Research Article
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Year 2019, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 180 - 203, 31.12.2019
https://doi.org/10.29228/transLogos.18

Abstract

References

  • Alimen, Nilüfer. 2019. “Batı’nın Doğu Çevirisi Olarak Oryantalizm ve Oryantalist Metinlerin Türkçeye Çevirileri.” [Orientalism as the West’s translation of the East and translation of Orientalist texts into Turkish.] In Çeviribilimde Araştırmalar [Research in Translation Studies], edited by Seda Taş, 59–92. Istanbul: Hiperyayın.
  • Armstrong, William. n.d. “An English Kemalist in Anatolia, 1922.” Hürriyet Daily News. Accessed July 5, 2019. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/william-armstrong/an-english-kemalist-in-anatolia-1922-78850.
  • Baer, Ben Conisbee. 2014. “What is Special about Postcolonial Translation?” In A Companion to Translation Studies, edited by Sandra Bermann and Catherine Porter, 233–245. West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell.
  • Baydere, Muhammed. 2018a. “Çevirmenlerin Sesinden Sultan Abdülhamit Dönemini Dinlemek: Türkçede Twenty-six Years on the Bosphorus.” [Giving ear to the Abdulhamid period from translators’ voice: Twenty-six Years on the Bosphorus in Turkish.] Paper presented at the 4th Asoscongress International Symposium on Philology, Antalya, May 3–5.
  • Baydere, Muhammed. 2018b. “Geri Çevirilerde Çevirmenin İzini Sürmek.” [Following the translator’s trace in back translations.] In Çeviribilimde Güncel Tartışmalardan Kavramsal Sorgulamalara [From recent discussions to conceptual reflections in Translation Studies], edited by Seda Taş, 317–346. Istanbul: Hiperyayın.
  • Benjamin, Andrew. 2014. Translation and the Nature of Philosophy: A New Theory of Words. Oxon: Routledge.
  • Conway, Kyle. 2012. “A Conceptual and Empirical Approach to Cultural Translation.” Translation Studies 5 (3): 264–279. doi:10.1080/14781700.2012.701938.
  • Ellison, Grace. 1914. “Life in the Harem.” The Daily Telegraph. January 24–February 6.
  • Ellison, Grace. 1915. An Englishwoman in a Turkish Harem. London: Methuen.
  • Ellison, Grace. 1973. Bir İngiliz Kadını Gözüyle Kuva-i Millȋye Ankarası. Translated by İbrahim S. Turek. Istanbul: Milliyet.
  • Ellison, Grace. 1999. Ankara’da Bir İngiliz Kadını. Translated by Osman Olcay. Ankara: Bilgi.
  • Ellison, Grace. (2009) 2017. İstanbul’da Bir Konak ve Yeni Kadınlar: İngiliz Kadın Gazetecinin Gözüyle Türk Evi ve Gündelik Hayat [A mansion in Istanbul and new women: Turkish home and daily life in the eyes of a British woman journalist]. Translated by Neşe Akın. Istanbul: Dergâh.
  • Gentzler, Edwin. 1990. “Contemporary Translation Theory.” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University.
  • Gentzler, Edwin. 2001. Contemporary Translation Theories. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
  • Günbaş, Ahmet. 2000. “Bir ‘İngiliz Kadını’nın Anlattıkları.” [Things an “English woman” narrates.] Cumhuriyet Kitap, July 27.
  • Güneş, Alper Zafer. 2018. “Translated in Translation Studies.” transLogos Translation Studies Journal 1 (1): 1–24. doi:10.29228/transLogos.1/1.6.
  • Güneş, Alper Zafer. 2019. “The Problem of Pseudo-problems in Translation Studies.” Paper presented at the 2nd International Rumeli [Language, Literature, Translation] Symposium, Kırklareli, April 12–13.
  • Hekimoğlu, Müşerref. 1999. “Ankara’da Bir İngiliz Kadını.” [An English woman in Ankara.] Cumhuriyet Dergi, June 27.
  • Hermans, Theo. 2009. Translation in Systems: Descriptive and System-Oriented Approaches Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome.
  • Holmes, James S. 1988. Translated! Papers on Literary Translation and Translation Studies. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
  • Koller, Werner. 1995. “The Concept of Equivalence and the Object of Translation Studies.” Target 7 (2): 191–222. doi:10.1075/target.7.2.02kol.
  • Koyuncu, Nurhan. 1993. “1908-1914 Yılları Arasında Tanin Gazetesinde Çıkan Edebî Yazıların Toplanması, Latin Harflerine Çevrilmesi ve İncelenmesi.” [Collection of literary articles published in Tanin between 1908-1914, translation into Latin alphabet and analysis.] Master’s thesis. Hacettepe University.
  • Levý, Jiří. 2011. The Art of Translation. Translated by Patrick Corness. Edited by Zuzana Jettmarová. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Nur, Rıza, and Grace Ellison. 2007. İlk Meclisin Perde Arkası (1920-1923). Translated by Ö. Andaç Uğurlu. Istanbul: Örgün.
  • Pratt, Mary Louise, Birgit Wagner, Ovidi Carbonell i Cortés, Andrew Chesterman, and Maria Tymoczko. 2010. “Translation Studies Forum: Cultural Translation.” Translation Studies 3 (1): 94–110. doi:10.1080/14781700903338706.
  • Pym, Anthony. 1995. “European Translation Studies, Une science qui dérange, and Why Equivalence Needn’t Be a Dirty Word.” TTR 8 (1): 153–176. doi:10.7202/037200ar.
  • Pym, Anthony. 2008. “On Indeterminacy in Translation: A Survey of Western Theories.” Unpublished manuscript. PDF File. http://usuaris.tinet.cat/apym/on-line/translation/2008_%20Indeterminacy.pdf.
  • Quella-Villéger, Alain. 2014. Haremden Kaçanlar: İstanbul’da Bir Devlet Meselesi ve Feminizm [Fugitives from harem: A state affair and feminism in Istanbul]. Translated by Aysel Bora. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi.
  • Robinson, Douglas. 2014. Translation and Empire: Postcolonial Theories Explained. London: Routledge.
  • Sayın, Ayşe Betül. 2019a. “Çevirinin Yuvaya Dönüşü: Sömürgecilik Sonrası Çeviri Kuramında ‘Metinsiz Geri Çeviriler.’” [The return of the native: “Textless back translations” in postcolonial Translation Studies.] In Çeviribilimde Araştırmalar [Research in Translation Studies], edited by Seda Taş, 235–250. Istanbul: Hiperyayın.
  • Sayın, Ayşe Betül. 2019b. “Dis/Re-Appearance of Illusion: The Quest for an Ontology of Translation Studies.” Master’s thesis. Istanbul 29 Mayıs University.
  • Snell-Hornby, Mary. (1988) 1995. Translation Studies: An Integrated Approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Sturge, Kate. 2007. Representing Others: Translation, Ethnography and the Museum. Manchester: St. Jerome.
  • Tanin. 1914. “Bir İngiliz Edibesi Nazarında Türkiye ve Türk Kadınları.” [Turkey and Turkish women in the eyes of an English authoress.] February 4.
  • Toury, Gideon. 1982. “A Rationale for Descriptive Translation Studies.” Dispositio 7 (19–21): 23–39.
  • Toury, Gideon. 2012. Descriptive Translation Studies — and Beyond. 2nd expanded ed. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. First published 1995.
  • Tymoczko, Maria. 2000. “Translations of Themselves: The Contours of Postcolonial Fiction.” In Changing the Terms: Translating in the Postcolonial Era, edited by Sherry Simon and Paul St-Pierre, 147–163. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.
  • Tymoczko, Maria. 2014. Translation in a Postcolonial Context: Early Irish Literature in English Translation. London: Routledge.
  • Venuti, Lawrence. 2004. The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London: Routledge.

“Illusion” in the Postcolonial Context: Translation Studies Still in Need of a Metalanguage or the Understated Lack of Ontology of Science

Year 2019, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 180 - 203, 31.12.2019
https://doi.org/10.29228/transLogos.18

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to trace the recurrent metaphor of ‘illusion’ in translation studies. Starting with the pioneering work of Jiří Levý titled The Art of Translation (Umění překladu [1963]), the optical metaphors for the subject matter of studies on translation reflect an ambiguity about the ontology of translation studies. Yet, this ambiguity does not remain in the theoretical sphere and apparently, translates into the very practices of the publishers. Prefaces and critiques by publishing houses and the translators’ footnotes in the paratexts suggest an ever-increasing demand for translations that ‘mirror’ the source work. In this respect, the back translations of ethnographic works and semi-ethnographic travelogues provide fertile ground for exploring the boundaries of conceptual determinism in translation theory. After an inquiry on the shifting points of reference between translation norms and illusion, this descriptive study analyzes the Turkish translation of An Englishwoman in a Turkish Harem (1915), a semi-ethnographic work pointing to other works of dubious origin. By considering this translation that is claimed by the publishing house to have been transferred almost unmediated as a product of back translation, the present study illustrates the underlying stance of the seemingly divergent points of view on designations and metaphors for translation (i.e., illusion) in terms of translation studies as an autonomous field of ‘proper’ social science. Hence, this study ultimately aims to reveal that the ambiguity about the concept of translation overlooks the underlying ontology(ies) of science of translation.

References

  • Alimen, Nilüfer. 2019. “Batı’nın Doğu Çevirisi Olarak Oryantalizm ve Oryantalist Metinlerin Türkçeye Çevirileri.” [Orientalism as the West’s translation of the East and translation of Orientalist texts into Turkish.] In Çeviribilimde Araştırmalar [Research in Translation Studies], edited by Seda Taş, 59–92. Istanbul: Hiperyayın.
  • Armstrong, William. n.d. “An English Kemalist in Anatolia, 1922.” Hürriyet Daily News. Accessed July 5, 2019. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/william-armstrong/an-english-kemalist-in-anatolia-1922-78850.
  • Baer, Ben Conisbee. 2014. “What is Special about Postcolonial Translation?” In A Companion to Translation Studies, edited by Sandra Bermann and Catherine Porter, 233–245. West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell.
  • Baydere, Muhammed. 2018a. “Çevirmenlerin Sesinden Sultan Abdülhamit Dönemini Dinlemek: Türkçede Twenty-six Years on the Bosphorus.” [Giving ear to the Abdulhamid period from translators’ voice: Twenty-six Years on the Bosphorus in Turkish.] Paper presented at the 4th Asoscongress International Symposium on Philology, Antalya, May 3–5.
  • Baydere, Muhammed. 2018b. “Geri Çevirilerde Çevirmenin İzini Sürmek.” [Following the translator’s trace in back translations.] In Çeviribilimde Güncel Tartışmalardan Kavramsal Sorgulamalara [From recent discussions to conceptual reflections in Translation Studies], edited by Seda Taş, 317–346. Istanbul: Hiperyayın.
  • Benjamin, Andrew. 2014. Translation and the Nature of Philosophy: A New Theory of Words. Oxon: Routledge.
  • Conway, Kyle. 2012. “A Conceptual and Empirical Approach to Cultural Translation.” Translation Studies 5 (3): 264–279. doi:10.1080/14781700.2012.701938.
  • Ellison, Grace. 1914. “Life in the Harem.” The Daily Telegraph. January 24–February 6.
  • Ellison, Grace. 1915. An Englishwoman in a Turkish Harem. London: Methuen.
  • Ellison, Grace. 1973. Bir İngiliz Kadını Gözüyle Kuva-i Millȋye Ankarası. Translated by İbrahim S. Turek. Istanbul: Milliyet.
  • Ellison, Grace. 1999. Ankara’da Bir İngiliz Kadını. Translated by Osman Olcay. Ankara: Bilgi.
  • Ellison, Grace. (2009) 2017. İstanbul’da Bir Konak ve Yeni Kadınlar: İngiliz Kadın Gazetecinin Gözüyle Türk Evi ve Gündelik Hayat [A mansion in Istanbul and new women: Turkish home and daily life in the eyes of a British woman journalist]. Translated by Neşe Akın. Istanbul: Dergâh.
  • Gentzler, Edwin. 1990. “Contemporary Translation Theory.” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University.
  • Gentzler, Edwin. 2001. Contemporary Translation Theories. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
  • Günbaş, Ahmet. 2000. “Bir ‘İngiliz Kadını’nın Anlattıkları.” [Things an “English woman” narrates.] Cumhuriyet Kitap, July 27.
  • Güneş, Alper Zafer. 2018. “Translated in Translation Studies.” transLogos Translation Studies Journal 1 (1): 1–24. doi:10.29228/transLogos.1/1.6.
  • Güneş, Alper Zafer. 2019. “The Problem of Pseudo-problems in Translation Studies.” Paper presented at the 2nd International Rumeli [Language, Literature, Translation] Symposium, Kırklareli, April 12–13.
  • Hekimoğlu, Müşerref. 1999. “Ankara’da Bir İngiliz Kadını.” [An English woman in Ankara.] Cumhuriyet Dergi, June 27.
  • Hermans, Theo. 2009. Translation in Systems: Descriptive and System-Oriented Approaches Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome.
  • Holmes, James S. 1988. Translated! Papers on Literary Translation and Translation Studies. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
  • Koller, Werner. 1995. “The Concept of Equivalence and the Object of Translation Studies.” Target 7 (2): 191–222. doi:10.1075/target.7.2.02kol.
  • Koyuncu, Nurhan. 1993. “1908-1914 Yılları Arasında Tanin Gazetesinde Çıkan Edebî Yazıların Toplanması, Latin Harflerine Çevrilmesi ve İncelenmesi.” [Collection of literary articles published in Tanin between 1908-1914, translation into Latin alphabet and analysis.] Master’s thesis. Hacettepe University.
  • Levý, Jiří. 2011. The Art of Translation. Translated by Patrick Corness. Edited by Zuzana Jettmarová. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Nur, Rıza, and Grace Ellison. 2007. İlk Meclisin Perde Arkası (1920-1923). Translated by Ö. Andaç Uğurlu. Istanbul: Örgün.
  • Pratt, Mary Louise, Birgit Wagner, Ovidi Carbonell i Cortés, Andrew Chesterman, and Maria Tymoczko. 2010. “Translation Studies Forum: Cultural Translation.” Translation Studies 3 (1): 94–110. doi:10.1080/14781700903338706.
  • Pym, Anthony. 1995. “European Translation Studies, Une science qui dérange, and Why Equivalence Needn’t Be a Dirty Word.” TTR 8 (1): 153–176. doi:10.7202/037200ar.
  • Pym, Anthony. 2008. “On Indeterminacy in Translation: A Survey of Western Theories.” Unpublished manuscript. PDF File. http://usuaris.tinet.cat/apym/on-line/translation/2008_%20Indeterminacy.pdf.
  • Quella-Villéger, Alain. 2014. Haremden Kaçanlar: İstanbul’da Bir Devlet Meselesi ve Feminizm [Fugitives from harem: A state affair and feminism in Istanbul]. Translated by Aysel Bora. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi.
  • Robinson, Douglas. 2014. Translation and Empire: Postcolonial Theories Explained. London: Routledge.
  • Sayın, Ayşe Betül. 2019a. “Çevirinin Yuvaya Dönüşü: Sömürgecilik Sonrası Çeviri Kuramında ‘Metinsiz Geri Çeviriler.’” [The return of the native: “Textless back translations” in postcolonial Translation Studies.] In Çeviribilimde Araştırmalar [Research in Translation Studies], edited by Seda Taş, 235–250. Istanbul: Hiperyayın.
  • Sayın, Ayşe Betül. 2019b. “Dis/Re-Appearance of Illusion: The Quest for an Ontology of Translation Studies.” Master’s thesis. Istanbul 29 Mayıs University.
  • Snell-Hornby, Mary. (1988) 1995. Translation Studies: An Integrated Approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Sturge, Kate. 2007. Representing Others: Translation, Ethnography and the Museum. Manchester: St. Jerome.
  • Tanin. 1914. “Bir İngiliz Edibesi Nazarında Türkiye ve Türk Kadınları.” [Turkey and Turkish women in the eyes of an English authoress.] February 4.
  • Toury, Gideon. 1982. “A Rationale for Descriptive Translation Studies.” Dispositio 7 (19–21): 23–39.
  • Toury, Gideon. 2012. Descriptive Translation Studies — and Beyond. 2nd expanded ed. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. First published 1995.
  • Tymoczko, Maria. 2000. “Translations of Themselves: The Contours of Postcolonial Fiction.” In Changing the Terms: Translating in the Postcolonial Era, edited by Sherry Simon and Paul St-Pierre, 147–163. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.
  • Tymoczko, Maria. 2014. Translation in a Postcolonial Context: Early Irish Literature in English Translation. London: Routledge.
  • Venuti, Lawrence. 2004. The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London: Routledge.
There are 39 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Language Studies
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Ayşe Betül Sayın 0000-0002-8251-697X

Publication Date December 31, 2019
Published in Issue Year 2019 Volume: 2 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Sayın, A. B. (2019). “Illusion” in the Postcolonial Context: Translation Studies Still in Need of a Metalanguage or the Understated Lack of Ontology of Science. TransLogos Translation Studies Journal, 2(2), 180-203. https://doi.org/10.29228/transLogos.18
AMA Sayın AB. “Illusion” in the Postcolonial Context: Translation Studies Still in Need of a Metalanguage or the Understated Lack of Ontology of Science. transLogos Translation Studies Journal. December 2019;2(2):180-203. doi:10.29228/transLogos.18
Chicago Sayın, Ayşe Betül. “‘Illusion’ in the Postcolonial Context: Translation Studies Still in Need of a Metalanguage or the Understated Lack of Ontology of Science”. TransLogos Translation Studies Journal 2, no. 2 (December 2019): 180-203. https://doi.org/10.29228/transLogos.18.
EndNote Sayın AB (December 1, 2019) “Illusion” in the Postcolonial Context: Translation Studies Still in Need of a Metalanguage or the Understated Lack of Ontology of Science. transLogos Translation Studies Journal 2 2 180–203.
IEEE A. B. Sayın, “‘Illusion’ in the Postcolonial Context: Translation Studies Still in Need of a Metalanguage or the Understated Lack of Ontology of Science”, transLogos Translation Studies Journal, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 180–203, 2019, doi: 10.29228/transLogos.18.
ISNAD Sayın, Ayşe Betül. “‘Illusion’ in the Postcolonial Context: Translation Studies Still in Need of a Metalanguage or the Understated Lack of Ontology of Science”. transLogos Translation Studies Journal 2/2 (December 2019), 180-203. https://doi.org/10.29228/transLogos.18.
JAMA Sayın AB. “Illusion” in the Postcolonial Context: Translation Studies Still in Need of a Metalanguage or the Understated Lack of Ontology of Science. transLogos Translation Studies Journal. 2019;2:180–203.
MLA Sayın, Ayşe Betül. “‘Illusion’ in the Postcolonial Context: Translation Studies Still in Need of a Metalanguage or the Understated Lack of Ontology of Science”. TransLogos Translation Studies Journal, vol. 2, no. 2, 2019, pp. 180-03, doi:10.29228/transLogos.18.
Vancouver Sayın AB. “Illusion” in the Postcolonial Context: Translation Studies Still in Need of a Metalanguage or the Understated Lack of Ontology of Science. transLogos Translation Studies Journal. 2019;2(2):180-203.