Translation Studies: An Anglo-American Perspective

1. Translation Studies: An Anglo-American Perspective Dr. Constanza Gerding Salas Universidad de Concepción Universität Leipzig May 2013

2. Where to start? CGS - 2013 E. Genzler: leading US synthesizer of translation theory Germanistics at Free University, Berlin PhD in Comparative Literature, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee Works at University of Massachusetts Amherst Contemporary Translation Theories (1993; 2001) General perspective on translation studies trends Translation and Identity in the Americas: New Directions in Translation Theory (2008) The role of translation in the formation of Americas

3. Translation in the the Americas CGS - 2013 • Divided into geographical areas: the United States, Canada, Brazil, Latin America, and the Caribbean • Different linguistic history • Research into translation has taken different paths • At present, Translation Studies scholars in the Americas are viewing translation more as “a discursive practice that reveals multiple signs of the heterogeneous and polyvalent nature of the construction of culture” (Genzler, 2008: 183) • The study of translations, Genzler says, can reveal the processes of assimilation of language and culture

4. New way of approaching translation in the Americas CGS - 2013 It has come with the reassessment of the history of linguistic suppression in America Suppression: preventing, inhibiting or eliminating the development or dissemination of languages (culture) Valid situation in the whole continent in varying degrees Indigenous languages minority group tongues Speakers marginalized and excluded. “Reductions”, i.e. massive relocations of indigenous people Indigenous languages excluded from language policies Fossils to be scientifically studied or exposed in museums

5. The US: multicultural but unilingual CGS - 2013 The USA is plenty of cases where the multicultural population is forced to use the national SAE at school or at work Due to massive immigration waves of Hispanics into the USA (80s and 90s), language became a problem for American identity This strengthened the English-only Movement (a political group)

6. Translation Studies: the continental situation CGS - 2013 • USA and Latin America: surprisingly slow in developing research into translation • The only two exceptions in the Americas: • Canada • Brazil • Professional associations, conferences, and important publications

7. Brazilian examples of research instances CGS - 2013 • Brazil's National Library Foundation, a Ministry of Culture Office: Support program for the translations and publicationsof Brazilian authors abroad • Aim: to foster a greater presence of works of local literature in foreign publishing company's catalogs, bookstore shelves, and virtual bookshelves throughout the world • Cadernos de Traduçao, published by the Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil (Vol. 1, 1996)

8. Canadian examples of research instances Journal TTR CGS - 2013 • TTR, Traduction, Terminologie, Rédaction, a journal published by the Canadian Association for Translation Studies / Association Canadienne de Traductologie (Vol. 1, 1988) • Meta, journal des traducteurs / Meta: Translators' Journal, edited by Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, Canada (Vol. 1, 1956) • Canada has been the location for debate about language and a policy of bilingualism since the 1960s • Translation has played a crucial part • Research into translation started to develop in Canada in the second half of the XX century

9. In the USA CGS - 2013 TIS: Translation and Interpreting Studies Founded in 2008 Official journal of the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association (ATISA) American Journal of Translation Studies Founded in 2009 Published by American Journal of Translation Studies and Academic Press

10. Implications of English dominance in the USA CGS - 2013 The hegemony of English in the U.S. has resulted in an insignificant amount of translation of international literature British and American publishers SELL the translation rights for English books at international book fairs, such as the Frankfurt Book Fair But the number of translation rights they BUY is very low. Their interest is only in books that promise to be bestsellers In comparison, France gets translated 12% and Germany about 15% (figures from 1990s given by Venuti, 1995)

11. Monolingualism and culture survival CGS - 2013 • The trend towards English books in the the USA may indicate: • aconceited belief of superiority of English • an unwillingness to acknowledge or receive different cultures • Suppression of languages other than English: a way of minimizing the effect of other cultures? • About 20% of Americans speak a language other than English at home today (2000 US Census) • Is translation then an issue?

12. Translation training in the USA CGS - 2013 • Today, about 30 colleges and institutes offer translation-related programs in the United Sates • Intercultural studies programs; translation and interpretation certificates • Low figures in relation to: • the size of the nation • the number of inhabitants • the size of the non-English speaking population • the diversity of the N-ES population • hence the need for translation

13. Translation training in Canada CGS - 2013 13 prestigious translator training institutions All of them are members of the Canadian Association of Schools of Translation They offer translation training ranging from certificates to Ph.D.’s With minors and majors in translation and/or interpretation, within degrees in English or French

14. History of translation and identity formation in the USA CGS - 2013 • The United States, a nation made up of immigrants • People comprising the nation have come from a wide range of linguistic and cultural origins • American immigration history can be viewed in four epochs: • the colonial period (late 16th century) • the mid-19th century • the start of the 20th century • post-1965 • Multilingual/multicultural diversity has characterized American immigration

15. Multilingualism: origin of settlers CGS - 2013 First three periods different regions of Europe After 1965  Latin America / Asia First settlers  English, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese They traded with Native American peoples Before Columbus  + 300 languages were spoken in (today’s) USA Half of them are extinct today

16. Migration into the USA after 1965 CGS - 2013 Ethnic quotas on immigration removed in 1965, the number of first-generation immigrants living in the USA increased fourfold Foreign-born population increased from 9.6 million in 1970 to over 40 million today About 40% of them come from Latin America and Caribbean countries Most of these immigrants speak Spanish as a first or second language (e.g. Guaraní as L1)

17. Top 20 immigrant-sending: 2010, 2000 & 1990 40 million = 13% ± 40% from SS-LA Total39,955,854 31,107,889 19,767,316 CGS - 2013 Source: decennial Census and American Community Survey

18. Racially diverse, linguistically homogeneous? CGS - 2013 • Other important ethnic groups immigrating into the USA after 1965 (Source: 2000 census): • Italian Polish Ukrainian Japanese • Greek Portuguese Russian Taiwanese • Irish Iranian Pakistani Thai • Ethnically, the USA is a diverse country • No official language at the federal level • Several unsuccessful proposals to make English the USA official language • In 1780, e.g., John Adams’s proposal was deemed "undemocratic and a threat to individual liberty” • Is linguistic unity possible in a diverse society?

19. De facto national language in the USA CGS - 2013 Today’s situation isquite varied at state/territorial level: Some states mirror federal policy: adopt no official language Others have adopted English alone Others have officially adopted English as well as locallanguages Still others have adopted a policy of de factobilingualism English is the de facto national language, with 80% of the population claiming it as their mother tongue (US Census Bureau, 2012)

20. Languages other than English CGS - 2013 Spanishsecond most common language in the USA Spoken by over 15% of the population. However, nearly all second-generation Hispanic Americans speak English fluently People of German ancestry are the largest single ethnic group in the US. The German language ranks fifth French, Italian, Polish, and Russian are still spoken among immigrant populations or their descendants The use of these languages is decreasing as the older generations die Source: US Census Bureau, 2012

21. Main languages spoken in the USA • The Spanish / Latino population is over 15% • It outnumbers African-Americans (12.8%)(2006 US Census Bureau) • Tagalog = Filipino: first language of 25% of Filipinos CGS - 2013

22. The linguistic situation in Canada CGS - 2013 • Canada may look and feel like America. But when it comes to translation, it is a different world • Simple reason: Canada has two official languages,English and French • 25% of the population speak Québécois, and is geographically concentrated in the province of Quebec • Few Canadians speak both English and French • 7 of the 10 provinces are massively English • Everything must be translated: • government documents, public signs, court decisions, packaging, advertisements, etc.

23. Canada: a land of translation CGS - 2013 • Canada is a land of translation demographic reality • It occupies 10% of the global translation market (Hamilton, 2010) • Biggest employer of translators federal government • The government’s Translation Bureau hires 1,200 professionals: • salaried translators • interpreters • terminologists • localization specialists • The Translation Bureau also a regular source of work for hundreds of freelancers

24. Translation industry in Canada CGS - 2013 • Main difference between the USAand Canada opportunity for salaried employment in translation • Job opportunities pay good dividends in terms of professional development in Canada • Many thousands also work for private firms in Canada • Banks (Royal, Montreal) have in-house translation depts. • Translators in Canada a variety of businesses: accountanciesairlines grocery store chains big retailers telecoms law firms

25. Translation industry in Canada (ctd.) CGS - 2013 • Canada generalized need for translation • Everybody who does business in Canada is a potential translation client • Most freelance translators can cultivate direct clients among people in their families and social circles • There are about 15,000 translators, interpreters, terminologists, and localization specialists in Canada

26. The translation industry in the USA CGS - 2013 With the English-only policy, a small number of translators have developed a career Citizens are usually denied regular translation services (Genzler, 2008) No programs with federal funding for translation, e.g. courts, educational institutions, hospitals, police, banks, social security agencies, etc. Genzler (2008) possible cause: lack of funding, a sociopolitical issue Over 150 languages are spoken in the USA today Is there a need for translation services?

27. A unilingual melting pot CGS - 2013 • The USA melting-pot ideology, aspiring to integrate all incoming languages and cultures into one inclusive whole, does not match reality (Genzler, 2008) • The existing melting pot is the place where nothing has really melted • The English-only policy has played a role in people’s ghettoization. Several languages + cultures have been ghettoized because of socio-economic / legal pressure • Amerindians were relegated to reservations and blacks in urban ghettos • Chinese immigrants were centralized in Chinatowns and Latinos segregated in ‘barrios’ (where Hispanics can express communal culture and language)

28. The English-only policy in the USA CGS - 2013 The current English-only policy in the USA dates back to the epoch of the founding fathers Jefferson, Jay, and Franklin, among others, lobbied for English as the national language Roosevelt: “We must have but one language. That language must be of the Declaration of Independence.” (Roosevelt’s Language Loyalties, quoted by Shell, 2002: 7) Two hundred years later, arguments are still the same 2006, 2007, 2008: US Senate provisions to “preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language of the United States of America”

29. Translate or not translate… CGS - 2013 • The Constitution itself was translated into several languages (Fr., Sp., Ru., Ge., It.) in order to spread the word to the nation’s multilingual citizens • 25% of the settlers were of non-English origin • Those speaking African and Amerindian languages were non-citizens, thus not included • The German language was once a choice as a national tongue in the USA • 40% of Pennsylvania inhabitants spoke German • there were many German-language newspapers • there was even a German-language political party

30. Non-translation policy in USA CGS - 2013 Treaties with Amerindians and Mexico invariably supported language and translation rights for minorities in the past Translation was put into practice in the early nation, but it quickly went underground The monolingual English-only policy led to a translation policy of non-translation The unwritten policy of non-translation became the norm enforced by “the system” Genzler (2008) suggests that strategically repressed translation has played a central role in the construction of culture and identity

31. No translation, no mediation, no integration CGS - 2013 Non-translation policy is a leading socio-political issue today No national translation policy no policy of mediation, negotiation, communication or inclusion Discrimination against language minorities in streets, courts, jails, schools, hospitals, welfare offices Ethnic and linguistic minority communities sometimes have their own committed group of (often unpaid) translators

32. Translating from Amerindian cultures CGS - 2013 • Translation from Amerindian cultures was a one-way activity. British colonizers translated their culture into Amerindian languages for two reasons: • the non-translation policy dominance (power & influence) and domination (exercise of control) • the oral tradition of Amerindian literature • In contemporary multicultural studies, traces of Amerindian oral tradition occur, usually as “cultural translations” in the form of stories within stories • The role of translation from American Indian cultures in the formation of American identity has been neglected as a study area

33. The turn into culture in translation studies CGS - 2013 Translation Studies became visibly active in the USA when the pragmatic turn of the 1970s gave rise to the cultural turn in the 1980s The importance of the CT in American translation studies (1990s) is evident (Genzler, 2008): cultural processes and systems of signification

34. The cultural turn in America CGS - 2013 The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (1973) by American anthropologist Clifford Geertz was one of the foundational works facilitating the turn to cultural forms of analysis The Interpretation of Culture elaborates upon cultural systems of social behavior (meanings, gestures, myths) that are unique to any given culture People both shape and are shaped by society

35. DTS: descriptive, target-oriented, functional & systemic CGS - 2013 1990s new insights in translation in America and elsewhere Societies were especially open to sociological & cultural factors Research was based on the assumption that translation constituted a primary means by which culture is constructed Translation became important to studies of cultural evolution and identity formation Cultural studies became the impelling force of DTS scholars (“manipulation school”)in 1990-2000

36. DTS: aim and interests CGS - 2013 • Aim: to describe the phenomena of translating and translation(s) as they manifest themselves in the worldof experience • DTS focuses on three areas of research: • Product: • synchronic (at one point) • diachronic (as it has evolved) • Function: translation sociology or socio-translation studies • Process: psychology of translation or psycho-translation studies

37. DTS and manipulation CGS - 2013 • Premise: all translation implies a degree of manipulation of the ST for a certain purpose • 1990s focus on how textual practices are used by governments, publishers, & educational institutions to manipulate culture • Fundamental questions around manipulation: • Which texts are selected for translation • Who makes the decisions and why • Where those translations are made available • Who the translations are meant for • Perspective from which texts are translated to the target culture • Manipulation is carried out in support of the status quo, i.e. the ultimate aim being to hold power

38. Power in the construction of culture CGS - 2013 “Translation has been a major shaping force in the development of world culture” (Lefevere & Bassnett, 1990: 12). “The key topic that has provided the impetus for the new directions that translation studies have taken since the cultural turn is power” (Genzler/ Tymoczko, 2002: XVI) “Translation […] was shown to be instrumental in the process of developing and maintaining power” (Genzler, 2008: 1)

39. Power in translation CGS - 2013 • In DTS power should not be understood as that exclusively exercised by institutions and authorities traditionally seen as the proprietors of power • According to Tymoczko(2007), power is also exercised by people seeking empowerment, as a means to resist oppression • Power in translation is linked to: • Hegemony: dominant cultures • Norms: standards • language • target groups • censorship • ideologies (political, religious)

40. Power and the role of the translator CGS - 2013 • The role of translators is closely related to power: ‘the ability to influence the behavior of others’ • Translators often function as double agents: “representing both the institution in power and those seeking empowerment” (Gentzer/Tymoczko2002: xix) • Translators always have the possibility to influence texts • by emphasizing specific content • by rearranging parts of the text

41. Imbalance of power • In the USA, “the English-only majority uses practices of translation and non-translation to marginalize language minorities” Gentzler (2008: 32) • The hegemonic power of English-only discourse plays a double role (Genzler, 2008: 32): • externally, in global relations and international exchanges • internally, in relations with language minorities within the borders of the USA

42. Translation Studies in the USA: infant stages • The American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association (ATISA) has only existed since 2002 • Translation did not use to be a subject matter • TS did not develop in the USA until the XX century • Translators were pragmatic users of the languages they translated • They knew very little about translation theories • Most came to the field by chance and stayed by choice

43. Translation studies in the USA and Canada • Translation in the USA XX and XXI centuries • Venuti, Maier, Tymoczko, and Levine, among others, have increasingly connected translation phenomena to issues such as: • marginalization • migration • resistance • Identity • Other TS scholars focusing on cultural aspects, identity, and minority groups in Anglo America: Simon, Von Flotow, Godard, Arrojo (2000-2010)

44. Translation in the USA in the 1960s • The 1960s a great age • for cultural expansion in general • for translation in particular • Many ideas entered US culture for the first time • Remarkably, key creative writers were also active translators: • William De Witt Snodgrass • William Stanley Merwin • Charles Simic • Robert Bly • Gary Snyder • Philip Levine

45. Translation: not a minor affair • During this period, important works entered USA culture via translation: • Philosophers: Husserl, Sartre, Lévi-Strauss, Habermas, Heidegger • Poets: Apollinaire, Rimbaud, Neruda, Vallejo • Experimental playwrights: Beckett, Brecht, Pirandello, Ionesco • Marxist thinkers: Mao, Trotsky, Che Guevara, Fanon, Luxemburg

46. Translation: a tool to uncover/discover culture • Translations have served not only to import ideas from other cultures • Also to inform and allow citizens to better understand themselves via an alternative culture • In the 1950s and early 1960s, e.g. translations helped to uncover unconscious thoughts and powerful emotions, e.g.: • Pablo Neruda • Antonio Machado • Federico García Lorca

47. TS housed by American Studies • The larger field of American Studies (translation), is increasingly turning toward multilingual and multicultural issues • A new generation of researchers, who focus on the many cultures of the USA, is emerging • In this new American Studies paradigm, “American” does not (only) refer to the USA; it also includes the different languages, nationalities and cultures of the New World: Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean

48. AS focus on border cultures • Scholars of American Studies (Dimock, Rowe, Gruesz, Shell, Pease, Siemerling) focus on points of historical, geographical and linguistic contact where two or more communities must negotiate their respective identities • They have concentrated mainly on border cultures and contact zones within the Americas, which are obvious sites of translation • Canada-USA • USA-Mexico • Brazil-ten neighbors

49. The scope of American Studies • American Studies focus on • the United States’ new role as a global power • its form of linguistic, cultural and intellectual domination • the paradigm is also international: it includes viewpoints from American scholars outside the USA: Latin American, Philippine, Vietnamese, and even Near Eastern perspectives on US texts and culture

50. Canada today • Canada contains a “nation” within a nation • Québécois is the predominant variety of (formal and informal) French spoken in Canada • Quebeckers have maintained their language and culture for nearly400 years • There have even been attempts to define Québécois as separate from standard French