New Voices in Translation Studies is a refereed electronic journal co-sponsored by IATIS and Chalermprakiat Center of Translation and Interpretation, Faculty of Arts at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. The aim of the journal is to disseminate high quality original work by new researchers in Translation Studies to a wide audience. Articles are published as soon as they have completed the peer-review and copy-editing process. From 2026, the journal will be published in three issues per year: two regular issues bi-annually and one special issue annually.
International Association for Translation and Interpreting Studies
New Voices in Translation Studies is delighted to present Volume 30, Issue Number 2, an issue containing key scholarly interventions, all of which contribute innovative knowledge to various inter-disciplinary fields of translation, interpreting and intercultural studies. This issue features contributions from twenty-four scholars working across 14 languages: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Farsi, French, German, Galician, (Irish) English, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Turkish. The authors of six articles and four book reviews are from academic institutions in Australia, China, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. Presented are multi-lingual abstracts from eight PhD theses defended in Canada, China, Germany, Morocco, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.
Copyright (c) 2025 New Voices in Translation Studies
Book Review: Translation and Neoliberalism
Translation studies are actively searching for new topics and methodological tools, entering domains and debating themes that many would have considered improbable some decades ago. Neoliberalism is one of these areas. Neoliberalism connects ideas of freedom, privacy, and deregulation, providing a socioeconomic framework that contributes to the in-depth re-evaluation of translation praxis – its history and criticism. The editors, though, focus on the significance of neoliberalism for teaching translation and interpreting, community interpreting, technology and similar topics. In an incredibly substantial preface, the editors include an explanation of the essence of the theoretical debate, key terms, a description of the investigation in the present volume, and an extensive topical bibliography.
This thesis investigates how Frankenstein and its afterlives have been repeatedly rewritten and how these processes reshape both the text and the image of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley as a woman author. The central research question asks: how do different forms of rewriting – authorial revision, intertextual reworking, and translation – construct or transform authorial and textual images, and what role does gender play in these transformations? The study draws on André Lefevere’s theory of rewriting, feminist critical discourse analysis, and Gérard Genette’s paratextual framework to conceptualize rewriting as both an appropriative practice and a mode of image construction. The first chapter establishes the theoretical and methodological framework. It traces debates around rewriting across literary studies and Translation Studies, distinguishing between intertextual and manipulative approaches, and positions translation as a significant form of rewriting. It also defines the notion of “appropriative rewriting” to describe how texts are adapted to fit ideological and cultural norms, and explains the adoption of feminist critical discourse analysis to uncover the gendered dimensions of these processes. The second chapter analyzes Mary Shelley’s own rewriting of Frankenstein for the 1831 edition. A comparative reading of the 1818 and 1831 texts shows marked shifts in the representation of family, gender roles, and the philosophical balance between free will and determinism. While the 1831 version has often been read as more conservative, this study argues that it simultaneously reconstructs Shelley’s authorial persona and embeds a veiled critique of patriarchal constraints. Her famous description of the novel as a “hideous progeny” reveals the ambivalent relationship between female authorship and cultural legitimacy. The third chapter turns to Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein (2019), which reimagines both Mary Shelley and her novel in feminist and queer terms. Winterson rewrites history by splitting Shelley into two figures – nineteenth-century Mary Shelley and Ry Shelley, a transgender doctor in the present – thereby highlighting continuities and tensions in gendered exclusion. At the same time, she rewrites fiction by updating Frankenstein’s ethical concerns to contemporary debates on artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and embodiment. Through metafictional strategies and intertextual allusions, Frankissstein presents Shelley as an explicitly feminist and radical thinker for the digital age. The fourth chapter examines Turkish retranslations of Frankenstein, with particular focus on the editions by Serpil Çağlayan (İletişim, 2019) and Gülsüm Canlı (Ötüken, 2021). Through textual and paratextual analysis, the chapter demonstrates how editorial framing, prefaces, footnotes, and the visibility or invisibility of the translator produce divergent images of Mary Shelley. The İletişim edition, while enriched with intertextual footnotes, is accompanied by a preface that diminishes Shelley’s authority, whereas the Ötüken edition foregrounds the translator’s own preface and positions Shelley as a respectable literary figure. These case studies reveal how translation, as rewriting, functions as an ideological and cultural negotiation, reinforcing or contesting dominant gender norms. The conclusion argues that each rewriting of Frankenstein not only reshapes the novel but also continually rewrites the cultural memory of Mary Shelley. From Shelley’s self-revision to Winterson’s feminist reinvention and to Turkish retranslations shaped by local ideologies, rewriting emerges as a dynamic site where gender, authorship, and power intersect. By conceptualizing rewriting as appropriative and image-constructive, the thesis contributes to Translation Studies and feminist literary scholarship, showing how texts and authors achieve canonical status through continuous acts of rewriting.
This paper adopts a descriptive approach to analyze cognitive aspects of English-to-Japanese literary translation from a cognitive perspective, with a focus on metaphors. The goal is to explore practices and processes from a non-Western perspective, a still underrepresented field of research. ST-TT contrastive analysis of selected excerpts taken from Stephen King’s dark fantasy epic It is flanked by critical examination of ST metaphoric lexical units within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) to highlight shifts and similarities in the conceptualization and expression of ideas in the TT. The research also includes the analysis of non-standard Japanese reading glosses deployed in translation and the potential of CMT as key to the understanding of cognitive aspects involved in a practice that leverages translinguistic approaches to make the ST culture accessible to target readers, becoming, as a result, a powerful meaning-creating device.
Investigating the Simplification Hypothesis in Persian Translated, Authored, and Pseudotranslated Texts:
Laviosa’s simplification hypothesis is a subcategory of translation universals, suggesting that translated texts are of lower lexical variety. The current study investigated Laviosa’s simplification hypothesis in Persian translated, authored, and pseudotranslated texts. To that end, three books by Zabiollah Mansouri were selected; a three-fold comparative analysis was conducted, containing 15,507 words of translated texts, 15,396 of authored texts, and 15,607 words of pseudotranslated texts. The corpus analysis tool AntConc 3.5.7 was leveraged to count types, tokens, and lexical density. Then ANOVA and Dunnett Post Hoc tests were conducted to analyze the data, and results revealed that in terms of type/token ratio, there was no significant difference between translated, authored, and pseudotranslated texts. The lexical density of authored texts was significantly higher than that of translated and pseudotranslated texts, but there was no significant difference between the lexical density of translated and pseudotranslated texts. Regarding mean sentence length, authored texts presented a significantly higher mean sentence length than translated and pseudotranslated texts; besides, the mean sentence length of pseudotranslated texts was significantly higher than that of translated texts. The results of the study revealed that Mansouri succeeded in convincing readers to accept his work as a translated text.
Subtitling Cinema for Intercultural Translation:
This research investigates the subtitling of a Moroccan film into Italian with the aim of promoting intercultural communication through audiovisual translation. The case study focuses on the feature film Khnifist R'mad by Sanaa Akroud, which is subtitled in Italian with the intention not only of conveying elements of Moroccan culture, but also of challenging deep-seated prejudices and stereotypes still present in the collective imagination of many Italians. In this context, the translated audiovisual medium becomes a powerful tool to support mutual understanding, cultural exchange, and peaceful coexistence between Morocco and Italy. The study begins by establishing a solid theoretical foundation, examining key concepts such as translation theory, interculturality, intercultural communication, and subtitling, thus enabling a critical approach to the subtitling process in an intercultural framework. It then explores the socio-cultural and cinematic background of Morocco, reflecting on the marginal presence of Moroccan cinema in Italy and analyzing the motivations behind the choice of this specific film, taking into account the author’s intent and the film’s potential to serve as a medium for intercultural dialogue. The final part of the research focuses on the subtitling process itself, offering an in-depth analysis of the translation strategies employed to maintain cultural nuance and authenticity while respecting the technical constraints of subtitle production. Through concrete examples, the study demonstrates how these strategies contribute to making Moroccan culture more accessible and appreciated by an Italian audience. Ultimately, the findings underscore the potential of translated cinema as a vehicle for intercultural engagement and highlight the importance of thoughtful, culturally aware translation practices. This work lays the groundwork for further reflection and action in the fields of translation studies and intercultural communication, with the broader objective of contributing to a more inclusive and empathetic global society.
Challenges in Interpretation Services for Syrian Refugees in Halle, Germany
According to the UNHCR, more than one million Syrian war refugees have come to Europe since 2011, with around 770,000 living in Germany as of January 2019. As a result, the demand for interpretation, including by nonprofessional interpreters, has risen. This situation brings with it some challenges. This work takes a focused view by offering a qualitative examination of the conditions and challenges of interpreting in the context of the Syrian refugees living in the German city of Halle. It does so by using interviews carried out with refugees and interpreters to identify existing issues and potential options for solving them. To this end, the researcher conducted interviews with twenty Syrian refugees in the city of Halle, whose ages ranged from 25 to 58 years. The participants were all native speakers of Arabic and had encountered problems as a result of interpretation services they had accessed in Germany. In addition, twelve interviews were conducted with professional and nonprofessional interpreters in Halle, revealing additional perspectives on these challenges. Professionals reported difficulties with accents, specialized vocabulary, and responsibility in critical situations. Nonprofessional interpreters had greater difficulty dealing with technical or sensitive information, often resulting in partial translation due to their limited capabilities. The researcher chose the city of Halle to conduct the research for several reasons, including the fact that there is no previous research on this subject in this city. The large number of Syrian refugees living in Halle and the city’s proximity to Leipzig, where the researcher attends university, further presented ideal conditions. In examining these experiences in detail, this research intends to answer the following essential questions: What problems has this group experienced because of allegedly or quantifiably poor-quality interpreting? What are the reasons for mistakes being made when interpreting in the asylum-seeking process? How do refugees themselves see the role of interpreters? What qualifies a person to work as an interpreter in a refugee context, and why or how might they be unsuitable for this task? The present work is thereby intended to contribute toward gaining a better understanding of this phenomenon, as well as to offer starting points for further investigation. The results revealed that asylum seekers not only face legal problems due to poor interpretation services, but also health, educational, social, and financial problems. When asked why they believed the interpreter had made these supposed errors, the refugees provided many potential reasons, including ethnic differences, political differences, or even differences in nationality. While some refugees did believe the poor-quality interpreting that they had received was unintentional, they attributed this to a lack of professionalism of the part of the interpreters and their failure to specialize in a specific field. This study contributes toward expanding the existing body of knowledge surrounding the complexities of interpreting in refugee contexts, and supports the need to improve training and certification standards tailored to the linguistic and cultural needs of Syrian refugees. By addressing these challenges, the study aims to improve the quality and reliability of interpretation services overall, particularly those that are essential for the integration of refugees into German society. وفقًا لتقرير المفوضية السامية للأمم المتحدة لشؤون اللاجئين (UNHCR)، تجاوز عدد اللاجئين السوريين الذين فروا من الصراع في سوريا إلى أوروبا منذ عام 2011 حاجز المليون، حيث يعيش حوالي 770,000 منهم في ألمانيا اعتبارًا من يناير 2019. ومع تزايد أعداد اللاجئين، ارتفع الطلب على خدمات الترجمة الفورية، بما في ذلك الاعتماد على مترجمين غير محترفين، الأمر الذي أفضى إلى ظهور تحديات متعددة في هذا المجال. تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى تقديم تحليل نوعي للظروف والتحديات المرتبطة بخدمات الترجمة الفورية في سياق اللاجئين السوريين الذين يقيمون في مدينة هاله الألمانية. لتحقيق ذلك، اعتمدت الدراسة على إجراء مقابلات مع كل من اللاجئين والمترجمين بهدف تحديد المشكلات القائمة والخيارات الممكنة لحلها. قام الباحث بمقابلة عشرين لاجئًا سوريًا في مدينة هاله، تتراوح أعمارهم بين 25 و58 عامًا، وكان جميعهم ناطقين أصليين باللغة العربية. أشار المشاركون في المقابلات إلى مواجهتهم لمشكلات ناتجة عن خدمات الترجمة الفورية التي تم توفيرها لهم في ألمانيا. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، تم إجراء مقابلات مع اثني عشر مترجمًا محترفًا وغير محترف في المدينة نفسها، وقد أظهرت هذه المقابلات رؤى إضافية حول التحديات التي يواجهها المترجمون في تقديم هذه الخدمات. كشف المترجمون المحترفون عن صعوبات تتعلق بالتعامل مع اللهجات المختلفة والمفردات المتخصصة، فضلاً عن المسؤولية الملقاة على عاتقهم في المواقف الحساسة. في المقابل، أشار المترجمون غير المحترفين إلى تحديات أكبر في التعامل مع المعلومات القانونية أو الطبية، مما أدى إلى تقديم ترجمات جزئية نتيجة لمحدودية خبراتهم. اختيار الباحث لمدينة هاله كموقع للدراسة كان مبنيًا على عدة عوامل، منها عدم وجود دراسات سابقة تناولت هذا الموضوع في المدينة، إضافةً إلى وجود عدد كبير من اللاجئين السوريين المقيمين فيها. كما أن قرب هاله من مدينة لايبزيغ، حيث يدرس الباحث، ساهم في تهيئة الظروف الملائمة لإجراء الدراسة. تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى الإجابة عن مجموعة من الأسئلة الأساسية: ما هي المشكلات التي يواجهها اللاجئون نتيجة لخدمات الترجمة الفورية التي تُعتبر ذات جودة رديئة؟ ما هي الأسباب التي تؤدي إلى حدوث أخطاء في الترجمة الفورية أثناء عملية طلب اللجوء؟ كيف يُقيِّم اللاجئون دور المترجمين الفوريين؟ ما المؤهلات المطلوبة للعمل كمترجم في سياق اللاجئين، ولماذا قد يكون البعض غير مناسب لهذه المهمة؟ أظهرت نتائج الدراسة أن طالبي اللجوء يواجهون مشكلات قانونية، بالإضافة إلى تحديات صحية وتعليمية واجتماعية ومالية، نتيجة لخدمات الترجمة الفورية غير الجيدة. وعند سؤالهم عن الأسباب المحتملة لهذه الأخطاء، قدم اللاجئون تفسيرات متعددة، شملت الفروقات العرقية والسياسية وحتى الجنسية. في حين اعتقد بعض اللاجئين أن الأخطاء كانت غير متعمدة، إلا أنهم عزوا ذلك إلى قلة احترافية المترجمين وعدم تخصصهم في مجالات معينة. تُسهم هذه الدراسة في توسيع الفهم الحالي لتعقيدات الترجمة الفورية في سياقات اللاجئين، وتؤكد على الحاجة إلى تحسين معايير التدريب والشهادات لضمان توافقها مع الاحتياجات اللغوية والثقافية للاجئين السوريين. ومن خلال معالجة هذه التحديات، تهدف الدراسة إلى تعزيز جودة وموثوقية خدمات الترجمة الفورية، مما يسهم في تحسين اندماج اللاجئين في المجتمع الألماني.
Translators in the age of globalization and increased automation risk becoming reduced to mere end-stage editors of machine translation. While translator training courses strive to prepare students for notional specialization and continuously expiring technical skills, they also recognize the enduring need for cultural competence and understanding. The aim of this article is to argue the case for a stronger presence of humanities learning in translation training as the foundation and medium for a more open, flexible, emotionally aware, culturally sensitive and intellectually curious mentality and skill set. The analysis examines three examples from the language combination Galician and (Irish-)English of translators who use their humanistic knowledge to overcome translation challenges and find an equivalent flavour in their own language to that of the original text. The analysis is complemented by the translators’ reflections on their own work and the task of translation obtained through email interviews.
The thesis aims to integrate discourse and narrative analysis to establish a robust visualization-based triangulation framework tailored to the digital media landscape. This framework triangulates online translation through two distinct lenses: a macro discursive level that transitions from authority to texts, and a microscopic narrative level focused on framing techniques and reader perceptions. Visualization serves as the foundation for this triangulation, aiming to depict the centralization of discourse and construction of narratives through a concept termed “Cluster and Flow,” where the clustering of discourses, facilitated by topic modeling, guides the discourse analysis, while network co-occurrence graphs shed light on the underlying narratives. The framework’s efficacy is evaluated through translations by state-run media on Twitter, marked by a loosely defined mobile reading context with strong ideology, contrasted with translations on centralized and collaborative platforms like Wikipedia. The analysis starts with the U.S. Embassy & Consulates in China’s Twitter, focusing on the Russo-Ukraine war, and expands to Wikipedia, unveiling the complexities of translation within the digital realm. By integrating discourse and narrative theories with “Cluster & Flow” visualization techniques, this model’s validation across platforms achieves wide-ranging triangulation. This visualization-based triangulation model maps the digital media translation landscape and advances the integration of qualitative and quantitative analysis in translation research.
A Study on the Professional Identity Crisis of Contemporary Interpreters in China
The interpreting professionalization faces a variety of challenges in China, such as the increasing number of interpreters, rising societal English proficiency, and advancements in artificial intelligence, leading to crises in interpreters’ professional identity. Existing studies predominantly focus on interpreter’s roles in interpreting activities from a third-party perspective. Research on interpreters’ professional identity from their own perspective remain insufficient. This study aims to understand the impact of challenges to the interpreting profession on the professional identity of interpreters. Employing ethnographic methods, the research studies 50 practicing professional interpreters in the Chinese interpreting market during 2023–2024. Interviews totaling 62,3181 Chinese characters are coded under constructivist grounded theory. A narrative analysis is conducted followed by a multimodal analysis of interpreters’ social media activities. Surverys are processed using statistical tools to explore correlations between challenges in the industry and interpreters’ perceptions of professional identity crisis. The data were interpreted with reference to identity theory and symbolic interactionism. Three research questions were addressed: (1) How do interpreters acquire their professional identity? (2) What identity crises interpreters face throughout their career? (3) How can interpreters cope with these crises and uphold their professional identity? The study finds that students are heavily motivated by their imagination of the profession, which is co-constructed by media, family and friends, professional education and role models. The acquirement of professional identity requires interpreters to go through three stages, including academic advancement, rigorous practice, and profession entry. The arduous path to identity affirmation is also the first identity crisis interpreters face. Overcoming psychological setbacks and frustration, and affirming their interpreting and interpreter competence signify resolution of this stage’s crisis. Along the line of individual development, interpreters face the crisis of a lack of belonging. It undermines interpreters’ commitment to their professional community, affecting their long-term identity affirmation and sustainment. The third crisis is achieving a stable professional identity. In the social field, interpreters first face the crisis of declining professional returns. Second, interpreters face the crisis brought by rising societal English proficiency and advancements in Artificial Intelligence. Third, interpreters face the crisis of changes in public perception, which deems that they are going to be replaced by technology. This study proposes solutions tailored to three phases of interpreters’ professional identity development. Media outlets should accurately portray interpreting to foster a correct public understanding, while interpreter education programs should cultivate realistic career expectations among students. Professional associations should play a stronger role in regulating the industry, protecting interpreters’ rights, promoting public awareness, and providing dispute arbitration. Associations should also offer community-building opportunities and professional certification to enhance interpreters’ identity affirmation, sense of belonging, and identity stability. This study represents the first attempt to examine the professional identity crisis of contemporary interpreters in China. Theoretically, it introduces identity theory and symbolic interactionism and constructs a framework for interpreters’ professional identity, identifying interpreting and interpreter competence as its core. Practically, it unveils interpreter’s professional identity crises and offers solutions to address these issues, providing recommendations to both regulator and educators in interpreting profession.
The Concept of “Distance” (Between Languages-Cultures) in Translation and Translation Studies:
Although the notion of “distance”, especially linguistic, cultural, and temporal, dots the discourse of Translation Studies (TS), it has never been given due consideration and it thus remains under the radar. In this context, the present thesis explores the concept of “distance”, particularly between languages and cultures, from a firmly translational and translatological perspective. The starting postulate is that it is possible to express the complex nexus of divergences and convergences between two linguistic-cultural systems through a simplified representation, that is a “distance”. Thus, the main question posed in this thesis can be summed up as follows: what influence does distance between languages-cultures exert on translation, and what relevance does the concept have for TS? Excluding the introduction (chap. 1) and conclusion (chap. 8), this paper-based thesis consists of six chapters. The first five of these six chapters are articles that have been published or submitted for publication in various scholarly journals with double-blind peer review. In the thesis, we conduct an empirical research to examine the notion of “distance”. This research begins with a pilot study (chap. 3, in French), which then leads to a more thorough study (chap. 6, in English). Both studies investigate how cultural references found in French-language Québec films are subtitled in Japanese (as a “remote” language-culture) and English (as a “close” language-culture). We also carry out a mapping of the idea of “distance” in itself and as it exists in TS, while discussing the methodological challenges of such an endeavor (chap. 5, in French). This mapping is preceded by a methodologically similar study of a key concept of the thesis, namely that of “culture” (chap. 2, in French). In addition, we develop a rationale for a narrow (re)definition of the concept of “translation” and for a discipline to match (chap. 4, in English). This general stance on TS and its object forms the basis of the last chapter in which we present a number of critical reflections on the concept of “distance” in translation and outline a translatological research program centered on the formulation of translation laws based on distance between languages-cultures (chap. 7, in French). Taken together, these chapters provide a better understanding of the explicit and implicit links that tie the concept of “distance”, particularly between languages-cultures, to translation and TS. In sum, in this thesis, we problematize and conceptualize the notion of “distance” (between languages-cultures) from a theoretical perspective, and we operationalize and test it from an empirical perspective. Furthermore, we legitimize and promote the concept in the discipline, and we develop it through a proposal for a research program. In other words, we strive to bring the concept of “distance” closer to translation and TS.
Book Review: Translation and Participation
English Translation of Hongloumeng and the Establishment of Early British Knowledge of China in the Nineteenth Century
This thesis investigates the construction of Chinese knowledge through the translation practices of British sinologists in the nineteenth century. It centers on two such significant sinologists, John Francis Davis (1795-1890) and Edward Charles MacIntosh Bowra (1841-1874), and their translations of Hongloumeng 红楼梦 (Dream of the Red Chamber, or The Story of the Stone, 1791-2), a renowned Chinese classical novel repeatedly translated by British sinologists of the time to learn the Chinese language and culture. The sinologists, who were both the pioneers in establishing British sinology and diplomacy in China, were also deeply engaged in advancing the British colonial and imperial agenda in the country throughout the century. Therefore, through the two case studies, the thesis aims to reflect how the early British sinologists acquired knowledge of China, including its language and culture, under the special historical context of the nineteenth century when the global expansion of British colonialism and imperialism brought Britain into a direct and conflictual contact with China. Drawing on critics of Said’s Orientalism, it presents a theoretical framework for understanding cultural translation between China and Britain that diverges from the universalizing tendencies of the anti-Orientalist paradigm, instead emphasizing the particularities of the translation activities. By examining the specific translation choices and the context in which Davis and Bowra worked, the case studies highlight the complexities of cross-cultural interactions, revealing how translation actively constructs equivalent relations between languages and facilitates linguistic and cultural communication under specific historical conditions. The thesis concludes by pointing out a domestication strategy employed by both translators to manage and control the complete foreignness of the cultural other, which not only leads to the distortion of the meaning of the original text but also the fanciful representation of the cultural “reality” of China. Rather than attributing the distortion and misrepresentation to an orientalist discourse, the research perceives both translation practices as a manifestation of the British fantasy of China which cannot be simply explained as resulting from linguistic and cultural inequalities between China and Britain, as anti-orientalists following the Saidian approach most often seek to expose. Instead, it contends that the fantasy disclosed here is an inherent part of the human cognitive mechanism and thus an inevitable phenomenon in cultural translation.
The editorial does not have an abstract.
Visitors’ Virtual Museum Experiences as Cross-Cultural Meaning-Making Processes:
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach from museum studies, translation studies, and post-phenomenological understanding of technology, this thesis explores the virtual museum experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse visitors, a growing yet under-researched audience in virtual museum settings. It examines how diverse visitors navigate a virtual museum and engage in cross-cultural meaning making during the visit, highlighting the roles of technological, cultural, and linguistic factors in shaping their experiences. Focusing on the case of visitors to the virtual Museum Siam, an institution physically located in Thailand, the study employed a process-oriented qualitative approach in which data were collected through real-time video recordings, with the researcher present and performing the role of a museum guide. This newly-developed method was then triangulated with surveys and follow-up interviews. A multimodal interaction framework was employed for analysis, incorporating the concept of multistability, which emphasizes the coexistence of multiple interpretations, to capture the complexity and fluidity of the experiences. Key themes of four embodied practices were elicited: Walking, Looking, Viewing, and Reading, each complementing one another and contributing to visitors’ technological navigation and cross-cultural engagement during their virtual visits. The thesis argues that these practices are experienced and expressed differently among Thai and non-Thai visitors. From a comparative view, the virtual museum experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse visitors are dynamic and multi-perceptival. The findings suggest that while visitors’ interactions with technological affordances, mostly driven by their technological literacy, play a significant role in shaping these unique and authentic experiences that differ from physical visits, visitors’ cultural backgrounds, knowledge, experiences, and linguistic competences critically underpin their technological interactions and cross-cultural meaning-making processes. To cater to the diverse needs of visitors from different backgrounds, a more dynamic, personalized approach is needed. The findings of this thesis ultimately contribute to the New Museology discourse on promoting accessibility and inclusivity in museums.
Translatability of Tagore’s Stray Birds into Chinese with Insights from Constrained Language
Poetry has long been considered untranslatable. However, Walsh (2018) proposes a theory of “essentially translatable poetry”. To test the feasibility of Walsh’s framework, this paper applies it to Rabindranath Tagore’s (1861-1941) poem Stray Birds. Based on an examination of all 325 poems of Stray Birds and their Chinese translations, there are four features greatly relevant to the translatability of poetry: dominance of imagery, absence of culture-specific items, free verse, and simple lexical and syntactic structures, in line with Walsh’s (2018) proposal. As Stray Birds comprises Tagore’s self-translations from Bengali into English and poems originally written in English, this study discusses the reasons for translatability from the perspective of constrained language, which refers to the language produced under prominent constraints. Readers’ reception is also examined to investigate the effects of Tagore’s strategies, which are found to contribute to ease of cross-cultural understanding and the circulation of Stray Birds as world literature.
Book Review: Of Peninsulas and Archipelagos: The Landscape of Translation in Southeast Asia
This article presents a book review of "Of Peninsulas and Archipelagos - The Landscape of Translation in Southeast Asia" edited by Chittiphalangsri and Rafael. The review highlights the strengths of the book, particularly its focus on Southeast Asian, and addresses areas for improvement. The word count of this article is 1,630.
Reading Homosexuality through Textuality:
Translation studies has paid relatively little attention to queer literary translations and their contributions to queer community building in Taiwan and mainland China. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap by examining four editions of the Chinese translation of André Aciman’s novel Call Me by Your Name (Call), produced by Wu Yanrong and published first in Taiwan and later in mainland China. The thesis investigates nuances at both the textual and paratextual levels in these translations and contextualizes these intricacies within the socio-political landscapes of the respective target societies. It also discusses the role of queer literary translation in the overall production of queer knowledge in both societies. This inquiry is guided by four research questions: (1) How are the paratextual multimodal gay homographesis framed in the English source text of Call Me by Your Name, and how are they reframed for the respective target audiences in mainland China and Taiwan? (2) What strategies are adopted in translating Call’s verbal camp as a form of gay homographesis in both regions, and how do the translations serve as performative and transformative sites of male homosexuality? (3) How is the homographesis of gay intertextuality in Call reconfigured in the translations for mainland China and Taiwan? (4) How does queer literary translation actively shape the landscape of queer knowledge in these societies, and to what extent does it serve as a catalyst or significant contributor to queer knowledge production? To answer these questions, I employ queer theory as my theoretical framework and utilize various analytical tools (Chapter Two) to investigate the three identified areas of gay homographesis in translation, the paratextual framing of the translations, the translated verbal camp, and gay intertextuality in translation. After providing a contextual overview of male homosexual representations in both mainland China and Taiwan, and introducing Call’s contextualized queer representation, its global significance and the receptions of its Chinese translations in Chapters One and Three, Chapters Four, Five and Six correspond to the three areas of gay homographesis and their Chinese translations. Chapter Four adopts a constellational perspective of paratextuality (Freeth 2023) and applies Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) visual grammar, along with Roland Barthes’s (1977, as cited in Bateman 2014) theory of text-image relationships, to examine the Chinese reframing of the multimodal paratext in the source text. Chapter Five employs Keith Harvey’s (2000) framework of verbal camp and Marc Démont’s (2017) modes of translating queer literary texts for a comparative analysis of the Chinese translations of camp talk. Chapter Six uses Barthes’s poststructuralist approach to analyze the reconfiguration of gay intertextuality within the novel. Finally, Chapter Seven synthesizes the findings and suggests that Taiwan tends to adopt a more “queering” approach while mainland publishers vacillate between “misrecognizing”, “minoritizing” and “queering” approaches, which reveals the degree to which social activism or governmental control can frame translation. By contextualizing my major findings, I discuss the role of queer literary translation in engaging with queer cultures in mainland China and Taiwan, and underscores the significance of queer literary translation in contributing to queer knowledge production and fostering queer communities in these two regions.
Book Review: Metaphor Translation in Popular Science
Metaphors play a crucial role in bridging complex scientific concepts into everyday language and profoundly impact human thinking, cognition, and communication. However, the translation of the scientific metaphor represents significant and multifaceted challenges. Given this situation, a book entitled “Metaphor Translation in Popular Science: From Minds to Languages” by Sui He offers a comprehensive insight into how scientific metaphors are translated in practice and explores the potential implications of these translated metaphors in a broader social and cultural context (p.6). This timely and insightful book not only delves into the theoretical basis of metaphor translation research but also introduces a new analytical framework that integrates the cognitive and linguistic dimensions of metaphor translation, making it the first large-scale publication that examines metaphor translation through both conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) and conceptual blending theory (CBT). Sui He further develops a dual-parameter approach: “provenance” and “projection” to analyze popular cosmological articles published in Scientific American and its two Chinese translations. A key contribution of this book lies in its methodological approach, which combines CMT and CBT to analyze shifts in metaphor translation. However, the limited scope of only using two translated editions of Scientific American in Chinese becomes the weakness of this book.
Book Review: Translation and Interpreting in the Age of COVID-19
This edited volume Translation and Interpreting in the Age of COVID-19 critically assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Translation and Interpreting (T&I) studies through a variety of research methods, from empirical to qualitative and conceptual. It provides a detailed examination of how the pandemic has affected T&I practices globally, highlighting the role of T&I in crisis communication and risk mitigation. The collection delves into the sociological, ideological, and educational adjustments within T&I during the pandemic. It discusses the changes in working conditions, the social status of translators and interpreters, and the swift move towards technology-assisted practices and online training. It also examines the cognitive, ergonomic, and pedagogical implications of these shifts. Technological advancements and their integration into T&I are thoroughly explored, with insights into machine and AI-assisted practices, and the experiences of users adapting to new tools and platforms. Nevertheless, areas such as the sustainability of remote interpreting, the effectiveness of online training, and the exploration of T&I in crisis situations merit further research. The book stands out for its comprehensive analysis of the challenges and opportunities during the pandemic and its contribution to future discourse and practice within the evolving landscape of T&I.
The Development of Strategic Competence in C-E Consecutive Interpreting among MTI Students:
Interpreting competence is an important theme in interpreting theory and interpreting education. Strategic competence is the fundamental element in interpreting competence. Previous researches on interpreting strategic competence mainly focused on its conceptualization and students' acquisition or utilization of strategies, but the competence development trajectory for trainee interpreters remain unexplored. Against this backdrop, the thesis presented aims to explore the developmental features of trainee interpreters' strategic competence in Chinese-English consecutive interpreting, with an emphasis on their development trajectory and influential factors. Based on a longitudinal study, three research questions were addressed: (1) What are the parameters defining strategic competence in Chinese-English consecutive interpreting? (2)How dose trainee interpreters' strategic competence develop in Chinese-English consecutive interpreting? (3) What factors influence the development of trainee interpreters' strategic competence? To address the first research question, the author initially extracted interpreting strategy parameters from a variety of sources including interpreting textbooks, research papers, and interpreting evaluation documents. Subsequently, an initial strategic competence framework was constructed and validated through expert judgment and observation of students' corpora. The findings suggest that the framework of strategic competence in Chinese-English consecutive interpreting encompasses 13 types of interpreting strategies including transcoding, rank shift, omission, simplification, generalization, addition, substitution, approximation, order change, reformulation, repetition, repair and compensation, and 26 sub-strategies or coping tactics. To address the second research question, a longitudinal study of one school year was conducted with the methods of interpreting testing, stimulated recall interviews, and learning journals. The participants were 55 MTI students specialized in interpreting from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in China. The findings revealed that the developmental trajectory exhibited non-linear patterns and intricate dynamic fluctuations, characterized by alternating peaks and troughs, as well as periods of progress and regression. The number of strategies employed by trainee interpreters varied throughout the training program with varying growth rates, while the types of strategies remained consistent. The critical period for the development of C-E interpreting strategic competence was observed to be between the third and seventh month. In response to the third research question, the author incorporated semi-structured interviews in addition to the data collection procedure mentioned in addressing question 2. A total of approximately 340,000 words of text materials were collected, including interview audio transcriptions and learning journals. The data underwent content analysis and grounded theory methodology. The findings suggested that the development of trainee interpreters's strategic competence was influenced by eight major factors. The external factors included the learning environment, courses, and instructors, while internal factors comprised students' learning background, personal experience, non-intellectual attributes, interpreting-related competences, and learning methods. The present research holds both theoretical and practical significance. The theoretical significance lies in the discovery of developmental features pertaining to students' strategic competence and the proposal of the developmental curve hypothesis. In terms of pedagogical implications, these findings may prove practically valuable for interpreting training, learning, and assessment.
This article is a review of Tachtiris' Translation and Race where she critiques the racial hierarchies in the field of translation studies. Tachtiris argues that whiteness shapes translation norms and marginalizes translators of color reinforcing systemic inequities. In her book, she critiques Western-centric frameworks, racial capitalism, and the exclusion of Black translators from key projects, arguing that the only way to achieve justice in the field is by leading a radical transformation of norms, institutions, and power. The book has many strengths including its enriching case studies, in-depth analysis of racial hierarchies, and strong call for radical transformation. However, it has some limitations as well. The limitations can be summarized in three points: its focus on Western-centric contexts, its narrow focus on literary translation, and the absence of practical steps for making the transformation that the author argues for. Despite these gaps, the book is a significant contribution to the field of translation studies with its interdisciplinary approach, offering a comprehensive and critical perspective on race in the field.
Translation and the Leftist Philosophical Discourse in the Pahlavi Period in Iran
Translation has always contributed to trajectory of thought throughout history, leaving its traces in various intellectual processes and products. The history of thought in contemporary Iran also bears witness to the pivotal role of translation. As such, translation has become a sine qua non of the Iranian encounter with modern philosophies, with Leftist (or Marxist) philosophy being among the most influential. Having found its way into the Iranian context during the Pahlavi period, Leftist philosophy owes its Persian reception to translation, yet the topic remains a neglected area of research in both translation studies and historical research. Located at the intersection of translation studies and intellectual history, an in-depth analysis of translation and reception of Leftist philosophy in the Pahlavi period needs due attention. This thesis examined the translation and reception of Leftist philosophy during the four decades of the Pahlavi period in Iran (from 1310/1931 to the end of 1349/1970). It explored how translation contributed to the formation and transformation of Leftist philosophical discourse (LPD) within Iranian–Islamic discourses, as well as the various modes and functions it took on in this process. As a translation-focused intellectual history, the study adopted Foucault’s archaeology as an analytical approach to examine the topic. Several Persian bibliographies were consulted, leading to the identification of 35 translated and authored works directly related to the three core themes of Leftist philosophy: materialism/idealism, dialectics/metaphysics, and dialectical materialism. Then the bibliographical data on the works was compiled from printed and digital sources. Through a library–archival protocol, a rigorous content analysis was conducted, in which the works were carefully read for their discursive statements on the aforementioned themes. The statements were then systematically reviewed and categorized, leading to the identification of six discursive formations shaping the Persian reception of Leftist philosophy. Foucault’s archaeological method was used to analyze each discursive formation with an eye to translation. This uncovered various facets of the reception of Leftist philosophy, revealing discursive transformations and shedding light on the Iranian–Islamic engagement with Marxist philosophy. The results revealed different encounters with Marxist philosophy, including various kinds of readings (scientific, ideological, or merely philosophical), eclectic reformulations, and refutations within Iranian–Islamic discourses. Moreover, the analysis unveiled two modes of translation operative in the reception scene: the textual mode and the discursive mode. Materialized in proper translations, rewritings, commentaries, and critiques, both modes were found as constitutive of the Persian reception of Leftist philosophy. The findings were juxtaposed with Javad Tabatabai’s reflections on the history of thought in Iran, offering a conceptualization of translation as a condition of (im)possibility of thought indicative of the translated nature of philosophy in particular, and any intellectual activity in general.
A Sensory Study for the Translation of Atmosphere in Silvina Ocampo’s Short Stories
This thesis investigates the translation of literary atmosphere in Silvina Ocampo’s short stories, focusing on how sensory and emotional qualities are elicited in the original Spanish texts and recreated in English translations. Situated at the intersection of literary and translation studies, the research introduces a phenomenological and sensory approach to translation bridging gaps in existing scholarship and offering a novel framework for translating atmospheric elements. While existing approaches to literary atmosphere rely heavily on linguistic and stylistic analysis (e.g., Stockwell 2020), this study foregrounds the multisensory and experiential dimensions of translation (Scott 2012, 2015; Robinson 1991), emphasising the translator's role as a sensory mediator. The research is motivated by the challenge of translating the ineffable aspects of Ocampo's narratives, which are rich in metaphysical depth and sensory detail. By examining translations by Levine (1989), Balderston (2015), and Levine and Lateef-Jan (2019), the thesis explores the extent to which atmospheric qualities are retained or transformed in English texts. The study employs a mixed-methods methodology, combining close reading, corpus analysis, and data visualisation to identify sensory patterns and interactions within the texts. Phenomenological insights guide the exploration of critical points in the narratives, where sensory and atmospheric elements converge. These methods enable a comprehensive understanding of the cumulative and dynamic nature of literary atmosphere and its translation. Findings reveal that atmosphere in Ocampo’s short stories arises from a complex interplay of sensory cues, emotional tone, and narrative elements, which interact dynamically to create immersive effects. While translations generally retain these qualities, shifts in sensory intensity and modality occur due to linguistic and cultural factors. The research highlights the importance of translators’ sensory engagement with the text, showing that conscious activation of sensory perception enhances the recreation of atmosphere in translation. This study contributes to translation studies by proposing a new framework for translating atmosphere, offering practical tools for both professional translators and educators. Its interdisciplinary approach bridges literary studies, cognitive poetics, and digital humanities, advancing knowledge of the sensory dimensions of language and literature. By promoting deeper engagement with Ocampo’s work, the research also elevates the profile of Argentine literature in translation, encouraging further exploration of its rich literary legacy.
Book Review: New Advances in Translation Technology: Applications and Pedagogy
The book, edited by leading scholars and practitioners in the field, offers a multi-faceted exploration of recent technological advancements in translation. It covers key areas like machine translation, cloud-based platforms, and post-editing workflows, with a strong focus on how these technologies can be integrated into education. Rather than just discussing the technical aspects, it explores practical ways for educators to incorporate these tools into their teaching to better equip students for the changing industry demand. Each chapter is contributed by experts, reflecting not only the state of the art but also future trends in translation technology.
The early 20th to the early 21st century marked fundamental changes in gender roles and identities as Chinese women journeyed from the rigours of Confucian orthodoxy to personal sovereignty, from the shadows of ignorance towards enlightenment. This transition, far from linear, was defined by ongoing rounds of dialogue and deliberation. Standing at the forefront of these negotiations are Chinese male intellectuals and translators, who historically positioned as importers and gatekeepers of Western feminist discourses, have participated in shaping gender ideologies in China. This PhD thesis presents a compelling case into cross-border travels of gender and feminist discourses from the West to the East. It explores how "progressive" male translators adapt women's literature to the specificities of the Chinese cultural context. It focuses on the representation of femininity in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre through the lens of three male translators across a century: Wu Guangjian's early translation (1935), Song Zhaolin's most reprinted version (1996), and the contemporary rendition by controversial translator Li Jihong (2019). The three male translators stand out for their feminist leanings in the prefaces to Jane Eyre. The study quantitively and qualitatively examines cultural terms and expressions with gender implications across five dimensions of women’s lives: marriage and marital status, morality and ethical norms, education and societal roles, and beauty aesthetics. These aspects were examined within broader cultural history, an arena of contestation where Confucian traditions, contemporary norms and gender empowerment trends interact in push-and-pull dynamics, all vying for translators’ attention. Anchored in the Cultural Turn in Translation Studies, the research analyses how translators engage with these socio-cultural dynamics, noting their linguistic alignment with specific cultural undercurrents while marginalising others. Consciously or unconsciously, translators act as cultural architects, constructing and consolidating ideals of femininity. Their roles alternate as marriage proponents, moral custodians, education advocates, beauty consumers and body guardians, advancing feminist empowerment in certain respects while upholding patriarchal traditions in others. Translation becomes a site of cultural negotiation, where Western gender discourses are reinterpreted, reshaped, and sometimes diluted to fit or challenge Chinese cultural norms and values. Translators, in their professional capacity, resemble the protective camouflage of a chameleon, adjusting their linguistic colouration in response to the cultural agendas, yet underpinning every interaction with a consistent core of patriarchal biases. This study both acknowledges and problematises the transformative power of translation in constructing gender identities.
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This doctoral research project analysed the English-language poetic translations of the 19th-century Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi and investigated their reception among anglophone speakers. The factors underlying the decision to choose poetry and the specific case of Leopardi in English as the subjects of my thesis were essentially two. Poetry translation is not as discussed as other topics within the broader field of Translation Studies. In particular, an area which has been largely overlooked is readerly reception, especially from an empirical perspective (Kruger, 2013). Despite having central significance in his own culture, Leopardi has been relatively unknown among general English-speaking readers, as interest in his works has remained predominantly confined to academic circles (Perella, 2000, p. 358). The underlying hypothesis was that this could be ascribed to the difficulty and supposed untranslatability of the poet’s peculiar style (Stewart 2017, p. 44). Research focussing on Leopardi’s works in English translation is scanty. Moreover, the lack of an appropriate evidence-based approach has hindered the possibility of shedding light on the plausible correlation between translation and readers’ response. Based on the above considerations, this thesis addressed two main research questions: a) How was Leopardi’s poetry represented in English over time? b) How did translation impact contemporary anglophone readers’ reception of the author? The research was conducted through an original methodological approach combining text analysis with empirical evidence. Text analysis was based on a parallel corpus including a selection of Leopardi’s Canti (the author’s main verse collection) and a series of English-language translations composed by different translators from the second half of the 19th century until the present day. The aim was to identify translation approaches and how they shifted over time. Empirical data was collected from different categories of receptors (literary translators, academics, students) through questionnaires. Participants were asked to read and comment on a series of translated passages extracted from the analysis. The aim was to determine how readerly impressions of translated poetry varied across different types of readerships. From a diachronic perspective, the analysis revealed that translations were marked by two opposing trends: the use of overly archaic diction on the one hand and the presence of everyday English on the other. Both tendencies presented some criticalities since employing archaising forms or extremely colloquial diction throughout the whole collection does not reflect the heterogeneity characterising the Canti in Italian, where the presence of different stylistic forms, themes, and language variation is reflective of the author’s poetic and philosophical evolution. The empirical investigation evidenced that the reception of translated poetic texts was marked by a certain dose of subjectivity, as respondents’ preferences were often dependent on personal cognitive associations. Furthermore, language smoothness and meaning transference were generally preferred over adherence to the ST and the reproduction of specific formal features. The findings presented in this thesis had two main important implications: they introduced a translation perspective to the study of Leopardi’s poetry’s reception; they offered a broader understanding of the dynamics and mechanisms involved in the reception of translated poetic texts.
Mapping Saudi Institutions’ Translation and Interpreting Research in the Web of Science and Scopus:
This bibliometric study explores the landscape of translation and interpreting research in Saudi Arabia, utilizing data obtained from the Web of Science (SSCI, SCI-E, and AHCI) and Scopus databases. This study was conducted to determine the publication trends, citation patterns, collaborative efforts, journal affiliations, historical developments, research areas, and funding sources at Saudi universities. Excel, Citespace, and VOSviewer were used to analyze and visualize the results, following rigorous criteria for selecting, analyzing and filtering data. The findings suggest that Saudi universities have made relatively few contributions to the field of translation and interpreting research in journals indexed by the Web of Science compared to the number in Scopus. However, it is worth noting that in 2022 there was a significant increase in the number of articles and collaborative efforts in this area. Notably, certain universities such as King Saud University, King Abdulaziz University, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, and Najran University made relatively significant contributions to research in the field of translation and interpreting, more so than other Saudi institutions. The current research article reveals the diversity of publication outlets, ranging from specialized journals to interdisciplinary and educational publications, which indicates the multidisciplinary nature of the field and provides researchers with various platforms through which they can disseminate their work effectively. The findings reveal a need for increased research activity including incentivizing research, fostering collaboration, and seeking research grants to improve translation and interpreting research in Saudi Arabia.
A Historiographical Analysis of Translation Histories in Iran:
Translation history has emerged as a vibrant field of inquiry stimulating a wealth of scholarship on translation traditions. There is a need for a historiographical metareflection of the relevant scholarly publications to delineate diverse features of translation histories. This study thus aimed to offer a historiographical analysis of the Iranian scholarly journal articles concerned with the history of translation in Iran. The aim was to unravel different historiographical aspects therein, including the examined historical periods, text genres, language pairs, individuals (translator and authors), and works, as well as the frequent research themes and employed theoretical frameworks. The findings indicate that the study of translation history in Iran houses diverse methodologies and points of emphasis. This body of research reflects the historical and contextual particularities of Persian translation tradition as well as the Iranian academia, displaying a unique historiographical tradition at work. Although the relevant scholarship remains fragmented, the recent advancements in translation studies in Iran have the potential to introduce new perspectives, guiding the scholarly community towards a more cohesive and informed approach to doing translation history in Iran.