The final day of the 8th International Postgraduate Conference in Translation and Interpreting commenced with Dr. Federico Federici’s talk on the aspects of Social Responsibilities and Professionalism in Translation of News.
Abstract:
Translating News: Social Responsibilities and Professionalism
Focusing on issues of (mis)representation of foreign current affairs in translation for online newspapers edition, not only does this paper intend to look at the methodological difficulties of investigating ‘what’ appears and disappears in translated items on online newspapers, but also ‘how’ it disappears: that is, the editing and editorial mechanisms that change the source information or news item. The paper presents preliminary results of an on-going investigation, which is attempting to trace the mechanisms for selecting and publishing translations in the Italian press. In the course of this investigation, questions of professionalism have emerged: who translates professionally for online newspapers? Where do the initial translations come from?
Using samples from translated news and topical case studies, the paper presents observations and doubts on the technical and practical aspects of assessing translation professionalism and ethics in the context of immediate and socially-networked journalism. The paper uses samples from English into Italian whereby the language combination is only a springboard for the discussion of the methodological conundrums on how to engage responsibly and objectively with both the process and product of journalistic translation.
Engaging with online ‘discussion threads’ and ‘forums’, the paper cursorily reflects on explicit readers’ comments on issues of editing, proof-reading, and correcting the online articles. Ultimately, the paper engages with social responsibility and the ways in which it shapes professional translators’ contributions to the news industry as well as people paid to translate for such an industry.
Biography:
Dr. Frederico Federici
Durham University, UK.
Federico M. Federici graduated in English and French literature at the University ‘La Sapienza’ in Rome, Italy where he developed an interest in Translation Studies. At the University of Leeds, UK, he was awarded a doctorate on research into the influence of creative translation on Italo Calvino’s style. Senior Lecturer in Italian, he is the Director of the newly founded Centre for Intercultural Mediation and of the MA in Translation Studies at Durham University, UK.
He is member of the Board of the European Master’s in Translation (EMT) Network. Together with chapters and articles, he has written Translation as Stylistic Evolution: Italo Calvino Creative Translator of Raymond Queneau (Rodopi 2009) and edited Translating Dialects and Languages of Minorities (Peter Lang 2011) and Translating Regionalized Voices in Audiovisuals (Aracne 2009); he also co-edited with Nigel Armstrong Translating Voices, Translating Regions (Aracne 2006). His current research projects focus on ideology of translation, reception of Italian texts and audiovisuals in translation, and training of culturally aware translators. Working as a free-lance translator since 2001, he enjoys translating from French and English, as well as translating 17th-century Italian manuscripts into English.
