Journal of Translation and Language Studies

The Role of Elements of Text Analysis in Consecutive Interpreting Performance: A Mixed-Methods Study

Fatemeh Khodaparast — 2024-09-20

Despite the theoretical importance of text analysis in translation process, there is a paucity of experimental research into the role that the elements of the text can play in enhancing interpreting performance. The present study, adopting a mixed-methods design, aimed to investigate whether knowledge of text elements enhances consecutive interpreting performance. In so doing, a sample of 36 homogeneous undergraduate translation students participated in this study based on convenience sampling, and a pool of six students participated in the qualitative phase of the study based on purposive sampling, following the data saturation method. Following Nord’s guidelines for text analysis, the experimental group was exposed to the elements of text during the intervention. A validated assessment rubric was utilized to measure students’ interpreting performance, taking the inter-rater reliability of the scores also into consideration. The results of one-way ANOVA confirmed that there was a statistically significant difference between the control group and the experimental group; the experimental group outperformed the control group. Having calculated the inter-coder reliability of the responses emerged from the interviews, the number of common factors included six themes, namely unique, new information, message analysis, motivating, general lexis, and semiotics. In the end, some practical implications are offered for interpreting students and teachers.

The Transfer of Culture-Specific Items in Subtitling

Kaouthar Rahmani — 2024-09-20

Subtitling culture-specific items is considered challenging to translators since they are grounded in a specific source culture and audience. In this connection, Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) is a well-known organization that presents influential speeches or talks about different topics such as science, health, culture, and others. These talks are subtitled in different languages including Arabic. Therefore, the equivalence of culture-specific items in TED talks requires a deep understanding of the source and target languages and cultures. In light of this, the present study sheds light on the intersection between culture and subtitling manifested through the equivalence of culture-specific items in the subtitled TED talks from English into Arabic along with the position of the subtitler in this transfer. To this end, quantitative qualitative methods are adopted to measure and analyse the selected culture-specific items cultural aspects are selected by applying Diaz Cintas and Remael’s [9] cultural classifications and Pedersen’s [33] and Baker’s [4] translation strategies. The findings of the study show that direct translation and retention are the most deployed translation strategies whereas cultural substitution, paraphrase, and official equivalent are the least deployed strategies in the selected TED talks. The findings further contribute to understanding the relationship between the implemented translation strategies and the subtitling guidelines of the TED organization.

Investigating how cultural differences influence the translation process and the strategies used by translators to bridge cultural gaps

Dung Le — 2024-09-20

This study investigates the impact of cultural differences on the translation process and the strategies used by translators to bridge these cultural gaps. Through qualitative interviews with professional translators specializing in literature, business, legal, and technical translation, the research identifies key strategies employed to address cultural challenges. These strategies include localization, adaptation, the use of cultural equivalents, annotation, and consultation with cultural informants. The findings reveal that these strategies are effective in maintaining both translation accuracy and cultural relevance. Localization tailors content to the cultural context of the target audience, while adaptation handles idiomatic expressions and culturally specific references. Cultural equivalents preserve the emotional and cultural impact of the source text, and annotations provide necessary explanations for cultural references without direct equivalents. Consultation with cultural informants enhances the accuracy and appropriateness of translations, particularly in specialized fields.

The effectiveness of these strategies is supported by concrete examples from the translators' experiences, demonstrating successful applications across various fields. The study's findings align with established theories in translation studies, such as those proposed by Venuti, Nida, Baker, and House, reinforcing the importance of cultural competence in translation. This research highlights the complex interplay between language and culture in the translation process and underscores the necessity for tailored strategies to address cultural nuances. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of cultural translation and offers practical recommendations for translators. As global communication continues to expand, the role of culturally competent translators remains vital in facilitating cross-cultural understanding and interaction. Future research should explore the evolving role of technology in translation and its implications for cultural competence.

The Analysis of Video Game Title Translation: A Case Study of Iranian Darinoos Publishing

Sepehr Golmakani — 2024-09-20

With video games gaining popularity worldwide and becoming one of the most common forms of entertainment in the digital age, the game's title holds both commercial and entertainment value. This study aims to analyze foreign video game titles that have been translated into Persian by the Iranian Darinoos publishing. The practical analysis in the research study is based on Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) and Chaume’s (2020) translation strategies. Those models were applied to compare the translation strategies used by the Darinoos with the translation strategies used by participant translators and to identify the most commonly used translation strategies by both groups. The overall results showed that literal translation remained the most widely used translation strategies in title translation. The Darinoos team used new translation, partial translation, and modulation to translate video game titles into Persian in a more creative way than the other participants. In some instances, participants didn't consider titles to be translatable and used the original title in the target language. These obtained results will be benefical to journalists, video game publishers, content writers, and game localizers.

Review of Theoretical Frameworks in Audiovisual Translation

Osama Mudawe — 2024-08-23

Audiovisual Translation has gained massive popularity among translators as a thriving genre of translation studies. This reality is represented by the massive role played by audiovisual translation in shaping global communication within modern societies. Therefore, the paper attempts to analyze the overlap of the most fundamental theories within the scope of audiovisual translation. The primary purpose of this analysis is to identify the relationship and intersection between several theories to provide an overall and comprehensive overview of these theories, their underlying principles and paradigms, the purposes and justifications of their application, and their functioning and consequences within rendering meaning from audiovisual products with various modes such as subtitling, dubbing, and voice-over, to name but a few. Consequently, Audiovisual Translation, which has grown into a distinct area of research with its own limitations and unique characteristics, is supported by various theories designed for different modes of delivery and reception. This growth encompasses creating and applying diverse strategies, methods, and technologies and examining and comprehending how it is received and impacted. Nonetheless, the researchers discovered that the creation of theories specific to Audiovisual Translation must either align with or, at the very least, be influenced by the foundational theoretical frameworks, primarily from translation studies.

Investigating the Linguistic Fingerprint of GPT-4o in Arabic-to-English Translation Using Stylometry

Maysaa Banat — 2024-09-30

This study explores the linguistic and stylistic characteristics of machine-generated texts, focusing on the output of GPT-4o. Using various natural language processing (NLP) techniques, including word frequency and stopword count analysis, readability and sentence structure metrics, lexical diversity measures, syntactic frequency analysis, and named entity recognition (NER), the research aims to uncover the stylometric fingerprints present in machine-generated content. The results reveal that GPT-4ogenerated texts exhibit moderate lexical diversity and syntactic complexity, with certain chapters reflecting higher readability and more varied sentence structures, while others lean toward simpler linguistic patterns. The findings also highlight thematic variation across chapters, as observed in the distribution of named entities, which contributes to understanding the model’s handling of different contextual content.

The research suggests that while GPT-4o maintains a consistent style in its generated text, there are distinguishable characteristics that may serve as indicators of machine authorship. This provides valuable insights for stylometric analysis, authorship attribution, and the identification of machine-generated texts in various contexts. Future research could extend this work by exploring deeper stylometric features, conducting cross-model comparisons, and developing advanced authorship detection algorithms tailored for AI-generated content. Moreover, the ethical implications of stylometric analysis in the context of AI-generated texts warrant further investigation, particularly as machine-generated content becomes increasingly prevalent across different domains.