Babel: Features

Abstract: Translation is a very complex communicative act. The translator plays an indispensable and irreplaceable role in it. It is the translator who translates the elites of foreign literature into his own language and introduces them to his compatriots. The translator conducts the code-switching between two different languages, reproduces the content and spirit of the source text into the target text. The translator also presents a vivid picture of the exotics and ensures its survival after hundreds of years. As a result of the translator’s labor, the readers’ horizons are widened and the indigenous culture and language are enriched. Nowadays, the translator’s status as the subject of translation has been widely acknowledged. However, the translator’s identity and role as a creative subject is not recognized from the very beginning. On the contrary, it has experienced a long process. The translator has moved from behind the curtain to the forefront and has become a visible subject from an invisible ghostly presence as people’s knowledge of translation activities deepens.

This thesis aims at studying the subjectivity of the translator. It starts with a review of the traditional translation theories on the function of the translator, and shows how these theories reduce the translator to the status of a faithful servant, a mere conveyor of information and an invisible medium. The paper then focuses on the studies of the translator in the contemporary framework of theories, which attempt to bring the translator out of the shadow. Since the 1980s, there appeared a deconstructionist school in Translation Studies. Its representatives are Jacque Derrida, Paul de Man and Lawrence Venuti. They have introduced some key concepts of deconstruction into the Translation Studies, posed great challenges to the traditional translation theories and opened up many new perspectives for Translation Studies. According to them, translators are the creative subjects and translations are the afterlife of original works. The status of the translator and translated works has been greatly enhanced. Translations not only enjoy the same status as the original works, but also ensure the survival of the latter. Translators are no longer considered as inferior to the author, but are considered as the creative subject. Until then, translators have moved to the forefront and assumed their subjective roles. The subjectivity of the translator has become an important issue that draws many scholars’ attention. They have studied this issue from various perspectives and offered a lot of keen insights on it. The paper tries to retrieve the translator's lost subjectivity, his or her decision-making in translation process and participation in the creation of the literary works.

Theoretically speaking, Hermeneutics confirms translators' creativity, for its basic notion is that understanding means creative interpretation of a text. That is to say translators are not just passive receptors of the source text, but meaning-providers whose translation products will be interpreted by target readers. Hermeneutics emphasizes translators' active interpretation of literary texts. According to this theory, the translator is not a passive recipient of meaning but an active and creative agent in the making of meaning. Translators cannot be excluded from their fore-understanding structure in the complex process of interaction with the source text. Inevitably translators will feed their own beliefs, experience and attitudes into their processing of texts, so that any translation, to some degree, will reflect translators' own mental outlook and their idiosyncratic features despite the impartial intention. This opinion will be further expounded in Chapter Ⅲ.

This thesis applies the basic notions of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics—fore-understanding, prejudice and fusion of horizons to justify the reason and room for the translator’s subjectivity. The author of the thesis holds that translators can and will inevitably manifest their subjectivity in their products in the process of conveying the source text’s content and style. Literary translators are indispensable subjects in the translation process. They act not only as receptors and manipulators of the source text but producers of a target text in a new cultural system. In this sense they can be viewed as a special kind of authors, and consequently their style can be seen as a special kind of authorial style.

The fourth chapter is a case study of the six different translations of a poem by Meng Jiao, a poet in Tang dynasty. By comparing these six versions, the author hopes it will help further the understanding of the subjectivity of the translator and confirm that translators, as the subject of reception, always interpret the source text from their own perspectives, derive different information from their interpretations, make their own judgments and concretize those indeterminacies in the source text. It is just this subjective concretization that results in different translations of the same source text.

The last chapter summarizes the discussions above in an explicit way and comes to the conclusion: the subjectivity of the translator has become a prominent issue in contemporary Translation Studies and the study of it can help improve our understanding of the subjectivity of the translator, the understanding of the nature of translation and the role played by translators in translation.

The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View

"It's absurd for us, as artists, to sanction -- or countenance -- the shutting down of something like Napster. It's sheer stupidity to rejoice at the Napster decision. Short-sighted, and ignorant. Free exposure is practically a thing of the past for entertainers. Getting your record played at radio costs more money than most of us dream of ever earning. Free downloading gives a chance to every do-it-yourselfer out there. Every act that can't get signed to a major, for whatever reason, can reach literally millions of new listeners, enticing them to buy the CD and come to the concerts. Where else can a new act, or one that doesn't have a label deal, get that kind of exposure?"

by Janis Ian -- July 2002

Fallout: A follow up to
The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View

by Janis Ian -- August 2002

The woman who invented the Barbie Doll, Ruth Handler, died last week. Type the words, “Barbie Doll” into Google and you’ll get over 206,000 matches. I think nothing could quite say it better: Barbie is the most popular girl in school. I once spent hours imagining with my stock of Barbie dolls, and upon reflection, I don’t think all of it was as harmful as some other feminists may have you believe. As a realistic child I never expected to be like Barbie when I grew up, and lo and behold, I’m not. I’ve always been mystified by claims that Barbie could make a girl do or think anything, since with Barbie, the girl pretty much always gets to call the shots. She hit the scene in 1959 as a “teen model,” and went on to an endless list of other, even more respectable, careers, though, much to my chagrin, not MY career. In the end, I find there is much to defend in this much maligned, infinitely loved 11.5 inch high inanimate dynamo.

Ruth Handler, de vrouw die aan de wieg stond van de Barbiepop, is vorige week overleden. Wanneer je de woorden "Barbie Doll" intypt in Google, krijg je meer dan 206.000 resultaten. Volgens mij is dit het beste bewijs: Barbie is het populairste meisje van de school. Ooit speelde ik urenlang met mijn Barbiepoppen, en wanneer ik er nu over nadenk, vind ik niet dat het zo schadelijk was als sommige andere feministes ons willen doen geloven. Als realistisch kind heb ik nooit verwacht dat ik zoals Barbie zou zijn wanneer ik volwassen zou zijn, en kijk nu, zo ben ik ook helemaal niet. Ik ben altijd geïntrigeerd geweest door beweringen dat Barbie een meisje ertoe kon aanzetten om het even wat te doen of te denken, aangezien het meisje met Barbie steeds zelf de touwtjes in handen heeft. Ze kwam op het toneel in 1959 als "tienermodel" en kreeg vervolgens een eindeloze lijst van andere, nog respectabeler carrières, hoewel, tot mijn grote ergernis, niet MIJN carrière. Al bij al vind ik dat er veel te zeggen is voor deze vaak belasterde, maar oneindig geliefde 30 cm grote onbeweeglijke dynamo.

Sometimes it’s the little things that say it all. The little thing that lingers in my mind is the story about Enron’s creation, when the original plan was to call it Enteron – until somebody figured out this was the Greek word for “intestines.” There you have it. In the end, the story of Enron’s implosion is not about one diabolical company. It’s about the guts of our economy.

Czasami jakieś małe rzeczy mówią nam wszystko. Taką małą rzeczą, która przypomina mi się uporczywie, jest historyjka o stworzeniu Enronu, kiedy to pierwotnie zamierzano go nazwać Enteronem, zanim ktoś się nie zorientował, że to greckie słowo oznacza „jelita”. I właśnie o to chodzi. Na końcu historia implozji Enronu nie ukazuje nam diabolicznej firmy, lecz wnętrzności naszej gospodarki.

Once I asked my first year translation class (translation beginners) to translate into Arabic in writing a letter that opened with the following sentence:

I am a Jew from the Soviet Union

signed by a lady named Rebecca Niedleman without drawing their attention to the signature. After reading the text and then translating it, each translation of these translation beginners started with the following:

أنا يهودي من الاتحاد السوفيتي

I am a (male) Jew from the Soviet Union

The reasons behind this inaccurate and sexually inappropriate translation in the view of this author are only part of what this research paper is about.

In my own way, I am trying to honor the legacy of the victims of September 11^th. I am attempting to pursue the objectives that I have always believed in, but before I lacked courage, I was too afraid of what I was giving up, and was distracted by the frantic pace that life in New York City demands. I decided that I didn’t want to be a person who makes plans, sustains dreams, and never had a chance to live them.

A mi manera, estoy intentando rendir homenaje al legado de víctimas del 11 de septiembre. Estoy intentando encontrar los objetivos en los que siempre he creído, pero antes de quedarme sin coraje, tenía mucho miedo de lo que estaba abandonando, y me distraje con el paso frenético que demanda la vida en Nueva York. Decidí que ya no quiero ser una persona que hace planes, alimenta sueños y jamás tiene la posibilidad de vivirlos.

Dengan caraku sendiri, aku mencoba memperingati warisan para korban 11 September. Aku berusaha mengejar tujuan hidup yang selalu aku yakini, namun sebelumnya tidak pernah memiliki keberanian untuk melaksanakannya oleh karena menyayangi apa yang aku harus tinggalkan atau telah terlupakan dalam kesibukan keseharian dari gaya hidup yang tergesa-gesa yang dituntut oleh penghidupan di New York. Aku memutuskan bahwa aku tidak ingin menjadi orang yang membuat rencana dan tetap berkhayal namun tidak pernah memiliki kesempatan untuk melaksanakannya.

Algumas das minhas melhores decisões foram as irracionais. Aquelas em que a força motriz foi a emoção e mais nada. De todas as vezes em que me apaixonei, foi como se um raio me tivesse atingido. Não o senti aproximar-se. Ouvi um estrondo enorme e, de súbito, o céu iluminou-se. Tinha pensado em deixar Nova Iorque mas qualquer coisa me impedia de o fazer. Sabia que era o único lugar do mundo onde me era permitido pôr em prática a minha forma peculiar de esquizofrenia e personificar, em mim própria, toda uma multiplicidade de conflitos.

The Battle of Seattle...Not To Mention The Rest of The World:
Everything you always wanted to know about the World Trade Organization, what the riots in Seattle were all about, and why it's been the world's best kept secret.

The police were anonymous. No facial expressions, no face. You could not see their eyes. They were masked Hollywood caricatures burdened with 60 to 70 pounds of weaponry. These were not the men and women of the 6th precinct. They were the Gang Squads and the SWAT teams of the Tactical Operations Divisions, closer in training to soldiers from the School of the Americas than local cops on the beat. Behind them and around were special forces from the FBI, the Secret Service, even the CIA. They were equipped with US military standard M40A1 double-canister gas masks, uncalibrated, semi-automatic, high velocity Autocockers loaded with solid plastic shot, Monadnock disposable plastic cuffs, Nomex slash-resistant gloves, Commando boots, Centurion tactical leg guards, combat harnesses, DK5-H pivot-and-lock riot face shields, black Monadnock P24 polycarbonate riot batons with Trum Bull stop side handles, No. 2 continuous discharge CS (orcho-chlorobenzylidene-malononitrile) chemical grenades, M651 CN (chloroacetophenone) pyrotechnic grenades, T16 Flameless OC Expulsion Grenades, DTCA rubber bullet grenades (Stingers), M-203 (40mm) grenade launchers, First Defense MK-46 Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) aerosol tanks with hose and wands, .60 caliber rubber ball impact munitions, lightweight tactical Kevlar composite ballistic helmets, combat butt packs, .30 cal. 30-round magazine pouches, and Kevlar body armor. None of the police had visible badges or forms of identification.

I flew to the Emerald City with Vivian Stockman and acted globally for one glorious and amazing week. To begin with, I want to correct an impression you may have if you watched coverage of the "Seattle Riots" on television. There was a period on Tuesday afternoon in which about 30 black-clad, self-styled anarchists (and maybe a few agents provocateurs?) sprayed graffiti on walls and broke a lot of store windows. The police did not interfere, instead allowing the media to shoot reels of footage of this vandalism -- universally, if somewhat inaccurately, referred to as "violence."

Овај чланак је написан као наставак прошломесечног чланка “Делајте глобално”

Отпутовала сам авионом у “Смарагдни град” са Вивијен Стокмен и делала глобално током једне славне и сјајне недеље. За почетак, желим да исправим утисак који можда имате ако сте гледали емисију од “Немирима у Сијетлу” на телевизији. У једном временском периоду, у уторак поподне, око 30 анархиста потпуно одевених у црне одоре које су сами дизајнирали (а можда и неколико агената провокатора?) исписивало је спрејем графите по зидовима и разбило доста прозора на продавницама. Полиција се није мешала, уместо тога је доѕволила представницима медија да снимају пуне котурове трака са извештајима о овом вандализму – уопштено га називајући, иако не баш тачно, “насиљем”.

Аутора Мери Вајлдфајр

If you are an environmental or social justice activist, you've heard this advice countless times. Indeed, those who dig in and fight to protect their communities bring vital passion and local knowledge to their work. Nonetheless, I'm arguing here that more people are needed, especially now, to think globally and act globally. At some point most activists realize that the problems are structural, not local. One conclusion nearly everyone reaches is that no progress is possible until the campaign finance system is reformed. Unfortunately, even total reclamation of our democratic process may not bring back genuine democracy. There is a threat that our efforts may be undermined -- or should I say "overmined?"-- by lawmaking bodies on the international level whose delegations officially represent national governments but in fact represent corporations. There are a number of these; perhaps the most important is the World Trade Organization, or WTO. This article will focus on WTO exclusively, because they are going to be meeting soon on U.S. soil. Unfortunately, the location is far from here -- in Seattle, Washington, from November 30 to December 3.

Ако сте активиста покрета ѕа заштиту околине или за социјалну правду, чули сте овај савет безброј пута. Заиста, они који се труде и боре да заштите своје заједнице, уносе виталну страст и локално знање у свој рад. Ипак, ја се овде залажем за то да је потребно да више људи, нарочито сада, мисли глобално и делује глобално. У једном тренутку, већина активиста успева да схвати да су проблеми структуралне природе, а не локалне. Један закључак до кога скоро сви долазимо, је да није могућ напредак док се систем финансирања кампања не реформише. На жалост, чак и укупно побољшање нашег демократског процеса, не мора да нам донесе праву демократију. Постоји претња да су наши напори можда подривани – или боље речено “претрпавани” – организацијама за доношење закона на међународном нивоу, чије делегације званично представљају националне владе, а у ствари, представљају корпорације. Постоји велики број оваквих организација, можда је Светска трговинска организација (СТО) најважнија од њих. Овај чланак ће се усредсредити искључиво на СТО, јер се она ускоро састаје на тлу Сједињених Джава.

When I had initially read that the World Trade Organization meetings were to be held in Seattle my reaction was excitement. The story I read on the website of a major network spoke boldly, claiming that Seattle would be the staging ground for the largest protest on American soil. The simple fact that so many people from the Environmental and Labor movements in America were planning to come together on a grass-roots level and march in the streets made my hair stand on end. That type of solidarity and unity, in my humble opinion, was way overdue. On one side we have people normally labeled as 'Tree-huggers' and on the other side we had people normally labeled as 'Rednecks'. To hear that these two groups, who have always been disassociated for the wrong reasons, were coming together spurred a hope for the political future of this country I hadn't considered possible. It seemed my wildest dreams were beginning to come true. The protest would enact grass-roots politics beyond the false choices of the two party system and the 'Change the world with a vote' rhetoric. This was a plan of action with people using their bodies to send a message. A peaceful insurrection uniting two groups that in the past had mostly been kept apart because of social reasons was about to take place in my hometown. It seemed like nothing less than history in the making. Truthfully, when all was said and done and the WTO meetings ended, I was not disappointed.

Hi friends. Here's an open letter I'm putting up on my web page about the WTO experience. It's aimed at the broad, Pagan community -- so please help me circulate it where it needs to go, you who are more web savvy than I.

This research focuses on hypertext and online publishing possibilities but it bears very much in mind the cultural landscape where social, economic, scientific and technological transformations are taking place.

The screen of a computer is a strange skylight to peek not only at our own projects but also anybody else's in a curious process of "collectivist introspection", as Paul Virilio says. The computer was a working tool until it started to be connected to other computers becoming a member of a community that almost (What about "digital illiterates"?) extends the world over, a network that covers -- with high or low density -- the Earth's surface. That screen is now not solely a window but an access point, too. The Internet is being understood as a place with plenty of paths leading to a panoply of various sites; one may ask what are we doing when we are moving through it and where do we start from? The beginning of a new estate of culture -- the digital one -- is being declared from numerous places and various social gambits.

La presente investigación se centra en las posibilidades del hipertexto y la edición on line pero teniendo muy en cuenta el macroentorno cultural en el que se desarrollan las transformaciones sociales, económicas, científicas, tecnológicas, etc.

El monitor de un ordenador es una extraña claraboya en la que atisbamos nuestros proyectos y los ajenos en un curioso proceso de "introspección colectivista", según dice Paul Virilio. El ordenador era un instrumento de trabajo hasta que se comenzó a conectar con otros pasando a formar parte de una comunidad que abarca el mundo entero casi (¿y los analfabetos digitales?), una red que cubre -con mayor o menor densidad- la superficie terrestre. Ese monitor no es exclusivamente ventana, sino también acceso. Internet va siendo entendida como espacio lleno de caminos que llevan hasta las puertas de los sitios; cabe preguntarse ¿qué hacemos cuando nos movemos por ella y de dónde partimos? Desde muchos lugares y desde variados ámbitos sociales se declara el comienzo de un nuevo estado de la cultura, el digital.

Kumar is not a student. He has come to take us to Unimo bunky, the temporary shelter on the edge of Ostrava where 25 Romany (Gypsy) families, displaced by last summer's floods, now live. Articulate, cheerful and unfailingly polite, Kumar has recently found himself in the challenging position of bringing the community's white Czechs and Romanies together through a mixture of endless energy, diplomacy and pure will.

Kumar nu este student. El a venit sa ne duca la adapostul Unimo, un refugiu temporar la marginea orasului Ostrava, unde traiesc acum 25 de familii de romi (tigani), evacuati din cauza inundatiilor din vara trecuta. Cu o exprimare clara, vesel, si de o politete constanta, Kumar a ajuns recent in postura de a reuni cumunitatea cehilor albi cu comunitatea romilor, printr-un amestec de neistovita energie, diplomatie si simpla vointa.

Mais Kumar n'est pas un étudiant. Il est venu nous conduire au refuge de l'Unimo, l'abri provisoire aux abords d'Ostrava, où vingt-cinq familles roms qui ont fui les inondations de l'été dernier vivent en ce moment. Kumar est souriant, d’une politesse sans faille et il s'exprime avec clarté. Il s’est récemment retrouvé investi de la mission délicate de rapprocher les Tchèques blancs et les Roms de la ville, et il y met toute son énergie, son habileté et sa ténacité.

The weekend in the desert was wondrous, amazing, a Temporary Autonomous Zone full of performance art, sculpture, dance, music, painting (typically using the human body as a canvas), comedy, vaudeville, theater, technology, and whatever else you might be looking for. The other citizens of the Artist's Republic of Fremont and I, who had never been to a Burning Man festival before, can not compare this event to any other we had ever attended. The closest thing I can compare it to is perhaps the Grateful Dead show in Veneta in 1982, or Carnival in Tepotzlan, Mexico. The scope of this year’s event was mind-blowing. Trying to explain it in words to people probably can not convey the chaotic frenzy of artistic output that went on over the course of three days, only to be destroyed or dismantled by the end of the festival. Next year I plan to bring an audio recorder so I can get the sounds of the event and capture thoughts as they happen. Picture a mile-long promenade along the shore of a dry lake bed, along which are theme camps as varied as the H. Marx Memorial Croquet Society. The Art Cars Camp and the Sphere of Influence. The Grrlie Grrl tent, the Post Office Camp, the Illuminati Camp and the Black Light District. Each one of these camps were interactive in some way, designed to engage participation instead of observation. One of the most important rules at burning Man was "NO SPECTATORS."

With the short grift, the mark gets taken over a period of minutes, hours, or days. But with the long grift and its play-out of weeks or months, the development of a relationship between the mark and the con man is a requirement. A gradual escalation of warmth, a kind of business friendship based on mutual respect and need is the primary factor in the con man's success. There are various ways in which he can speed the cementing of this crucial bond of trust. As Arthur Leff notes in Swindling and Selling, his erudite treatment of fraud as a dramatic form, "One of the most powerful selling techniques involves giving the customer a role ... thereby hiding from him the fact that he never gets out of the audience." A simple example of this psychology is the classic ‘gold ingot’ con. A two actor, short grift, it was played to great success in the California and Alaska gold fields. A man comes into a mining boomtown posing as a sober businessman looking for investment opportunities. He nurses a drink each night in a miner’s bar, quickly earning a reputation for conservatism. One night, a man walks in looking to sell an ingot for a cut-rate price. The miners laugh, but the businessman looks interested. This is the crucial point in the con. The miners warn the businessman that the ingot is assuredly lead with a thin gold coating, or gold mixed with a semi-precious metal - that these are common cons. By warning the businessman the miners have moved into the cast . They are now a part of the play.

The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View

by Janis Ian -- July 2002

Fallout: A follow up to
The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View

by Janis Ian -- August 2002

I am a Jew from the Soviet Union

signed by a lady named Rebecca Niedleman without drawing their attention to the signature. After reading the text and then translating it, each translation of these translation beginners started with the following:

أنا يهودي من الاتحاد السوفيتي

I am a (male) Jew from the Soviet Union

Аутора Мери Вајлдфајр

Un saggio fotografico a Tacoma

The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View

by Janis Ian -- July 2002

Fallout: A follow up to The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View

by Janis Ian -- August 2002

I am a Jew from the Soviet Union

signed by a lady named Rebecca Niedleman without drawing their attention to the signature. After reading the text and then translating it, each translation of these translation beginners started with the following:

أنا يهودي من الاتحاد السوفيتي

I am a (male) Jew from the Soviet Union

Аутора Мери Вајлдфајр

Un saggio fotografico a Tacoma

Fallout: A follow up to
The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View