Hossein Dastjerdi | University of Isfahan (original) (raw)

Papers by Hossein Dastjerdi

This study sets out to investigate the translation strategies, especially within the domain of no... more This study sets out to investigate the translation strategies, especially within the domain of non-equivalent options, applied by the subtitler to the English version of a speech by Iran's current President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The overall aim is to see whether there is any ideological manipulation in the subtitled version and also whether or not the emphasis and implications of the speech remain intact. To this end, we will apply a twofold theoretical framework based on the dichotomous categorization ‘euphemism’ versus ‘derogation’ developed by Hodge and Kress on the one hand, and on van Dijk's framework of critical discourse analysis with some supplementary elements on the other. The findings of the study suggest some degree of manipulation concerning some ideologically-loaded terms.

Virtual rendering of novels is an emerging phenomenon in translation studies in which novels are ... more Virtual rendering of novels is an emerging phenomenon in translation studies in which novels are actually translated and uploaded chapter by chapter at websites and weblogs. Regarding the rate of chapters downloaded, the acceptability of virtual translation among novel readers is investigated. As far as translation norms are concerned, however, there seems to be no control over the process or the product of translation in this type of rendering. That is due to plenty of limitations imposed on legal publication of such translated texts in the form of a hardcopy. Thus, virtual translators tend to publish their products online-a much easier way, without any academic supervision. Taking this lack of control into consideration, it is assumed that there should be some differences between virtual and hardcopy translations of novels in all aspects. Accordingly, based on the distinction between two key cultural strategies of domestication and foreignization proposed by Venuti (1998a), the present study explores the ways in which foreign literature has been portrayed in Persian through virtual and hardcopy translations of novels. Focusing on these two strategies and investigating four English novels with their Persian virtual and hardcopy translations, it is revealed that domestication is the dominant strategy in hardcopy renderings, whereas virtual renderings tend to make use of foreignization more frequently.

Adequacy of translation, especially in literary genre, has always been the point of concern for t... more Adequacy of translation, especially in literary genre, has always been the point of concern for translation scholars. This study aimed at investigating the adequacy of translation in one of Häfiz (The greatest mystic poet of Persian literature) sonnets rendered into English by two translators at different points in time. Based on the assessment model proposed by Reiss and in accordance with the text typology she has proposed, this study compared and contrasted each of the translated texts with the source text as well as with the other translated text in a verse-by-verse manner, taking into consideration different extra-and intra-linguistic criteria. The study, after a thorough analysis of different aspects of the translations, highlighted some of the important factors that translators need to utilize in poetry translation in order to produce adequate renderings of an original text. Furthermore, the findings of the study once more verified that a later version of a literary translation, i.e. a retranslation, is closer to the form and meaning of the original text, resulting consequently in a more adequate translation.

This study aimed to explore the application of SMS to the blended method of teaching L2 vocabular... more This study aimed to explore the application of SMS to the blended method of teaching L2 vocabulary. It was also aimed at investigating the impact of adding written cues to Iranian high-school juniors' L2 vocabulary learning. To these ends, after conducting Nelson English Language Test (i.e. Test 100 A), 60 out of 74 Iranian high-school juniors in two classes with pre-intermediate level of English language proficiency were selected. Then, they were divided into two equal groups in terms of number. The first group received the learning content in the traditional way (G1); while the second group received the learning content through the blended mode of teaching (G2), with and without written annotation. They were then evaluated on their recognition and recall of vocabulary items. The results showed that the participants who received treatment outperformed significantly the other group in L2 vocabulary learning. Moreover, the blended group performed in a better way than the other group in learning the annotated content. The results of the study also revealed that employing SMS as part of learning content can create a desirable condition to enhance the EFL learners' L2 vocabulary knowledge.

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of textual integrity of argumentative texts o... more The present study aimed at investigating the effect of textual integrity of argumentative texts on EFL learners' reading comprehension performance. It also aimed at checking the extent of such an effect among learners with different language proficiency. To this purpose, 120 students learning English at Jihad Daneshgahi Institute in Isfahan were selected as the participants. They were selected from a pool of 200 available and interested students and were divided into three groups of low proficient, intermediate and high proficient learners of equal size (40), based on their scores on an OQPT proficiency test. Then, 3 reading comprehension tests (cloze tests), with an appropriate level of text difficulty, were prepared by the researcher. In making the tests, the text in each test was either kept authentic in terms of textual integrity (i.e. text organization, cohesive devices, etc.), or manipulated to lose its textual unity and, thus, be more difficult to read and understand. The results of data analysis indicated that manipulated argumentative texts negatively affect EFL learners' reading performance at all levels of language proficiency. The results additionally revealed that text manipulation, i.e. textual integrity decrease, has a more significant effect on the reading performance of the intermediate group participants. The findings of this study can have some implications for language teachers to become more alert to the effect of textual integrity of texts on reading comprehension performance of students when trying to understand argumentative texts. Furthermore, the findings might be constructive for materials developers, i.e helping them to prepare appropriate texts in terms of textual integrity and readability, in line with the needs and levels of EFL learners.

International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, Mar 1, 2015

Journal of Universal Language, Mar 1, 2010

This study investigates the application of expansion in Persian subtitles of English films. More ... more This study investigates the application of expansion in Persian subtitles of English films. More precisely, this study aims at classifying the different types of expansions used in subtitles as well as investigating the appropriateness or inappropriateness of the employment of each type, considering the time and space constraints which are peculiar to subtitling. To achieve this purpose, three English films, “The Net” (1995), “Contact” (1997), and “Mission Impossible 2” (2000), available with Persian subtitles, were selected for the study. To gather the required data, these films were watched and the Persian subtitles in which expansion had been used were identified and extracted along with their English dialogs. Then, the extracted Persian subtitles were classified based on the reason that gave rise to expansion in each case. Then, the appropriateness or inappropriateness of using expansion in the extracted Persian subtitles was descriptively investigated. Finally, an equivalent not containing any expansion was proposed for those cases in which the meaning could be fully transferred without this strategy. The findings of the study indicated that a number of reasons gave rise to the expansion of subtitles. These reasons range from explicitation (explicitation of visual, co-textual and contextual information), mistranslation and paraphrasing to subtitler’s preferences. Furthermore, it was found that the application of expansion was inappropriate in all cases except for those caused by explicitation of contextual information since correct and shorter equivalents, which were equally capable of conveying the intended meaning, could be posited for the original dialogs.

Journal of Language and Discourse Practice, May 1, 2020

The present position study provides arguments about different aspects of Grecian Maxims (Grice 19... more The present position study provides arguments about different aspects of Grecian Maxims (Grice 1975) within the Persian socio-cultural, Islamic setting. According to one of the most reliable Islamic Shiite sources, Man La Yahdhoroh Al-Faghih (Vol. 4), people are allowed to tell lie in some circumstances, for specific purposes, e.g. in battlefields, out of discretion, for building up reconciliation among people, and when promising to secure family relations and foundations. Also, based on the Holy Quran, telling lie to save life, properties and family from real enemies, which is regarded as Taqiyyeh; namely, guard-avoidance (Holy Quran, Surah Al-Imran, 28; An-Nahl, 106; Al-Mo'min, 28) is permissible. This qualitative study is, therefore, aimed at investigating ethics in the Holy Quran, as a highly culture-specific element, to explain and exemplify the above-mentioned cases and demonstrate that ethics is a missing maxim in the framework of Grecian Cooperative Principles, at least in two respects, 1) ethics should govern Grice's Maxim of Quality and 2) Maxim of Ethics does not allow us to draw on unpleasant, offensive discourse.

Appearing in: Islam [4 Volumes]: A Worldwide Enyclopedia

Translation dates back to men’s social life on the globe, when they had to communicate meaning to... more Translation dates back to men’s social life on the globe, when they had to communicate meaning to one another in order to settle their primary needs. Since then, it has kept on its long, rocky way to appear now as an inter-disciplinary field within the broader area of applied linguistics, with so many conducted pieces of research on its nature, progress, procedures, approaches and models as well as theories which have been subjected to both positive and negative judgments by linguists and translation scholars. It has also spread its offshoots to other areas of study and events such as tourism industry, national and international symposiums, publishing business and so on. As for translation studies, translation has started and is continuing its serious, scholarly growth in every direction since the beginning of the twentieth century, through myriad research, resulting in fresh findings pertained to all corners of written and oral language communication.

Lebende Sprachen, 2019

The main objective of this study was to make a corpus-based comparison between two English transl... more The main objective of this study was to make a corpus-based comparison between two English translations of the Holy Quran in terms of metadiscourse features application and distribution. For this purpose, two English translations of the Holy Quran by Itani (2012) and Yousef Ali (1992) were selected as the corpus of the study. For the theoretical framework, the model of metadiscourse features proposed by Hyland (2005) was utilized. In order to check the distribution of metadiscourse features, Sketch Engine corpus software was used. The quantitative analysis of the data revealed that interactive metadiscourse features were higher in frequency than the interactional ones. Also, it was observed that within the interactive metadiscourse features, transitions were the most frequent type as compared with hedges which were the most frequent among the interactional ones. Finally, while in Yousef Ali’s translation, interactive metadiscourse features were the main trend, in Itani’s translation...

Metaphor and Symbol, 2005

ABSTRACT This study was an attempt to investigate the nature of metaphor by doing a cross-cultura... more ABSTRACT This study was an attempt to investigate the nature of metaphor by doing a cross-cultural comparison of metaphor in 2 typologically different languages-English and Persian. For this purpose, animal metaphors were taken for comparison. The "GREAT CHAIN OF BEING" metaphor (Lakoff & Turner, 1989), along with the principle of metaphorical highlighting (Kovecses, 2002), were used as a framework in comparing different aspects of animal metaphors as interpreted by native speakers of the 2 languages. The results showed that although animal metaphors in English and Persian are similar to a certain extent, many aspects of them are culture-specific. The similarities and differences among 44 animal metaphors in these 2 languages are shown and some possible explanations are put forward.

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In this study, attempts have been made to elucidate how unseen and off-camera utterances and soun... more In this study, attempts have been made to elucidate how unseen and off-camera utterances and sound effects have been treated in Persian subtitles of three English movies to reach all sorts of viewers including the hearing impaired. In order to compare the above-mentioned elements with their Persian equivalents, a set of guidelines suggested by CMP (Captioned Media Program, 2004) was modified to suit the purpose of the study since they cover both translational and technical properties of subtitling. Altogether, 45 cases of unseen and off-camera speech and sounds where identified, comprising 17 instances of off-camera sounds and 28 cases of off-camera speech. After analyzing the data, it was revealed that the unseen and off-camera sounds have been totally ignored and the cases of unseen and off-camera speech were translated the same as any ordinary part of the films, i.e. on-screen parts. Finally, having applied the guidelines to the ignored and mistranslated elements, the researchers tried to specify the guidelines which should have been used by subtitlers, and proposed some appropriate alternatives which would satisfy both the hearers and the hearing impaired.

Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences

This paper investigates socio-pragmatic transfer of speech acts from Persian language into Englis... more This paper investigates socio-pragmatic transfer of speech acts from Persian language into English language. The researcher compares the data gathered from Persian speakers of English and American native English in five different service situations. Persian speakers of English have different semantic interpretations from native American speakers, they conform to different sociolinguistic norms. So when Persian speakers want to speak English they consider their own cultural and social norms and transfer them in to English. Misunderstanding and break downs in conversations are due to this socio-pragmatic transfer. Adhering to different speaking rules and models of accepted behavior can cause different cultural perceptions about the L2 speakers, some of which are not true perceptions of course. So we should be careful about false cultural perceptions naming stereotypes without having knowledge about L2 speakers' cultural and social backgrounds.

Translation Studies Quarterly, 2020

The present study is a short report on the broad research project of training and assessment of c... more The present study is a short report on the broad research project of training and assessment of consecutive interpreting in English translation at B.A level in local universities. The focus of this report is on note-taking technique which is believed to be a major one in consecutive interpreting training based on the interpreting studies literature. The participants of the present research report were from Jahrom State University. These participants were exposed to a ten-week instruction of consecutive interpreting techniques one of which is note-taking. For an in-depth analysis of the application of this technique, after the administration of a 7-minuteaudio-visual test of interpretation and the collecting of the students’ note-taking sheets, a retrospective interview was utilized to scrutinize the process of note-taking applied by the trainees The results indicated that the note-taking technique can be employed as an aid to memory retention in the consecutive interpreting training...

Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning, 2014

The efficacy of genre-based approach to teaching writing has been regarded as an influential prac... more The efficacy of genre-based approach to teaching writing has been regarded as an influential practice in L2 writing pedagogy (Hyland, 2007). However, there is still gap between actual structures found in reading materials recommended as textbooks and discourse patterns recommended for L2 writing in EFL contexts, the gap which would highlight the problems of genre and rhetorical patterns for teaching. The current study, therefore, is an attempt to explore the level of consistency between the rhetorical patterns found in reading textbooks and discourse pattern recommended for writing. For this purpose, a number of 22 essays selected from textbooks were analyzed to identify (1) the overall rhetorical structures, and (2) the location of main idea and opinion of writers. The results show that while some texts did not follow the three-part structure of introduction-bodyconclusion, main idea was presented in the introductory parts of essays, illustrating a deductive rhetorical pattern reco...

Ethical issues are gaining more importance in the realm of Translation Studies. Ethics charters o... more Ethical issues are gaining more importance in the realm of Translation Studies. Ethics charters or codes of professional conduct for translators produced by professional associations seek to establish a set of ethical principles and to ensure that all members are adopting those principles in practicing their profession. The present study aims to examine the fundamental assumptions underlying the approved Iranian Charter of Professional Ethics for Translators in Iran and to explore limitations of the Charter. Eighteen English codes of ethics for translators or translators and interpreters from countries located in various parts of the world were downloaded and analyzed to find the overall values and underlying principles commonly shared by the codes. Then, the principles underlying the Iranian Charter of Professional Ethics for translators were thoroughly analyzed to reveal the main points of similarity and difference between this Charter and the analyzed codes from around the world....