Chapter 9
THE ROLE OF THE TRANSLATOR:
VISIBILITY, ETHICS AND
SOCIOLOGY
The cultural and political
agenda of translation
 Venuti and the ‘invisibility’ of the translator
Invisibility is used ‘to describe the translator’s
situation and activity in contemporary AngloAmerican culture’.
Invisibility is produced by:
1- the way translators themselves tend to
translate ‘fluently’ into English creating an
‘illusion of transparency’.
2- the way the translated texts are read in the
target culture.
 Domestication and foreignization
Two types of translating strategy
• Domestication entails translating in a
transparent, fluent. ‘invisible’ style in order to
minimize the foreignness of the TT. (leaves
the reader in peace)
• Foreignization entails choosing a foreign text
and developing a translation method along
lines which are excluded by dominant cultural
values in the TL. (leaves the writer in peace)
 In his book The Scandals of Translation,
Venuti continues to insist on foreignizing
translation, to cultivate a varied and
‘heterogeneous discourse’.
 Although he advocates foreignizing
translation, he is also aware of its
contradictions.
 Antonio Berman: the ‘negative analytic’ of translation
• Berman deplores the general tendency to negate the foreign in
translation by the translation strategy of ‘naturalization’.
• He considers that there is generally a ‘system of textual
deformation’ in TTs that prevents the foreign coming through.
• He identifies 12 deforming tendencies:
1. Rationalization.
2. Clarification.
3. Expansion.
4. Ennoblement.
5. Qualitative impoverishment.
6. Quantitative impoverishment.
7. The destruction of rhythms.
8. The destruction of underlying network of signification.
9. The destruction of linguistic patternings.
10. The destruction of vernacular networks or their exoticization.
11. The destruction of expressions and idioms.
12. The effacement of the superimposition of languages.
The position and positionality of
the literary translator
 The translators often consider that their work is intuitive
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and that they must listen to their ‘ear’
Felstiner makes the important point that much of the work
that goes into producing a translation ‘becomes invisible
once the new poem stands intact’.
Levine sees herself as a ‘translator-collaborator’ and as a
‘subversive scribe, ‘destroying’ the form of the original but
reproducing the meaning in a new form.
Maria Tymoczko takes issue with those who see the
translator as a neutral mediator in the act of translation.
Some translators have shown themselves to be more
vociferous about the injustice of the publishing process.
The power network of the publishing
industry
 Publishers, as Venuti shows, are very reluctant to
grant copyright or a share of the royalties to the
translator .
 Fawcett describes this complex network as
amounting to a ‘power play’, with the final
product considerably shaped by editors and
copy-editors.
 In some cases, the power play may result in the
ST author being omitted from the translation
process altogether.
 Another key player in the process is the author’s
literary agent.
Discussion of Venuti’s work
 Pym takes issue with Venuti’s figures
 Venuti’s general premises about foreignizing
and domesticating translation strategies, and
about the invisibility of translator and the
relative power of the publisher and the
translator can be investigated in a variety of
ways. P (154)
The reception and reviewing
of translations
 Most English reviews prefer ‘fluent’
translations.
 Paratextual elements:
- Peritexts- in the same location
- Epitexts- not materially appended to the text
 Reviews are either:
Synchronic- all at the same time
Diachronic- over a longer time period
The sociology and
historiography of translation
 What exactly causes a translator to act in a
given way in a given situation?
 Why does one translator act differently from
an other? (Munday, 2008)
 Chesterman’s paper- translation practice