Translating Text And Context

Contexts in Translating is designed to help translators understand the varieties of contexts and their importance for understanding a text and reproducing the meaning in another language. The contexts include the historical setting of writing a text, the cultural components that make a text unique, the types of audiences for which the translation is intended, and the most efficient and effective ways of producing a satisfactory representation of the source-language text. The structural levels of language are described, and the principal features of text organization are also explained. In addition, the main features of various books on translation are outlined, and a chapter on basic theories of translation is followed by a selective bibliography.

The notion of voice has been used in a number of ways within Translation Studies. Against the backdrop of these different uses, this book looks at the voices of translators, authors, publishers, editors and readers both in the translations themselves and in the texts that surround these translations. The various authors go on a hunt for translational agents’ voice imprints in a variety of textual and contextual material, such as literary and non-literary translations, book reviews, newspaper articles, academic texts and e-mails. While all stick to the principle of studying text and context together, the different contributions also demonstrate how specific textual and contextual circumstances require adapted methodological solutions, ending up in a collection that takes steps in a joint direction but that is at the same time complex and pluralistic. The book is intended for scholars and students of Translation Studies, Comparative Literature, and other disciplines within Language and Literature.

This title is a collection of contributions illustrating research interests and achivements in translation studies at the turn of the 21st century. The contributions show how the context of translation has expanded to cover documentation techniques, cultural and psychological factors, computer tools, ideological issues, media translation and methodologies. A total of 32 papers deal with aspects such as conceptual analysis in translation studies, situational, sociological and political factors, and psychological and cognitive aspects of translation.

This book derives empirical evidence for the didactic value of translating texts in context through an experiment involving final-year undergraduate students who study translation as a basic component of their curriculum. A number of theoretical frameworks are invoked here, most notably those of the discourse model elaborated by Hatim and Mason (1990) (1997) and House’s text analysis model (1997). Furthermore, the study conducted draws on Hatim’s multi-stage curriculum translation design (2000), consisting of various stages representing an increasing degree of evaluativeness and difficulty.

Ian Mason has been a towering presence in the now flourishing discipline of translation studies since its inception, and has produced some of the most influential and detailed analyses of translated text and interpreted interaction to date. The sophistication, dynamism and inclusiveness that have characterized his approach to all forms of mediation are the hallmarks of his legacy. Text and Context celebrates Ian Mason's scholarship by bringing together fourteen innovative and original pieces of research by both young and established scholars, who examine different forms of translation and interpreting in a variety of cultural and geographical settings. In line with his own inclusive approach to the field, these contributions combine close textual analysis with keen attention to issues of power, modes of socialization, institutional culture, individual agency and ethical accountability. While paying tribute to one of the most innovative and influential scholars in the field, the volume offers novel insights into a variety of genres and practices and charts important new directions for the discipline.

For many of us, our earliest and most meaningful experiences with literature occur through the medium of a translated children’s book. This volume focuses on the complex interplay that happens between text and context when works of children’s literature are translated: what contexts of production and reception account for how translated children’s books come to be made and read as they are? How are translated children’s books adapted to suit the context of a new culture? Spanning the disciplines of Children’s Literature Studies and Translation Studies, this book brings together established and emerging voices to provide an overview of the analytical, empirical and geographic richness of current research in this field and to identify and reflect on common insights, analytical perspectives and trajectories for future interdisciplinary research. This volume will appeal to an interdisciplinary audience of scholars and students in Translation Studies and Children’s Literature Studies and related disciplines. It has a broad geographic and cultural scope, with contributions dealing with translated children’s literature in the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, Spain, France, Brazil, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary, China, the former Yugoslavia, Sweden, Germany, and Belgium.

This work has been conceived as a resource for graduate students of a course in Translation Studies, focused both on the main theoretical issues of the discipline and on the practical task of translating, in particular from English into Italian. Within a wide range of different contemporary approaches and methods, the purpose of Translating Text and Context is to offer a particular perspective on the theory and practice of translation, that of the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), which, we believe, can prove valuable for the study of a phenomenon that we consider z[...] a complex linguistic, socio-cultural and ideological practicey.

From the outset, this book has evoked strong responses. Its central claim is that given a comprehensive theory of inferential communication, there is no need for a special theory of translation. This has been praised by some as "wise and right" (Dell Hymes) and condemned by others as "astonishing, not to say perverse" (Kirsten Malmkjaer). Gutt's call to move from semiotics to an inferential paradigm of communication remains a challenge for many. The debate continues and so does the demand for the book, resulting in this second edition. There is a 'Postscript' entitled 'A decade later', where the author addresses peer criticism, especially from those involved in the movement of 'translation studies', and attempts to bring out more clearly the unique mandate of translation. New perspectives, such as authenticity, are also introduced. Marginal notes, some tongue-in-cheek, liven up the discussion and new references ensure its currency.