Translating the Multilingual City: Cross-lingual Practices and Language Ideology

180 Pages·2013·1.187 MB·

by  Tong-King Lee

New Trends in Translation Studies New Trends in Translation Studies
Vol. 8
Translation is a textual and discursive practice embedded in competing
cultural identities and language ideologies; it is a site through which we
can observe the operations and implications of language power. In this
T
regard, multilingual societies provide fertile ground for the exploration o
n
of translation practice from the perspective of sociolinguistic tension. g Translating the
-
K

i
n
This book examines the relationship between translation-mediated g
Multilingual City

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multi-literate practice and language ideology in multilingual Singapore. e
e
It problematises literary translation in light of the power relation be-

tween the official languages in the city-state, with special emphasis on •

English and Chinese. Based on published translations and multilingual
T
r
anthologies, it investigates the implications of such power relations a Cross-lingual Practices
n
for intercultural communication through translation. The book also s
l
a
discusses how the translational problems that accrue from language t and Language Ideology
i
n
ideology may contribute to a nuanced understanding of cross-lingual g

practice and to the realisation of intercultural knowledge in multilingual th
e
Singapore.
M
u
l
t Tong-King Lee
i
l
i
n
g
u
a
l

C
i
t
y
Tong-King Lee is an assistant professor in translation at the University of
Hong Kong.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0850-2
Peter Lang
www.peterlang.com
New Trends in T ranslation Studies New Trends in T ranslation Studies
Vol. 8
Translation is a textual and discursive practice embedded in competing
cultural identities and language ideologies; it is a site through which we
can observe the operations and implications of language power. In this
T
regard, multilingual societies provide fertile ground for the exploration o
n
of translation practice from the perspective of sociolinguistic tension. g Translating the
-
K

i
n
This book examines the relationship between translation-mediated g
Multilingual City

L
multi-literate practice and language ideology in multilingual Singapore. e
e
It problematises literary translation in light of the power relation be-

tween the official languages in the city-state, with special emphasis on •

English and Chinese. Based on published translations and multilingual
T
r
anthologies, it investigates the implications of such power relations a Cross-lingual Practices
n
for intercultural communication through translation. The book also s
l
a
discusses how the translational problems that accrue from language t and Language Ideology
i
n
ideology may contribute to a nuanced understanding of cross-lingual g

practice and to the realisation of intercultural knowledge in multilingual th
e
Singapore.
M
u
l
t Tong-King Lee
i
l
i
n
g
u
a
l

C
i
t
y
Tong-King Lee is an assistant professor in translation at the University of
Hong Kong.
Peter Lang
www.peterlang.com
Translating the Multilingual City
New Trends in Translation Studies
Volume 8
Series Editor:
Dr Jorge Díaz Cintas
Advisory Board:
Professor Susan Bassnett
Dr Lynne Bowker
Professor Frederic Chaume
Professor Aline Remael
PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
Translating the
Multilingual City
Cross-lingual Practices
and Language Ideology
Tong-King Lee
PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National-
bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013932943
ISSN 1664-249X
ISBN 978-3-0343-0850-2 (print)
ISBN 978-3-0353-0459-6 (eBook)
© Peter Lang AG, International Academic Publishers, Bern 2013
Hochfeldstrasse 32, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
[email protected], www.peterlang.com, www.peterlang.net
All rights reserved.
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Printed in Germany
Contents
List of Figures and Tables vii
Preface ix
Chapter 1
Language Ideological Relations and the Problem of Translation 1
Chapter 2
The Bilingual Text in Translation: Paradoxes and Asymmetries 29
Chapter 3
Reading the Cultural Other in Translation 69
Chapter 4
Translation and Language Power Relations in Heterolingual
Anthologies of Literature 105
Chapter 5
Conclusion: Rethinking (Un)translatability and Intercultural
Communication 145
Bibliography 153
Index 163

List of Figures and Tables
Figure 1 Schematic representation of the translation relation
between English and mother tongue languages in mul-
tilingual literary anthologies (1985–2008) 138
Table 1 Pragmatic functions of the English language in Singapore 10
Table 2 Functional polarisation of Mandarin Chinese and
English in Singapore 11
Table 3 Most frequently spoken language at home among the
Chinese population (aged 5 and above) in Singapore
(1980–2010) 14
Table 4 The ‘one-to-one’ translation model 129
Table 5 The ‘many-to-many’ translation model 129