Navigating Tapestry of Translation Studies in Türkiye

Introduction

Translation Studies represents an ever-growing interdisciplinary field in Türkiye, as in the whole world. With the turns that the discipline has undergone in the last three decades, the evolving and enlarging conception of the translation phenomenon, unprecedented technological developments, and the recent social changes and challenges in the world, there emerges a great diversity in the academic studies focusing on different aspects of translation theories and practices.

In this vibrant and dynamic landscape, we proudly present “Navigating Tapestry of Translation Studies in Türkiye.” This volume serves as a testament to the richness and complexity of the discipline in our contemporary era. It is a collection of insights and perspectives from esteemed scholars, each chapter exploring a distinct facet of translation studies that resonates within the Turkish context and extends its relevance to the broader global discourse.

Within these pages, you will encounter a tapestry of ideas and themes that mirror the diverse and multifaceted nature of translation itself. Our contributors, drawn from diverse academic backgrounds and experiences, navigate the intricate terrain of translation in a rapidly evolving world. Their collective voices, as summarized below, offer both a snapshot of the current state of translation studies in Türkiye and a window into the broader conversations taking place on the global stage.

Recent overwhelming man-made and/or natural disasters worldwide underline the critical importance of effective communication in their aftermath. This subject matter may be examined from two perspectives: providing access to community services for (ir)regular, transit migrants as well as asylum-seekers and refugees, and providing communication to save numerous lives and carry out international rescue operations after natural disasters.

The first perspective, focusing on community interpreting, is elaborated in the study titled “Community Interpreting in Türkiye: Diversifying Needs and Responses at the Centre of Dynamic Movements of Migration”. After describing the migration movements in Türkiye and identifying migrants, Aslı POLAT ULAŞ draws attention to the changing community interpreting practices emerging from the requirements of community interpreting for the increasing number of migrants of different profiles including refugees, foreign tourists, or incoming foreign patients. While she classifies these requirements under the headings as “emergency and disaster interpreting”, “refugee interpreting”, “court interpreting”, and “interpreting within the scope of healthcare services”; the relevant legislation and stakeholders (including officially affiliated ones and NGOs) are also highlighted.

Undoubtedly, translation, with its multifaceted role in life, profoundly influences human experiences, especially in times of crises. The study titled “Interpreting for/from Disaster Response to Crisis Management” examines the second perspective on community interpreting. Rana KAHRAMAN DURU, an active participant in the Emergency and Disaster Interpreters (ARÇ) initiative in Türkiye explains the initiative’s activities, history, and role and how the related basic terms and concepts have evolved over time. The study underscores the vital role of translators and interpreters with linguistic and intercultural competencies in emergencies and disasters. It discusses ARÇ’s contributions to developing the capacity of volunteer teams for organizing in emergencies and disasters, along with training community interpreters for disaster and cross-cultural crisis management.

Translation studies continue to evolve through interaction with different disciplines, and the inevitable impact of technological developments cannot be overlooked. The recent development of Neural Machine Translation (NMT) technology has given rise to academic studies on its performance and the new role of the translator as a post-editor. Halise GÜLMÜŞ SIRKINTI and Hulisi Alp SIRKINTI explore this in their study titled “Translating Creative Texts Through Machine Translation: DeepL vs. Google Translate,” evaluating the performance of two leading free-to-use NMT engines. To this end, they have chosen the corpus of the raw MT outputs of three non-fictional creative texts post-edited by the translators. They evaluate and present their findings on how the integration of MT into the translation workflow affects the productivity of post-editing non-fictional creative texts.

Meaning, as a reflection of existence, has been a unique treasure for authors and translators for centuries. As a multi-layered concept, translation products have been analysed in terms of the borders of the transfer. The challenge in transferring emotional expressions/metaphors conceptually to the target language often attracts the academics’ attention so that they can find out the similar or different schemas between source and target languages and cultures. In her study “The Turkish Translation of Mapping Condition in Conceptualizing Metaphors: A Case Study of Heartbreak House”, Esra ÜNSAL OCAK provides the background information on how “conceptual metaphors” are analysed in translation studies and by comparing Bernard Shaw’s play “Heartbreak House” and its Turkish translation, she presents the findings on the conceptual metaphors of similar, different, and no mapping conditions.

Translation sheds light on various disciplines and as a visual art and presentation, cinema and audio-visual translation can be accepted as one of the contemporary issues. In subtitling and dubbing, linguistic elements and features have been discussed and described in terms of various methods and approaches. Yasemin AŞCI, also conducts research on the translation of English idioms into Turkish in a different medium, i.e., Audiovisual Translation (AVT). In her study “Analyzing Idioms in Turkish Subtitling of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Emma”, she analyses how the idioms used in the movie adaptation of Jane Austen’s three novels, namely, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma are transferred to Turkish subtitles within the framework of the strategies on subtitling and idiom translation and their effect on the destruction of the idioms.

Culture and ideology are integral components of translation, making it impossible to consider the meaning of a text – even a texteme – independently of a specific context. Discourse is produced depending on contexts. Target texts are powerful enough to help the reader understand a nation’s background in the field of literature. In her study “Power, Freedom and Translation: Analysing Sevgi Soysal’s Şafak’s English translation from Foucauldian Perspective”, Ezginaz EMİRKADI explains “Foucauldian discourse analysis” and explores whether the power of discourse is traced in the English translation of Sevgi Soysal’s novel Şafak. She focuses on the “procedures under exclusion” from the translation studies’ perspective and presents the findings regarding the effects of the “procedures under exclusion” on the discourse in the target text accordingly.

Target texts offer numerous clues about translation policies, translator choices, and publishing principles. Paratextual features, as explicit signs, bridge the gap between source and target cultures. In her study “The Reflection of the Publisher’s Peritext of The Midnight Library on its Turkish Translation Gece Yarısı Kütüphanesi”, Mehtap EKİNCİ explains the functions of such paratextual elements as peritexts (in-text elements) and epitexts (extra-textual elements) surrounding a literary text from the perspective of translation studies. The Midnight Library and its Turkish translation are comparatively analysed in terms of the publishers’ decisions on the peritexts including the format, series, cover, title page, typesetting, and printing, and the reasons for publishers’ similar and different preferences on peritexts are discussed.

As a potent tool and medium, translation holds the potential to bring about profound changes in cultures and literary systems. Within the realm of translation studies, there is a concentrated focus on its capacity to address social and ideology-related issues, such as “otherness,” both in theory and practice. In the study titled “Queer Literature in Turkish Translation (1928–2020)” Göksenin ABDAL compiles translated literature in the Turkish literary system, with a specific focus on queer texts. The study discusses the existence of queer literature in the Global South and Global North, examines the position of queer literature in the literary system, and provides a historical overview starting from the Republican Period. Issues like feminist translation and queerness, often discussed in translation studies, are shaped by translation policies. This study observes the publishing industry in Türkiye and its policies as agents of the Turkish literary system, listing translated queer texts with names and dates in chronological order.

In essence, “Navigating Tapestry of Translation Studies in Türkiye” is a mosaic of scholarly inquiries that not only captures the dynamic contours of the discipline within Türkiye but also threads its relevance into the global narrative. As we embark on this intellectual journey, guided by the insightful contributions of our esteemed scholars, we invite readers to traverse the intricate intersections of language, translation, culture, and technology. This volume, resonant with diverse perspectives and rich contextual analyses, serves as an invitation to explore the ever-evolving landscape of translation studies. From the delicate dance of disaster response to the transformative power of technological innovations and the nuanced exploration of cultural nuances, each chapter unfolds as a unique chapter in the ongoing story of translation. As we navigate through the vibrant tapestry woven by these scholars, we invite you to join us in unraveling the intricacies of translation in Türkiye, appreciating its transformative potential on both a local and global stage.

November, 2023

Ebru AK

Ayşe SAKİ DEMİREL