Translators' behaviors from a sociological perspective - A parallel corpus study of fantasy fiction translation in Taiwan

Wayne LIANG*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate translators' behaviors in translating fantasy fiction in Taiwan, with the help of Pierre Bourdieu's sociological model. The application of a sociological approach to translation studies allows an examination of the social and cultural nature of translation by locating this activity within a particular social structure. The investigation was conducted by employing a parallel corpus study of fantasy fiction translations: J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, T.H. White's The Sword in the Stone and Philip Pullman's Northern Lights. Translators' textual behaviors when dealing with culture-specific items (CSIs) were analyzed. The results revealed a source-oriented tendency when translating CSIs. The evidence from the textual analysis was interpreted and discussed in terms of the interactions between the translators' collective habitus and the social determinants in the literary field in Taiwan.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)39-66
Number of pages28
JournalBabel
Volume62
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Language and Linguistics
  • Communication
  • Linguistics and Language

User-Defined Keywords

  • Culture-specific items (CSIs)
  • Fantasy fiction translation
  • Habitus
  • Literary field
  • Pierre Bourdieu
  • Sociological approach

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