Challenging the Traditional Axioms
Translation into a non-mother tongue
| University of Ljubljana
Translation into a non-mother tongue or inverse translation, especially of literary texts, has always been frowned upon within Translation Studies in Western cultures and regarded by literary scholars and linguists as an activity of dubious worth, doomed to fail. The study, which received an award from EST in 2001, sets out to challenge the established view and to critically question some of the axiomatic assumptions of Western theorists. Its challenge is supported by extensive empirical research involving reader response to translations of specific literary texts. The conclusion reached is that the quality of the translation, its fluency and acceptability in the target language environment depend primarily on the as yet undetermined individual abilities of the particular translator, his/her translation strategy and knowledge of the source and target cultures, and not on his/her mother tongue or the direction in which s/he is translating.
[Benjamins Translation Library, 62] 2005. xii, 166 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
Introduction: A questioning approach to Translation Studies
|
ix–xii
|
Open definitions of the terms “native speakers” and “mother tongue”
|
1–23
|
Translation into a non-mother tongue in translation theory: Challenging the traditional
|
25–37
|
Methods and corpus for analysis
|
39–53
|
Analysis of the texts: Presentation of the selected originals
|
55–63
|
Analysis of the texts: Presentation of the selected translations
|
65–95
|
Conclusion of the analysis: The visibility of nativeness and non-nativeness in translations
|
97–106
|
Native speaker intuitions: the questionnaire
|
107–117
|
Conclusion
|
119–123
|
Appendix I
|
125–131
|
Appendix II
|
133–146
|
Notes
|
147–148
|
Bibliography
|
149–159
|
Index
|
161–163
|
“The greatest contribution of the study is the challenge it presents to prevailing preconceptions about the nature of translation. The methodology used, a systematic one that comprises two parts, is more than adequate to adress the central question of the study, that is, whether inverse translations show any common features of the target language. [...] The whole book is written in plain language, without the obscure linguistic terms and concepts, so it is really accessible to all researchers and students who have an interest in this area. This is especially important since the ultimate goal of the author is to change a perceived prejudice of general theorists and practitioners towards inverse translation. [...] Overall the book is a good research monograph with a clear research question containing well-positioned data to prove the argument. It is thought-provoking and will inspire similar research to be done for the same good cause.”
Dr. Clara H.Y. Chan, Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages, Taiwan, in Babel Vol. 53:3 (2007)
“[...] this book can be appreciated for several reasons: It has a sound theoretical basis, the hypothesis it starts with is tested using a large corpus made by eight pairs and seven individuals. Since the analysis of the translations 'revealed no particular connection between the mother tongue of the translator and either the quality or the accuracy his/her translation' (p.107), a well-constructed questionnaire was administered via interview to forty-six native speakers in the USA, England and Canada. What a monumental task! Last but not least, the book makes an exciting and enjoyable piece of reading, which is not a mere trifle.”
Barbara Blackwell Gülen, Ankara, in Target Vol. 19:1 (2007)
Cited by
Cited by 62 other publications
No author info given
Baer, Brian James & Nike K. Pokorn
Carreres, Ángeles, Micaela Muñoz-Calvo & María Noriega-Sánchez
Castilho, Sheila, Stephen Doherty, Federico Gaspari & Joss Moorkens
Chan, Andy Lung Jan
Chang, Nam Fung
Colina, Sonia & Claudia V. Angelelli
Colina, Sonia & Claudia V. Angelelli
Dam-Jensen, Helle & Karen Korning Zethsen
Dimitriu, Ileana
Dimitriu, Ileana
Duběda, Tomáš
Durmuşoğlu Köse, Gül, Zehra Gülmüş, Volga Yılmaz Gümüş & Gamze Eren
Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen & Daniel Perrin
Ferreira, Aline
Ferreira, Aline, Alexandra Gottardo & John W. Schwieter
Ferreira, Aline & John W. Schwieter
Giczela-Pastwa, Justyna
Grammenidis, Simos
Hagemann, Susanne
Hewson, Lance
Hild, Adelina
Hirci, Nataša & Agnes Pisanski Peterlin
House, Juliane
Jamoussi, Rafik
Jurko, Primož
K. Pokorn, Nike, Jason Blake, Donald Reindl & Agnes Pisanski Peterlin
Kelly, Dorothy, Marie-Louise Nobs, Dolores Sanchez & Catherine Way
Lourenço da Silva, Igor A., Fabio Alves, Marcia Schmaltz, Adriana Pagano, Derek Wong, Lidia Chao, Ana Luísa V. Leal, Paulo Quaresma, Caio Garcia & Gabriel Eduardo da Silva
Ma, Zuqiong
Malkiel, Brenda
Nasi, Franco
NICODEMUS, BRENDA & KAREN EMMOREY
O'Rourke, Bernadette
O’Connell, Eithne, Michał Borodo, Xu Jianzhong, Seán Ó Ciaráin & Monika Linke
O’Rourke, Bernadette & Joan Pujolar
O’Rourke, Bernadette, Joan Pujolar & John Walsh
O’Rourke, Bernadette, Joan Pujolar & John Walsh
Paradowski, Michał B.
Pavlović, Nataša
Pietrzak, Paulina
Pokorn, Nike K.
Pokorn, Nike K.
Pokorn, Nike K.
Rodríguez, Nadia & Bettina Schnell
Rodríguez-Inés, Patricia
Rodríguez-Inés, Patricia & Olivia Fox
Seruya, Teresa
Shi, Jiasheng
Tang, Jun
Taviano, Stefania
Taylor, Chris, Elisa Calvo Encinas, Sara Laviosa & Michał B. Paradowski
Torres-Simón, Esther
Wang, Baorong
Whyatt, Bogusława
YILMAZ GÜMÜŞ, Volga
Zanettin, Federico
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 10 april 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects
Translation & Interpreting Studies
BIC Subject: CFP – Translation & interpretation
BISAC Subject: LAN023000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Translating & Interpreting