翻譯Cultural functions of translation.pdf

covernext page title:cultural functions of translation multilingual matters (series) author:schffner, christina. publisher:multilingual matters isbn10 | asin:1853593338 print isbn13:9781853593338 ebook isbn13:9780585265759 language:english subject translating and interpreting-social aspects, language and culture, intercultural communication. publication date:1995 lcc:p306.2.c85 1995eb ddc:418/.02 subject:translating and interpreting-social aspects, language and culture, intercultural communication. covernext page page i cultural functions of translation page ii multilingual matters about translation peter newmark annotated texts for translation: french english beverly adab annotated texts for translation: english french beverly adab linguistic auditing nigel reeves and colin wright paragraphs on translation peter newmark practical guide for translators geoffrey samuelsson-brown the coming industry of teletranslation minako ohagan translation, power, subversion r. alvarez and m.c.-a. vidal (eds) please contact us for the latest book information: multilingual matters ltd, frankfurt lodge, clevedon hall, victoria road, clevedon, avon bs21 7sj, england page iii cultural functions of translation edited by christina schffner and helen kelly-holmes multilingual matters ltd clevedon philadelphia adelaide page iv library of congress cataloging in publication data cultural functions of translation/edited by christina schffner and helen kelly-holmes also published as vol. 1, no. 3 of current issues in language and society. 1. translating and interpreting-social aspects. 2. language and culture. 3. intercultural communication. i. schffner, christina. ii. kelly-holmes, helen, 1968- p306.2.c85 1995 418.02-dc20 95-42194 british library cataloguing in publication data a cip catalogue record for this book is available from the british library. isbn 1-85359-333-8 (hbk) multilingual matters ltd uk: frankfurt lodge, clevedon hall, victoria road, clevedon, avon bs21 7sj. usa: 1900 frost road, suite 101, bristol, pa 19007, usa. australia: p.o. box 6025, 83 gilles street, adelaide, sa 5000, australia. copyright 1995 christina schffner, helen kelly-holmes and the authors of individual chapters. all rights reserved. no part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. printed and bound in great britain by short run press. page v contents editorial christina schffner1 translation and the formation of cultural identities lawrence venuti9 preliminary remarks to the debate lawrence venuti26 debate32 translation and advertising: going global candace sguinot55 debate72 page 1 editorial christina schffner institute for the study of language and society, aston university, aston triangle, birmingham b4 7et culture in translation and translation studies throughout the centuries, translations have contributed to the processing and exchange of information both within and across cultural boundaries. translating as an activity is almost as old as mankind, but the more systematic occupation with this phenomenon dealing with translation as an academic and scholarly endeavour and deriving consequences for translation training is relatively new. although there are statements about methods of translating that date from the middle ages (for example, martin luthers comments on how he translated the bible, cf. strig, 1963), they were not based on a particular theory of translation. attempts to develop a more theoretical account of translation began in the 1950s. the developments of these accounts are a reflection of both the dominant scientific paradigms of the time and the development of linguistics. but even today, translation studies has not become a homogeneous discipline. translation has traditionally been described as a comparative linguistic undertaking, whereby translation has been approached primarily from the perspective of the differences in language structures. but this has turned out to be too narrow a view. as nida (1994: 1) says: it is true that in all translating and interpreting the source and target languages must be implicitly or explicitly compared, but all such interlingual communication extends far beyond the mechanics of linguistic similarities and contrasts. one of the main reasons for this is that the meaning of verbal symbols on any and every level depends on the culture of the language community. language is a part of culture, and in fact, it is the most complex set of habits that any culture exhibits. language reflects the culture, provides access to the culture, and in many respects constitutes a model of the culture (nida, 1994: 1). recently, therefore, the need for treating translation from a wide range of perspectives has been recognised (e.g. snell-hornby, 1988). translating and interpreting are essentially communicative processes that produce texts. the important features of sociological settings have been included, and it has been recognised that, apart from linguistics, insights from a number of scientific disciplines, for example psychology, cultural anthropology, and communication theory should be employed to explain the complex phenomenon of translation. what happens in this complex process? a target text is produced that is based on a source text (neubert, 1985: 18 speaks of translation as source-text-induced target-text-production). this target-text-production may be initiated in the source or in the target culture. both source text and target text fulfil a specific function, play a specific role in their respective language communities and cultures. the source text was produced in a source culture, it is a product of this page 2 culture (which is itself heterogeneous), and it functioned in that culture. the target text has to function in a new culture. apart from the two cultures usually being different, the functions of the texts may be different as well. the function of an instruction manual or a scientific article will usually be the same for the source and the target text, namely instructing and informing, respectively. however, a speech by a politician at an electioneering rally may have a persuasive function in the source culture, but only an informative function when translated for a target culture (that is to say, members of the target culture are not expected to cast their votes for this politician). translation and cultural identities the function of a text may also be seen in a wider, social context, that is, how a text effects the structure and functioning of a society. for example, a source text can consolidate or challenge existing power structures in its source culture. translations, too, may have far- reaching effects in the target culture. such effects may result from the picture of the source culture that translations present for the target culture. where does knowledge about cultures usually come from, including knowledge that other cultures may be different? such knowledge can be acquired by living in the other culture, by watching undubbed films, or by reading texts produced in this culture but all this obviously requires knowledge of the language of this culture. the other way of gaining knowledge of other cultures is through translations. these translations stand for the original: they replace it. translation as a culture transcending process (vermeer, 1992: 40) is thus an important way of forming cultural identities and of positioning cultures. these aspects are the topics of this issue of current issues in language and society. it is based on papers given by two scholars from the united states of america and canada in the winter of 1994/95. lawrence venuti discusses the role of translation for the formation of cultural identities, and candace sguinot focuses on the effects of globalisation for translating advertising. the effects which translated texts have in the target culture are determined by the choice to translate a text and publish it, and also by the way in which these texts are read, comprehended, reviewed, and made use of in social, cultural, and institutional settings. all of these factors play an important role in the formation of cultural identities, the topic of lawrence venutis paper. his main aim is to show that translation wields enormous power in constructing representations of foreign cultures. translation can create stereotypes for foreign countries that reflect domestic cultural and political values and they can be instrumental in shaping domestic attitudes towards foreign countries. venuti discusses conservative or transgressive effects of a translation. by examining several translation projects from different periods he shows how translation forms particular cultural identities and maintains them with a relative degree of coherence and homogeneity. his examples fall into the broad category of literary texts novels, philosophical and religious texts. venuti argues that american publishers established an ethnocentric canon of japanese fiction in page 3 english that was based on a well-defined stereotype, a representation that reflected a domestic nostalgia for an exotic pre-war japan. the example for a philosophical text is joness existentialist-informed translation of aristotles poetics which displaced the dominant academic reading and acquired an institutional authority. the controversies surrounding the translation of the bible in the early christian church, for example jeromes project of translating the old testament, show that translations may bring about social change by revising ideological qualifications and thereby modifying institutional roles or functions. venuti also considers how translation creates possibilities for cultural resistance, innovation, and change. he argues in his preliminary comments that any agenda of cultural resistance for translation must take specifically cultural forms, must choose foreign texts and translation methods that deviate from the canonical or dominant ones. translation should, where appropriate, reveal and accentuate difference. the identity-forming power of translation is also evident in non-literary texts. candace sguinot discusses the specific case of advertising, which is an all-invasive aspect of our daily lives. advertisements may promote a product (usually with a view to immediate purchase) or a service, and usually the visual element which can be in an iconic, symbolic or indexical relationship with the product is of key importance. ads invest the products with a very special significance for the consumer. when the products are foreign, the advertising and marketing campaign must establish this significance of the product. sometimes products are closely identified with their culture of origin, they may indeed reinforce stereotypical images of this culture. but they can also lead to a revision of that stereotype and an establishment of a culture-independent, or supra-national identity associated with a product. translators are expected to take responsibility for the final form of an ad, and sguinot argues that the marketing of goods and services across cultural boundaries involves an understanding of culture and semiotics that goes well beyond both language and design. her examples illustrate how cultural differences affect marketing. in translating ads, an almost literal translation is inadequate in creating an appeal to a different target audience. conceptual transfer from source culture to different target cultures can also be full of pitfalls, because of differences in national perceptions and preferences. in discussing advertising, another important factor is introduced, namely that through translations, new international or supranational cultures may emerge. this is termed globalisation, and various aspects would come under this heading. globalisation of the translation business sometimes means also providing full marketing services in addition to translation and interpretation. it may also involve devising different local campaigns or developing one common, international or supranational marketing and advertising campaign. and in a world of global communication, some groups, for example adolescents and business travellers the world over, form a common market across cultures. page 4 translation strategies both papers make it absolutely clear that translation is not a matter of words only, but that it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture. one of the key concepts in both papers is the idea of translation strategies. since translation studies is not a homogeneous discipline, as said above, it is only logical that some terms are used differently, or even controversially. one of the most controversial terms is the term equivalence. other key concepts that are differently used are strategy and function, and this divergence also becomes obvious in the debates. venuti differentiates between foreignising and domesticating as his two main strategies. these two strategies can be found especially in the translation of literary texts. domesticating means bringing the foreign culture closer to the reader in the target culture, making the text recognisable and familiar. foreignising, on the other hand, means taking the reader over to the foreign culture, making him or her see the (cultural and linguistic) differences. venuti (1994) argues that in domesticating foreign texts, translators were in fact maintaining the literary standards of the social elite while constructing cultural identities for their nations on the basis of (archaic) foreign cultures. a foreignising strategy seeks to evoke a sense of the foreign. this strategy necessarily answers to a domestic situation, where it may be designed to serve a cultural and political agenda. macura (1990), for example, has shown that 19th century czech culture virtually cloned itself on the german model, and that translation thus actually constituted a culture. of course, the culture to which the translator belongs is also important. venutis discussion usually assumes the translator to be a member of the target culture: only in these circumstances is the distinction between foreignising and domesticating translation strategies clearly understandable. that is, the translator is a member of the domestic society for which the source culture is foreign, is the other. in his preliminary remarks, venuti complains that the fact of translation is erased by suppressing the linguistic and cultural differences of the foreign text, assimilating it to dominant values in the target-language culture, making it recognisable and therefore seemingly untranslated. with this domestication the translated text passes for the original. however, these critical remarks would have to be relativised. the role of the text type, the genre, as well as the purpose of the target text are factors that decisively influence the final linguistic form and the lay-out of the target text. a distinction can be made between more or less conventionalised text types that exist in both cultures, and text types which are introduced into the target culture only through translation, for example bible translations that gave many languages their first written form. in the case of translating text types that are highly conventionalised, the conventions of the target culture have to be taken into account, because in these cases the target addressees expect to read a text in a recognisable, familiar form. a case in point would be instruction manuals, for which domestication would be the only effective strategy (unless the purpose, the skopos of the target text, is to show what the source text looks like). technical or legal texts too, often respond in a page 5 relatively predictable way to a series of conventional norms. on the other hand, literary texts, as a rule, do not conform strictly to predictable norms and conventions and it is mainly with reference to literary texts that foreignisation versus domestication has traditionally been discussed (cf. schleiermacher, 1838; and also weck, 1876 who said: so steht denn der bersetzer mitten inne zwischen zwei forderungen, die zu vershnen fast unmglich erscheint. auf der einen seite ruft ihm der dichter zu: habe ehrfurcht vor meinem eigentum; nimm mir nichts, aber schiebe mir auch nichts unter! auf der anderen seite verlangt das publikum: habe achtung vor meinem geschmack; bringe mir nichts, als was mir gefllt und wie es mir gefllt! the translator is in the middle of two demands that seem almost impossible to reconcile. on one side, the author calls out to him: respect my property, dont take anything away from me, and dont attribute anything falsely to me. on the other side, the audience demands: respect our taste, give us only what we like and how we like it. sguinots concept of strategies is a wider one, as can be seen in her discussion of the factors translators have to take into account, factors such as understanding constraints by the form and functions of the source text, interpreting the visual means, understanding the underlying object or concept, and how to react when there is no access to the product. the term translation strategy is also often used synonymously with translation principle, translation method or translation technique. categories here may be literal versus free translation, or principle of transparent translation versus principle of equal effect of source text and target text. the treatment of specific translation problems, for example how to deal with wordplays or ambiguity, how to translate proper names, how to translate metaphors, or how to overcome lexical gaps, are also sometimes discussed under the heading of translation strategies, although the term translation technique might be more appropriate. the question of how one should translate has been asked again and again, and it has been answered differently in t