This thesis provides an analysis of the translation of racial taboo language in Southern Gothic novels in the form of a descriptive case study. For this study, two well-known examples of Southern...Show moreThis thesis provides an analysis of the translation of racial taboo language in Southern Gothic novels in the form of a descriptive case study. For this study, two well-known examples of Southern Gothic fiction were selected: Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1941) and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). A crucial characteristic of Southern Gothic as a genre that differs from general American Gothic is the fact that it specifically explores the unpleasant realities of life in the American South, including racial injustices and prejudices. As a result, a prominent element in novels of this genre is that they include topics that could be considered problematic and even taboo in their writing, such as racial stereotyping and slurs targeting minority groups. The translation of such language is particularly problematic for translators, as the acceptance of taboo language and the way taboo words are used not only differs per cultural context but also changes over time. The analysis used an approach based on Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) as it will focus on the effect the use of taboo language in the target text (TT) might have within the target culture (TC). The analysis considered whether certain ethical considerations might have influenced the translation procurers the translators have employed and also how the source culture (SC) differs from the TC. This study found that the approach of translations from the 1960s and the 2010s was not significantly different for most instances of taboo language, while the ideology within both the SC and TC and the degree of acceptability for certain words has changed.Show less
This research is a literature and jurisprudence study into the effect of the differences in legal interpretation between the EU legal system and the US legal system regarding competition law on the...Show moreThis research is a literature and jurisprudence study into the effect of the differences in legal interpretation between the EU legal system and the US legal system regarding competition law on the translation of competition law terminology into Dutch. Both EU and US competition law addresses broadly the same categories of anticompetitive behaviour - agreements, monopolisation, mergers - but the wording and interpretation of the legislative provisions varies. EU competition law is originally based upon US antitrust law, and therefore shares a lot of the same terminology. The US antitrust law has undergone some fundamental changes in its interpretation, which has in turn driven EU and US terminology further apart. Nowadays, there are vast differences in economic interpretation, political interpretation and legal interpretation. These differences in interpretation have influence on the translation of competition law terminology from US English and EU English, respectively, into Dutch. In the jurisprudence it is shown that the ECJ interprets textually and teleologically, where the US Supreme Court uses conservative purposivism. This leads to differences in the meaning of the same term. Generally, the US Supreme Court find an additional proof of inefficiency necessary in order to establish a competition violation. Both EU competition law and Dutch competition law do not need this additional proof. Therefore, the semantic meaning of competition law terminology is narrower in the US than in the EU. For translation into Dutch it must be assessed on a case-to-case basis whether it is necessary to add ‘inefficiënte’ before a US term so that the target text reader has the same understanding of the legal term as the source text reader.Show less
The translation of children’s literature is a relatively new and upcoming field within translation studies. Within this genre, readers can find everything ranging from prose to poetry, and...Show moreThe translation of children’s literature is a relatively new and upcoming field within translation studies. Within this genre, readers can find everything ranging from prose to poetry, and sometimes even the two combined. Children’s books often make use of verse, short poetic songs embedded within prose to add more colour to the oral performances of these books, which are often read aloud by adults to children. However, creating a text that is well-suited for reading aloud is quite difficult and not always translated successfully. This thesis is a case study that aims to assess the effect a translation can have on the oral performance of children’s verse in A.A. Milne’s The House at Pooh Corner by conducting interviews with adults participants performing an immediate and repeated reading of the first three verses of the books. The results showed that a translation can assuredly have a negative effect on the oral performance of a text and that there is a specific need for a consistent rhyme scheme and rhythm in children’s verseShow less
In this study four Dutch privacy statements and their English translations are analyzed in order to get an impression of what privacy law terminology is in use, whether there are issues to be...Show moreIn this study four Dutch privacy statements and their English translations are analyzed in order to get an impression of what privacy law terminology is in use, whether there are issues to be addressed and how these might be solved. The privacy statements investigated are those of Leiden University, Erasmus MC hospital, EliteSingles (a dating website), and Bink Kinderopvang (a child daycare center). The necessary background for this analysis consists of two parts: a chapter in which several theories of equivalence are detailed in order to help structure the analysis and to help identify the choices translators have made in the translations of the privacy statements. There is also a chapter in which the relevant legislation is laid out, the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union, its Dutch translation the Algemene Verordening Gegevensbescherming and the Uitvoeringswet Algemene Verordening Gegevensbescherming. The latter is the Dutch law that implements the EU-regulation. In the mentioned analysis, the privacy specific terminology of every statement was arranged in a table in which the English and the Dutch counterparts are compared with each other and, where possible, with the terminology of the mentioned legislation. The analysis showed that if you consistently follow the GDPR/AVG and UAVG, translating privacy law terminology does not pose many problems. It was also found that smaller organizations had translations with more inconsistencies and inaccurate terminology. Finally, a suggested terminology list is given in order to help translators find the right terminology and to promote consistency in translating privacy law related texts.Show less
This thesis investigates the juxtaposition of Lawrence Venuti’s theory on translator visibility with the situation of Dutch video game localisers in practice. Venuti argues that translators should...Show moreThis thesis investigates the juxtaposition of Lawrence Venuti’s theory on translator visibility with the situation of Dutch video game localisers in practice. Venuti argues that translators should employ foreignizing translation strategies, lest they erase themselves. Video game localisation, however, is said to rely heavily on domesticating strategies to ensure that a game meets the needs of the target culture. This conflicting phenomenon is investigated by means of an interview study with seven professional translators who translate video games into Dutch. The results suggest that Dutch video game localisers do have a strong preference for domesticating their translations, and that a foreignizing strategy is only rarely used. The results further indicate that while translators do feel invisible, they do not see a direct connection between their strategy and their visibility. It therefore appears that Venuti’s theory is not applicable to this type of translation. However, Venuti believes that the translator’s working environment also influences their visibility, and the results of this thesis further suggest that there are other agents within and beyond the game localisation business that may be capable of improving translator visibility.Show less
USA reality competition television series RuPaul’s Drag Race has seen a rise in popularity since it first aired in 2009 and can be watched in several countries across different platforms. This...Show moreUSA reality competition television series RuPaul’s Drag Race has seen a rise in popularity since it first aired in 2009 and can be watched in several countries across different platforms. This global interest causes the need to translate the series’ English language into other languages. The use of language that is specific to the drag community and gay community, one that is tied to both gender and sexuality, as explored in this thesis, causes the translator to have to deal with community-specific words. A fairly recent phenomenon, the concept of translating this community-specific language and its translation into Dutch has not yet been extensively discussed. This thesis aims to find patterns that are visible in the translation procedures used (based on the concept of translation procedures by Newmark) for the translation of language tied to the drag and gay community, for the Dutch Netflix subtitles of three episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Some of this language is maintained in the audiovisual translation, while other language is modified or removed. This modification or removal might possibly cause a different viewing experience for the Dutch viewer as compared to a viewer who only uses the source text, and causes a loss of meaning of cultural elements related to the drag community.Show less
This thesis aims to find out whether or not the procedures mentioned in Byrne’s Scientific and Technical Translation Explained (2014) are applicable to animal names and scientific nomenclature. A...Show moreThis thesis aims to find out whether or not the procedures mentioned in Byrne’s Scientific and Technical Translation Explained (2014) are applicable to animal names and scientific nomenclature. A secondary goal is to create a list of Dutch names for animals in the Gekkonidae family, following the naming guidelines set by Linnaeus (1758) and the International Code for Zoological Nomenclature (1999). After translating the names for 58 genera and 609 species, it was found that the retaining procedure mentioned by Byrne was highly applicable to zoological nomenclature, and a list of animal names for all species in 21 genera in the Gekkonidae family has been made.Show less
This master thesis attempts to portray the potential benefits of using an MT in the translation of expressive texts, specifically that of the novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as...Show moreThis master thesis attempts to portray the potential benefits of using an MT in the translation of expressive texts, specifically that of the novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as well as the dialogue and song lyrics of the musical Jekyll & Hyde. Three excerpts per genre were translated using Google Translate, and the output was assessed and post-edited with Moorkens’ (2018) method for assessing MT output. This method was adapted for a more specific assessment of style in addition to content by using the four categories of language by Leech & Short (2007), namely lexical categories, grammatical categories, figures of speech, and cohesion and context. Furthermore, the error typology by Farrús et al (2012) was used instead of Moorkens’ own typology, in order to achieve a more specific view on errors made by the MT. From these results, it can be concluded that all three genres show significant quality of their output. Secondly, most errors were either lexical or syntactic errors. It can also be concluded that while the editing effort of song lyrics is significantly higher than that of prose or dialogue, it could still be considered a large aid for beginning translators within the field of musical translation, as it creates a first, literal draft on which can be easier built upon than translating from scratch.Show less
The purpose of this thesis was to find out whether the potentially opposing views of professional translators and project managers on the use of machine translation (MT) might cause tensions in the...Show moreThe purpose of this thesis was to find out whether the potentially opposing views of professional translators and project managers on the use of machine translation (MT) might cause tensions in the industry and disrupt working relations. By conducting two questionnaires, which were altered to fit the profession of project managers and professional translators respectively, on the attitudes and beliefs on the use of MT and machine translation post-editing (MTPE), this thesis offers an analysis of both questionnaires individually and a mutual comparison. This thesis argues that the conflicting views on the use MT of project managers and professional translators is rooted in misunderstandings of the effort it takes translators to perform MTPE. The current study offers new insights into the attitudes and beliefs of both professional translators and project managers on the use of MT and creates a new research space for further research.Show less
Most research on swear word translation so far has been focused on audiovisual translation. This thesis attempts to provide insight in how swear words are translated in literary translation,...Show moreMost research on swear word translation so far has been focused on audiovisual translation. This thesis attempts to provide insight in how swear words are translated in literary translation, specifically Andy Weir's novel 'The Martian' and looks at how the translation of such swear words affect characterization and emotional setting. A literature review provides information of different aspects of swearing such as cultural influences. The case study uses examples from the novel and its Dutch translation of both characters and emotion to show how swear words affect the text and analyses whether the translation successfully translated these.Show less
This thesis examines whether the conditions are right for a codification of a Euro-English. English has emerged as Europe’s undisputed lingua franca (ELF), and much earlier research on ELF...Show moreThis thesis examines whether the conditions are right for a codification of a Euro-English. English has emerged as Europe’s undisputed lingua franca (ELF), and much earlier research on ELF primarily revolved around identifying salient features for the purpose of a codification of ELF. Even though several salient features have been found in ELF, there is also increasing evidence of fluidity and flexibility, which brings the viability of a codification into question. Therefore, this thesis includes a case study, comprised of a corpus-based comparative analysis of English as a Lingua Franca in the professional organizational (PO) and leisure (LE) domains, in order to determine whether there is variability in salient ELF features. The results of the case study did not show any significant variability in the supposed salient ELF features in either domain. However, the features did not appear frequently enough in order to be considered as salient. Nevertheless, some evidence of variation was found in the features used by speakers of different lingual backgrounds, which could indicate that linguistic background plays a role in which particular forms are utilized at a particular point in a given ELF interaction. These findings, even though unexplored, support the observation that there are different ‘local Englishes’ in Europe, which makes the viability of attempting a description of ELF questionable. It can thus be concluded that a codification of Euro-English is unlikely at this point and that it makes more sense for English to continue as a lingua franca or to argue for a multiglossic recognition of Euro-Englishes.Show less
The aging of retranslations has been getting more attention in the last few decades. Yet not much research has been conducted that can easily be replicated. In this study, the method by Van Poucke ...Show moreThe aging of retranslations has been getting more attention in the last few decades. Yet not much research has been conducted that can easily be replicated. In this study, the method by Van Poucke (2017) is used to find out if the first translation of 1984 by George Orwell has aged. 1984 was chosen because of the relevance that it still has and because it can add to the limited research that has been done on retranslating science fiction. Two Dutch translations were analysed, namely the first translation by Kool (1950) and the second and most recent translation by Davids (1984). The first chapter of the two translations was analysed to find out if lexical and stylistic aging could be found. Furthermore, the translations were analysed on the aging of technological concepts. Van Poucke’s method was used, because it is the leading method that operationalizes the research of aging. The findings show that lexical aging could not be determined in the first translation. For stylistic aging, much more evidence was found. After conducting this research, it can be concluded some evidence has been found that the first translation of 1984 has indeed aged and the aging of the first translation could have been a reason for retranslating the novel.Show less
The research undertaken in this thesis was aimed at researching whether “logocentric” subtitles – literal, word-by-word translations – and “musicocentric” subtitles – translations that take rhyme,...Show moreThe research undertaken in this thesis was aimed at researching whether “logocentric” subtitles – literal, word-by-word translations – and “musicocentric” subtitles – translations that take rhyme, rhythm, singability, sense, and naturalness into account – of songs in English-language live action movie musicals would be appreciated equally by Dutch viewers. Because of the “gossiping effect” (Törnqvist, 1995) – which makes viewers react negatively to subtitles that do not show what they hear being said – the expectation was that viewers would appreciate logocentric subtitles more, as musicocentric subtitles would likely be deemed “wrong” by Dutch viewers with a command of the English language as they are not literal translations of the lyrics. The research used Franzon’s (2008) concepts of logocentric and musicocentric translation and Low’s (2003, 2005) “pentathlon principle” to create logocentric and musicocentric subtitles for excerpts from songs of four English-language live action movie musicals: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Burton, 2007), Les Misérables (Hooper, 2012), The Sound of Music (Wise, 1965), and West Side Story (Robbins & Wise, 1961). These excerpts – two of which were subtitled logocentrically and two of which were subtitled musicocentrically – were then shown to a sample of 90 respondents through the use of a survey. The survey asked the respondents to report – for each excerpt – whether they thought the subtitles were good, and how they would rate the subtitles. The respondents overwhelmingly reported that the logocentric subtitles were good, and that the musicocentric subtitles were not good; they also rated the logocentric subtitles high, and the musicocentric subtitles low. Thus, the logocentric and musicocentric subtitles were not appreciated equally: the logocentric subtitles were appreciated more, an outcome the gossiping effect likely influenced. As logocentric subtitles appear to be more appreciated, and easier to create, an implication of this research could be that Dutch subtitlers should create logocentric subtitles for songs in English-language live action movie musicals.Show less
This thesis concerns the translation strategies used by professional and non-professional subtitlers to translate the Japanese variety show VS Arashi into English. Previous research indicates that...Show moreThis thesis concerns the translation strategies used by professional and non-professional subtitlers to translate the Japanese variety show VS Arashi into English. Previous research indicates that target texts of non-professional subtitlers are more source-oriented than those of professional subtitlers. Since the majority of previous research has focussed on anime, the aim of this thesis was to discover whether this is also the case for the English translation of a Japanese variety show. This was investigated using the methodology proposed by Gottlieb (2009), in which extra-linguistic culture-specific references are assigned a place on a scale ranging from source- to target-oriented. The analysis of the results showed that the non-professional subtitles are indeed more source-oriented than the professional subtitles. This may be the result of the non-professional subtitlers prioritising authenticity where the professional subtitlers prioritise readability, a lack of training on the part of the non-professional subtitlers, a difference in target audience with the professional subtitlers targeting a more general audience than the non-professional subtitlers, and the Japanese to English direction of translation causing the professional subtitlers to translate more target-oriented.Show less
This thesis analyzes the techniques applied to translate medical terminology in the Dutch subtitles of three episodes of the American medical TV series Grey’s Anatomy (2005-present, Rhimes). The...Show moreThis thesis analyzes the techniques applied to translate medical terminology in the Dutch subtitles of three episodes of the American medical TV series Grey’s Anatomy (2005-present, Rhimes). The model for analysis is based on the taxonomy of Molina and Hurtado (2002), which distinguishes between fifteen different translation techniques. It was found that, as expected, established equivalents are used most commonly, and that most of these established equivalents are literal translations. This can be explained by three factors: medical concepts and culture are similar in English and Dutch, they have both been strongly influenced by Greek and Latin, and Dutch has been influenced by English as the current lingua franca of medicine. The latter was also supported by the high number of borrowings from English found in the Dutch subtitles. Moreover, it was found that generalization, reduction and amplification are commonly used techniques. These techniques can be part of simplification and explicitation strategies, which confirms the hypothesis that medical texts for a lay audience are de-terminologized. Lastly, the relatively high number of inadequate equivalents has led to a twofold recommendation: the development of specialized AVT training and the compilation of term bases.Show less
The Netherlands is a country with a subtitling tradition. This tradition would suggest that Dutch viewers generally have a more positive attitude towards Dutch subtitling compared to Dutch dubbing....Show moreThe Netherlands is a country with a subtitling tradition. This tradition would suggest that Dutch viewers generally have a more positive attitude towards Dutch subtitling compared to Dutch dubbing. However, this subtitling tradition does not seem to have been established at the hand of the attitudes of Dutch viewers towards both modes, considering these attitudes have received nearly no coverage in academic work. This is problematic, since a lack of data on these attitudes makes it challenging for translators of audiovisual media to create translations that are suitable for a Dutch audience. Therefore, this thesis collected data on the attitudes of 53 Dutch participants towards Dutch subtitling and dubbing in the Netherlands through an online questionnaire. The results show that the participants prefer Dutch subtitles over Dutch dubs, but also rate the overall quality of both modes in a similar manner and even list slightly more disadvantages for Dutch subtitles than Dutch dubs. There also appears to be a consensus amongst the participants that children are the main target audience for Dutch dubs, and most participants indicated that Dutch dubs are the most suitable for children’s programs, cartoons and commercials. Furthermore, 69.8% of the participants believe that there is a negative stigma surrounding Dutch dubs and 88.7% of the participants stated that they do not desire for more audiovisual media to become available with Dutch dubs. Additionally, 49.1% of the participants indicated they do not desire for more audiovisual media to become available with Dutch subtitles either. Although 56.6% of the participants indicated they do not feel restricted by Dutch subtitles, the majority of the participants stated that they frequently disagree with the translation choices in Dutch subtitles. Finally, 66% of the participants indicated that they prefer English subtitles over Dutch subtitles. While these findings only represent the attitudes of 53 Dutch viewers, they can form a starting point for future research regarding attitudes towards both modes in the Netherlands.Show less
This thesis investigates the presence of body language, specifically gestures and facial expression, in the Audio-description for the Dutch film ‘Wat is dan Liefde’ (Webster, 2019). The thesis...Show moreThis thesis investigates the presence of body language, specifically gestures and facial expression, in the Audio-description for the Dutch film ‘Wat is dan Liefde’ (Webster, 2019). The thesis looks at how these elements are described to blind and visually impaired audiences through Audio-description. By using the methodology of Multimodal Transcription, this thesis is able to show the Audio-description and dialogue paired with the relevant image of body language throughout the thesis. The results show that the features of facial expression and gestures are not often described in the Audio-description. The Audio-description features more descriptions of facial expressions than gestures. An explanation for this could be that the gesture is more often included in the dialogue.Show less
The translation of wordplay has been a well-discussed topic in the field of Translation Studies for years; for some it is an issue of “irresistible interest” (Newmark, 1978), for others not much...Show moreThe translation of wordplay has been a well-discussed topic in the field of Translation Studies for years; for some it is an issue of “irresistible interest” (Newmark, 1978), for others not much more than a plain example of untranslatability, given the complications that inevitably arise when translating language that relies on the structural characteristics of the source text. This thesis set out to explore how this problem is approached in the subtitling of sitcoms, by analyzing the Dutch subtitles for wordplay passages in the American TV show Friends. In order to determine which translation methods were applied, this analysis used Delabastita’s model of wordplay translation methods (1993), which is originally designed for literary translation – this thesis therefore also aimed to investigate if this model is applicable to audiovisual translation and identified several of its shortcomings. Moreover, this study examined if restrictions specific to the medium of subtitling affect the (un)translatability of wordplay in sitcoms, pointing out that the visual context and the sitcom’s laugh track can be particularly restrictive factors. In general, the results of this study indicated that puns can be translated (i.e. a ST pun becomes a TT pun) in most cases but with a loss of translation quality and humoristic value as a possible consequence. Therefore, this study concluded that Delabastita’s model cannot be used for analyzing the translatability of puns in sitcoms without taking translation quality and humor into account.Show less
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of translations of legal texts produced by DeepL, a neural machine translation system. By consulting relevant laws and legal dictionaries, this...Show moreThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of translations of legal texts produced by DeepL, a neural machine translation system. By consulting relevant laws and legal dictionaries, this study finds that DeepL's Dutch to English translation of legal texts contains syntactic and terminological errors.Show less
