The crisis of representation in translating bilingual texts: a social semiotic perspective.
This article adopts a social semiotic approach to the study of the function of code-switching in bilingual literary texts and the problems associated with the translation of such texts. Based on an analysis of a Singaporean Chinese short story and its English translation, the article hypothesises th...
| Published in: | Perspectives: Studies in Translatology Vol. 19; no. 2; pp. 95 - 109 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
2011
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=61215478&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 61215478 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 0907676X S2F jtl: Perspectives: Studies in Translatology issn: 0907676X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2011 vid: 19 iid: 2 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 61215478 10.1080/0907676X.2010.481362 ppf: 95 ppct: 14 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 217KB tig: atl: The crisis of representation in translating bilingual texts: a social semiotic perspective. aug: au: Lee, Tong-King affil: Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, AG 522 The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong su: Case studies Social semiotics Bilingualism Singaporean short stories (Chinese) Homogeneity Cross-cultural communication in education sug: subj: Case studies Social semiotics Bilingualism Singaporean short stories (Chinese) Homogeneity Cross-cultural communication in education keyword: code-switching crisis of representation language ideology social semiotic ab: This article adopts a social semiotic approach to the study of the function of code-switching in bilingual literary texts and the problems associated with the translation of such texts. Based on an analysis of a Singaporean Chinese short story and its English translation, the article hypothesises that in cases when a source text introduces a foreign language in order to expose a power relationship, this central argument of the source text will often be lost if the text is translated into the embedded foreign language. It first argues that such translation will lead to a homogenisation of traces of bilingualism in the source text, thus reversing the indexical relations between the two language codes in question. It is then proposed that from the discoursal perspective, the attitudinal meaning of the bilingual text may be negated in translation, thus leading to a paradoxical situation whereby a language representing the 'Other' in the source text is being used against itself in the target text. The article also suggests that this translational problem, rather than being an obstacle, can become an asset to the teaching of intercultural communication. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Perspectives: Studies in Translatology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Perspectives: Studies in Translatology holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2011 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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