Since the field’s inception, the most common method of translation within philology has been the word-for-word, “literal” method of translation. Word-for-word translations have no regard at all for...Show moreSince the field’s inception, the most common method of translation within philology has been the word-for-word, “literal” method of translation. Word-for-word translations have no regard at all for the stylistic features of the source text, and these are therefore largely lost. For a text which relies heavily on stylistic features, such as poetry, this means that a word-for-word translation can actually be an impediment to a full appreciation of the text. Philology and its translation methods originated in the nineteenth century, but more recently, starting from around the 60s and 70s of the twentieth century, the field of translation studies has given rise to alternative ways of thinking about translation. Translation theory has concerned itself with such matters as how best to maintain stylistic features and which word choice might be the most appropriate given the text as a whole. Thus, it seems that there is an opportunity here for a productive cooperation between philology and translation studies. This thesis summarises translation theory which is relevant to the translation of Old English poetry, and directly demonstrates the relevance of translation theory to philology by putting it into practice in the translation of the Old English poem, Deor.Show less
This thesis explores whether ecological considerations are capable of influencing translation choices and thus form a valid area of special attention for translators in their translation practice....Show moreThis thesis explores whether ecological considerations are capable of influencing translation choices and thus form a valid area of special attention for translators in their translation practice. The existing scholarly literature that has investigated the relationship between translation and ecology has either defined ecology rather narrowly (Hu; Scott) or conceived of a translation ecology that remains theoretical and passive, in spite of the urgency and the severity of the ecological predicament that peoplekind finds itself in (Cronin). A practical and ethical approach to language ecology by Stibbe provides concrete methods to judge the ecological stance of texts by and identify linguistic features in texts which cluster to form ecological ‘stories’. The study identified occurrences of these linguistic features in the ecologically beneficial text Sightlines by Kathleen Jamie and explored ways in which they could be translated into Dutch, making use of Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation procedures to analyse the translation shifts. The analysis showed that ecological considerations may conflict with other features of the text that the translator may want to preserve in the translation, such as style, internal cohesion and grammatical correctness. Giving precedence to ecological considerations may thus produce a different target text than when leaving these considerations out of the translation process. The implication is that there is a way of doing ecotranslation and that preserving the ecologically beneficial world view of a source text is a valid purpose in translation.Show less
Jan Wolkers’ Turks Fruit (1969) was and remains a sensational novel, famous for its explicit sex scenes and use of crude language. March 2017 saw the publication of the first American English...Show moreJan Wolkers’ Turks Fruit (1969) was and remains a sensational novel, famous for its explicit sex scenes and use of crude language. March 2017 saw the publication of the first American English translation of the novel, titled Turkish Delight. So far, no scholar has analysed this new translation by Sam Garrett and even though many articles have been written about swearing in translation, e.g. Crisafulli (1997) and Santaemilia (2008 and 2013), little to no research has been done into the Dutch and English language pair. The main question that I have addressed in this thesis is this: “What was Sam Garrett’s translation strategy while translating Turks Fruit (1969) with regard to taboo language and swearing?” In answer to this question, taboo language in the ST and the TT has been analysed in this research using Pinker’s (2008) pragmatic categories of swear words and the translation procedures used in the TT, Turkish Delight, have been analysed using Vinay & Darbelnet’s (1958) theory on translation strategies. Greenall’s (2008) theory has been used to determine a difference in swearing constraint between the Dutch and American cultures. The analysis ascertains three main points. Firstly, Garrett stays fairly faithful to the ST; he has mostly used a direct translation strategy (66%) and never changes the type of swearing used in the ST. Secondly, the most striking exception to this direct translation strategy is that he has added taboo language and swear words to the TT that were not present in the ST. Thirdly, this irregularity can be explained by a difference in strength of the swearing constraint between the ST readership and the TT readership. Sam Garrett’s translation strategy with regard to taboo language and swearing in Turks Fruit (1969) seems to have been to create a translation with an equivalent attention-getting effect.Show less
The effectiveness of advertising texts largely depends on the way they are written. Torresi’s information-to-persuasion ratio is a way of defining the stylistic traits of advertising texts in terms...Show moreThe effectiveness of advertising texts largely depends on the way they are written. Torresi’s information-to-persuasion ratio is a way of defining the stylistic traits of advertising texts in terms of their informativeness and persuasiveness. This ratio can be used to determine the way an advertising text should be translated, so that the translated advertising text is effective. The purpose of this thesis was to experiment with Torresi’s theory by examining the effects different information-to-persuasion ratios have on readers, and to determine the potential this ratio holds for sales optimisation, using three translations of one English advertising text that have different information-to-persuasion ratios. One translation had the same ratio as the source text, one translation was more informative, and one was more persuasive. The results, gathered through a survey, did not always concur with Torresi’s theory. The results showed that translating texts in a more informative or persuasive manner may have a few benefits. For instance, it may provide readers with a better understanding of the product being sold. In addition, the general information about the product was considered more credible in the informative TT compared to the neutral TT. However, it appeared that changing the ratio may also have several negative effects that override the benefits. For example, it may lengthen the text to such an extent that the reader finds it more difficult to focus on the text. Moreover, the readers of the neutral TT found the product the most relevant for them. Overall, the neutral translation was the most effective translation. In other words, experimenting with the information-to-persuasion ratio did not improve advertising effectiveness in this case, and may therefore hold little to no potential for sales optimisation.Show less
The main topic of this thesis is yakuwarigo in translation. Yakuwarigo, the Japanese word for role language, is a type of language use often used in works of fiction which evokes the image of a...Show moreThe main topic of this thesis is yakuwarigo in translation. Yakuwarigo, the Japanese word for role language, is a type of language use often used in works of fiction which evokes the image of a certain type of character, such as an old man or a young girl, by using certain first-person pronouns, copula and sentence-ending particles (Kinsui 2013). Translating yakuwarigo can be extremely challenging because the Japanese language has many opportunities for variation where English does not. For that reason, yakuwarigo is often standardised in the target text, even though this negatively impacts the uniqueness of the characters (Terada, 2015). While there is quite a bit of literature available on yakuwarigo, hardly any research has been done on the topic of yakuwarigo in translation. In this thesis, the feasibility of translating yakuwarigo from Japanese to English using a foreignising translation strategy is examined. The research question is: “To what extent is it possible to translate yakuwarigo from Japanese to English with a foreignising translation strategy?”. The answer to this question is formed by two parts: a theoretical framework and a case study. In the theoretical framework, a number of different topics are discussed, such as translation strategies, equivalence, and stereotyping. In the case study, six characters of a manga (Japanese cartoon) are analysed in the original version as well as in a fan translation. Additionally, a new translation of is proposed based on the acquired information. It was found that despite the fact that it is impossible to translate yakuwarigo to English perfectly, it is possible to translate characters in such a way that their language reflects their main personality traits. This is done by adapting the font, punctuation and lexical choices, among others, to the character’s personality as a way of compensating for the original yakuwarigo.Show less
This thesis identifies a gap in existing research and reflects on the position of translations, comics, graphic novels and classics in the literary canon. By taking Homer's Odyssey as an example,...Show moreThis thesis identifies a gap in existing research and reflects on the position of translations, comics, graphic novels and classics in the literary canon. By taking Homer's Odyssey as an example, this thesis demonstrates both the didactic and the literary quality of the graphic novel, which have been and still are undervalued by academics. Furthermore, this thesis explores the nature of (intersemiotic) translation, by studying the transition from Homer's epic to Gareth Hinds' graphic novel.Show less
Despite the fact that in our day and age in which downloading movies, streaming Netflix, and playing online games have become a mainstream source of entertainment for many, a vast audience still...Show moreDespite the fact that in our day and age in which downloading movies, streaming Netflix, and playing online games have become a mainstream source of entertainment for many, a vast audience still knows how to make their way to the theater. In addition to the grand Broadway showstoppers, there are a number of musicals that bring an additional set of features to the stage and provide the audience with an insight into the cultural, historical, political or societal background against which these stories are set. England-based Billy Elliot incorporates ‘songs in community centres, village halls, and pubs, [set] during the 1970s and early 1980s with the aim of exposing the inequalities of British Society from a Marxist perspective’ (Gordon, 2016, p. 426). Through the use of Venuti’s dichotomous notions of foreignization and domestication, this thesis attempted to find whether these cultural-historical musicals allow for translatability and what role his notions play in the process. Set within the framework of a target text-oriented DTS-based comparative analysis, the areas of culture, class, and dialect are examined which play a significant role in Billy Elliot and many other cultural-historical musicals. While other studies on foreignization and domestication have primarily found a preference for domestication (McKelvey, 2001; Xu & Tian, 2013; Yılmaz-Gümüş, 2012), this three-fold study rather found an overall compensating strategy in which culture and class received a more domesticating approach while the dialect was approached through foreignization – a compromise in order to chiefly retain the musical’s source culture and simultaneously educate and entertain the target culture’s audience.Show less
In order to ensure that healthcare professionals from abroad understand the Dutch health legislation, translations of this legislation are required. This thesis contributes to this purpose by...Show moreIn order to ensure that healthcare professionals from abroad understand the Dutch health legislation, translations of this legislation are required. This thesis contributes to this purpose by translating frequently occurring medical and legal terms in the BIG law. These terms will be collected in a terminology. Healthcare professionals can consult this terminology before applying to the BIG register, to make sure that they understand the contents of the BIG law.Show less
This thesis reports on a small-scale online self-completion survey on the opinions on subtitling conventions by Dutch viewers in order to investigate the growing dissatisfaction among Dutch viewers...Show moreThis thesis reports on a small-scale online self-completion survey on the opinions on subtitling conventions by Dutch viewers in order to investigate the growing dissatisfaction among Dutch viewers while watching subtitled television. The intuitions of Dutch lay viewers were compared to the opinions of scholars and professionals. A better understanding of lay perception of subtitling could assist in providing translations that satisfy both lay and professional evaluators. The theory suggested that while guidelines exist for subtitling, there is an increasing amount of people who are concerned about the quality of subtitling. Aside from acknowledging other causes for dissatisfaction, this self-completion survey focused on the possibility that outdated guidelines could be a cause for growing dissatisfaction. The results from the survey remained open to interpretation as the opinions of the participants on the samples presented to them were varied. However, the results do suggest that while the existence of a subtitling standard is appreciated for the sake of consistency and predictability, some specific examples of audiovisual material might benefit from deviating from the prescribed standard. Yet, the data did not provide a conclusive answer on how to implement any changes, and suggested that the changes suggested in this thesis would provide both solutions and problems for a nearly equal number of people.Show less
The aim of this research is to gain insight in how futurity is expressed within English and Dutch legal contracts and to define the relation between modality and temporality. It is hypothesized...Show moreThe aim of this research is to gain insight in how futurity is expressed within English and Dutch legal contracts and to define the relation between modality and temporality. It is hypothesized that futurity is not unequivocally expressed in contract language. Also, it is expected that not only within futurity but also within modality a potential degree of ambiguity can be found considering expression of epistemic, dynamic, and deontic modality.Show less
Translating a novel that contains one or more regional or social dialects can be a daunting task for a literary translator. It is therefore surprising that little research has been done by well...Show moreTranslating a novel that contains one or more regional or social dialects can be a daunting task for a literary translator. It is therefore surprising that little research has been done by well-known translation theorists on the translation of dialects. One of the few scholars who has written about this subject is Peter Newmark in his A Textbook of Translation. He urges translators faced with this challenge to produce ‘… possibly classless speech’ and to leave out most of the dialect words (p. 195). This strategy of normalization is also suggested by Andrew Chesterman, where he names dialect normalization as one of his potential S-universals, which is a term used to ‘formulate a generalization about a difference between translations and source texts’ (Chesterman, p. 40). Although numerous scholars have written on the strategy of normalization in general (See e.g. Baker 1996; Kenny 1998; Mauranen 2007; Xia 2014), almost none have linked this procedure specifically to translating dialect. In fact, no clear strategy or procedure has emerged that could help translators overcome this challenge of translating dialectal elements in the source text. Therefore, this thesis will examine the question to what extent literary translators faced with regional and/or social dialects apply the strategy of normalization on several linguistic levels (syntax, lexical items, morphology, and orthography) in their translations. In order to examine this question, source text excerpts and their corresponding target text excerpts from two novels that contain a specific dialect were compared, namely Trainspotting and The Help. While Trainspotting is almost exclusively written in Scottish English, The Help contains examples of the African American Vernacular English dialect (AAVE) of some of the characters. These excerpts were compared with each other, focusing not on the entire text as a whole, but on specific linguistic levels within the text: syntax, lexical items, morphology, and orthography. This enabled me to examine to what extent (on which levels) the strategy of normalization was applied. Throughout my research, I will approach the notion of normalization as being ‘the tendency to conform to patterns and practices which are typical of the target language, even to the point of exaggerating them’ (Baker, pp. 176-177). I will therefore focus on those dialectal source text features that have been completely standardized to the norms of the target language in the translations of Trainspotting and The Help. The results seem to confirm that dialect normalization is an universal strategy used by literary translators to overcome the difficulty of translating specific dialectal elements in the source text. Normalization also seems to be used on all linguistic levels. However, the results show that dialect normalization is not exclusively used in these situations. Other procedures such as modulation and omission are also used to translate dialect speech, although most of these procedures work together with the strategy of normalization to standardize the Dutch target text. Furthermore, an important factor seems to be the original approach of the source text author in representing the original dialect in his or her novel. Irvine Welsh focused on the orthography in Trainspotting, resulting in a higher degree of dialect normalization on the orthographical level in the target text. Kathryn Stockett took a syntactical approach on dialect representation in her novel, The Help, resulting in a higher degree of dialect normalization on the syntax of the translation. Very few examples can be found in both novels where the author had used either an existing Dutch dialect, or had used irregular or marked language to create a similar dialect (or an effect of such) in the target text.Show less
Song translation is a relatively under-researched field in Translation Studies (Susam-Sarajeva, 2008, p. 187). Most studies that do exist revolve around singability (Low, 2003; Stopar 2016),...Show moreSong translation is a relatively under-researched field in Translation Studies (Susam-Sarajeva, 2008, p. 187). Most studies that do exist revolve around singability (Low, 2003; Stopar 2016), singability and rhyme (Low, 2008), or fidelity to the source text (Franzon 2005). The combination of song translation theory and metaphor theory, however, is a virtually unresearched combination of fields. Low (2017) states: “[s]ong lyrics are often rich in metaphor” and he recommends that song translators, more than 'regular' translators, should “attempt to maintain the richness of metaphor” (p. 34). This thesis analyses three songs from musicals that have been translated from English to Dutch. These musicals are of different genres and for different audiences, to include the influence that these factors might have had on the choices of the translators. The musicals used in this study are drama musical Les Misérables (E: 1985; D: 1991), animated film musical Anastasia (1997) and romantic comedy musical Hairspray (E: 1988; D: 2003). Using the MIPVU (Metaphor Identification Procedure VU University Amsterdam [Steen et al., 2010]), this thesis analyses the metaphors in the three songs, in both the English source text and the Dutch target text. Subsequently, it attempts to establish how the translators dealt with the metaphors, and, ultimately, to see whether the fact that the target texts are singable translations of a song had any influence on the choices of the translator. This is endeavoured by answering two questions. Firstly, can the translations of the metaphors in songs be analysed by means of Newmark's (1981) and Schäffner's (2004) categorizations of procedures used in metaphor translation? Secondly, can singularities be explained through Low's pentathlon principle (2005) for song translation?Show less
This thesis discusses the peripheral position of children's literature in the literary polysystem and the consequences this position has on the translation of it. The hypothesis is that this...Show moreThis thesis discusses the peripheral position of children's literature in the literary polysystem and the consequences this position has on the translation of it. The hypothesis is that this position will lead translators of children's literature to use a more laissez-faire approach when translating. With the use of Antoine Berman's model of deforming tendencies, texts for adults and texts for children and their translations are compared to see whether more "negative" changes occur in children's literature, thus showing that children's literature is indeed situated in a peripheral position in the literary polysystem.Show less
This thesis investigates the ongoing debate about the role of translation in second language learning. In the past, scholars and teachers alike assumed that translation caused interference and...Show moreThis thesis investigates the ongoing debate about the role of translation in second language learning. In the past, scholars and teachers alike assumed that translation caused interference and therefore halted a learner’s progress in learning a second or foreign language. More recent research, however, has attempted to counter common conceptions regarding translation’s ineffectiveness as a language-learning and language-teaching tool. My thesis provides an overview of past and current language acquisition theories and teaching methods, and explains why most of these theories and methods are considered to be flawed. The recently developed task-based teaching method aims to address these flaws, and calls for task-based language exercises, including task-based translation exercises. In a pilot study I investigated the value of task-based translation exercises when Dutch secondary school students are learning grammatical aspect (i.e. the present perfect) in English. Overall, the study showed that using task-based translation exercises enhances the use and understanding of grammatical aspect (i.e. the present perfect), although there appeared to be a discrepancy between HAVO and VWO participants.Show less
