News & Events
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Topic: Narratives in and of Translation by Prof. Mona Baker
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 Posted - 13/01/2005 : 16:49:52
Au Ching Pong
Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics
Seminar
by
Professor Mona Baker
Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies
School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures
University of Manchester, UK
Narratives in and of Translation
Time: 4:30 - 6:00 pm
Date: 10th January 2005 (Monday)
Venue: B7603 (CTL Multi-purpose Room), City University of Hong Kong
Abstract
This lecture will question one of the narratives that dominate our disciplinary and professional discourses on translation, namely the narrative of translation as a means of promoting peace, tolerance and understanding through enabling communication and dialogue to take place. The discussion will include an overview of the dimensions and some of the main features of narrative, as defined in social theory. Examples of the role played by translation in obstructing narratives of peace and tolerance, precisely by 'enabling' communication to take place, will then be examined. The talk will also examine some of the metaphors that underpin the narrative of translation as a force for good, such as the metaphors of translation as bridge building and of translators as inhabiting spaces between cultures. The main argument is that it is untenable and unproductive to explain away the politics of language and translation by portraying a world in which cultural misunderstanding is unintended, innocent and can be avoided once we are sensitised to cultural differences and have a well-trained group of professionals who can mediate between different cultures in a non-biased and responsible manner. Ultimately, the aim is to foreground the active role that translation and translators play in mediating conflict, especially at times of international political upheaval, and to find more realistic and nuanced models for conceptualising this role, based on actual rather than idealised practices and behaviour.
About the Speaker
Mona Baker is Professor of Translation Studies at the University of Manchester, UK. She is author of In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation (Routledge 1992, reprinted ten times), Editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (1998, 2001), Founding Editor of The Translator: Studies in Intercultural Communication (St. Jerome Publishing, 1995- ), Editor of the forthcoming Critical Concepts: Translation Studies (Routledge, 2006, 4 Volumes) and Editorial Director of St. Jerome Publishing. She is also Vice-President of IATIS (International Association of Translation & Intercultural Studies).
Enquiries: 2788-8705
All Are Welcome
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Enquiry: LTenquiry@cityu.edu.hk
