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Article published In:
Signed Language Interpreting and Translation
Edited by Laurie Swabey and Brenda Nicodemus
[Translation and Interpreting Studies 13:1] 2018
► pp. 110–129

Invisible no more

Recasting the role of the ASL-English literary translator

| Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

We report here on strategies used in the art of literary translation between ASL and English through the self-reflections of three ASL-English “translators” as they grapple with the varying degrees of translator visibility that push them beyond the traditional expectations of faceless translators into becoming performers of the translated texts. During translation, their faces, hands, and/or voices embody the text, becoming an integral part of the piece, which adds layers of complexity to the ways we think about the translator’s role and the process of translation. We hope that our reflections will challenge prevailing notions about creating, performing, and translating ASL literature, as well as raise questions about recasting the role of the translator and the body in sign language translation.

Keywords: literary translation, American Sign Language, embodied language, ASL poetry, interpretation, performance art
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Implications of the embodied translator in literary sign language
  • Data sources
  • The presence of the translator
  • A brief theoretical framework for “faithful” literary translations
    • Strategy #1: Allowing ASL imagery to speak instead of words
    • Strategy #2: Personification, depiction, and the translator-as-actor
    • Strategy #3: The discovery, emergence, and refinement of translation through physical rehearsal
  • The addition of the translator’s self: is it still translation, or something else?
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 2 March 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.00007.spo
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