The Linguistic and Discursive Construction of Gender and Sexuality in the Translation of English Texts ; Jezikovna in diskurzivna konstrukcija spola in seksualnosti v prevodih angleških besedil

In: Maribor

Abstract

Studies show that our ideas of gender and sexuality are closely linked with the language that is used to define and describe these two notions. It has been further proven that there is a very close relationship between issues related to sexuality and concepts such as gender, (political) power, exploitation, supremacy and mobbing, to name but a few. Social, cultural, political, historical and other discussions regarding questions such as what sexuality is and what is permissible, acceptable and even "normal", are inevitably part of linguistic discourse. In this MA thesis I thus research and analyze the complexity and multifacetedness of the relationship between language, discourse, gender and sexuality in the translations of English texts. I focus on the translations of texts which could be considered ambiguous in regards to expressing gender. This refers to the co-dependence between the source text, male or female translator and culture, as well as the broader circumstances that influence the translation or target text. In the first part of the thesis I focus on the theoretical background and critical insights into the relationships between language, gender and sexuality. The next stage comprises a comparison of English texts from various media sources (classical and electronic) on both linguistic and discursive levels, with the translations of these texts into Slovene, Croatian and German provided by future translators. The second part of the thesis, the research, comprises two parts: first, I am interested in how these texts and their translations are dealt with by the students – future translators – from four faculties in Maribor, Graz, Zagreb and Split. I am further interested in the level of the respondents' awareness regarding the appropriate use of politically correct expressions, which I assume they are able to use accordingly in their translations. The second part of the research presents data collected based on the questionnaire, which was answered by future translators immediately after completion of the survey. Since the students come from different backgrounds, I am mostly interested in the reasons and possible factors that have influenced their translation choices (of individual words, expressions (terms), phrases, etc.). There are two general assumptions based on the literature review and the analysis of the translations and answers to the questionnaires provided by the future translators. The first one refers to the target text – translation – which, in most cases, depends on the current culture, social environment and time period. The emphasis is placed on the co-dependence between the source text, translator (male or female) as well as culture and other broader background circumstances which influence the translation or the target text. This assumption emphasizes the importance of translators possessing a high level of knowledge and intercultural awareness. The latter was noticable in the translations under research, yet we are still, as regards politically correct expressions, in the process of introducing norms and guidelines on a higher, state level, which might be later generally applied. The second general assumption refers to cultural, social, political, historical and ideological paradigms which annul the ideal of a translation as embodying or reflecting neutral, impartial linguistic and discursive text fidelity. From the translations into three languages, I was able to establish that there are no ideal translations. Furthermore, it was extremely difficult to find gender neutral translations, because of the differences between the three languages analyzed in the study, which would fulfill expectations in the three culturally and politically different cultures according to their individual ideological guidelines. We also have to be aware of the rapid degree of globalization, progress and change which create differences and shape new rules, rendering the old ones obsolete. ; Raziskave kažejo, da so naše ideje o spolu in seksualnosti vezane na jezik, ki ga uporabljamo pri njihovem definiranju in opisovanju. Nadalje je potrjeno, da so vprašanja seksualnosti zelo povezana s pojmi, kot so spol, (politična) moč, izkoriščanje, prevlada, mobing in podobno. Družbene, kulturne, politične, zgodovinske in še kakšne razprave o tem, kaj je seksualnost, kaj je dovoljeno, sprejemljivo, celo »normalno«, so neizogibno del jezikovnega diskurza. V magistrski nalogi raziskujem in analiziram kompleksnost in večplastnost odnosa med jezikom, diskurzom, spolom in seksualnostjo pri prevajanju angleških besedil. Osredotočam se na prevode besedil, ki bi lahko glede na izražanje spola veljali za nejasne oziroma dvoumne. Gre za soodvisnost med izvirnim besedilom, prevajalcem ali prevajalko in kulturo oziroma širšimi okoliščinami, ki iz ozadja vplivajo na prevod oziroma ciljno besedilo. V prvem delu magistrske naloge podam pregled literature in kritični vpogled v odnos med jezikom, spolom in seksualnostjo. Nato angleška besedila iz različnih medijev (klasičnih in elektronskih) na jezikovni in diskurzivni ravni primerjam s prevodi teh besedil v slovenščino, hrvaščino in nemščino, ki so jih prispevali študenti prevajalstva. Drugi del naloge, raziskava, zajema dva dela: najprej me zanima, kako se teh besedil in njihovih prevodov lotevajo študenti prevajalstva, in sicer na štirih fakultetah: mariborski, graški, zagrebški in splitski. Nadalje me zanima raven zavedanja anketiranih študentov prevajalstva o pravilnosti in primernosti rabe t.i. politično korektnih izrazov, za katere menim, da jih znajo ustrezno uporabljati v svojih prevodih. Drugi del raziskave poteka s pomočjo anket, na katere neposredno po prevajanju besedil odgovarjajo študenti prevajalci. Ker izhajajo iz različnih okolij, nas pri tem zanimajo predvsem vzroki in morebitni drugi dejavniki, ki vplivajo na njihovo izbiro besed, izrazov, fraz itd. Pri proučevanju literature in pri analizi prevodov ter odgovorov na anketna vprašanja, podanih s strani študentov prevajalstva, izpostavim dve splošni predpostavki. Prva se nanaša na ciljno besedilo, torej prevod, ki je v večini primerov odvisen od kulture, družbenega okolja ter časa, v katerem živi prevajalec. Pomemben je torej odnos med izvirnim besedilom, prevajalcem/prevajalko ter ostalimi širšimi okoliščinami, ki na prevod oziroma ciljno besedilo vplivajo iz ozadja. Predpostavka poudarja pomembnost visoke stopnje znanja in medkulturne ozaveščenosti prevajalcev. Slednjo je bilo sicer mogoče zaslediti v prevodih, vendar smo v tem oziru (predvsem glede politično korektnega izražanja) šele v procesu uvajanja določenih norm in pravil na višji, državni ravni, ki bi jim potem lahko sledili. Druga splošna predpostavka se nanaša na kulturne, družbene, politične, zgodovinske ali ideološke paradigme, ki razveljavljajo ideal prevajanja kot neke nevtralne, nepristranske jezikovne in diskurzivne besedilne zvestobe. Iz prevodov v tri jezike, ki sicer geografsko mejijo drug na drugega, je bilo mogoče ugotoviti, da idealnih prevodov ni. Prav tako je zaradi razlik med jeziki, ki so bili vključeni v raziskavo, zelo težko najti nevtralne prevode, ki bi zadostili pričakovanjem v treh kulturno in politično različnih družbah, ki sledijo svojim ideološkim smernicam. Hkrati se je treba zavedati visoke stopnje globalizacije, napredka in sprememb, ki ustvarjajo razlike in krojijo nova pravila, stara pa dokaj pogosto utemeljijo kot zastarela.