Leiden University Student Repository

Zaagman, Judith (2015)

Translation, Persuasion, and Intercultural Mediation: What role do culture-specific elements play in the translation of persuasive messages

Master thesis | Linguistics (MA)

For persuasion, attitudes are targeted through the transmission of a message. This message is usually transmitted through the medium of language, with all its cultural meanings. Additionally, attitudes are also connected to culture, and thus persuasion is culture specific. This has implications for translation, as the translator finds him- or herself in the perfect spot for intercultural mediation. If we want the persuasive message to have the same effect on the target audience as it does on the source audience, then the message needs to be adapted to the target culture. There is still a debate on how much translators should be allowed to intervene in these persuasive messages, and the commissioner seems to have the biggest influence on the way the message is translated. In practice, we don’t see much cultural colouring in speeches by Mark Rutte and David Cameron, rendering these speeches relatively culture neutral.

Translation

persuasion

Culture-specific elements

Author

Zaagman, Judith

Note

Not a corpus-study

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

MA Translation in Theory and Practice

Supervisors

Foster, A.A.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en