translation as re narration

7/31/2019 Translation as Re Narration

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Mona BakerCentre for Translation &

Intercultural Studies, Universityof Manchester, UK


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Ontological (Personal / Narratives of theSelf)

Public

Conceptual (or Disciplinary)

Meta Narratives


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Public Narratives in Translation

http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2003/000150.html

The U.S. government this week launched its Arabiclanguage satellite TV news station for Muslim Iraq

Joan Mower says that BBG [The BroadcastingBoard of Governors (BBG), the U.S. governmentagency producing the television news broadcastsfor Iraq] is currently producing and transmitting six

hours of news into Iraq including a dubbed versionof the daily evening news from ABC, CBS, NBC, Foxand PBS, plus three hours of original newsprogramming from BBG.


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Features of Narratives

relationality of partscausal emplotmentselective appropriationlocation in time & space (temporality)Particularity..


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Selective Appropriation: MEMRI

The Middle East Media Research Institute(MEMRI) explores the Middle East throughthe region s media. MEMRI bridges thelanguage gap which exists between theWest and the Middle East, providing timelytranslations of Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrewmedia, as well as original analysis ofpolitical, ideological, intellectual, social,cultural, and religious trends in the MiddleEast.


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Effect of MEMRI Translations

I am full of admiration for the work MEMRI has done in its dedicated exposure of Arab antisemitism.Until MEMRI undertook its effort to review andtranslate articles from the Arab press, there was onlydim public awareness of this problem in the UnitedStates. Thanks to MEMRI, this ugly phenomenon hasbeen unmasked, and numerous American writershave called attention to it.

U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, May 1, 2002


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Particularity (Generic Storyline)George Bushs Radio Address to theNation, 21 October 2006

The last few weeks have been rough for ourtroops in Iraq, and for the Iraqi people. The

fighting is difficult, but our Nation has seendifficult fights before. In World War II and theCold War, earlier generations of Americanssacrificed so that we can live in freedom. Thisgeneration will do its duty as well. We will defeatthe terrorists everywhere they make their stand,and we will leave a more hopeful world for ourchildren and our grandchildren.


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Temporal & Spatial Context (Historical

Moment)TitlesOuter Paratexts (cover, blurb)Inner Paratexts: Introductions/PrefacesInner Paratexts: FootnotesTextual Choices (within the translation)


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Temporal & Spatial Context:Relocation in Time and Space


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Titles

Arabic Original (Huda Sha rawi, Dar al -Hilal, 1981)

Mudhakkirati

(My Memoirs)

English Translation (Margot Badran, New York,Feminist Press, 1986)

Harem Years : Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist


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Inner Paratexts: IntroductionsIntroduction to Arabic Translation of The Clash of

Civilizations

Given what we have noted of the chaotic structure andincoherence of the text and the flaws in the methodology adoptedby the author, and in an effort to identify the underlying agenda ofthe the clash-of-civilizations thesis, it was necessary todeconstruct the mechanisms and assumptions of the clash-of-civilizations discourse. Dr. Malik Obeid Abu Shuhayaa [one of thetwo translators] has therefore prepared a study of the political andintellectual assumptions of the clash-of-civilizations discourse andthe mechanisms it relies on in outlining its conceptual apparatus,persuading others, and acquiring supporters. This study is entitledAn Initial Contribution towards Awareness of the Other: TheAssumptions and Mechanisms of the Clash of Civilizations .


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Edited and Introduced by Bruce Lawrence

Translated by James Howarth

London & New York: Verso, 2005


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Inner Paratexts: Prefaces andFootnotes

This portrait of the US follows a call to the Americanpeople to convert to Islam. Fantastical as the prospect ofsuch a conversion must be as the letter itself implies (Idoubt you will do so) the appeal has a practical functionwithin the umma. Its purpose is to answer Muslim critics of9/11 who argued that al-Qaeda did not offer Americans anopportunity to convert to Islam before attacking them,thereby violating God s ruling: We never punish until wehave sent a message. The exhaustive detail of the letter isbin Laden s proof to Muslims that he has explored everyavenue to resolve this war by peaceful means, and given

proper warning of the destruction that will be visited uponAmericans if they refuse to listen to his advice.

(from mini introduction by editor, To the Americans ; Lawrence andHowarth 2005:160)


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Inner Paratexts: Footnotes2 Throughout the volume, the invitation to Islam

denotes the Arabic term dawa . Dawa is particularlysignificant in the context of bin Laden s later statements to America and its allies after 9/11, in

which he offers them a chance to convert beforefurther assaults, thereby clearing the decks inIslamic terms: he has warned and invited beforeattacking. (Michael Scheuer, Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror [Potomac,2005], p. 153).

(footnote by translator, statement by Bin Laden ininterview with Australian journal; The Saudi Regime ,Lawrence and Howarth 2005:32)


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Inner Paratexts: Footnotes They sought to be with God, and deprived

themselves of sleep while injustice wasbeing done. They poured out the water oflife, not the water of shame. 24

24 This is a play on words in Arabic; ma

al- hayat (water of life) and ma al -mahya(water of shame) use variations on thesame root.


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Textual Choices within Translation: BBCs Reframing of Aspects of theMiddle East Conflict

In the future, there will be a need toevacuate more settlements in Judea andSamaria [the West Bank] - not because it s

just, but because there is no choice if wewant to remain a Jewish and democraticstate, Mr Olmert's office quoted him assaying to settler leaders.

(More Jewish settlements must go , BBC News , 12 August 2004)


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Textual Choices within Translation: Renarration of Middle East Conflictby Pro-Palestinian Activists

One year after the ruling of the InternationalCourt of Justice (ICJ), in which it madeclear that the construction of the Wall andthe settlements were illegal, the Israelicabinet called for the immediatecompletion of the security fence [ sic ] in theJerusalem area.

(El Fased, Electronic Intifada , 2005)


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English original (Joseph Finklestone, 1996,

Frank Cass) Anwar Sadat: A Visionary Who Dared

Arabic translation (Adel Abdel Sabour, 1999,Al-Dar Al- Alamiyya Lilkutub Walnashr):

Al Sadat: Wahm Al-Tahaddi

(Al-Sadat: The Illusion of Challenge )


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Backtranslation of Arabic(1999:11)

Historically, after Egypt had remained forlong centuries humiliated and oppressedby the cruelty of the Great Powers, itsubmitted/surrendered to Sadat s rule. Andwith Sadats rule Egypt witnessednumerous large and complex problems,foremost of which were the lack ofresources, the limited availability ofagricultural land, and the growth ofpopulation at a rate of over one millionevery year.

translation as re narration

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