Chapter 8. Of places, spaces, and faces
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Deborah A. Folaron
Abstract
The contemporary translation economy of our globalizing digital world is deeply intertwined with information and communication technologies and the Internet, with the once separate sphere of machine translation lately converging more tangibly and impactfully with translation and interpreting practices as we have traditionally understood them. The decisions on what to translate, and by whom, why, where, and when, have always been conditioned by ideology, politics, economies, and the diverse power structures and dynamics at play in society. The Internet has brought with it the growth of a “parallel” world of human social and cultural practices in digital form, one where the display and dissemination of knowledge are intimately linked to the presence, visibility, and representation on the Web of one’s language and culture, both through native language use in communication and through practices of translation and localization. Analogous to material and physical territorial geographic spaces, virtual spaces reflect tensions and asymmetries of power. In this chapter we discuss these linguistic and translational relationships of asymmetry through the prism of digital world technologies and economies, and their implications for lesser-used and low- or no-resourced language groups. This discussion is followed by examples from two contexts: firstly, the broader Indigenous territorial context of First Nations peoples in Canada; and secondly, the Arctic Indigenous cross-territorial circumpolar groups of Inuit peoples in Canada.
Abstract
The contemporary translation economy of our globalizing digital world is deeply intertwined with information and communication technologies and the Internet, with the once separate sphere of machine translation lately converging more tangibly and impactfully with translation and interpreting practices as we have traditionally understood them. The decisions on what to translate, and by whom, why, where, and when, have always been conditioned by ideology, politics, economies, and the diverse power structures and dynamics at play in society. The Internet has brought with it the growth of a “parallel” world of human social and cultural practices in digital form, one where the display and dissemination of knowledge are intimately linked to the presence, visibility, and representation on the Web of one’s language and culture, both through native language use in communication and through practices of translation and localization. Analogous to material and physical territorial geographic spaces, virtual spaces reflect tensions and asymmetries of power. In this chapter we discuss these linguistic and translational relationships of asymmetry through the prism of digital world technologies and economies, and their implications for lesser-used and low- or no-resourced language groups. This discussion is followed by examples from two contexts: firstly, the broader Indigenous territorial context of First Nations peoples in Canada; and secondly, the Arctic Indigenous cross-territorial circumpolar groups of Inuit peoples in Canada.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Section I. Revisiting the foundations of asymmetry
- Chapter 1. Translating strangers 15
- Chapter 2. Negotiating asymmetry 35
- Chapter 3. Helpers, professional authority, and pathologized bodies 55
- Chapter 4. An information asymmetry framework for strategic translation policy in multinational corporations 77
- Chapter 5. Tom, Dick and Harry as well as Fido and Puss in boots are translators 101
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Section II. Unveiling the structure
- Chapter 6. Child language brokering in Swedish welfare institutions 125
- Chapter 7. Responsibility, powerlessness, and conflict 145
- Chapter 8. Of places, spaces, and faces 169
- Chapter 9. Translating values 197
- Chapter 10. EU institutional websites 227
-
Section III. Resisting asymmetries
- Chapter 11. Translation, multilingualism and power differential in contemporary African literature 255
- Chapter 12. Small yet powerful 269
- Chapter 13. Against the asymmetry of the post-Francoist canon 291
- Chapter 14. Citizens as agents of translation versions 313
- Chapter 15. (Re)locating translation within asymmetrical power dynamics 335
- Chapter 16. Agency and social responsibility in the translation of the migration crisis 361
- Index 379
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Section I. Revisiting the foundations of asymmetry
- Chapter 1. Translating strangers 15
- Chapter 2. Negotiating asymmetry 35
- Chapter 3. Helpers, professional authority, and pathologized bodies 55
- Chapter 4. An information asymmetry framework for strategic translation policy in multinational corporations 77
- Chapter 5. Tom, Dick and Harry as well as Fido and Puss in boots are translators 101
-
Section II. Unveiling the structure
- Chapter 6. Child language brokering in Swedish welfare institutions 125
- Chapter 7. Responsibility, powerlessness, and conflict 145
- Chapter 8. Of places, spaces, and faces 169
- Chapter 9. Translating values 197
- Chapter 10. EU institutional websites 227
-
Section III. Resisting asymmetries
- Chapter 11. Translation, multilingualism and power differential in contemporary African literature 255
- Chapter 12. Small yet powerful 269
- Chapter 13. Against the asymmetry of the post-Francoist canon 291
- Chapter 14. Citizens as agents of translation versions 313
- Chapter 15. (Re)locating translation within asymmetrical power dynamics 335
- Chapter 16. Agency and social responsibility in the translation of the migration crisis 361
- Index 379
