Cover not available
Article published In:
Translation and Interpreting Studies
Vol. 19:2 (2024) ► pp.212–233

Teaching the art of “judicious” translators’ interventions

ORCID logo | University of Western Australia
In the capstone unit of a Master of Translation, students were required to write “judicious” interventions (Lefevere 1996) by way of peritextual commentary, be it an introduction, a preface, or a postface. Such interventions are at heart a reaction against the well-documented translators’ invisibility. The hope is that studying patterns of published translators’ interventions of this type and teaching trainee translators to write their own will foster self-reflexivity, confidence and “the virtues of courage and determination” (Chesterman 2001). The article describes how learners were encouraged to meet this outcome, the tasks involved, and how some students in the 2020 cohort fared. It concludes with some suggestions on how to promote best practice in teaching to combat translators’ invisibility.
Keywords: translation education, translator interventions, translator preface, invisibility, student-centered pedagogy
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Literature review
  • Description of the study
    • The tasks
  • Analysis
    • Choice of translator’s interventions
  • Findings
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 15 June 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.21039.jac
References (44)
References
Anderson, Jean and Marie-Laure Vuaille-Barcan. 2018. “Notes des traductrices.” Patricia Grace, Chappy, 7–9. Tahiti: Au Vent des Iles.Google Scholar
. 2020. “Enjeux et défis de la traduction de l’environnement dans des œuvres littéraires australiennes et néo-zélandaises.” Essays in French Literature and Culture 571: 27–46.Google Scholar
Baker, Mona. 2013. “Translation as an alternative space for political action.” Social Movement Studies 12(1): 23–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baldo, Michela. 2020. “Activist translation, alliances, and performativity.” In The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Activism, ed. by Rebecca Ruth Gould and Kayvan Tahmasebian, 30–48. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bassnett, Susan, and Peter Bush. 2006. The Translator as Writer. New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Berman, Antoine. 2012. “Translation and the trials of the foreign.” In The Translation Studies Reader, ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 240–254. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bhowmik, Davinder. 1995. “On the historical background of The Heiké Story and its Author.” E. Yoshikawa, The Heiki Story, 623–627. Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle.Google Scholar
Bruya, Brian. 2018. “Introduction.” Sunzi and C. Tsai, The Art of War: An Illustrated Edition, xi–xvi1. Princeton University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Castro, Olga and Emek Ergun, eds. 2017. Feminist Translation Studies: Local and Transnational Perspectives. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chambers, Anthony H. 1990. “Introduction.” Junichiro Tanizaki, Naomi, v–x1. New York: North Point Press.Google Scholar
Chesterman, Andrew. 2001. “Proposal for a Hieronymic oath.” The Translator 7(2): 139–154. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Delisle, Jean and Marco Fiola. 2013. La traduction raisonnée : manuel d’initiation à la traduction professionnelle de l’anglais vers le français. 3rd edition. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.Google Scholar
Dubbati, Barkuzar and Haneen Abudayeh. 2018. “The translator as an activist: Reframing conflict in the Arabic translation of Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza .” The Translator 24(2): 147–165. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Entrekin, Alison. 2014–2020. “Diario de travessia.” Revista Pessoa. [URL] accessed 16 February 2021.
. “When in Hell, embrace the Devil” excerpt of Grande Sertão: Veredas by Jose G. Rosa in Words Without Borders, New York, July 2016. [URL] accessed 16 February 2021.
Entrekin, Alison and Lesley Sogl. 2016. “Breaking the beast. An interview with Alison Entrekin.” The Scofield 2(1): 238–241.Google Scholar
Genette, Gérard. 1997. Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation. Trans. by J. E. Lewin. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
González-Davies, Maria. 2016. “A collaborative pedagogy for translation.” In Teaching Translation: Programs, Courses, Pedagogies, ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 71–78. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gu, Yingying. 2019. “Criticisms of feminist translation theory from outside feminism.” Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research 3591: 546–549. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hermans, Theo. 2007. The Conference of the Tongues. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Hersant, Patrick. 2018. “Portraits du traducteur en préfacier.” Palimpsestes 311: 17–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kiraly, Don. 2000. A Social Constructivist Approach to Translator Education: Empowerment from Theory to Practice. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Jacobs, Bruce and Ouyang Yu. 1995. “Foreword.” In Bitter Peaches and Plums: Two Chinese Novellas on the Recent Chinese students experience in Australia, i–ix. Melbourne: Monash Asia Institute. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lefevere, André. 1996. “Translation and canon formation: Nine decades of drama in the United States.” In Translation, Power, Subversion, ed. by Román Álvarez and Maria Carmen África Vidal, 138–155. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Leppihalme, Ritva. 1997. Culture Bumps: An Empirical Approach to the Translation of Allusions. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Larochelle, Marie, Nadine Bednarz, and Jim Garrison. 1998. Constructivism and Education. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Letawe, Céline. 2018. “Quand le traducteur-préfacier parle de traduction. Fonctions d’un discours entre préface allographe et préface auctoriale.” Palimpseste 311: 37–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maier, Carol. 2007. “Translator as an intervenient being.” In Translation as Intervention, ed. by Jeremy Munday, 1–17. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Malena, Anne and Lynn Penrod. 2016. “Translation theory in a translator training program.” In Teaching Translation: Programs, Courses, Pedagogies, ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 127–133. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Massardier-Kenney, Françoise. 2016. “MA in Translation.” In Teaching Translation: Programs, Courses, Pedagogies, ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 32–38. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Munday, Jeremy. 2009. Routledge Companion of Translation Studies. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Newmark, Peter. 2009. “The linguistic and communicative stages in translation theory.” In The Routledge Companion to Translation Studies, ed. by Jeremy Munday, 20–35. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pellatt, Valerie. 2013a. “Introduction.” In Text, Extratext, Metatext and Paratext in Translation. ed. by Valerie Pellatt, 1–6. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
. 2013b. “Packaging the product: A case study of verbal and non-verbal paratext in Chinese-English translation.” JoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation 201: 86–106.Google Scholar
Pérez Bernardo, María Luisa. 2022. “Localizing theory in a Spanish-language translation program.” In Teaching Literature in Translation: Pedagogical Contexts and Reading Practices, ed. by Brian James Baer and Michelle Woods, 262–270. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pym, Anthony. 2014. Exploring Translation Theories. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Reiss, Katharina. 1981. “Type, kind and individuality of text: Decision-making in translation.” Poetics Today 2(4): 121–131. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sánchez Ortiz, María Teresa. 2015. “The use of footnotes in literary translations.” Forum 13(1): 111–129. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schultze, Dirk. 2013. “Wisdom in the margins: text and paratext in The Seven Points of True Love and Everlasting Wisdom .” Études Anglaises 66(3): 341–356. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, Ros and Nicholas de Lange. 2006. “A dialogue: On a translator’s interventions.” In The Translator as Writer, ed. by Susan Bassnett and Peter Bush, 9–21. New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Singhal, Divva. 2017. “Understanding student-centered learning and philosophies of teaching practices.” International Journal of Scientific Research and Management Studies (IJSRM) 5(2): 5123–5129. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stewart, Philip. 1981. “Translator’s introduction.” Naguib Mahfouz. Children of Gebelawi, vii–ix. London: Heineman.Google Scholar
Tymoczko, Maria. 2000. “Translation and political engagement.” The Translator 6(1): 23–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence. 1995. The Translator’s Invisibility. A History of Translation. London: Routledge.Google Scholar