{"title":"Studying literary translations in periodicals","authors":"Ka Ki Wong","doi":"10.1075/babel.00345.won","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00345.won","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper begins by reflecting on the general methodologies of studying translation in periodicals, summarized by studying Hong Kong literary magazines and newspapers. It appeals for translation studies to pay closer attention to periodicals and consider how the characteristics of periodicals affect translations. It starts with the most basic features, including the heterogeneity in periodicals, the paratexts, and the periodicity, and proposes studying translations in periodicals can help us to better understand the translation strategies and structural positions of a certain literary field. This paper then focuses on three examples from the 1970s and 1980s in Hong Kong, including the column writings of Leung Ping-kwan, the literary magazine Su Yeh Literature , and the translation of Pablo Neruda in various Hong Kong magazines, demonstrating cases of various research scales. With these, it aims to argue that periodicals are not only a medium of translation and a record of historical development but also active agents in the literary field.","PeriodicalId":44441,"journal":{"name":"Babel-Revue Internationale De La Traduction-International Journal of Translation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135616456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Wang & Sawyer (2023): Machine Learning in Translation","authors":"Kizito Tekwa","doi":"10.1075/babel.00341.tek","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00341.tek","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44441,"journal":{"name":"Babel-Revue Internationale De La Traduction-International Journal of Translation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135547154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"<i>Danmu-</i>assisted learning through back translation","authors":"Xuemei Chen","doi":"10.1075/babel.00338.che","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00338.che","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Based on a new type of online data, danmu comments, this article examines the reception of the English-dubbed Chinese drama Journey to the West (Season II) . This drama was adapted from a classic Chinese novel of the same title. Studies on dubbing reception have focused on how audiences understand and appreciate dubbing products. However, this article approaches dubbing reception from the perspective of usability, conceiving reception as using translations for certain purposes. I first collected danmu comments on the dubbed version from Bilibili, the most popular danmu video-sharing website in China. A multimodal discourse analysis of these comments shows that the dubbed Journey has been used for Chinese viewers to learn English. Danmu interface functions like a “blackboard” to provide back translations for viewers, helping them better understand the English lines. By proposing the concept “ danmu -assisted learning through back translation,” this study argues that dubbed material could be useful in language learning. Such informal language learning may inspire the industry to develop a danmu -based learning software for foreign languages, which could be applied in a pedagogical setting. This article reveals new temporal features of danmu subtitling, including antecedent, concurrent, and delayed danmu translations, potentially facilitating learning in various ways. It also contributes methodologically to AVT reception studies by using danmu comments to study viewers in a naturalistic setting without researcher intervention.","PeriodicalId":44441,"journal":{"name":"Babel-Revue Internationale De La Traduction-International Journal of Translation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135721103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Technology preparedness and translator training","authors":"Hari Venkatesan","doi":"10.1075/babel.00335.ven","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00335.ven","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract With increasing acknowledgment of enhanced quality now achievable by Machine Translation, new possibilities have emerged through collaboration between human and machine in the translation process, including providing varying qualities of translation in response to quality/efficiency requirements. This paper presents surveys of post-graduate students of translation conducted over four consecutive years to examine if their awareness and preparedness have kept pace with these possibilities. It is found that respondents across the years generally perceive their awareness as lacking, are hesitant in employing MT, and show marked reservations when reconsidering issues such as quality and the preeminent position of the human translator. A review of existing research in translator training points towards a lopsided emphasis on linguistic competence and standalone courses for introducing technology as the primary cause behind low adoption. The need of the hour is translator training that fully integrates technology in the translation process and also provides a clear framework to adjust quality/efficiency is important to ensure preparedness. A repeat survey of students from 2021 who were trained under this model shows an increase in willingness to use MT and to consider quality as dependent on intended use. The focus here is on Chinese-English translation, but the discussion may find resonance with other language pairs.","PeriodicalId":44441,"journal":{"name":"Babel-Revue Internationale De La Traduction-International Journal of Translation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136099033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Power dynamics in Egypt’s censorship of Gibran’s <i>The Prophet</i>","authors":"Hisham M. Ali","doi":"10.1075/babel.00339.ali","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00339.ali","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract After more than seventy years, when Kahlil Gibran’s 1923 masterpiece The Prophet had circulated freely in Egypt, censorship authorities banned the book in 1999 and 2011. This article explores the sociopolitical context surrounding the censorship of The Prophet and its Arabic translations, with a particular focus on the power play between censors and different agents and the strategies employed by the latter to revoke the ban on the book. The extent and intensity of power intervention speak to this case study’s significance. Qualitative analysis of English and Arabic press material is utilized to gain insights into the censors’ reports and the responses of different sociopolitical agents. This is paired with compiling and analyzing a dataset of bibliographical information on the editions of The Prophet’s Arabic translations published in Egypt between 1999 and 2022. The findings point to a decentralized system of censorship exercised by several ministries and religious institutions with competing interests. It is argued that the survival of The Prophet in the face of multiple bans can be attributed to shifting sociopolitical conditions, discordant politics of powerful agents, and international pressure.","PeriodicalId":44441,"journal":{"name":"Babel-Revue Internationale De La Traduction-International Journal of Translation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135257796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Rewriting the Indian other","authors":"Mohammed Hamdan","doi":"10.1075/babel.00336.ham","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00336.ham","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article reexamines the colonial representation of Indians in Rudyard Kipling’s “The Story of Muhammad Din” through a postcolonial resistant translation from English to Arabic. Set in India, Kipling’s short story depicts the buried Anglo-Indian conflict between the world perspectives of an adult Englishman and an Indian child. To this Indian child, Muhammad Din, existence is situated at the crossroads of an intense personal and national struggle for power, freedom, and independence. The dominant presence of the colonial law, which is embodied in the English doctor’s presumed authority and strict medical discourse in Kipling’s narrative, fashions a negative and inferior representation of Muhammad Din and his father Imam. Moreover, the impersonal style of narration, which is noted in the final scene of Muhammad’s death, enhances a colonial desire of the English to accentuate a rigorous sense of Englishness and national superiority that cannot be compromised. By offering a postcolonial translation of Kipling’s story in Arabic, however, Arab readers re-conceptualize or re-imagine othered Indians – here Muhammad Din – as central post-colonial agents who also function as vital sources of artistic or creative power that is necessary to deflate colonial authoritative agency in Kipling’s colonial text.","PeriodicalId":44441,"journal":{"name":"Babel-Revue Internationale De La Traduction-International Journal of Translation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135257798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From classical to cosmopolitan","authors":"Anna George","doi":"10.1075/babel.00337.geo","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00337.geo","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper addresses the unique challenges a translator would have when translating a text from a postcolonial country, especially one that has significance amongst the language speakers, such as Cilapattikaram. This paper compares three English translations of Cilapattikaram, a centuries-old Tamil poem that has an undeniable significance among the Tamil-speaking population. By analyzing three English translations of Cilapattikaram, done in the 1930s, 1960s, and 1990s, respectively, the paper examines how translation situated in the political space of decolonization and regional identity affects the text for a better understanding of the dilemmas of the translator and the effect of translation has on the meanings of the text.","PeriodicalId":44441,"journal":{"name":"Babel-Revue Internationale De La Traduction-International Journal of Translation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135257795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Ruiz Rosendo & Todorova (2022): Interpreter Training in Conflict and Post-Conflict Scenarios","authors":"Ondřej Klabal","doi":"10.1075/babel.23039.kla","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.23039.kla","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44441,"journal":{"name":"Babel-Revue Internationale De La Traduction-International Journal of Translation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80222064","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Do education and the labor market speak the same language?","authors":"Natividad Aguayo-Arrabal","doi":"10.1075/babel.00325.agu","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00325.agu","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper addresses the need for terminology convergence and the systematic use of up-to-date descriptors and\u0000 concepts in the European higher education and labor market environments. Rapid developments in the language industry are\u0000 remodelling the translation profession in particular and generating new processes, new training needs and, therefore, a new skills\u0000 demand. Changing market expectations, cross-occupational mobility and multifaceted professional profiles in the translation\u0000 industry claim to exploit the full potential of standard and multilingual taxonomies like ESCO – the European Classification of\u0000 Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations. This research draws on the European Master’s in Translation (EMT) competence\u0000 framework for 2018–2024 to perform a descriptive analysis of the English and Spanish entries for the occupation of “translator” in\u0000 ESCO’s latest 2020 version. Findings suggest that ESCO’s content could be aligned with the professionally oriented EMT framework\u0000 to overcome shortcomings in representing translators’ identity and present the reality of the translation market, while matching\u0000 its content more accurately to the most relevant skills and competences generally developed in current translator training\u0000 programs.","PeriodicalId":44441,"journal":{"name":"Babel-Revue Internationale De La Traduction-International Journal of Translation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90426112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Automated translation and pragmatic force","authors":"R. Valdeón","doi":"10.1075/babel.00328.val","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00328.val","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article discusses the challenges that the rendering of the pragmatic implications of texts into a target\u0000 language posed for human translators and, by extension, for automated translation. It starts by discussing the importance of\u0000 pragmatics, focusing on two concepts that have received much attention on the part of pragmaticians as well as translation\u0000 scholars, namely implicatures and politeness. It moves to on to present some of the most notable publications on the interface\u0000 between pragmatics and machine translation. These illustrate that the interest in the pragmatic value of language has not\u0000 succeeded in advancing the integration of pragmatics into automated translation. Drawing on Kesckes and House, the last section\u0000 discusses two concepts to be considered regarding the role of pragmatics in intercultural mediation.","PeriodicalId":44441,"journal":{"name":"Babel-Revue Internationale De La Traduction-International Journal of Translation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75174107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}