L'écart et l'entre-deux : traduire la culture
Comparative linguistics seems to suggest that the gap between two languages can be filled by grammar. But mapping the structural gaps between languages hardly makes for the more fundamental gap that is created by the writing of a new text, a supposedly identical addendum to the first. Writing that n...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"
2011-10-01
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| Series: | Sillages Critiques |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2314 |
| _version_ | 1819064094434525184 |
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| author | Jean Szlamowicz |
| author_facet | Jean Szlamowicz |
| author_sort | Jean Szlamowicz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Comparative linguistics seems to suggest that the gap between two languages can be filled by grammar. But mapping the structural gaps between languages hardly makes for the more fundamental gap that is created by the writing of a new text, a supposedly identical addendum to the first. Writing that new text entails questions about the nature of texts, their intentions, their interpretations. Translation must therefore develop a hermeneutical approach. This critical stance is about sorting out what belongs to the languages and what belongs to the text as a specific unit, as a cultural and authorial unit.Because of its cultural nature, translation questions the way one can carry meaning across languages. We examine several examples in various fields showing how translating into French words like spirituality (in the field of jazz), social consciousness or Allah reveals stakes that go beyond the lexical. We talk about “residual translation” for the way a translator can keep words from the first language so as to preserve-reveal-and-adapt their cultural import. Failure lurks in the “cultural catch-22” of translation (“amphibolie culturelle”) in cases where the cultural gap cannot be resolved because of its very essence— we show how failures in these instances still manage to set off something crucial about the unheimlichkeit of cultural discovery. Lastly we talk about the concept of “organe-obstacle”, a borrowing from Jankélévitch, that enables us to understand the workings of language as a grammatical-cultural structure and the impact on translation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T15:25:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6afeb747bcd940c1bfc8334569d0d52e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1272-3819 1969-6302 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T15:25:06Z |
| publishDate | 2011-10-01 |
| publisher | Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sillages Critiques |
| spelling | doaj.art-6afeb747bcd940c1bfc8334569d0d52e2022-12-21T18:58:56ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022011-10-0112L'écart et l'entre-deux : traduire la cultureJean SzlamowiczComparative linguistics seems to suggest that the gap between two languages can be filled by grammar. But mapping the structural gaps between languages hardly makes for the more fundamental gap that is created by the writing of a new text, a supposedly identical addendum to the first. Writing that new text entails questions about the nature of texts, their intentions, their interpretations. Translation must therefore develop a hermeneutical approach. This critical stance is about sorting out what belongs to the languages and what belongs to the text as a specific unit, as a cultural and authorial unit.Because of its cultural nature, translation questions the way one can carry meaning across languages. We examine several examples in various fields showing how translating into French words like spirituality (in the field of jazz), social consciousness or Allah reveals stakes that go beyond the lexical. We talk about “residual translation” for the way a translator can keep words from the first language so as to preserve-reveal-and-adapt their cultural import. Failure lurks in the “cultural catch-22” of translation (“amphibolie culturelle”) in cases where the cultural gap cannot be resolved because of its very essence— we show how failures in these instances still manage to set off something crucial about the unheimlichkeit of cultural discovery. Lastly we talk about the concept of “organe-obstacle”, a borrowing from Jankélévitch, that enables us to understand the workings of language as a grammatical-cultural structure and the impact on translation.http://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2314translationlinguisticssemanticsresidual translationcultural catch-22organ-obstacle |
| spellingShingle | Jean Szlamowicz L'écart et l'entre-deux : traduire la culture Sillages Critiques translation linguistics semantics residual translation cultural catch-22 organ-obstacle |
| title | L'écart et l'entre-deux : traduire la culture |
| title_full | L'écart et l'entre-deux : traduire la culture |
| title_fullStr | L'écart et l'entre-deux : traduire la culture |
| title_full_unstemmed | L'écart et l'entre-deux : traduire la culture |
| title_short | L'écart et l'entre-deux : traduire la culture |
| title_sort | l ecart et l entre deux traduire la culture |
| topic | translation linguistics semantics residual translation cultural catch-22 organ-obstacle |
| url | http://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2314 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jeanszlamowicz lecartetlentredeuxtraduirelaculture |