Translation as Renarration

Interpreter mediation at political press conferences: A narrative account

Abstract: Political press conferences, while playing a significant role in international communication by heads of state and government, are still largely underexplored in interpreting studies. More scholarly attention is needed, particularly to examine the interpreter’s mediating role in these uniquely constrained communicative settings. Drawing on narrative theory and Wadensjo’s model of renditions, this paper investigates the interpreter’s mediating role at a 2011 joint press conference with the American and Chinese Presidents, at that time Barack Obama and Hu Jintao respectively. Specifically, the study examines how the interpretation comprises reduced, expanded and summarized renditions of the speakers’ narratives, and how the resulting mediation can affect not only their image, but also the outcome of the diplomatic communication between their respective countries. Here, the interpreter’s performance is subject not only to his language competence, but also to a number of other factors. On the one hand, his mediation can be facilitated rather than restricted by the constraints of the setting where the interpreting occurs, such as technical problems and time limitations. On the other hand, the mediation can also reflect the interpreter’s institutional role and the public narratives within the socio-cultural context.

Appraisal Theory in Translation Studies: An Introduction and Review of Studies of Evaluation in Translation

Abstract: Translation studies (TS), as a young (inter)discipline, has partly relied on metadiscussions, critical assessments of its literature, and compilation of bibliographies to deal with certain problems of its youth, such as polarity and fragmentation. While the current status of TS shows general maturity, there are still young areas of inquiry in the discipline that are faced with similar issues. The current study is an attempt to introduce and bring together an area of research in TS that draws on appraisal theory (AT; Martin & White, 2005) to functionally and systematically study the expression of feelings, emotions, viewpoints, and intersubjective positioning in translation. It is argued that this body of research has not received enough attention, partly due to its fragmentation and diversity. Several appraisal theory-informed studies of translations in different languages, genres, and mediums are introduced and reviewed, and certain points of similarity and differences are highlighted. More elaborate methodologies are given a closer look, and a general view of the findings in the literature is also provided. Finally, suggestions are made to address some limitations in the literature.

Retranslating Thucydides as a Scientific Historian: A corpus-based analysis

Abstract: The nineteenth century was a period of dramatic change in Europe for the idea of history. While from antiquity through to the eighteenth century, historiography had broadly been considered an artistic and rhetorical activity, this view gradually lost ground in the nineteenth century to an understanding of history as a science. This case study aims to explore how these shifts in attitudes towards the proper aims and methods of history writing might have shaped the interpretation and translation into English of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, a work first written in classical Greek in the fifth century BCE. The analysis is carried out by means of a corpus-based methodology which, I argue, can better enable researchers to engage with each (re)translator’s overall presentation of the source through the production and interrogation of concordances listing every instance of a given search item as it occurs within digitised versions of the target texts. This is demonstrated through an investigation of the use of the term ‘fact(s)’ which reveals a striking divergence in interpretation between the six translations, with Crawley’s (1874) History in particular appearing to lend a significantly more objective and empirical tone to Thucydides in English.

Italy's Salman Rushdie: The renarration of “Roberto Saviano” in English for the post-9/11 cultural market

Abstract: This article considers the construction of the literary fame of Roberto Saviano, author of the 2006 Italian bestseller Gomorra, in the British book marketplace. In order to understand the political import of Saviano's translated author-brand, this analysis utilizes the tools of narrative theory to look at what narratives were created around the authorial personality and what other public narratives and meta-narratives are mobilized to introduce the author to his new reading public. The analysis centres on Saviano's reputation as “Italy's Salman Rushdie” and it demonstrates that the political import of the narratives that underpin the author-brand in translation is linked with a set of post-9/11 public narratives.

Media, Translation and the Construction of the Muslim Image: A Narrative Perspective

Abstract: The role played by translators for the media is particularly crucial in the construction, promotion and survival of media narratives, since a narrative cannot travel across linguistic and cultural boundaries without the help of translators. This article aims to identify how the Qur’an, and, in turn, Islam and Muslims, are “narrated” in and by the British press. I use LexisNexis newspaper archives to identify the Qur’anic verses repeatedly used by UK national newspapers between 11/9/2001 and 1/9/2016. I then closely examine the newspaper articles featuring the most repeated verse to establish how narrative strategies (selective appropriation, temporality, causal emplotment and relationality) are used to frame the readers’ understanding. By shedding more light on the active role of translation for the media, I hope to raise awareness of the dangers posed by misrepresenting the world’s second largest religion and by accepting what is presented to us as news unquestioningly.