The “official” view on translation in Turkey
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Şehnaz Tahir Gürçağlar
Abstract
This article provides an overview of five national publishing congresses in terms of their approach to translation, all of which took place in Turkey during a seventy-year period between 1939 and 2009. Tracing the discourse formed around translation during the congresses helps contextualize the political and cultural role of translation in Turkey throughout the period in question. The results of the study reveal that while the first two congresses approached translation as a channel through which the Western intellectual background would be imported into Turkey, later congresses indicate Turkey’s growing cultural self-confidence. The first congress resulted in the establishment of the Translation Bureau, which undertook the translation of around 1000 western classics into Turkish from 1940 to 1966. The most recent congress held in 2009 was marked by the discussions on the role and scope of another government-sponsored body: TEDA, which reversed the flow of translations and focused on translations from Turkish literature into foreign languages. The analysis of the discourse in the congresses held more recently also illustrates the emerging professionalization of the field of translation.
Abstract
This article provides an overview of five national publishing congresses in terms of their approach to translation, all of which took place in Turkey during a seventy-year period between 1939 and 2009. Tracing the discourse formed around translation during the congresses helps contextualize the political and cultural role of translation in Turkey throughout the period in question. The results of the study reveal that while the first two congresses approached translation as a channel through which the Western intellectual background would be imported into Turkey, later congresses indicate Turkey’s growing cultural self-confidence. The first congress resulted in the establishment of the Translation Bureau, which undertook the translation of around 1000 western classics into Turkish from 1940 to 1966. The most recent congress held in 2009 was marked by the discussions on the role and scope of another government-sponsored body: TEDA, which reversed the flow of translations and focused on translations from Turkish literature into foreign languages. The analysis of the discourse in the congresses held more recently also illustrates the emerging professionalization of the field of translation.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- In memoriam Elif Daldeniz Baysan xi
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction 1
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Ottoman conceptions and practices of translation
- On the poetic practices of a “singularly uninventive people” and the anxiety of imitation 27
- Exploring Tercüman as a culture-bound concept in Islamic mysticism 53
- Ahmet Midhat’s Hulâsa-i Hümâyunnâme 73
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Transition and transformation
- On the evolution of the interpreting profession in Turkey 89
- Saved by translation 107
- The “official” view on translation in Turkey 125
- Translation, imported western legal frameworks and insights from the Turkish world of patents 145
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The republican revolutionary turn
- The Turkish language reform and intralingual translation 165
- John Dewey’s 1924 report on Turkish education 181
- Pseudotranslations of pseudo-scientific sex manuals in Turkey 199
- Censorship of “obscene” literary translations 219
- Ideological encounters 233
- An overview of Kurdish literature in Turkish 253
- The identity metonymics of translated Turkish fiction in English 273
- Notes on contributors 297
- Index 303
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- In memoriam Elif Daldeniz Baysan xi
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Ottoman conceptions and practices of translation
- On the poetic practices of a “singularly uninventive people” and the anxiety of imitation 27
- Exploring Tercüman as a culture-bound concept in Islamic mysticism 53
- Ahmet Midhat’s Hulâsa-i Hümâyunnâme 73
-
Transition and transformation
- On the evolution of the interpreting profession in Turkey 89
- Saved by translation 107
- The “official” view on translation in Turkey 125
- Translation, imported western legal frameworks and insights from the Turkish world of patents 145
-
The republican revolutionary turn
- The Turkish language reform and intralingual translation 165
- John Dewey’s 1924 report on Turkish education 181
- Pseudotranslations of pseudo-scientific sex manuals in Turkey 199
- Censorship of “obscene” literary translations 219
- Ideological encounters 233
- An overview of Kurdish literature in Turkish 253
- The identity metonymics of translated Turkish fiction in English 273
- Notes on contributors 297
- Index 303
