AFO News

Professor Gawrońska Pettersson has published a new article in the journal Polylogue. Neophilological Studies with the title The World of George Grosz’s Pictures and the World Depicted in The Novel Pokora by Szczepan Twardoch.

The article deals with a case study conducted within the framework of Gérard Genette’s intertextuality theory. It investigates the connections between the German painter George Grosz’s pictures, his biography, and the Polish novelist Szczepan Twardoch’s story of a young man from Silesia who is pending between German, Polish, and Silesian identity as well as between social classes, political views, and erotic orientations.

Our member, Morten Beckmann, has been interviewed by the Norwegian newspaper Vårt Land. He talked about how his research on Bible translation has made an impact on the revision of the religious book.

He has also written an opinion piece in which he discusses how these revisions can affect the reader’s interpretation of texts pertaining to Jesus and damnation.

To read more about it: https://www.vl.no/meninger/verdidebatt/2022/11/15/na-kommer-bibelselskapets-mest-radikale-bibelrevisjon-noensinne/

On November 15, Prof. Sandra Halverson talked about translation and power at the Collets Kafé. The event was held at the local theatre in Kristiansand and was part of a series of gatherings where academics from the University of Agder can talk about their research.

The talk focused on the two main arenas in which power relationships are played out in the creation and use of translated texts. The first is the linguistic/communicative power that the translator exercises through her linguistic/semiotic choices. The second is the social power through which various stakeholders at the national level, through legislation, institutions, organizations, and more or less articulated norms, make decisions about what texts are to be translated into and out of Norwegian and by whom. The consequences at both levels have important ramifications, for example in the ways in which members of the Norwegian society experience the world through translated text and in the safeguarding of basic rights and services for the country’s residents. 

Professor Halverson, our group leader, delivered an online talk with the title (Cognitive) linguistic theory in Translation Studies. It was part of the lectures Translation and Cognition; Translation and Corpora organized by the Institute of Translation Studies (Institut für Translationswissenschaft) at the University of Innsbruck. 

The talk addressed the way Translation and Interpreting Studies should move forward to find a solution against the fragmentation of the field.

As well-established and empirically supported, usage-based approaches typical of Cognitive Linguistics could provide a common theoretical background that is grounded in socio-cognitive ontologies.

This theory is discussed in further detail in Sociocognitive Constructs in Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS), published together with Professor Kotze. 

Our newest member, Chiara Astrid Gebbia, delivered a keynote talk at the Young Researchers Night on the International Day of Translation (30 September). The event in Kristiansand was one of several taking place throughout Norway to promote the development of researchers during their early-stage careers. During her talk, Chiara explained how metaphors pervade our everyday communication, decision-making, and professional identity formation. She also presented her postdoctoral project conducted within the AFO group in which she addresses translators’ metaphorical selves.

The night proceeded with a roundtable discussion with the other two keynote speakers, Hanne Stensola and Jeppe Have Rasmussen, on how to navigate the ocean of research.

A few days before the International Day for Interpretation and Translation (30 September), AFO supported the initiative of OsloMet to pursue sustainability in the interpreting field. The event unfolded through several talks that addressed equal rights in legal translation and the role of interpreting both in the Sami culture and in the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine.

During the event, speakers from different cultures and fields also discussed how to improve Norwegian interpreters’ working conditions by following the UN development guidelines for sustainability.

Sandra Halverson, our group leader, and Haidee Kotze run a roundtable during the conference Translation in Transition 2022 held in Prague on 22-23 September.  The discussion called for a common theoretical framework in Translation Studies, an issue that has been overlooked at the advantage of methodological sophistication. Five major translation scholars took part in the roundtable: Hanna Risku, Stella Neumann, Bogusława Whyatt, Gert De Sutter, and Oliver Czulo.

Jean Nitzke also delivered a paper entitled Decisions in post-editing projects: Using semi-structured interviews with stakeholders from the language industry to update a decision tree model for post-editing tasks. This interview study, conducted with Carmen Canfora and Silvia Hansen-Schirra, revealed to which extent postediting is used in translation projects. It also stressed what the deciding factors are for outlining these projects.

On August 30, Anu Carnegie-Brown, Managing Director at Sandberg Translation Partners Ltd, held a webinar for students in the MA program in Translation and Professional Communication, ran by AFO members at the University of Agder.  During her webinar, Anu introduced students to the intricacies of today’s language services industry, not least the speed at which the global translation market is growing and changing.

Anu began with an overview of the different services that the language industry offers, ranging from translation to content creation. She proceeded to examine the relationships among the different vendors involved in the translation process and surveyed the various specializations that make up professional ecosystems in most language service providers. Lastly, Anu described the roles of reviser or project manager and explained how the execution of these roles is assessed. The last section of the webinar was particularly relevant to translation students considering their furture career prospects.