Unseen Policies in News Translation: A Study Investigating News Translators’ Practices and Strategies

Hamza Eltheb

Abstract


This paper explores the institutional practices of translating news articles by focusing on ideological representations and editorial guidelines. It also investigates the steps adopted by news translators when transferring news articles with a slight focus on Arabic. The study uses surveys in a form of interviews and questionnaire, which were delivered to a range of journalists and news editors involved in translating news. Their input is qualitatively analysed to find out how translation operates and how ideologies impinge upon translation products in media institutions. The paper enhances our understanding of the role of translators who work within ideologically-driven institutions. In particular, it reveals that the editorial policies of news institutions are not always stated and can at times be hidden. Moreover, a news item can be intentionally altered and news sources can be blurred, so that readers are kept unaware that the target text is a translation from various sources. 

Keywords


Arabic, Ideology, Institution, News Guidelines, Representation, Techniques

Full Text:

PDF

References


Bani, S. (2006). An Analysis of Press Translation Process. In K. Conway & S. Bassnett, (Eds.), Translation in Global News: proceedings of the conference held at the University of Warwick (pp. 35-46). University of Warwick, UK.

Barkho, L. (2014). The Role of Internal Guidelines in Shaping News Narratives: ethnographic insights into the discursive rhetoric of Middle East reporting by the BBC and Al-Jazeera English. In J. Richardson, M. Krzyzanowski, D. Machin & R. Wodak (Eds.), Advances in Critical Discourse Studies (pp. 218-232). Routledge.

Barnard, C. (2010). The Tokaimura Nuclear Accident in Japanese Newsweek: Translation or Censorship?. Japanese Studies, 20, 281-294.

Bazzi, S. (2009). Arab News and Conflict. John Benjamins Publishing.

Bell, A. (1991). The language of news media. Blackwell.

Bielsa, E. A., & Bassnett, S. (2009). Translation in global news. Routledge.

Conway, K., & Bassnett, S. (2006). Translation in Global News: proceedings of the conference held at the University of Warwick. University of Warwick.

Cortés Zaborras, C., & Hernández Guerrero, M. J. (Eds.) (2005). La traducción periodística. Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha.

Davier, L. (2019). The Moving Boundaries of News Translation. IKBFU Press, 10(1), 69-86. doi: 10.5922/2225-5346-2019-1-5

Davier, L., & van Doorslaer, L. (2018). Translation without a Source Text: Methodological Issues in News Translation. Across Languages and Cultures 19(2), (pp. 241–257). doi: 10.1556/084.2018.19.2.6

Dehghan, S. K. (2012). Bahrain attacks Iran over mistranslating Morsi’s speech on Syria. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2012/sep/03/bahrain-iran-mistranslating-morsi-syria-speech [Accessed 29/05/2015].

Ethelb, H. (2019). The Translator as Journalist: Getting Across the Ideological Intricacies of Translating News. Studies in Translation: Jordanian Translators Association Publications, 5(1), 33-74.

Ethelb, H. (2016). Mediating Ideology in News Headlines: A Case Study of Post-Revolution Egypt. Arab World English Journal, 5, 108-123.

Fairclough, N. (1992). Critical language awareness. Longman.

Fowler, R. (1991). Language in the News: Discourse and Ideology in the Press. Routledge.

Hermans, T. (1985). The Manipulation of Literature: Studies in Literary Translation. Croom Helm.

Kang, J.-H. (2007). Recontextualisation of news Discourse. The Translator, 13, 219-242.

Kress, G. (1988). Linguistic Processes in Sociocultural Practice. Oxford University Press.

Loupaki, E. (2010). Investigating Translators’ Strategies in Rendering Ideological Conflict. In C. Schäffner & S. Bassnett (Eds.), Political discourse, Media and Translation (pp. 55-75). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Mautner, G. (2008). Analyzing Newspapers, Magazines and Other Print Media. In R. Wodak & M. Krzyzanowski (Eds.) Qualitative Discourse Analysis in the Social Sciences. Palgrave MacMillan.

McLaughlin, M. L. (2015). News translation past and present: silent witness and invisible intruder. Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, 23(4), 552-569. doi: 10.1080/0907676X.2015.1015578

Merkle, D. (2010). Censorship. In Y. Gambier & L. van Doorslaer (eds.) Handbook of

Translation Studies (vol. 1, pp. 18-21). John Benjamins.

Orengo, A. (2005). Localising news: Translation and the ‘global-national’ dichotomy. Language and Intercultural Communication, 5(2), 168-187.

Palmer, J. (2009). News gathering and dissemination. In M. Baker & G. Saldanha (Eds.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (2nd ed., pp. 186–189). Routledge.

Rudestam, K. E., & Newton, R. R. (2007). Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process. Sage Publications.

Saldanha, G., & O’brien, S. (2013). Research Methodologies in Translation Studies. Routledge.

Schäffner, C. (2020). Transfer in news translation. In M. Gonne K. Merrigan R. Meylaerts & H. van Gerwen (Eds.), Transfer Thinking in Translation Studies: Playing with the Black Box of Cultural Transfer (pp. 113–132). Leuven University Press.

Schäffner C. (2012). Rethinking Transediting. Meta: Translators’ Journal. 2012, 54(4). 866-883. doi: 10.7202/1021222ar.

Schäffner, C., & Bassnett, S. (Eds.) (2010). Political Discourse, Media and Translation. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Tewksburg, D., & Rittenburg, J. (2012). News on the Internet: Information and Citizenship in the 21st Century. Oxford University Press.

Tsai, C. (2005). Inside the Television Newsroom: An Insider’s view of International News Translation in Taiwan. Language and Cultural Communication, 5, 145-153.

Tymoczko, M., & Gentzler, E. (Eds.) (2002). Translation and Power. University of Massachusetts Press.

Valdeón, R. A. (2007). Ideological independence or negative mediation: BBC Mundo and CNN en Español’s (translated) reporting of Madrid’s terrorist attacks. In M. Salama-Carr (Ed.), Translating and interpreting conflict (pp. 99–118). Rodopi.

Valdeón, R. A. (2012). From the Dutch corantos to Convergence Journalism: The Role of Translation in News Production. Meta, 57(4), 850-865. doi:10.7202/1021221ar

Valdeón, R. A. (2014). From adaptation to appropriation: Framing the world through news translation. Linguaculture, 5(1), 51–62.

Valdeón R. A. (2015a). Fifteen years of journalistic translation research and More. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 23(4), 634-662. doi: 10.1080/0907676X.2015.1057187

Valdeón, R. A. (2015b). (Un)stable sources, translation and news production. Target, 27(3), 440–453. doi: 10.1075/target.27.3.07val

van Doorslaer, L. (2010a). The Double Extension of Translation in the Journalistic Field. Across Languages and Cultures, 11(2), 175–188. doi: 10.1556/Acr.11.2010.2.3

van Doorslaer, L. (2010b). Journalism and translation. In Y. Gambier & L. van Doorslaer (Eds.), Handbook of translation studies (Vol. 1, pp. 180–184). John Benjamins.

van Doorslaer, L. (2012). Translating, Narrating and Constructing Images in Journalism with a Test Case on Representation in Flemish TV News. Meta, 57(4), 1046–1059. doi:10.7202/1021232ar

Vermeer, H. J. (2000). Skopos and Commission in Translational Action. In: L. Venuti (Ed.), Translation Studies Reader (pp. 191-202). Routledge.

Vuorinen, E. (1997). News translation as gatekeeping. In M. Snell-Hornby, Z. Jettmarová & K. Kaindl (Eds.), Translation as Intercultural Communication (pp. 161-172). John Benjamins Publishing.

Whitney, D. C., & Becker, L. B. (1982). ‘Keeping the Gates’ for Gatekeepers: The Effects of Wire News. Journalism Quarterly, 59, 60-65.

Williams, J., & Chesterman, A. (2002). The Map: A beginner’s guide to doing research in translation studies. St Jerome Publishing.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijclts.v.10n.2p.23

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2013-2023 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD.

International Journal of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies

You may require to add the 'aiac.org.au' domain to your e-mail 'safe list’ If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox'. Otherwise, you may check your 'Spam mail' or 'junk mail' folders.