Translation, an instrument of hate? The representation of migrants in Spanish
and English translations
Esther Monzó Nebot
Universitat Jaume I
A migrant person asking locals to translate some hateful message they had
received went viral some months ago (Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights
2015). No one could hold back their emotions. No one resorted to any linguistic
theory of translation that would allow for them to remain neutral. Most offered
help and support. Eco once said that ‘men’ kill themselves because they speak
different languages (Eco 1993). When overtly and personally exposed to
messages of hatred, we react rationally and reject them. What happens when
hate is conveyed through more subtle ways? Unaware of how linguistic choices
shape social relations, journalists and translators disseminate a relationship
between the authority to out-group specific sectors of society and specific races,
religions, languages, nationalities, cultures, genders, sex orientations or any
other criteria that may allow the dominant to distinguish themselves and
demand superiority. In the full swing of nation building efforts, the European
Union is experiencing an unparalleled migrant crisis that is challenging dominant
identities and triggering primal reactions among its members. What are the role
of translators in this milieu? As language professionals, how are they using
language to advance a specific idea of the relationship between Europe and
migrant population? The study focuses on the news selected by the VoxEurop
project (VoxEurop 2014-), a volunteer aftermath of the publicly funded
PressEurop press portal. News related to the current migration crisis were
selected to determine what views of migration may be (re)produced in
translation. English and Spanish translations will be analyzed and compared
with their originals to assess how actively translators portray theirs and
dominant views on migration.
Keywords: hate speech; bias; ideological manipulation; news translation; critical
discourse analysis;
Eco, Umberto (1993) Traduction et langue parfaite. In Assises de la Traduction
littéraire, 191-207. Arles: ATLAS.
Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights (2015) Eksperimentas VERTIMAS /
Experiment TRANSLATION. Vilnius: manoteises.lt.
VoxEurop (2014-) VoxEurop.eu. Roubaix: VoxEurop.
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