered, including Arabic, Chinese, English, German, Korean and Spanish. Originally published as a special issue of Target 27:3 (2015).

This edited thematic collection features latest developments of discourse analysis in translation and interpreting studies. It investigates the process of how cultural and ideological intervention is conducted in translation and interpreting using a wide array of discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistic approaches and drawing on empirical data from the Chinese context. The book is divided into four main sections: I. uncovering positioning and ideology in interpreting and translation, II. linking linguistic approach with socio-cultural interpretation, III. discourse analysis into news translation and IV. analysis of multimodal and intersemiotic discourse in translation. The different approaches to discourse analysis provide a much-needed contribution to the field of translation and interpreting studies. This combination of discourse analysis and corpus analysis demonstrates the interconnectedness of these fields and offers a rich source of conceptual and methodological tools. This book will appeal to scholars and research students in translation and interpreting studies, cross-linguistic discourse analysis and Chinese studies.

Translation study programs have always been torn between the expectations placed on them to provide students with a comprehensive education at an academic level but at the same time to prepare them for the demands of the professional translation market. There is, furthermore, an ongoing debate about a supposed gap between translation theory and practice. Several, often opposing claims have been put forward concerning the usefulness of theory to professionals and students and how and when to best implement theoretical courses in translation curricula. The aim of this book is to provide an overview of the different opinions and expectations that have been put forward in the literature and to test some of these claims empirically on student subjects who have been trained with either a practical or a theoretical focus on translation. It thus gives insights into the role of both theoretical and practical aspects in translator training and the ways in which each of them can contribute to the development of translation competence.

Text Analysis in Translation has become a classic in Translation Studies. Based on a functional approach to translation and endebted to pragmatic text linguistics, it suggests a model for translation-oriented source-text analysis applicable to all text types and genres independent of the language and culture pairs involved. Part 1 of the study presents the theoretical framework on which the model is based, and surveys the various concepts of translation theory and text linguistics. Part 2 describes the role and scope of source-text analysis in the translation process and explains why the model is relevant to translation. Part 3 presents a detailed study of the extratextual and intratextual factors and their interaction in the text, using numerous examples from all areas of professional translation. Part 4 discusses the applications of the model to translator training, placing particular emphasis on the selection of material for translation classes, grading the difficulty of translation tasks, and translation quality assessment. The book concludes with the practical analysis of a number of texts and their translations, taking into account various text types and several languages (German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Dutch).

A Discourse Analysis of News Translation in China offers hitherto underexplored inroads into Chinese media through insider perspectives on a unique Chinese newspaper, Cankao Xiaoxia which not only is the largest circulating newspaper in China but is also unique in that its news consists entirely of stories translated from foreign news sources. The size of the publication, the unique nature of the publication, and the view from the inside of such an organization gathered through interviews with its employees give this proposed book a highly unique perspective that will inform our understanding of the workings of Chinese media in important ways.

The book presents a range of theoretical and practical approaches to the teaching of the twin professions of interpreting and translating, covering a variety of language pairs. All aspects of the training process are addressed - from detailed word-level processing to student concerns with their careers, and from the setting of examinations to the standardisation of marking. The articles show very clearly the strengths and needs, the potential and vision of interpreter and translator training as it exists in countries around the world. The experience of the authors, who are all actively engaged in training interpreters and translators, demonstrates the innovative, practical and reflective approaches which are proving invaluable in the formation of the next generation of professional translators and interpreters. While many of them are being trained in universities, they are being prepared for a life in the real world of business and politics through the use of authentic texts and tools and up-to-date methodology.