Seminar: 'Translation as Intercultural communication: a risky business'

Event Details

Date:

Friday, 09 October 2015

Time:

3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Room:

115

UQ Location:

Sir Llew Edwards Building (St Lucia)

URL:

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Special seminar by Professor David Katan, University of Salento (Lecce).

This talk focusses on the impact of the context of culture on translation. Much has been said about extralinguistic culture-bound references (ECRs), and indeed these are part of ‘culture’. They do, however, represent just the tip of a cultural iceberg. ET Hall's 'iceberg theory' and triad of culture is introduced to demonstrate how translation strategy changes according to a translator’s awareness of what lies below the tip, in terms of both personal and cultural norms, accepted practice and beliefs. Hence translation can be approached at a technical level but also at a level which is more ‘fuzzy’, as decisions regarding contexts, reader/writer and translator beliefs will complicate the picture. At this level translators need to be more mindful, more interculturally competent and will have a much higher toleration of uncertainty. The results, however, will be appreciated more readily by the reader. During the talk examples will be used to illustrate translation problems and possible solutions for each of the 3 levels of the cultural iceberg. Please see below link to register: