What is it about?
This article tries to understand the translation of political speeches in Canada, by using a corpus of speeches delivered inside and outside the country. Results show that the identity question remains important and that it has an impact on the textual choices of translators.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Identity questions abound in Translation Studies, but are seldom tested on specialised language/discourse. Here, we show that, at least in Canada, translation choices are impacted by identity questions, even in discourses on the economy. Also, in official bilingual countries such as Canada, translation plays an important yet invisible role. To a point, the article shows that translation is instrumental in government, hence the idea of "government by translation", borrowed to Kaisa Koskinen.
Perspectives
I hope this article contributes to the discussions on social and political implications of the lexical choices made in the process of translation. Whereas research on political translation often shows the impact of ideological struggles between two distinct countries on the process of translation, this article raises further awareness of the significant role that translation can play in dealing with national issues in officially bilingual countries.
Esmaeil Kalantari
Universite de Montreal
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Canadian translated politics at the Economic Club of New York, The Translator, October 2016, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/13556509.2016.1236227.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Translation Corpus: Economic Club of New York Speeches by Canadian Prime Ministers
This is part of the corpus used to write this article. It comprises the speeches delivered at the Economic Club of New York by Canadian Prime Ministers between 1976 and 2006, in English and in French
Translation Corpus: Throne Speeches in Canada
This is the test corpus used to write this article. It comprises political speeches and their translation in the Canadian parliament (the House of Commons).
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
