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Target
Vol. 8:2 (1996) ► pp.341–364

What Translators of Plays Think About Their Work

| Savonlinna School of Translation Studies

This study used loosely conducted interviews to determine how translators of plays see their work, including their position towards the theatre. Different ways of performing the act were reported, along with different attitudes towards the use of background materials. Significant differences were found in what was considered most essential in translating a play: some stressed the need to visualize events during translation while others emphasized the audible aspects of the dialogue. Some translators portrayed themselves as 'invisible mediators', unconcerned with any future performance, whereas others claimed to be working consciously towards one. A third group described their work as 'art' and stressed the need to liberate themselves from the slavery of the source text and find a language of their own.

Article outline
  • 1.Interviews as a Research Tool
  • 2.Description of the Questionnaire
  • 3.Who Are the Translators of Plays?
  • 4.The Process of Translating
  • 5.Seeing, Hearing and Reading the Play
  • 6.The Translator—a Servant of Two Masters?
  • 7.Different Attitudes Towards Translating for Theatre
  • 8.The Play as a Script and as a Piece of Literature
  • 10.The Translator and the Theatre
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 January 1996
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.8.2.08jan
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