Mediation As Translation Or Translation As Mediation
Contrary to expectations, globalization is not accompanied by the use of a single language
. It is obvious that the constant influx of people from other countries and cultures is producing changes in the way society is structured as well as in how relationships are established in the European Union (EU). These changes also affect interlingual mediation and the role that translators and interpreters (T&I) have to perform. They have to act in a great variety of settings and provide very different solutions for the situations they are faced with. Such a variety also leads to questions on the ethics of translation in public services, the acceptance of the varied forms of professionalism, the importance of the role that culture plays, and the consideration of different attitudes from society and its institutions. These questions suggest the need to discuss mediation as a form of translation or, the other way around, translation as a form of mediation.
Some scholars and practitioners in Western society still consider translators to be walking dictionaries more than cultural mediators; however, in some settings and under certain conditions translators participate more actively in the communication process, producing oral or written texts in which forms and words are manipulated to extend further understanding across cultures.
There are signs that this change is beginning to happen in both pragmatic business community and everyday society. In the former, there are an increasing number of publications focusing on cultural factors, as well as business courses on culture. There are also marketing policies to adapt products to the new consumers and common policies established by the corporate groups to avoid cultural conflicts.
In the latter, that is, in everyday society, and specifically when dealing with social affairs and migration, data show that at least some official institutions and non-governmental associations (NGAs) as well as those organizations providing help, consider T&Is to be cultural mediators, assigning them a wider role. Also this interlinguistic mediator assumes that part of his/her role is to deal with issues and explain deficiencies in communication, even adding other related tasks
Recent changes in Western societies due, among other factors, to migration are producing a series of challenges and new answers in how a multicultural society that demands a new order and solutions to unthinkable problems in homogeneous societies is configured. These changes in the structure of the societies and in the way relationships are established (people's greater mobility, better communications, multicultural societies, the concentration of languages and different cultures over a short time and in a reduced space) affect the translator and interpreters (T&I) role too. It is not possible to think of the T&I as an errant dictionary or as a mirror that returns the image. It is necessary to admit, and not to suspect negatively that manipulating a text to make it comprehensible to the new receivers - even changing the form beyond the normal limits- is a translation.
The role of T&Is in public services goes beyond traditional limits as they have to deal with cultural and educational differences, different conceptions of work, of family, of housecare, entertainment or even the differences attached to specific aspects as silence, respect for elders, or dress and eating habits. And these aspects can create conflicts and rejection that are intensified when the language is not shared and a translator is needed. This "new" I&T corresponds to what Taft (1981: 75) describes as an "interlinguistic mediator": a person who facilitates communication, understanding and action between people whose language and/or culture is different. His/her role consists of interpreting the expressions, intentions and perceptions of one group for the other in order to establish a balanced communication between them. It is, therefore, a person that possesses, apart from a deep knowledge of the languages, a high grade of cultural sensibility which allows him/her to negotiate the meaning between both cultures and be able to transmit it to the members of the other community.
However, the task of interpreting and translating in different public places, and even in some institutional offices is usually performed by volunteers in co-operation with NGAs who are used to dealing with people from other cultures who know different languages but who have not usually received any training as interpreters and translators.
For the translator/mediator it is simply impossible to think of himself as someone who supplants the personality of another, as a mere vicar of another. What is more, this is also what those for whom the translation was done expect from him/her. So to not assume the responsibility that corresponds to him/her as a mediator could cause the translator to get a bad reputation, much more of course than the sometimes unavoidable infidelities that the audience simply cannot be conscious of.
The opinions are also diverse. However, experience demonstrates that what really matters is that, first, the person have a great capacity to mediate, and second, that he/she have sensibility and capacity of observation and study of the involved cultural systems.
The main objective of translation in public services is to communicate specific information directly to a public that is also specific: people that belong to a cultural and linguistic minority that generally possess a lower educational and acquisitive level than those that dominate the social reality of the country and that frequently ignore newcomers. Then, it is not difficult to assume that this task is conditioned by, as Roberts (1997:12) indicates, the fact that the culture of the minority group - and even more than the language - is not always understood by the majority group that offers the services to this client. In other words, translation in public services can be defined as the adaptation of a text to the necessities of a minority that cohabits in a country with a dominant majority. And the T&I can be considered a socio-cultural mediator who masters specific abilities and receives the appropriate preparation that go beyond the knowledge of the
languages and cultures since certain specific intercultural abilities are also required. These are the abilities:
To work with two languages, one of those which usually possesses an inferior social status and one that belongs to the dominant culture;
To guarantee a certain neutrality and distance when working for ones own ethnic community;
To notice the lack of education or the cultural differences between both communities;
To show ability to skills necessary as a linguistic and/or cultural bridge when dealing with specific topics that can be taboos for some communities.
Community translation is a means to an end, namely to equip the community with the necessary information and other means to develop skills for themselves. It is an attempt to balance the power relationship between the sender and the receiver by prioritizing the needs of the community. Effective, empowering communication between the author and the reader via the translated text implies that the translator needs to be on the side of the powerless that is the reader.
In conclusion, EU countries are becoming more aware of the multicultural society that is being formed in Europe within its borders and they are also paying more attention to interlinguistic communication. Especially in those countries where immigration is a recent phenomenon, as for example, Southern countries, the first steps in training translators and interpreters as interlinguistic mediators, a topic very often neglected, are slowly being taken into consideration. A new breed of
translators and interpreters who need to develop not only linguistic skills, but also cultural and anthropological abilities seems to be emerging. They have to bridge the gap between the newcomers and the host population. However, the controversy between the role they perform and the traditional role assigned to translators and mediators is still open.
There is also a long way to go to make translation in public services a profession comparable to that of the translator considered as a professional. The obstacles are numerous, being, in my opinion, economic, social and educational factors some of the most important barriers, as well as the recognition of this activity as a profession.
Aunes Oversettelser AS has been in the business for 26 years, and we are specialized in technical translations. We are specializing in the Nordic languages, and can offer services into Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Icelandic. The premier translation agency for Norway and the Nordic region! Technical translation services for businesses in the Nordic countries and translation agencies world-wide.
by: carmen
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