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
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the novel which Lewis Carroll initially wrote for Alice Liddell, was published in 1865 and became one of the most iconic children’s books of all time. It has been...Show moreAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the novel which Lewis Carroll initially wrote for Alice Liddell, was published in 1865 and became one of the most iconic children’s books of all time. It has been translated and retranslated many times into many languages, including Dutch. This thesis will explore the differences and similarities of the translation of puns in two translations of AiW into Dutch, namely the first complete one by Kossmann & Reedijk (1947) and a recent one by Matsier (2016). Puns are described by Low (59) as a kind of wordplay that exploits the ambiguity of a specific language, usually with humorous intent. Although retranslations of puns in AiW in other languages have been discussed, there has not been a case study on Dutch retranslations of AiW. This thesis aims to assess what translation methods the translators used to deal with the difficulties of translating puns and what differences and similarities there are between the two translations. The discussion will also focus on whether the translations meet Weaver’s criteria for maintaining the dual nature of AiW and Low’s criteria for retaining the same type of humor in translation. The puns in the ST have been identified using Nash’s (1985) categorization of puns and the translator’s used methods have been identified using Delebastita’s (1997) typology of translation methods for puns. The types of puns in the ST and their TT counterparts have been analyzed, and the translation methods have been determined. After presenting both an overview of the methods and types of puns used in both translations, the analysis concludes with an in-depth analysis of several puns. The types of puns in the ST and TTs have been compared to see whether they have stayed true to the distribution of types of puns in the ST. The hypotheses are that both translators will have tried to translate each pun into a pun or other humoristic element in Dutch, that the older translation follows the ST more closely, and that the more recent translation is more adapted to be read by children.Show less
Politeness is an intrinsical part of human communication and has inspired a multitude of research, among which Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory. There have been multiple critiques with...Show morePoliteness is an intrinsical part of human communication and has inspired a multitude of research, among which Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory. There have been multiple critiques with regards to the universality of their theory in relation to non-Western cultures, inducing the question if politeness strategies are employed differently and thus translated differently across languages. This study examines how politeness strategies are translated from Korean to English and Dutch fansubs by employing Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory and Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation procedures.Show less
The aim of this thesis is to compare the Dutch and Italian translations of the songs from the Disney movie Frozen (2013). The field of song translation, and musical song translation in particular,...Show moreThe aim of this thesis is to compare the Dutch and Italian translations of the songs from the Disney movie Frozen (2013). The field of song translation, and musical song translation in particular, has been underdeveloped and underresearched compared to other areas in translation. For this reason, the author decided to compare the translations of the original English songs, focusing on elements such as word count, grammar, humour, use of abstract vs concrete language, exaggeration and culture. This thesis first examines the research and studies done on the subject of song translation over the years. In a second stage, the lyrics from the original movie are compared to the Dutch and Italian translations, with special focus on the elements listed above. The results of the author’s research show that the Dutch translation is truer to the original English source text, whereas the Italian translation differs in areas such as concrete language, humour and word count. The author recommends further research on multiple other musicals, and the comparison between English, Dutch and Italian translation of the musical songs in particular, in order to be able to fully support this conclusion.Show less
