David Katan | University of Salento (original) (raw)

Papers by David Katan

De Gruyter eBooks, Jun 17, 2024

New York University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2020

Routledge eBooks, Apr 29, 2021

Translating Cultures, 2021

This bestselling coursebook introduces current understanding about culture and provides a model f... more This bestselling coursebook introduces current understanding about culture and provides a model for teaching culture to translators, interpreters and other mediators. The approach is interdisciplinary, with theory from Translation Studies and beyond, while authentic texts and translations illustrate intercultural issues and strategies adopted to overcome them. This new (third) edition has been thoroughly revised to update scholarship and examples and now includes new languages such as Arabic, Chinese, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish, and examples from interpreting settings. This edition revisits the chapters based on recent developments in scholarship in intercultural communication, cultural mediation, translation and interpreting. It aims to achieve a more balanced representation of written and spoken communication by giving more attention to interpreting than the previous editions, especially in interactional settings. Enriched with discussion of key recent scholarly contributions, each practical example has been revisited and/ or updated. Complemented with online resources, which may be used by both teachers and students, this is the ideal resource for all students of translation and interpreting, as well as any reader interested in communication across cultural divides.

Translating Cultures, 2021

Translating Cultures, 2021

Training mediators: the future Call for Abstracts: 28 December, 2018 Call for papers: 1 April, 20... more Training mediators: the future Call for Abstracts: 28 December, 2018 Call for papers: 1 April, 2019 Submission info at: www.cultusjournal.com Cultus 12 will focus on the training of the language and cultural mediator. To what extent are traditional translator/interpreter roles and training relevant to real world employment in the near future? One particular issue is the “zone of uncertainty” (Inghilleri 2005) under which many mediators work. Should they be trained to be impartial messengers, to be cultural mediators or to be advocates/committed activists/helpers? What needs to be (re)thought in terms of programmes and likely roles for the world of 2025 and beyond? And what relationship can we imagine the mediator should have with technology, which is promising (or threatening) to take over much of the linguistic side of mediation. As to the training, how necessary is it? Who actually provides it? To what extent should Universities be involved? We know that University training for translators has become academised. But to what extent has this investment in undergraduate and graduate training resulted in increased status for the profession? And for that matter, to what extent is the European Union’s “Master in Translation” a way forward? As to the training itself, much has changed from the days of the “performance magistrale”, where students remain passive spectators. But how much have we moved on to organize training that delivers what either the clients or the market require. Another training question is directionality. The traditional paradigm is that translation should only be into one’s native language, though in reality at least 50% (Katan, forthcoming) also translate into a second or even third language. There is also the problem of language provision itself, when, for example even communities with languages of limited diffusion have their own distinct languages. And, for that matter, how much agreement is there over what “mediation” actually is?

As a theoretical notion, 'languaging' denotes a fluid system of communication that is con... more As a theoretical notion, 'languaging' denotes a fluid system of communication that is constructed and performed by individuals during 'collaborative dialogue'. In language learning, the term 'languaging' has been defined as: “the process of making meaning and shaping knowledge and experience through language” (Swain 2006: 98). Swain continues, likening languaging to reformulating, where the intent is not to change meaning but the form to improve learning (maybe writing down the thoughts, or talking about and explaining what has been writen) so that the meaning is clear or acceptable to another reader or listener. Liddicoat and Scarino (2013: 61), in their discussion of intercultural teaching and learning, talk of languaging in terms of interaction, where personal accounts and experiences of language and culture are mediated.

Translating Cultures, 2021

Umberto Eco, Claudio Magris: Autori e Traduttori a …, 1993

corner, this could just be the time, Leech suggests, to reopen the debate on the relations betwee... more corner, this could just be the time, Leech suggests, to reopen the debate on the relations between language and political institutions. Michael Tieber opens the section on interpreting with a report on a survey of attitudes regarding language preference amongst conference speakers at the European Union. He begins looking at lingua francas and then at the rise of English as the lingua franca. The elephant in the room is again scrutinized, but this time from the point of view of the conference interpreter. It seems clear from the literature that increased use of ELF is already leading to a reduced need for interpreters. A second problem is that for the interpreter (and for any listener), English as a lingua franca (ELF) is usually more difficult to decipher than the use of a speaker's first language. What Tieber focusses on next is attitudes. He investigates, using a corpus of young conference speakers at the EU, why non-English speakers might prefer to use ELF rather than taking advantage of trained interpreters. Reasons given ranged from 'taking control', 'impressing others', 'saving time', and also familiarity of the subject in English. Interestingly, however, they did mention that having interpreters benefitted the community by levelling the language playing field rather than boosting individual egos. Paola Gentile and Michaela Albl-Mikasa follow on, analysing the conference interpreter's perception and reaction to the feeling that 'Everybody Speaks English Nowadays'. Respondents noted that this trend, along with machine translation and perceived increase in multilingualism, was damaging the interpreters' profession in terms of remuneration, work and status. At the same time, they noted that the increased use of low level ELF was significantly reducing effective communication. This is compounded by the fast past technological improvement and increased use of the machine whether it be for translation or for distance interpreting. The result is an increasing commodification of the profession. So, for reasons of economy, English is becoming the language hub around which other languages are routed. Respondents also noticed increased ignorant or non-appreciative client attitudes, an issue touched on also by Liu in the conversation. Another aspect (also mentioned by Liu) is that the profession itself is expanding, though as Gentile and Albl-Mikasa point out, it is away from the traditional conference mode, to that of community interpreting-and is itself heavily reliant on ELF. The next paper, by Lorena Carbonara and Annarita Taronna, takes us to ELF itself. The authors report on a survey of teaching practice (of Italian) in a refugee camp. They begin with a discussion of how 'superdiversity' well defines the multi-dimensional fluidity of the migrant experience. Here, numerous linguistic and cultural communities use ELF as a bridge between student and teacher to learn Italian as a Foreign Language. The discussion continues with an explanation of how ELF differs from EFL (English as a Foreign Language). Their survey of teachers of Italian and of refugee students investigated the 'translingual practices' that took place in the classroom within the larger Henry: Despite increasing intervention through visibility, collaboration and dialogue, the working conditions and remuneration of professional translators, interpreters and terminologists has not reached the level which reflects the important role we play. Translation and interpreting schools remain underfunded, and language departments continue to be closed or downsized. And importantly and most regrettably, the language and communications need of the wider society and international community, especially that of refugees, migrants and smaller NGOs and SMEs remain unmet. In fact, at the FIT Congress in 2014, we resolved to call upon national governments and the international community to protect local translators and interpreters in conflict zones, ensure a life in safety and security during and after their work in conflict zones, respect the impartiality of their work and work for a UN Convention for the protection of translators, interpreters in conflict zones during and after their service. We have had very limited success. My country, New Zealand and Norway remain the only two who have provided refuge to conflict-zone interpreters engaged in Afghanistan and their family. In January, the coalition led by Red T (a US non-profit organisation), AIIC and FIT since 2010 and now joined by a number of other organisations including WASLI had a rare and qualified victory which reversed the visa ban on former conflict zone interpreters imposed by US President Donald Trump. On May 25, 2017, during the UN Security Council debate on protecting civilians in conflict zones, Permanent Representative of Belarus to the United Nations, Ambassador H.E. Alexei Dapkiunas made the historical appeal on our behalf to the international community to protect translators, interpreters and linguists working in high risk settings working for military forces and peacekeeping missions. In doing so, they place their lives at risk and many of them are threatened, persecuted, prosecuted, incarcerated, kidnapped, and killed. However, an International Convention to protect conflict zone translators and interpreters remain elusive today. David: Clearly translators and interpreters working in these areas are under intense pressures. But perhaps there is a note of optimism, in that academics, CULTUS __________________________________________________ 14 Mona Baker being a notable actor here (e.g. 2006), have expanded their horizons and are now concerning themselves with, literally Translation and Conflict (the title of her 2006 book). But this is not the only challenges that face FIT is it? Henry: FIT has been operating thanks to the good will of leading practitioners and academics from around the world. Monetary resources are limited. The funding model is predominantly based on subscriptions. There is always a tension between the contributions and concrete benefits one expects to receive. I often draw the parallel between that of EU and FIT, in that the distance between individual translators and that of FIT is similar to that of an individual European citizen and the EU. A lot of the important and resource intensive work are too distant from the daily grind of individual translators, interpreters and terminologists. Even though most of the aforementioned failures and successes are beyond the reach and capacity of national and even regional professional associations of translators, interpreters and terminologists, our profession is not immune from self-interest, nationalism, fear of globalisation and xenophobia. The tension between belonging to a bigger organization-with increased credibility, security, impact, influence and strength that comes with numbersversus the financial contributions, the loss of autonomy and self-determination are much more palpable in the last few years. Perhaps, translation and interpreting not only encompass all aspects of human endeavours and are intrinsic to human conditions in this globalised world, but our profession or at the wider Federation level is also a microcosm of our times. David: You mention our profession, and some of the problems. But there is an elephant in the room which we need to talk about. The future. So, let me paint a scenario, which I dearly hope you can get me out of. It begins like this: the translation profession is very much bound by conduit or instrumental understandings of communication. FIT, for this year's Translation Day does say that translators are involved in "challenging intellectual tasks that involve much more than mechanically matching up the words and phrases of two languages", and that "Only skilled human translators are able to perform these creative types of translation". That said, there still a huge constraint on being creative or interpretative; and making explicit what is tacit in the context is still a "no no" according to the FIT charter (the AUSIT charter is even more rigid on intervention). And many, such as the linguist David Crystal (Crystal and Jiang 2013) agree. Indeed, he says: "I don't expect my translator to be a mind-reader" (41). At the same time, research (and practice) is constantly underlining the 'zone of uncertainty', where the translator (though more often the interpreter) knows that communication could be improved through intervening on the text (adding, altering …). But professional guidelines-and the market itself sees this as unethical or simply not their job. If we combine this text-centred limitation on the translating professions along References Albl-Mikasa, M. 2015. "ELF restricted power or expression". In Maureen Ehrensberger-Dow, Birgitta Englund Dimitrova, Séverine Hubscher-Davidson and Ulf Norberg (eds) Describing Cognitive Processes in Translation: Acts and events. Benjamins: Amsterdam, pp. 43-62.

Routledge eBooks, Oct 28, 2022

De Gruyter eBooks, Jun 17, 2024

New York University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2020

Routledge eBooks, Apr 29, 2021

Translating Cultures, 2021

This bestselling coursebook introduces current understanding about culture and provides a model f... more This bestselling coursebook introduces current understanding about culture and provides a model for teaching culture to translators, interpreters and other mediators. The approach is interdisciplinary, with theory from Translation Studies and beyond, while authentic texts and translations illustrate intercultural issues and strategies adopted to overcome them. This new (third) edition has been thoroughly revised to update scholarship and examples and now includes new languages such as Arabic, Chinese, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish, and examples from interpreting settings. This edition revisits the chapters based on recent developments in scholarship in intercultural communication, cultural mediation, translation and interpreting. It aims to achieve a more balanced representation of written and spoken communication by giving more attention to interpreting than the previous editions, especially in interactional settings. Enriched with discussion of key recent scholarly contributions, each practical example has been revisited and/ or updated. Complemented with online resources, which may be used by both teachers and students, this is the ideal resource for all students of translation and interpreting, as well as any reader interested in communication across cultural divides.

Translating Cultures, 2021

Translating Cultures, 2021

Training mediators: the future Call for Abstracts: 28 December, 2018 Call for papers: 1 April, 20... more Training mediators: the future Call for Abstracts: 28 December, 2018 Call for papers: 1 April, 2019 Submission info at: www.cultusjournal.com Cultus 12 will focus on the training of the language and cultural mediator. To what extent are traditional translator/interpreter roles and training relevant to real world employment in the near future? One particular issue is the “zone of uncertainty” (Inghilleri 2005) under which many mediators work. Should they be trained to be impartial messengers, to be cultural mediators or to be advocates/committed activists/helpers? What needs to be (re)thought in terms of programmes and likely roles for the world of 2025 and beyond? And what relationship can we imagine the mediator should have with technology, which is promising (or threatening) to take over much of the linguistic side of mediation. As to the training, how necessary is it? Who actually provides it? To what extent should Universities be involved? We know that University training for translators has become academised. But to what extent has this investment in undergraduate and graduate training resulted in increased status for the profession? And for that matter, to what extent is the European Union’s “Master in Translation” a way forward? As to the training itself, much has changed from the days of the “performance magistrale”, where students remain passive spectators. But how much have we moved on to organize training that delivers what either the clients or the market require. Another training question is directionality. The traditional paradigm is that translation should only be into one’s native language, though in reality at least 50% (Katan, forthcoming) also translate into a second or even third language. There is also the problem of language provision itself, when, for example even communities with languages of limited diffusion have their own distinct languages. And, for that matter, how much agreement is there over what “mediation” actually is?

As a theoretical notion, 'languaging' denotes a fluid system of communication that is con... more As a theoretical notion, 'languaging' denotes a fluid system of communication that is constructed and performed by individuals during 'collaborative dialogue'. In language learning, the term 'languaging' has been defined as: “the process of making meaning and shaping knowledge and experience through language” (Swain 2006: 98). Swain continues, likening languaging to reformulating, where the intent is not to change meaning but the form to improve learning (maybe writing down the thoughts, or talking about and explaining what has been writen) so that the meaning is clear or acceptable to another reader or listener. Liddicoat and Scarino (2013: 61), in their discussion of intercultural teaching and learning, talk of languaging in terms of interaction, where personal accounts and experiences of language and culture are mediated.

Translating Cultures, 2021

Umberto Eco, Claudio Magris: Autori e Traduttori a …, 1993

corner, this could just be the time, Leech suggests, to reopen the debate on the relations betwee... more corner, this could just be the time, Leech suggests, to reopen the debate on the relations between language and political institutions. Michael Tieber opens the section on interpreting with a report on a survey of attitudes regarding language preference amongst conference speakers at the European Union. He begins looking at lingua francas and then at the rise of English as the lingua franca. The elephant in the room is again scrutinized, but this time from the point of view of the conference interpreter. It seems clear from the literature that increased use of ELF is already leading to a reduced need for interpreters. A second problem is that for the interpreter (and for any listener), English as a lingua franca (ELF) is usually more difficult to decipher than the use of a speaker's first language. What Tieber focusses on next is attitudes. He investigates, using a corpus of young conference speakers at the EU, why non-English speakers might prefer to use ELF rather than taking advantage of trained interpreters. Reasons given ranged from 'taking control', 'impressing others', 'saving time', and also familiarity of the subject in English. Interestingly, however, they did mention that having interpreters benefitted the community by levelling the language playing field rather than boosting individual egos. Paola Gentile and Michaela Albl-Mikasa follow on, analysing the conference interpreter's perception and reaction to the feeling that 'Everybody Speaks English Nowadays'. Respondents noted that this trend, along with machine translation and perceived increase in multilingualism, was damaging the interpreters' profession in terms of remuneration, work and status. At the same time, they noted that the increased use of low level ELF was significantly reducing effective communication. This is compounded by the fast past technological improvement and increased use of the machine whether it be for translation or for distance interpreting. The result is an increasing commodification of the profession. So, for reasons of economy, English is becoming the language hub around which other languages are routed. Respondents also noticed increased ignorant or non-appreciative client attitudes, an issue touched on also by Liu in the conversation. Another aspect (also mentioned by Liu) is that the profession itself is expanding, though as Gentile and Albl-Mikasa point out, it is away from the traditional conference mode, to that of community interpreting-and is itself heavily reliant on ELF. The next paper, by Lorena Carbonara and Annarita Taronna, takes us to ELF itself. The authors report on a survey of teaching practice (of Italian) in a refugee camp. They begin with a discussion of how 'superdiversity' well defines the multi-dimensional fluidity of the migrant experience. Here, numerous linguistic and cultural communities use ELF as a bridge between student and teacher to learn Italian as a Foreign Language. The discussion continues with an explanation of how ELF differs from EFL (English as a Foreign Language). Their survey of teachers of Italian and of refugee students investigated the 'translingual practices' that took place in the classroom within the larger Henry: Despite increasing intervention through visibility, collaboration and dialogue, the working conditions and remuneration of professional translators, interpreters and terminologists has not reached the level which reflects the important role we play. Translation and interpreting schools remain underfunded, and language departments continue to be closed or downsized. And importantly and most regrettably, the language and communications need of the wider society and international community, especially that of refugees, migrants and smaller NGOs and SMEs remain unmet. In fact, at the FIT Congress in 2014, we resolved to call upon national governments and the international community to protect local translators and interpreters in conflict zones, ensure a life in safety and security during and after their work in conflict zones, respect the impartiality of their work and work for a UN Convention for the protection of translators, interpreters in conflict zones during and after their service. We have had very limited success. My country, New Zealand and Norway remain the only two who have provided refuge to conflict-zone interpreters engaged in Afghanistan and their family. In January, the coalition led by Red T (a US non-profit organisation), AIIC and FIT since 2010 and now joined by a number of other organisations including WASLI had a rare and qualified victory which reversed the visa ban on former conflict zone interpreters imposed by US President Donald Trump. On May 25, 2017, during the UN Security Council debate on protecting civilians in conflict zones, Permanent Representative of Belarus to the United Nations, Ambassador H.E. Alexei Dapkiunas made the historical appeal on our behalf to the international community to protect translators, interpreters and linguists working in high risk settings working for military forces and peacekeeping missions. In doing so, they place their lives at risk and many of them are threatened, persecuted, prosecuted, incarcerated, kidnapped, and killed. However, an International Convention to protect conflict zone translators and interpreters remain elusive today. David: Clearly translators and interpreters working in these areas are under intense pressures. But perhaps there is a note of optimism, in that academics, CULTUS __________________________________________________ 14 Mona Baker being a notable actor here (e.g. 2006), have expanded their horizons and are now concerning themselves with, literally Translation and Conflict (the title of her 2006 book). But this is not the only challenges that face FIT is it? Henry: FIT has been operating thanks to the good will of leading practitioners and academics from around the world. Monetary resources are limited. The funding model is predominantly based on subscriptions. There is always a tension between the contributions and concrete benefits one expects to receive. I often draw the parallel between that of EU and FIT, in that the distance between individual translators and that of FIT is similar to that of an individual European citizen and the EU. A lot of the important and resource intensive work are too distant from the daily grind of individual translators, interpreters and terminologists. Even though most of the aforementioned failures and successes are beyond the reach and capacity of national and even regional professional associations of translators, interpreters and terminologists, our profession is not immune from self-interest, nationalism, fear of globalisation and xenophobia. The tension between belonging to a bigger organization-with increased credibility, security, impact, influence and strength that comes with numbersversus the financial contributions, the loss of autonomy and self-determination are much more palpable in the last few years. Perhaps, translation and interpreting not only encompass all aspects of human endeavours and are intrinsic to human conditions in this globalised world, but our profession or at the wider Federation level is also a microcosm of our times. David: You mention our profession, and some of the problems. But there is an elephant in the room which we need to talk about. The future. So, let me paint a scenario, which I dearly hope you can get me out of. It begins like this: the translation profession is very much bound by conduit or instrumental understandings of communication. FIT, for this year's Translation Day does say that translators are involved in "challenging intellectual tasks that involve much more than mechanically matching up the words and phrases of two languages", and that "Only skilled human translators are able to perform these creative types of translation". That said, there still a huge constraint on being creative or interpretative; and making explicit what is tacit in the context is still a "no no" according to the FIT charter (the AUSIT charter is even more rigid on intervention). And many, such as the linguist David Crystal (Crystal and Jiang 2013) agree. Indeed, he says: "I don't expect my translator to be a mind-reader" (41). At the same time, research (and practice) is constantly underlining the 'zone of uncertainty', where the translator (though more often the interpreter) knows that communication could be improved through intervening on the text (adding, altering …). But professional guidelines-and the market itself sees this as unethical or simply not their job. If we combine this text-centred limitation on the translating professions along References Albl-Mikasa, M. 2015. "ELF restricted power or expression". In Maureen Ehrensberger-Dow, Birgitta Englund Dimitrova, Séverine Hubscher-Davidson and Ulf Norberg (eds) Describing Cognitive Processes in Translation: Acts and events. Benjamins: Amsterdam, pp. 43-62.

Routledge eBooks, Oct 28, 2022