Journal of Translation and Language Studies

Teachers’ Practices and Perceptions of the Flipped Classroom Approach

Mimoun Melliti — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Despite the importance of the flipped classroom approach, few studies have investigated its implementations in Tunisia. This study attempts to fill this gap by exploring the different applications of flipped classroom approach, its spread, and its applicability in Tunisia. This study aims to study the Flipped classroom approach’s practices in the English department within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities Kairouan (FLSHK). It also focuses on the English professors’ perceptions regarding this approach. Two research methods were used to collect data; observation of five English classes and interviews with nine FLSHK English professors. This research is of great value in understanding Tunisian professors’ perceptions of the flipped classroom and its applications within Tunisian English classrooms to seek better learning experiences. The findings have significant implications on teaching, teachers, and learners’ experiences.

The Self-translator’s [In]Visibility

Tomoko Takahashi — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines the translator's invisibility and visibility in applying the translation strategies of domestication and foreignization used in autobiographical self-translation from Japanese to English. This study is part of a larger research project investigating the self-translation process I experienced while self-translating my autobiography, originally written in Japanese, my native language, into English, my second language. In this autobiographical self-translation process, the roles of the author, first-person narrator, protagonist, and translator are coterminous. Therefore, the narrative's translation process must be examined from multiple perspectives, which involve, for instance, the author-translator's perceptions of the new target audience, the events, and participants described in the story, etc. Focusing primarily on the influence of the audience, the present study examines, from a social-psychological perspective, the translator's style-shifting behavior as manifested in the application of the two translation strategies. Domestication, for instance, can be seen as the translator's convergence toward the target text audience (i.e., readers) and foreignization as a divergence from them. Self-translators may apply foreignization, not only for divergence but for other reasons—e.g., their emotional attachment toward the source text, story, and characters. In self-translation, the author and translator are identical. This fact may make the issue of translators' invisibility insignificant. Yet, self-translators may still become invisible when they apply domestication and converge toward the target text audience. But at the same time, the application of domestication or foreignization by self-translators may be regarded as their expression of their selves, which makes them truly visible as translators—likely not to the audience but to themselves.

Contrastive Analysis of Two English Translations of an Old Arabic Poem

Omar JABAK — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The present study aimed to provide a contrastive analysis of two English translations of the famous Arabic poem known in English as “Let days do what they will” by Mohammad ibn Idris al-Shafi’i. The two English translations were produced by two different translation scholars in the language pair Arabic and English. The analysis focused on how the translators dealt with the most important features of poetry when translating the Arabic poem into English. Such features included form, meaning, sound and imagery. The findings revealed some similarities and differences in both translations with reference to the above-mentioned features. It is recommended that more research be conducted on either Arabic-English translation of poetry or English-Arabic translation of poetry as this kind of research seems to be relatively scarce.

Nihonggo No Benkyou: The Case of Filipino ESL Teachers in Graduate School

Bethany Marie Lumabi — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In 2010, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) institutionalized the offering of foreign languages in the curricular programs of higher education institutions to accord global acceptance of local graduates in the Philippines. In graduate school, Nihongo is one of the foreign languages commonly offered in the local university. Theoretically, the second language acquisition of adult learners (i.e., graduate students) is crucial and different from adolescent language learners. And there is a dearth of literature on Filipinos learning Nihongo; most of them involve college students and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and less among ESL teachers in graduate school. This study: (1) contributed to the limited evidence in Japanese language learning of Filipino students; showed qualitative evidence on the CPH of adult learning a third or fourth language. Results revealed that though most of the ESL teachers in graduate school were middle-aged, they partly considered their age crucial in learning Nihongo and declared that their age was not the only factor in recognizing their difficulties in learning a foreign language rather other learning limitations such as affective factors, learning environment, workload, etc.; (2) presented the ESL teachers’ difficulties in learning Nihongo language in the graduate school such as writing and translating sentences and phrases, vocabulary and pronunciation; and (3) showed their strategies in learning the Japanese language as an academic requirement were creating mental linkages, applying images and sounds, reviewing well, and employing actions. Thus, this study presented recommendations for the effective teaching of Japanese language among graduate students in the Philippines.

The Translator’s Responsibilities and Roles within the Analysis-Synthesis Translation Mode

Yihe SUN, LONG Xinyuan — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Concerning analysis-synthesis translation mode, this paper discusses the translator’s responsibilities and roles as the subject in the translation practice based on the mistranslations of Ge Gongzhen's History of Chinese Journalism. Missionary J. S. Roberts believed that translation was the logical combination of two processes—— analysis and synthesis. The analysis process is characterized by understanding. It emphasizes translators’ accurate understanding and professional analysis of the source text, while the synthesis process focuses on the transformation of language and culture. The two processes are dependent, forming the whole process of translation altogether. As the indisputable subject of translation, the translator should assume his own responsibilities in the two processes and conform to the certain principles to produce accurate and professional translation texts. The translator should be responsible for the facts and professional academics in the analysis process, and language and culture and translation itself in the synthesis process, playing the role of a reviewer, communicator and translator to realize the value of himself and the translation practice.

A Comparative Study on English and Persian Subtitles of Korean Slangs: A Case of Television Variety Show Running Man

Aynaz Samir, Tara Shahri — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Regarding the challenges in translating slang expressions, This study aimed at describing the translation strategies of Korean slang expressions translation, particularly secondary slang according to Chapman’s (1998) theory, by two translators of English and Persian languages in the form of subtitles in a Korean variety show entitled Running Man. The researcher intended to first identify the most frequently used strategies by both English and Persian subtitlers to translate slang expressions, particularly secondary slang, and then compare them to find the differences that may exist between the translation strategies applied by translators for subtitling the slang in English and Persian languages. This research followed the descriptive quantitative method and the subtitling strategies used in this TV variety shows were classified. To analyze the data, Baker’s (1992) model was employed, the data was put in SPSS and a chi-square test was run to identify significant differences among the strategies used by Persian and English translators for subtitling the Korean slang expressions in the named TV show. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between the strategies used by Persian and English translators. Out of Baker’s (1992) eight micro-strategies, the English translator applied five of them and the Iranian translator used six of them. The most commonly used strategies by English subtitlers were Classification ‘B’ and ‘D’ of Baker’s (1992) model and the most frequent strategies applied by Persian subtitlers were Classification ‘B’ and ‘F’. The researchers concluded that the dominant strategy used by both the English and the Persian translators was Classification ‘B’ and none of them used Classification ‘H’. Finally, it is suggested that the findings and literature of this study can be used in the slang translation process, by instructors, translators, and subtitlers; moreover, it is beneficial for other researchers in this area.