The LinguistCHARTEREDINSTITUTEOFLINGUISTS 54/5 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

Facing the censorsAn inside view of howcensorship in Iran affects thework of literary translators

Getting themessage out The challenges faced byhealthcare experts inmultilingual communities

Back from the deadCharting the revival ofManx, six years after itwas declared extinct

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CONTENTS

News & editorialINSIDE PARLIAMENT . . . . . . 6Why education is a priority this year

FeaturesA HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTE IN 6 OBJECTS . . . 7How the divisions and societies have evolved

DANCING IN CHAINS . . . . . . 8Censorship and literary translation in Iran

COMMUNICATION INTERRUPTED . . . . . . . . . . . 10A look at the difficulties faced by healthcareexperts working with multilingual communities

RE-WRITING HISTORY . . . . . 13The challenges of translating history books

ADVENTURES WITH ARABIC . 16Interview with Islamic scholar Jonathan Brown

THE RITES OF MANX . . . . . 18How the “dead language” was reborn

BACK TO SCHOOL . . . . . . . 20Why the new Ecole de Traduction Littérairewas set up and how successful it has been

FROM STUDY TO WORK . . 22Evaluating a graduate placement scheme

The editor reserves the right to edit all material submitted. Views expressed in The Linguistare not necessarily the official views of the Chartered Institute of Linguists. All rights ofreproduction, translation and adaptation reserved for all countries.

The Chartered Institute of Linguists, The Linguist, and officers accept no responsibilitycollectively or individually for the service of agencies or persons advertised or announced in thepages of this journal. The good faith with which we publish offers no implied/implicit guarantee.

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TheLinguist

Editor Miranda MooreEmail: linguist.editor@ciol.org.ukSales Deborah ButlerTel: +44 (0)20 7940 3100; Email: deborah.butler@ciol.org.uk

Editorial BoardChairMr K Paver MA (Oxon) PgDip MCIL MITIMs D Butler BA (Hons) (ex officio)Ms A Carlisle MA (ex officio)Ms J Fraser MA DipTrans IoLET FCIL FHEA FITIMs A M Graham BA PG DipTrans AMIOEEMs J Guardamagna BA MCIL IAPTI APARUMs H Gulowsen DipTrans IoLET CL (Translator) MCIL MITIMs D Langton MA (Cantab) DipTrans IoLET MCIL BDUeTA VdUeMr D Luddy BA PGCEMs L Melcion MA (Surrey) DipTrans IoLET PG Cert EdMCIL Mr K Moffitt BSc DipTrans IoLET MCIL MITI Ms M Moore BA (ex officio)Dr M Pollard BA PhD FCIL FHEA

The Chartered Institute of Linguists: DunstanHouse, 14a St Cross Street, London EC1N 8XA;info@ciol.org.uk; +44 (0)20 7940 3100; www.ciol.org.uk

Royal Patron HRH Prince Michael of Kent GCVOPresident Dr N Bowen BSc MA PhD Dip TEFL RSA HonFCIL Vice-PresidentsDr M Bond MA (Cantab) DPhil HonFCILProf T J Connell MA BPhil DLitt PGCE FCIL FRSAMrs A Corsellis OBE BA HonFCILBaroness J Coussins MA HonFCILProf D Crystal OBE PhD HonFCIL FCSLT FRSA FBA FLSWMr R Hardie MA FCA HonFCILDr J M Mitchell CBE MA DPhil FCIMembers of CouncilChairMr K Moffitt BSc DipTrans IoLET MCIL MITIVice-ChairMrs C Pocock DipTrans IoLET FCILHon Treasurer Mr T Bell MA MPhil FCILMr D Brett MA (Cantab) MA (London) MCIL FRSAMs H J L Campbell BA HonFCILMr J Farmer MA (Cantab) MCIL FMAATMr T Gale BA MA MCILDr M-M Gervais-le Garff MA Doct 3e Cycle FCILMs D Langton MA (Cantab) DipTrans IoLET MCIL BDUeTA VdUeMs M Lee BA (Hons) DPSI IoLET MA MCIL RPSIMs S Leschen BA LLB DPSI IoLET MCIL MITIMs R Mitchell-Schuitevoerder MA MCIL MITIProf C J Pountain MA PhD HonFCILMrs J A Ridgway BA FCIL MCMIMr P Shipman BSc (Hons) MScCEng MIMechE MCILMs K Stokes MA (Oxon) DipTrans IoLET FCIL MITICL (Translator)

IoL Educational TrustThe examinations are provided under the auspices ofthe IoL Educational Trust. Senior officers:Prof C J Pountain MA PhD HonFCIL (Chair) Ms A Carlisle MA (Chief Executive CIOL and IoLET)

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TheLinguistThe Linguist, formerly TheIncorporated Linguist, is theofficial journal of the CharteredInstitute of Linguists.

MOBILE LEARNING GETS REALL . . . . . . . . . . . . 24A model for assessing language learning apps

TRANSCENDING BOUNDARIES . . . . . . . . . . . 26What is ‘translaboration’ and do we need it?

ReviewsBOOKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Opinion & commentLETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

WORKING FOR EUROPE . . 29Why learning is key to life as an EU translator

Institute matters DIVISIONS & SOCIETIES . . . 30Find out about recent and forthcoming events

A LIFE WITH LANGUAGES . 32

ADMISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

REPRESENTING YOUR INTERESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Meet Head of Membership Jane Galbraith

FRONT COVER © SHUTTERSTOCK

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Allison Brown outlines some of the key challengesand strategies for translating history texts

Among the many specific challenges oftranslating history texts, especiallygiven that I am not a professional

historian, is that of understanding historicalconcepts and terminology, and renderingthem appropriately in the vocabulary of thediscourse familiar to English-speakinghistorians. Over more than 25 years ofexperience in translating history texts, I havebuilt up extensive background knowledgeand, just as importantly, honed my researchskills in a wide range of historical fields.

Part of both the challenge and its solutionis the internet. Fast DSL and wi-fi haverevolutionised my work, relegating mydictionaries and encyclopedias to gatheringdust on the bookshelves. Not only do onlinedictionaries and translation forums offerdefinitions and translations of each word, butrelevant English web pages providebackground information and further reading.

Invaluable, also, are primary and secondarysources with full-text search capability, whichare available on the internet. This may havemade my job easier, but expectations havegrown along with the new capabilities. Prior

to the internet, I was not expected to submittranslations with footnotes, bibliography andmain text all completely formatted, and itwas not assumed that I would find all English-language citations or identify English-language bibliographic references to replacetheir German counterparts.

I am currently translating Die Franken (‘TheFranks’) by Bernhard Jussen. Published inGerman by C H Beck in its ‘Wissen’ series onscholarly topics for a general audience, itdispenses entirely with footnotes and a fullbibliography. The English edition will bepublished by an American university press, so

source information will be inserted. Translatingthe multitude of quoted passages of Germantranslations of medieval (Latin) texts, andadding footnotes listing the German sources,would not be appropriate, as a translation ofa translation should be avoided (even if I wereto reference the original text in the footnote).Since I have no Latin skills to translate themmyself, I must instead locate publishedEnglish translations from the original Latin.

Finding a source containing the specificpassage of a cited text in English translationrequires key internet research skills, plus agood dose of persistence and imagination todetermine effectual search terms. Forexample, correspondence between kings andpopes, or chronicles and annals cited in DieFranken in German translation were takenfrom the Latin Codex Carolinus, MonumentaGermaniae Historica (MGH) and other sources.I was able to cite English translations of theLatin from volumes in Harvard UniversityPress’s renowned Loeb Classical Library, as

Re-writing HISTORY

EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE: Some of themany books Allison has translated (above)While fact-checking is

not the responsibilityof the translator, it

comes with immersingmyself in the subject

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FEATURES

well as from numerous secondary sources. Inthe course of the project, I learned whichauthors and works are respected by English-speaking medieval historians and scholars.

If a cited German work exists in Englishtranslation, or if the citation is from a Germantranslation of an English original, the researchis easier. Even so, finding the precise details,down to page numbers, for a proper citationand bibliography is time-consuming. Andevery new project means becoming familiarwith a new subject area.

For the exhibition ‘Between the Lines? ThePress as an Instrument of Nazi Power’ in theTopography of Terror Documentation Centerin Berlin, even the translation of a Nazinewspaper excerpt required English sourceresearch, as it quoted (in German translation)a passage originally written in English:

A Stürmer display case with a quotation byJewish-English politician Benjamin Disraeli:‘Die Rassenfrage ist der Schlüssel zurWeltgeschichte’ (Original: ‘the principle ofrace … is the key of history.’)

The ellipsis was necessary since the actualwording of the original was: “No man willtreat with indifference the principle of race. Itis the key of history,” which I found inDisraeli’s novel Endymion (1880; London,Wildside, 2006, 180).

While doing internet research, I have alwaysdiscovered at least a few errors in the text I amtranslating, whether a name is misspelled orsource data is cited inaccurately. I often alsofind content errors. While fact-checking is notexplicitly the responsibility of the translator, Ithink it comes part and parcel with immersingmyself in the subject matter. Authors andpublishers are always appreciative whenmistakes are discovered, so my resultingquestions generally increase their trust in andrespect for my work.

DIFFERENT AUDIENCESAside from these detailed research aspects,the translation of history texts also demandsan understanding of different sensibilities andknowledge of history for different audiences.

Regarding the Nazi regime, for example,German people’s sense of moral and historicalresponsibility has affected the way they writeabout the period. To emphasise theirdissociation from Nazi vocabulary, Germanauthors usually put words such as ‘Aryan’ and‘Third Reich’ in quotation marks, whereasEnglish texts tend not to, using the terms asthey were used at the time and not sensing aneed to create an explicit distance. Similarly,Kristallnacht, or a direct translation as CrystalNight or Night of Broken Glass, might beretained in English texts, since it isrecognisable as a historical term, whereasGerman scholars today tend to avoid sucheuphemisms, referring instead to theNovember Pogrom of 1938. Based on thecontext of the source text, a translator mustdecide which strategy, or combination, is best.

Since the background historical knowledgeof English speakers often differs from that ofGermans, especially regarding Germanhistory, an explanation is frequently necessaryin order to convey the same information asthe German original, since assumed or

SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY:

A Jewish-owned printing business in Berlin,attacked during Kristallnacht, known inGerman as ‘the November Pogrom of 1938’

‘Crystal Night’ mightbe retained in Englishtexts whereas Germanscholars tend to avoid

such euphemisms

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FEATURES

implied knowledge must be made explicit.Such glosses do not actually add to theoriginal, they simply compensate for gaps,raising English readers’ knowledge to that oftheir German counterparts. There are variousmethods of doing this: retaining the Germanterm along with a translation (with one or theother in parentheses); adding a parentheticalexplanation; expanding the main text toinclude a brief explanation (possibly setwithin commas or dashes); or adding afootnote or glossary entry.

Unless it occurs within a direct quote, Iusually prefer an expansion that does notinterrupt the reading flow, rather than aparenthetical translator’s note. Here is anexample from a general readership book setin Nazi Germany: “the Volkssturm, aterritorial militia of older men and youngboys unsuited for regular military service”. Inthe exhibition on the press in Nazi Germany,some terms could be glossed as anappositive or using parentheses: e.g.“Brownshirts, the Nazi storm troopers (SA)”;“‘national comrades’ (Volksgenossen)”.Others, such as Das Blaue Buch, required amore extensive explanation:

The popular author Erich Kästner (1899-1974) remained in Germany after 1933 eventhough he was banned from publishing hiswork. In his ‘blue book’ (Das Blaue Buch, hiswar diary published posthumously) hesecretly made critical notes about everydaylife in the Third Reich.Another option is to add a translator’s note.

When translating the memoirs of the nowdeceased German-Jewish mathematicianAbraham Fraenkel, for instance, I was askedto elucidate even aspects that were unclearin the original German edition. The addedfootnotes required independent research:

he… became a settler in the ‘German eggvillage’* of Ramot Hashavim.Footnote: *Ramot Hashavim was founded byGerman immigrants, largely academics withoutuniversity positions and lacking agriculturalskills, who thus started chicken farms.

TO TRANSLATE OR NOT?Puns and wordplays are often lost intranslation. Whereas novels can use a suitablealternative, in historical texts accuracy anddetail are a priority, necessitating a gloss.Here the author Fraenkel provided anadequate parenthetical explanation forGerman readers; the footnote was added foran English-speaking audience:

he said that contemporary Berlin philosophyneeded to be eliminated ‘mit Stumpf undRiehl’* (Stumpf and Riehl were two philosophyprofessors at the University of Berlin). Footnote: *This is a pun on the Germanidiom: to eliminate something ‘mit Stumpfund Stiel’ (root and branch).Translating names of organisations can be

problematic, as the name is often both adescription (which would be translated) and aproper name (which could be retained). Anorganisation’s website might use its preferredtranslation, but a web search can even revealmultiple ‘official’ translations, making itdifficult to determine the most common ormost appropriate name in English. Pitfalls canbe avoided by also mentioning the Germanoriginal or retaining the German acronym.

The translation of titles and names of rulersalso depends on the type of text (academicvs. general), the target audience, and thepublisher’s preferences. For example, whenwould an emperor be called a Kaiser? Whendoes Friedrich become Frederick? And whichwould you choose in what context: Karl der

Grosse, Charlemagne, Charles the Great,Charles I or King of the Franks; and HolyRoman Emperor or Imperator Romanorum?

The context and time period of the subjectmatter itself must also be considered. Placenames often change with the geopoliticalsituation, so depending on the time periodof a historical text, one must decide, forexample, if German Lemberg should be keptor translated as Lwów (Polish), Lviv (Ukrainian)or Lvov (Russian). Also time- and context-dependent, the German Bürger can beburghers, bourgeois, members of the middleclass, citizens or townspeople.

Particularly within a Nazi context, Volkand the attributive form völkisch take onsemantics other than simply ‘nation’ or‘people’, so they are sometimes rendered in English to denote the Nazis’ intendedethnic or racial connotation as ‘nationalcommunity’ (with quotation marks) or byretaining the German. Apparently minordifferences can also have substantialimplications. Thus, while Gefängnis andZuchthaus are often both translated as‘prison’, in some historical contexts thedistinction that the Zuchthaus involves penalservitude or hard labour is significant.

All of these decisions demand theinformed judgment of a translator, shaped inpart by insights gleaned through researchand immersion in the subject. Although I amneither a historian nor an expert in the field, Ihave the responsibility to speak in theauthor’s voice, transporting the text to thetarget language. And the publisher needsme to offer a link back to the content andcontext of the source text. A translator thusdoes not only simply translate words, butacts as a linguistic mediator across historyand cultures.

RE-SOURCING:

Catalogue for the ‘Press as anInstrument of Nazi Power’exhibition at the Topography ofTerror Foundation in Berlin

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INSTITUTE MATTERS

Alexa AlferAlexa Alfer is Senior Lecturer in TranslationStudies and MA Course Leader at theUniversity of Westminster. Her researchinterests include metaphorical conceptions oftranslation, hermeneutic approaches to Translation Studiesand comparative literature. See p.26

Helen AstleyHelen Astley has worked with languages inqualifications and standards development,and as a teacher, examiner, inspector andadviser. She has been leading the EuropeanGraduate Placement Scheme since 2013. See p.22

Allison BrownAllison Brown has been a freelance translatorof scholarly books, essays and exhibitionsfrom German into English since 1988,specialising in history, art, religion andpolitical/cultural studies. She has an MA in TranslationStudies and Linguistics, and lives in Berlin. See p.13

Abigail LefflerAbigail Leffler MCIL translates for non-profitorganisations serving the internationaldevelopment and conservation sectors. Sheresearched attitudes towards multilingualismin healthcare interventions for a Communication forDevelopment MA at Malmö University. See p.10

Beatrice MurailBeatrice Murail started out as a translatorand interpreter, and now works as afreelance journalist. She has an MA injournalism, an MA in English and a diplomain translation and interpreting. See p.20

Reza ShirmarzReza Shirmarz MCIL is a playwright, literarytranslator and singer/songwriter. He haswritten 16 plays and two poetry collections,and has translated more than 100 plays intoFarsi, including works by Plautus and Rattigan. See p.8

Sarah WhiteheadSarah Whitehead is a freelance journalist,specialising in health, crime, disability andgardening, and works part-time on TheGuardian’s Saturday features desk. See p.18

CONTRIBUTORS

Representing your interests,Jane Galbraith looks back at her first months as Head of Membershipand explains what’s in store for the year ahead and beyond

Over the next three years, my main focus is to drive up membership by activelyseeking ways to encourage a wider range of linguists to join CIOL, in additionto ensuring that our current members continue to be well supported. We willundertake proactive campaigns to raise awareness of the Institute, explaininghow membership supports professional development and provides valuablerecognition within the profession. This means talking to employers and otherstakeholders, and also targeting the linguists of the future. A range of membertestimonials will be created to showcase our membership and to illustrateclearly who our members are, what sector of the language world they representand how membership has benefitted them.

There are some exciting developments planned for our CPD programme.Working with the CPD Standards Office, we are looking at the feasibility ofaccrediting a number of external training providers. This will enable us to offer awider range of CPD activities, including web-based opportunities. Members willbe notified of the accredited providers and the courses they offer as they comeon board, so watch this space. The portfolio of benefits will also be reviewed, soif you have any suggestions please email membershipteam@ciol.org.uk.

I am a strong believer in the power of the member network and have beento a number of events organised by the Interpreting, Translating, and Business,Professions and Government divisions. These provided a great opportunity tomeet a range of members and to understand what being part of CIOL actuallymeans. The team at Dunstan House will be looking at the viability of resurrectingthe Education Division, so if this is something that you are interested in, pleasecontact us. (For more information about the divisions and societies, see page 7.)

It’s been a whirlwind six months. The first thing that struck me when I joinedis just how dedicated the membership team – Jack Sellen, Paul Whitehouse,Soheila Dayani-Phillips and Julie Hobbs – is to supporting our members; andwith nearly 400 new member applications each year, the team’s working week isbusy and diverse. My thanks to them for their continued support and hard work.

It looks like the next six months will be just as busy and enjoyable, with theLanguage Show, Members’ Day, and a visit to Hong Kong and China planned,plus the chance to meet members through events run by our many societies.Most of all I am looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead, torepresenting your interests and to ensuring that membership of CIOL remainsrelevant and of value to you all.