L3

Cross-Words:
Issues and Debates in Literary
and Non-literary Translating

Edited by Christine Pagnoulle and Ian Mason
179 p.
1995
ISBN 2-87233-013-5
€ 12.50

Click here for reviews.

The variety of standpoints included in this collection of sixteen essays clearly shows that the field of translation studies is wide and varied enough for an array of different approaches and of divergent opinions to be valid in their respective contexts. In this respect, Dixon’s opening comparison between translating and contemporary physics is almost programmatic with its implicit reference to the now acknowledged possibility that conditions previously thought of as mutually exclusive may be simultaneously present.
While the essay by Kuhiwczak stresses the forgotten relevance of eighteenth-century theories, Hewson and Martin’s points to the need for an entirely new theoretical framework. Kaiser-Cooke insists that a thorough understanding of the source-text - its specific linguistic difficulties and the conditions that have brought it into existence – is a determinant moment in the process of translation. Zabalbeascoa sketches the usefulness of prescriptive rules in some well-defined cases, while Hatim argues that an understanding of the way languages work helps translators to develop adequate strategies, a point illustrated by Mason, who underlines the importance of co-text and context. Resta focuses on the translation of legal texts and on the multidisciplinary approach it requires.
Three essays directly relate to translator training: Beeby points to the necessity of training students to translate into a foreign language (which will be English more often than not); Bell outlines the first stage in a planned survey of trainee translators’ perceptions of their work; Hewson illustrates a positive assessment technique based on the variational approach. The five essays on literary translation illustrate the functions of translation as both a tool of cultural discovery and a weapon of cultural assertion. Martens’ essay on the British-biased German translation of Babbitt points to interferences between cultures within the same language. Sanders’ on the translation of culture-specific terms and Raguet-Bouvart’s on translating Nabokov show ways in which translation can uncover, discover or recover aspects of a foreign culture or of complexly interwoven foreign cultures. McClure comments on his conversion of Mireille from Proven‡al into Scots and Pym compares Lowell’s and Pound’s distortions of their respective originals. 

Contents

  • Ian MASON/Christine PAGNOULLE: From Cross-purposes to Cross-fertilization
  • John DIXON: A Holistic Approach to the Act of Translation
  • Piotr KUHIWCZAK: “Better a Live Sparrow Than a Dead Eagle”: Back to a Renaissance View of Translation as Cultural Assimilation
  • Jack MARTIN/Lance HEWSON: From Product to Variations
  • Michèle KAISER-COOKE: The Dialectics of Analysis and Generation in the Translation Process
  • Patrick ZABALBEASCOA: Levels of Prescriptiveness in Translation
  • Basil HATIM: The Development of Translation Strategy and the Evolution of Translation Rules
  • Ian MASON: Translation “Techniques”: A Procedural Approach
  • Lance HEWSON: Defining Cultural Shifts: Notes on Translation Assessment
  • Klaus MARTENS: Not Business as Usual: Sinclair Lewis’ Babbitt Comes to Germany
  • Christine RAGUET: Vladimir Nabokov: The Translator’s Perplexity in a Maze of Languages
  • Carol SANDERS: Translation of Culture-specific Lexical Items in Odile by Queneau and Les armoires vides by Ernaud
  • Derrick MCCLURE: Thoughts on Translating Mistral’s Mireille
  • Anthony PYM: Resistant Strategies in Lowell’s and Pound’s translations
  • Bibliography

 

Reviews

Maria Teresa Musacchio, Language International 8.5 (1996), p. 43.

Cross-Words is a collection of essays meant to outline current issues and debates in translating. As the subtitle suggests, the term 'translating' is used to indicate that throughout the book stress is laid on the process, rather than on the product, of translation. The sixteen essays can be roughly divided into three broad categories: theoretical issues in translating, translator training, and literary translating.
     A brief, clear account of the essays would be impossible given the variety of topics, approaches and opinions presented in the book. Therefore, only a few essays will be mentioned to give an idea of the range of themes dealt with by the different authors. In the opening section on theoretical issues, Dixon's 'holistic approach' appears most stimulating as he draws a comparison between translating and contemporary physics. He suggests that the quest for understanding the nature of matter may find a parallel in translating in its attempt to reconcile widely different languages and cultures and put some order to the chaos of Babel. On a different note, Kuhiwczak stresses the importance to review translation theories from the past and investigate some of their most fruitful aspects, such as the Renaissance view of translation as transcultural assimilation. Zabalbescoa, instead, debates levels of prescriptiveness at work in translation assignments and describes the advantages and disadvantages of prescriptive guidelines. He further points out that an awareness of these parameters may be very useful for translators - especially when they lack competence and experience in a particular type of text - in order 'to establish priorities and restrictions for specific trans- lating assignments'.
     In the section on translator training, Bell investigates trainee translators' attitudes towards their work and emphasises how an improved version of his study might be used to devise a training programme for translators. The five essays on literary translating include a remarkable study of Nabokov's works in French aiming to show how aspects of foreign cul- tures can be 'uncovered, discovered or recovered' through translating.
     It might be argued that some of the essays in the book - particularly those by Martin/Hewson and Hatim and Mason - are just new versions of previous work by the same authors, albeit in a shortened form. If that be the case, these are excellent summaries and can serve as introductions to seminal work in the field by the four authors. Moreover, these essays are an integral part of the outline of current issues and debates in translating that is the main purpose of the book.
     In short, Cross-Words provides an interesting and stimulating variety of viewpoints about translating. Given the high number of essays and their limited length, many topics are touched on rather than dealt with in great detail, but they can be useful starting points for debates or further investigations into these matters.

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