Fatima1

Syeda Maham Fatima

Dr Salma Khatoon

Translation Studies

31-5-2022

Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Application

Chapter 8: Cultural and Ideological Turns

Postcolonial Translation Theory

Sherry Simon’s in her book Translation and Studies highlights the importance of

considering cultural aspect while translating. She stated that cultural studies introduce us to the

intricacies of gender and culture and therefore help us translate within the framework of post

realities like postcolonialism, poststructuralism, etc.

Similarly, postcolonialist Spivak was concerned with the disruption of Third World

countries ideologies by translating their literature into English. She deals with these questions in

her essay “The politics of translation” in which she criticizes the western feminists for expecting

any feminist text written outside Europe to be translated into English. She believes that such

translations diminish the identity of politically less powerful countries by leading to

standardization of their individuals and cultures. As Spivak puts it, literary work of a Palestinian

woman will resemble the literature of a Taiwanese man.

Spivak believes that instead of giving prominence to English, the language of ex-

colonizers, western feminists should learn the language of these Third World women as an act of

solidarity. Moreover, the translator should have a firm understanding of the culture and situation

of original text, so they can make the work accessible in that necessary context to the readers.
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Spivak’s work indicates how translation played a huge role in spreading a colonial image of

colonized by presenting them as inferior and suppressing their identity.

Power relations is the focal intersecting point between translation studies and

postcolonial theory. Tejaswini Niranjana views translations in English as an accomplished

attempt by the West to rewrite the East’s image. For her translation is a tool utilized by

colonizers to further strengthen their ideological values. Niranjana attacks translation studies for

being western oriented and underlines three consequences of it.

First is translation studies sheer disregard of power hierarchy that exists between different

languages. Second is the flawed nature of western translation theory, its concepts of text, author

and meaning are based on a superficial theory of language. Lastly, the humanistic undertaking of

translation needs to be reexamined as it builds a theoretical image of colonial domination in

western philosophical discourse.

Niranjana’s recommended way of dealing with this is that the postcolonial translator must

take into account the reality of colonialism and liberal nationalism. Apart from avoiding western

representation of non-west, the whole structure of hegemonic apparatuses needs to dismantled

because it represses the colonized. She also endorses an interventionist approach through which

translators won’t reduce the text to its native implications.

Susan Bassnett and Harish Trivedi see these power relations as an unfair fight between

local languages and one master language; English. Translation is also closely associated with

Transnation which includes emigrants, exiles and diaspora in the conversation. Bhabha further

emphasizes on the notion of cultural hybridity and how it interacts with the colonial discourse.

All these different languages belonging to different communities are amalgamated into one to

represent the colonized which is clearly problamatic.

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The Ideologies of the Theorists

As the scope of translation studies has widened over the years, the number of scholars

belonging to different backgrounds have also increased. Although many new and insightful

theories have emerged, it is to be noted that these theorists usually have their own agendas and

ideologies behind their criticism. This is what Brownlie termed as Committed Approaches to

translation studies. The elements of conflict and competition cannot be completely ignored and

the ulterior motive of a particular theory also needs to be recognized to understand translation

studies.

Translation, Ideology and power in Other Contexts

The query of power in postcolonial translation studies and role of ideology in rewriting

has led to the analysis of power and ideology in other contexts. The definition of ideology has

varied considerably over time from neutrality to false consciousness of Marxism. Research on

the ideological perspective is interested in discovering manipulation on the target text that may

suggest translator’s ulterior motive or any exterior pressure like government. The greatest

example of ideological manipulation is censorship.

Research on power is done in the context of power imbalance between languages, like

how English is pushed to be the universal language of the world. Encouragement of English

writing style in science, academics, law, etc. Overshadows other traditional languages modes of

writing. To academically be accepted in the global world one not only has to write in an English

design but also present ideas in a way that is familiar to the western world.

Recent research also shows that most of the translation takes place between communities

in a multilingual city rather than two separate countries. These historically significant language

communities feel themselves superior over the other. Lee focuses on these dynamic languages
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within a complex society and investigates their relation with cultural identity and power

hierarchy. The phenomenon of translanguaging is also introduced which is valuing diversity in

language.

Chapter 9: The Role of the Translator

The Cultural and Political Agenda of Translation

Venuti and the ‘invisibility’ of the translator

Venuti demands that translation studies should include cultural theory in order to evaluate

the data and its norms. These norms are literary and linguistic but also include beliefs and values

which form part of their ideological forces that represent certain groups certain way. These

translations are produced by institutions, which includes the whole publishing industry, that have

their own political and cultural agendas to serve. Translators, publishers, editors, literary agents

and reviewers are all a part of this culture.

Venuti draws on his own experience of translating in his own book The Translator’s

Invisibility. He defines invisibility as translator’s activity and condition in western literary

culture. The belief that translations are secondary and therefore do not belong under the heading

of literary scholarship diminishes the status of the translator. According to him, this invisibility is

due to translator’s ability to translate fluently in English that the target text seems like the

original to its readers, thus giving an illusion of transparency. Usually, those translations are

accepted that are articulated in perfect English excluding any linguistic peculiarities and exhibit

the meaning that the original author intended to deliver with their work.

Venuti discusses invisibility with reference to two types of translation, namely

domestication and foreignization. These types involve both the selection of text to be translated

and the method by which it will be translated. According to Venuti domestication dominates
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British and American translation culture. He despises the concept of domestication as it reduces

the foreign text to its cultural value. The translation is done in such a transparent style that the

foreignness of the text becomes invisible. As Schleiermacher describes it as the translator leaves

the reader in peace and moves the author toward them. Moreover, domestication chooses a text

which would be easier to translate through this strategy.

On the other hand, foreignization is selecting a text and developing a translation strategy

which is excluded from the dominant culture values in the target language. Schleiermacher

defines this as the translator leaves the writer in peace and moves the reader towards the writer.

Venuti finds this form of translation highly desirable because it highlights in the target audience,

the linguistic and cultural differences present in the original text. This is achieved by a non-fluent

writing style which calls to attention the role of the translator and does not minimize the

foreignness of the text. Venuti links foreignization with minoritizing which is selecting a text

written by someone who is a minor writer in the minority culture.

Domestication and foreignization are not taken as opposites but are considered part of a

spectrum. They are considered as ethical choices taken by the translators, portraying how they

view and treat a foreign text and its culture. Furthermore, Venuti recognizes the contradiction

associated with foreignization, as to some extent domestication is required because ultimately the

goal of translation is to be understood in the receiving culture. However, he still defends it as

foreignization displays partiality instead of concealing it.

Venuti’s concepts regarding domestication and foreignization, visibility of the translator

and the power of publishers and translators can be investigated in a number of ways. For

example, by comparing the comparing source text and target text linguistically for indication of

domesticating and foreignizing practices. Interviewing the translator on how he plans to go about
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the translation process. Interviewing the publishers, agents and editors regarding their main

objective behind translating. Examining the translation contract and what kind of books are

translated and sold. Lastly, to view how visible is the act of translation in the translated text.

Antoine Berman: the ‘negative analytic’ of translation

Antoine Berman concerns himself with questions regarding how much translation

understands the foreign text and signals the differences present within the source text and target

text. He describes translation as an épreuve which means experience. This is explained in two

senses, first is target culture experiencing the foreignness of foreign text and second is the

foreign text being elevated from its original language context.

Berman abhors the practice of nullify the foreign in translation by the strategy of

naturalization which is similar to the idea of domestication by Venuti. Berman stressed on

receiving the foreign as foreign which later Venuti conceptualized as foreignization. He deems

this as an ethical aim of translation. However, Berman admits that there are textual deformities

present within the target text that prevents the foreign to come through. His analysis of these

forms of deformities is termed as negative analytic.

Berman identifies many deforming tendencies. A few of these are rationalization,

clarification, destruction of rhythms, ennoblement and quantitative impoverishment.

Rationalization which is modifying the syntactic structures like sentence order, structure and

even punctuation. An example of this is translation of Dostoevsky which removes some

repetitions and simplify complex sentence structures.

Clarification is when the intentional unclear in the original text is made clear. Destruction

of rhythms is destroying the rhythm in poems and novels by distorting the word order and

punctuation. Ennoblement is the translators attempt to improve the original text by writing in a
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more elegant style than required. Lastly, quantitative impoverishment is the loss of lexical

variation for example Spanish have three synonyms for face however in an English translation

they all will be written as face.

To counterbalance the negative analytic, Berman proposed positive analytic which can be

achieved by literal translation. His work was significant for linking philosophical ideas with

translation strategies, drawing from the already existing examples in the field.

The Position and Positivity of the Translator

Toury warns that comments on translator’s participation in the translation process need to

be treated with caution as they may be biased. However, the development in translation studies

has bestowed importance on such comments as they are an indication of field’s working practice.

Due to the invisibility of translators very few have written about their translation process.

The publication of Norman Thomas di Giovanni’s about his collaboration with Borges,

Grossman’s Why Translation Matters and the memoirs of Gregory Rabassa have changed this

trend including the online blogs and interviews. Levine’s The Subversive Scribe: Translating

Latin American Fiction and Felstiner’s Translating Neruda: The Way to Machu Picchu are two

very impactful works as they discuss how most of the work put into translating goes unnoticed

like the translator's background, research and process of composition.

The positionality or stance of translator has become an important topic in translation

studies. Maria Tymoczko emphasizes in his article “Ideology and the position of the translator:

In what sense is a translator “in between”?” that translators cannot be seen as neutral in the act of

translating. He has his own stance and ideological positioning that are influence by his

ideological and cultural affiliations. He also disregards the western notion that a translator works

on his own, uncommitted to any exterior force. Tymoczko calls for translators to play the role of
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ethical agents of social change. He names this positioning as intervenience and the translator as

the intervenient being.

The Sociology and Historiography of Translation

In recent times the social nature of translation and the translator have become central

areas of interest in the academic discipline of translation. This includes the work of translation

historiography and development of sociology of translation. Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu formed

concepts called field, habitus, capital and illusio regarding this subject.

Field is the site of social activity where the power struggle between participants take

place. This field is translation and the participants are author, publisher, commissioner,

translator, editor and the reader. Habitus is the identitary and cognitive disposition of individuals.

This makeup is heavily influenced by education and family. Capital represents the different types

of capitals a person might be given or obtain. For example, economic capital, cultural capital,

social capital and symbolic capital (status). Lastly, illusio is defined as the cultural limits of

awareness.

Bourdieu’s work is preferred by scholars as it is a less deterministic than the polysystem

framework because it includes the role of translator in the conversation. It analyzes the

translator’s behavior, decision-making and disposition as it contributes to the formation of

norms. Sociology is treated as a new point of view in translation studies as it puts the focus on

translation practice, which is how translators and other agents in the equation carry out

translation and their relation with each other.

The Power and Networking of Translation Industry

Heilbron and Sapiro asserted that the structure of the field of international cultural

exchanges, the types of restraint whether economic or political that impact these exchanges and
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the agents of intermediation and the processes of importing and receiving in the recipient country

must be covered under this topic.

In the case of economic, translators are struggling as they usually work on contract-to-

contract basis with very minimal fee. Publishers usually reduce the translation cost and refuse to

give copyright claims and share royalties. Venuti defines this a form of repression practiced by

the publishing industry which is due to the invisibility of the translator in the network. Fawcett

explains this network as a power-play because the final product is shaped by editors which

results in domestication.

In other cases, power-play is an outcome of the deletion of the original author from the

process of translating. For example, the intentionally distorted chronology in Milan Kundera’s

The Joke was straightened out to make the story more understandable to its readers. Kundera was

shocked by this and demanded another correct translation. However, Venuti called him out for

not acknowledging the previous translator’s work.

There are other agents who contribute to the production of a translation. These are

mediators, commissioners, literary agents, translators, text producers, revisers and editors. Their

work is important either stylistically or politically. Translating in English is considered as a

bench-mark by many authors and therefore, the greatest power that the publishing industry yield

is the decision on which literature would be translated and which not. Venuti states that most of

the work selected in USA and UK is the one that can be easily comprehended in the target

culture.

Venuti also noted that very less percentage of books are translated in the USA and UK

but a large amount in other countries especially translations of English text. This Venuti

addresses this imbalance as evidence of cultural hegemony of western publishing and culture.
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The Reception and Reviewing of Translations

Meg Brown makes a connection between functioning of publishing industry and the

reception of a translation. She lays great importance on the role of reviews in notifying the public

about new releases and preparing the readers for what’s to come. Brown forms her ideas with the

help of reception theory which includes the analysis of how a translation satisfy, challenge and

disappoint the public.

One way of learning about the reception is to read the review about the work as they

represent the reaction to the text and its author and becomes part of translation criticism.

Reviews also provide information regarding the target audience response to the foreign in the

text. Venuti holds accountable these reviews for concentrating on fluency rather than the act of

translation itself, this results in translators being over looked.

There are many reasons why reviews ignore discussing the process of translation. For

example, the reviewer is unable to compare the translated text with source text. Moreover,

publishers are quick to cut the parts in the review which refer to the translated nature of the

work. Carol Maier views translation reviewing as underdeveloped and stresses on the need to

include translation theory and criticism in the writing of a review.

Gérard Genette considers paratexts (devices added to the text) essential for the

examination of reviews in translation. He takes into account two types of paratext elements,

peritext and epitext. Peritext are a component of the text and are made available by the author or

the publisher. Example of this are titles, forewords, dedication, preface, etc. Epitext on the other

hand is any paratexual element not materially added to the text but circulating in a virtually

limitless space. Example of this are marketing and promotional material. Paratext is subordinate

to the translation but is important as a form of guidance during reading.

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Chapter 10: Philosophical Approaches to Translation

Steiner’s Hermeneutic Motion

Although modern hermeneutics movement have its origins in eighteenth and nineteenth

century German romanticism, it is George Steiner’s After Babel that developed the hermeneutics

of translation. He describes hermeneutic approach as the examination of what it means to

understand any oral or written literary piece and how to explain this process in a general model

of meaning.

Steiner centers on the intellectual and psychological workings of a translator’s mind. He

puts forward his totalizing model which view translation in a wide spectrum, sharing aspects

with act of communication that are not restricted to interlingual aspect. His hermeneutics theory

treats translation not as science but as art. Hermeneutic motion, which is the central concept of

Steiner’s theory, is made up of four moves.

First is called initiative trust which is the belief that there is something in source text that

can be understood. Steiner defines it as seeing the world symbolically. The translator views the

text as something that holds coherent meaning even if that meaning isn’t obvious at first. This

position poses two risks, the meaning in the text maybe everything, like Bible which includes so

much knowledge that a translator is bound to be overwhelmed or it may be nothing, which can

be cause by inability to separate meaning from the form.

Second is aggression which is when a translator breaks open the source text and grabs the

meaning it hides. Steiner also describes this move as penetration. Third is called incorporation as

it is concerned with assimilating the source text meaning into the target language which already

has its own meanings and words. This can cause imbalance between the two texts and its
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meanings. Lastly. Compensation is the effort to restore the imbalance and lead to an

enhancement of the source text, it broadens and amplifies the original.

Elective affinity and resistant difference

Steiner believes that true understanding and translation happen when two languages

diffuse into each other. For him, the question regarding resistant difference appears in two ways.

The foreign language is experienced by translator differently than his own mother language and

the relation between different languages, source language and target language, vary and force

these distinctions on both the society and the translator. This experience results in impacting the

whole identity of the translator.

The cultural and linguistic effect of resistant difference prevents the translator from

piercing into and understanding the original text. However, Steiner views this as being

transcended by elective affinity which happens when the translator feels attracted to the text and

sees himself or herself in it. When both elective affinity and resistant difference is present within

the text, they reject as well as pulls the translator towards the text. This produces a creative

tension which results in good translation. In Steiner’s view, the closer two languages are, the

easier it is to resolve the tension which expresses itself in great translation and vice versa.

Steiner’s work has been without a doubt a monumental in the translation field. It introduced

many non-specialists to translation studies and influenced modern scholars like Venuti and

Berman. Both of these theorists also stressed on making visible the foreignness of the original

text and do not view fluent domestication as good translation.

However, there are also some setbacks regarding Steiner’s theory. His book, After Babel

seems outdated now as it relies heavily on Chomsky’s universal view of language to create an

all-encompassing theory of translation. Furthermore, Steiner is also called out for his use of
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male-dominated language and metaphors by the feminists. Still, his works have contributed a lot

to the subject of translation.

Ezra Pound and the Energy of Language

Steiner mentions Ezra Pounds as a great contributor of the age of philosophic–poetic

theory and definition. Pound developed many theories regarding relation between languages with

the help of both practice and criticism. He has always been experimental, looking out for

expressive features of language and energizing it by clarity, sound, form and rhythm instead of

sense.

Pound’s work is influenced by literature of the past, he tried to break free from the rigid

strait-jacket of the Victorian English tradition by experimenting with archaicizing which is

similar to the concept of foreignization by Venuti. Even though this archaicizing lead to Pounds

marginalization, his challenging work has contributed a lot to the poetic doctrine of his time and

continues to impact many theorists even today.

The Task of the Translator: Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin’s essay “Task of the Translator” is known as one of the most formative

philosophical texts in translation studies. Philosophy of language is the main focus of Benjamin’s

work; he rejected the modern instrumentalist and rationalist view of language influenced by

German Romanticists. Instead, he views language as magical and its purpose is to make visible

the spiritual content. He believes that the aim of translation isn’t to make readers understand the

meaning of the source text. Rather a translated text exists on its own, while simultaneously

coexisting with the original. It springs out from the original and carries on its life, assuring that

the source work continues surviving in the world.

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Bejamin asserts that the main role of translation is to express the intimate relationship

between languages which are hidden. This is done by finding harmony between two different

languages instead of seeking to make the translation just like the original. The method to achieve

this is by conveying the syntax word-for-word which produces a pure language. To liberate the

pure language, from a foreign language into, in his own language is the task of a translator.

Bejamin also stresses on making the foreign enter the target language. His idea of

creating a pure language by harmonizing the source and target language is in the search to

disclose higher truth. As it is an abstract idea, Paul Ricœur criticizes it for not providing a

translation solution. Ricœur believes there is no such thing as a perfect translation which

Benjamin endorses. However, despite its shortcomings, Bejamin’s work has influenced

postmodernists and deconstructionists like Derrida.

Deconstruction

The philosophy of deconstruction has shattered many concepts of translation studies,

beginning with Saussure’s idea of signified and signifier. Deconstruction challenges the belief

that meaning can be contained, defined and stabilized. Derrida, a pioneer of the deconstruction

movement, introduced the concept of difference which means difference and deferral of

meaning. He described Benjamin’s pure language as differance. He also breaks down the

distinction between source and target texts, stating that they are mutually dependent on each

other for their survival.

Deconstruction interrogate language and its systems and terms. It rejects the notion that

meaning is held in a word and dismantles a text by making obvious the contradictions present

within it. Questioning the basic structures and concepts of language and meaning itself,

deconstruction has hugely impacted the discipline of translation.

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Abusive fidelity

Abusive fidelity is a strategy proposed by Philip Lewis in his essay regarding translation

of Derrida. He utilizes contrastive stylistics and applied discourse analysis to discuss translation

from French to English. Like Venuti he notes the trend in English to create a precise, cohesive

and fluent translation and puts forward abusive fidelity as a preferred strategy.

By abusive fidelity Lewis suggest experimenting with the expressive and rhetorical

patterns in the source text, aiming to provide it a new kind of energy that creates a strong

translation. Furthermore, Lewis also presses translators to compensate for the inevitable losses

that result due to translation. This loss is the loss of ‘abuse’ present in the original and by

compensating for it, translators resist domestication.

Lewis identifies shifts or differences that occur in English translation of Derrida’s work.

These were typographical changes like omitting italics and adding parentheses around important

terms. Dropping suffixes like the French word métaphorique turns into metaphor instead of

metaphorics and changes in the syntactic and discursive order. Therefore, Lewis states that

Derrida’s White Mythology fails at achieving abusive fidelity.

All of these approaches have contributed heavily to the study of translation. To recognize

this field and people that work in it is important. Out of all these theories, the postcolonial one is

by far my favorite because it understands the significance of postcolonial history and literature.

Every kind of literary work cannot be treated in the same manner as they’re backgrounds and

reasons for existing is different. Therefore, it is extremely essential to have critics focus on

postcolonial literature because colonization effected more than half of the world. As a citizen of

a postcolonial country, this approach made me feel seen.

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