chronotopos – A Journal of Translation History
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Invisible Mediators: Interpreters of German Occupied Greece (1941–1944)
Full text linkRecent years have seen the creation of a complex and multifaceted body of scholarly work examining the role of translators and interpreters in conflict situations. More is yet to be discovered, however, about these significant individuals and their functions and contribution to past and current wartime situations. Using data collected from oral histories gathered as part of the digital archive project by the Free University of Berlin, and the written testimonials provided by the Center for Neo-Hellenic Studies, this study focuses on the underexplored role of interpreters in German Occupied Greece (1941–1944). The digital archive offers key information regarding issues beyond what has been recorded so far regarding interpreter ethnic and ideological allegiances, for instance. Issues connected to the interpreters’ background, with a special emphasis on acquisition of linguistic skills, shed light on broader anthropological and sociological issues, such as their level of education, which may be linked to social class. Gender is another aspect discussed, as a result of the finding that a large number of interpreters in Occupied Greece were women.
This paper includes an annex with excerpts from testimonials (in Greek)
From Authority to Autopsy: How Translations Reflect Changing Scientific Norms
Full text linkThis paper examines translations of books in the natural sciences into French from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Specifically, it examines the scientific reader’s expectations of contemporary book translations. To that end, this study investigates review reports on manuscripts of translations submitted to the leading French institution of modern sciences—the Académie Royale des Sciences. These are compared to review reports of manuscripts of translations submitted to the Faculté de Médecine of the Paris University, which remained longer in the pre-modern attempt to preserve classical ‘auctores’ in translation. The comparison of the review reports reveals interesting shifts in translation norms, highlighting the demand for critical scientific translations wherein the translator, as a member of the scientific community, critically investigates and comments on the translated text
On the role of translation in the stabilization of national scientific cultures
Full text linkTranslation is usually understood primarily as a mediating movement between different cultural and linguistic spheres. Recent translation studies, on the other hand, have often emphasised that translations not only facilitate the crossing of national borders, but also contribute significantly to the establishment of the very borders they subsequently overcome. The same phenomenon can be observed in the emerging sciences. This seems all the more remarkable given that in view of the decidedly universalist self-conception of the sciences, one would hardly expect translations to have their role in the stabilisation of national scholarly spheres. The present article aims to show how translation in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was not only a precondition for the emergence of science as a transnational project, but also contributed significantly to the development of national scientific communities and cultures
Ballard, Michel & Chevrel, Yves & Balliu, Christian (2019): Antiquité et traduction: De l’Égypt ancienne a Jérôme, Villeneuve d\u27Ascq: Presses universitaires du Septentrion.
Full text linkHåkanson, Nils (2021): Dolda gudar. En bok om allt som inte går förlorat i en översättning [Hidden gods. A book on everything that is not lost in a translation]. Stockholm: Nirstedt/Litteratur, 357 pp.
Full text linkMieux connaître les traducteurs pour mieux comprendre leur démarche traductive et artistique
Full text linkTranslators’ Professionalism and the Status of Translation as a Profession in the Mid- and late-nineteenth Century Iran
Full text linkThe nineteenth century was the era of reform and gradual move to modernization in Iran. In such a milieu, translation provided an efficient means to access the knowledge and science of Europe, which was the epitome of success and prosperity for the Iranian intellectuals. In the mid-nineteenth century, when Naser al-Din Shah (r. 1848-1896) ascended the Qajar throne, his deep absorption in the West and his strong passion for learning about Europe and for modernization of the country brought about a dramatic increase in translation activity. In the fifty-year ruling period of Naser al-Din Shah, i.e., the mid- and late-nineteenth century Iran, translation offices were established and translators were widely employed in different institutions by the government. Using primary sources and documents, this archival research first examines the role of Naser al-Din Shah in production and publication of translations, then it explores whether translation was a profession in Iran in the mid- and late-nineteenth century or not and finally, it tries to find out if translators of the Naseri era can be considered professionals or not. Adopting two definitions as a yardstick, the study concludes that translation activity in the mid- and late-nineteenth century Iran had some characteristics that allow us to call it a profession. The study also argues that given the historical context of Iran in that era, the translators held the basic qualifications to be considered semi-professionals, while among them some were highly professional.
Agorni, Mirella (2020): Translating Italy for the Nineteenth Century. Translators and an Imagined Nation in the Early Romantic Period 1816–1830s. Bern, Berlin, Brussels, New York, Oxford: Peter Lang.
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