Speaker: Karin Bosshard, University of Edinburgh
Title: Literary dialect as constraint and creative opportunity: thoughts on translating north-east Scots into German
Date: March 10th, 2021
Time: 4-5 pm
Venue: on Collaborate Learn (through TS Bulletin Board) OR Guest Link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/7290414ae90244bab9de4b931c3b4f5f
Abstract: This presentation explores how translators approach the challenge of literary dialect by investigating the German translations of two Scottish novels, Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon (1932) and The Nessman by Alasdair Campbell (2000). Both texts employ north-east Scots (Doric) – in very different ways – and therefore present an interesting case for comparison. The investigation will rely on a classification of translation strategies by Delabastita (2002) with three broad options: standardisation, delocalisation (rendering regional dialect with non-regional colloquial language) and relocalisation (translating a regional dialect with another regional dialect). The last of these strategies is comparatively rare and has generally been viewed critically, by theorists and translators, and is therefore particularly interesting. The presentation will also consider contextual factors by exploring paratexts and the reception of the German translations, which were both published in 2018 (Das Lied vom Abendrot, tr. Esther Kinsky, and Der Junge aus Ness, tr. Lorenz Oehler). Using textual examples, it aims to show the effects of the different translation approaches, in particular the use of a target language dialect which constitutes a break from tradition. As a whole, the presentation hopes to show that dialect in literary narratives should not only be seen as limiting the translator’s room for manoeuvre, but can also be a creative opportunity.
Bio note: Karin Bosshard is a part-time PhD student in Translation Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on literary translation and on how translation theory and translation practice inform each other. In her thesis, which takes the form of a translation and scholarly commentary, she investigates linguistic heterogeneity in contemporary Scottish fiction and ways such variation can be rendered in translation. Karin is also a freelance translator, working from English and French into German, and is currently teaching translation theory and translation technology in her role as a part-time teaching fellow in Translation Studies at the University of Edinburgh.