Ms. Latika R.
Chawda
Department of Translation
Technology,
School of
Translation & Interpretation,
Mahatma Gandhi International
Hindi University,
Wardha, Maharashtra - 442 001.
Mob. : 07620613859
Revisiting role and context of Translators
& Interpreters
1. Introduction :
Contrary to expectations,
globalization is not accompanied by the use of a single language. In this age
of Globalisation, it is obvious that the constant influx of people from other
countries and cultures is producing changes in the way society is structured as
well as in how relationships are established throughout the world. These
changes also affect interlingual mediation and the role that translators and
interpreters (T&I) have to perform. They have to act in a great
variety of settings and provide very different solutions for the situations
they are faced with. Such a variety also leads to questions on the ethics of
translation in public services, the acceptance of the varied forms of
professionalism, the importance
of the role that culture plays and the
consideration of different attitudes from society and its institutions. These
questions suggest the need to discuss the role of translators and interpreters
(T&I).
The changes in the structure
of the societies and in the way relationships are established (people's greater
mobility, better communications, multicultural societies, the concentration of
languages and different cultures over a short time and in a reduced space)
affect the translator and interpreter´s (T&I) role too. It is not possible
to think of the T&I as an errant
dictionary or as a mirror that returns the image. It is necessary to admit, and
not to suspect negatively that manipulating a text to make it comprehensible to
the new receivers - even changing the form beyond the normal limits- is a
translation.
2. What is translation and Interpreting?
|
“translation is a process of communication whose
objective is to import the knowledge of the original to the foreign
reader?" -Levy
|
What is translation? For Levy
(1967:148), "translation is a process of communication whose objective is
to import the knowledge of the original to the foreign reader?" Echoing
the similar viewpoint, Savory (1968:37) believes that translation is made
possible by an equivalent of the idea that lies behind its different verbal expressions.
Nogueira (1998:1) asserts that, "translation is a service business".
Moreover, Hatim and Mason (1990:1) affirm that, "translation is a useful
case for examining the whole issue of the role of language in social
life." Translation, as Adewuni (2000:1) puts forward, "is a reality
despite the complications and doubt attached to it based on the nature of the
elements involved, the languages, the cultures, and the translator.
Translation projects naturally involve
translators. There is a difference between translators and interpreters. Translation is the operation
which consists in rendering a written source text to a written target text that
retains elements of information, form, functionality and tone abiding by
agreed-on specifications. Simply put, translators write while interpreters
speak. The interpreter acts as a mediator between national and cultural
boundaries. The task of interpreter is to analyze and explain the information
at the time of meeting, worldwide conferences, international telephone calls,
and any other type of international communication. In recent years, the
interpretation services are playing important role in global businesses.
3. Role of
T&Is :
1.
Intercultural
mediator's abilities :
Some scholars and practitioners in Western society still consider
translators to be walking dictionaries more than cultural mediators; however,
in some settings and under certain conditions translators participate more
actively in the communication process, producing oral or written texts in which
forms and words are manipulated to extend further understanding across
cultures. The ethnocultural differences of the involved parts, which may lead
to racial, cultural or linguistic differences, and also to intensify inequality
and tension. To avoid such situations one of the intercultural mediator's
abilities must be to possess this global knowledge of both parts as well as
know how to use those differences and how to insert them while working. The
T&I must also avoid falling in "culturalist" misconceptions and
being able to analyse the sociopolitical and ideological changes that many West
European countries are undergoing.
2. COLORS interprete :
Colors and likewise the objects play the role of interpreter sometimes.
e.g. These days, to present especially the persons
with negative characters as Villain and vamp in the serials, designers are
using most bright and vibrant color. Hence, with the concept that color itself
depicts the nature of the character… the costumes and ornaments are designed
more precisely by expert and renowned dress designers of India in various
TV-serials based on Indian History and Indian Mythology like Buddha, Mahabharata,
Jodha Akbar, Bharat ka veer - Maharana Paratap etc.
3. Interpreters has to skip or leave
particular words:
“An Interpreter has to play the role of saviour sometimes. He has to skip
or leave the interpretation of particular words from source language text which
could lead to the problem perhaps.”
e.g. “Chennai Express”, the recent released movie
of Bollywood presents the best Example of Interpretation, where there’s a scene
in which the Heroine acts as an interpreter (between Tamilians who only know
Tamil and the Hero who only knows Hindi), who had to speak lie to her father just
in order to save life of Hero from thousands of Tamilians who were against the
Hero and Heroine.
4. Power in the context of Translation :
Power is not exclusively exercised by institutions and other authorities
traditionally seen as the proprietors of power, but power is also exercised by
people seeking empowerment (Tymoczko 2007).
Therefore, power in translation is closely linked to constraints from
different perspectives (e.g. hegemony, norms, language, target group). These
power-driven translation practices can lead to oppression of discourse or
people (e.g. censorship, institutional constraints, ideological constraints),
but they can also be seen as a means to resist this oppression. In this
context, power does not necessarily open out into a black-and-white thinking,
an absolutist and dichotomous understanding of translation. It does not
necessarily only mean the difference between the powerful and the powerless,
but rather makes translation implicitly or explicitly partisan.
“In this context, translation can be characterised as an image of the
original, particularly for those who have no access to the reality of the
original. This image can undoubtedly be very different from the truth, in so
far as the translator can distort and manipulate reality, because he is under
the pressure of a series of constraints […] typical of the cultures to which he
belongs.”
5. The role of the translator or interpreter as a double agent :
The role of the translator is thus
closely connected to the issue of power as the translator or interpreter often
functions as a double agent caught between two camps, “representing both the
institution in power and those seeking empowerment” (Gentzer/Tymoczko
2002:xix). However, instead of viewing this as problematic, within the paradigm
of power, this position can be seen as a strength (ibid.) as translators always
have the possibility to influence the text by emphasizing specific content or
rearrange parts of the text.
As a result, translators must make choices, selecting aspects or
parts of a text to transpose and emphasize. Such choices in turn serve to create
representations of their source texts, representations that are also partial.
This partiality is not to be considered a defect, a lack or an absence in a
translation; it is a necessary condition of the act. (Ibid.:xviii)
6. Translator can be the authority who manipulates the culture, politics,
literature, and their acceptance (or lack thereof) in the target culture :
Furthermore, translators can
also “artificially create the reception context of a given text. [They] can be
the authority who manipulates the culture, politics, literature, and their
acceptance (or lack thereof) in the target culture” (Álvarez/Vidal 1996b:2).
Thereby, translators have the possibility to actively participate in the
construction of knowledge across different languages and cultural borders.
7. Translators, as much as creative writers and politicians, participate in
the powerful acts that create knowledge and shape culture :
The role of
translation is therefore not a mere reproduction of a source text into a target
text, but a creative act that demands complex decision-making from the
translator:
Translation thus is not simply an act of faithful reproduction but,
rather, a deliberate and conscious act of selection, assemblage, structuration,
and fabrication – and even, in some cases, of falsification, refusal of
information, counterfeiting, and the creation of secret codes. In these ways
translators, as much as creative writers and politicians, participate in the
powerful acts that create knowledge and shape culture. (Gentzler/Tymoczko
2002:xxi)
8. Interpreters have to face
constraints in the context of multimodal translation :
Another perspective on constraints in the context of multimodal
translation is discussed in Elisa Moroni’s paper on orality in the translation
of Russian epics that focuses on the power of the context of reception to
impose a new set of stylistic norms. Russian epic poetry, which was orally transmitted
by generations of storytellers and systematically transcribed between the
nineteenth and twentieth century, turns into a kind of frozen orality when it
is translated. Although the translations aim to preserve oral features, this
orality will be always different from that of the original performance, obeying
the constraints of the academic or literary discourse into which it is
integrated.
9. Translation becomes a kind of
linguistic performance which intensifies the play of languages and adds a new
layer of verbal humour for the bilingual audience :
The
paper by Nicole Nolette approaches constraints from yet another perspective,
from the flipside in fact – introducing texts which are willfully dissident,
refusing the hegemony of a single language. In asking how these heterolingual
plays can be translated, she shows how translation becomes a kind of linguistic
performance. These games of translation intensify the play of languages,
connecting with the mise en scène, and adding a new layer of verbal humour for
the bilingual audience. The intentional dissonance of this kind of theatrical
experience compares in interesting ways with the unintentional dissonances
introduced in dubbing television sitcoms.
10. The creation of humour
within the field of audio-visual translation from SL to TL :
The study of dubbed sitcoms also deals with the
clash of contradictory stylistic features. Giovanna Di Pietro’s work on the
paralinguistic and kinesic features of humour in dubbed sitcoms analyses the
interplay between verbal and nonverbal communication in the creation of humour
within the field of audio-visual translation from English into Italian.
Multimodal analysis of one episode of the contemporary US sitcom “How I Met
Your Mother” dubbed into Italian shows how there is often a disconnect between
what is said and how it is said, between the words and the ways in which they
are pronounced, the images and the bodily movements of the characters.
11. The translator needs to be on the side of the
powerless, that is the reader in community translation :
Community translation
is a means to an end, namely to equip the community with the necessary
information and other means to develop skills for themselves. It is an attempt
to balance the power relationship between the sender and the receiver by
prioritizing the needs of the community. Effective, empowering communication
between the author and the reader via the translated text implies that the
translator needs to be on the side of the powerless, that is the reader.
Siegrühn (1992:33) comments:
"The original concern about the quality of translation was replaced by the
concern rather for the appropriacy and accessibility of the
translation."
12. Translators should become
"vocational" instead of being only
a simple professional when there is socio-cultural distance &
translation is used as an element for integration :
However, what happens when there is socio-cultural distance and
translation is used as an element for integration? Should the translator be
invisible? Is this pattern of "silent translation" the most
adequate? To answer to these questions Hernández puts the emphasis on the
attention on the translation activity as a "vocational" activity
instead of as a simple professional activity for which its practitioners are
paid, allowing them to earn a living. As a vocational activity, and appealing
to some studies on Psycholinguistics, the activity of translating cannot be
reduced to a merely conceptual operation but rather to an operation in which
sensations and affections are also an integral part.
13. The military interpreter makes a choice as to functional
content while dropping the emotional charge which accompanied the original
message :
A tall French General, in a fever of agitation, was giving orders to
officers arriving and departing – he said something about using their artillery
and seventy-fives and then, looking at our transport in the middle of the
reigning confusion, briskly stepped towards us, a map in one hand, a crust of
bread in the other, and said: “Can’t you see that you are congesting the whole
of my retirement? You must get out of
our way”. His manner was anything but pleasant. I translated what he said in
milder tones. Pointing to his map and addressing me, he added, “Tell your
officer to get on this road as soon as he possibly can”. With that he
precipitately entered his car, which cut through the troops and disappeared.
(Ibid.:33, emphasis added)
Here, the military interpreter makes a choice as to which part of the
message he wants to transmit and thus chooses the functional content, while dropping
the emotional charge which accompanied the original message. The interpreter
thus decides to transmit only one part of the message he was charged to
interpret.
Conclusion :
In conclusion,
countries today are becoming more aware of the multicultural society that is
being formed in country within its borders and they are also paying more
attention to interlinguistic communication. Especially in those countries where
immigration is a recent phenomenon, as for example, countries (e.g. India,
Spain, Italy, Greece), the first steps in training translators and interpreters
as interlinguistic mediators, a topic very often neglected, are slowly being
taken into consideration. A new breed of translators and interpreters who need
to develop not only linguistic skills, but also cultural and anthropological
abilities seems to be emerging. They have to bridge the gap between the
newcomers and the host population. However, the controversy between the role
they perform and the traditional role assigned to translators and mediators is
still open.
There is also a
long way to go to make translation in public services a profession comparable
to that of the translator considered as a professional. The obstacles are
numerous, being, in my opinion, economic, social and educational factors some
of the most important barriers, as well as the recognition of this
activity as a profession. to widen the limits of translation and consider
training translators and interpreters as interlinguistic mediators.
Obviously, due to the time constraints, this paper did not cover the
situations where Translators and Interpreters play crucial role in the
different other fields. It is hoped that the findings in this paper provides a
potentially valuable lesson for “Revisiting role and context of Translators
and Interpreters” writing.
References :
1)
Mahmoud Ordudari, University of Esfahan, Iran,
“Good Translation: Art, Craft, or Science?” Paper.
2)
Alan Melby & Lola Bendana,
“Everything you ever wanted to know about translation” Paper.
3)
Beatrice Fischer, Matilde Nisbeth
Jensen (eds.), University of Graz, Austria / Aarhus University, Denmark;
Macquarie University, Australia. “Translation and the reconfiguration of power
relations.”
4)
Carmen Valero-Garcés ,
University of Alcalá, Department of Modern Philology, C/Trinidad. “Mediation
as translation or translation as mediation? Widening the translator's role in a new multicultural society” paper.
