LECTURE 1:

TRANSLATION AND
MASS MEDIA Media Translation
COMMUNICATION IN
A GLOBALIZED
TRANSLATION: A DRASTIC
CHANGE
 WIDENING THE SCOPE
From late 1990s – new ways of thinking about translation and
intercultural transfer
Globalization – elimination of economic/ geographical barriers
between countries  increased interaction:
 Cross-border business negotiation
 Sale of products in overseas markets

Digitalization – move from print-based communication to the

digital world. The WWW is changing:
 Nature of communication
 The way in which a given message is transmitted, processed and stored.

This initiated a process of rethinking of the traditional concerns

of translation studies to take into account the changes in the
environment in which translators operate.
 CHANGES IN THE CONTEXT OF
TRANSLATION
Informational Global

‘The contemporary change ‘The new economy is global because the

of paradigm can be seen as
a shift from a technology
based primarily on cheap
input of energy to one
predominantly based on
cheap input of
information’ (Cronin 10)
central activities of production,
consumption and circulation, as well as
their components (capital, labour, raw
material, management, information,
markets), are organized on a global
scale, either directly or through a network
of connections between different
economic agents’ (Cronin 11)
NEW PARADIGM
This new paradigm has brought about changes to:
 the context of translation
 the conditions of translation
 the source texts
 the role of the translator
 the visibility or positioning of the translator
 MODEL OF
COMMUNICATION
(JACOBSON 353)
Context

Message
(Text)
Addresser ------------------------- Addressee
(Translator) (Audience)
Contact

Code
 1) CHANGES: THE
TRANSLATOR
Way of gathering information: Task
 Focus on how to gather relevant information/skilled in
researching and assessing sources
Way of communicating with agency, clients, informers
 Faster, more detailed, wider access and multimodal

Way of processing information

 We rely on images as well as words
 We make increasing use of information technology tools.
2) CHANGES: THE TEXT
Type of texts: From page to webpage
 Readership in unspecified (wide-range of native and non-
native speakers)
 Text is read on screen
 Text can be read in any order (depending on the hyperlink
followed)
 Source text is subject to constant updates and is perishable
(O’Hagan 14)
Handling of texts:
 Use of translation technology
 Text is segmented in smaller units
 Translator no longer has control over the whole message (
Segmentation)
3)CHANGES: THE TARGET
AUDIENCE

Is more used to have access to other languages and cultures (travel,

24 hour news)
Local concerns are affected by global events (economic as well as
political)
BUT perceived closeness can cause cross-cultural misunderstandings
 AMBIGUITY OF
GLOBALIZATION
Globalization: (See Bielsa & Bassnett chapter 2)
Slippery concept
Effects of ‘falling of borders’
Spreading of cultural ideas used across languages
Movement of people, goods, cultural and economic capital
 Brings both closeness and remoteness from other cultures
ACTIVITY

Look at the homepage of yahoo.com. If you were asked to

translate this page into your native/second language, what
changes would you be making at the level of:
 Selection of content
 Multimedia elements
 Navigation tools
 Homepage appearance
 Register and style of language
 Cultural references
THE TEXT: MULTIMODALITY
AND HYBRIDITY
Websites are multimodal texts which require awareness of cultural
difference that goes well beyond language (images, cultural symbols) and
involves different types of translation
Websites are hybrid texts in which different genres cohexist
(advertisment, information, instruction)
SOURCES

Cronin, (2003). Translation and Globalization.

London: Routledge (Chapter 1)