Translating oral political texts

Oral political texts

1. Thinking about oral political texts2. Thinking about the readings3. Discussion

Oral political texts

With a partner, please discuss the following:

How do oral texts differ from written texts?In what way(s) would context be relevant to the

study of oral political texts and translations?

Oral political texts

Listen to the three audio files:In terms of discourse/rhetoric/narratives:

How are political speeches, interviews, press conferences and debates similar? How do they differ?

What resulting translation challenges might each genre pose?

Thinking critically about the readings

With a partner, take a look at the two readings and determine:

-The research question/thesis-The methodology-The conclusions

-Does the research approach seems sound? Do you see any drawbacks/limitations/advantages to the method used?

Discussion related to the readings

Gagnon (2006) gives numerous examples of translation shifts in political speeches.

How (if at all) do these examples affect the way we define the term “translation” and our concept of source and target texts?

What are the ethical implications of Gagnon’s examples?

Discussion related to the readings

As Romagnuolo (2009) argues in her conclusions: Motivations behind the translation, whether commisioned

by a news agency or a publishing house, are the same: to inform the target culture readership about a major foreign country’s political event and the personality of its leader because both may have consequences for the future of other nations (p. 23).

If this is true, to what extent does it matter that various rhetorical devices have been lost in translation?

Follow-up discussion questions:

Romagnuolo and Gagnon study two different contexts for translated speeches: translations meant to be read in written form and translations meant to be spoken aloud.

How do the differing contexts affect Romagnulo’s and Gagnon’s findings?

References Bielsa, Esperança & Susan Bassnett. (2009). Translation in Global News. London;

New York: Routledge.

Gagnon, Chantal. (2010). When Text and Translation Production Meet: Translation in the Prime Minister’s Office. In Christina Schaffner & Susan Bassnett, eds. Political Discourse, Media and Translation. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Montgomery, Martin. (1999). Speaking Sincerely: Public Reactions to the Death of Diana. Language and Literature 8(1): 5-33.

Reeves-Ellington, Barbara. (1999). Responsibility with Loyalty: Oral History Texts in Translation. Target 11(1): 103-129.

Romagnuolo, Anna. (2009). Political Discourse in Translation: A Corpus-based Perspective on Presidential Inaugurals. Translation and Interpreting Studies 4(1): 1-30.

Trent, Judith S. & Robert V. Friedenberg. (2007). Political Campaign Communication: Principles, Practices. (6th ed.). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.