CLINA
An Interdisciplinary Journal of Translation,
Interpreting and Intercultural Communication
Revista Interdisciplinaria de Traducción, Interpretación y Comunicación Intercultural
PLEASE VISIT CLINA WEBSITE FOR UPDATES AND MORE INFORMATION
http://diarium.usal.es/revistaclina/
[email protected]
CLINA publishes articles and reviews on translation, interpreting and
intercultural communication in two monographic issues per year with
accepted proposals after a double-blind review process.
PERIODICITY OF CLINA: TWO ISSUES PER YEAR
LENGTH OF ARTICLES: 6,000-8,000 words (all inclusive)
LENGTH OF REVIEWS: 2,000-2,500 (all inclusive)
LANGUAGES OF THE JOURNAL: ENGLISH AND SPANISH
CURRENT CALL FOR PAPERS (to be published in 2016)
DEADLINE: 30 SEPTEMBER 2015
SHAMMA, TAREK (ed.). Arabic literature in translation: Politics and poetics
Arabic literature, declared Edward Said in 1990, “remains relatively unknown and unread in the
West, for reasons that are unique, even remarkable.” More than twenty years later, it is hard to
say that the situation has remained the same: there has been a notable rise in the quantity of
Arabic literary works available in several European languages. Yet, considering the increased
interest in Arab and Muslim societies following various political events and the remarkable growth
of Arabic literature (especially the novel) in recent years, it is rather surprising that translating and
publishing Arabic literature in European languages is often seen as something of a gamble.
Whether it is their illustrative social value, exotic appeal, or confirmation of established political
views or representations, the translation of Arabic literary works has often had to be justified in
terms other than those of aesthetic merit or literary value. This intersection of literary and sociopolitical factors is one of the main questions this collection aims to investigate.
The proposed special issue will explore the current status of translated Arabic literature in Europe
and North America from various angles. The aim is to examine the factors influencing the selection
of works for translation, and the choices and dilemmas facing translators and publishers in the
process of transporting Arabic literary works into a new environment. The editor is especially
interested in the combination of literary, social, and political elements that play out in the
selection, translation, framing, publication, and reception of Arabic works.
We welcome contributions that benefit from recent research in translation studies, especially those
engaging critically with traditional paradigms in translation theory or scholarship on Arabic
literature.
Themes to be addressed may include but are not restricted to the following:










What factors influence the selection of an Arabic literary work for translation?
Do translators (in anticipation of publishers’ demands or readers’ expectations) foreground,
or exaggerate, particular stylistic or thematic aspects in the works they translate? And
what strategies do they use for this purpose?
Have recent political developments in the Middle East and globally (the 9/11 attacks, the
invasion of and withdrawal from Iraq, the “Arab Spring”), and the ensuing interest in the
culture and politics of the Arab World, had any impact on the perception of Arabic
literature and the conditions surrounding its translation?
How valid are the conventional paradigms of Orientalism and exoticism in understanding
current translator choices and audience reactions in European languages?
To what extent are Arab institutions, intellectuals, and writers themselves to blame for
perpetuating the marginalization of Arabic literature in the global arena?
Does Edward Said’s description of Arabic literature as “embargoed” still illustrate (if it did
in the first place) the way Arabic literature is being treated by translators, publishers, and
readers? Is there a deliberate intent, as Said stated, to “interdict any attention to texts that
do not reiterate the usual clichés about ‘Islam,’ violence, sensuality and so forth”?
To what extent do the conditions and modes of reception of translations from Arabic differ
across audiences and countries?
In what ways could the prospect of being selected for translation into a European language
influence an Arab writer’s choice of style and theme?
Are the conditions in which Arabic literature is translated and received comparable to
those governing the reception of literary works from other marginalized communities,
especially “Third World” countries?
Recent years have seen a growing number of immigrant Arab authors writing in excolonial languages, such as English and French. Has this phenomenon had any effect on the
perception of Arabic literary works, their selection for translation, or readers’ expectations?
HARDING, SUE-ANN (ed.). Narrative, Social Narrative Theory and
Translation Studies
Ever since Mona Baker’s ground-breaking monograph, Translation and Conflict: A Narrative
Account (Routledge, 2006), there has been a growing interest, particularly amongst emerging
scholars, in the use of social narrative theory as a conceptual and analytical tool for the
investigation of translation, translations and translators. The diversity of applications in the field of
translation and interpreting studies, including the areas of activism and social networks,
fansubbing, geo-politics, global and online media, literature, localization, theatre studies, refugee
and asylum studies, violent political conflict etc., is demonstrative of the rich potential of social
narrative theory to interrogate and explain the purposes, effects and consequences of translation
in our world(s). At the same time, there remains a need to thoroughly and critically engage with
the theory itself, in order for it to become an ever more refined and coherent tool. The work of the
communication theorists on which Baker first drew (e.g. Somers and Gibson, Bruner, and Fisher),
as well as related theories such as complexity theory, metaphor, network theory and, of course,
narratology, have much to offer to social narrative in terms of vocabulary, concepts and
definitions.
This special issue aims to bring together the most recent scholarship in translation, interpreting and
intercultural studies that draws explicitly on narrative and the tools of social narrative theory. We
are interested in, and welcome, contributions that apply social narrative theory to new data, that
use new methodologies in the application of the theory, and that not only use social-narrative
theory as an analytical tool but also engage with and develop the theory itself, seeking to deepen
and expand on the models already explored in the literature. In addition, we are also very
interested in the work of narrative scholars who may not necessarily identify with the field of
translation studies but are, nevertheless, working with translations, translators and/or intercultural
communication.
DE STERCK, GOEDELE & VERMEULEN, ANNA (eds.). Translation and
interpretation of smaller languages in the EU
The European Union currently has 24 official languages spoken throughout its 28 Member States.
The EU multilingualism policy is unique in the world. Although all official languages enjoy equal
status, it is well known that some are more equal than others, especially from a political, social
and economic point of view. In fact, the three core languages of the European Union are English,
French, and German, with English being the dominant language, the lingua franca. According to
the Special Eurobarometer 386: Europeans and their Languages (2012), it is the most widely
spoken language, whereas the most widely spoken mother tongue is German (16%), followed by
Italian and English (13% each), French (12%), and Spanish and Polish (8% each). In terms of
number of native speakers, these six languages usually are considered to be 'big' languages, as
compared to all other languages, generally referred to as 'relatively small' or 'small languages'.
How does the aforementioned state of play affect translation and interpretation from and into
smaller languages in the EU context? The proposed special issue seeks to shed some light on the
challenges and opportunities arising from this particular situation. As it is impossible to deal with
all "smaller" languages within the scope of this volume, we aim to focus on one of them, assuming
that the findings may apply, at least to some extent, to the others. The final choice has fallen on
Dutch, which could be defined as a kind of "in-between" language in so far as it concerns a
'relatively small' European language and a 'small global language' in the words of The Dutch
Language Union. About 23 million people (in the Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname, Aruba,
Curaçao and Sint Maarten) speak Dutch as a mother tongue. For the purpose of this publication,
we will refer to European Dutch only.
The proposed special issue will explore the current status of translation and interpretation from
and into Dutch in the European context. The aim is to examine the linguistic and extralinguistic
factors influencing quality and quantity of oral and written translation as well as translation and
interpretation process, product and methodology in an intercultural setting.
In order to achieve a comprehensive overview, we welcome contributions that benefit from recent
research in the field of interpretation, literary translation, specialised translation (legal, economic,
scientific, technical, medical, audiovisual, localisation, etc.), terminology and translation,
technology and translation, corpus use and translation, from and into Dutch and from a
theoretical or/and an empirical perspective.
Themes to be addressed may include but are not restricted to the following:







What are the current trends in interpretation from and into Dutch, with special attention
paid to intercultural mediation and community interpretation?
What factors influence the selection of a Dutch/Flemish literary work for translation? Do
translators adapt their translations in anticipation of publishers’ demands or readers’
expectations? Which strategies do they use?
How do translators deal with language variety (Belgium Dutch vs. Netherlandic Dutch)
and cultural diversity (hybridisation)? For example, in the particular case of audiovisual
translation or the translation of literary works written in Dutch by immigrant authors.
Is there still any need for scientific and technical translation or should we speak of a critical
shift to English-only? Should a distinction be made between specialised discourse and
popularisation?
What are the most recent terminology tools in Dutch? Is there still any need for specialised
bilingual or multilingual glossaries? How do institutions, scientists, technicians, journalists
and translators deal with neologisms?
What are the most recent findings based on parallel corpora?
Industrial developers of language technology tend to focus their efforts on the major
languages because of their economic potential and the larger target market. What are the
consequences for the development of Dutch language technology?