Translation Studies And Ecology

Ecology has become a central question governing the survival and sustainability of human societies, cultures and languages. In this timely study, Michael Cronin investigates how the perspective of the Anthropocene, or the effect of humans on the global environment, has profound implications for the way translation is considered in the past, present and future. Starting with a deep history of translation and ranging from food ecology to inter-species translation and green translation technology, this thought-provoking book offers a challenging and ultimately hopeful perspective on how translation can play a vital role in the future survival of the planet.

This innovative collection explores the points of contact between translation practice and ecological culture by focusing on the relationship between ecology and translation. The volume’s point of departure is the idea that translations, like all human activities, have a relational basis. Since they depend on places and communities to which they are addressed as well as on the cultural environment which made them possible, they should be understood as situated cultural practices, governed by a particular political ecology. Through the analysis of phenomena that relate translation and ecological culture (such as the development of ecofeminism; the translation of texts on nature; translation in postcolonial contexts; the role of dialect and minority languages in literary translation and institutional language policies and the translation of texts on migration) the book offers interpretive models that contribute to the development of eco-translation. Th volume showcases a comparative and interdisciplinary approach to an emerging disciplinary field which has gained prominence at the start of the 21st century, and places special emphasis on the perspective of gender and linguistic diversity across a wide range of languages. This book will be of interest to students and scholars in translation studies, linguistics, communication, cultural studies, and environmental humanities.

This book offers a panoramic view of the emerging eco-paradigm of Translation Studies, known as Eco-Translatology, and presents a systematic study of the theoretical discourse from ecological perspectives in the field of Translation Studies. Eco-Translatology describes and interprets translation activities in terms of the ecological principles of Eco-holism, traditional Eastern eco-wisdom, and ‘Translation as Adaptation and Selection’. Further, Eco-Translatology approaches the phenomenon of translation as a broadly conceived eco-system in which the ideas of ‘Translation as Adaptation and Selection’, as well as translation as a ‘textual transplant’ promoting an ‘eco-balance’, are integrated into an all-encompassing vision. Lastly, Eco-Translatology reinforces contextual uniqueness, emphasizing the deep embeddedness of texts, translations, and the human agents involved in their production and reception in their own habitus. It is particularly encouraging, in this increasingly globalised world, to see a new paradigm sourced from East Asian traditions but with universal appeal and applications, and which adds to the diversity and plurality of global Translation Studies. This book, the first of its kind, will substantially expand the horizons of Translation Studies, a field that is still trying to define its own borders, and will open a wealth of new possibilities. Destined to become a milestone in the field of Translation, Interpretation and Adaptation Studies, as well as eco-criticism, it will introduce readers to a wholly new epistemological intervention in Translation Studies and therefore will open new vistas of thoughts, discussion and criticism.

Environmental translation studies has gained momentum in recent years as a new area of research underscored by the need to communicate environmental concerns and studies across cultures. The dissemination of translated materials on environmental protection and sustainable development has played an instrumental role in transforming local culture and societies. This edited book represents an important effort to advance environmental studies by introducing the latest research on environmental translation and cross-cultural communication. Part I of the book presents the newest research on multilingual environmental resource development based at leading research institutes in Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Asia-Pacific. Part II offers original, thought-provoking linguistic, textual and cultural analyses of environmental issues in genres as diverse as literature, nature-based tourism promotion, environmental marketing, environmental documentary, and children’s reading. Chapters in this book represent original research authored by established and mid-career academics in translation studies, computer science, linguistics, and environmental studies around the world. The collection provides engaging reading and references on environmental translation and communication to a wide audience across academia.

Dhaka. 2 October 1977. A military coup is thwarted, but the exact sequence of events is shrouded in mystery. Soon after, Ayesha Begum, recovering from the birth of her second child, receives a letter from the air force stating that her husband Joynal Abedin has been sentenced to death, convicted of insurgency. But has the verdict been carried out? If it was, when and where was he executed? If he was indeed hanged, what has happened to his body? Trying to find answers to these questions, Ayesha embarks on a long and arduous quest to search for her husband, reminiscent of Behula's epic journey in her effort to resurrect her dead husband Lakhinder in the Bengali folktale Manashamangal. Set against the backdrop of a raging famine, political assassinations and coups that took Bangladesh by storm right after its independence in 1971, Anisul Hoque's The Ballad of Ayesha is as much a story of the newly created nation as it is the story of its people.

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.

The book is a close reading of English translations of over 400 classical Chinese poems by Kenneth Rexroth, an American eco-poet, translator, sinologist, and environmentalist. This study finds that the ecological dimension can provide a new description and explanation for Rexroth’s text selection, translation strategies, and translation character, giving a “green” interpretation of his translations. Due to various sources of Rexroth’s ecological worldview from East and West, Rexroth’s translation presents an ecological character, and the result of his interpretation is more of a cross-cultural ecopoetic rewriting and construction. This is related to several of his ideas: “ecopoetics of selfless imagism”, “aesthetics of relinquishment”, wilderness experience, “sense of place”, material eco-views, ideas of ecological utopia “the community of love” and others. It is also influenced by the historical context, cultural trends, and social reality: the eco-crisis and the rise of ecological movements at that time. Ecocriticism, an analysis approach which focuses on the human-nature relationship embodied in literary texts or other texts and cultural products, helps to delve into the ecopoetic dimension of Rexroth’s translation of classical Chinese poems, to explore his thoughts on the human-nature relationship represented and embodied in translation, to reread his translations from a “green” perspective, and to reveal the eco-value of his translations in contemporary times.

An Overview of Chinese Translation Studies at the Beginning of the 21st Century presents and analyses over 100,000 bibliographic notes contained within a large academic database focusing on translation within China. Exploring Chinese translation studies two decades before and after the year 2000, the book will introduce aspects of theory, culture, strategy, register, genre, and context to the field of translation in China, and will also take into account the impact of technology, education, and research within this field. Aimed at postgraduate students and researchers of translation studies, the focus of An Overview of Chinese Translation Studies at the Beginning of the 21st Century is the theory and practice of translation studies within a fast-paced and growing academic discipline.