Study presented at "PASE Conference 2015" held at the University of Wroclaw

1. PASE CONFERENCE 2015PASE CONFERENCE 2015
Translatio Doctoral ForumTranslatio Doctoral Forum
University of WroclawUniversity of Wroclaw
PhD Candidate: Jessica MarianiPhD Candidate: Jessica Mariani
University of VeronaUniversity of Verona

2. JESSICA MARIANI
PhD in English Language and Translation
University of Verona
Research Project
News Translation in European Context:
Building a European Perspective
Master Degree in Publishing and Journalism
Journalist @ Hotpress Magazine
Press Intern @ European Parliament Press Unit
DG Communication Brussels
Contacts:
jessica.mariani@univr.it
Twitter: @MarianiJS

3. Mediating Languages and Cultures
New Approaches
to Research in Translation Studies

4. Translating “loaded” language in the EU
Political Discourse Analysis meets
News Translation

5. Research Study OverviewResearch Study Overview
Intro: The Evolution of TS as a
discipline
News Translation: the emergence of
translated news
The EU Context and its multilingual
framework
Investigating Translated News through
CDA
Case Study
MEPs Political Statements in
Translation

6. Translation StudiesTranslation Studies
Interdisciplinarity

7. Translation Studies emerged as anTranslation Studies emerged as an
academic discipline in theacademic discipline in the
second half of the 20second half of the 20thth
centurycentury
Why?Why?
Growing necessity for translation andGrowing necessity for translation and
interpreting in a variety of domainsinterpreting in a variety of domains
Globalization EU growingGlobalization EU growing
importanceimportance

8. Translation
linguistic discipline
a process of meaning transfer via
linguistic transcoding
Science of Translation?
Nida 1964
Linguistic theory of
T.?
Catford 1965
Equivalence between
signs and combinations
in the ST and TT
Hatim and Mason: “The Translator as Communicator”
Translation as a purposeful activity and a
communicative action
Functionalist Approach
Vermeer (1978), Nord (1997) Skopos
Theory

9. TRANSLATIONTRANSLATION
PragmaticsPragmatics
Text LinguisticsText Linguistics
Discourse AnalysisDiscourse Analysis
SociolinguisticsSociolinguistics
Communication StudiesCommunication Studies
Three ApproachesThree Approaches
Theoretical Ts = product-orientedTheoretical Ts = product-oriented
Descriptive TS = function-orientedDescriptive TS = function-oriented
Applied TS = process-orientedApplied TS = process-oriented
1970

10. Susan Bassnett
Translation Studies
(2013)
““TS has reached a cross-roads and needs to reach outTS has reached a cross-roads and needs to reach out
to other disciplines, taking advantage of what isto other disciplines, taking advantage of what is
being hailed by some as a translational turn withinbeing hailed by some as a translational turn within
the humanities in general. I believe we insidethe humanities in general. I believe we inside
translation studies need to look outwards, totranslation studies need to look outwards, to
promote some of the excellent research inpromote some of the excellent research in
translation studies more effectively to ourtranslation studies more effectively to our
colleagues, to engage more in interdisciplinary,colleagues, to engage more in interdisciplinary,
collaborative projects”.collaborative projects”.

11. News Translation: are we well informed?
News Translation: are we wellNews Translation: are we well
informedinformed?

12. TS and Journalism Studies
Major academic productMajor academic product
Bielsa & BassnettBielsa & Bassnett
““Translation in Global News”Translation in Global News”
(2008)(2008)
International Conference atInternational Conference at
University of WarwickUniversity of Warwick
(23(23rdrd
June 2006)June 2006)

13. News Translation is identified as a collective
effort
(Kang-2007) made by media professionals
Three-phase Information Flow Process
Institution/Organization Press Service
Press Service Media
Media Readership

14. Who is the News Translator?
Journalists do not define themselves as translators
They usually identify themselves as
INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISTS
MULTILINGUAL JOURNALISTS
Translator's activity:
invisible practice in newsrooms
hardly ever reported
automatic practice in reporting the news
Linguistic News Practices
Interaction between journalists, checkers, editors

15. Academics have defined News
Translators as
Trans-editors (Stetting - 1989)
Trans-reporters (Caimotto)
What about moving towards...
Journalinguists?
Strong Linguistics Skills
+
News-Sense

16. Practices and Strategies in News Translation
Filtering Selection Addition
Omission Adaptation Neutralisation
Explicitation Focalisation Recontextualization

17. Why Researching News Translation?
Translation strategies might mitigate or reinforce
political or ideological tensions
Influenced by ideologies and values upheld
by Media Institutions
Translation takes place across linguistic and
socio-cultural patterns that can alter the semantics
of words and provoke fact distortion
Sapir (1956) Theory about linguistic difference:
“No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be
considered as representing the same social reality. The
words in which different societies live are distinct worlds,
not merely the same world with different labels attached”

18. Translation Politics and Politics ofTranslation Politics and Politics of
TranslationsTranslations
The EU Context: the EP Press ServiceThe EU Context: the EP Press Service

20. DG COMMUNICATION
PRESS SERVICE
MEDIA MONITORING
UNIT
WEB COMM
AUDIOVISUAL UNIT

21. HEAD OF THE
PRESS UNIT
COORDINATOR
4 SPOKESPERSONS
1 ASSISTANT
Coordinator
ECON (2)
ENVI
ITRE
EMPL
IMCO
Coordinator
AGRI
PECH
REGI
CULT
TRAN
Coordinator
AFCO
LIBE (2)
JURI
PETI (2)
FEMM
Coordinator
AFET
INTA
SEDE
DROI
DEVE
BUDGET
CONT
2 English
Editors
Language Assistants
Stagiaires
(every 5
months)

22. 23 Official Languages
One Press Officer per Language
A Press Officer writes and translates Press Releases
from English into his/her own mother tongue
Text Types
Press Releases: Committee meetings, Plenary
Sessions
Newsletters: before Plenary Sessions
Press Kit: constantly updated

23. Two main EU working languages:
English and French
Legislative Texts and Documents are translated by
professional translators working for
EP DG TRANSLATION
at least in
English and French
Why?
At the moment there are not enough economic
resources to translate all legislative documents in all
23 EU languages

24. Newsletters
Before Plenary Sessions N. are ALWAYS translated
by the EP Press Officers in all 23 EU Languages
N. are published on the EP website and
N. are sent to journalists
Supporting roles for translations:
Language Assistants (not for all)
Stagiaires with strong linguistic background
Employers of the Web Communication Department

25. Press Releases
Plenary Session: translated in all 23 EU languages
Committee Meetings Newsworthiness
Top Priority PR: published on the EP website
Secondary PR: Sent to Journalists
No PR? Tweets

26. Source Texts
(PR and Newsletters)
ALWAYS in the ENGLISH VERSION
WRITTEN BY NON-NATIVE PRESS OFFICERS
ALWAYS checked by 2 ENGLISH EDITORS
Changes are transparent and visible
And then re-translated in all 23 EU languages (NS)
More than one translator for the same text to check
The EP Press Unit translation system relies on
ENGLISH NATIVE EDITORS

27. Writing a Press Release
How to choose the right terminology?
Consulting with the English and French versions of
Legislative Texts and Amendments sent by
Parties Secretariats to Press Officers
Translated by PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS
How to speed up the Process?
Google Translate

28. News Translation in the EP goes through multiple
steps
Equivalence is essential
Mistakes are not tolerated
Does it happen in newsrooms too??
WE NEED MORE INVESTIGATIONS TO UNVEIL
TRANSLATION PROCESSES IN NEWSROOMS

29. Investigating EU translated news texts
through CDA/PDA
Possible? Yes.

30. Bielsa (2009:14) observes:
“The important role played by translation in the
production and circulation of global information
flows has been fundamentally neglected, and this
has led to the assumption that information can
circulate unaltered across different linguistic
communities and cultures”

31. The application of CDA to
translated news texts
1. The translation is considered
as part of the production process
2. The discursive and social
practices of the Source and Target
Texts are linked to their
respective texts
3. The analysis is based on the
analytical tools provided by
Translation Studies

32. Forerunner: FAIRCLOUGH
Texts explicitly or implicitly recontextualize elements
from previous texts
EXTERNAL
Relationship between a
text
And other texts
INTERNAL
Referring to the semantic,
Grammatical and Lexical
features
within the a text
Centrality of INTERTEXTUALITY

33. LIBE (Civil Liberties) Commitee
In the Chair: British MEP Claude Moraes
Press release - Fundamental rights - 12-03-2014 – 12:51
LINK: http://bit.ly/1iA2YYa
EN
US NSA: stop mass surveillance now or face consequences,
MEPs say
IT
NSA: stop immediato alla sorveglianza di massa o
conseguenze, affermano i deputati
ES
EE.UU. debe poner fin al espionaje masivo o afrontar las
consecuencias, advierte el PE

34. Political Statements
Who translates political statements quoted in PRs?
MEPs express themselves in English/French or in their own
EU language
Press Officers take notes on what It's being said during the
meeting
The statement can go through interpretation
How can Press Officers be sure that they won't
misunderstand what MEPs say?
MEPs Secretariats send statements perfectly translated by
professional translators to Press Officers
EU Journalists tend to report the exact quotes

35. Moraes statement in the English, Italian and Spanish
version of the EP Press Release
"The Snowden revelations gave us a chance to react. I hope we will turn those reactions
into something positive and lasting into the next mandate of this Parliament, a data
protection bill of rights that we can all be proud of", said Civil Liberties inquiry rapporteur
Claude Moraes (S&D, UK).
"Le rivelazioni di Snowden ci hanno dato la possibilità di reagire. Spero che
trasformeremo quelle reazioni in qualcosa di positivo e duraturo nel prossimo mandato del
Parlamento, in una legislazione sulla protezione dei dati di cui tutti possiamo essere
orgogliosi", ha detto il relatore Claude Moraes (S&D, UK).
"Las revelaciones de Edward Snowden nos han dado la oportunidad de reaccionar.
Espero que convirtamos esta reacción en algo positivo y duradero para el próximo
mandato del Parlamento: una carta de derechos para la privacidad de la que podamos
estar orgullosos", recalcó el ponente del texto, el laborista británico Claude Moraes.
Recalcar (ES) = stress (EN) = sottolineare (IT) vs Say (EN), dire (it), DECIR (ES)
Slight change in choosing the verb BUT no change in meaning

36. What did the Media do in this case?
EN
The Inquirer: same quote http://bit.ly/1gm13Dj
New Europe: same quote http://bit.ly/1Ev6Wuy
IT
Euractiv.it: same quote http://bit.ly/1qw4Yla
ES
Confirmasistemas.es same quote http://bit.ly/1FGOdOe
These are THE ONLY MEDIA who kept the same quote
The others did not cover the topic or implemented news
translation strategies
Topic is quite sensitive

37. Conclusive Remarks
The EP translation system
CDA/PDA is very useful to investigate News Translation and
unveil processes behind translation practices
The European Parliament News Translation system strives for
EQUIVALENCE and PRECISION
NEWSROOMS, due to the fast workload and the decreasing
economic resources, do not GENERALLY employ
professional translators or language assistants
MULTILINGUAL JOURNALISTS must rely on their skills
The risk? Biased information, imprecisions, misinformation

38. Dziękuję za uwagę!
Thank you for your attention!