Cover not available
Article published In:
'Translaboration': Translation as Collaboration
Edited by Alexa Alfer
[Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 3:3] 2017
► pp. 349–369

Translaboration

Collaborative translation to challenge hegemony

| University of Manchester

Adopting a sociological approach, this article focuses on the interface between fandom and translation. It investigates the structural rules and resources driving and conditioning translation activity in post-revolutionary Iran and the consequences it might engender. The textual and paratextual data is collected from the official and parallel volunteer translations of A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. It is argued that translaboration, a blended concept aligning the notions of translation and collaboration, in cyberspace is a response to the structurally imposed constraints, and an attempt to take control of discourse and to resist the state rules which instrumentalise translation to perpetuate the dominant discourse. This type of translaboration, which is outside the official translational policies of the state, delineates the expectations not being met by the officially published translation, and also demarcates the formal and informal norms. Drawing on their resources, the translaborators not only empower the source text to reach a wider readership without the mediation of the institutional structures of power, but also in turn are empowered by the translation.

Keywords: prosumer translation, collaborative translation, translaboration, structuration theory, hegemonic discourse, counter-discourse
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Constraining rules and enabling resources
  • 3.A game of thrones: A game of structures
    • 3.1Religiously delineated boundaries
    • 3.2Socially projected boundaries
  • 4.A storm of swords: A breeze of change
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 16 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.3.3.05saa
References

References

Baker, Mona
2009 “Resisting State Terror: Theorising Communities of Activist Translators and Interpreters.” In Globalization, Political Violence and Translation, ed. by Esperanca Bielsa and Christopher Hughes, 222–242. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 “Translation as an Alternative Space for Political Action.” Social Movement Studies 12 (1): 23–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Billiani, Francesca
2007 Modes of Censorship and Translation: National Contexts and Diverse Media. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Boéri, Julie, and Carol Maier
2010 Translation/Interpreting and Social Activism. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Brabham, Daren C.
2013 Crowdsourcing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chesterman, Andrew
1997 Memes of Translation: The Spread of Ideas in Translation Theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cordingley, Anthony, and Céline Frigau Manning
2017 Collaborative Translation: From the Renaissance to the Digital Age. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Cronin, Michael
2012 Translation in the Digital Age. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Désilets, Alain, and Jaap van der Meer
2011 “Co-creating a Repository of Best-practices for Collaborative Translation.” Antverpiensia New Series: Themes in Translation Studies 101: 27–45.Google Scholar
Dombek, Magdalena
2014 A Study into the Motivations of Internet Users Contributing to Translation Crowdsourcing: The Case of Polish Facebook User-translators. PhD diss. Dublin City University.Google Scholar
Giddens, Anthony
1976 New Rules of Sociological Method: A Positive Critique of Interpretative Sociologies. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
1984 The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Inglis, David, and Christopher Thorpe
2012 An Invitation to Social Theory. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
IPA
2009 Freedom to Publish under Siege in the Islamic Republic of Iran. International Publishers Association. Accessed August 13, 2012. [URL].
Jiménez-Crespo, Miguel A.
2013 Translation and Web Localization. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Karimi-Hakkak, Ahmad
1990 “Censorship.” In Encyclopedia Iranica. [URL].
Mahdavi, Pardis
2009 Passionate Uprisings: Iran’s Sexual Revolution. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Martin, George R. R.
1996a A Game of Thrones. London: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
1996b بازی تاج و تخت [orig. A Game of Thrones]. Translated by Roya Khademoreza. Tehran: Vida.Google Scholar
McDonough Dolmaya, Julie
2012 “Analyzing the Crowdsourcing Model and its Impact on Public Perceptions of Translation.” The Translator 18 (2): 167–191. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Milani, Farzaneh
1985 “Power, Prudence, and Print: Censorship and Simin Danashvar.” Iranian Studies 18 (2–4): 325–347. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nye, Joseph S.
2007 “Notes for a Softpower Research Agenda.” In Power in World Politics, ed. by Felix Berenskoetter and Michael J. Williams, 162–172. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
O’Brien, Sharon
2011 “Collaborative Translation.” In Handbook of Translation Studies, ed. by Yves Gambier and Luc van van Doorslaer, 17–20. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
O’Brien, Sharon, and Reinhard Schäler
2010 “Next Generation Translation and Localization: Users are Taking Charge.” In Proceedings of Translating and the Computer 321. London: Aslib.Google Scholar
O’Hagan, Minako
2009 “Evolution of User-generated Translation: Fansubs, Translation Hacking and Crowdsourcing.” Journal of Internationalization and Localization 1 (1): 94–121. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 “From Fan Translation to Crowdsourcing: Consequences of Web 2.0 User Empowerment in Audiovisual Translation.” In Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility at the Crossroads, ed. by Aline Remael, Pilar Orero, and Mary Carroll, 25–41. Amsterdam: Rodopi. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 “Massively Open Translation: Unpacking the Relationship between Technology and Translation in the 21st Century.” International Journal of Communication 101: 929–946.Google Scholar
Olohan, Maeve
2014 “Why do you Translate? Motivation to Volunteer and TED Translation.” Translation Studies 7 (1): 17–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pérez-González, Luis
2010 “ ‘Ad-hocracies’ of Translation Activism in the Blogosphere.” In Text and Context: Essays on Translation and Interpreting in Honour of Ian Mason, ed. by Mona Baker, Maeve Olohan, and Maria Calzada Perez, 259–287. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
2013 “Amateur Subtitling as Immaterial Labour in Digital Media Culture.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 19 (2): 157–175. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Perrino, Saverio
2009 “User-generated Translation: The Future of Translation in a Web 2.0 Environment.” JoSTran – Journal of Specialised Translation (12). [URL]
Ray, Rebecca, and Nataly Kelly
2011 Crowdsourced Translation: Best Practices for Implementation. Lowell, Massachusetts: Common Sense Advisory.Google Scholar
Risku, Hanna, and Angela Dickinson
2009 “Translators as Networkers: The Role of Virtual Communities.” Hermes 421: 49–70.Google Scholar
Rundle, Christopher, and Kate Sturge
2010 Translation under Fascism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Samini, Naghmeh
2013 “Gendered Taboos in Iran’s Text Message Jokes.” In Cultural Revolution in Iran: Contemporary Popular Culture in the Islamic Republic, ed. by Annabelle Sreberny and Massoumeh Torfeh, 209–217. London: I.B.Tauris. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
SCCR
. اهداف و سیاست‌ها و ضوابط نشر کتاب [Objectives, Policies and Regulations for Publishing Books] 1988 Accessed November 17, 2013. [URL].
Schiavi, Giuliana
1996 “There is Always a Teller in a Tale.” Target 8 (1): 1–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Seruya, Teresa, and Maria Lin Moniz
2008 Translation and Censorship in Different Times and Landscapes. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence
1995 The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 6 other publications

Bell Mandeng, Adrien
2024. Power Issues in Legal Translation: The Methodological Battleground. In Translatology, Translation and Interpretation - Toward a New Scientific Endeavor, DOI logo
Karagöz, Selahattin
2023. Chapter 6. Recirculated, recontextualized, reworked. In Translation Flows [Benjamins Translation Library, 163], ► pp. 107 ff. DOI logo
Pfeiffer, Kerstin, Michael Richardson & Svenja Wurm
2020. Translaboration in the rehearsal room. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies 32:2 ► pp. 358 ff. DOI logo
Saeedi, Samira
2023. The Conference of Translators. In Translaboration in Analogue and Digital Practice [Transkulturalität – Translation – Transfer, 57], ► pp. 135 ff. DOI logo
Sarıgül, Semih
2023. Online Translaboration in Video Game Localisation. In Translaboration in Analogue and Digital Practice [Transkulturalität – Translation – Transfer, 57], ► pp. 53 ff. DOI logo
Shafirova, Liudmila & Kristiina Kumpulainen
2021. Online collaboration and identity work in a brony fandom: Constructing a dialogic space in a fan translation project. E-Learning and Digital Media 18:3 ► pp. 269 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 april 2024. 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.