The aim of this paper is to show two particular cases of intertextual relations between different texts of the same author and these we find inside the same text. Both kinds of intertextual connections are illustrated with examples from the novels of the Cuban writer Manuel Cofiño and their translations into Polish.
This paper analyses two peritexts preceding a Polish version of Bartolomé de Las Casas’ A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, put to press in 1956 and 1988 by two catholic publishing houses, PAX and “W drodze”, respectively. Based on three basic criteria of contrastive analysis, i.e. content, interpretation suggested by their authors and verbal form, the study revealed that both paratexts are marked by the catholic orientation of Mieczysław Żywczyński and Wojciech Giertych, however to a different extent. They are also influenced by the historic moment in which they have been conceived. As far as the form is concerned, they turn out outdated because of some notable obsolete features used in introductions and references, unacceptable these days, but at the same time they keep an interesting historical mark.
The aim of this paper is to introduce a new approach in translation studies which is an intercultural translation. Based on the methodology of postcolonial theory, the manipulation school and polysystem theory, it allows for an analysis of texts originally written in the language of the target culture. Application of this new framework is exemplified by diaries and letters of a Polish writer, Andrzej Bobkowski.
The objective of this paper is to show main difficulties in the intercultural translation process which has been taking place during the Discovery and the Conquest of the New World, in the 15th and 16th centuries. These historical facts are considered as a metaphor of translation in general, and letters, chronicles and histories of some Spanish authors of that period are analyzed as examples of interpretation / translation based on their eurocentric and Christian background. Finally, domestication of the New Spain culture is indicated as a main translation strategy and a confrontation of cultures rather than dialogue is stressed as a general feature of the cultural contact.
This paper discusses the stages of the translation process and their ideological features. Teaching translation, which includes an explanation and a simulation of the whole process, is supposed to acquire a new ideological dimension since it takes place in the classroom. The translation process is defined as a series of negotiations and decisions made by several “ideological subjects” involved in carrying out a particular translation service. The simulation of this process is suggested as a didactic method of teaching translation and indicated as a useful introduction into the market of professional translation. The study emphasizes a more active performance of students in learning translation. It also includes some didactic recommendations and explanations of the ideological burden always present in the practice of translation. The paper is mainly based on the Manipulation School approach in Translation Studies.
This paper discusses the agency of community interpreters in a cross-cultural environment. Their empowerment is determined by several linguistic and extralinguistic factors, such as: mastering the language of communication by the speakers, social status of the languages used in multilingual countries, other parties’ behaviour, interlocutors’ different cultural backgrounds, interpreter’s loyalties (to the client and/or to the institution), and social norms of the speakers. This study deals with a number of communicative, social and pragmatic features, as well as it reveals the level of the interpreters’ power and responsibility for a successful outcome of communication. The main conclusion is that, even if traditionally they are depicted as a mere language conduits, neutral and invisible, the interpreters in social services turn out to be very visible actors. Their agency is flexible, e.i. it changes depending on the particular interaction, and their empowerment consists in making every communication as easy as possible for people deprived of such the agency.
The objective of this paper is to reflect on some features of David Toscana’s novel Los puentes de Königsberg. In this contribution by the Northern Mexican writer there are unusual parallelisms between different realities of the cities of Monterrey (Mexico) and Königsberg (East Prussia), which become the basis of the structure of the novel. In this framework the author situates certain eccentric characters, providing them with a “double life”, a real Mexican one and an imaginary East-Prussian one, in order to contrast the cities and validate the superiority of Königsberg, the actual protagonist of the novel. Toscana uses selected criteria, such as scientific and cultural contributions by the cities, their different historical fates, and the moral attitudes of their inhabitants towards discrimination, war crimes and gender violence, which implies a severe critique of Monterrey’s society. The set of parallelisms between the cities is totally convincing as a fictional structure and emphasizes the most prominent quality of Toscana’s analysed prose.
The article deals with a particular case of intra- and intertextual translation of a highly pragmatic nature, which can be seen in Puppet. A Chicano novella by Margarita Cota-Cárdenas. Composed mainly of fragments of conversations, monologues and personal letters, the novel reflects Spanish-English codeswitching, as a characteristic feature of the speech of the Mexican American community in the USA. By (re)producing a range of heteroglossal forms of this community communication, Cota-Cárdenas uses translation procedures to reach the hybrid reader who is, at the same time, the hallmark of Chicanos. The multilingual strategies (Hansen Esplin, 2012) of the author and the translators, Barbara D. Riess and Tino Sandoval, become the main pragmatic objective of the novel, both in its source and target versions. Given the multitude of translation procedures observed in both versions of this hybrid novel, the relativity of traditional translation terms, such as original and translation, is also discussed, as both turn out to be bilingual texts and pragmatic translations.
The paper describes two main methods of teaching text translation, applied in courses of literary and specialized texts translation for a general public, and in a specialized course of translation for MA advanced students. In both methods the use of Polish language as a mother tongue is considered legitimate not only as a language of translation but also as a main vehicle of communication in the process of acquiring translation skills. This role of the mother tongue is extremely important in defining the translation brief and in the evaluation of target texts. The article provides several examples in order to illustrate and justify this thesis.
In the context of the existing cultural and linguistic asymmetry in Mexico, translation of literary texts from indigenous languages into the hegemonic Spanish is an expression of the struggle to decolonize the Mexican literary polysystem. Self-translation perfectly illustrates the social, political, cultural and linguistic conditions in which the so-called new indigenous literature is currently developing. The article outlines the linguistic situation in Mexico, i.e., the diversity and status of indigenous languages, efforts to revitalize them and reinforce their presence in the public space, by means to teaching and literature. The status of indigenous languages in this complex social context has an impact on literary production and the character of publications, which are necessarily bilingual, as well as the subjects of books written in the indigenous languages and then translated into Spanish. Other conditions include norms related to publication: and editorial policy, but also allows authors to introduce their own norms. New technologies allow for publishing in virtual spaces and to promote indigenous languages and cultures, oral traditions included. Adhering to the traditional orality as far as forms and subjects are concerned combined with change of the communication channel from oral to written on the Internet, shows modes of adaptation to modernity and a skillful search for the possibilities of a hybrid expression of one’s own identity with an aim to decolonize ways of thinking and attitudes towards Mexican indigenous peoples, their languages and literatures.
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