TY - ABST

T1 - A Methodology for Quantitative Retranslation Studies

AU - Thorkildsen, Sophie

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - This presentation outlines the current development of a new methodological approach to Retranslation Studies – a method which departs from the tradition of qualitative case studies and instead seeks to answer the call for more extensive, quantitative investigations based on operationalized parameters, as proposed by prominent scholars within the field (Van Poucke 2017; Koskinen and Paloposki 2019). The development of this method forms the basis for the presenter’s PhD project “Swinging pendulum or stopped clock? Investigating shifts in the translation norms of Anglophone literary ‘classics’ in the Danish literary system”. By developing and refining measurable textual indicators of [39] closeness or freedom in overall translation strategy and applying these parameters in a digital analysis of a parallel corpus of source texts and their translations and retranslations, the goal of the project is to map out quantifiable diachronic swings in translation strategies within a literary system. The results of such an approach will prove useful in several ways: Firstly, it can complement past and future qualitative studies, providing much more definitive insights and dispelling (in)conclusive remarks like, for instance, “It remains to consider whether this was typical for Danish translations of British classics from the period” (Klitgård 2022, 28), and instead offering scholars a methodological basis to evaluate whether or not the object of their case study displays translation strategies typical for its time. Furthermore, concretizing translational tendencies within a given literary system will allow for comparative studies of systems as well as put to the test hypotheses on historical translational tendencies (for instance Chesterman 1997; Berman 1990).

AB - This presentation outlines the current development of a new methodological approach to Retranslation Studies – a method which departs from the tradition of qualitative case studies and instead seeks to answer the call for more extensive, quantitative investigations based on operationalized parameters, as proposed by prominent scholars within the field (Van Poucke 2017; Koskinen and Paloposki 2019). The development of this method forms the basis for the presenter’s PhD project “Swinging pendulum or stopped clock? Investigating shifts in the translation norms of Anglophone literary ‘classics’ in the Danish literary system”. By developing and refining measurable textual indicators of [39] closeness or freedom in overall translation strategy and applying these parameters in a digital analysis of a parallel corpus of source texts and their translations and retranslations, the goal of the project is to map out quantifiable diachronic swings in translation strategies within a literary system. The results of such an approach will prove useful in several ways: Firstly, it can complement past and future qualitative studies, providing much more definitive insights and dispelling (in)conclusive remarks like, for instance, “It remains to consider whether this was typical for Danish translations of British classics from the period” (Klitgård 2022, 28), and instead offering scholars a methodological basis to evaluate whether or not the object of their case study displays translation strategies typical for its time. Furthermore, concretizing translational tendencies within a given literary system will allow for comparative studies of systems as well as put to the test hypotheses on historical translational tendencies (for instance Chesterman 1997; Berman 1990).

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

Y2 - 14 March 2024 through 22 March 2024

ER -