Article published In:
Translation and Interpreting Studies: Online-First Articles

Teaching the art of “judicious” translators’ interventions

ORCID logo | University of Western Australia

In the capstone unit of a Master of Translation, students were required to write “judicious” interventions (Lefevere 1996) by way of peritextual commentary, be it an introduction, a preface, or a postface. Such interventions are at heart a reaction against the well-documented translators’ invisibility. The hope is that studying patterns of published translators’ interventions of this type and teaching trainee translators to write their own will foster self-reflexivity, confidence and “the virtues of courage and determination” (Chesterman 2001). The article describes how learners were encouraged to meet this outcome, the tasks involved, and how some students in the 2020 cohort fared. It concludes with some suggestions on how to promote best practice in teaching to combat translators’ invisibility.

Keywords: translation education, translator interventions, translator preface, invisibility, student-centered pedagogy
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Literature review
  • Description of the study
    • The tasks
  • Analysis
    • Choice of translator’s interventions
  • Findings
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 15 June 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.21039.jac
References
Anderson, Jean and Marie-Laure Vuaille-Barcan
2018 “Notes des traductrices.” Patricia Grace, Chappy, 7–9. Tahiti: Au Vent des Iles.Google Scholar
2020 “Enjeux et défis de la traduction de l’environnement dans des œuvres littéraires australiennes et néo-zélandaises.” Essays in French Literature and Culture 571: 27–46.Google Scholar
Baker, Mona
2013 “Translation as an alternative space for political action.” Social Movement Studies 12(1): 23–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baldo, Michela
2020 “Activist translation, alliances, and performativity.” In The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Activism, ed. by Rebecca Ruth Gould and Kayvan Tahmasebian, 30–48. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bassnett, Susan, and Peter Bush
2006 The Translator as Writer. New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Berman, Antoine
2012 “Translation and the trials of the foreign.” In The Translation Studies Reader, ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 240–254. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bhowmik, Davinder
1995 “On the historical background of The Heiké Story and its Author.” E. Yoshikawa, The Heiki Story, 623–627. Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle.Google Scholar
Bruya, Brian
2018 “Introduction.” Sunzi and C. Tsai, The Art of War: An Illustrated Edition, xi–xvi1. Princeton University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Castro, Olga and Emek Ergun
eds. 2017 Feminist Translation Studies: Local and Transnational Perspectives. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chambers, Anthony H.
1990 “Introduction.” Junichiro Tanizaki, Naomi, v–x1. New York: North Point Press.Google Scholar
Chesterman, Andrew
2001 “Proposal for a Hieronymic oath.” The Translator 7(2): 139–154. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Delisle, Jean and Marco Fiola
2013 La traduction raisonnée : manuel d’initiation à la traduction professionnelle de l’anglais vers le français. 3rd edition. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.Google Scholar
Dubbati, Barkuzar and Haneen Abudayeh
2018 “The translator as an activist: Reframing conflict in the Arabic translation of Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza .” The Translator 24(2): 147–165. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Entrekin, Alison
2014–2020 “Diario de travessia.” Revista Pessoa. [URL] accessed 16 February 2021.
When in Hell, embrace the Devil” excerpt of Grande Sertão: Veredas by Jose G. Rosa in Words Without Borders, New York, July 2016. [URL] accessed 16 February 2021.
Entrekin, Alison and Lesley Sogl
2016 “Breaking the beast. An interview with Alison Entrekin.” The Scofield 2(1): 238–241.Google Scholar
Genette, Gérard
1997 Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation. Trans. by J. E. Lewin. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
González-Davies, Maria
2016 “A collaborative pedagogy for translation.” In Teaching Translation: Programs, Courses, Pedagogies, ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 71–78. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gu, Yingying
2019 “Criticisms of feminist translation theory from outside feminism.” Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research 3591: 546–549. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hermans, Theo
2007 The Conference of the Tongues. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Hersant, Patrick
2018 “Portraits du traducteur en préfacier.” Palimpsestes 311: 17–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kiraly, Don
2000 A Social Constructivist Approach to Translator Education: Empowerment from Theory to Practice. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Jacobs, Bruce and Ouyang Yu
1995 “Foreword.” In Bitter Peaches and Plums: Two Chinese Novellas on the Recent Chinese students experience in Australia, i–ix. Melbourne: Monash Asia Institute. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lefevere, André
1996 “Translation and canon formation: Nine decades of drama in the United States.” In Translation, Power, Subversion, ed. by Román Álvarez and Maria Carmen África Vidal, 138–155. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Leppihalme, Ritva
1997 Culture Bumps: An Empirical Approach to the Translation of Allusions. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Larochelle, Marie, Nadine Bednarz, and Jim Garrison
1998 Constructivism and Education. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Letawe, Céline
2018 “Quand le traducteur-préfacier parle de traduction. Fonctions d’un discours entre préface allographe et préface auctoriale.” Palimpseste 311: 37–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maier, Carol
2007 “Translator as an intervenient being.” In Translation as Intervention, ed. by Jeremy Munday, 1–17. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Malena, Anne and Lynn Penrod
2016 “Translation theory in a translator training program.” In Teaching Translation: Programs, Courses, Pedagogies, ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 127–133. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Massardier-Kenney, Françoise
2016 “MA in Translation.” In Teaching Translation: Programs, Courses, Pedagogies, ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 32–38. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Munday, Jeremy
2009 Routledge Companion of Translation Studies. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Newmark, Peter
2009 “The linguistic and communicative stages in translation theory.” In The Routledge Companion to Translation Studies, ed. by Jeremy Munday, 20–35. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pellatt, Valerie
2013a “Introduction.” In Text, Extratext, Metatext and Paratext in Translation. ed. by Valerie Pellatt, 1–6. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
2013b “Packaging the product: A case study of verbal and non-verbal paratext in Chinese-English translation.” JoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation 201: 86–106.Google Scholar
Pérez Bernardo, María Luisa
2022 “Localizing theory in a Spanish-language translation program.” In Teaching Literature in Translation: Pedagogical Contexts and Reading Practices, ed. by Brian James Baer and Michelle Woods, 262–270. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pym, Anthony
2014 Exploring Translation Theories. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Reiss, Katharina
1981 “Type, kind and individuality of text: Decision-making in translation.” Poetics Today 2(4): 121–131. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sánchez Ortiz, María Teresa
2015 “The use of footnotes in literary translations.” Forum 13(1): 111–129. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schultze, Dirk
2013 “Wisdom in the margins: text and paratext in The Seven Points of True Love and Everlasting Wisdom .” Études Anglaises 66(3): 341–356. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, Ros and Nicholas de Lange
2006 “A dialogue: On a translator’s interventions.” In The Translator as Writer, ed. by Susan Bassnett and Peter Bush, 9–21. New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Singhal, Divva
2017 “Understanding student-centered learning and philosophies of teaching practices.” International Journal of Scientific Research and Management Studies (IJSRM) 5(2): 5123–5129. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stewart, Philip
1981 “Translator’s introduction.” Naguib Mahfouz. Children of Gebelawi, vii–ix. London: Heineman.Google Scholar
Tymoczko, Maria
2000 “Translation and political engagement.” The Translator 6(1): 23–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence
1995 The Translator’s Invisibility. A History of Translation. London: Routledge.Google Scholar