Open AccessTranslation and Image Manipulation in Travel Writing
Author(s) -
Andi Sâsâiac
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
linguaculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2285-9403
pISSN - 2067-9696
DOI - 10.47743/lincu-2020-1-0166
Subject(s) - globalization , audience measurement , politics , travel writing , linguistics , romanian , source text , target culture , cultural exchange , political science , ethnic group , foreign language , media studies , sociology , political economy , literature , law , art , philosophy , ethnology
My studies on the images of Romania in English travel writing have led me to the conclusion that, especially in periods of important historical evolutions (such as the current tendency towards globalization and enhanced cultural exchange), people become growingly interested in the way they are regarded by members of countries and cultures that they consider referential (mainly the major Western democracies). This has resulted, paradoxically for some, in the translation of travel books dealing with less known countries into the language of those countries, with the purpose of showing the readers how they had been regarded by foreign authors and, consequently, presented to the initial (foreign) readership. While the authors of source texts may have their own political agenda, translation policies also differ and the strategies vary from domestication to foreignization, a fact which can be problematic in terms of ethics. In some cases, the ethnic images provided in the source text can be slightly manipulated in the target text, so as to meet the readers’ expectations, as will be shown in the following case study on Sacheverell Sitwell’s Roumanian Journey (1938) and its Romanian translation (2011).