This research discusses whether male authors sexually objectify their female characters in comparison to female authors. This was done by analysing two classic and two contemporary fiction novels...Show moreThis research discusses whether male authors sexually objectify their female characters in comparison to female authors. This was done by analysing two classic and two contemporary fiction novels each by male and female American authors. These novels were chosen because of their similarities and because they feature a male protagonist who narrates the story. The novels were analysed for phrases used to describe the female characters appearance and these descriptions were compared to the novels of the opposite gender to check for any sexual objectification. The results revealed that male authors were more likely to sexually objectify their female characters in comparison to female authors. However, due to the size of this research, more research must be done to understand the scale and nuances of this.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
Ranging from prose to poetry, many children’s books use features such as rhyme, rhythm and repetition in order to help children familiarise themselves with a new language and enlarge their...Show moreRanging from prose to poetry, many children’s books use features such as rhyme, rhythm and repetition in order to help children familiarise themselves with a new language and enlarge their linguistic toolbox. As children’s books are often to children it is important that these books and their translation meet a certain level of ‘performativity’ in order to be successfully read aloud. This thesis aims to examine whether Low’s point-scoring schema for the evaluation of rhyme (2008) and ‘pentathlon principle’ can be used as a quality assessment tool for the translation of children’s books into Dutch and if these models can be used to help improve the reading aloud of songs and poems in children’s books. By means of a Thinking Aloud Protocol and the awarding of points via Low’s point schema, the results showed that whilst the schema can definitely help translators when translating children’s song, there are still some key issues – such as repetition – that need to be addressed before Low’s models can be used as a quality assessment tool.Show less
In 1986, Zohar Shavit claimed in her Poetics of Children’s Literature that children’s literature’s position may cause translators to neglect the beauty and structure of a source text and focus more...Show moreIn 1986, Zohar Shavit claimed in her Poetics of Children’s Literature that children’s literature’s position may cause translators to neglect the beauty and structure of a source text and focus more on the readability of the target text. According to Shavit, the lower position of children’s literature leads to the fact that a translator of children’s literature is permitted to take greater liberties in a translation, leading to what Antoine Berman would call a “textual deformation”. Among translators and translation theorists, disagreement exists on whether staying close to the source text, which would lead to a foreignizing effect, or bringing the text to the reader, creating a domesticating effect, is the most desirable strategy. Lawrence Venuti and Antoine Berman are strongly in favor of foreignizing translations, and do not deem the readability of a translation as most important, but instead advocate exposing the reader to foreign concepts from the source text and language. In order to test Zohar Shavit’s claim that children’s literature is translated rather freely and link it to Lawrence Venuti’s accusation that Anglo-American translations are predominately domesticating, I will analyze six children’s books and their translations by means of a selected number of Antoine Berman’s deforming tendencies, i.e. rationalization, expansion, clarification, and the destruction of expressions and idioms.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
The aim of this thesis was to determine whether the translators of three major British Bibles have translated these Bibles in the way they themselves argued the Bible should be translated. The...Show moreThe aim of this thesis was to determine whether the translators of three major British Bibles have translated these Bibles in the way they themselves argued the Bible should be translated. The Bibles selected for this study were the King James Version, the New English Bible, and the English Standard Version. The translation approaches investigated in this study were ‘literal translation’ or word-for-word translation and ‘free translation’ or sense-for-sense translation, as they have been defined by Cicero and St Jerome. The sample of this study was a random selection of 50 verses from the Book of Proverbs. The decision was made to look at a number of syntactic features: tense, grammatical number of both subject and object, word order, and the avoidance of the verb ‘to be.’ Because the Book of Proverbs contains a number of present day sayings, the possible influence caused by the formation of sayings based on those verses was taken into account. The results indicated that there was no influence caused by the sayings. The analysis of the British Bibles, and the comparison to the analysis of the Hebrew source text, showed that none of the Bibles corresponded with the Hebrew word order as much as expected. The correspondence with tense, however, was very high. The most striking results were found for the avoidance of the verb ‘to be,’ which was hardly avoided in the King James Version, while the avoidance in the New English Bible was the highest. It was concluded that further investigation into the avoidance of the verb ‘to be’ in similar contexts is needed.Show less
This thesis will examine the question of how to translate culture specific concepts in the Dutch and American translation of the novel Bridget Jones's Diary when the goal is to maintain the...Show moreThis thesis will examine the question of how to translate culture specific concepts in the Dutch and American translation of the novel Bridget Jones's Diary when the goal is to maintain the original effect of the novel. One of the main decisions a translator will have to make is whether or not to preserve the British character of the novel to make it more authentic or to adapt the novel to other cultures in order to make sure that people in other countries can also identify with Bridget. Whereas Venuti claims that it is a translator’s duty to stay faithful to the source text and thus apply the strategy of foreignization, I will argue in this thesis that a domesticizing translation strategy is preferred when translating Bridget Jones’s Diary; in order to maintain the effect from the original novel, the translators need to translate the British culture specific concepts into American and Dutch culture specific concepts. This thesis will use several translation theories to link culture specific concepts to the struggle of translators to maintain the original effect of the novel.Show less
This thesis sets out to discover how Achilles is portrayed in modern literature, more specifically in the way his duality (mortal and divine) is depicted, in comparison to Homer’s epic. This will...Show moreThis thesis sets out to discover how Achilles is portrayed in modern literature, more specifically in the way his duality (mortal and divine) is depicted, in comparison to Homer’s epic. This will be done by close-reading Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles (2011), Elizabeth Cook’s Achilles (2001), and Wolfgang Petersen’s film Troy (2004). In analysing these texts, I will focus on moments which spark an emotional reaction from Achilles. By comparing the moments from the three contemporary texts both to each other and in relation to the Iliad, in the translation made by Robert Fagles in 1990, I wish to explore in what way Achilles’ divinity and humanity is depicted. This will be done by using the methodological frameworks of intertextuality and the notion of adaptation and appropriation.Show less
According to Venuti, the translation strategy of domestication is the dominant strategy in Anglo-American translation culture. However, domestication also seems to be the dominant strategy in Dutch...Show moreAccording to Venuti, the translation strategy of domestication is the dominant strategy in Anglo-American translation culture. However, domestication also seems to be the dominant strategy in Dutch translations of children's literature. This article will first give an explanation of children's literature, then discuss both the foreignization and domestication strategy and lastly will outline a casestudy of different translations of Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling and Koning van Katoren by Jan Terlouw.Show less
