It is widely recognised that optimum translation quality is often difficult to achieve owing to problems in the source text. For large-scale cross-cultural surveys source questionnaires need to be translated into multiple target languages in order to produce comparable data across participating countries and cultures. ‘Advance translations’ have been applied in such surveys to improve the translatability of source questionnaires. The author used a think-aloud study to test the usefulness of advance translation into French and German. The study involved experienced professional questionnaire translators and applied qualitative and quantitative analysis. The study confirmed the usefulness of advance translation, at least for the languages and source texts used.
This open access book explores implications of the digital revolution for migration scholars’ methodological toolkit. New information and communication technologies hold considerable potential to improve the quality of migration research by originating previously non-viable solutions to a myriad of methodological challenges in this field of study. Combining cutting-edge migration scholarship and methodological expertise, the book addresses a range of crucial issues related to both researcher-designed data collections and the secondary use of “big data”, highlighting opportunities as well as challenges and limitations. A valuable source for students and scholars engaged in migration research, the book will also be of keen interest to policymakers.
An invaluable contribution to the area of leadership studies, the Handbook of International and Cross-Cultural Leadership Research Processes: Perspectives, Practice, Instruction brings together renowned authors with diverse cultural, academic, and practitioner backgrounds to provide a comprehensive overview and analysis of all stages of the research process. The handbook centers around authors’ international research reflections and experiences, with chapters that reflect and analyze various research experiences in order to help readers learn about the integrity of each stage of the international leadership research process with examples and discussions. Part I introduces philosophical traditions of the leadership field and discusses how established leadership and followership theories and approaches sometimes fail to capture leadership realities of different cultures and societies. Part II focuses on methodological challenges and opportunities. Scholars share insights on their research practices in different stages of international and cross-cultural studies. Part III is forward-looking in preparing readers to respond to complex realities of the leadership field: teaching, learning, publishing, and applying international and cross-cultural leadership research standards with integrity. The unifying thread amongst all the chapters is a shared intent to build knowledge of diverse and evolving leadership practices and phenomena across cultures and societies. The handbook is an excellent resource for a broad audience including scholars across disciplines and fields, such as psychology, management, history, cognitive science, economics, anthropology, sociology, and medicine, as well as educators, consultants, and graduate and doctoral students who are interested in understanding authentic leadership practices outside of the traditional Western paradigm.
Experience in translation does not always correlate with the quality of the target text. Also, the evaluations of translation work vary considerably among evaluators. Why not shifting the focus of attention from the final translation to the underlying translation process when assessing translation competence? Iryna Kloster applies a multi-method approach to model the translation competence based on empirical parameters, such as gaze behavior, dictionary use, revisions as well as subjective evaluations of comprehension and translation difficulty. Eye tracking, keystroke logging, screen recording and retrospective interviews were applied to collect data in the experimental groups consisting of novice and semi-professional translators. As a consequence, the author suggests using language contrasts for researching translation competence. She draws conclusions based on hypotheses testing, provides justification by triangulating quantitative and qualitative data and discusses the results in the light of empirical translation studies as well.
This book presents a holistic picture of the practice of an experienced literary translator working in situ, highlighting the value of in-depth process studies for the discipline and offering a model for future similar studies. Bringing together Cognitive Translation Studies (CTS) and literary translation, Borg interrogates existing assumptions in CTS and sheds light on the value of a combined look at both cognitive and social processes in literary translation. The volume extends the scope of existing CTS studies with its comprehensive examination of the work of one translator and exploration of the wide range of materials from draft to finished translation. This unique model allows for a greater understanding of the actions, decisions, motivations and work practices of individual translators as well as of their interactions with other participants in the practice of a literary translation. Making the case for in-depth process research in illuminating the dynamics of translation production and working practices, this innovative book will be of interest to students and scholars in translation and interpreting studies, especially those interested in literary translation and cognitive approaches.
Minorities and Conflict are prevailing topics in literature and translation. This volume analyses their occurrence by focussing on the key domains: censorship/manipulation, translation flows from the linguistic periphery, and reflections on self-expression. The case studies presented discuss (re)translations of authors such as Virginia Woolf and treat a wide variety of languages, such as Flemish literature in Czech or Russian translations of Estonian prose. They also treat relevant topics such as heteroglossia, de-colonialism, and self-translation. The texts in this volume were originally presented at the conference Translating Minorities and Conflict in Literature, held in June 2021. In an increasingly interconnected and complex global landscape they advocate transparency, accountability, and the preservation of linguistic diversity.
This dynamic collection synthesizes and critically reflects on epistemological challenges and developments within Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies, problematizing a range of issues. These critical essays provide a means of encouraging further development by grounding new theories, stances, and best practices. The volume is a clear marker of a maturing discipline, as decades of empirical study and methodological innovation provide the backdrop for critique and debate. The volume exemplifies tendencies toward convergence and difference, while at the same time pushing against disciplinary boundaries and structures. Constructs such as expertise and process are explored, and different theories of cognition are brought to the table. A number of chapters consider what it might mean for translation to be a form of situated, or 4EA cognition, while others query interdisciplinary relationships of foundational importance to the field. Issues of methodology are also addressed in terms of their underlying philosophical assumptions and implications. This book will be of interest to scholars working at the intersection of translation and cognition, in such fields as translation studies, cognitive science, psycholinguistics, semiotics, and philosophy of science.
Taking the perspective of others is central to translation. But does translation train this uniquely human capacity? This book introduces the concept of Theory of Mind (ToM) to model one of the central features of translation, the meta-representation of others, and presents three innovative studies which investigate the question using brain scans, eye-tracking and key-logging to shed new light on the role of non-linguistic macro-competences on the translation process.
Song Translation: Lyrics in Contexts grew out of a project dedicated to the translation of song lyrics. The book aligns itself with the tradition of descriptive translation studies. Its authors, scholars from Finland, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Norway and Sweden, all deal with the translation of song lyrics in a great variety of different contexts, including music and performance settings, (inter)cultural perspectives, and historical backgrounds. On the one hand, the analyses demonstrate the breadth and diversity of the concept of translation itself, on the other they show how different contexts set up conditions that shape translational practices and products in different ways. The book is intended for translation studies scholars as well as for musicologists, students of language and/or music and practicing translators; in short, anybody interested in this creative and fascinating field of translational practice.
In the field of Translation Studies no book-length work in English has yet been dedicated to the translation and circulation of migration literature. The authors of this volume seek to contribute to filling this gap through a detailed study of texts belonging to a variety of literary genres and engaging with the phenomenon of migration in different parts of the world. Not only will the challenges met by translators be discussed, but the different ways in which the translated texts travel from one cultural sphere to another will also be explored. The focus lies on the themes “migration and politics”, “migration and society”, as well as “the experience of migration in words, music and images”.
