The Translational Turn

No contemporary development underscores the transnational linkage between the United States and Spanish-language América today more than the wave of in-migration from Spanish-language countries during the 1980s and 1990s. This development, among others, has made clear what has always been true, that the United States is part of Spanish-language América. Translation and oral communication from Spanish to English have been constant phenomena since before the annexation of the Mexican Southwest in 1848. The expanding number of counter-national translations from English to Spanish of Latinx fictional narratives by mainstream presses between the 1990s and 2010 is an indication of significant change in the relationship. A Translational Turn explores both the historical reality of Spanish to English translation and the “new” counter-national English to Spanish translation of Latinx narratives. More than theorizing about translation, this book underscores long-standing contact, such as code-mixing and bi-multilingualism, between the two languages in U.S. language and culture. Although some political groups in this country persist in seeing and representing this country as having a single national tongue and community, the linguistic ecology of both major cities and the suburban periphery, here and in the global world, is bilingualism and multilingualism.

What’s new in Translation Studies? In offering a critical assessment of recent developments in the young discipline, this book sets out to provide an answer, as seen from a European perspective today. Many “new” ideas actually go back well into the past, and the German Romantic Age proves to be the starting-point. The main focus lies however on the last 20 years, and, beginning with the cultural turn of the 1980s, the study traces what have turned out since then to be ground-breaking contributions (new paradigms) as against what was only a change in position on already established territory (shifting viewpoints). Topics of the 1990s include nonverbal communication, gender-based Translation Studies, stage translation, new fields of interpreting studies and the effects of new technologies and globalization (including the increasingly dominant role of English). The author’s aim is to stimulate discussion and provoke further debate on the current profile and future perspectives of Translation Studies.

Increasing attention has been paid to the agency of translators and interpreters, as well as to the social factors that permeate acts of translation and interpreting. In addition, agency and social factors are discussed in more interdisciplinary terms. Currently the focus is not only on translators or interpreters – i.e., the exploration of their inter/intra-social agency and identity construction (or on their activities and the consequences thereof), but also on other phenomena, such as the displacement of texts and people and issues of access and linguicism. The displacement of texts (whether written or oral) across time and space, as well as the geographic displacement of people, has encouraged researchers in Translation and Interpreting Studies to consider issues related to translation and interpreting through the lens of the Sociology of Language, Sociolinguistics, and Historiography. Researchers have employed a myriad of theoretical and methodological lenses borrowed from other disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Therefore, the interdisciplinarity of Translation and Interpreting Studies is more evident now than ever before. This volume, originally published as a special issue of Translation and Interpreting Studies (issue 7:2, 2012), is a perfect example of such interdisciplinarity, reflecting the shift that has occurred in Translation and Interpreting Studies around the world over the last 30 years.

In Translation and Rewriting in the Age of Post-Translation Studies, Edwin Gentzler argues that rewritings of literary works have taken translation to a new level: literary texts no longer simply originate, but rather circulate, moving internationally and intersemiotically into new media and forms. Drawing on traditional translations, post-translation rewritings and other forms of creative adaptation, he examines the different translational cultures from which literary works emerge, and the translational elements within them. In this revealing study, four concise chapters give detailed analyses of the following classic works and their rewritings: A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Germany Postcolonial Faust Proust for Everyday Readers Hamlet in China. With examples from a variety of genres including music, film, ballet, comics, and video games, this book will be of special interest for all students and scholars of translation studies and contemporary literature.

This volume introduces key concepts for a trans/national expansion in the study of culture. Using translation as an analytical category, it explores what is translatable and untranslatable between nation-specific approaches such as British/American cultural studies, German Kulturwissenschaften and other traditions in studying culture. The range of articles included in the book covers both theoretical reflections and specific case studies that analyze the tensions and compatibilities amongst contemporary perspectives on the study of culture. By testing various key concepts – translation, cultural transfer, travelling concepts – this volume reflects on an essential vocabulary and common points of reference for scholars seeking new frameworks and methodologies for the foundation of a trans/national study of culture that is commensurate with the entangled nature of our world society.

This collection brings together two leading figures in the discipline of translation studies. The essays cover a range of fields, and combine theory with practical case studies involving the translation of literary texts.

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A Companion to Translation Studies is the first work of its kind. It provides an authoritative guide to key approaches in translation studies. All of the essays are specially commissioned for this collection, and written by leading international experts in the field. The book is divided into nine specialist areas: culture, philosophy, linguistics, history, literary, gender, theatre and opera, screen, and politics. Contributors include Susan Bassnett, Gunilla Anderman and Christina Schäffner. Each chapter gives an in-depth account of theoretical concepts, issues and debates which define a field within translation studies, mapping out past trends and suggesting how research might develop in the future. In their general introduction the editors illustrate how translation studies has developed as a broad interdisciplinary field. Accompanied by an extensive bibliography, this book provides an ideal entry point for students and scholars exploring the multifaceted and fast-developing discipline of translation studies.