Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 BADR University / Alexandria
2 Institute of Applied Linguistics and Translation, Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University
Abstract
Keywords
Main Subjects
1.Introduction According to Wolf (2011), the “sociological turn” in translation studies attempts to highlight the social influences around translation as an output activity. Concerns such as the role of translators as agents in the process of production, the process of production itself, the social factors influencing the process of translation, the network or the bonds between different actants, whether humans or non-humans, have invited the interest of different translation scholars, for example, Wolf (2011 & 2014) and Baker (2016) into the “sociological turn”.. That is to say, the contextual construct of translation has expanded to include the roles of the different agents involved in the process of translation (Chesterman, 2001). The emergence of the sociological turn in translation studies has, therefore, been reflected in scholars’ interest in examining the impact of social actions on translation as a network. Network here refers to the group of actors/actants surrounding the translation process, whether human or non-human. This social dimension is not completely remote from the cultural dimension. According to Pym (2006) “[w]e talk, too readily, about ‘sociocultural’ or ‘social and cultural’ approaches, contexts, factors, whatever. [...] No doubt the ‘social’ is also the ‘cultural’, in the sense that both are opposed to the ‘eternal’ or the ‘ontological’” (p. 14). Consequently, the rise of turns in translation studies TS and the shift from text bound approach to a contextual approach confirms the interdisciplinarity of TS. This paper is primarily concerned with the sociological turn that sees translation as a social condition and translators as social agents. Out of this “sociological turn” in translation studies, sociological approaches started to emerge and tackle translation as a social practice that provides research questions and theoretical frameworks that lead translation studies onward. “Sociological turn” deals with translation as a social condition and translators as translation agents. Bourdieu is among the many scholars of sociology, for example, Luhmann (1984) and Latour (1998), who have contributed to the field by introducing methods of inquiry in translation studies. Bourdieu plays a major role by developing the notions of field and habitus to address sociological factors, such as the role played by translators as agents in the process of translation (Buzelin, 2005). The main structure of the habitus is the outcome of objectifying the social structure to the point of individual subjectivity. Therefore, habitus is like the structural conditions in which it appeared. Bourdieu explains that habitus relies primarily on history and individual memory. For example, a certain act or behavior is internalized into a society's structure when the original motive of that act or behavior is no longer recollected and is socialized into people of that culture. Bourdieu’s concept of field seeks to facilitate the systematic investigation of any social order. A field is described as a “network, or a configuration, of objective relations between positions” (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 97). The field is similar to a game. In the process of analyzing a field, the places that are held by individuals or groups are comprehended by examining their positions in the structure of power, as well as by investigating their objective relation to other positions, for instance, subordination, domination, homology, etc. (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 97). To do this, an identification of what is at stake in the field is necessary, such as the degree to which people are invested in the game and why; and how the game and the figures involved acquire the status of doxa, acceptance of the world as it is. Fields exist within other fields. Although any given field has its own independence and logic, it is nonetheless impacted by the thinking of broader fields. It is this interrelated and embedded nature of the fields that allows for an analytical synthesis of how broader social structures and relationships influence the particular relationships of interest to the analyst (Dick, 2008). In developed societies, fields are so diverse and tangled; accordingly, the developed habitus will be involved in a condition where it is out of place (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). Under such conditions, those holding dominated positions may feel forced to either defend their positions or move up the social order (Bourdieu, 1984).
As a form of expression, translating the voices of Syrian refugees with perspectives arising from miseries associated with war zones “offers insight, comfort, encourages empathy and gives voice to the voiceless” (Norie, 2015). Narrating stories and real-life experiences about Syrian tragedies invites the audiences directly to witness realities that are not dictated through news media that might actualize victims as simple numbers and portray war as a game. The receivers of these narratives learn a lot about the catastrophic consequences of armed conflicts from the viewpoint of victims of conflicts. These told narratives import the tragic oppression of war on humankind (Forché, 1993; Norie, 2015). Since we live in a time characterized by the absence of empathy and human connection, it becomes vital to get the opportunity to listen to voices that awaken the minds to the tragic happenings of man-made catastrophes. These voices intensify feelings of compassion for others and enhance an understanding of the agony of warfare victims. This opportunity is presented by Syrian voices, or others voicing Syrians, shared through online platforms, which gives insights into the suffering of the Syrian refugees during the Syrian crisis. These shared narratives aim to raise awareness about war atrocities and provoke sympathy for Syrian victims. The strength of these shared narratives rests not only in their power to register the suffering of Syrian refugees, which might help in curing their injuries, but also in the responsibility it carries in raising the awareness of the target receivers of atrocities against mankind and in rousing protective actions to ward off such practices when they happen (Forché, 1993). The function of documenting human abuses under the conditions of warfare and forced exile is acknowledged in several media platforms that record atrocities against mankind. In response to the Syrian crisis, the international community has started to focus on containment and humanitarian aid. Therefore, addressing the refugee crisis and their living status has taken priority over resolving the Syrian conflict. These documented realities provide a rich source of knowledge that depicts the tough conditions and difficult circumstances which these refugees have faced. The translations presented of these documented realities narrate stories about oppression, torture, imprisonment, and loss, to name a few. These translations bear witness to the hard times when mankind is mistreated in nearly different parts of the world, including Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The significance of the talks documented in the online knowledge-sharing platform TED.com lies in their capacity to present human violations and voice the victims who resisted all the odds and strove to confront them. Representing Bourdieu’s theory of practice, the translation of a Syrian refugee talk featured in the online network TED.com is a case in point. Feras is a Syrian refugee and filmmaker who tells harrowing stories about displacement and his devasted community at an official TED conference. Feras talks about real-life superheroes who go beyond all possibilities to support Syrian refugees. The official talk is presented in English, and it is translated into several languages, including Arabic. The Arabic translation is carried out by Nawal Sharabati, a US citizen of Palestinian descent. Translation, in this sense, is a network of relations that exists apart from individuals’ consciousness because individuals internalize many things during their socializing process. Translation is not only interactions or ties among individuals; it further exists among agents or institutions constrained by a field. Simply put, translation, which is a social setting, involves individuals with different habitus, like the sender, producer, or translator of the text, with different ways of thinking and speaking. There are also rules within the field, and these rules are determined by the same institution, in this case, TED.com.
Taking this as a starting point, the current paper attempts to further investigate the two types of a translator’s habitus, the initial and the professional, with the translator of Feras’s TED talk as a demonstrative example. Drawing upon Meylaerts’ (2010) suggestion that a translator’s initial habitus is shaped by his/ her early socialization related to family, class, and education, this study attempts to highlight that the professional habitus of a translator is likely to be related to the translators’ later professions, and particularly those a translator becomes involved in as his/her primary profession. Given that most translators are simultaneously writers, journalists, editors, historians, teachers, etc., and not professional translators, discussions of translators’ professional habitus must include both the habitus of the profession of translation and the habitus of the profession of any parallel discipline where the translator is occupied in, as translation is seen as “a field subject to so many invasions and interferences from adjacent fields” (Simeoni 1998, 24). Meylaerts (2010) suggests that experiences in different other fields are undoubtedly contributing elements to translators’ “mental and behavioral schemata” (p. 5).
4.1 The Initial Habitus of the Translator The social trajectory of Nawal Sharabati, the translator of Feras’s talk, indicates that she is a Palestinian who was born, raised, and received part of her education in Palestine. In 1986, she obtained her bachelor's degree, majored in economics from BirZeit University Palestine, and got employed for years of her life in Ramallah until 2005. Her work experience started in 1986, teaching science and math at Modern Community College in Ramallah, Palestine. Then, for seven years, she was a teacher at the Ministry of Education (MOE) in 1995 in Hebron, Palestine. A career shift took place in her life, and she held a financial officer position, then an account administrator in the finance department for around ten years at BirZeit University. Later she moved to the USA to obtain several studies in various fields. In 2010, she received a certificate in information technology, followed by a certificate of professional, written, and oral, interpersonal communication in 2011 from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. Later, Sharabati participated in a translation certification program and became a certified translation professional CTP holder in 2015. Since then, she has been a self-employed professional. Sharabati has volunteered as a professional translator in a variety of humanitarian organizations. In 2014, she participated with The Rosetta Foundation as a translator of social services. Also, she joined Global Voices Online as a translator and an editor of social services in 2014 and till the present time. In 2015, she contributed to the translator’s program at TED conferences for educational purposes as a translator and a reviewer till today. In 2018, she joined Translators without Border until present time, translating health-related matters. This volunteering experience has demonstrated cultural and social sensitivity when dealing with diverse ethnic groups through her translation projects.
4.2 The Professional Habitus of the Translator By profession, Sharabati is a self-employed volunteer translator. She has been trained as a translator and has volunteered in several humanitarian organizations, aiming to foreground characters and events and to attract readers’ immediate attention. This internalized style of translation has become part of her professional habitus. Speaking of her TED story, Sharabati says, “accidentally, I have joined TED via Amara to learn how to subtitle a video from English into my native Language. I began to browse TED.com, and I liked it so very much”. In her TED experience, she was responsible for the translation of 244 talks, English into Arabic and vice versa. Sharabati transcribed 13 talks, translated 159 talks, and reviewed 72 talks by other translators. Her volunteer translation incorporated 115 TED stage talks, 82 TEDx talks, 25 TED-Ed originals, 12 TED institute talks, and 10 other different talks. Architecture, wildlife, women's rights, innovation, motherhood, and humor are among the diverse topics she translated. When Sharabati performs the role of a translator, her volunteering nature is her professional habitus. This professional habitus interferes with her translation and allows her much freedom in rewriting the story. As can be assumed from the translated talk, Sharabati’s professional training and practice as a volunteer translator in humanitarian organizations have impacted her translatorial behavior, and her professional habitus as a translator is conspicuously affected by her profession as a self-employed translator. In addition, her Palestinian lineage, along with her American citizenship, have left heavy imprints on structuring her initial and professional habitus, which shaped her perception and action and regulated her translation activity. The reporting field habitus makes her convinced that the original stories of Syrian refugees are significant, or in other words, these stories should be voiced to outreach various communities. Sharabati’s professional training and experiences as a translator arm her with the needed skills and techniques for this contribution. All these serve to explain Sharabati’s set of dispositions in the process of translation. The set of dispositions acquired through the translator’s initial and professional habitus are reflected in the text choice and the acquired translation strategies. Sharabati’s choice to translate this Syrian refugee talk could partly be attributed to her lifelong struggle to help shape a national identity. The selected translation strategies attempted by translators are also attributed to the translator’s purpose in translation. Would Sharabati adopt a transparent, fluent style to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target readers, therefore, domesticating the TT? Alternatively, would the translator produce a TT that deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining the foreignness of the original text, thus foreignization?It is noted that it would be hardly possible to draw a clear demarcation line between the two types of habitus, and there must be an overlapped area between both initial and professional habitus. However, a translator’s professional habitus is of high relevance to the set of dispositions structured by the translator.
Table 1: The Translation of Feras’ TED Talk and Translation Strategies
Source Text |
Target Text |
Translation Strategy |
I documented stories of Syrians who opposed the Assad regime, in 2011… |
وثقت قصص السوريين الذين عارضوا نظام الأسد، ف عام ٢٠١١. |
Domestication |
Khalid was one of the heroes in my first feature film, "Last Men in Aleppo." |
كان خالد أحد الأبطال في فيلمي الطويل الأول، “آخر الرجال في حلب“. |
Domestication |
It's a story of an extraordinary woman who founded an underground hospital in eastern Ghouta. |
إنها قصة امرأة متميزة التي أنشأت مستشفى أرضي في الغوطة الشرقية. |
Domestication |
Based on the sample analysis given in table (1), it is noted how Sharabati adopts, almost in her translation, the domesticating strategy while translating Feras’s TED.com talk. Therefore, it can be argued that Sharabati’s beliefs are reflected in her translation practices.