RSS

#14 Dec 16 - Studies on Translation Theories

張貼者： NTNU GITI BLOG on 2009年10月27日 星期二
標籤：
#14 Dec 16 Globalization and Translation excerpts from Michael Cronin’s Translation and Globalization, Anthony Pym, “Localization and the Training of Linguistic Mediators for the Third Millennium”

1 意見:

charlotte wu 提到...

In these two readings, Cronin and Pym both talk about the globalization phenomenon and its influence on translation industry/ studies.

According to Cronin, translation as an industry has significantly been affected by the ‘light modernity’ brought by the post-Fordist technological development. As Cronin suggests, the technological improvement on translation tools and information transmission process has resulted in the compression of time and space. The geological distance could hardly be a factor to be considered in the translation process anymore. Under this circumstance, translators are faced with both the challenges of machine (or cyborg) translation and the re-territorialization of the supra-national powers. These changes brought by globalization indicate that translation is a kind of transmission and mediation; furthermore, translators can no longer play the passive role of reproduction. Rather, translators are those who have to activate the mediation of translation. Meanwhile, translators also need to be aware of the constraints of the globalization age, such as the constraints from the market or institution, or the influence of the power of the source language/ culture. I think the contextual forces (technological, political, market) that affects the practice of translation is much more complicated in the global age.

Sharing a similar viewpoint, Pym’s article, also addresses the situation that translators are confronted with under globalization. As Pym suggests, the localization of translation is what translators should be aware of in the global age. As globalization can only be achieved by the cooperation and interaction between cultures, localization, which emphasizes the adaptation and change between cultures, will be an indispensible factor. And in the process of localization, translators are not just the person who transmits information. In fact, they are always affected by the complexity of technical control and the de-regionalized effect of central product. In Pym’s viewpoint, this is what the students of translation should know and learn in their training.

To sum, I think these two readings do indicate the more and more complex factors involved in translation in the global age. And they are both good indication that contextual factors can hardly be excluded in the translation process.

2009年12月25日 下午3:39

張貼留言