![]() ![]() ![]() Hence, she argued that “we can only study what happens in translation within a multilingual context.” This means that we not only translate words, but also connections, and that is poetics.īoase-Beier’s latest thoughts around translation, following Professor Kirsten Malmkjaer’s (2004) translational stylistics, have led her to use the term “reading as translation” to denote the action of reading the target text in the knowledge that a source text exists. Following on these ideas, Boase-Beier stressed that a language cannot be seen as being separate or isolated from other languages, because all languages have influences from other languages.Īccordingly, translation does not happen after a language or a text comes into existence, but is already a part of it, so the notion of language implies the idea of translation. We say “the cat sat on the mat,” not because the cat has similarities with the mat, but because of the similarities between the words: they rhyme.īoase-Beier also highlighted three key ideas of Jakobson which can be applied to the translation of poetic language, a topic widely discussed in her own work: that literature and linguistics must be studied together language (including poetic language) must be studied in a multilingual context and language (including poetic language) is characterised by equivalence and difference. But once the word ‘cat’ is selected, this is transferred to the axis of combination, where the choice is not based on things, but on the word selected and its similarities with other words. When we select, she said, we choose from words that designate similar things. In this regard, Boase-Beier posits that many people do not understand the most famous statement of Jakobson, that “the poetic function projects the principle of equivalence from the axis of selection into the axis of combination.” To explain this statement, she used an example where the words cat, kitten and feline were offered as options. But what he did say is of use because it can help us “think around translation, think about practice, and what consequences that has.” Boase-Beier also pointed out that, among Jakobson’s articles that are important for translation, some do not even mention translation, and so it is advisable to be aware of the wider context of his thinking, to know how he developed his ideas, particularly if we want to understand what already well-known quotes really mean. Professor Boase-Beier emphasised that Jakobson did not propose any particular way of translating he did not give a set of instructions. Her talk, ‘Roman Jakobson and the Translation of Poetic Language’, focused on the key ideas of this influential linguist and some of their implications for translation. On Thursday 26 November, we welcomed Professor Jean Boase-Beier (University of East Anglia) to UCL as part of the Translation in History lecture series. Written by Tania Castro Rodea (UCL Translation Studies) ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |