João Ferreira Duarte: “The Politics of Non-Translation”

Molly Andersson

Ola Krakowska

About the author:

• Born in 1947 in Lisbon

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• Studied and worked at the University of Lisbon’s School of Arts and Humanities

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• Contributed to Translation Studies

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• His work emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of translation

About his work:

• He explored theoretical shift in Translation Studies → “epistemological break,”

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• A change in how translation is studied and understood, moving away from pre-scientific approaches → a more critical and target-oriented perspective.

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• Pseudotranslation: Texts presented as translations but which have no actual source.
• Non-translation: The intentional or situational absence of translation.

7 typologies:

1. Omission

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• A certain item in the source text fails to be replaced in the target text

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• “Zero replacement” - reference by Gideon Toury

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2. Repetition

• Where a term or phrase is carried over directly from the source language

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• Borrowings or leanwords

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• Reveals cultural or linguistic power dynamics

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• Example from Meta Grosman: the Slovene translation of Jane Austen's Pride sometime kept words like “gentleman” or “gentlemanlike” → because the use of this loan-word is permissible according to Slovene dictionaries.

3. Language Closeness

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• Where structural similarities between languages → such as Portuguese and Spanish reduce the demand for translations, as readers might feel they can understand the original text without translation.

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4. Bilingualism

• Where specific populations read texts in their original language, further decreasing the perceived need for local translations.

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• For example: Belgian intellectuals with French literature

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• Often tied to cultural and political factors → such as the dominance of one language or culture over another.

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5. Cultural distance

• Lack of translation as a result of cultural remoteness

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• Lack of experts able to translate in a certain field?

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“It comes to mind that the first translation of the Qur'an published in Portugal dates from as recently as 1978. Historical and religious constraints help us explain why for centuries there was no community in the country capable of fostering demand for a translation of the sacred book of Islam. It was only in the wake of the independence of the former Portuguese African colonies in 1975 that an organised Islamic community sprang up which was sizeable enough to warrant readership for two different translations of the Qur'an and two editions of these within a period of ten years.”

6. Institutionalized Censorship

• Lack of translation as a set up to prevent circulation of material that is felt to threaten official ideology
• “During the 48 years of the Fascist regime in Portugal, translations of Marx and Engels' works were of course strictly outlawed”
• Spain under Franco: “only translations of minor foreign authors were authorized for publication in Spain and those of important ones were either manipulated or banned”

7. Ideological Embargo

• Non-translation that results from the clash of a community's system of values and some shattering political events

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• Different from “cultural distance” as the cultural objects has been previously familiar

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• Different from “institutionalized censorship” as it is not a state-reinforced ban but rather the "spontaneous" action of civil society or sections of it

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Shakespeare reception in Portugal in the last quarter of the 19 century

• scramble for Africa, the British Ultimatum
• Anglo-Portuguese conflict
• anti-British nationalism across the country
• Hamlet showings at the National Theatre cancelled due to the riots
• radical case of non-translation of Shakespeare observable from 1890 to 1899

Summary

• not only translated texts are constrained by ideological agendas

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• domestication may result in a highly symptomatic absence of texts

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• one does not even need a target text to do Translation Studies

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

https://play.kahoot.it/v2/*?quizId=40a62ffc-040f-4c07-8072-227e5cc683e8

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Bibliography

Axelson, Eric (1967). Portugal and the Scramble for Africa. Johannesburg, Witwatersrand University Press.

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Duarte, J. F. (2007). The Politics of Non-Translation: A case study in Anglo-Portuguese relations. TTR Traduction Terminologie Rédaction, 13(1), 95–112. https://doi.org/10.7202/037395ar

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Keratsa, Antionia (2005). Translation and censorship in European environments. https://translationjournal.net/journal/33censorship.htm

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Wikipedia contributors. (2024). João Ferreira Duarte. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_Ferreira_Duarte [Accessed 21 Nov. 2024].