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.
