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EU High Level Scientific Conference Series Prof.Dr.H.Gerzymisch-Arbogast (Translation/Interpreting) ATRC Saarbrücken |
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Abstracts of Presentations |
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Rachele Antonini (Bologna/Forlìe) The insight of otherness through the adaptation of culture-specific references on TV |
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70% of all foreign fictional products (series, serials, cartoons, etc) broadcast by European
public and private TV networks are US productions or co-productions. In Italy this share
reaches 80% of the total audiovisual market of fictional products purchased abroad.
Productions from Latin America, other European countries, Japan and other English-speaking
countries make up for the remaining 20%. Thus, Italian TV viewers are constantly exposed and
are increasingly becoming accustomed to a huge amount of culture-specific references
connotating different aspects of everyday life such as education, politics, history, art,
institutions, legal systems, units of measurement, place names, foods and drinks, sports and
national pastimes, as experienced in different countries and nations of the world. Therefore,
it goes without saying that screen translation plays a fundamental and strategic role not only
in the development, promotion, distribution and success of foreign audiovisual fictional and
non-fictional productions, but also, and above all, in allowing viewers to fully understand
and enjoy such products. But what do the end users of this service (i.e. dubbing) make of the
rendition and adaptation into Italian of such references? Are they really made privy to this
kind of knowledge? And, above all, do they want to?
In order to shed some light on Italian audiences' perception and own interpretation of dubbed culture-specific references, this paper will illustrate and discuss the data and the findings of a large-scale research project based on the Forlì Corpus of Screen Translation (FORLIXT). Return to top |
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Alexei Bagrintsev (Moscow) Presenting an SL Lexical Item in a Bilingual Dictionary |
| My current research interest lies in the field of bilingual lexicography. Below are some of the
problems a bilingual lexicographer faces when presenting an SL lexical item in a bilingual
dictionary. First, as the majority of the words are polysemous, there is the question of the
arrangement of meanings. As a rule, monolingual dictionaries either show the meanings in order
they developed historically or begin with the most common up-to-date meaning. However, it is more
typical of a bilingual dictionary to show the core and/or the current meaning of a word first
rather than to show the logical semantic extension from the etymology. Second, cases of homonymy
and polysemy are not to be confused. In case of the former there are usually two or more distinct
headwords, whereas in the latter case all the co-senses of the lexeme are classified under the
same headword. Third, semantic structures of SL words TL words diverge. One-to-one correspondence
is seldom the case. However, it's a truism that descriptive translation is the one least suitable
for practical purposes. That's why lexicographers opt for a single-word equivalent wherever
possible. Fourth, illustrative examples should be clear and relevant. They serve to inform the
user of the lexical valency of the given word: aptness of the word to appear in various
combinations. It is only natural for a bilingual dictionary to give the most habitual SL
collocations and their TL equivalents. The closer a word or a particular meaning is to the core
of the current language, the greater the number of illustrative examples it should be provided
with. Fifth, translations of illustrative examples should be accurate. It is better to avoid any
pragmatic adaptation. However, one should bear in mind that lexical valency of correlated SL and
TL words is different. In case of clichés, e.g. hot/quick temper a bilingual lexicographer is
obliged to seek similar clichés in TL which may differ from the SL clichés as far as the
referential meaning of their constituent parts. Sixth, where necessary, headwords or meanings
should be provided with usage labels denoting register, style or geographical distribution
(e.g. British, American, Australian English). The same refers to spelling and pronunciation
differences, possibly with cross-references. Seventh, it is necessary to present words belonging
to one and the same lexicographic type consistently. In my paper, tentatively entitled
'Presenting an SL Lexical Item in a Bilingual Dictionary', I propose to discuss the problems
above in detail.
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Claudio Bendazzoli, Annalisa Sandrelli, Cristina Monti, Mariachiara Russo (Forlì/Bologna) An approach to corpus-based interpreting studies: developing EPIC (European Parliament Interpreting Corpus) |
| Empirical research on simultaneous interpreting is hampered by the problem of
collecting sufficient material (recordings of conference speeches and interpreted target texts)
for the testing of hypotheses and scientific validation of existing theories. In other words,
corpora have long been awaited in the field of simultaneous interpreting studies. In January
2004 a research group on corpus-based interpreting studies was set up in Forlì (Bologna) in
order to create an electronic parallel corpus with source and target texts in Italian, English
and Spanish. The main research interest of the group is the study of interpreters' strategies
across different language directions (directionality) and language-pair related difficulties.
Several European Parliament (EP) plenary sessions were recorded off the news channel EbS (Europe by Satellite). By selecting different audio-channels, it was also possible to record the interpreters working in the various booths (in our case, Italian, English and Spanish). All the material thus obtained is being digitised and edited by using dedicated software in order to create a multimedia archive. The archive includes video clips of each source language speaker and audio clips of the corresponding interpreted target texts, as well as the transcripts of each text. Indeed, both source texts and target texts are being transcribed for later analysis. Thus far, almost one full EP plenary session has been digitised, edited and transcribed, corresponding to about 18 hours of spoken material, including both source and target language material. Each transcript includes information about the text (e.g. duration, mode of delivery, average speed, etc.) and the speaker (e.g. nationality, gender, political function, etc) in a specially-designed header. The following step, in which we are currently engaged, is the POS (part-of-speech) tagging and lemmatising of the transcripts and subsequent alignment of source texts and target texts for automatic text analysis. A dedicated Web interface is being developed to enable researchers to interrogate the corpus by using dedicated search options (simple query) or by entering queries by using CQP/ CWB syntax (advanced query). Clearly, different kinds of analysis are possible on the corpus at the lexical/verbal level. The proposed paper aims to illustrate the various stages of development of the project and present a few preliminary results of corpus analysis. Return to top |
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Chiara Bucaria (Bologna/Forlì) The perception of the non-verbal: how Italians react to what they see but isn't explained |
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While the literature on Screen Translation has dedicated ample time and space to issues
regarding the probelmatic area of translating the verbal code, it would appear that the visual
code has been largely ignored. Yet, complex semiotic entities such are audiovisual texts, also
communicate meaning visually. Apart from actor's movements, facial expressions and the setting
of the screen products, many actions, situations and events are highly culture specific. Of
course, the translator's intervention is limited to only one of these aspects, the dialogue,
leaving all the other features unchanged, thus room for manoeuvre would appear to be extremely
narrow. Now, though many of these visual elements and references may escape the Italian
viewers attention and may not be considered on an equal par with the verbal code, they
certainly contribute to the general meaning and message of the product.
This paper will explore what Italians make of events such as pet funerals and practices such as eating ice cream straight out of a gigantic tub, paying special attention to whether (and if so how far) these things are absorbed and understood or simply they are bypassed in a state of unawareness. Furthermore, even if they are misunderstood or ignored, more importantly, does this matter if the product is successful? Return to top |
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Gerhard Budin (Vienna) Towards An Integrated Approach to Multimodal Translation Resource Management |
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The concepts of "translation resources" and "language resources" have become crucial in
language industry worldwide. In the paper I discuss these concepts from a typological
perspective. Multimodality (e.g. speech vs. written resources), multisemioticity of texts, and
multidimensionality of tasks have become challenges to both, daily practice in translation work
and the creation of adequate description and explanation models in translation theory.
Modeling techniques are abundant in computer science and other disciplines. Methods and workflows, tools and products are also discussed along different lines of thinking in in different dimensions. The goal is to create an integrated approach that serves as a flexible, yet powerful framework for linking the modeling phase to other phases of the workflow. Increasingly, translators work in embedded collaborative systems that include large data repositories, databases and meta-data-registries. The implications of such developments are discussed. Return to top |
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Mary Carroll (Titelbild/Berlin) Workshop: Audiovisual translation: voiceover and commentaries |
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Translations destined for the sound tracks of television programmes, documentaries,
corporate videos, bonus material on DVDs, infotainment, computer games and websites are
subject to a host of constraints. In this workshop we will look at some of the features of
voiceover and commentary and the codes of translating for this particular medium.
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Interdisciplinary and Empirical Approaches to Translation Research: Reception and Perception of Translated Texts on Screen Convenor: Delia Chiaro (Forlì/Bologna) |
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One of the major contributions of Corpus Linguistics to Translation Studies has certainly been
the upshot of more rigorous and empirically based research founded upon objective observation.
Nevertheless, studies tend to focus on norms and descriptions of texts from the point of view
of the researcher, while research which concerns end-user perception of translated texts are
still quite uncommon. Yet methods and techniques commonly used in the Social Sciences can
indeed be applied to this field. The use of experimental designs and statistical elaboration
of ensuing results typical of the Social Sciences can open the way to innovative insights into
translation.
This panel aims to focus upon the social implications of the translation process by examining issues such as • models developed in sociology which can expand insights in translation studies; • theoretical and methodological impulses of cultural sociology applied to translation studies; • how new technologies influence and/or aid perception and understanding and how will they affect research methods; • how new technologies can help assess what audiences as end-users of this social process expect from linguistically mediated products. Thus this panel will present a variety of different findings of a large scale research project the aim of which was to investigate audiences' perception of dubbed texts on Italian television. Based on a corpus collected in 2002 of over 300 hours of recorded TV programmes of different genres of translated television programmes from the seven most important Italian terrestrial channels, via a Web based questionnaire, Italians were randomly invited to view clips taken from the corpus and answer a number of questions on different aspects of their perception of what they saw and heard. Subsequently, answers were elaborated statistically. Our findings were highly significant both in terms of audience perception of translated language and culture-specific elements. Return to top |
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Delia Chiaro (Bologna/Forlì) Suspension of disbelief or mediatic diglossia ? How Italians perceive dubbese. |
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For a variety of reasons which span from the requirements of lip synchronization to
translational conventions, Italian dubbese contains a number of features which do not appear
to be used in mainstream, everyday language. Now, while it can be easily argued that the
language of TV fiction is indeed far removed from everyday language, in the sense that
elementary features such as overlap, interactional discourse and fillers are somewhat
falsified for practical reasons of time and space, as far as we know, elements like lexical
items and idioms remain those of the mainstream language. Nothing is invented. Yet, this does
not appear to be the case when the language of fiction is doubly falsified as is the case of
Italian dubbese.
Having identified a set of expressions which were recurrent in our corpus but which did not appear to be so in everyday Italian, both according to parallel corpora and established databases (e.g the LIP Lingua Italiana Parlata Corpus, the largest database of naturally occurring Spoken Italian), Italians in our sample were asked to rate the likelihood of these expressions occurring in everyday conversation. The statistical elaboration of our results led us to an index of viewers' GENERAL PERCEPTION OF LIKELIHOOD OF OCCURRENCE (GPLO) which displays a general recognition of acceptance of linguistic features adopted on screen which are virtually non-existent both in autochthonous fictional programmes and in established electronic corpora of naturally occurring Italian. Return to top |
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Jorge Diaz-Cintas (Roehampton/London) Back to the Future in Subtitling |
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The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact that technology is having in the world of
subtitling and audiovisual translation (AVT). It outlines the most important changes that
have recently taken place in this field as a consequence of digitisation, the spread of
internet, and the advent of the DVD and digital television. Departing from a wide approach
to the concept of accessibility to the media, I focus my attention on the new emerging
subtitling modes as well as on the new professional practices aimed at making the audiovisual
media more accessible for people with disabilities.
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Helmut Diekmann (Helsinki) Äquivalenzprobleme beim Übersetzen aus dem Finnischen ins Deutsche und umgekehrt |
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Das Finnische ist eine der wenigen Sprachen in Europa, die nicht zu der Familie der
indoeuropäischen Sprachen gehört. In ihren grammatikalischen Strukturen weist die finnische
Sprache zahlreiche Unterschiede u. a. zu den germanischen Sprachen auf. So kennt das
Finnische kein grammatikalisches Geschlecht, und es gibt nur ein einziges, geschlechtsneutrales
Personalpronomen (hän), das auf männliche wie auf weibliche Personen angewandt wird.
Finnisch ist zudem eine Sprache mit agglutinierender Morphologie und insgesamt 15 Kasus.
Das Finnische hat keine Präpositionen, sondern verwendet stattdessen Suffixe, die an das
Bezugswort angehängt werden. Auch Artikelwörter fehlen weitgehend.
Diesen strukturellen Eigenheiten ist beim Übersetzen Rechnung zu tragen. Wer zum Beispiel einen Film oder eine Fernsehserie ins Finnische übersetzt - in Finnland werden diese nicht synchronisiert, sondern mit Untertiteln versehen - und auf den Satz stößt "Er liebt sie, aber sie liebt ihn nicht", kann nicht einfach Personalpronomina verwenden, denn dies würde zu einem bedeutungslosen, paradox klingenden Satz führen ("Hän rakastaa häntä, mutta hän ei rakasta häntä"), sondern er hat sich anderer Mittel der Disambiguierung zu bedienen. Beim Übersetzen aus dem Finnischen kommt wiederum das Problem häufig vor, dass sich das Geschlecht von Personen nicht aus dem ausgangssprachlichen Text schließen lässt, die Zielsprache aber ein bestimmtes Genus verlangt. Der Gebrauch von Personalpronomina ist nur ein Beispiel für ein Problem, mit dem man beim Übersetzen von einer indoeuropäischen Sprache in eine nicht-indoeuropäische Sprache mit einer weitgehend anderen Struktur konfrontiert wird. In der umgekehrten Richtung bildet u.a. der Gebrauch des jeweils adäquaten Artikels ein Problem, da die Ausgangssprache ja keine Artikel vorgibt. Neben solchen Problemen, die von der Sprachstruktur her bedingt sind, sind kulturspezifische Aspekte zu berücksichtigen. So existiert im Finnischen zwar eine Höflichkeitsform wie im Deutschen, aber das "Siezen" ist in Finnland in der schriftlichen Kommunikation obsolet geworden. Hotelgäste und Bankkunden werden in Finnland ebenso "geduzt" wie die Adressaten von Automobil-Werbung. In Bedienungsanleitungen wird allgemein der Imperativ der zweiten Person Singular verwendet; dasselbe gilt für Anweisungen und Befehle in der Computertechnik. In scheinbarem Widerspruch dazu steht die Tatsache, dass in finnischen Werbetexten unpersönliche Formen (Passivformen, dritte Person statt erster Person) gebräuchlicher sind als im Deutschen oder Englischen und dass es zum "guten Ton" gehört, eine gewisse Distanz zu wahren. So liest man in Werbeprospekten also eher Sätze wie "Die Firma XY bietet ihren Kunden die folgenden Dienstleistungen" statt "Wir bieten Ihnen..." etc. Finnische LeserInnen würden einen nach dem letzteren Muster gebauten Satz leicht als unangenehme Aufdringlichkeit empfinden. Return to top |
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Jan Engberg (Aarhus) Knowledge construction and domain-specific discourse. The interdependence of models and approaches |
Traditional descriptions of communication in the area of LSP and domain-specific discourse
have focused very little on the mental process of understanding that such texts contribute to.
Much more attention has been paid to the surrounding context and culture and to the reflection
of these surrounding factors in texts and genres. If the process of understanding is a topic in
LSP research at all, the underlying theoretical assumptions seem to be fairly mechanistic,
assuming that words highlight complete and complex concepts in the mind of the person who reads
the texts and thus give rise to complete and complex understanding. These assumptions have
consequences for the models of domain-specific communication. In my presentation, I intend to
show what the consequences are for our view of specialised communication (to which also the
translation of domain-specific texts belongs) if we take recent constructionist models of
textual understanding as our point of departure. Central defining characteristics of these
approaches to be treated in the presentation are:
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Daniel Gile (Place) Methodological issues in research into TV interpreting quality |
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Abstract
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Henrik Gottlieb (Copenhagen) Multidimensional Translation: Semantics turned Semiotics |
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Any kind of translation is a multi-faceted entity, and even the word 'translation'
covers at least two dimensions: the semantics and temporal progression of the (translating)
process plus the semiotics and spatial composition of the (translational) product.
The process of translation involves a chain of disparate and consecutive entities, ranging from the conceiver(s) of the original text to the receivers of the translation. Even the translational product is a complex notion. As a simultaneously presented synthesis of signs constituting either a mono- or polysemiotic text, the translated text encompasses much more than the rephrasing of original verbal utterances. Even in the case of 'words-only' - i.e. monosemiotic - texts, other factors than verbal semantics form part of translational products. In this lecture, we will have a close look at those parameters that constitute texts - including texts deemed unfit for translation - as well as those that shape the profile of finished translations. Of special interest here is the semiotic composition of source vs. target texts, and the effect of non-verbal textual elements on the verbal rephrasing of polysemiotic texts - of which films and TV productions are among the most well-researched, yet not the only types deserving scholarly attention. Based on this discussion of intersemiotic redundancy and feedback, we will conclude with the question of quality assessment in semiotically multidimensional translations. The key issue is: are established notions of 'equivalence vs acceptance' and 'foreignization vs. domestication' still relevant when evaluating translation processes and products of a semiotically complex nature? Return to top |
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Yvonne Griesel (Humboldt/Berlin) Sind Übertitel im Theater eine adäquate Übertragungsmöglichkeit? Ein Plädoyer für eine integrative Sichtweise der Translation im Theater |
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Übertitelung im Theater gehört sicher nicht zu den alltäglichen Dingen im Leben. Traditionell
werden nur sehr bekannte Inszenierungen auf die Reise in andere Länder geschickt, man denke
nur an Max Reinhardt, Stanislawski, Peter Brook, Ariane Mnouchkine, Peter Stein, Thomas
Ostermeier und andere. Damit eine Inszenierung in der Fremde nicht sprachlos bleibt und ein
kultureller Austausch stattfinden kann, muss, wenn die Sprache im theatralen System eine
tragende Rolle spielt, Translation stattfinden. Diese Translation im Theater (TT) wird mittels
Übertitelung, Simultandolmetschung, Zusammenfassender Übersetzung und anderer alternativer
Formen gewährleistet.
Bei der TT handelt es sich um einen einzigartigen Bereich, der 2000 erstmalig in Ansätzen erforscht worden ist, die in diesem Vortrag vertieft werden sollen. Zunächst soll die TT als Forschungsgegenstand vorgestellt werden. Der Bereich umfasst unterschiedliche Formen der additiven Übertragung, die zudem auch eine Schnittmenge zwischen dem Dolmetschen und dem Übersetzen bilden. Den Ausgangstext bildet bei der Translation im Theater die gesamte Inszenierung. Das ist der grundlegende Unterschied zur Dramenübersetzung. Es muss also in Betracht gezogen werden, dass man es mit einem einmal rezipierbaren, multidimensionalen Ausgangstext und einem ebensolchen Zieltext, der zudem in schriftlicher oder mündlicher Form dargeboten werden kann, zu tun hat. Ziel des Vortrags ist es, die sich hieraus ergebenden Spezifika deutlich zu machen und zu erklären, warum es sich bei der TT um einen eigenständigen Bereich handelt, der von der Dramenübersetzung, der Untertitelung im Film und der Übertitelung in der Oper getrennt betrachten muss. Translationswissenschaftlich gesehen handelt es sich hier um einen sehr interessanten Bereich, der einen umfassenden, integrativen Ansatz erfordert. Derzeit dominiert als Übertragungsmöglichkeit die Übertitelung auf dem Theater und gewinnt mehr und mehr Popularität. Im Rahmen dieses Vortrags möchte ich erörtern, ob es möglich ist, mittels Übertitelung eine französischsprachige Inszenierung adäquat ins Deutsche zu übertragen, ohne das komplexe semiotische Gefüge des theatralen Kunstwerks zu zerstören, wo die Grenzen der Übertitelung im Theater sind und warum es, um einen adäquaten Zieltext zu produzieren, nötig ist, die Translation im Theater als Ganzes zu sehen. Return to top |
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Achim Hepp (Locatech GmbH/Dortmund) Trados tool usage during localization of a major product - A case study |
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This presentation is a case study that shows the complexity of localizing a major product
for an industry leading software company. It is aimed at people that have no or little basic
knowledge of existing computer based translation environments and should give a good overview
at the opportunities and obstacles that comes with the usage of these tools.
I will give a short overview about the general tools that are involved in a product of this size (~2.000.000 words) and how they incorporate into the complete localization workflow. The workflow displays the whole localization chain from a localization vendor's perspective. Depending on the background of the audience I will present real-life benefits and problems/solutions that happened during the actual project where this case study is based on or try to start an open discussion based on the same topics. The point of view will be language quality and financial impact and covers aspects for all parties involved (the customer, the localization vendor and freelance translators and reviewers). Return to top |
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Gertrud Hofer (Zurich) Court Interpreting: Practical Experience and Didactic Implications |
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Die modernen "Wanderbewegungen" bringen es mit sich, dass Dolmetschen in verschiedenen Bereichen
ein grosses Volumen erreicht hat. Die wachsende Zahl von Verdolmetschungen finden statt in
Behörden, im Gerichtssaal, im Krankenhaus, in Schulen usw. Im Wesentlichen sind die dafür
eingesetzten Dolmetschenden zweisprachige Laien mit den verschiedensten Muttersprachen;
sie haben keine anerkannte Dolmetschausbildung. Ausgebildete KonferenzdolmetscherInnen arbeiten
in der Schweiz aus Kostengründen praktisch kaum in diesen Bereichen.
Im Sommer 1999 gab es im Kanton Zürich mehrere parlamentarische Vorstösse im Zusammenhang mit Dolmetscheinsätzen vor Gericht, einerseits aufgrund der mangelnden Qualifikationen der Dolmetschenden, anderseits der trotz allem hohen Kosten, die zum Teil wiederum die Folgen der mangelnden Qualifikation sind (Mangelnde Terminologiekenntnisse, mangelnde Sprachkenntnisse, mangelnde Sachkenntnisse, unvollständige Wiedergabe usw). Die Fachgruppe Dolmetscherwesen des Obergerichts des Kantons Zürich hat in dieser Situation das Institut Übersetzen und Dolmetschen der ZHW gebeten, eine Projektskizze für die Weiterbildung der Behörden- und Gerichtsdolmetschenden auszuarbeiten. Problemstellung Die Dolmetschleistung basiert auf höchst unterschiedlichen Kenntnissen und Fähigkeiten. Zudem sind die Beauftragten in der Regel mit den wesentlichen Grundsätzen und den spezifischen Techniken des Dolmetschens nicht vertraut. Für Laiendolmetschende aller Bereiche gibt es in der Schweiz bis anhin keine anerkannte Ausbildung. Im deutschsprachigen Raum gibt es bereits Aus- und Weiterbildungen für Laiendolmetschende. Die Fachhochschule Magdeburg führte die ersten Weiterbildungskurse durch. Lösungsansätze Ziel ist die Professionalisierung der Dolmetschenden. Das Instituts Übersetzen und Dolmetschen der ZHW hat in Zusammenarbeit mit der Fachgruppe Dolmetscherwesen für die Gerichte des Kantons Zürich Aus- und Weiterbildungsveranstaltungen konzipiert und erste Pilotkurse durchgeführt. Die Kurse dauerten zwei Tage, ein Tag war dem Fachbereich Recht gewidmet, ein Tag dem Dolmetschen. Diese Pilotkurse haben gezeigt, dass ein grosser Weiterbildungsbedarf vorhanden ist. Die Fachgruppe Dolmetscherwesen Durchführung von regelmässigen Kursen beschlossen. Es handelt sich um Basis Weiteres Vorgehen Die Erfahrungen der Pilotkurse haben gezeigt, dass die Dolmetschleistungen sehr inhomogen sind, d.h. die Entwicklung von neuen Weiterbildungsmodulen für Behörden- und Gerichtsdolmetschende ist dringlich. Die Pilotkurse werden deshalb zu obligatorischen Basiskursen für Neueinsteiger. Die Erfahrungen der Pilotkurse für Behörden- und Gerichtsdolmetscher sind im Laufe des letzten Jahres auf andere Gebiete übertragen worden: Gesundheits-, Sozial- und Bildungswesen. Return to top |
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Brigitte Horn-Helf (Münster) Visualisierte Informationen in mehrsprachigen Übersetzungen |
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Die Multidimensionalität der Translation wird in diesem Vortrag in zweifacher Weise behandelt:
zum einen im Hinblick auf die semiotische Gemeinschaft verbaler und nonverbaler Textteile und
zum anderen durch die Berücksichtigung paralleler Translate für verschiedene Zielkulturen.
Grundsätzlich hat das übersetzungstheoretische Postulat einer Anpassung an die Konventionen der
Zielkultur nicht nur für verbalisierte, sondern auch für visualisierte Informationen zu gelten.
Wie tatsächlich verfahren wird, lässt sich beim Vergleich von AT und mehrsprachigen
Translaten feststellen, für den folgende Korpora fachinterner und -externer Texte ausgewählt
wurden: – Kapitel eines deutschen Fachbuchmanuskriptes (insgesamt 29 Abbildungen) mit Übersetzungen ins Englische und Russische – 2 Korpora fachinterner deutscher Anleitungen (insgesamt 105 Abbildungen) mit zwei und mehr Parallelübersetzungen, u.a. mit englischen ZT Dazu Vergleichsdaten aus 2 Korpora britischer und amerikanischer Originaltexte mit insgesamt 223 Abbildungen (Horn-Helf 2004 - Habilitationsschrift) – 2 Korpora fachexterner englischer Texte japanischer Provenienz (insgesamt 318 Abbildungen), enthalten in mehrsprachigen Anleitungsbroschüren mit bis zu 7 Paralleltexten, u.a. mit jeweils einer deutschen Version) Dazu Vergleichsdaten aus – 2 Korpora fachexterner deutscher AT (insgesamt 200 Abbildungen), enthalten in mehrsprachigen Anleitungsbroschüren mit bis zu 15 Paralleltexten) sowie – 2 Korpora britischer und / oder amerikanischer Originaltexte mit insgesamt 310 Abbildungen (Horn-Helf 2004). Analysiert werden Abbildungsmerkmale der einzelnen Korpora nach folgenden Kriterien: – Segmentierung der Abbildungen (Positionsmarkierung/Legende vs. Bildtexte) – Deklaration der Abbildungen (deklariert vs. undeklariert) – Darstellungsform (Foto, technische Zeichnung, Schema, Diagramm etc.) – Text-Bild-Bezug (textuell über Verweise vs. thematisch). Die Ergebnisse werden gemeinsam mit den Vergleichsdaten in Diagrammen präsentiert. Am russischen ZT des Fachbuchkapitels wird sichtbar, dass und wie die Zielkultur im Zuge von Translation und Publikation die Abbildungen an eigene Konventionen angepasst hat. Bei der Translation in der Ausgangskultur werden Abbildungen dagegen mit ihren Merkmalen in jedem ZT reproduziert. Das einzige Zugeständnis an die Zielkultur besteht in diesem Bereich traditionell darin, dass eventuelle Bildtexte übersetzt werden. Wie sich an den Anleitungskorpora deutscher und japanischer Provenienz nachweisen lässt, ist dies geübte Praxis, unabhängig sowohl von der makro- oder mikrokulturellen Zugehörigkeit des Herstellers als auch vom Adressatenbezug des Textes. Für die englischen und anderen ZT zu fachinternen AT deutscher Provenienz gilt daher, dass sie zumindest im Hinblick auf ihre nonverbalen Informationen deutschen Konventionen folgen. Zum Vergleich werden entsprechende Merkmale britischer bzw. amerikanischer Originaltexte herangezogen. Der erste Text einer mehrsprachigen Broschüre ist in der Regel in der Sprache der Ursprungskultur abgefasst. Diese Stelle vertreten in Broschüren japanischer Hersteller englische Anleitungen, deren Merkmale jedoch, wie die Kontrastierung mit Originaltexten zeigt, britischen bzw. amerikanischen Konventionen nicht entsprechen. Es versteht sich, dass auch die deutschen Versionen im Widerspruch zu den Konventionen stehen, die aus Originaltexten abgeleitet werden können. Return to top |
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Juliane House (Hamburg) Text Translations 'between' the Media |
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Abstract
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Catalina Jiménez and Claudia Seibel (Granada) Von der Kontrollierten Sprache zur Übermittlung des Expertenwissens. Dargestellt anhand des hydrologischen Begriffsfeldes Küstenbereich. |
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Eine der wichtigsten Herausforderungen der gegenwärtigen Terminologie als grundlegender
Pfeiler der wissenschaftlich-technischen Übersetzung ist die Entwicklung einer Theorie, die die
Beschreibung neuer Formen und Methoden der Darstellung des Expertenwissens ermöglicht,
insbesondere aufgrund der Tatsache, dass, laut Schmidt-Wigger (1999: 1), "terminology
constitutes the major part of a tecnical document".
Einer der größten Fortschritte in der Terminologie in den letzten Jahren war die Entwicklung eines Sprachanalysemodells, das als Grundlage für die Ausarbeitung einer prototypischen lexikologischen Definition dient, deren Struktur den psycholinguistischen Modellen zur Informationsverarbeitung Rechnung trägt (Faber & Mairal 1999, Faber 2002, Seibel & Jiménez 2004). Auf diese Weise wird die Definition einer fachlexikalischen Einheit zu einer Art der Wissensrepräsentation, die linguistisch modellierte Sprache darstellt, das heißt, eine in gewissem Sinne kontrollierte Sprache (Göpferich 2002, Janowski 1998). Die Mehrheit der Experten in kontrollierter Sprache (Brockmann 1997, Reuther & Theofilidis 2000, Pulman 1996) sind der Meinung, dass durch diese Sprachen die Kosten in Zusammenhang mit dem Prozess der Fachtextverarbeitung und -produktion reduziert werden und sie gleichzeitig als Grundlage und Ausgangspunkt für die Schaffung eines Wörterbuchs dienen, das für verschiedenartige Empfänger bestimmt ist (Jiménez & Seibel 2004). Vor der Schaffung eines solchen lexikographischen Hilfsmittels steht jedoch als erster Schritt die Erstellung einer umfangreichen Terminologiedatenbank. In diesem Beitrag wird eine Methodik zur Repräsentation des Fachwissens beschrieben, die auf der Schaffung einer umfangreichen Terminologiedatenbank beruht. Diese verfügt nicht nur über terminologische Daten, sondern auch über die Repräsentation der begrifflichen Struktur eines weiten Wissensgebiets, das heißt der Hydrologie mit ihren relevanten Begriffen, deren Merkmalen und Beziehungen. Diese Wissensrepräsentation ermöglicht die Erstellung eines kognitiven Schemas (template) für eine konsistente Definition des Begriffsfeldes Küstenbereich. Das Definitionsschema enthält Informationen hinsichtlich der Struktur / Form des Begriffsfeldes Küstenbereich, den natürlichen und künstlichen Handlungsträgern sowie den durch diese bewirkten kontinuierlichen Veränderungsprozessen. Mit Hilfe der sowohl aus Fachwörterbüchern als auch aus einem umfangreichen spanischen und deutschen Textkorpus entnommenen Informationen entsteht eine für die fachsprachliche Definition bestimmte kontrollierte Sprache, deren Modellierung empfängerabhängig ist. Die Anpassung der Definition an die Bedürfnisse des jeweiligen Empfängers beruht auf den in ihr enthaltenen pragmatischen Informationen, zu denen unter anderen Textsorte, Sender und Empfänger gehören. Return to top |
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Linus Jung (Granada) The Representation of Conceptual Relations in Specialized Texts |
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The work of terminologists is not only the elaboration of glossaries, but also includes the
explanation and representation of specialized knowledge. This task is facilitated by the use of
a model of lexicological analysis for term definition that is in consonance with
psycholinguistic models of information processing (Faber & Mairal 1999; Faber 2002). This also
means that terminological definitions should not only reflect the meaning of specialized
concepts, but also encode the cognitive-interpretative conceptual model of the entire knowledge
domain.
This article describes a method for the representation of terminological units of specialized knowledge that is the basis for a terminological database of the domain of coastal engineering, and consequently, includes concepts from the specialized domains of hydrology, geology, oceanography and meteorology. The objective of such a knowledge representation consists of a conceptualization of the coastline with all of its possible characteristics (sea, shore, harbour, estuary, etc.) in a dynamic representation that can account for natural and non-natural agents, modifying processes, instruments, and affected entities. Specialized dictionaries and a trilingual corpus of texts in German, Spanish, and English have been used to elaborate an inventory of concepts and their respective definitions (Faber, P. & C. López Rodríguez & M. I. Tercedor Sánchez 2001). This article explains how concepts are interrelated within the same domain as well as how such relations are linguistically encoded in specialized texts. The results obtained are based on the analysis of concordances from the corpus of German texts, which have been generated by the computer application Wordsmith Tools. This issue is of great interest in translation since the translator should not only be familiar with models for stylistic and grammatical acceptability in the source language, but also know how to create an acceptable text in the target language (López Rodríguez, C. 2001; Jung 2003). The result of this research regarding the textual behaviour of terms has been carried out with a view to offering the translator a tool that will allow him to understand and translate conceptual relations from one language to another in a stylistically acceptable form. Return to top |
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Sylvia Kalina (Cologne) New Types of Interpretation |
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Abstract
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Young-Jee Kim (Laval/Quebec) Foreignizing and Domesticating Translations - The Example of Korean Honorifics |
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One very distinctive language-specific characteristic of Korean is honorifics. Honorifics is a
grammatical and socio-linguistic phenomenon (socio-linguistic in the sense of the social and
cultural dimension of language) that delineates the nature of social relationships in
conversation. It is a grammatical phenomenon because the dynamics of honorifics not only play
a significant role in the very verbal syntax of Korean, but also they directly influence the
case system of personal pronouns. The social and cultural aspects of language play a key role
in the analysis of honorifics because honorifics is a dynamic that delineates social relations
in discursive exchanges. Whether the addresser chooses a verbal, pronominal or vocative form
to designate the addressee's low or elevated social status, or whether he chooses to efface
himself out of politeness, what ever the case, this dynamic involves, directly or indirectly,
the perceptions, instincts and the intuitions of both the speaker and the listener. Obviously,
a written text involves the same dynamic even if the time lapse between exchanges is greater
and very differently organized (there is no direct exchange, but what is written is still
selected in relation to how the reader will understand and perceive things). Although most
Korean honorific markers are not only syntactical, but also morphological, the factors that
lead the speaker to decide which forms to select are clearly social and contextual, and thus
extra-linguistic. This means that these extra-linguistic social factors as they relate to
translations cannot be explained nor analyzed lexically, syntactically, morphologically or
semantically, but rather it seems necessary to conclude that these social elements and their
selection are best explained by the theories of the domain of pragmatics. The question that then arises is: precisely how does pragmatics explain how the fundamental differences between two languages (such as Korean and English) and their socio-cultural climate oblige translators to decide what of the original text's social and linguistic environment a reader may or may not be able to decode and experience when the translation language and culture are taken into consideration? It seems that the pragmatic concept of "presupposition" explains well, how the way in which a translator assumes (or does not assume) what cultural and linguistic background that the translation language reader has acquired (or not acquired) may determine how accurately the reader will then decode the text. Naturally, this whole dynamic influences greatly the lexical, syntactical and morphological choices of the translator even if he is not aware of the existence of such a concept. Furthermore, when comparing how the French and English languages and their cultures situate themselves in relation to Korean, is it possible to conclude that some languages and their cultural climates are an environment that is better suited to the translation of linguistic and cultural equivalents? It is just because of the French language's respectful vous-voyment and all the extra-linguistic nuances that are part of this particular social and linguistic phenomenon, that it seems reasonable to conclude that the French language and culture contain elements that make it better suited to the translation of Korean honorifics. In this paper, we will describe the challenges of translating Korean honorific forms, illustrating with examples taken from translations from Korean into French or English. First identify and describe 4-6 honorific forms found in the original works, paying particular attention to how they help delineate social relations and their importance in shaping the literary text. Finally we will identify and categorize the translation techniques observed, and discuss how they contribute to the overall effect of the translations. Return to top |
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Kinga Klaudy (Budapest) Explicitation and Implicitation in Translation |
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The paper focuses on the notions of explicitation and implicitation in translation and aims to
provide empirical evidence for operational asymmetry (Klaudy 2001).
Research on the relationship between explicitation and implicitation belongs to the study of translation universals, that is, the universal characteristics of translated texts independent of language pair and direction of translation (Baker 1995, Laviosa 1998). Klaudy (2001) examined the relationship between explicitation and implicitation and their relationship to transfer operations in general on the basis of the analysis of literary works translated from Hungarian into English, German, French and Russian and vice versa. Based on the findings, she postulated the "asymmetry-hypothesis", according to which explicitations in the L1→L2 direction are not always counterbalanced by implicitations in the L2→L1 direction because translators - if they have a choice - prefer to use operations involving explicitation, and often fail to perform optional implicitation (Klaudy 2001). Explicitation takes place, for example, when a SL unit with a general meaning is replaced by a TL unit with a more specific meaning; when the meaning of a SL unit is distributed over several units in the TL; when new meaningful elements appear in the TL text; when one sentence in the ST is divided into two or several sentences in the TT; or, when SL phrases are extended or "raised" to clause level in the TT, etc. Implicitation occurs, for instance, when a SL unit with a specific meaning is replaced by a TL unit with a more general meaning; when translators combine the meanings of several SL words in one TL word; when meaningful lexical elements of the SL text are dropped in the TL text; when two or more sentences in the ST are conjoined into one sentence in the TT; or, when ST clauses are reduced to phrases in the TT, etc. Bi-directional (SL=L1→TL=L2 and SL=L2→TL=L1) comparisons show that when explicitation takes place in the L1→L2 direction, implicitation can be observed in the L2→L1 direction. This phenomenon is referred to as symmetric explicitation. It may also happen, however, that when explicitation is carried out in the L1→L2 direction, no implicitation occurs in the L2→L1 direction. This phenomenon is referred to as asymmetric explicitation. It would be logical to suppose that all cases of language-specific explicitation in the L1→L2 direction are symmetrical (i.e. matched by implicitation in the L2→L1 direction), but this does not seem to be the case. The present paper reports on the findings of an empirical study designed to investigate the validity of the asymmetry hypothesis in the translation of reporting verbs in literary texts translated from English into Hungarian and from Hungarian into English. Using the method of two-way qualitative translation analysis, the study demonstrates that translators tend to prefer the more explicit forms to the more implicit ones in both directions and often fail to perform implicitation. The study may thus provide further evidence for the assumption that semantic explicitation is in fact a universal translation strategy. Return to top |
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Kurt Kohn (Tübingen) Language learning: communication, construction and eLearning support |
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In my presentation, I will talk first about the communicative and constructivist foundations
of modern approaches to foreign language learning and teaching; special attention will be
given to the principles of learner autonomy, authenticity, and collaboration. Against this
background, I will then demonstrate and discuss the pedagogic potential of eLearning for
language learning and testing purposes. Emphasis will be on realistic (and affordable)
solutions based on the multimedia learning and authoring software Telos Language Partner and
the OpenSource learning platform Moodle.
Our eLearning approach incorporates the assumption that the true potential of modern technologies can only be fully exploited in pedagogic scenarios that aim to combine the "old world" and the "new world" of learning in an overall strategy of Blended Language Learning. For background information, please see www.sprachlernmedien.de. Return to top |
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Sigmund Kvam (Østfold/Norway) Reduktionismus als Problem und Stärke von linguistischen Ansätzen in der Übersetzungswissenschaft - gezeigt am Beispiel der Textlinguistik |
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Gegenstand des vorliegenden Beitrages sind linguistische Ansätze in der
Übersetzungswissenschaft. Dabei wird am Beispiel textlinguistischer Ansätze die Frage
nach der Notwendigkeit einer expliziten, begründeten und in bezug auf das Forschungobjekt
Übersetzen angemessenen Reduktion der Forschungsperspektive diskutiert. Die Arbeit wird wie
folgt gegliedert:
Zunächst ist generell auf die Notwendigkeit der expliziten und beabsichtigten Reduktion der Forschungspersketive eingegangen(1): Da jede Forschung eine Reduktion und eine Idealisieurng des Forschungsobjekts beinhaltet, ist es für die Aussagekraft der Forschungsergebnisse von grundlegender Bedeutung, die in jeder Einzeluntersuchung gewählte Forschungsperspektive darzulegen. Anschliessend wird auf die in diesem Beitrag gewählte Reduktion, die Einschränkung auf eine textlinguistsiche Perspektive, eingegangen (2). Diese Reduktion ist in (3) kritisch zu begründen, zum einen nach deren Kompatibilität mit dem Forschungsobjekt Übersetzen, zum anderen, welche Aspekte am Forschungsobjekt Übersetzen durch diese Reduktion untersucht werden können und welche nicht. In (4) wird auf der Basis der Diskussionen in (3) dafür plädiert, dass das komplexe sprachlich-kommunikative Phänomen Übersetzen durch eine allgemeine Übersetzungstheorie kaum in den Griff zu bekommen ist, dass aber gerade die Linguistik als Wissenschaft von der sprachlichen Kommunikation durch ihre vielen möglichen Analyseperspektiven eine sinnvolle und sehr interessante Grundlage für die Analyse vom Übersetzen darstellt. Return to top |
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Andrew Lambourne (Chief Executive of SysMedia) Live Subtitling: Technical Aspects |
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There is general pressure for more subtitling - for TV broadcasts, cinema films, DVDs,
corporate webcasts and even meetings - both as a convenient means of language localisation and
also to provide access for hearing impaired people. Subtitles need to meet certain technical
and editorial quality standards in order to be useful to viewers, and the subtitling process
needs to be as efficient as possible in order for services to be economic. Over the past 5
years new technologies including speech recognition and automatic language processing
techniques have been applied in an effort to increase services and reduce costs. Some claim
that a goal of automatic subtitling is attainable. Technology can certainly be used in many ways to speed up or assist the process of subtitling - and indeed now makes it possible to produce subtitles for live broadcasts where 5 years ago it was not economically feasible or practical. The purpose of this presentation is to explore the ways in which new technology and ideas can be applied, to illustrate the benefits that may result, to discuss the compromises, and to consider the impact on quality, economics and potential service levels. The "more for less" challenges can then be considered - increases in service levels are possible, so where and how will these be manifest while safeguarding quality ? Taking a specific example: is inter-language subtitling for live programmes or events now feasible ? Return to top |
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Carlo Marzocchi (Trieste) Translation as Organization: Dimensions of Translation in EU Institutions |
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Language scholars - and public debate - discussing language policy in the EU institutions
focus on the wider implications of internal language arrangements on linguistic hegemony and
justice (as a.o. in Coulmas 1991 and Tosi 2003, or in recent work by Ph. van Parijs).
While pursuing worthy societal goals, this approach often fails to grasp the variety of
language arrangements, its correlation with different translational practices (TP), with the
variety of settings for oral and written interaction in the institutions and ultimately with
the varying patterns of language use by institutional agents. Translation scholars see the EU
institutions (as in the special issue of Perspectives, 9:4, 2001) as a challenge to traditional
theoretical tools such as authorship, source- and target culture, equivalence. However, in
general they have not addressed the issue of how translational choices fit in the critical
picture drawn by scholars of language policy.
In an attempt to bring the two approaches together, this paper will present evidence from participant observation suggesting that Translation in EU institutions is an increasingly multi-dimensional object of study. Dimensions along which individual translational practices (TP) are organized will be explored, focusing on two parameters: a TP's geographical or institutional location, and its extension to cover subsets of institutional actors, languages, texts or types of interaction. Connections with collateral activities such as translation training will be explored. It will be suggested that the two dimensions provide an analytical model that makes it possible to grasp the complexity of "Translation as organization" in the EU institutions; it will also be submitted that the model has some explanatory power that can help account for past organizational choices, and possibly predict future organizational developments. The varied picture emerging from this analysis will then be contrasted with official institutional discourse on Translation, to suggest that more awareness of Translation as language policy is needed, both on the part of the institutions and on the part of translators themselves. Return to top |
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Christiane Müller (ZDF) Live Subtitling: TV |
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In June 2001 the ZDF started officially to subtitle the news live - in order to give
hearing-impaired people access to more current information via television. Meanwhile live
subtitling is not restricted to news only; it has been further developed and was extended to
other telecasts such as football matches and special broadcasts e.g. elections. This presentation aims to give an insight into the daily work of the ZDF live subtitling team. As a member of this team I will provide some technical details regarding our subtitle format and introduce you to our equipment and the subtitling programmes we use. Return to top |
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Joselia Neves (Lisbon) Conveying the sound of emotion in Subtitling for the Deaf and HoH (SDH) |
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SDH has for long been addressed as a type of subtitling that offers viewers written versions
of speech exchanges as well as complementary information to help people with hearing impairment
follow audiovisual texts. Such information aids the identification of speakers, highlights
relevant sound effects and, at times, hints at music with narrative value. All is much welcome
by those who can only perceive sound through visual cues.
A few questions need, however, to be raised: Is this enough? How much of the emotion of sound and of the sound of emotion do such subtitles carry? Speech is the most complex of all sound systems. It contains linguistic and paralinguistic information that hearers interrelate in their de-coding effort. Here voice quality, tone, pitch and cadence carry inferred meanings that hearers unravel to different degrees of proficiency, thanks to de-coding tools that are gained through social interaction. Sound effects and music also live beyond their denotative value to suggest mood and ambience that hearers capture and absorb without employing a great deal of effort. At times, audiovisual texts grow out of sound and depend on it to say what goes unsaid in words alone. In this presentation, special emphasis will be placed on the way SDH may contribute towards deaf people's greater perception of non-verbal acoustic messages; particularly in as far as emotion is concerned. Further to addressing how emotions may be perceived through sound, proposals will be set forward for the visual conveyance of such information. Return to top |
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Kristijan Nikolic (Zagreb) Differences in Subtitling for a Public and a Commercial Television: The Question of Style |
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Although a public and a private, also called commercial, television may seem to be one
and the same thing to a viewer, their goals are quite different. This also influences the
language, style, used in subtitling. A public television, in this case Croatian Radio and
Television (HRT) must, by law, educate, inform, promote culture and various groups in the
society. The language used must be standard Croatian and regional variations are not to be
used unless absolutely necessary, therefore in subtitling as well. A commercial TV station,
in this case Nova TV, RTL Croatia, and HBO Croatia, do not pay much attention to the standard
of the language. The primary goal of these stations is to raise profit. The content of their
programme is in their own hands. Therefore a subtitler does not have to obey the rules of the
standard language. When the German RTL entered the market in 2004, one of the instructions to
subtitlers was: "Use the language of the street."
A subtitler is faced with a number of challenges when style is in question. One will not approach the translation of one and the same film for a public and a commercial TV in the same way. Swearwords are forbidden on the public TV and one has to be imaginative when in comes to replacing these with something else, especially if the "f" word and the associated ones are mentioned in almost every dialogue. However, you can do whatever you want with this if the programme is subtitled for a commercial television. A subtitler is sometimes faced with situations which are quite absurd. Viewers are sensitive when you use regionalisms, which is sometimes unavoidable no matter which TV station is in question. A subtitler is forced to be as neutral as possible when using regionalisms, although that may be hardly possible. The time a subtitle in displayed also depends on the television one is subtitling for, i. e. on the targeted viewers. A two-lined subtitle in a soap opera must be displayed for at least five seconds, preferably six, whereas in a political programme four seconds are more than enough. I would try to outline these differences any many more, provide examples to the colleagues and share my experience and observations with them. Return to top |
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Minako O'Hagan (Dublin) A Game Plan for Audiovisual Translation in the Age of GILT |
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The emergence of the GILT industry illustrates the multidimensional nature of today's language
support business, representing Globalisation, Internationalisation, Localisation and
Translation. This development follows the growth during the 90s of the localisation sector
initially created in the 80s to produce target market versions of computer software.
The localisation process involves a technical dimension to allow the electronic integration of
translated text. An increasing range of products and services is now requiring localisation as
new content subject to language support is provided in electronic form, be it website, medical
device or mobile phone. In this way, localisation has come to influence significantly the
language business as a whole. In an attempt to elicit the multidimensionality involved in the
task of modern language transfer, this paper takes the case of videogames localisation.
This relatively new practice represents elements of audiovisual translation and software
localisation. The paper addresses a number of critical issues arising from this mode and
explores the implication of localisation on the future of audiovisual translation.
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Jan Pedersen (Stockholm) How is Culture Rendered in Subtitles? |
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When translating films and tv-programmes, subtitlers come across certain forms of translation
problems that may be called translation crisis points, like puns, quotations or song lyrics,
which they must make an active decision on how to render in the Target Text. One of the most
complex translation crisis points occurs when reference to some element of the source culture
is made. Aspects of this phenomenon have been researched by scholars such as Leppihalme (1997),
who investigated allusions, and Nedergaard-Larsen (1993) who looked at various
'Culture-bound Problems'.
In this study, which is a work in progress, the Scandinavian subtitles of a wide range of films and tv-programmes have been investigated in order to extract 'Extralinguistic Culture-bound References' (cf. Gottlieb: forthcoming). The strategies that were used for solving the translation crisis points caused by these Extralinguistic Culture-bound References, or ECRs for short, has been set up in a comprehensive taxonomy. This taxonomy illustrates how subtitling differs from other forms of translation. When faced with an ECR crisis point, the subtitler has to make an active decision on how to bridge the gap between two cultures, which may not have much in common. Like all translators faced with this sort of problem, s/he has to help the target audience make sense of the utterance of which the reference is a part. This task often clashes with the by now "famous and infamous time-and-space constraints of subtitling" (Gottlieb 2004: 219). This means that certain devices that are at other translators' disposal, such as footnotes, are virtually non-existent in subtitling and that the possibility of using other devices, such as explicitation, is limited. An advantage of the taxonomy is that it illustrates how these strategies range from being SL oriented (or 'foreignizing' to use Venuti's term (1995)), with strategies like 'Retention' to being TL oriented (or 'domesticating'), with strategies such as 'Cultural Substitution'. This side of the study seeks to show how ECR crisis points have been solved. Another aim of the study is to investigate the factors that influence the decisions made by the subtitlers as to what strategy to use, or in other words, why the ECR crisis points have been solved by using a particular strategy. Some of these factors are the co-text, the interplay with the other semiotic channels of the polysemiotic text (cf. Gottlieb 2000) of the film or tv-programme, centrality of reference, as well as expectations of the encyclopedic knowledge of the target audience. Return to top |
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Notburga Rotheneder (Vienna) Learning design and e-learning pedagogy: Developing resources for localization teaching and training |
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The localisation industry is a dynamic industry suffering a shortage of skilled human
resources. This limitation has been addressed by initiatives, including the LISA Education
Initiative Taskforce (LEIT), LETRAC and eCoLoRe, which aimed to determine the required skills,
locate and identify existing courseware, prepare model curricula and make available courseware
to trainers.
At the Zentrum für Translationswissenschaft (Centre for Translation Science) at the University of Vienna, new curricula have been introduced in autumn of 2003 and since January 2005 a professorship for translation-oriented terminology science and translation technology is in existence. Teaching activities focussing especially on translation and localisation technology are being developed. This PhD project aims to complement and contribute to such activities by developing courses and preparing course materials for students at the department that mirror the requirements facing localisation experts. This will be done in a manner that supplements existing courses at the department taking into account available resources and other circumstances. The major objectives are the following: a. to determine the requirements facing localisers; b. to identify contents already covered by teaching; c. to draw up a list of desired learning objectives; d. to design a framework of courses meeting these objectives; e. to locate appropriate existing courseware; f. to adapt existing and, if needed, design new courseware; g. to make available the prepared material and implement the courses. The research issues relating to localisation in general fall within the broad categories of translation methodology (e.g. text analysis, strategies for adapting e-content), translating culture (e.g. icons, colours, examples), technical translation (e.g. text types and conventions, subject field of the software application or website), and localisation technology (e.g. CAT tools, project management tools). In view of the objective target of this project, however, the focus will be placed on localisation research in terms of process and workflow modelling and on learning design and e-learning pedagogy for localisation teaching and training. Return to top |
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Annalisa Sandrelli (Bologna/Forlì) Designing CAIT (Computer-Assisted Interpreter Training) tools: Black Box |
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Between 1999 and 2002 Interpretations, a software prototype for the teaching and learning of
simultaneous interpreting, was developed at the University of Hull, as part of a doctoral
research project investigating the viability of Computer Assisted Interpreter Training (CAIT).
The basic idea was studying how to exploit the potential offered by computer technology to
complement teaching methods traditionally used in interpreter training. The prototype was
evaluated by students at the Schools for Interpreters and Translators of the universities of
Trieste and Bologna (Forlì) and demonstrated at various conferences and seminars. The
positive response obtained during testing and demos convinced us that Computer Assisted
Interpreter Training (CAIT) is both a viable and a desirable option.
Black Box has evolved over the last two years as a further development of the Interpretations prototype, thanks to the involvement of Melissi Multimedia Ltd (U.K.), a company set up in 2002 to design and manufacture a digital language laboratory for the University of Hull. The Melissi Digital Classroom features a large number of functions for creating and distributing language-learning exercises, a subitling module and a dedicated simultaneous interpreting module, called Black Box. Today Black Box is available both as an integrated part of the language laboratory and as a stand-alone program. Black Box includes an authoring system suite to create simultaneous, consecutive and liaison interpreting exercises, and a student program to use the teacher-prepared materials. The intensive nature of most interpreter training courses (i.e. the large number of contact hours) and the heavy reliance on assiduous individual practice after class is a distinctive feature of interpreter training. Black Box is aimed at supporting trainers and trainees alike both in class and during the self-study hours. The proposed paper aims to outline the ways in which this computer application may enhance the teaching and learning of interpreting and provide an "added-value" to classroom teaching. Return to top |
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Peter Sandrini (Innsbruck) Website localisation |
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Abstract
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Simone Scholl (Hamburg) German Sign Language - Translation in the Field of Computer Science |
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The basic features of GSL
The first part of the lecture will be a short introduction into the grammar of German Sign Language (GSL). There will be some text examples showing the following features of GSL: Parameters of single signs handshape, orientation, locality, movement Organisation in space (localization) the creation of a virtual stage Visually oriented organisation of utterances Simultaneous expression What to do with two hands, a body and a face? The grammatical role of facial expressions Do you know the sign for....??! The second part will show up some of the mechanisms GSL is using to create new signs, especially technical terms. For the last 120 years sign GSL has been a face-to-face communication, banned from school and excluded from any kind of formal educational settings. Therefore there was hardly any need to develop a vocabulary covering more than the everyday needs of the language users, such as family life, deaf club, leisure time, etc. The increasing use of Sign Language interpreters during the past 20 years and the higher level of education more andmore deaf people achieve, has put GSL into settings where it has never occured before, such as politics, computer science, university, linguistics, technology, etc. There are several possible ways to create new technical terms in GSL. Depending on who is in need for a new sign and where (in which settings) the new sign will be used, different mechanisms will be used. "Is Microsoft tiny and soft and would Mom love to have a motherboard?" Working in the field of computer technology as an interpreter can be a challenge. I will try to link part one and part two by giving some text examples from computer classes (introduction into DTP or multimedia applications) showing potential pitfalls. There will be a step-by-step translation taking into consideration the grammatical aspects of GSL as well as the fact that non-literate languages in general do have habbits of passing information that are different from languages having a written form Return to top |
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Klaus Schubert (Flensburg) Processes and Dimensions in Specialized Translation |
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Over the last twenty or thirty years, the technical medium of specialized translation work has
become increasingly complex. This holds both for the format of the documents read, edited and
created by translators and for the tools, mainly software systems, used by translators. When
this development began, it was a new development which had as little effect on the translation
work proper as had the typewriters and dictaphones which had been common until that time. Today
the technical medium exerts a growing influence on the content and the language of the
translated communication, so that it can no longer be considered a mere accessory. Along with
the development towards a more sophisticated technical medium, the complexity of work processes
has increased rapidly. In this environment, there are today many more openings for a variety of
types of transdimensional communication. Of these, some are of a translational nature, others
are closer to technical writing and many combine features of both.
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Klaus Schubert (Flensburg)and Valda Rudziša (Ventspils) Workshop: Multidimensional LSP Translation |
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The workshop will consist of two talks, each followed by an analytic phase in which it is the
participants' turn to become active. The first part of the workshop will be held in English.
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Mandana Taban (Vienna) Language as a Means of Creating Identity in Films |
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Currently, Prof Dr Mary Snell-Hornby is conducting a project "Literary translation as
multimedial communication" at the University of Vienna (funded by the Austrian Science
Foundation; the project will end by April 30th 2005). The topic of my dissertation developed
in the course of my cooperation on this project as a research assistant.
In my dissertation I exame the role of language as a means of creating cultural, national and social identities in films. For this purpose I have analysed three Iranian films in order to illustrate how (Iranian) scriptwriters and directors use language in their films. Furthermore, I am surveying the problems that occur in audience reception, i.e. when these films are presented to an Austrian audience that does not know or knows only little about the source language (Farsi) and the source culture and therefore has to rely on the subtitles (in most cases these films are subtitled). On January 25, 2005 I organised a "private" screening of one of the films I am dealing with in my project (Range Khoda - The Colours of Paradise), asking the audience to fill in questionnaires after the film. 194 people attended this screening - at present the results are being analysed and evaluated. My empirical research is based on the following research questions…
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Kristiina Taivalkoski-Shilov (Helsinki) Subtitling 8 Mile in Three Languages: Translation Problems and Translator Licence |
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The worldwide subtitling and dubbing of 8 Mile (United International Pictures 2002, director:
C. Hanson, featuring: Eminem) was an especially supervised procedure. The rap sections of the
film present many translation problems, i.e. "objective problem[s] which every translator
(irrespective of his level of competence and of the technical conditions of his work) has to
solve during a particular translation task" (Nord 1991:151). In addition to pragmatic problems
("media-defined constraints of subtitling", Gottlieb 1992: 164-166), the subtitlers of the film
had to tackle with such text-specific problems as rhyme, wordplay, slang, obscene language
and cultural allusions.
I made a stylistic comparison of the Finnish, French and Russian subtitled versions of 8 Mile. My corpus consists of the last scenes of the film where the main character Jimmy "Rabbit" takes part in a "battle", i.e. a freestyle rap contest, against the rappers LC Lyckety-Splyt, Lotto and Papa Doc. The issue I want to address in my paper is quality control in subtitling: how much does it really help solving translation problems and how much does it hinder effective subtitling? Moreover, does it treat subtitlers equally? In the case of 8 Mile, the three subtitlers of the film had very different global translation strategies, partly owing to the way they were treated by UIP. In Finland the film was subtitled by the well-known rap artist Paleface, alias Karri Miettinen, whose translation seems to have given more prestige to the film. Even though Paleface took some liberties in his translation, it was accepted by UIP thanks to his fame and to the excellent quality of his work. He also had more space for his subtitles than Finnish subtitlers usually do since this film was not subtitled simultaneously into Swedish. Paleface got assistance for his subtitling (supervision, cueing and even co-translating) from a professional film translator, Janne Staffans, whose name was not mentioned in the praising reviews of the film. The French subtitler, Marc Girard-Ygor, is a professional and experienced screen translator. His translation is also a high-quality product but he was not allowed to make as many changes (e.g. substitutions of cultural allusions) as Paleface, nor was his name mentioned in the reviews of the film. In Russia, 8 Mile was also subtitled by a professional screen translator, Dimitri Usachov, who proposed a rhymed translation for the rap parts. However, it was not accepted by UIP, and someone else (UIP does not inform who) subtitled the rap parts. It is probable that this person is not a native speaker of Russian and has been working without the excellent spotting list provided by UIP to the other translators, since his/her translation contains some translation errors. The (few) comments on the subtitling in the Russian press seem to have been mostly positive. Return to top |
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Nilgin Tanis Polat (Izmir) Kulturelle Spielräume und Diskurse in narrativen Texten |
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Der Informationsgehalt eines narrativen Textes und die Art und Weise, wie dieser
Informationsgehalt vermittelt wird, hängt stark von der jeweiligen Kultur ab, in der er
produziert wird. Das Ziel meines Beitrags besteht darin, narrative Texte, Originale und
Übersetzungen hinsichtlich der systematisch-unterschiedlichen kommunikativen Präferenzen zu
vergleichen und Unterschiede zwischen deutschen und türkischen narrativen Texten festzustellen,
die der Übersetzer beim Übersetzungsvorgang beachten sollte. Im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung
steht der Diskurstenor; divergierende soziale Beziehungen sollen anhand eines Modells
offengelegt werden.
Die im Beitrag zu behandelnden Fragestellungen sind folgende:
Folgende systematisch-unterschiedliche kommunikative Präferenzen lassen sich beispielsweise in diesen Romanen und deren Übersetzungen erkennen: Die Adressatenorientierung in türkischen narrativen Texten wird im Gegensatz zu den deutschen stärker betont. Der türkische Erzähler tendiert in narrativen Texten dazu, den Leser direkt anzusprechen. In der deutschen Übersetzung wird dagegen die Agens getilgt. Der türkische Erzähler nimmt eine auf den Leser bezogene Perspektive ein, in der deutschen Übersetzung wird dagegen eine unpersönliche Form bevorzugt. Ferner läßt sich allgemein feststellen, daß im Deutschen weniger geflucht wird, als im Türkischen. Die meisten Flüche werden im Deutschen abgeschwächt oder ausgelassen, wobei der Gebrauch der derben Wörter im Türkischen die Nähe des Erzählers zum Leser signalisiert. Der fluchbeladene umgangssprachliche Diskurs wird im Deutschen emotiv abgeschwächt, der deutsche Text wirkt dadurch sachlicher. Nicht nur Flüche, sondern emotionale Ausdrücke allgemein wirken in deutschen narrativen Texten viel sachlicher als in türkischen narrativen Texten. Darüber hinaus werden Gefühle mit der Gestik im Türkischen stark unterstützt, was in narrativen Texten besonders umschrieben wird. In deutschen narrativen Texten werden Gestik und Mimik eher hinter die Rede gestellt. Insgesamt kann festgestellt werden, daß bei deutschen narrativen Texten der Autor, bzw. der Erzähler sich hinter dem Inhalt der Aussage versteckt und der Erzähler im Türkischen den Leser gewissermaßen in den Text hineinzieht und ihm ein Identifikationsangebot macht. Return to top |
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Anne Laure Tixier (Saarbrücken) Translating the cultural differences and subtitling the film "Astérix et Obélix : mission Cléopâtre" |
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My research is focused on the translation of cultural differences in subtitling and based on
the different reception of the original version of the film "Astérix et Obélix : mission
Cléopâtre" in France and its dubbed version in Germany. Whereas the film was praised in France
for being a brilliant comedy, some critics in Germany described it as farcical ("Klamauk")
since, in their opinion, elements of the comic as well as cultural characteristics were not
rendered through the dubbing. As a French native speaker and translator, I am convinced that subtitling would have been a better alternative: Actually I think that the subtitler has more choice in the words he can use because he does not have to adapt the dialogue to the image and particularly to the movement of the lips so that he can choose the word that suits better the wordplay and not the word that suits the image. In my presentation we will show how the subtitler can solve the problem of cultural differences in subtitles with the classical strategies of Translation Studies and by analyzing the different possibilities and evaluating them.The aim of my research is to adapt this film not only as a comedy but most of all as a French-culture product. Return to top |
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Cristina Valentini (Bologna/Forlì) Using Multimedia Corpora for Advanced Language Learning |
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Using multimedia corpora for advanced language learning The purpose of this paper is to
provide evidence as to how multimedia corpora designed for audiovisual translator training
can also be fruitfully exploited for the purposes of advanced foreign language learning.
From a pedagogical perspective, translation has always been considered a useful means of
improving learners' reading and writing skills as well as increasing their cross-cultural and
cross-linguistic awareness (Zanettin 2001). In the same way, multimedia corpora can be regarded
as an invaluable reservoir of samples for improving not only learners' written competence, but
most significantly their oral and communicative performance. An audiovisual text is actually a
semiotic construct comprising several signifying codes that operate simultaneously in the
production of meaning (Chaume 2004). This assumption has provided the basis for the development
of a multilingual multimedia database, presently containing a number of Italian and German
films and their dubbed versions, in order to create a parallel corpus of written data
(transcripts of film dialogue/subtitles) and audio-visual data (scenes of films). The use of
this corpus can contribute to enhancing learning performance in many ways. In the first place,
the language learning process will perceptibly benefit from its multimodality and interactivity.
Permanent memory, from which learners draw heavily, is actually composed of images, each of
which is made up of acoustic, visual, tactile, and emotive elements. Films, by their very
nature, enhance this cognitive process allowing the learner to be naturally invaded by external
stimuli, and therefore more able to memorise them. Second, in addition to enhancing purely
linguistic skills, the database will also help learners benefit from the acquisition of oral,
pragmatic, communicative and interactional competence. The categorization of significant
communicative acts and situations will help learners improve their comprehension and oral
production skills, and increase their awareness of the linguistic and paralinguistic means
necessary in different languages to successfully interact and communicate. Third, its free-text
and guided search utilities will allow users to customise their exploration of the database,
to look for clips, dialogue scripts, subtitles, words and word strings, or to compare
occurrences of different linguistic phenomena. Finally, the database will equally provide a
classification of culture-specific references, including also lexicalised socio-cultural cues
such as beliefs, stereotypes, metaphors and allusions, which may be identifiable by speakers
only with difficulty, but on which often depends the correct interpretation of discourse.
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Mathias Wagner (Homburg/Saar) Photorealistic virtual tissue for the blind. Touching the microscopic level |
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Abstract
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Susanne Wagner (Halle/Saale) Real-time Speech-to-Text-Conversion - Methods, Problems and Perspectives |
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Language based information can be transmitted from one person to the other via different
modalities - people produce or perceive language auditorily or visually, blind and deaf-blind
people also use their haptic sense. The coexistence of sensory channels permits to replace one communication channel by another one. People with impairments in one or more of the senses can profit by such a replacement. Moreover, it is more and more common in the US (but much less in Europe) to replace or complete auditory by visual information. TV news often have subtitles which transmit visually what the news anchorperson is speaking. Sometimes, a second and third line of subtitles permanently presents special information like sports or stock market news independently of the actual TV program. Sports events are commented by a commentator and simultaneously via subtitles. In a parliament debate or a court hearing, realtime reporters capture every word, and real-time editors write down what people say to permit people with hearing impairments to read what they cannot hear. However, the transfer of spoken into written language is nothing less than trivial: we speak much faster than the best typers can type. People often don't speak in complete sentences and many spoken sentences are only close to grammaticality. Some things which can be said are not accepted when they are written. From this perspective, the transfer of spoken into written language is an interpretation process accompanied by modality based physical challenges. The talk will introduce different settings for speech-to-text conversion and their specific problems. The demand for research and development in the field of speech-to-text-systems will be outlined. Return to top |
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Urs Willi (Zurich) Translation & Interpretation: History & Modern Dimensions |
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Sirin Okyayuz Yener (Bilkent/Ankara) The problems of translating (subtitling) television series from English into Turkish: Linguistic, cultural and technical considerations |
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The majority of the television programs and especially series (comedy and drama) in private
channels in Turkey are either translated or adapted from English. In previous studies
(for details note Masters thesis and articles cited in CV) we have dealt with the problems of
translating films (dubbing and subtitling) citing specific instances with examples. Previous
work in the field has presently led to a more comprehensive research in which we have been
able (up to a point) to describe and explain the following:
Systematic strategies undertaken by translators when overcoming problems: 1) in translating: cultural features play on words figurative language allusions collocations 2) reflecting register, speakers idiolect and sociolect in subtitled translations 3) overcoming technical limitations 4) in acceptability of translated product : This may be further subdivided into certain legal/restrictive conditions which the translator must adhere to and other norms of acceptability which are social. It has been noted that certain translation strategies and certain approaches have been used systematically in overcoming the problems arising from the translation of the features stated above. The study evaluates these in the light of domestication and foreignization and also ventures to pinpoint why and in what instances, to what purpose (or at least end) the translator uses certain approaches and strategies. All examples cited are explained and in many cases back-translated for clarity. The importance of television and especially English series in the dissemination of European/American cultures in Turkey is well worth studying. The study also encompasses example of repertoires (both in terms of genre and in terms of language) formed through the translations of series, resulting in series produced in Turkey which are very similar to the foreign ones. There is a large translation market for translators who wish to translate for television and many universities have designed courses to train such translators. A further need has not yet been fulfilled and that is to further train the present day translators and form certain norms with which they can operate. This study (as well as the previous ones) aim to help both present and future translators who are willing to work in the field. Much of the data we have outlined in the study may be relevant to other countries and languages besides the two languages and cultures cited in the study (Turkish and English). Return to top |
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Lew Zybatow (Innsbruck) Multidimensionale Translation: metatheoretische Reflexionen |
| First introduced as my plenary title at the Leipzig LICTRA-Conference in 2001, this question
is now gaining popularity in translation studies in general as is shown by the
latest st EST-Newsletter's editorial.
The answer to this essential question for our discipline calls for • overcoming internal ‚home-made' obstacles, i.e. upgrading the research dimension of our discipline from secondary status to a 'unity of research and teaching' in Humboldt's sense and tradition, and • improving the theoretical thought in and on translation both in its traditional and innovative forms. This paper offers some considerations on how to avoid the danger of speculative theorizing and on providing a methodological basis and framework as a necessary precondition for the establishment of Translation Studies as a scientific discipline. Return to top |