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Chapter 3. We are all translators

Investigating the human ability to translate from a developmental perspective
  • Bogusława Whyatt
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Non-professional Interpreting and Translation
This chapter is in the book Non-professional Interpreting and Translation

Abstract

This paper shares some observations and data about the human ability to translate as described in detail in Whyatt (2012). Setting off from an assumption that the human mind is intrinsically a translating mind, the human ability to translate can be viewed in its developmental continuum from the predisposition to translate to expertise in translation. Choosing this developmental perspective has a number of assets. First, it allows encompassing all the forms and facets of translation as a widespread social phenomenon in today’s multilingual and multicultural communities. Second, it allows seeing the development of the human ability to translate in response to the experience of translation in which external social factors come to interact with cognitive factors within the translating individual. Third, it encourages an all-inclusive approach to the study of translation as a human ability performed by professional and frequently invisible and unacknowledged non-professional translators.

Abstract

This paper shares some observations and data about the human ability to translate as described in detail in Whyatt (2012). Setting off from an assumption that the human mind is intrinsically a translating mind, the human ability to translate can be viewed in its developmental continuum from the predisposition to translate to expertise in translation. Choosing this developmental perspective has a number of assets. First, it allows encompassing all the forms and facets of translation as a widespread social phenomenon in today’s multilingual and multicultural communities. Second, it allows seeing the development of the human ability to translate in response to the experience of translation in which external social factors come to interact with cognitive factors within the translating individual. Third, it encourages an all-inclusive approach to the study of translation as a human ability performed by professional and frequently invisible and unacknowledged non-professional translators.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introducing NPIT studies 1
  4. Part 1. State of the art of research on NPIT and general issues
  5. Chapter 2. Unprofessional translation 29
  6. Chapter 3. We are all translators 45
  7. Chapter 4. Dialoguing across differences 65
  8. Part 2. NPIT in healthcare, community and public services
  9. Chapter 5. Intercultural mediation and “(non)professional” interpreting in Italian healthcare institutions 83
  10. Chapter 6. More than mere translators 107
  11. Chapter 7. Issues of terminology in public service interpreting 131
  12. Chapter 8. From confinement to community service 157
  13. Chapter 9. The role and self-regulation of non-professional interpreters in religious settings 177
  14. Chapter 10. Simultaneous interpreting and religious experience 195
  15. Chapter 11. Beyond the professional scope? 213
  16. Chapter 12. Language-related disaster relief in Haiti 231
  17. Part 3. NPIT performed by children
  18. Chapter 13. Bilingual youngsters’ perceptions of their role as family interpreters 259
  19. Chapter 14. Child language brokers’ representations of parent–child relationships 281
  20. Chapter 15. Child language brokering in private and public settings 295
  21. Chapter 16. Through the children’s voice 315
  22. Chapter 17. Seeing brokering in bright colours 337
  23. Chapter 18. Language brokering 359
  24. Chapter 19. Not just child’s play 381
  25. Index 411
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.129.03why

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introducing NPIT studies 1
  4. Part 1. State of the art of research on NPIT and general issues
  5. Chapter 2. Unprofessional translation 29
  6. Chapter 3. We are all translators 45
  7. Chapter 4. Dialoguing across differences 65
  8. Part 2. NPIT in healthcare, community and public services
  9. Chapter 5. Intercultural mediation and “(non)professional” interpreting in Italian healthcare institutions 83
  10. Chapter 6. More than mere translators 107
  11. Chapter 7. Issues of terminology in public service interpreting 131
  12. Chapter 8. From confinement to community service 157
  13. Chapter 9. The role and self-regulation of non-professional interpreters in religious settings 177
  14. Chapter 10. Simultaneous interpreting and religious experience 195
  15. Chapter 11. Beyond the professional scope? 213
  16. Chapter 12. Language-related disaster relief in Haiti 231
  17. Part 3. NPIT performed by children
  18. Chapter 13. Bilingual youngsters’ perceptions of their role as family interpreters 259
  19. Chapter 14. Child language brokers’ representations of parent–child relationships 281
  20. Chapter 15. Child language brokering in private and public settings 295
  21. Chapter 16. Through the children’s voice 315
  22. Chapter 17. Seeing brokering in bright colours 337
  23. Chapter 18. Language brokering 359
  24. Chapter 19. Not just child’s play 381
  25. Index 411
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